On the Pitch

Back in June I was jogging through Coogee when I saw some guys practicing soccer at the Coogee Cricket Oval. I asked them if it was open for anyone to come play and one asked in a thick British accent "Are you any good?"

My response: "Well, for an American I'd say I'm not bad."

They invited me to come out and I told them I would whenever I could (but their early start times on both Tuesdays and Thursdays sometimes interferes with work). When I went back to the US I picked up my cleats and showed up.

After the first practice I got the distinct impression that this was a serious soccer team. First of all, everyone was British, Scottish or Irish. The team is called Phoenix and their first team ended up winning the Eastern Suburbs Football Association.

We spend the first 45 minutes or so doing only conditioning training. The coach (yes, this is an adult team with a coach) mixed things up to keep it fresh and didn't try to get in the way too much when it came to playing. All of our small sided games had a two touch maximum and I can see and improvement in my overall skill level from then to now.

Unfortunately they were too far into the season to add me to the roster, but I was happy to just get out there one or two days a week and kick the ball around. They were interested in how long I was going to be in Sydney, but their next season starts right around the time that I am leaving. I'm sure I wasn't good enough for the first team but was glad for the playing time while it lasted.

I just wish that my club back home, Pelicans FC, devoted the same time to training as these guys. It definitely makes a difference.

I've also been playing on Saturdays with a bunch of Russian expats in Centennial Park. It gives me an excuse to not stay out too late on Friday nights as it's a nice 15 minute warm up jog from my house to get there. Add two hours of playing on a half field and I end the morning fairly exhausted.

It's fun to watch the Russians get frustrated at each other and argue in their native language. They don't get to serious, although their sense of humor is... very Russian. I told one guy "I must break you," and he didn't even crack a smile. I don't know if that was because he didn't get the Rocky reference or he didn't like the joke.