Day 37

Day 37.

Communicare action soccer league time! Week 3.

It was a lovely day today, approximately 36c, sun shining and clear blue sky. Nothing could make it better than playing some football!! We met Joe at Goodwood station, drove to his and then swiftly made our way to the Italian club to get the first set of fixtures going! It was my team bothasig up first! I coached them, with the help of a woman called Tracey, to a 6-5 win! The boys are improving each week and it's clear to see! They are now joint top if I'm correct in my calculations. The two stand out players that I have to mention is Liam and Justin. Liam is big for a 13 year old in terms of height and he really commands the team well in a constructive manner. We play a formation of 1-2-1 with Liam at the back and if I could give a captains Arm band to him.. I would! He works really hard and is a massive team player. Secondly, Justin aka Messi is so so talented! He wears his Barcelona strip every time and he even looks Spanish. He has longish hair like Lionel Messi did when he first started out for Barcelona so I guess that ,along with the kit, is the reason we call him Messi. If I could take a boy back to Arsenal and say he could be a star.. It would be him! He does tricks and flicks in all the right places and has such quick feet! Nice kid too. Up next was the senior team of Bothasig who were playing Woodstock. Woodstock have a player who has played for South Africa in the homeless World Cup and he also plays for All Stars Soccer Club who we've coached before. A really talented player much like the whole team! I took myself off at half time after feeling the effects of long street kicking in or in other words "Take me off, the hammy's are feeling a bit tight." My contribution to the first half was 2 shots (one hitting the post and the other being tipped over by the keeper) and a silky run with two nutmegs! We were 3-0 down at half time and the game finished 5-2 so arguably they did better without me!

In the latter stages of the afternoon I played in another game where I quickly formed a team to play against Ruyterwacht, seeing as Sohco didn't fancy turning up. That game finished 6-6 and to be fair it was a very intense, well battled match. I contributed a bit more that game.. Scoring 5 of our 6 goals.

Today's session was eventful! The weather really effected the stamina levels of everyone. We had a couple phones and bags go missing and a fight between two players of their own team which was a shame but in terms of the way the tournament went itself.. It went swimmingly. The fixtures were all on time and everyone got a game even if their opponents didn't turn up.

Jeff and I are very tired but we're gonna hit mixa's tonight to skype some family and check our emails etc. Plus we need to buy some bread for tomorrow's breakfast. Tomorrow we're going to church believe it or not. We both really want to experience a typical South African church so Joey invited us kindly to spend our Sunday with him to attend a fellowship. Not sure what that means! Should be good fun though.

All the best

Luke

(This post is for Saturday 15th Feb)