A tough weekend...

So here is the general overview of what happened over the weekend at the soccer tournament. I'll start with my U13s. In our first game, we came up against an extremely good side and lost 5-0. However, that was the score at half time and, therefore, we performed a lot better in the second half and even could have won the half (so it ended 0-0 in the second half, which was pleasing for me). In the next game, we performed brilliantly and really should have won. However, and I hate to say this, the opposition team cheated. Yes, cheated. We were winning 1-0 with roughly 20 minutes to go and suddenly this random person (as tall as me!) shows up on the opposition's bench, puts a shirt on, and jogs on to the field as part of a substitution. You should have seen the face expressions of my players - they thought some sort of mutant entered the field! Anyway, this ridiculously tall and massive man, who clearly was not under 13 years of age, goes and scores two goals and they win the match 2-1. When their second goal was scored, I entered the field and asked the referee if he seriously believed that guy was under 13. He just mumbled something about the player's card. Believe me, it is very easy to forge one of those player cards. So I was very upset after the match and so were my players - they did not deserve that.

In our final game, again, we played very well but just could not score - so the match ended 0-0. After thinking about it, we could have easily reached the semi-finals. Unfortunately, luck was not on our side. But I am happy because I am seeing constant improvement in the players' displays on the field. The team that cheated got to the final and a smile was brought to my face when I heard they got smashed 5-0 by the team we first played. Maybe justice does exist after all.

Now - my U10s. It's going to be tough to talk about them as I feel very, very bad for them. The first day we did okay - losing one and winning the other. However, things turned ugly on the second day where we lost both matches 9-0 and 8-0. First impressions will say that my team is not very good. However, I'd tell you straight away that is simply not the case. The team we lost 9-0 to was on another planet. They were beating everyone 9 and 10-0. I'll be the first to admit that my team consists of very small players - apart from one maybe. At this age, when you have kids who are tall, strong, and fast, it makes a huge difference and that is what we had to come up against over the weekend. Things were made worse for us when the tournament scheduling had us playing a game straight after the 9-0 loss. Understandably, the players were tired and deflated - therefore we lost heavily. Yes, they gave up but I would have done the same if I was out there playing. It is human nature.

I'll tell you something now. My U10 players are very talented. In two or three years time, they will have grown and that will help them - a lot. I just hope they do believe they are good soccer players. I have practice with them tonight and will have a good talk with them all. So, as the title of this entry suggests, it was quite a tough weekend. But, we can all learn from it and get better, which we will.