The Chelmsford Sunday Soccer Club's Blog

Clearly, the USWNT has caught the imagination of the soccer world. People in the United States are even pretty sure that soccer exists. I am very happy for Jill Ellis and the whole team. They played outstandingly.

But…the Women’s World Cup is over. That is now old news. The public is clamoring for the next big thing in soccer. The next hot thing. Who’s to say that we’re not just what the public is looking for? To that end, we may be asking some of you to dye your hair.

Speaking of hot…it does seem like Sunday’s weather may be on the warm side. Let’s try to kick-off as close to our 8:30 start time as possible. Bring water. I suggest wearing sunblock. Please bring a white shirt and a dark shirt. Even in the summer, we can not all be on the white team. I am guessing that none of you will be wearing the ski pants that sometimes are worn when we play in the winter (and make it possible to track your movement by sound).

We play in hot weather every summer. I have played in hotter weather when I play in Virginia. We just need to be smart. Hydrate well all weekend. See you Sunday.

Lawrence

8:30 AM — We play at McCarthy Turf — Television rights still being negotiated

11:00 AM — USWNT plays The Netherlands in the final of the Women’s World Cup — Televised by Fox

9:00 PM USMNT plays Mexico in the final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup — Televised by Fox

I know that these posts can often be confused for the “Weather Channel”. But…it may or may not rain tomorrow. Sounds like every other day this year. However, there may be scattered thunderstorms. I will play in the rain. Being fairly tall, I tend to not play in thunderstorms. Or I stand next to someone taller. :~) That’s actually a joke. We have to be smart and leave the field if there is any thunder or lightening activity.

We are at McCarthy turf at 8:30 AM. If we have too many people, we should break into two games. But we can argue about that tomorrow.

Bring a white shirt and a dark shirt. Blah, blah, water bottle, blah, soccer ball, blah, blah, show up on time, blah, blah, etc.

See you there.

Lawrence

We are moving to the McCarthy Turf this week. Kick-off at 8:30. NOT 9:00. 8:30.

The earlier start time when we are on the turf helps us deal with the summer heat a bit better and helps us to secure the field. This will be the plan until the CYSA fields open back up.

CYSA has beautiful fields. One way that they keep them beautiful is to rest them when they can. This summer, they are resting all of them. We’ve played on the McCarthy Turf before. They’ll just be some adjustment of passing angles and weight of the pass to accommodate the fact that the ball moves much faster on turf. Sadly, I am not sure that I move faster on turf.

Weather is supposed to be warm on Sunday. Bring water. Really. White shirt and dark shirt too. Only goalkeepers can wear grey.

If, for any unexpected reason, we do not get the turf field, we set-up across Graniteville Road on the baseball field. Look for us there. However, the plan is: 8:30 kick-off at McCarthy.

Lawrence

Happy Father’s Day weekend. See you at Murphy for a 9:00 AM kick-off this Sunday.

Lawrence

Good game last week. Wasn’t quite as sunny as I’d been led to believe. Okay. It rained. No worries. I didn’t melt. Weather in New England is kind of tough to predict.

Wondering if some of you folks who are home for the long weekend might come and play. (Looking at you, Taylor.)

Hydrate today in anticipation of playing tomorrow. Bring water. Let’s have a good long game (or two). 9:00 AM at Murphy Field.

Bring white shirt and a dark shirt. If you wish to be the full-time goal keeper, you may wear grey. Ironically, my keeper shirt is grey and black. Joci, wore grey last week and stopped too many of my team’s shots.

Lawrence

Before we talk about mundane stuff — like shirt colors — I think that it is important to address the rumors. Always good to clear the air. It is true that two Sundays ago that I scored a goal. Actually, it was a good goal (although there are no such things as bad goals). Since I am not particularly known for such things, afterwards I joked (quipped really) that I felt that I could now give up soccer. Then, on a rainy Mother’s Day did not come to play. Some people have conflated these two events and inferred these to mean that I am done with soccer. Sorry. No such luck. I’m still standing tall. I’ll be haunting the fields for years to come. Who knows, I may even score another goal.

We should now be hitting our stride in mid-May. I feel optimistic that we’re in good form. The weather for Sunday is going to be pretty darned good. Dryer than it has been. Warmer than it has been. Good soccer weather.

I would love to see so many people out there on Sunday that we break into two full games. I look forward to seeing everybody at Murphy for a 9:00 AM kick-off. Please keep these details in mind:

• Usual shirt color guidelines
• Usual hydration guidelines
• Usual promptness guidelines
• Usual respect for the game guidelines
• Usual age guidelines

I hope that clarified everything.

Lawrence

Just play. My advice is not to make it a debate or a decision each week. “Sunday morning? That means I am playing soccer.” See how simple that is?

9:00 AM at Murphy Field.

We had a really good game last Sunday. Looking forward to seeing you all there. I am sure that Tony, our Outreach Coordinator, would love to see a good crowd on Sunday too.

Lawrence

Murphy at 9:00. Back field. White shirt, dark shirt, no grey shirt. Same as always. Bring water. Same as always. Somebody bring a properly inflated soccer ball. Same as always.

The weather forecast says that it may be raining all of Sunday morning (or not at all). I mean, I know that we really need the rain and have not had any. But I would prefer that it rains on Mondays. Use your best judgement on Sunday. If it is raining a lot, we don’t play on the grass fields. If it is light or intermittent rain, we generally play. No umbrellas on the field.

Lawrence

If we get to 24 players, we are sticking to our plan and splitting into two games. Last week we thought that people would leave because it was Easter. They didn’t. This week, be prepared. Smaller games mean more touches on the ball and more action.

If you arrive late, count the players on the field. If one team is down a player, join the other team. If the total is 23 and you would make 24, make that known so that we can split.

This Sunday is Greek Easter. I was going to suggest that we wear blue on one side and white on the other in honor of that. Then I remembered our long-term and on-going project to try to distinguish grey from other colors. So, perhaps asking for specific colors was a bridge too far. Keeping it simple: bring a white shirt and a dark shirt. Bring water. If you have a good, properly inflated ball, you may want to bring that too.

With all of the rain that we’ve had recently, I was afraid that we’d miss our game. The hourly forecast seems to indicate that it will stay dry between now and just after our game. Let’s see if our luck holds. Temps will be cooler than last week. So, no excuses not to run hard. Hope that we can start on time to get the game in before the weather changes.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Murphy for a 9:00 AM kick-off.

Lawrence

P.S. it was pointed out to me that last week’s post implied that some of you are getting old.