Guest blogger, Marcia Griffith spent last weekend in New York at a soccer tournament. She also made a trip to the E.R. Read all about her experience below.

March 6, 2009

THE SEASON BEGINS

The juggling act begins! Two kids, both playing soccer can be a tricky one to manage. I purchased one of those full desk size calendars and have begun charting our season. Ok… one weekend here, one there… most games and tournaments are in different states…  My son has over 30 games scheduled, both in and out of state, tournaments and a handful of miscellaneous other opportunities to play between now and mid-July. My daughter is a little younger and thankfully her schedule may keep us closer to home with the exception of a couple of tournaments. Her dates with the turf are yet to be added to the color-coded puzzle. However, could we have been blessed that their practices are on the same days? Now this is a dream come true…. Its only the preliminary schedule but I’ve got my fingers crossed - hard!  Tricky scheduling aside, we absolutely love it! And its time to gas up the car!!

March 7, 2009

Ok…. We’re on the road. The season begins! Let’s open our wallets and see how much can bleed out of it in the coming months! Should I actually keep track ?  I dare not for fear I’d realize we’d probably be forgoing a dream vacation in exchange for the gas, hotels, food and cases of Gatorade that will permanently take residence in the car. I’m trading a chaise by the crystal blue waters for a stadium chair – hey, at least it has a cup holder! Ah… the season begins. We join the ranks of hundreds, no thousands, maybe even millions embracing the start of a new season! Coast to coast… the turf awakens and let the games begin!!!!

The car’s cleaned out and the bags are packed. We leave at 8a.m. and head to my son’s first official OUTDOOR game of the season. It’s a 5-hour drive to the Big Apple! Wow… finally…. We’re out of the indoor arena! Yipee…

There are other teams from NH also going to NY this weekend . The Nashua World Cup U14 boys as well as the Bedford Classics U15’s (maybe others that I don’t know about) will be on Long Island for a tournament. It’s a different event than where we’ll be so I’m sure the text messages will be flying with updates on how they all are faring against new competition.

March 9, 2009

And here I thought finding a Soprano’s style café in the middle of Queens was going to be the highlight of my weekend. Little did I know that 20 minutes into the first half my son would be gushing blood before he hit the ground…. Right in front of me.  A kid from the other team high kicked him from behind and caught his nose rather than the ball. Major ouch! Normally the thing to do would be to wait for the referee to come over, take a look and let the coach deal with it. But… it was obviously a bad hit and I wasn’t the only parent to fly off the bleachers and onto the field.  Not sure how long it took to get him off the field and the bloody mess under control but it all went smoothly and without panic. One mom rubbing his back, one mom applied ice, and another ran for blankets. A dad or two came over to check the damage but it was clear the maternal patrol was in charge. Kindly enough,  one of the dads from the other team escorted us to the nearest hospital, about a 10-minute drive. It took me longer to find street parking than the ride there. Thankfully another mom came with me and started checking him in so I could park. I’m also grateful my son is not an adult  - I’d still be in the waiting room. Yahoo for pediatrics!

As it turns out my son did not break his nose. He’s got two shiners and a not so handsome profile at the moment. I’m sure the bruising will evolved into a rainbow of color over the next couple weeks. He’s just thankful he’s not sidelined except for a doable recuperation period. Phew!

This is what I’ve learned from this experience…. It is important to know where the closest hospital is to where your kids are playing. Especially if you are going out of state.  I’m going to speak to our soccer club, Seacoast United, about making sure visiting teams know where to go if there’s an injury. I can not thank that dad enough for helping us the other night and I’m eternally grateful to him for forgoing watching his own son play in order to help us. I’m also grateful to my GPS for getting me back to my hotel.

On another quick note… while my son and I were out of town my daughter completed  her  ODP (Olympic Development Program) tryouts for the 1996 birth year. They will announce the roster in the next couple weeks as to who will represent our state in the upcoming regional tournament in June.  Now we have a nervous anticipation as to whether there are additional dates to add to our already colorful chart.

And this is only the beginning……

-Marcia Griffith

Tags: amherst, Marcia Griffith, mom, New York, NY, Soccer, tournament