Beach Soccer!

walking to our bus as we leave the beach


these 9-year-olds beat us!

The beach, from where we arrived
(Thanks Greg for the pictures)

Whew. What a day. We just got home from one of our two long days, so there’s plenty to tell you. The number one thing you need to know is that it is HOT and HUMID here, and today was the hottest and most humid day yet. When everyone left the hotel on the bus today, it was already too warm for most of the adults, and even a few of the girls. Fortunately, the bus that the Sanvino and Trebol players, coaches and a couple of parents rode on had AC; the rest of the Trebol gang followed in vans. We had a beautiful ride from Arao to the beach – this part of Japan is much more rural than I expected. You would have been amazed at the size of the bamboo growing here, the number of cranes, herons and other wading birds, and the paper bags hanging from the fruit trees. Yes, you read right – the farmers enclose each piece of fruit in paper bags to protect them from insects. Talk about organic farming! Anyway, the lush hills were a nice contrast to the ocean. I spent the ride chatting with Peter, which made for a fun trip, and the kids were engaging each other in many conversations. The cutest scene of the ride was one of the Sanvino girls asleep on Belle's lap.

When we reached the beach, we had to hustle to get ready to play, since we were running behind (you can take American teenagers out of America, but you can't make them run on time any better). But first, there was ceremony to attend to: short welcoming remarks from the sponsors (TKU TV), the referees, the soccer association, as well as a well-received short speech from Kayla that she gave in Japanese. Way to go, Kayla!! Then it was time for soccer. We had three teams: green, striped and white. I coached the Great Greens,Oscar had the Stripes, Peter the Whites, and we opened the tournament with a big win, which was nice because the girls were a little nervous about getting beaten badly. It turns out that all three teams did just fine, with each team winning their first game, including a great back-and-forth game between the stripes and Sanvino. In the second round, the Greens beat Sanvino on a goal at the very last second, while the stripes won and the whites threw their game purposefully (though tactfully) to a very cute group of 9 year olds, who were so proud to have beaten the Americanos; Emiko noticed that Shanlie was playing goalie and asked if we were trying to lose...LOL. Shanlie later agreed with that assessment. It was great fun, and though the heat was draining, the girls played really well. Emiko, Dahlia and JoJo all scored at least once.

Soccer was followed by another game of smash the watermelon and then a scavenger hunt in the sand. In the end, it was a fabulous day of beach soccer for the girls and coaches. Parents and siblings were pretty much wiped by the heat, which was as thick as slug snot.

I’m falling asleep as I type, so I’ll finish the day’s recounting tomorrow morning – I’ll have time as we don’t leave for the amusement park until 9:45.