Schwan Cup: Days 4 & 5

Hello again! It's been a busy two days, so I am just now getting back to the computer! Day 4 began with a clinic on "finishing." It was a bright and sunny day, but the humidity had finally dissipated, which makes it much more bearable for the boys. After the clinic, the team headed to the big stadium to watch the Naperville team take on the Cruz Azul team. The boys really liked the Naperville team, and they sat in the stands and cheered them on. Maybe that's why the Lightning were able to be the first team to score on this formidable opponent!




After lunch in the sun, the boys needed to have some mellow free time, since they had a game at 7:10 PM. We agreed to take a large group of them to a nearby mall that included a Hollister, which was the store of choice for this trip. The mall was one of those new malls designed to be like shopping in a market, with the stores outdoors instead of a big building. Very nice.

After shopping at Hollister:

Most of the guys went to check out A & F and American Eagle. Jordan and Jake and I went to the Borders books, where the boys discussed their favorite books, and Jake convinced Jordan to read Sabriel. (Jordan read it the entire trip home!)

They waited for the rest of the gang to meet up with us, reading in the easy chairs at Hollister.


We headed back to the hotel and prepared for our game against the Bangu Tsunami. This team, which is a select team for Minnesota, played Cruz Azul to a 0-1 final score, so the boys were nervous about how things would go. Well, they went great! The weather had cooled off and it was just like playing on a summer day in AK. The boys played the best game yet, and by the time it was all said and done, they only lost by a score of 0-1! It was so wonderful to see them playing; they shell-shocked the Bangu team for sure, which started the game with its second string, but soon realized that was a mistake. These boys just got better and better! The game was streamed live on the internet at Crystal Clear Sports, and I read on their site that the game will be saved and available for purchase after the tournament! (John, Jane, and Michelle watched the last part of the game from their computers in AK; so cool!)





(More pictures are at the Flickr site; and more will be added once I get Warren's card.)

The boys headed home for quick showers, as they were going to the Schwan Cup sponsored dance. The girls were dressed in their pretty dresses and cute skirts, the Schwan Zone was open for fun and games, and the dancing looked like a large crowd of kids all just standing very close together! LOL!




The boys were ravenous when they returned, so we dragged out all the food, piled into our room, and relaxed for a half hour before "lights out!"



Our final day of soccer play at the Schwan Cup dawned bright, clear, and very warm. We played at 10: 40, and we were playing against the second place team in the B bracket, the Trebol Football Club. We learned that this is a cream of the crop team from Illinois. Our boys again did a fabulous job. Although the score was 0-4 at halftime, the other team never got another chance to score, and we came very close several times. I must say that our boys truly raised the level of their game tremendously this week; they will be a formidable force in the state cup this year. They had to dig deep and play like they've never played before, and it was just great to watch them play better and better each game this week.

(I took today's picture with Kelly's camera, and will add them to the blog and Flickr tomorrow morning.)

The boys were free to do as they pleased after the game, and a large group of us headed to the Mall of America. (522 stores. Wow!) Our guys were in awe, and truly enjoyed walking around, riding a couple of rides in the amusement park in the center of the mall, and eating a burger at Johnny Rockets. Our car stayed until 9:00 PM, and headed home very happy and tired.




The Paul Bunyan Log Chute!


Burgers and shakes and 50's music!



A dip in the pool topped off the evening. I think they will be watching the final game tomorrow, but I also hear rumors about a trip to the water park and a return trip to the Mall Of America for some of the boys who had to leave earlier than planned.

Sleep well!

Schwan USA Cup, Day 3

Oops! The last time I posted, I had my schedule mixed up. So... if you are logging in to find out about the exciting action at last night's dance, I must disappoint you. Last night was the night for a USA Cup sponsored beach party, which we did not attend, due to our late game. TONIGHT is the the USA Cup sponsored dance, and I will be attending and taking some photographs. Sorry about that!

On to Day 3's events. Because we had two games and the temperatures were high and the humidity oppressive, we had a fairly mellow day. Breakfast at 9:00 AM was followed by "down time," which consisted of TV viewing and arcade play in the hotel.

At about 11:45 AM we headed over for our first game of the day against the Naperville Lightning. (Click the name to read more about this club.) At half time, the game was 2-3, with a final score of 2-7. The boys played better than yesterday; they seemed more comfortable and were very excited to score on this tough team. (Austin scored one, and Daniel H. got a beautiful penalty kick into the net.) The heat was incredible, mostly due to humidity. The boys liked this team; they said they were nice guys, and our team stuck around to chat with them after the game. We plan to watch them play Cruz Azul this afternoon. (NOTE: there are about 100 pictures at the Flickr site. Warren is getting pretty good with his camera, so be sure and check it out for lots more pictures of the games!)









We headed over to a local restaurant called Chipotle for a yummy, fresh lunch. If you have been to Qdoba, you know what Chipotle is like. They were incredibly fast, and the food was light, fresh, and delicious.



(Poor Charlotte...she was so hot and feeling a bit tired...)

The boys also got a lemon ice from the Culver's across the street from our hotel as a light refreshment. Some more downtime and laundry washing followed.

Our next game was against the Northern Lights United Soccer Club, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Playing at 7:10 PM really seemed to help the boys; the air was not as hot and they played even better than previously. The final score was 0-4; we are improving with each game. We had several shots on goal, including one that hit the post. The boys were moving the ball better than they have been, and they again played their hardest. I have not seen these guys give up even once; it has been awesome to watch.









The boys rode back to the hotel this time instead of walking. It's fun to listen in on their comments. Several times I have heard boys mention that they will "really school when we get back to Anchorage." They seem to feel that they are raising their level of play...I t's great to hear them finding the positives.

Apparently this team used some language on the field. Jake and Jordan both mentioned overhearing expletives from the players; Jordan told one of them he "owed him a quarter!" The player wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, LOL!

Dinner was at Culver's, and then they had a dip in the pool. It is quite a sight: 15 rough and rowdy boys wrestling in that tiny pool. They had an absolute ball, and fell asleep without any trouble!

Today they are heading off for a clinic on "finishing," followed by watching the Naperville boys take on Cruz Azul. Then they'll have some free time to take part in some USA Cup activities, a game at 7:10, and the ... dance ... really. There is a dance this time. I promise!

And...yes...I did visit a yarn shop. That's a post for the other blog though. ;-)

More Photos Posted!

Warren has been taking pictures and I got them downloaded this morning. When you click "More Photos" (in the left sidebar) you'll be taken to a photo from his set. You can click on the name of the set on the right side of that page, and you'll get his whole set of 125 pictures (!) that can be viewed as a slide show. Same events; different perspective! :-) There are some pictures of the boys in their "friendly"match against a MN team on Monday, in addition to the events I took photos of...Enjoy!

Schwan Cup, Day Two

Blog Reading 101 is now in session… ☺

For those of you new to blog reading, I’ll try to share a few useful tidbits now and then. Blog is short for “weblogs,” and they are online journals. One neat aspect of blogs is the “Comments” section. At the end of each entry, there is a spot that says “___comments.” This is a link that allows readers to leave a comment about the entry. Readers can also read the comments left by others. This allows the blog to become interactive! So, if you’d like to leave a comment for me or others to read, just click on the link and give it a try!

Also, please forgive me in advance for my soccer game pictures; they are not the best. I do know that a couple of other parents took some good shots, and I will try to get those into Flickr too.

We awoke to a hotter and more humid day, ready for our first game of the tournament. The boys had some team meetings, a light lunch, and “down time” in their rooms to prepare for the game.

The temperature hovered around 90 degrees by the time we headed to the fields at 3:30 PM. The sunscreen was slathered on, the cheap soccer chairs were in place, and the sun was blazing.


Our opponent was Cruz Azul. This is a select team affiliated with the professional Mexican team, Club Deportivo Cruz Azul.

(I should mention that our team was placed into the “Cup” flight for this tournament, a flight where “teams are generally formed from multiple communities as all-star or premier teams, in order to compete with nationally recognized teams.” Now we all know that is not us. Officials told us that we were moved into this flight because of our record, which looks pretty awesome on paper. Of course, we only have about 9 football clubs in all of Alaska to compete against, which makes our record a bit different from those of other states, but apparently that little detail was overlooked. ☺)

At any rate, this team was fast, athletic, talented, and clearly an “all-star or premier” team. Our score at half time was 0-6; final score was 0-9. We had three minor injuries: Jake got a cleat in the calf within his first minute of play and had to be carried off the field; he recovered by halftime so he could continue play. Agustin had an injury that briefly had him at the medical tent for a check-over, but he is fine now…and Jorge also left the field limping in the second half. All three boys are doing fine now.

This was a tough, fast game for our boys, but the entire team handled the loss admirably. I must say they absolutely never, ever gave up; they played their hardest every minute of that game! They came off the field red-faced, drenched, and exhausted. As Kirk would say, they emptied their tanks and gave it their all. We were proud of them.




Michael got a special treat when the game ended and he found out he’d had his very own cheering squad on the sidelines: his Aunt Julie and cousins Sam and Sophia!


There was little time to spare as we left the field, wolfed down some pizza, and headed to the stadium to meet a team from Illinois for the MLS game: Minnesota Thunder vs. Kansas Wizards.

We did take a moment on the way to cool off a bit:




This “Meet a Team” Opportunity was arranged ahead of time, and we sat with these guys to watch the game. (They plan to stop in at our game tomorrow to cheer us on.) The game was fun, but we sensed the Thunder were feeling much as we were, as the final score was 5-0 for the Wizards. I’ve included a few pictures of the event here, but there are many more in the Flickr Album.







As we walked home in the warm summer evening, and the boys rolled down grassy hills and kicked a water bottle on an empty field, George noted how much nicer it would be to turn on some lights and play games at this time of night, instead of in the heat of the day! Steve and I agreed, and we think that Fairbanks should play the Midnight Sun Tournament at night, so it truly is played under the midnight sun…wouldn’t that be novel?

The boys were excited when George stopped them short of the hotel and struck a bargain: 30 minutes in the pool would be followed by immediate lights out, TVs out, and sleep. They played, splashed and wrestled, ran upstairs and scarfed down leftover pizza, and were snoozing by 11:00. Aaahhh. ☺





We have two games tomorrow: at 12:05 PM, and 7:10 PM. These are followed by a…dance. Yes. A dance. I’m sure the blog will be full of news again. Bye until then!

Schwan Cup, Day One, Evening....

This was a busy time, and I took lots of photos. Other parents did as well, and so we will have way too many photos for the blog. I am uploading the extra pictures to my Flickr account. If you look in the left sidebar of this blog, you will see a Flickr badge, titled “More Photos.” Click on one of the pictures you see there, and it will take you to my Flickr account, where that photo is stored in sets. You can click on the sets and watch them as a slide show. Please email me if you need help with this, because there are lots of great photos, and I want everyone want be able to see them! So, on to the details…

After a relaxing afternoon, almost all boys napped. (Even though they swore they could never fall asleep…wink, wink.) We met in the lobby to head out for dinner and the Opening Ceremonies. The team was happy to learn that the Olive Garden was our dinner destination. We enjoyed good company and delicious food. The guys were gentlemen and we had a great time.





Opening Ceremonies began at 7:45 PM. It was an exciting and amazing event. The Schwan Cup is in its 23rd year, and is the largest sports tournament in the Western Hemisphere. This year, 1006 teams are competing, with about 16,000 participants. There are 21 countries represented…

My camera was kept busy during this exciting event. It seemed that I had a “photo opp” everywhere I turned. Things got started with a parade of teams. Alaska was well represented and cheered for, and each country or state clearly showed its pride. Hats, flags, costumes, and chants filled the arena as each team was introduced. (Be sure to check out that link of "More Photos" on the side; I got pictures of many of the teams as they entered the stadium, including the Brazilians, and the Scots in their kilts!)


Once the teams had positioned themselves on the field, skydivers parachuted in with the game ball and a banner. One skydiver wore a helmet cam; the video can be found here. (Scroll down almost to the bottom of that page.)




The Italian National Coach, Roberto Donadoni, was the guest of honor, and he wished all the teams well, telling them to play hard, play fair, and have fun. Local teams presented the Italian and US flags, and a soccer player from a girls’ Wisconsin team sang the national anthem so beautifully that it brought tears to my eyes. There was a lot of pride in that stadium…


After the national anthem, the very first team from England to play in the Schwan Cup presented the torch and lit the flame in the center of the stadium. Then came the fireworks and a live band/concert.





The teams dispersed and roamed the field, eating free ice cream and pizza. It was fun to wander the field and watch all these young people from so many places and cultures sharing their love of football and life. Teams were trading pins, shirts, souvenirs, and anything they could.

Brazil was very popular; they had Brazil/Ronaldinho shirts to trade!

Here, the Mexican boys were trading souvenirs for a peck on the cheek:

As space opened up at one end of the field, our boys found a ball, took off their shoes, and played. When they kicked us out of the stadium, they moved across the parking lot to another field and played ball under the street light, until 10:30 PM. Then we loaded up the dripping, exhausted boys and hustled them to bed. It had been a very satisfying, exciting day. They slept well…and were getting pumped up to take on Cruz Azul in their first game tomorrow.




Our next day will be pretty mellow and relaxed, with light meals, rest, team meetings, and mental preparation. Our next entry will be following our first game!