Playing soccer over 50

This year I decided to sign up at long last for one of the over-50 soccer teams here in Lexington. I was recruited by my friend YuJin, who has had his eye on me for the last few years (common refrain -- "when is it again that you turn 50?"). Although I've resisted the idea of playing in the competitive leagues for a long time, I finally decided give it a try. It's been a good 20 years or so since I did any real "organized" team play, so I felt a bit rusty with some aspects of the game... in general though it wasn't too hard to pick it up again.

My team is the "Lexington Golden Eagles"; we play in the "New England Over-The-Hill Soccer League" (not a joke, this is the actual name). Our squad has about 17 or so guys; we usually have 3 or 4 subs for each game (a pretty important requirement for playing at this age, especially for midfielders). So far I have been playing forward and center midfield; way back when I played in my 20s it was mostly left midfield, so I seem to have gravitated towards the middle in my old age for some reason.

Here are some photos from the game this morning. I'm the guy with the weird looking headband and sunglasses. The headband is kind of mandatory -- if I don't have something like that my glasses get totally messed up from sweat.

Photos (taken by Ethan, who turned out along with Amy and Lydia to watch the second half of this match):

My team-mate YuJin, playing on the wing:

 

More random photos from the game. Quality of the officiating can sometimes be a bit uneven, as you might expect. Here is YuJin throwing up his hands after being called off-sides (there is no linesmen in these games):

Defensive stalwart Ron:

Heads up-- here it comes:

 

Here is John, one of the guys who plays forward. He's also new to the team as of this spring. This is kind of an interesting shot-- John is pretending that he doesn't entirely have control over the ball to pull in the defender; immediately after the photo he turned and took off down the sideline leaving the defender in the dust. Stealth and sneakiness-- maybe not really a substitute for 20-year-old legs, but it's about all we have.

 

 A cross into the middle-- luckily there was nobody on the other end:

There is a certain amount of pushing and shoving and people losing their tempers in these games, especially in the second half when people are tired (the "grumpy old men" come out). I definitely get more bruises than when I play pickup, but so far (knock on wood) we haven't had many injuries.

We won this match 2-0; I scored in the first half and John added a goal shortly afterwards. Here we are after the game:

State track meet

Lydia and the Diamond track team drove out to compete at the State-level middle school track meet held this weekend-- some photos from the outing. Ethan wasn't able to come along this time; even though school is officially over for him, he was tied up with musical performances for graduation ceremonies. After putting Lydia on the bus at 7:30am Sat morning, Amy and I dropped Ethan off at Andover and then we headed west to Fitchburg, specifically the track at Fitchburg Staet University. Sunny and warm, maybe a little warmer than one would like for an athletic event, but it wasn't too unpleasant.

Lots of kids and parents at the event-- Lydia told me that it was a total of 1500 students (6th-8th grade) competing, plus probably an equal number (if not more) parents and family members watching. Photo of the stands:

It was an all-day deal-- races started at 10am and through to the last 4x400 relay at 5+ish. There were something like 80 schools at the event,  partitioned into "large", "medium", and "small" school divisions. Diamond is part of the "large school" division. Here is one of Lydia's teammates competing in the high jump:

Boys 100 yard dash, one of the innumerable heats:

Photo from the girl's mile (one of the heats), one of Lydia's 7th grade friends competing. There was unusually stiff competition in the girls 1-mile and 400m events this year for some reason.

Here is Lydia running in her 400 heat; one of the fastest but not quite the top one (her seed time was a 1:09):

Lydia won her heat and came in with a time of 1:05, a new "PR" (personal record), so she was very happy about that. Following the heat:

After that it was a very lengthy interval standing around in the sun watching the other races-- 200m, 800m, lots of sprints, you name it. Finally towards the end of the day it was time for the relays: photos from the girls 4x400. Lydia ran the first leg:

This race was not quit as much fun for Lydia's 4-girl team. The second runner got jostled coming out of the second turn, clipped her heel with an adjacent runner and fell. She got back up, grabbed the baton, and continued, but it didn't do much for the team's momentum. The next runner also had baton issues, alas.

The Diamond track team is a powerhouse, though, especially the girls squad. They don't win every event, but the depth and breadth of talent is such that they put up points in just about all the races. This meet was no exception; despite the troubles encountered by Lydia's group, the girls team overall applied their usual "wrecking ball" strategy and came out way in front of all the other schools (I think they finished with a 20 point margin).