Not Off to Cincinnati

I went over to Corner Kick tonight to see the four younger teams off on the busses to the Arsenal Elite Invitational in Cincinnati.  The girls were excited for sure, excited about the bus ride, excited about the hotel, excited about the tournament.  The parents who were boarding the bus for the 12+ hour ride looked a little less excited, probably wondering what they were getting themselves into. 

The teams will undoubtedly face some of the stiffest competition any of them will face this entire summer.  There is a very good chance that all the young teams will get crushed on the field, but I know that the coaches will stress the learning experience for long term development. 

I'm bummed not to be going as the competition at the U13 group, as with all the groups at this event, is excellent.  However, as I mentioned earlier in this journal, our prime objective is State Cup and we could not afford to play a tough weekend of soccer, jump on the bus for the return trip, get home sometime Monday morning, then have to head up to Coon Rapids for an evening game against one of the stronger teams in the event (Wayzata). 

We will train tomorrow and Saturday, take Sunday off, then see what Monday evening will bring.

Comments

[uozturk]

Mark,I talk to some of the parents from both teams and even though they were dissappointed with the results, they were happy to have the opportunity to see some great teams. I think you and the club are doing a wonderful job. We'll(Both U11's East&South) win our next tournament and the morale/confidence will be back.

Umut Ozturk