It was a good day for soccer yesterday. Of course, I think almost any day is a good day for soccer. But it wasn’t my favorite outing.

To be honest, the amount of arguing and “chirpiness” yesterday took some of the fun out of the game. Play hard. I am all for that. Go after the ball. Lean in. Great. But too many arguments over whether or not elbows were up, who’s ball it was, etc. We had a guy hurt on the field and people arguing over who would get the ball. Priorities, people. For the record, the elbows were up kind of a lot yesterday.

The game is a friendly. It is open to all skill levels and ages (high school and older). Err on the side of sportsmanship.

Just because it is a friendly, does not mean that it is chaos. Or, it shouldn’t be. If you have to get going, I would appreciate it if you would tell someone on your team and make sure that your team adjusts the formation. Our defenders kept leaving yesterday without notice. Some of us from the mid-field dropped back in, but there were breakdowns. Just let the players around you know that you’re leaving. If you are on defense, perhaps wait until the ball has gone down the other end before you exit.

We’ve been playing the Sunday game for about fifteen year. It works best when people get their whole side involved and cooperate.

We have been sliding the start time later and later. Please try to make an effort to be ready to kick-off at 8:30 this week. Thanks. The turf field gets hot. I am also trying to make sure that our game is going before other people show up to use the field.

Next week I will try to return to complaining about grey shirts or joking about the rain making the field nice and green. I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday. Kick-off at 8:30 at McCarthy.

Lawrence