Soccer

Last night we played the final game in our church league. The dorm students have a team in the league which includes 16 teams from different churches in the area. (I play goalie.) We ended up in fourth place, which is a poor showing for us. We have usually ended up in the top three. We graduated a lot of seniors last year and added a lot of freshman. That is usually not a good mix. I did get a nice swollen eye out of yesterday's game. An opponent came in one-on-one. As I went out to meet him, his shot caromed off my face. For about two seconds I spun around in circles trying to locate the goal! Thanfully, they weren't able to score on that play. We lost the consolation match 4-1. All things considered, I believe we did pretty well, especially since we were missing about half of our starters (due to injuries and ministry responsibilities) for the consolation game . The nice thing was that we lost to the team from our own church, Iglesia Bautista Genesaret. So it all stayed in the family.

I have enjoyed playing for several reasons: 1) I enjoy playing; 2) I love the opportunity to mix with the students on an informal basis, but mostly 3) I enjoy watching the students grow and mature in their self-control. Every season, the league organizers compliment the dormitory team for the attitudes displayed. One of the semi-final matches was suspended and one team ejected from the tournament after one of the players assaulted a referee. To be honest, I must admit that some times we all felt like doing it! Like most amateur refereeing, it leaves a lot to be desired! Unfortunately, confrontations (and even an occasional fight between players--though never with the referee) are all too common with some of the teams. (A contributing factor is that many of the players don't attend the churches for whose team they play. I wish they didn't allow that, but it would be hard to control.) I am thankful that our students make a very concious effort to display attitudes that will glorify the Lord, even in the difficult environs of soccer field, with poor reffing, and opponents who do not control their attitudes and actions.