Vegas, Baby! Vegas!

It's been another crazy couple of weeks! Last week, we were getting ready to prepare for a weekend up in Vegas. No - not for gambling - but for a soccer tournament. This was my first time to play here, but apparently, it's some huge annual event - there are brackets for womens over 30, over 40, over 50 and yes, even over 60. How cool is that?! I was really flattered to be asked to go, because a good number of these girls played college in soccer. The main core is the team I used to play with on Sunday afternoons last year - and they're the best quality team I've ever played with, as far as soccer skill and teamwork (last fall, we dominated the 7x7 division and were undefeated). Here we are at the end of the first day. We played 3 games on Saturday (windy! hot! horrible fields! bad refs!) and one game on Sunday. After everybody played 4 games, the points were calculated (based on wins, goals scored and shut-outs) and the standings posted. Unfortunately, we didn't make the cut to advance but we placed 6th out of 30 teams. Considering that we (half the team, that is) hadn't played together in at least 3 months - I think that was a pretty respectable finish! We'll have to see if I'm asked to go next year... I'm the second oldest one on the team...

Daddy Dude and the girls went up with me, even though Daddy Dude had to fly out of there on Saturday night to catch a plane out to Miami for a conference. He had fun male bonding with some other husbands/fiances while the girls had a blast playing with their usual soccer buddies. Yes, they have a core crowd of girlfriends and it's nice, because then the kids WANT to go to their mothers' soccer games. :) Afterwards, it was a long and agonizing 4.5+ hour drive back from Vegas all by myself. We were home for about 5 minutes before hopping back into the car to try and make another soccer game in MoVal. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it) - the other team did not even show up so we won by forfeit. I guess it's better than losing but still, what a waste of gas when they didn't even have the courtesy to call in advance!

Last night, my team played in the championship (last week we won in a shoot-out!) and won. Yay! It wasn't a great game, considering the other team was short a couple of players (it's 6x6) and we've never been able to beat them when they were full-strength. Still, a win is a win and we are looking forward to receiving our champion T-shirts. Go, Challengers! Yes, there are youngsters on this team - you are allowed two under the age of 30. It's nice to play with them but tough to play against them. Really, it's amazing to see youth in action and in hindsight. Why didn't we all appreciate our good health, fitness and vivaciousness when we had it?! Now, it's just so much more hard work to achieve it. =P

I know a lot of people don't understand why Daddy Dude and I like to play our sports so much. Part of it is... we weren't allowed to play these sports growing up (my parents were terrified I'd break my fingers and never be able to play the piano again) and part of it is, it's such a fun way to stay in shape. It's one of the few times I can be without the kids hanging onto me and honestly - I feel free, fit and young at heart. I hope I'm still playing when I'm over 60!