Harry and his soccer. It’s proving an expensive combination. First there were the coaching fees for the year – it’s not like playing for Harrold – fifty quid and you’re sorted! Follow that up with the kit purchases (which do look very nice to be fair) but Nike doesn’t come cheap. Once the new pair of boots were sorted we thought we could sit back and enjoy and watch our investment perform without any further raids of the piggy bank. Silly us!
This weekend was Harry’s first tournament with the Issaquah Gunners. They were taking part in the Bainbridge Island Cup which is a 30 minute ferry ride from Seattle. We hadn’t been there before so it seemed like it would be fun. Then the fixtures were published. A minimum of three games – two on Saturday and one on Sunday. Saturday kicked off at 10am and Sunday 9:30am. Working backwards from the kick-off time, to the ferry time, to the ferry wait time, the leave home time and the time to get up we concluded that we would need to set the alarm both mornings for about 6am at the latest. Bainbridge Island had lost some of its appeal. Frantic emails and calls to hotels and B&B’s across the island left us fearing the worst and cursing soccer! Everywhere was fully booked.
Eventually, despite their website saying otherwise, a call to Best Western found us a room. The last in the hotel! So on a beautiful sunny, Friday afternoon we set off to Seattle to catch the ferry. For those of you wondering, I was working from home, the car, the ferry and a nice little restaurant in Winslow!
We were hoping to catch the 2:10 ferry but as luck would have it we managed to squeeze onto the 1:10 with a few cars to spare. This was just the start of a lucky weekend! As we pulled away from the Pier the views of Seattle were beautiful. Then as we walked along the length of the ferry to see what Bainbridge Island looked like we had our second stroke of luck. A sighting of Orcas! A pod of twenty had been reported on the local news that morning and although we only saw a couple it was pretty blooming exciting nontheless! I managed to get a couple of pictures but an amazing whale photo has now jumped to #1 on my must do list!
Our hotel was in Winslow, which is the town right by the ferry dock. As usual we were all absolutely starving so we went straight to a lovely little restaurant and had beautiful sandwiches, wine, fries and beer! The island of Bainbridge was starting to go up in our estimations! After checking out a few shops we then went to the hotel and checked in. Next stop was the beach. We were on an island so they couldn’t be that hard to find, or so we thought. After completing a tour of most of the Island we did finally manage to find a beach for the boys to play on. They managed to amuse themselves for some time with a lump of driftwood and some seaweed. You’ll also see how well they did with the instruction of “don’t get your shorts wet”:
httpv://youtu.be/4-OarSFibGs
httpv://youtu.be/BH1kmpABaM4
httpv://youtu.be/8RcVUPUc2b8
After drying them off as best we could we went back to the hotel and threw them in the bath. By now we were of course starving and it was time for some dinner. It was actually far too late for dinner considering Harry had an important football match early the next morning. Anyway stomachs ruled and we went for a short walk and a bite to eat down near the harbor. We then retired to bed and fell fast asleep in readiness for the day ahead.
Despite the late night, Harry was awake at 6:30am and in his usual quiet way, woke the rest of us up. After breakfast in the hotel we took the very short drive up the road to Bainbridge High School where the games were taking place today.
First up was a game at 10am against Cascades FC. I think it came as a bit of a shock to Harry but unlike with Harrold & Carlton Tigers he wasn’t starting the match. He was going to have to make an impression from the substitutes bench. He got his chance half way through the first half but was playing left side of defence which is far from ideal for our goal scoring super hero. Plus it meant running around a lot rather than just standing about letting everyone else do the work!
In the second half he came on as sub again but on the right side of midfield and then we saw an improvement. Despite this improvement the ball was not going to go in for the Gunners. They could have played all day and not scored. Fortunately they only had to play for 50 minutes without scoring. Unfortunately Cascades FC scored 4. One game, one defeat. The next match wasn’t until 4:15pm so it was off for a team lunch at the local Mexican restaurant.
Gatherings like these make you realize how well behaved Harry and Toby are. The rest were monsters! Well, some of them – not all! With lunch out the way and a couple of hours to go until the game, Harry and Toby got the pleasure of some more shopping in Winslow – which is a bit like Langley on Whidbey Island.
We went back to the fields for the second game and positioned our Tommy Bahama chairs on the halfway line. Tracy had found two pennies in the car park which we hoped meant we’d get luck for the rest of the day. It was a must win game against Crush FC. Their name sounded impressive however it turned out they were no match for the Gunners and the lucky penny. After hitting the crossbar a couple of times Harry finally managed to score his first goal for the club and they ran out 12 – 1 winners. Toby spent the afternoon with his new friend, Jake. They played football, on the DS, chase, and occasionally watched their brothers play football.
After a refreshing shower – it had been a very, very hot day – we went to the Island Grill and had a unusual set of meals, ranging from Singapore noodles, to nachos, to cheese sticks, pepperoni pizza and pot stickers. All fed, it was back to the hotel for another good sleep ahead of what we hoped would be three more games on Sunday.
After breakfast in the hotel we were back to the pitches for a 9:30 kick-off against the Crush FC A team (yesterday had been against the B team). A win was required to be sure of a place in the semi-finals and a win was duly delivered! The final score was 7-1 and Harry Stickman scored a lovely goal to help the team on his way.
After returning to the hotel to check out and to Safeway to get a light bite to eat ahead of next game we returned to the field and found another penny in the car park! These weren’t planted by superstitious parents just in case you’re wondering! Because of the penny, we had high hopes for the game against Harbor Barracudas – another scary sounding team. I was confident ahead of the game that the Gunners would win however as the team had shot after shot after shot I was starting to get a little bit worried! However, as we neared the mid point of the second half Harry scored a belter of a shot to give the Gunners the lead (with his left foot – just for the record). Controversy soon followed with an equalizer for the Barracudas and the prospect of penalties loomed large. Never fear though – the Stickman had been promised a present if they won the cup and he wasn’t going to let any team get in his way! With time running out, he conjured up another great strike and the Gunners were heading to the final with a 2-1 victory.
And so the team of exhausted boys went to Battle Point Park which was at the north of the island. We drove their with Harry’s sweaty socks flapping out the car window as we tried to dry them! It wasn’t pleasant but it worked – they were dry by the time we got there.
While the team sat in the shade waiting for the final to kick-off Toby played football with the coaches. He kept the crowd entertained by saving the coaches shots and tackling them. The final was against Cascades FC – the team that had beaten them 4-0 the day before. I wasn’t overly confident but the Gunners were superb! Harry scored another two goals (as his coach had apparently asked him too) and they won the cup 5-2. As nice as it was to win the cup for all the obvious reasons, it was extra special because the Cascade supporters had been very confident, very vocally before the game about winning. So in the words of Toby when he saw some Cascade players later in the queue for the ferry, “take that suckers!”. Such a classy 4 year old!
After collecting his medal and having team pictures with the trophy Harry announced he felt sick. Despite being told to keep out the sun, wear his hat and drink lots he clearly hadn’t, and so he celebrated his first ever tournament win by being sick in the car park and in a plastic bag as we drove to the ferry. Two classy boys!
By the time we reached the ferry, Harry felt better and started to enjoy his success with his brother:
httpv://youtu.be/ceo3XEzB5vg
On the ferry the boys sat together and spent the 30 minute journey eating popcorn, cookies, crisps and gummy bears! I don’t know where they got all their energy from. The parents had been exhausted just watching their efforts all weekend, never mind running around in the sun for hours!
And so that was our weekend on Bainbridge. It’s a lovely island, the weather was amazing, the football was a bit stressful (particularly for Tracy) but overall our luck held. We saw orcas, won the cup and caught our ferries on time. A last minute hashed together plan came together perfectly! Let’s hope his season gets a bit cheaper though!
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