I’ve mentioned a few times that I wanted to talk about the greatest soccer team of all time, the Orange Strikers. I’ve been putting it off and putting it off, but I can’t delay writing about them. They’re playing for the FINAL TIME in franchise history this weekend and I’m going to be fortunate enough to be in attendance. What a great team (only one loss ever) and what a fun bunch of 8-year-olds!
OK, so my son Benjamin plays for the team in AYSO. I have to say, though, with the teams he’s on, and all the teams I was ever on as a kid, this team has been the most enjoyable team I’ve ever seen. It’s been pure joy to watch these kids have so much fun. And on top of it all, they won their region championship, so they get one more chance this weekend to play in an area tournament.
First things first, though … I need to take care of a little Operation Jack housekeeping. If you’ve never been here, I’m a marathon runner and a father of three children, not in that order. My middle son, 6-year-old Jack, is severely autistic. Next year, I’m going to try to run 60 marathons in his honor to raise money and awareness for a great charity called Train 4 Autism. T4A is a great charity that helps people train for races and raise money for autism-related charities. Our strongest base is here in Southern California, and I want to do what I can to help build new bases nationwide. This is my stupid human trick, jump on the bandwagon!
OK, I’m going to talk about the Orange Strikers, but two quick things:
I Need 30 Seconds Of Your Help!
Between now and December 11, there’s a contest being put on by Chase that’s going to award $25,000 to 100 different charities nationwide. The winning charities will be the top vote-getters at a Facebook group page. So, this is a way you can really help out in less than a minute. Just take the following three steps:
1. Click HERE to go to the Chase Community Giving page on Facebook and join the group.
2. VOTE FOR OPERATION JACK.
3. (Optional, of course) Click the button to post in on your wall and tell your friends.
You’re all here because you believe in Operation Jack. Take a minute and help this thing go viral. 100 charities are going to get a huge holiday bonus. Let’s be one of them!
OK, I’m going to talk about the Orange Strikers, but one more thing:
Facebook Changes
If you’re a fan on the Facebook page, you might have noticed we created an Operation Jack group page instead of a fan page yesterday. This will make it easier to communicate with you. I’m 29 days from kicking this thing off and that’s when it’s going to start getting exciting. Make sure you’re over there on the group page. It’s here, or on the Facebook button on that page.
And going back to that contest and going viral, PLEASE, if you have friends in your address book on Facebook who might be interested in Operation Jack, please send them an invite to join the group!
OK, The Orange Strikers!
These guys are so much fun. Coach Peps and Coach Darren are great and the kids have really developed over the course of the year, individually and as a team. As a competitive guy, it’s been fun to watch them improve. But 100 times more important than that, because these guys are only 8, it’s been a blast to see them have so much fun.
I went to just about every practice and stayed for the duration. They worked hard, but laughed harder. Nothing but smiles on the faces of these kids. And these guys are a team. They just want to win. They’re unselfish. The best player on the team gets along great with the worst player on the team. Like I said, it’s been my favorite youth team of all time. It’s everything youth sports should be, and I’ve been lucky to be a part of it as a parent.
Anyways, they won their region championship in the playoffs in amazing fashion. On November 14, they won their first playoff game. I think the score was 3-1. The game was never in jeopardy and they rolled pretty easily. The semi-final match was a different story.
They took a 1-0 lead, but surrendered a late goal for a tie. But in the playoffs, one team has to advance, so it went to penalty kicks. At first, the teams alternated five times. If it was still tied after those five kicks, it would be sudden death — one kick for each team until the score wasn’t tied.
All the hard work, all the practices and all the games came down to those five kicks. Sure enough, it was tied. So it went to a sudden-death kick. And then another. And another. After six sudden-death kicks (11 penalty kicks total), it was STILL tied! The Strikers were the home team, so the other team kicked first. Our goalie made a stop on the 12th kick, and our best player was eligible to kick.
Coach Peps (the player’s dad) asked him if he wanted to take the kick. The kids on the team were all jumping up and down with excitement and the kid was cool as ice. There was no doubt he wanted that kick. It was like watching Mariano Rivera come in for the 9th to put the hammer down. He nailed the kick and the Orange Strikers won the game. Oh, and I brought snack for that game — donuts. We finally got to eat them!
They won their finals game that afternoon 1-0 on a fourth-quarter goal by the same player who kicked the game-winner in the semifinal game that morning. What a great way to cap the season — a region championship! They earned trophies that were about as tall as they are.
Benjamin with his trophy. On the right is Tiff, on the left is Tiff’s trophy.
This weekend, they get some bonus ball. Two games on Saturday against other region champions, and at least one game (maybe two) on Sunday. And that will be it for the Orange Strikers. It’s been a fun ride, but I’ll miss watching them play!
OK, That’s All I’ve Got For Today
Not like it wasn’t enough. If you actually reached the bottom of this, thank you! Have a great weekend!
Jamie Fellrath says
Great to see Ben having such a fantastic experience with youth sports! I used to coach youth soccer with a buddy of mine, and used to cringe at the coaches and parents of other teams as they yelled at the players, yelled at refs, and at each other. The kids were NOT having fun. But we were able to keep our kids having fun no matter what. And you know what? Our teams always did well, too.
The most important thing is that the kids have fun. When I played youth soccer, we sucked. BAD. I think we won three games in five years of playing, seriously. But I went back every year because we had great coaches who helped us have FUN and learn the game. And fifteen/twenty years or so later, I joined a rec-league soccer team here in Columbus and met my wife that way. If I’d had a bad experience with soccer back then, even when we were losing every game, I’d never have gone out for the rec-league team back then.
Good job Ben!
Ally Phillips says
That trophy is huge!! Way to go, Ben! So great that he had good coaches and a good team–and by ‘good’ I mean fun–even the best team in the world isn’t going to play well if they have awful coaches and too pushy supporters–glad to hear he’s had such a good time (and you as well!).
Have a great Friday!