Chapter 5: Tournament Weekend

I kept up my schedule through the end of the school year. Since I didn't have a girlfriend to spend any time with, I kept on running, with and without a soccer ball. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I worked with Davey, Kip, and Justin before the Warriors practices. I wasn't sure how productive these sessions were, but we had fun goofing around in the park, at least. And, at that age, any time spent working the ball was time well spent for a kid who wanted to be a better player.

The recreational leagues played through the first weekend of June, so I was kept very busy on Saturdays and Sundays until our summer break. During the second weekend of June, there was a huge tournament in a nearby community, and Bill had sent in our entry. The tournament was for recreational teams only, all age groups. All the teams played three games on Saturday, each one lasting forty minutes. All the games started at the same time, with an air-horn blast from the scorer's tent broadcasting the starting and stopping times. The top four teams in each age group would be invited back for playoffs on Sunday. The organizers used a version of tournament scoring. Goals scored were only part of the way a team accumulated tournament points. Teams were awarded three points for a win, zero points for a loss, and one point for a tie. In addition, teams were awarded one point for each goal scored, up to a maximum of three points. If a team shut out their opponent, they accrued two additional points. Finally, the referees working any game, at their option, could award one more point to any team that displayed, in their opinion, outstanding sportsmanship and fair play. The maximum number of points a team could win in a game was nine, by winning a game by a score of at least 3-0 (three points awarded for the win, three for goals, two for a shutout, and one for sportsmanship). The top four teams in each division, the teams with the most points after the three Saturday games, would play two more games on Sunday. The winners of the semi- finals would advance to the championship game, and the losers would play a consolation game.

The community's soccer organization set up fifteen soccer fields around town, ranging from small fields, not much bigger than the width of a regular field, for the little kids, all the way up to full- sized fields at the schools for the older kids. The organizers also required each team entering the tournament to supply one referee, to be assigned games not involving their own teams. I agreed to be our team's designated referee, so I would be there all day Saturday, running from game to game to game.

Wendy Marcus, Justin's mom, arranged for a team party at their house for Sunday afternoon, win or lose. They had a swimming pool in their back yard, complete with a slide and a diving board, and the boys were just as excited about the party as they were about the tournament.

There were fourteen teams in our division, but only three of them were teams in our rec league, so we weren't familiar with any of our scheduled opponents. The Eagles, our only loss of the season, were also entered in the tournament, but if we played them, it would only be because we had both made the playoffs. We had a lot of work to do before we could even begin to think about it.

Our first game was at nine o'clock on Saturday morning. Our team was assembled and anxious to play twenty minutes early, and we watched the last few minutes of the game ahead of ours. It was an under- twelve girl's game, and the hometown team was winning by a score of 3- 1 when the final whistle blew. We organized our Warrior Warm-up Shuffle, while at the same time our opponents were running laps around the field, without balls, as their warm-up.

We started Devon in goal. Ever since our loss to the Eagles, he had taken on more of a leadership role for our defense while he was on the field, to the point where he really didn't want to play a forward position at all. Bill and I agreed that he was effective and comfortable staying on defense for the entire game, so there was no point in forcing him to play up. Besides, even when he wasn't in goal, he helped the other defensive players maneuver on the field, proving his proficiency.

And he was very effective during that first game. He moved his defenders around so efficiently that he only had to make one easy stop the entire half he played in goal. His midfielders, sweeper, and fullbacks stopped every other threat on our side of the field. We ended up winning easily, 4-0. Eight points for the Warriors went on the giant scorecard at the central scorer's table.

Right after our game ended, I had to jog over to another field to referee my first game of the day, an Under-Six boy's game on a half- sized field. Each team had about twenty-five players, so there were a lot of substitutions being made by both sides, on every available throw-in. It almost seemed like there was more standing-around time, waiting for players to either get on the field or get off after being subbed, than there was actual playing time, but eventually the game progressed as much as it could, considering that it was Munchkin Swarmball at its ugliest. To almost nobody's surprise, the game ended up tied, 0-0.

The Warriors had another game at noon, and I got there just in time. Bill had already set the lineup, and the boys knew the routine by now, so I got to sit back and relax during the second game, chatting with Lori and Wendy and some of the other parents as our boys romped to a second shutout, 6-0. Even though this was a tournament, Bill still pulled one of our players after our fourth goal, in the interest of fairness. He promised the boys that he would play them at full strength again if the other team scored on us while we were down one player, but that was never necessary. Because of this sportsmanlike gesture, our team was awarded an extra point for fair play. We now had tallied seventeen points, and were looking good for returning on Sunday. A tie or a win would land us in the playoffs.

Our last game was at four o'clock in the afternoon. We took all the boys out for a good, relaxing lunch at a nearby pizza parlor, and let them run riot in the little game arcade that was there. By the time we got back to the field, around thirty minutes before the game was to begin, they were starting to tire a little. They were easily distracted, more into goofing off than getting ready to play soccer. They really didn't want to go through the Warrior Warm-up Shuffle, so we were a little disorganized when the referee came over to inspect our shoes and shin guards.

We sent our starting lineup onto the field, and within a few minutes after the opening whistle blew, the carbs and sugar from lunch finally kicked in, and the boys began to run and play their game again. Bill and I discovered, however, that their stamina was short by this third game, so we found ourselves keeping a close eye on everybody, substituting much more often than we normally did, and making sure the smaller kids got a little more rest before shuffling them back into the game. We won the game, but it wasn't pretty. The final score was 3-1.

Everybody went home exhausted. Bill promised to call everyone when he found out what time we would be playing the next day. I hoped it wasn't going to be an early game. I was supposed to referee the first playoff game for the Under-Six boys on Sunday, at ten in the morning, and I really wanted to sleep in a little.

By the time I got home and out of the shower, there was a message for me from Coach Bill. Our semi-final game was at eleven, against the Eagles. The championship game and the consolation game would be played simultaneously at two o'clock, giving all the teams a chance to grab some lunch before playing. I silently gave thanks to whichever soccer god was watching over me this particular weekend, and was asleep almost before my head hit the pillow.

The next morning, Lori and Davey and Kip picked me up in plenty of time for my early game. It was going to be sunny and fairly hot. I had a small cooler full of ice and water for myself, and I was glad to see that Lori had packed a large, wheeled cooler full of drinks for the team. The Warriors were assembled and ready to play a couple of fields over from me, and as my game was finishing up, I could see Coach Bill working the Warm-up Shuffle with the crossing passes. He wanted them ready against the team that handed us our only loss of the season.

By the time I got over there, the boys were warmed up and enthusiastic about playing. Bill put together what he considered to be his strongest starting lineup, with Devon in goal, Davey in the center at midfield, Kip to his left, Justin playing right defender, and Joey at forward.

"Defenders!" he called out. "Listen for Devon's instructions, guys. He's your captain out there. And Justin? Stay close to that fast kid whenever he's in your zone, whether he's got the ball or not. All the defenders keep an eye out for him. If he's in your lane and zone, I want you to stick like glue to him. If he zigs, you zig. If he zags, you zag. Try to stay in his way as much as you can, okay? The other defenders will try for the ball. You just keep him covered so they can't pass to him."

"Anytime he stops running," I added, "lean your shoulder on his. Let him know you're there. Just make sure you stay between him and our goal. You don't want him getting a head start on you. Maybe this way, we can keep him from getting a breakaway chance on us."