Football

Today I practiced with the UB soccer team!!! It was great! There were about 7 girls and maybe 10 boys, so we just played a small-sided scrimmage the whole time. The turnout tonight wasn’t the best, but prior to the practice it had poured pretty hard so some of the players may have thought it was cancelled. I guess there are about 20 girls that play. I found out about the practice from another international student, Amanda, who had talked to the coach last week. She knew that I played soccer and told me she was going to check out the practice today, so I planned on doing it with her. I brought all my soccer gear to school with me this morning and am so glad I did!! The pitch was basically dirt, with a few grassy patches on it, but my cleats worked ok on them…I should have brought my turf shoes, though! I did see the game field and it looked really, really nice…I was impressed. They only allow it to be used for games, which is why it is in such nice condition. I’m looking forward to playing on it. The girls aren’t extremely skilled, or even athletic, but some of the guys are pretty good. I think the two teams practice together every day, which is sort of weird to me, but I like it because I think guys help increase the speed of play. There were two coaches that came a little late and just watched from the sideline. The only direction they gave was a two-touch limitation about halfway through the scrimmage. I talked to them afterwards and they were very interested in me joining the team…they just need me to fill out a registration form. One of the coaches actually gave me a ride home…he said he lived in my area. It was very nice of him, because I would have had to call a cab to get home since it was getting dark. I’d really like to play, but I’m a little nervous about my knees!! I’m sitting here now with my right knee not feeling too great…I definitely don’t want to hurt myself again…that would NOT be good at all. But I think I will just take it day by day, and if my knees are hurting, I may have to take some days off during the week. The team has a game this Saturday, so I’m planning on playing with them then. I’ll have to tell my CIEE buddies so they can come watch me…they’ll be my fan club. Although everyone on the team speaks English, it is their second language, so they all were speaking Setswana before, during, and after practice. It was frustrating not knowing what they were all talking about…but I’m getting used to that here…I’m just thankful the classes are taught in English. I’m sure I’ll learn some Setswana soccer (or football) terms pretty quickly.