What a Way to End a Season ...

A couple months back, I posted this about the start of the Midland Soccer Association's Fall 2006 season of Co-Ed Rec Soccer ... complaining.

A few weeks later, I posted this about the continuation of the Midland Soccer Association's Fall 2006 season of Co-Ed Rec Soccer ... still complaining.

Now, the season has come to an end. I'm beginning to think that - maybe, just maybe - all those games against older, larger and more experienced teams may have served a purpose. That's because, in the last three weeks of the season, when the Tornadoes played teams from their own age group, in the only games that were counted in the league standings ... it was as though a dam had burst.

The kids won all three games, and they did it by a 5-1 ratio on the scoreboard. One of those wins was a 6-2 decision over the many-times-defending-champion Extreme ... one of the highlights of the season. With a win over the Mustangs, under the lights on a brisk and breezy night, the kids thought they had an undefeated season, and their very first championship.

Well ... no ...

It turns out, MSA announced, that we had actually lost to Extreme, and the Tornadoes were actually in second place, behind the perennial champions.

Typical ...

The coach appealed the ruling and was told, 'yup, you lost it, they won it.'

Nonetheless, plans proceeded for an end-of-season party. We all knew who had really won it all, and there was never any doubt that we were very, very proud of our kids and their hard work on the field. Still, though, there was some talk among the kids about returning the 2nd Place trophies to the league.

So, imagine everyone's surprise at the party, when the coach pulled out a box of championship trophies! It seems she had persisted in her challenge, and the league relented, looked at the documentation for the game, the score cards the coaches fill out and get countersigned by the official, and declared, 'yup you won it, they lost it.'

What a way to end a season ... CONGRATULATIONS, TORNADOES !!!