Spencer's Soccer - Part II

Here are a few of my notes from Spencer's first soccer game here in Germany. One thing I thought was great was how official he and his teammates looked out on the field. The uniforms, fully decked out with adds from the sponsors, team name and number on the back, etc. was very cool.

Entering the field

Entering the field part II

The warm-ups. Designated captain for the game has the armband.

Then the other item that was pretty cool was the ritual the teams did before and after the match. They lined up and shouted their team name at the other team, three times really loud. In America I remember doing this in a huddle as a team and not facing the other team directly. Maybe this is an ancient Germanic tribe thing. O.K., I'm just making that up, but it was worth noting as a difference from what I was accustomed to growing up.

Preparing for the Shout

The match was great fun and many of the kids already play some pretty sophisticated soccer, from what I can tell. One sign for me were the corner kicks, which were well placed. The other was that many of the defensemen knew that kicking the ball out of bounds was often a better option than continuing to fight the attacker for the ball. In other words, field position is important.

Lots of fun and it was great to watch Spencer out there.