This weekend we had our first “sleep away” tournament. On Friday night we made it down to the Sideways Inn in Santa Ynez. The boys hitched a ride with their friends and when I finally arrived after work, they were all hopped-up on the excitement of roaming the halls of a motel and running in and out of various rooms.
Saturday morning we hit the pitch bright and early. One of the best things was driving past a field of ostriches in the early morning frost, fog hanging in the air. When we got to the field, Robbie recounted Kai’s fortune cookie from the night before: Visualize the win.
Our first game was against Paso B. The grass was frozen. But we turned up the heat and won the game 7-0.
Our second game was against Santa Ynez who knocked us into fourth last weekend. Nate scores a hat trick. He soars back to the kick-off line after every goal, running like the wind. The opposing team changes jerseys at half and mentally rallies, scoring three before Nate puts in the fourth. Fortunately, the Stars held them for our second win.
Unfortunately, by late afternoon we didn’t seem to have much left in the tank. We lost our third game to 5 Cities. We probably would have been a good match against them had it been earlier in the day. The boys seemed more excited about swimming and the hot tub back at the hotel.
Last night we had a big team pasta dinner at the Flying Flags resort next door. It was the perfect location with a soccer field, outdoor heaters, and fairy lights. The boys turned the bocce courts into a futsal court, resulting in a muddy match. Everyone ended the night looking like they’d rolled in powdered sugar donuts in their black warm-ups.
This morning we headed back to the fields after a perfect late breakfast in Solvang. Unfortunately we had to play our own SLO A team, seated in first place. They scored a bunch against us, but it seemed to be less than against any other team they’d played so far. Nate took a finger to the eye, but carried on.
Our final game was against Lompoc. Before the game started, I could hear the coach talking to his team. “Number 8. Do you see number 8? He’s their best scorer. He’s fast and he’s got a big kick. We’re going to play two guys on him.” Uh oh. They’ve got Nate’s number.
We play hard. There’re many up’s and down’s. We’re up 2-1. Nate and Bradley both score. Then Lompoc comes back and puts another one in. In the final quarter, Cayden shoots, it bounces around and Nate crashes the net– blasting it in and leaping over the goalie. The crowd goes wild! He sails back to the halfway line.
On the drive home Nate passes out face forward in his booster seat, his third place medal cradled safely in his lap.