They Call It "Soccer"!

Fortunately, the kids have had the opportunity to exercise and stay in shape during our stay here by regularly training for, and playing "soccer" (what the rest of the world knows as "football"). Other than the bi-weekly trainings, they have also taken part in several tournaments. One of the most striking features of these tournaments is the professional characteristics of their preparation and execution. 

The teams themselves manage their attendance and other organisatinal issues via a web site provided by a photography/printing company, Shutterfly. It's all password-protected and you can only access your child's team information, but everything (e.g. roster, contact details, calendar, player availability, space for sharing stills and video of the matches, even with what strip they will be playing when) is available through the site. Their business is obviously selling you their wares (e.g. prints of photos, business cards or whatever else you may want to print) but they do provide a good platform for doing something that is infinitely more comprehensive than a Whatsapp group. 

Then, the tournaments themselves also have a sophisticated enrolment site with all the rules, etc., but, thankfully, this is the responsibility of the trainer. These are the details of one of the tournaments and this is how the leagues work. Trainers and refs (of which there are four in every match) are volunteer parents, but they look very dapper in full gear (bright yellow shirts as well)! 

The playing fields are elaborate installations.  For individual matches they may be just one football pitch in some small town (an hour or so away from Davis) that is surrounded by pretty mountains and nothing much other than that. If you want a cup of coffee or a seat, you'd better take your own because there are none! And people do take everything, down to canopies to stand or sit under if it rains or there is too much sun! I have to take some pictures of those next time, but it's a bit embarassing (I don't want to look like a country bumpkin who is dazzled by the trappings of civilisation!)

The tournaments are held in large large complexes of some 10 pitches. The last one we went to was at Twin Creeks in Sunnyvale. You should look at the pictures on the site because I have no capability for the aereal shots they have there! 

There you can get snacks (usually sugary junk, though) or football parafernalia from various trucks that go there for the occassion. There is also a kind of caferia place (actually, a very nice two story building) that sells fast food and in an upper floor has something resembling a bar (with large TVs and beer on tap!). 

Here are some photos from the last tournament where you can see some of the things I mention above. Olly's team made it to the final (after two matches decided on penalties, hence, the penalty kicks in the photos) and lost 2-1 to the champions (Olly scored his team's only goal).

I should probably clarify that these photos were not taken by a professinal photographer but by the father of one of Olly's team mates. As Anabel points out, he did have a zoom that, when he held the camera at waist level, almost touched the ground!