Living in the upper parts of ‘The South’ exposes you to some really freaky weather. No joke – yesterday it was 73F outside. I was pouring cement in a t-shirt and shorts. This morning, it snowed. The temperature has dropped 40 degrees in 18 hours and will drop even further tonight.

Since it was so warm yesterday and most of the week, the roads and the ground were still fairly warm and the roads were fine. So what’s a dedicated soccer nut to do? Practice!!! We headed out to the fields at 9AM for round one (daughter’s U8) and it was flurrying. By the time that practice was over, it was a mix of snow and sleet. Then around 11AM (son’s U10), it switched to all snow. The kids had a blast scrimmaging in a fairly heavy snowfall of huge flakes. Everyone had hoodies on and stayed fairly dry. I swear there were U6 teams out on the fields whooping it up and having a ball.

Of course, this wasn’t good enough. We have a regular coaches pickup game at noon every Saturday and today was no exception. By then the snow was really coming down and even sticking on the grass a little. You’d be amazed how badly your cleats grab on turf with a little snow on it (and I mean a little – the ground wasn’t even white – just bits of snow here and there) And forget about ball control – enough slush stuck to the ball to make it interesting to kick reliably. We had a blast!

I don’t think my cleats will ever dry out. My mother in-law has a dog she pampers and has a double barrel hair dryer on a stand. Makes drying out the cleats a lot easier! They get too beat up in the clothes dryer.

So now I can say I’ve played soccer in the snow. Should be good enough for a few years – next time I’m staying in with some hot coffee and a good book!
That is if the kids will let me – they had way too much fun.