As many of you know, late October is a busy time for soccer teams. Seasons are winding down, team are jostling for position in the standings, and getting ready for end of season tournaments, etc. Coaches are working their teams hard trying to get them hitting on all cylinders. Needless to say, the coaches can be a bit stressed out. So we wouldn’t be doing our civic duty if we made it any easier for them.

Case in point. My son’s U10 travel team is doing well this season and they’re getting ready for their end of season tournament. They lost a squeaker this afternoon 3-2 thanks to some amazing corner kicking by their opponent. No joke, this is U10 – one of this team’s corners ROLLED along the cross bar before our keeper swatted it away. Anyway, after the game, one of the players had a birthday party. At a BMX bike track. Um yeah, lets take a bunch of energetic boys, strap helmets on their heads, and get them cycling over ramps, berms, jumps and around sharp 45 degree banked turns at breakneck speed. No worries right? Their coach was nervously rocking back and forth on his feet trying to make conversation. Then a couple of them, living up to their “Hey y’all – watch this!” roots, decide to LIE DOWN on one of the ramp plateaus for their teammates to jump over them. This is why I drink. I thought we were going to have to get their coach some oxygen.

The good news is they escaped the event with only a few bumps and bruises and their coach only lost consciousness twice. All in all a fun day.