Day 1 Skagit Labor Day Kicks Tournament

Well, day 1 came to end...I was way too tired to write last night. It was a long day on top of staying for a 3rd game for Chelsea, Shauna and Paul's daughter. I'm pleased to say that I think for only the second time in the last 4 years of playing academy that we actually won a game in these types of tournaments. We're an academy team, not quite select but not recreation and this tournament is select. We played against a Whatcom developmental/select team and won 3-2, they were more along the lines of our level of playing which was nice. We probably could have scored more, but it was an exciting game. They played very well. Kyle's skills are improving dramatically. Shauna watched part of the game and she even said from last season, they looked really good and Kyle did an awesome job. He played defender and is telling me that's the position he really likes. I would have loved to see him in forward and he is alternating between the two, but how can any kid have a chance when you have the same little super star who dominates the position, although he is fast? Defender seems to suite Kyle and he is getting better. Kyle is doing a great job of trapping the ball now and he seems to be making ever kick count. He was very consistent and and effective in his playing yesterday.

His second game was a little different, it was a Whatcom Select team, they were little and fast as hell! Every time we would get the ball, they were all over it! You couldn't turn around without having them all over you. They played dirty and even though we had terrible calls, really bad calls, they had off sides called on them all the time. It was a tough game, not as good as the first, but we took a few of them out and made them work hard even though the score was 1-5. The most important goal for our team about half way through the game was just score one point for us so they didn't get 10 points for the game because of a shut out! They did that to the last team which put them way in front as the lead. I suspect this team should have been playing Gold division not Silver, but wahtever, some will that to boost their ego's. The team that Whatcom Select shut out yesterday is our game today so it will be interesting to see if we can keep ourselves in second place, we don't really know what to expect. Kyle had some good plays, but he was on the opposite side of the field from where the playing was happening for this game. Our keeper notoriously kicks to the right and that's where the ball always was. Kyle was on the left. Sadly he was way too predictable for this team. They figured out right away how to play off our keepers kicks and since most of the game was on our side, the keeper was staying busy. Hopefully our coach noticed that. I think we need to work on that. thankfully, the keeper blocked a huge amount of shots even after that battled with the defenders, so it could have been so much worse than it was. Our keeper kept going even after being deliberatly kicked in the chest by the other team...first yellow I've seen in all our years of play. Shouldn't have been, but at least this ref knew what he was doing - at least at that point he did! Can I just say Skagit refs are terrible - there I've said my peace.

Well, I guess we need to get going...wish us luck today! More notes and pictures to follow. I kind of hope we can go to the playoffs, that would be a first for this team and this is a Select tournament. Although, I wouldn't mind having the day off either! LOL