Friday Night Lights (well sort of?)

So last Friday (Feb 19) marked my return as Pele or Ronaldo or Ronaldhino or whomever you support, to the great arena of Football-or soccer depending where you are :)

There was an impromptu tournament established for 2pm on the field of Satit Bagna. Ryan C and I decided we'd show these guys what we had to offer (aka we decided it was either both of us or neither of us cuz we were gonna make fools of ourselves) We played 8 v 8 (Ryan and I were on the green team with some of our fellow teachers) and played 2 games against teams comprised of Matayum (high school) boys. There was a team for M4, M5 and M6 (sophomore-sr. year)

Game 1: I actually thought I was going to die. First, it's been a while since I've played soccer and I remembered how exhausting it can be. Second, clearly I'm out of shape. Third, I may as well have been playing in the middle of the Sahara it was so hot. I was sweating walking from our office to the field...imagine what it was like after the game. We played 25 minute halves and with only 1 sub, I played the whole time. Ouch! I almost scored a goal which was sweet, however I wasn't happy that we were playing on a half dirt/half grass field (aka reallllly dry) and ball took a bad bounce toward the goalie at the last second. It probably didn't help either that I didn't have cleats so I was skating around like Brian Boitano across the dirt. Ryan got one goal and I assisted the 2nd and we won, so that's pretty successful I'd say.

Break time: I sat around feeling like I was going to pass out. I mean really how do they stand this heat. Some of the Matayum guys weren't even sweating and here Ryan and I were looking like an advertisement for M Sports Drink (Thai gatorade) with sweat, the green color of the drink, rolling off our faces. We were enjoying watching the other game and then found out we were playing another...take a deep breath. This game we only had 8 players, so no subs. Well, if I can handle 1 I can handle 2 right?

Game 2: I got to play my favorite position this game-defense. I only got one penalty; I realized that I was a lot bigger than one of the kids I was defending and found myself helping him up off his rump after he put up less of a fight than I was anticipating when I went at him for the ball. It was pretty hysterical though as there was a Thai announcer who was giving play-by-plays over the loudspeaker. Every minute or so I would hear 'Teacher Natan asfs asodisgoj alkjtoih' (that's my attempt at typing Thai)--even if the ball was at the other goal and I was waiting for a play I would hear my name called. I can only imagine what he was saying..."Teacher Natan looks great today in his green uniform. He's really putting in some great effort on the field. Look! Everyone direct your attention to him standing there by himself! What a player" One time I looked over at him when he said my name and kinda smirked at him and he goes "Eeet's okay teacha! No problem!" :) We ended up tying the 2nd game...hopefully next time we can win them both.

Anyway, it felt good to get back out there after not playing for so long and I'm looking forward to kicking the ball around some more with the other teachers I live with this coming semester. So I guess maybe it wasn't that much like Friday Night Lights, but it got you interested to read right?!