Calfgrit8’s Soccer Team

Calfgrit8’s indoor soccer team has had some pretty interesting situations with their opponents. I’ve mentioned the first couple of games in a previous post. The team of 8 year olds were put in the 10 year old bracket, were beaten pretty hard a couple of times by larger kids, and then put in the 8 year old bracket and immediately won big against kids their own age and size.

Well, to add strangeness to the situation, the last few games in the 8 year old bracket have been against teams whose players weren’t all showing up. Our team has 10 players, (6 on the field at a time), and they’ve never had more than a couple at a time miss a game. But the last three games they’ve played, the other team couldn’t field more than 4 or 5. So our coaches loaned them some of our players to help out. Sadly, not only is almost half the opposing team on the field, our own players, but it’s really only our own players who actually play hard.

Our team has won every game by a very wide margin, (like 12-2), or with a complete shutout, (like 10-0). When the other team manages to get the ball going towards our goal, (going on the offensive), it’s always our own players doing the drive. The other team players rarely cross the half-field line. What the hell? I’m not talking about this is just one team, but every team our kids play is like this. It looks like our team is the only one who gets coached, practices, or even seems care about playing. Yes, the other kids do play and get into the game, but they aren’t aggressive. They almost always hang back in defense, just trying to kick the ball away more than trying to drive the ball offensively.

We parents in the bleachers watching the game end up cheering and rooting as much for the other team as we do our own. We shout encouragement when the other team goal keeper stops a shot. We congratulate the other team when they drive the ball down field toward our goal. (Granted, the ones driving are usually our own kids.) I’ve watched the other teams’ parents several times, and none of them seem to get excited about the game. That’s pathetic and sad. I really don’t know even what to think about this.

Bullgrit