More on the Soccer Team

Monday, July 13, for the U-20 soccer team, we only had 5 players show up for practice. It's not fun to arrive at 8 am, see the coach with the bag of balls and watch players slowly drift in. They and the coach communicate almost entirely in Tz'utujil, and I sit there twiddling my thumbs until nearly nine when practice actually starts. There isn't much we can do with 5, so we just play 3 on 3.

Tuesday, the same thing happens, only the 5 who show up are different than the day before. They look demoralized, upset that so few people have showed up. Somehow between the time I leave and the time I get home I have lost my keys. I think they fell out of my pocket while I was riding my bike. They're nowhere to be found.

This is a low point. July 25 both teams (U-20 and the senior team) have very competitive games for which they're not prepared. Morale is in the toilet, and the coach is telling me I'll be in charge. There will be thousands (no exaggeration) of people watching.

The fair in Atitlán is a big deal. Forty days ahead of time, there was music that lasted all night, which signals the kickoff. Since then there has been a beauty contest, and there will be all sorts of other competitions -- swimming in the lake, weight lifting, and who knows what else. There are all sorts of new food booths in town now, and temporary places that sell beer. The festive mood is slowly rising. Later, closer to the 25th the crescendo will be even more intense. There will be rides and more drunks and lots of traffic.

The day of the 25th it will be difficult to get around, there will be so many people.

The soccer teams will get slaughtered.

At 2:00 Tuesday, the senior team has practice. They have some excellent players, but most of them can't show up regularly since they work. I'm in an awful mood and don't feel like going. I show up pretty late, almost 2:30. Nine players. They run laps. We stretch. I have them run suicides, then we do a drill in groups of 3, in a line, moving across the field passing. I exhort them to not wait for the ball, run to it, pull it in, spin, give a crisp pass. They're listening, and I see more effort. We move in to a complicated little posession game in tight space. They're really applying themselves, and my mood is lifting. We do a half-field posession game, and they're doing great. It's the 4 best against the other 5, and the 5 are winning, which is as it should be. Ninety minutes of hard work, and we stop. The coach buys 30 bags of water, and then 11 sodas. We note that they really look like a team.

No other practice is scheduled until Saturday.

I have no clue how the schedule is set, why some players stop showing up, why new ones appear out of nowhere, who invites them. I'm clueless, and hope I don't get lynched the 25th.

Saturday arrives and I have 9 U-20 players. I do the exact same practice that worked on Tuesday for the other team, and it's pretty good. I have a little more hope, but not much. At least I'm getting some good exercise.