Wonderful day. Started at about 5:30am getting kids up to leave for soccer at 6:30. 45 minute drive to get to tournament by 7:15, first game at 8am. Great game! Ended in 7 to 7 tie after we had been up 3 to 0 in first five minutes. Small problem in that the ref had the match scored 7 to 6 in our favor. Some parents were fine with that pointing out that the ref's score is final. I disagree. Those kids on the other team played hard and were every bit as successful as our team was and just simple fairness says we should insist the ref be over-ruled (if that's even possible). Besides, what does that teach our kids if we don't stand up for what we know and the other team know is right? Overall, though, great game with awesome kids.
Second game had us blowing out the opposition. It can be hard to watch, but we understand very well. Our kids were the ones on the receiving end of that treatment a couple years ago. They've put in alot of hard work and it shows. So, with the Saturday game we officially ended 3 for 3 with two blow outs. Every one of our boys scored and played good, clean soccer. (One of the dads got a new high-speed camera on Saturday and got some great action shots of my son soon to be e-mailed. My son LOVES that kind of stuff.)
After our games, we stayed to cheer on our 8 year old team. Now THAT is a soccer team. Unbeaten, unstoppable, unrelenting, and unapologetic. Seriously. Up and down that roster are kids that simply LOVE to play, day in and day out. Watching them on the field, you would swear that they had been playing together for 5 years already. They don't talk alot, they just know where their team mates are going to be and trust them to be there. Fun to watch.
After 9 hours baking in the sun, three sweaty kids, one bloody nose (my six year old kept his eye on a baseball a little too long) we stopped at some friends house on the way home for a cook-out. 9:30 home, bed, sleep. Yep. Wonderful day.