Indelible Adventures: Going for gold

Take a moment to check out the updated Indelible Adventures website and store. As well, here are a variety of links to my social media if you'd like to follow me or "like" my work.

Facebook - Google+ - Twitter - Instagram - LinkedIn - ImageBrief - National Geographic

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This week I’ve been in Florida watching Sami play soccer in the JCC Maccabi Games. The Maccabi Games are an annual event conducted in North America for Jewish youth between the ages of 13 – 16 and include a host of team and athletic events modeled after the Olympic games. This year Sami was selected to represent Toronto in girls soccer.

Stepping off the plane in Fort Lauderdale the first thing that I noticed was the heat and extreme humidity, so I was a little concerned given our girls don’t deal with this type of heat in Toronto. And to be honest its been quite a few years since I lived in Darwin where this is the norm, so it took me a day or two to get re-acclimatized as well.

As with most tournaments of this nature the format for the first two days is a round robin competition where each team plays four other teams, and based on the results of these games the teams are then seeded for the final series. In the girls soccer competition Toronto had two teams (white and blue), Orange County (Los Angeles), Fort Lauderdale, England (yes, the UK sent teams), North Miami Beach plus two mixed teams of players from Mexico, Pittsburgh, Hartford and Springfield. An eclectic group of teams to be sure!

Fortunately for the players the first games were scheduled for an 8:00 am start each morning to try and combat the heat, but to no avail…it was stiflingly hot and everyone was dripping with sweat, even those of us standing in the shade by game time each morning. J

After day one Sami’s team seemed like the team to beat outscoring their opponents 23-2. Every player has scored at least one goal and it looked like it was going to be an incredibly one-sided tournament. However, a combination of the heat and tired bodies started to take their toll and by day two the playing field seemed a lot more even.

Our first game on day two was against the team from England, and not really knowing what to expect the girls were in for a big surprise and quickly found themselves behind 1-0 after a free kick just outside the box which was neatly put into the top back corner of the net from about 30 yards out - an amazing strike of the ball! Yeah, these girls could play.

The girls rallied and quickly found their footing scoring two quick goals to lead at the half 2-1. With both teams tiring in the heat, our girls kept pushing forward and through disciplined passing were able to push the lead out to 4-1 before the English team found the net again, giving them a glimmer of hope, but Sami’s team scored two final goals to seal the result and make it a 6-2 score line and although on paper it looked an easy win, the girls had to work very hard.

The second game was against the home town favorites – Fort Lauderdale who luckily for them are accustom to this type of heat were easily able to match our pace of play for much of the game. They had just come off a 10-0 win in their first game so were riding an emotional high as they began the game, however our defense was ironclad and kept them scoreless, much to their frustration. Sami scored a nice goal to begin the game, and we added a second after half time to give us a 2-0 win.

Going into the final seeding process we had put up a goal differential of 31-4 and so I had assumed we would be the top seed going into the quarter-final round... Ah, not so fast mister!

The Maccabi games have some unique rules, one of which was that all games with scores of 6 goals or more were capped at six so that meant that Orange County, Fort Lauderdale and the two Toronto teams were literally put into a hat and drawn out to see what the seeding would be. I’m don’t think I was the only person at the tournament who was dumb struck with this logic, but there you have it.

We ended up being seeded number two behind Orange County and so had to play the team from England again in the quarter-final. As with all tournaments of this nature, it was now sudden death elimination, so if we faltered our tournament was over. Both teams felt the pressure of having to win, clearly lots of pride riding on the result especially from the large and boisterous English cheer squad that accompanied our opponents.

Our game was scheduled for a 9:20 am start and checking the temperature at game time noted that it was already 29C with 80% humidity, the sun was brutally hot and with no shade or trees close to the field everyone was baking including the fans for both teams. You could literally feel your skin burning as you watched the game - can you say “Africa hot!”

As with our first game against England, they came to play and with a new goalkeeper looked stronger than ever. In the first five minutes they had a break away and scored a nice goal leaving our girls all looking at each other wondering if they could overcome the storm. The game then turned into a see-saw battle which saw the ball won and lost by both teams over and over again without any conclusive opportunities.

Sami was playing striker and with two minutes to go to the half, a team mate sent a beautiful cross from the corner into the box and she gotten behind the defenders and evened the scores at 1 all. The Toronto fans and bench erupted with cheers as she jogged back to the center circle with all her teammates congratulating and high fiving her. I think you could have seen her smile from space – it was radiant! And rightly so, she’d put her team back on an even keel. I can’t describe how proud I was of her…and of course I missed the photo op as I was cheering her on at the time – bugger!

The second half began with opportunities for both teams, but the respective goalkeepers were phenomenal and somehow kept the ball out of the net. It wasn’t until late in the second half that we had a break away and slotted the winner home – you could literally see all the players heave a sigh of relief and buckle down to close out the game with just minutes remaining on the clock.

Our next opponent was Fort Lauderdale at noon in the semi-final game.

If I thought it was hot at 9:20 am then it was unbelievable at noon… By this stage in the tournament both teams were exhausted, and so our coach focused the girls on getting back to basics with crisp passing to build the plays and not force it. His approach worked beautifully and we had 80% possession of the ball over the course of the game, which eventually led us to a fantastic 3-1 win.

The Toronto white team had been seeded fourth and won their quarter-final game 1-0 vs. North Miami Beach but lost their semi final game to Orange County who looked now like the team to beat for the gold.

The final was now set between Toronto Blue and Orange County in a repeat of the final two years prior where Orange County won in a close game. With such a strong rivalry everyone was keyed up and ready for the game.

To start our final day of competition Toronto white upset Fort Lauderdale 1-0 to win the bronze medal after losing to them earlier in the competition, this gave our girls a huge boost of confidence and lots more people to cheer them on.

The game was a cracker with OC scoring almost immediately from the first kick off but the Toronto girls didn't panic they just stayed with their game plan, passing the ball with precision, and soon equaled the score. It was a see-sawing affair with both teams hitting the crossbar on occasions as the pace of play was relentless and at the half saw Toronto with a slim 2-1 lead. The pace of play slowed considerably in the second half as the heat began to take its toll on both teams, but OC's concentration lapsed momentarily and Toronto quickly scored three goals in three minutes and looked like it was all over at 5-2, but OC weren’t done, not by a long shot and responded with two quick goals. At the last water break it was 5-4 with 10 minutes still to play but Toronto's stifling defense and elusive strikers kept OC at bay and mostly in their half for the remainder of the game. The final score was Toronto Blue 5 - Orange County 4.

As unofficial photographer I took more than a 1000 photos over the course of the four days, fortunately I have been curating them each night so have about 350 action shots that I will forward to the girls to keep as mementos. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster ride for sure, but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. Strangely I had a jittery stomach all week just like I used to get before playing in big football games when I was younger, except this feeling stayed with me and lasted all week.

I’m so proud of Sami and her team mates for winning the gold medal and hope they cherish the feeling of accomplishment to last them a lifetime. Well done girls! J

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hanoi Posting”

A series of micro-stories by Terence Wallis

Episode 6: Adrift

Lea had been feeling more than uneasy over dinner, the restaurant had been one of their favourite Asian fusion places but the conversation had been stilted from the start and she could tell that Bill had something on his mind. She also knew him well enough to know that he didn’t quite know how to bring it up.

However, when Bill finally admitted to her that he had demanded the Hanoi posting from John earlier that day and that he had begrudgingly agreed she felt numb. She knew about Hanoi as he’d been going on and on about it, but thought there was no way that John would give one of his junior reporters the desk in Hanoi, even if he was one of the best.

“So what does that mean?” Well, Bill went on somewhat reluctantly, it means that I’m headed to Hanoi in three weeks once the visa and internal papers have been finalized he said smiling. Clearly Bill had missed the subtly of the question, as it wasn’t about him or the posting but about them.

I meant, what does that mean about us? Lea said with tears starting to well in her eyes. Well, I don’t know Bill stammered awkwardly, I never really thought past getting the job in Hanoi. "Well, I suppose you could come with me" he said brightly.

“Fuck you!” she spat, and the look of hurt evident on her face. She pushed her chair back threw down her napkin and said “I never want to see you again — got that?” and grabbing her handbag stormed out of the restaurant. Bill sat there momentarily dumbfounded…wow, that hadn’t gone as expected he bemoaned to himself.

Lea wasn't at work the next morning, nor the morning after that. In fact over the next couple of days Bill had left countless phone messages for her both at work and home, he’d even tried going around to her flat and ringing the doorbell expectantly but with no response.

Even Lea hadn’t realized it at the time but the fight with Bill and his subsequent posting to Hanoi had shattered her emotionally.

She felt adrift…