The guys from Buller organized a football match last Wednesday after work. Although it was 3am and I was dead tired from class and work I couldn’t turn down the invitation.
This was the second time I’ve played soccer since I’ve been down here and my skills haven’t improved a bit. I consider myself a role-player. A whatever-it-takes kinda guy who hustles for everything and yells a lot. Kind of like my ice hockey “career”. Inevitably, they stuck me on defense to guard the cherry pickers.
It was the kitchen vs. waiters/bartenders. We closed up the bar at about 2:30am to play in a 3am game at an outdoor field (gancha) about 20 minutes away. It ended up being 7 vs. 7 and the competition was tough. The teams mostly consisted of Argentine guys from both Buller locations but there was also an Italian, an Uruguayan, my Colombian roommate Sergio, and I (poorly) represented the USA.
Besides the other time playing with Sergio and his team I haven’t played since middle school. Even then, I only played in the third quarter when all the scrubs went in. Coach said I played too much basketball… I had a lot of handballs and was a little too “aggressive”.
There is one other time I played since then and its a pretty random story… I went to visit my sister when she was a snowboard instructor in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The first night I was there we were out to dinner with some of her friends and one of the guys who worked in a ski shop said he needed a soccer goalie for that night’s game in his adult coed league. Long story short… I went, we lost 15 to 11 but I ended up getting free rentals for an entire week! Sweet.
Anyway, that experience didn’t help me at all for the game the other night. I played defense the other night so I didn’t score any goals, but I got a few long distance bombs on net. Otherwise, I didn’t do too bad except a couple of handballs and a few “unintentional” knockdowns.
Needless to say I wasn’t very productive in class the next morning after finishing the game around 5:30am. But it was worth it. I had a blast and I guess I played well enough to get invited back because they told me they want to start playing every Wednesday… I gotta go watch Bend it Like Beckham.
Checkout photos from me playing football in Argentina
Ooo, sounds like fun! But COLD!
Kinda similar thing happened with me, but instead of football I play hockey. I am usually BusyPlayingHockey over the weekends but I am not that good but whenever I get on the ice I come out all relaxed and with a fresh mind.
I am not that good but whenever I get on the ice I come out all relaxed and with a fresh mind. thank u for this article