Competitive Soccer Season

Mark got together with fellow soccer dad, Justin (Austin's father), to upgrade their previous Fruitland rec all-stars team into an actual traveling competitive team. It was a lot of work. Up front, they had to recruit a full team plus subs worth of interested kids and parents. But more than that, they had to get signed up with a league (IYSA) and dot all the i's and cross all the t's, order uniforms, arrange for a local field for practices and a different one for home games, etc. Hooray for them, they pulled it off!

Practices started way back in the cold of late February. Our season opener was an away game against a Middleton team on March 2nd. We dominated with a final score of 10-1 with the goals spread out amongst nine of the teammates, Isaac being one of them. Definitely set an optimistic tone for the season.

The next game was at the Simplot fields in south Boise against the Mountain Home Strikers. Another big win for us, 8-3.We had a couple of bye-weeks after that, but filled one with a "friendly" against a team in Emmett, which we won 7-3. Isaac scored another goal! Trad broke his wrist during a freak accident at a practice. He played most of the season with a bubble-wrapped cast.

Happily, the next two Saturdays in a row were home games. Unhappily no ref appeared the first Saturday. That one was against a mixed-age Middleton team (some 12 yr olds), this time finding us out matched with a 2-4 loss. Our goalie this game, Roger, was amazing - saving probably at least 5 good shots from going in and keeping us tied up until the last three minutes when unfortunately two goals snuck past him. The other home game was a return to winning, another goal for Isaac, and final score of 7-3 versus Nampa Arsenals.

We traveled to Nampa the following week to play the Nampa Select team, we scored a penalty early on. Unfortunately that was our only goal. Final score 3-1. Saw brother-in-law Greg with his sons/Isaac's cousins, in the parking lot after our game. Too bad we were starving for lunch or we'd have hung around to cheer them on.

 

Playing Crossfire Red in Caldwell next was frustrating because no official ref showed up (again), which got the game started very late. Tie result of 3-3, with Gregorio scoring all three of our goals. The next week we played the Caldwell Silver at home and crushed them 11-2. Isaac scored one of those 11 goals, he had four for the season (and many more fouls, heheh).

Our final game was held May 4th, back in Boise against Mountain Home United (12 yr olds), the undefeated, #1 ranked team in our league. We played our very best, taking the early lead, but they won in the end, 6-4.

Coaching was not easy. Mark and Justin spent a lot of time on the phone with each other and put their hearts into every practice and on the sideline of every game. Managing boy testosterone, young child feelings, teaching team spirit and good sportsmanship, coming up with diverse drills, trying to improve the kids' skills, rotating positions and minutes playing - it was tough! But totally worth it. The season wouldn't have been the same without the additional help of soccer dad (of Kaulin) Jared (head coach of TVCC mens soccer team) who not only helped with several practices, but was the ref of those couple of games in a pinch, as well as sideline judging several matches.

Here's the team photo I took before our last home game.

Back Row: Mark, Justin, Austin, Wesley, Anthony, Tanner, Marcus, Roger, Logan, and Jared

Front Row: Sam, Kaulin, Gregorio, Isaac, Trad, Weston, Kade