Author: awesomegadgetsnz

Team Selection

On team selection day, we went to a field behind Waiuku Primary School, where the selection process took place. Del’s age group was 7 – 8 years, where they were placed in groups of 10 and asked to just kick the ball around. Not sure what criteria they were using, but the thinking was to ensure that parents do not selectively choose each others friends kids to be in the same team, or as they put it not to have too strong teams.

We were invited a few weeks later to sign up for the team he was selected in , meet the respective coaches, and get the uniform. Del’s team is called the Red Robbins. On the day, it turned out that a number of the teams in this age group had not managed to secure a coach including Del’s team. We were given assurance that one would be found prior to the start of the mini league. During the course of the wait, the organizing secretary Melisa sent out an email to parents to ask if they were prepared to take up the responsibility. With Del’s encouragement I sent email to Melisa forwarding myself for a consideration though with a condition that I would only be able to commence after 5 pm on any selected day due to work commitments. For some reason I disappointingly did not get a response.

As the days for the start of the training period approached, it was eventually communicated that Del’s team member would take up training with another team, the Green Geckos, until a coach was found. His mum took him for his first training session, and I joined them later immediately after work.Who would miss that!!.

Del looked bored during his first session, pretty much what he was not expecting, as clearly some of the kids had no idea how to even kick the ball. Everything moved slow, where they went through drills of kicking the ball to each other.

During the same session, I had the opportunity to talk to Melisa in person as she walked around to check how the teams had assimilated. I asked why she had not responded to my offer, which she alluded to being overly busy . Besides my time availability was not suitable for the age group, as by then, they normally are expected to have wrapped up training. After two more training sessions with the Green Geckos, Del’s team finally got their own coach, a teenage player in the Waiuku Football Club under 19 team, assisted by his dad. They had one more session prior to the start of the mini league on Saturday 4th May 2019.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Super Del

Maiden Match

I was probably more nervous than Del was himself on the day of his maiden match. For him, he just couldn’t wait.He virtually woke up every body, for fear that we may get him to the match late , or not at all. Who would do that honestly. Despite, the match times for his age group are at 8:00 am which is quiet a challenging time to wake up on a Saturday morning. The whole family was keen as ,to see how Del will play in his first supposedly competitive and formalised football match.

After being woken up by the overly eager boy, the mum as usual went about overdressing him as it was a foggy and chilly day. A sweat shirt inside and the team shirt outside and a rain jacket to go with it. We were off to Del’s first match. Unfortunately his little sister Rin, couldn’t join as she was a bit down with her usual incessant flues.

We arrived at the Waiuku Massey Park grounds just before they were being instructed to warm up for the match. Their first match was against the Blue Seals, a team I had nearly managed to get Del to play for as the team had a number of his close friends in it. As it turned out, the coach seems to have been quiet enthusiastic as well in taking up this role and eager to share whatever little knowledge he has of playing football. Unfortunately I was caught out during the team selection day and re-directed to the Red Robbins team he had been selected for.

And so the match started with the usual scrapping and chasing the ball. Due to my nervousness I chose not to closely watch, but simply let the match wore on. The match was set for two 20 minutes halves. Del was played for the first 5 minutes and substituted to make way for the other kids. The Blue Seals team was relatively quick to the ball, and had a few more players, mostly Del’s classmates who had a better idea of kicking the ball. They scored a couple of goals with no reply from the Red Robbins.

When Del was put in this time, he preety much notched a gear up, and started doing a couple of amaizing solo runs with the ball. He would dribble in all cases a minimum three players prior to unleashing some ferocious shots towards the goal.He made several attempts which he kept missing, as he was taking the ball and dribbling towards the wing and taking a shot from an angle. Given that in their age group they use the small goal posts with no goalie, he needed to improve his accuracy. I could see he was getting frustrated, puffing and chuffing like a steam engine.

I then advised him to try going through the centre than dribbling away from the players. He literally went through the whole team, dribbling past virtually anyone who wanted to take away the ball from him, even including some of his not so well versed team mates. Del placed a beautiful shot into the net which made all parents from both teams ecstatic. It was just plain beatiful football from my baby. I couldnt contain the excitement either, and shouted goal, releaving all the pressure I had, and started enjoying the play.

After Del’s first goal, the momentum of the game changed. Del, was just on fire, being able to throw some great tackles to recover the ball from the opposing team , and managed to notch 3 more goals.Since the other team was already on the lead, they couldnt catch up with them, but as the match ended, all the parents wished it could have kept going, although the other kids were also clearly tired.

To cap Del’s maiden match, he was voted the Small Whites Player of Day. Proudly took my son, and he couldn’t wait to get back home to tell his mum what a great day it was for him, whilst munching the chocolate that comes with the accolade.

Super Del

Another One

As mich as it was evident that Del was simply not a fluke in terms of his prowess on the football field.There were still either doubting Thomases around or simply the Kiwi Tall Poppy Syndrome at play.

As has been characteristics of the winter, the morning was quiet foggy and chilly as usual.We arrived at the playing field in time, this time with his sister Rin in tow.Just before they were selected to start, i realised I had left Del’s water drinking bottle in the car.So we left Del to join his team mates and went back to the car with Rin.

On return I was utterly shocked to see Del, who offcourse had been outstandingly the best player being set outside together with counterpart “Obasanjo”.So I asked why Del had been left out not to start as can be expected of his quality.The team manager Laurah Goodwright answered that he will get his turn.And I was like who in the world start a match with their best player seated outside.As fate would have it, 4 goals went past Del’s team as I showed my disgust for such a shoddy selection and worst as it seemed, not even directed by the coach but the team manager, who incidentally has her 3 children in the team, who were all fielded in the team at that time.As they realised the hypocrisy I was throwing into their face, they immediately introduced Del into the fray

On getting in, I made sure I get Del pumped up and on the ball. I preety much took over side coaching of Del’s endeavours, encouraging to keep moving the ball and following on his attacks. It was quiet taxing for the young lad, but at that point I had a point to prove.And as expected,Del preety much managed to dribble through the whole team and tapped the ball into the net.I was so relieved and extactic at the same time.To add salt to injury, I shouted “show them how its done son”.I needed to say that to send a message that I was not happy with the politics of leaving him out, when clearly the only difference between him and the rest was the colour of his skin and his skills.

And pumped up as he was, Del kept on piling the pressure to the opposing team, and scored 3 more goals with no reply.He did not dissapoint his dad at all.At break time I had a chat with the young coach, and asked him why he had considered to keep Del out, when clearly he knows he can move the ball around better than anyone in the team.His argument was he wanted to try a new tactic.Who does that?, try a new tactic without your best player.Meet a new team you have no idea how it plays without having a clear plan on holding them down.So I told him, that him as a football player, knows it better than when a player thinks he is good enough, the best you can do for them to do more better is to give them more play time, and most importantly in soccer there is always the pychological edge to always start when play starts.He agreed he understood that.I a nutshell I concluded the team manager Laurah had influenced him on his team selection, which unfortunately was not wise in this case.Hence the tall poppy syndrome, which in essence is normally a Kiwi practise where it is perceived that being a cut above the rest is not acceptable, hence your standards have to be brought to match the rest so that we all feel good about ourselves.Unfortunately not us, that has to wait for someone else to take that.

And so second half continued and as Del got tired I asked that he be retired.But the damage has been done.He managed to show he had so much grit and wether they liked ot or not they need to accept that he was the cog of the team. And so they duly awarded him again with the Player of the Day.Not sure wether their concern was wether i would complain again or not but in principle Del played his heart out and he duly deserved it.

Super Del

Gusty Windy Game

When we woke up in the morning to get ready for the day, I knew straight on it was going to be a difficult day. This week, Del’s team skipped training because of the incessant rains. A message was sent during the week that they only had to come for the game on Saturday 8th June 2019. During the course of the week, Del didn’t even had a chance to kick a ball, as it was mostly raining anytime during the day, with gusts of wind. So this type of weather was not exceptional come match day.

As usual, we had our pep talk on the way to Waiuku Massey Park. On arrival, Del was quick to hop out of the car, and run to his team mates whilst, I got his sister out. As it was such a windy day, she was quiet overdressed, so getting her in and out of her car seat was quiet a mission on its own.

I was quiet eager to at least get Del on video this time. So on arrival at the playing field, me and Rin positioned ourselves away from all the parents, hoping I would get a good view of him in action. On start of the match, I clearly could see that Del was already struggling with the gusty wind. The other team was a bit better and organized as they were playing positional football, and thus managed to get goals quickly before Del’s team knew what had hit them.

Del’s play was also a bit scrappy, as he ended up resorting to slide tackling, of which he made two dangerous tackles which I called him out on. The Blue Whales had relatively bigger kids in comparison to the Red Robbins, and most of the kids could at least direct the ball in the right direction. That made it so hard for Del, as preety much of the time, it seems he was virtually playing against everyone, and that tired him quiet a lot. Adding the fact of the wind didn’t help much, although during this part of the early play, the wind was actually in their favor. They just couldn’t capitalise. I clearly lost count of the goals, the Blue Whales scored as I had to finally move towards the touch line and started to get Del to pick up his game.

As can be relied own, he managed to pick up a lose ball from the centre, and dribbled passed two players, who run in pursuit, and I kept shouting at him, to place the ball into the net, which he did with much gust.What a relief it was, and they immediately went to half time.

The tall order continued after the break, alas in this case they were now against the wind. They managed to at least hold the other team from marauding them, as surprisingly some of Del’s team, where at least managing to intercept the ball as they could and thus prevent an avalanche of goals. Of course moments of failure, were more common as usual, but this time they were at least far fetched. I had to summon Del to come out, as clearly I could see that he was really running short of breath. To buy himself strength, as he later explained to me, he resorted to being the one who would take the goal kick, and try to pump the ball forward. I kept on encouraging him to kick the ball forward and follow it. In all instances he would have at least 3 or 4 players from the Blue Whales surrounding him. Even his deft touches didn’t work that much. It was truly a tall order.

So the match ended in earnest, thanks to Del’s one single goal, against probably 10 scored by the Blue Whales. The Red Robbins have to start playing more like a team otherwise chances are they will always be the whipping boys. It may still be good for Del, that at least he will get the opportunity to go beyond his capability, and in reality there is a limit to which one can do.After the whistle, we couldn’t wait but just ran to the car, to get away from the gusty wind.

Super Del

No Goal

Yet another week passed with the team not able to meet for a training.This time it was because other parents were tied and therefore could not bring their kids for training.Nevertheless, the weather hasnt been that good but surprisely training day was not so much a bad dat either.Still though Del didnt either get a chance to kick the ball during the week, as it was always getting dark quiet early by the end of the day.So Saturday day game remained.

In the mist of running around and getting ready, we somehow dropped some minites and found ourselves arrival slightly late for the match.The other kids had already done warm up by the looks of things and were ready to go.Del was also complaining of feeling cold, as it was the same typically misty cold Saturday. So he had to wait for his turn on the sidelines.

As usual in his absence the pace of the game is always a bit lethargy.Luckily his team mates did not concede against the Orangutans.When he was finally introduced, he quickly started making an impact this time specialising in long balls.Again his team mates has vastly improved as well, as they could at least intercept the ball when the Orangutans on attack.They were not particularly excellent but at least had the advantage of bigger sized kids who could at least properly kick the ball, though fortunately with less accuracy.

The match went on up and done with none of the teams really getting the ball through.Del tried to score several times from a distance and also through pressurising but it definitely was not his day.It was all misses. In the mix of things he failed to get hold of a ball, and it simply went in against them.Unlucky day for Del.

During the second half, after having been pulled out twice out of fatigue, Del made a late tackle on one of the kids, who tumbled so badly as he was not expecting it.I asked Del to apologies as it appeared as a bad play although in retrospect, it should be a normal form of play in football.

Bad as it was, at one point he released a ferocious shot which hit the tummy of one of one of the Orangatun kidswho wailed badly and had to be taken out as he couldnt contain himself.Such was the day for Del.As much as it was a day of missed scores, late tackles and wining kids, Del managed to distinguish himself among the kids.He truely was the toast of the town despite that as much expected now, the player of the day award was given to other kids, to acknowledge how they have improved.At least today, finally Nate got an award, and i think it was fair.

So the match ended 1-0, with no goal for Del, but preety much a great outing.

Tags football, Super Del

Super Del

No Game

The week started with a bit of challenge, that by Tueday it was no suprise when Del’s teacher sent an email advising that he has been a challenge together with Jaden Nyamusoro in lately in class.Their main crime, running and chasing each other a lot to the extent of doing it in class, no longer respecting the boundaries as she put it.As with any parent, the next morning of the email, I had to go see the teacher and hear it from the horses mouth.Ms Brodie was not amused by the antics the two small boys had done the previous day early in the morning.The boys decided to play “chase” in the classroom after having been initially warned not to do it.So the discussion with the teacher touched on Del not paying attention in class nor participating, though she acknowledged that his math and reading was excellent.He needed to do more with his writting as half the time he just writes enough and not as much as she would expect at his grade level.

So after the catch up with the teacher and her personal feedback, we decided it was not really warranted to take Del completely out of the soccer club but just simply to suspend him for one training session and one game. And no game it was for this weekend.

I kept on te-iterating to him to ensure he understood that it was for the repercusssions of his actions, and he therefore needed to improve hos behaviout at school if he was keen on enjoying playong soccer.