Season Opener

Menlo Park, CA - It's ironic that we had one of the coldest Summer's on record, but when it's time to play the Soccer season opener, temperatures rose to the high 90's. Water breaks were frequent, for fear we may lose a player or two! Thankfully no one was lost to heat exhaustion, only to the jungle gym adjacent to the field.

Coach Bill gave some encouraging words for the first timers, "The most important thing to remember today is to have fun!" When he asked the team if they had anything to say, his son replied, "Let's cwush them!" To which Coach Bill said, "That's not funny! We're here to play a good game."

The Under 6 format has changed a bit since 1980. The days of 22 players running toward the same goal are long gone. The field is broken into quadrants, and each team is divided into 4 teams of 3 players. The games are 30 minutes, with 3 vs. 3, and one fresh sub.

No score is officially recorded, only by the 5 year olds. I won't lie, it's competitive out there. On one field the Sharks did indeed "CRUSH" the other team. The score was 10 to 1. (According to the official score keeper, Nathan Willbanks) It may have been higher, but the score keeper can't count that high!

It was an encouraging start to the season. No laces were left untied, all uniforms were found, (in the nick of time), and only one person showed up at the wrong field! When questioned about the field mix up, Nathan Willbanks said, "Mom, you're the coach, aren't you supposed to know that?" To which his mother replied, "Hey, who remembered your water jug?"

A special thank you to the photgrapher. It's understood that the photos aren't award winning, but you did manage to convince your two year old that he wasn't one of the offical players.