The Beautiful Game

168/365
4:35pm

Editor's Note: Guest Blogger John

Soccer is a funny game. And 3 vs. 3 tots soccer is even funnier, especially when it's 82 degrees, you're squaring off against the best team in the league and only three boys actually show up for the match. Did I mention that Coach Nate had to leave for vacation, leaving me to make my long-awaited managerial debut versus the Dragons in the most pressure-packed game of the season?

It was a tough task, made more complicated by Jack, Connor and Jeffrey rejecting my 1-1-1 tactical scheme in favor of a less organized 0-3-0. We started out poorly, with the Dragons rattling off several (read: 6?) quick goals and breaking down our belief. Connor (at right) needed to take a water break for much of the second quarter, leading to us play a man down early.

I gave an inspiring halftime speech, and I could noticiably feel their sprits rise coming out of the tunnel. And that's where Jack kicked into gear-- scoring three goals in a row, and playing stellar defence. Fatigue makes cowards of us all, and the Wolverines are no exception-- at one point, Jack told me that he hated the Dragons. But despite being totally gassed, he gave a superb two-way effort, netting four goals, saving several others and running hard for the entire game. I was pretty proud of the effort.

Ultimately, the Wolverines were defeated (13-6?), but not conquered. All in all, it was a great debut season for Jack (and for me as well. Yesterday, I was appointed manager of Newcastle United!) Later this summer, Jack will move up a class level onto a team with 5 & 6 year-old-boys, and will test his breakaway skills on a whole new level.

I took this picture from the middle of the pitch while yelling at the boys to get back on defence, while also attempting to get out of the way of the oncoming ball.