Soccer in the Sand

We spent the weekend in Coronado again. This time Isabella played a little beach soccer. The leagues usually kick of the tournament season with some beach soccer to get the kids fired up for fun. When 10 year old girls play beach soccer they pretty much throw all the rules out the window. It's a smaller sized "field" with large nets, a beach soccer ball and dragging your feet through 10 pounds of sand with every step. On the 2 fields that Isabella's team played on there was a HUGE hold on her side in game one and then on the next field there was a severe slope down the whole length of the field.

The sand soccer game is played 5v5 with additional goalies for each team. There are only 3 qtrs and each qtr is 11 minutes. Isabella's coach broke the entire team up into 2 separate teams so that the girls would have ample playing time. The only problem with that is that the girls get tired easy and if you're playing against teams that didn't split into 2 they can sub out their entire team every 3 minutes...which they did. And sand soccer can sometimes look a little like hockey in the sand for 10 year olds...these girls are tough competitors.

G99B playing for FC Murrieta is a new team. Most of the girls that were on this team moved up last year and the coach is new to coaching club soccer as well. So, the last 3 months since we moved up from G00 has been a learning experience for everyone. Many of our players were recruited from recreational teams and only 3 girls have played club soccer in the past. The parents are new to tournament style play and the commitments involved in club soccer. This weekend was a bonding and conditioning opportunity for everyone.

We didn't win anything. As a matter of fact our teams came in last and second to last. We scored goals...just not as many as the other teams. We played hard defense and we had fun. On Saturday after the games, we had a beach BBQ and played 2 more hours of sand soccer (parents and coaches and siblings against the players), everyone was tired and laughing at the end of the day.

This morning all these girls got up early and went and played their consolation game as if it was the championship. We could have gone home and said forget it. But, we didn't and we played hard and we only lost by 1 goal in each game. Then we had some more fun playing in the water and collecting shells and laughing some more.

Isabella played some of the finest and toughest soccer I've seen her play in a long time. And, although there's pressure on her to play well 100% of the time I reminded her today that she should be proud. I reminded her that when I was 9 years old I didn't play any sport and I certainly didn't play anywhere near the level that she does. So, although, she's feeling bad about loosing, she should hold her head high because she is 10 thousand times better than I ever dreamed of being at 9 years old...and that's the FACT! Her skill and ability constantly amaze me and I'm so proud of her no matter what medals and trophies she brings home. She scored 5 goals in 3 games this weekend. She played forward (which is her favorite position) and her 5 goals counted for almost half of the total goals her team scored. That's not shabby at all!