I’m happy to introduce a new contributor to the site, Jordan Pitts, who has two stories to share with us. This one relates his experiences being part of the Scott Gallagher U14 team that won the State Championship (Jordan’s in the back row, first one on the right). He’s been traveling to St Louis to practice and play with this team for a couple of years and has two State medals to show for it. This is his journal for the week of June 23-28 at the Region II tournament.
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I have just returned from two weeks of some of the coolest soccer experiences I have ever had. I am a member of the Scott Gallagher U-14 state championship team. Last year I helped lead the team to a state championship and a semi-final berth at the Midwest regionals as the starting goalie. This year at Cup I was placed in the role of reserve goalie, so most of my time was spent warming up Sam Cooksey (sophomore keeper for St. Dominics HS in St. Louis) and supporting from the sidelines. (Thats competitive soccer for you).
Our trip started on Thursday, June 22, as we hustled 3 and a half hrs up to St Louis to try to catch one last practice session before heading on up to Fox Cities, Wisconsin for the Midwest Regionals. If you try to find Fox Cities on a map, you are in for a long look. As we discovered, the Fox Cities is a group of small towns along the Fox River and surrounding Lake Winnebago. The practice that we had hurried to try to make had been rained out, so we had some dinner, then headed out for our half way point, Bloomington Ill.. We stayed overnight with my cousins before making the final 4 hr trip to our hotel, which was located in Neenah, Wisconsin.
Friday June 23
The activities started with an Olympic style opening ceremony at the local baseball stadium. All 14 states march in with their state banners and all the players are wearing matching shirts and khaki shorts. They had a few people speak and a really lame magician perform in center field. He made an H3 Hummer appear right out in center field. WOW. (I think it MAY have been behind the curtain the whole time). They officially start the tournament, Let the games begin
Saturday June 24
Our first match was probably one of the toughest we could have drawn, We sere set to play Chicago Wind Nationals, who at the time were ranked 3rd in the nation. We had a 2:30 afternoon start time so we got plenty of rest and got prepared for the game. It started out pretty well for us as we were able to dominate possession for a good part of the first half, but this team was very physical and had good size and skills. The Wind is a primarily hispanic club from the Chicago area and it wasn’t long before the momentum changed. We ended up losing that game by a score of 2-0. We really needed that game if we were going to have a chance to advance. A few of us had dinner together and then went back to the hotel. We had to get to bed early for an 8:30 am match against FC Milwaukee. This is a team we should beat. Maybe FC Pride from Indiana will knock off the Wind and give us some help.
Sunday June 25th
We got up early for a light breakfast before the game. It’s a little cool and foggy this morning and everyone seems a little groggy. This morning has been a mess. We had to borrow some balls to warm up from some kids on the sideline because the coach had been left at the hotel without a ride. He had all the balls and our players cards. Somebody went to get himm, but they arrived late. We were really struggling to put anything in the 1st half. FC Milwaukee was playing hard and slipped in a goal in the 1st half. We did pick it up in the 2nd half, but were unable to find the net. FC Milwaukee wins 1-0. So now we had all day to think about what a horrible game that was. Most of us wanted to think about anything but that, so we spent the rest of the day wandering around the town. We walked over to the lake, which was near the hotel, and we skipped rocks (I had to show the city boys how), and poked around at some huge dead fish that had floated up to the shore. We all had dinner as a team at a local Italian restaurant, with no coaches and just a few parents. There was also a concert in the park across from the hotel. We had a great time together. The best part of the concert was watching the lead singer do the first part of the show with his fly open. We learned that FC Pride had also lost to Chicago Wind, but they had beaten FC Milwaukee, so our chances of advancing were not looking good, impossible in fact.
Monday June 26th
This morning, Skyler and I went down to the hotel restaurant and had breakfast together. Today the coach told me I would be starting in goal. I’m excited to play, but I wish the game meant something. We really need to win this game to regain some confidence. We have a super talented team, but we have just not shown well up here. We played well against Chicago, but they were just the better team that day. Charles Renken, our ODP National team player, injured his foot in that game and has not played since.(he missed the remainder of the tournament). Still there is no way we should have lost to FC Milwaukee.
Our game starts out really well, we are relaxed and playing our style. Feels good to be on the field. Our first goal came in the 2nd half by Dominic Hewitt, a player that I had spent considerable time with in recent games on the sideline. Ironically, He scored the 1 st goal of the tournament for us. Our second goal came on a PK by our midfielder Sito with just a minute or so to go in the game. That sealed it. I had a great time I was able to contribute some nice saves and record the shutout. As we were shaking hands after the game it occoured to me that this may be the last time I play with this team. We’ve decided to play closer to home next year. I have made so many friends over the last couple of years and we have had so much success. It is much harder than I thought it would be to say good bye. However, I make the rounds and tell everyone goodbye. Everyone is cool and wishes me luck. We get into the van and head off to my next adventure, Tlaquepaque, Mexico and the Sister Cities Soccer Exchange. But first we’ve got to get back to Springfield Mo.
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As he notes, Jordan was part of the group of boys who recently traveled to Tlaquepaque Mexico as part of the Springfield Sister Cities program. He’ll be back with his journal of that trip soon. I’d love to have some photos and additional stories to share with the readers if Jordan’s teammates would like to contribute. Use the Contact tab above to get in touch with me.
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