In Search of a High Altitude Attitude . . .: A week of soccer camp

Sunday, July 27, 2008

A week of soccer camp

Bug attended the Colorado Rapids soccer camp this past week, every night from 5 - 8. My friends whose daughter and son also attended took her every night, luckily considering there was no way I was going to get from downtown Denver to Commerce City by 5 every day. But I dutifully drove every night from work to home to let dogs go to the bathroom to the soccer fields. It's been a long week. And then yesterday, they allowed the campers and their parents to sit in on a closed practice, followed by autographs and pictures. And tonight, a game against the Columbus Crew . . . which, unfortunately, we lost 0-2. But while the week was draining on me, Bug thrived under the direction of the players as her coaches. So sadly, Pablo Mastroeni and Christian Gomez were playing in the MLS All Star game and were not at the camp. And Tom McManus was injured. . . . But she received direct instruction from some amazing players. Nick LaBrocca, Steven Keel, Colin Clark, Ugo Ihemelu, Herculez Gomez, Mehdi Ballouchy, Omar Cummings, Justin Hughes, John DiRaimondo, Jacob Petersen, Cesar Zambrano, and some others whose names escape me at this late hour. Bug's favorite of late, Bouna Coundoul, is a goalkeeper, and so he did not coach her, to her disappointment, but he took pictures with her on Saturday. They all loved her new braces, which were put on Tuesday, because the bands are the Rapids' colors: maroon and baby blue. Here are some pics from the week:

Steven Keel and Herculez Gomez talk to the campers . . .

John Murphy, Director of Player Development and Head Coach of the Reserve Team was a tough cookie out on the field, but the kids loved him (and his Bronx accent) . . .

Mehdi Ballouchy and Nick LaBrocca sign soccer balls . . .

IT'S BOUNA TIME!!!! One of Mattie's favorite sayings . . . . Here she is with Goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul. He was very sweet with her, and after I took the picture, he kept saying, "But you didn't say 'cheese'," in his Senegalese accent. Cracked us up.

The highly acclaimed Christian Gomez (next to Bouna). . .

Our favorite Scot, Tom McManus, next to our favorite Brit, Terry Cooke (or, as everyone calls him, Cookie) . . .

Conor Casey, Steven Keel, and Jake Petersen . . .

Facundo Erpen and Colin Clark . . .

Justin Hughes a/k/a "Juice. Juice is one of the goalkeepers, but he separated his shoulder diving for a ball and had to have surgery right before camp started. The kids all loved his cool hair. I think he looked just like the guy who played George in the "George of the Jungle" movie several years ago.

The gorgeous Pablo Mastroeni runs laps at the closed session on Saturday . . .

Herculez Gomez and Bug at a Q & A session. Herc kept telling her questions to ask Mehdi that were meant to embarass him . . . which Bug didn't realize. Herc is like one of the kids . . . one that's always getting in trouble. :):)