Artist of the Week: Best Team Ever

Group hug, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

This past weekend I was in Virginia Beach with Rebecca for her last soccer tournament of the season. It was miserable weather, cold and rainy with the threat of an ice storm for the ride home. Not exactly beach weather and just barely soccer weather.

The first game was brutal. It was at 8:00 am with a cold, driving rain and the temperature at about 38 F. The fields were soaked, puddles and squelchy turf being the order of the day. Our team was on one of the better, if not the best, fields. The one next to us quickly turned into a vast mud pit. I was grateful for my duck boots and having the foresight to bring our boot dryer for Rebecca's cleats. The game was a struggle with the other team dominating us and ultimately beating us 2 to 8.

We came back in the afternoon to no more rain and the temps hovering at about 40. So it was marginally better, if you ignore the stiff wind. The girls played very well. Unfortunately the game ended in a tie. So the girls were cold, wet, tired, and happy for the good effort they put in the the second game. While at dinner we discussed the change in format for the next day. With the threat of an icestorm to the west the tournament organizers decided to speed things up so that people could go home and beat the storm. The remaing games would be penalty kick shootouts.

Sunday dawned grey and very wet. The temperature hadn't changed much and it was still raining. The team warmed up on the field as we waited for the shootout to begin. We have an excellent goalie on the team  giving us a bit of hope for a win. Sadly it didn't happen and we lost 3 to 1. Our goalie was devastated, tears running down her face, she felt that she had let the team down,

Then something wonderful to watch happened. Unprompted,  the girls started to give the goalie hugs. Soon it was one huge group hug. Tears were soon dried when the goalie realized that nobody blamed her for the loss. What a terrific bunch of girls. They want to win, but they also care about each other. This is the best team ever.