Rec, select and refs, oh my!

We didn't win a game. Heck, we didn't even score a goal. But, we did our best under the circumstances. Our 11- and 12-year-olds hadn't practiced or played in about two weeks because our season ended with a rain out, but we got a call Thursday afternoon asking us to field a team to fill in for a select team that dropped out of the local tournament just two days away. We could play for free so the teams in the tourney wouldn't have to miss out on playing time.

So, minus our best keeper and our best forward - both 12-year-olds - we played with no subs the first game and only one sub the second and third games. The boys were frustrated, but they hung in there and did their best till the bitter end in each game. They played some of their best soccer of the season trying to keep up with these select 12-year-olds.

Ironically, our keeper is the shortest kid on the team. Our first string keeper is an almost 6-foot 12-year-old, but he lacks motivation and didn't want to play in the tournament.

My boy throwing in the ball and his best friend on the field. They've known each other since kindergarten and this is the first time they've played on the same team.

There, again, is Pickle and his buddy - the last line of defense.

He looks downright svelte compared to that big kid.

The coach of this team sent a nice email to the tournament coordinator about our little rec team putting up a good fight. That was nice of him.

The post-game talk was one the boys loved because Coach announced that he'd coach the team another year even though Pickle won't be playing.

Had to get the team mascot in there, too. Hot Rod would have loved to play in a game.