The Chelmsford Sunday Soccer Club's Blog

There are many things that Sunday morning soccer is easier than.

This week a boy scout on a camping trip awoke to find his leg in a bear’s mouth. Soccer is easier than that. The experiences of the Australians at the the battle of Culloden. Soccer is easier than that. Remembering the words to “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Soccer is easier than that. Heck. Soccer is easy.

Come to play soccer this Sunday morning. Wear a white shirt and bring a dark shirt. Or you can wear a dark shirt and bring a white shirt. Surely everyone will bring two shirts so we can balance the teams.

The weather may be unseasonably cool on Sunday. That sounds like perfect soccer weather to me.

9:00 AM kick-off at Harrington.

Even if there is not a post every week, please know that means that we are doing whatever we said in the last post. In this case, it means we are playing at Harrington starting sharply at 9:00 AM.

Do we play on Mother’s Day? Well, duh. We play on Fourth of July, Arbor Day, Father’s Day, Groundhog Day and any other day you can think of. We just don’t play on a grass field if it is wet.

Lawrence

First — The Soccer Part of our program:

The first two weeks of the season have gone well. We had 15 players come out to play last Sunday. That’s not quite enough players for a full field game. But good. Hopefully this week.

The last couple of Sundays have book-ended April school vacation. Easter, Greek Easter, Passover, Earth Day, and ANZAC Day have all happened in the last two weeks. Kind of hard for our soccer game to compete with all that.

The weather looks good for this Sunday. We are playing at the Harrington School in North Chelmsford. It has come to my attention that I may not have given enough direction to the Harrington for those who have never been there. Apologies. The Harrington is near the High School and the highway. It is two stories tall, made of brick and concrete. It has parking out front. Glad I could clear that up.

Bring a white shirt and a dark shirt. We kick off by 9:00 AM. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

—
Non-Soccer part of the post:

I am going to stray from soccer and bad jokes again.

Many of you know Vyach and his family. He played soccer with us for years and years. He coached Chelmsford Youth Soccer. His sons went to school with my sons. He’s lived right in the middle of Chelmsford for as long as I can remember. Chelmsford is his home.

But…Eastern Ukraine is his heart. His original home. He and his wife were born and raised there. I would imagine they are losing a lot of sleep these days.

Vyach tells me that the medical supplies he sent, and which some of us contributed to, have made it to their destination in Eastern Ukraine. He tells me that they are trying to get as many supplies in as possible because they anticipate being surrounded soon. They anticipate that the battlefield medical supplies will be needed. They will be used.

He greatly appreciates the contributions that we’ve made. I can tell that he hates to ask for more help. He’s asking for more help.

I have been thinking of how I would react if I knew that my home and community was being surrounded by the enemy. I am sure that there are conflicting emotions and instincts. Fight? Flight?

The Ukrainians have decided to defend their homes, their community, their country, and their way of life. But they are out-gunned and surrounded. It’s unfair. It’s uncalled for. They’re asking for help.

I’m posting the link to the wish list of battlefield medical supplies that Vyach is collecting up and getting to where they are needed. If you feel so moved, please think about contributing a bit. Share this link with those who might help.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2YC6XPBE5FJ2S

These are high-priority medical items – tourniquets are of the highest need. If you order off this list and specify shipment to my address (default if you order from the list, otherwise:

Vyach Mayorskiy
40 Parker Rd
Chelmsford, MA 01824

We will get them over to Donetsk region, Ukraine into the right hands.

Thank you very much for all your help and support!!

—

Lawrence

Considering that our first game of the year feel on a Sunday where there were multiple religious holidays and it was a bit cool out, I think that playing 6 v 7 was a good start. I am sure that we can build on that.

9:00 AM kick-off at Harrington. White shirt/dark shirt. No “Where’s Waldo” shirts and no grey shirts (other than for goal keepers.

Do yourself a favor and come early enough to have a long proper warm-up before kick-off. Avoid injury. Also, since Harrington can be seen from the street and the highway, we’ll appear to give the impression that we know what we’re doing if we are seen warming up.

If you are reading this on your phone, you should see animated fireworks emojis going off. I programmed those myself. Pretty proud of them.

This Sunday (April 17th) we resume playing soccer. We are playing at the fields at the Harrington School.

Please note that we are very protective of CYSA fields. So, we do not play on them if they are wet. But the weather looks good for us to get it going again this week.

A thanks to The Bruce for coordinating our field use with CYSA.

A few housekeeping items:

Anyone high school age and over can play as long as they are respectful of the people and the game.

When we don’t have people who want to play goal keeper, we take turns sharing the duty.

If you wear a grey shirt, you are the goal keeper for the whole game. Just sayin.

Bring a white shirt and a dark shirt so that we can balance (and sometimes re-balance) the teams. This makes it more fun for everyone.

I feel, deep in my bones, that we could — if we really wanted to — start the game at 9:00 AM. This means that the getting to the field, warming up, balancing the teams, and the cozy little catch-ups actually have to be done before 9:00 AM.

This does not mean that you should skip warming up. That leads to injury. Injury bad.

No coaching. I don’t care if you’re playing on the team with your kid. No coaching. Sure we coordinate with each other, but no coaching. This is a game where we often see players play positions other than where they play for their team. I actually encourage people to move around on the field.

We always find a way to make it work with the numbers and the people who show up. Soccer is a game. It is supposed to be fun. Come and play. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Lawrence

P.S. We got a nice thank you from Vyach for those of us who have been supporting his effort to send battlefield medic supplies to Ukraine.

I will post soon about our return to playing. We’re aiming at April 17th. But, I have something more important to talk about today.

Our old friend Vyach Mayorskiy is gathering battlefield medic supplies and getting them to his native Ukraine. My wife and I have ordered something off his Amazon wishlist. These items will be sent straight to Vyach and then he will get it into the right hands.

It is the most sobering wishlist I can imagine.

Ordering something off of it will help a little and perhaps save lives. I do not usually stray from waxing poetic about playing soccer, starting on time, the evils of grey shirts, and jokes that only I really find funny. Now would be a time where I would make some joke about how Dave B never really gets Vyach’s name right.

But, no jokes. Serious stuff here. The Ukrainians need every bit of help the world can give. So, if you can help, — even a bit — I think it would be good. The items that Vyach is sending are to save the wounded it at all possible.

Here is Vyach’s message.

---

“Second package is getting ready!! Keep them coming!!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2YC6XPBE5FJ2S

These are high-priority medical items – tourniquets are of the highest need. If you order off this list and specify shipment to my address (default if you order from the list, otherwise:

Vyach Mayorskiy
40 Parker Rd
Chelmsford, MA 01824

We will get them over to Donetsk region, Ukraine into the right hands.

Thank you very much for all your help and support!!

I will post soon about our return to playing. We’re aiming at April 17th. But, I have something more important to talk about today.

Our old friend Vyach Mayorskiy is gathering battlefield medic supplies and getting them to his native Ukraine. My wife and I have ordered something off his Amazon wishlist. These items will be sent straight to Vyach and then he will get it into the right hands.

It is the most sobering wishlist I can imagine.

Ordering something off of it will help a little and perhaps save lives. I do not usually stray from waxing poetic about playing soccer, starting on time, the evils of grey shirts, and jokes that only I really find funny. Now would be a time where I would make some joke about how Dave B never really gets Vyach’s name right.

But, no jokes. Serious stuff here. The Ukrainians need every bit of help the world can give. So, if you can help, — even a bit — I think it would be good. The items that Vyach is sending are to save the wounded it at all possible.

Here is Vyach’s message.

—————

“Second package is getting ready!! Keep them coming!!

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2YC6XPBE5FJ2S

These are high-priority medical items – tourniquets are of the highest need. If you order off this list and specify shipment to my address (default if you order from the list, otherwise:

Vyach Mayorskiy
40 Parker Rd
Chelmsford, MA 01824

We will get them over to Donetsk region, Ukraine into the right hands.

Thank you very much for all your help and support!!

8:30 AM at McCarthy this Sunday. If that is occupied, we can move to Graniteville (right across the street).

Saturday’s weather should thaw the ground. Sunday is supposed to be dry weather.

We’re at Murphy. 8:30 AM kick-off.

White shirt, dark shirt, no looking at your cell phone on the field, and let’s have some fun. We can talk about where we should play the December games. See you all at Murphy.

Tonight is the night where we “fall back” and reset the clocks. This gives you the potential to get an extra hour of sleep and puts us in danger of actually starting the game at 8:30 AM.

Not to be opinionated, but I think that Daylight Savings Time is a stupid idea. In my mind, it serves no useful purpose and I wish they would do away with it. Not to complain, but I also think that it is badly implemented and New England is in the wrong time zone anyway. Not to focus on the wrong thing, but I say that we move New England to the Atlantic Time Zone and then stop changing the clocks twice a year. I am not saying that I have relatives who never actually change their clocks. But, I have heard worse ideas.

I am glad that we had this talk about soccer. I hope to see everyone at Murphy Field for an 8:30 AM kick-off time.

Lawrence