Springfield MO Soccer

Jordan Pitts and his father Brian return with their journal about the recent Sister Cities Soccer Exchange that sent a group of U14 boys from Springfield to Guadalajara, Mexico region for a week at the end of June. The story begins on their return from the Region II Tournament in Appleton Wisconsin. Be certain to click on the photo above (the boys and their trophy) so you can see 36 photos contributed by Tyler Sevon and his father Dave.

And consider coming out to the Springfield Lasers tennis match this evening. The team will be recognized during ‘halftime’ of the event.

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Since we left Regionals a day earlier that we had planned, we took the long way home and got to see Milwaukee. The Brewer’s new Miller Park is an amazing stadium. We also drove through downtown Chicago for the first time, that was pretty impressive.

When I got home I had an email from one of my Gallagher coaches, Mike Baer. He said he appreciated me being on the team, and he wished me luck. That made me feel good because I was concerned what they would think of me leaving.

I’ve got about a half a day to rest and repack before getting up at 4:30am to go to the airport to catch our flight. I’ve really been looking forward to this trip. The team is at the airport all dressed in white polos, blue blazers and khaki pants. Our sponsors have really set us up nice with two sets of uniforms, two training shirts, socks, a white polo shirt, a nike jacket and a back pack. They had a dinner for us at the Tower Club a couple of weeks ago and gave us an etiquette lesson so we wouldn’t embarrass ourselves at some of the functions we would attend.(turns out alot of the silverware rules didn’t apply to enchiladas and burritos). The team all feels real priviliged to be a part of experience.

We flew in to Dallas and waited for the rest of our group to arrive on a later flight. The Dallas airport is huge and we roamed around and found an ice cream place and sat in massage chairs. Finally the other flight got there so we boarded the plane to Guadalajara. We all pretty much slept on the flight to Mexico and when we arrived in Guadalajara things were very different. Luckily we had Daniel Tovar on the team and he speaks Spanish so he helped us through the airport. We also had Mrs Aricele Hanks with us. She is with the Sister Cities program and she is from Mexico, so she acted as our guide throughout the trip.

There was a group of people waiting to greet us and take us to a dinner at a museum with some of the local city officials. They had a mariachi band playing, and our opponents for the first match were there to eat with us. They brought us gifts and it was so funny that they gave us caps. Our head coach Jan Stahle had made a big deal of telling us we were to look good, tuck our shirts and NO BALLCAPS. He just shook his head and laughed. If we didn’t wear the caps we would insult our hosts.

After dinner we took the Club Atlas team bus to our hotel. We changed and got ready for a light afternoon training session with our coaches at one of the Atlas facilities. We practiced on the only grass field at the complex. There were probably four dirt fields around us and they were full of kids and adults playing soccer. This facility was not very nice. The area we are staying in seems pretty poor. There are people everywhere. They are all very friendly to us.

We went back to our hotel which is a spanish style bed and breakfast. It is very nice. Tlaquepaque is a very old town. It has narrow streets that look like back alleys and you never know what is behind the concrete walls. It could be a dump or a beautiful hotel. We get to bed early for our game at 10:15 the next day.

June 29th

We showed up at the same Atlas facility for our first match. They had an opening ceremony for us. We are wearing our white jerseys, orange shorts, black nike jackets and our new black caps. We are playing the same team that traveled up here last year and dominated the local Springfield team. But this year we have come a little better prepared. These are most of the best thirteen and fourteen year old soccer players in Springfield and we have been practicing for a couple of months. We came out strong and scored early. The Atlas team appeared to be younger than us but I think they underestimated us based on last year. We won the game 4-0. That afternoon we went to what we thought was supposed to be a training talk. It actually turned into a training session with some of the Atlas coaches. Some of us weren’t prepared and didn’t have the right shoes, but it was fun. They showed us some neat team drills.

June 30th

This morning we are going on a walking tour of the city. We are all pretty tired at this point, but we got to see several museums and galleries and got to visit City Hall where we received some more gifts. They were handmade plates with our names on them. Finally we get to go to lunch. I think they are taming down some of the food for us because some of it is pretty bland, And the drinks they give us are kind of like a watered down smoothie. We have a game this evening out at a different location. They tell us the elevation is about a mile high. This appears to be an actual Club Atlas training facility. We get there early to watch the goalie training session. After about ten minutes I was invited down to work out with them. These guys looked to be from about 12 yrs old to 18 yrs old. They are actually in the Atlas academy. They are training to try to make the professional club one day. Some of the drills were the same as I’ve done before but they also showed me some new things. None of them spoke english so it was hard to understand when they were correcting me on something. I had to have them show me, then I understood. The workout was pretty tough. I began to notice the difference in elevation. Now I have to play a game.

Well, they brought in a different team for us to play this time. We learned later that it was their premier team. This was a tough game and they pretty much dominated us from start to finish. Atlas plays an attacking style and as the goalie, I can say they do it pretty well. I got a ton of action and made some good saves. But we lost 4-0.

After the game we were invited to one of the councilman’s homes for a party. This was one of those places that you wouldn’t expect to find in this area. He had a beautiful place with a pool and a pavillion. There were tables with white tablecloths and the mariachi band was back. Here was where we got an example of “Mexico time”. They are not real big on sticking to schedules sometimes. They were all having a great party but we didn’t get served our meal till probably 10:30. We were starving. It was a very good party and the host was very nice. He told us that he son was actually in Germany watching the World Cup. We didn’t have a game till tomorrow late afternoon, so we went back to the hotel and had fun joking aroung and playing pranks on each other.

July 1

Nothing much to do this morning. There are all kinds of shops around this area. We are here at a good time because they are celebrating, I think it is All Saints day. They are also having the Presidential election, so there is alot of activity. It is amazing how many places you can find soccer jerseys and stuff. Jersey’s are only about 200 pesos. (twenty bucks) Seems like every one has bought at least one or two. This afternoon we visited Jalisco stadium which is where Club Atlas and Club Chivas play. It is a huge stadium that seats about 60,000. It was built in the fifties. Our tour guide said that this was where “the wave” originated. After the tour they took us to the Atlas pro shop and bought some cool Atlas merchandise.

This afternoon we have another game and it looks like they have brought out the original team again and added about six or so older kids to try to give us a good match. It is pouring rain. Big drops. We are not playing very well. I think our late nights and long tours are taking a toll. They are beating us to balls, and we are not connecting on passes. The game ends in a tie. But the official told us we were going to do pks. I was excited for the chance, but we ended up losing, Back to the hotel, they found a pizza hut that would deliver to us so we ate at the hotel and then walked back downtown to look around.

July 2

Today is our last game. We got up and took the bus to the Atlas country club for breakfast. It was the best breakfast we have had so far. When we arrived at the field we noticed a huge trophy at the center of the field. Looks like we are playing about the same team as yesterday but with a couple more off of the premier team. So far this has been friendly games, but this time they are giving us something to play for. It’s a really big trophy. Its a nice morning and we are back at the nicer training facility in the mountains. We really played well this morning. Our passing is much better and we are attacking the goal better. Will Palmer broke loose early and scored a nice goal. After that we pretty much controlled the pace and ended up winning 4-2. After the game we exchanged jerseys with the Atlas club and they had a trophy presentation for us. This has been a really neat experience for all of us. I think we have learned alot about their style of soccer and I think they have learned a few things from us. They call our style European, which is more possession oriented while they play more attack style.

We spent the rest of the day touring Guadalajara and got to see some of the more affluent areas as well as seeing some of the old landmarks. We took one of those double decker open top buses for about an hour. When we got back to the hotel, some of the guys had bought plastic bow and arrows from a street vendor and we had wars till about three in the morning and amazingly got no noise complaints. The rest of the guys were playing cards in their room. This has been a blast. I really want to thank the Park Board and the Sister Cities Association as well as our coaches and parents who allowed this to happen. It is something I will never forget. I have new opinions about Mexico. I really had no idea what the people were like or how they lived. I would like to return someday.

The Atlas trainers said that they had observed four players that they would like to invite back next summer for an extended two month stay at their facilities to take classes and train with there club. They didn’t tell us which ones but Coach Stahle told me later at the airport that the four were Will Palmer, Patrick Baltz, Chris Maddox, and myself. We don’t know any details but it was an honor just to be noticed by the professional trainers.

July3

This was a another day of hurry up and wait. We have to go through customs and immigration get through the airport in Guadalajara, then a mad dash through the Dallas airport to catch the flight back to Springfield. When we got back there was a crowd of people waiting for us. We were wearing our white shirts, blue blazers and khaki pants and carrying our big trophy. Thanks again to everyone who made this possible. We got to play the game we love, and learn something too.

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Wow, what an opportunity and what a story. I want to be 14 again!