Four Under 10, Under 13, and (Way) Over 30 Teams Qualify for 3v3 Regionals

U10 Barcelona Takes Fourth Place at Lexington 3v3 Kick-It Tournament

Briefly.
"Barcelona," a 3v3 team made up of Madison County under-10 mixed division III select soccer MUSA Flyers players, participated in the Lexington, Kentucky Kick-It 3v3 soccer tournament this past June 30/July 1, 2007 weekend. They were: Andrew, Bill, Marlowe, Ruby, Sam, and Zane, and they took fourth place overall to qualify for the 3v3 regionals.

Not so briefly.
Showing a remarkable learning curve and tenacity, the team bounced back from losing their first three games to beat the tournament's eventual second place finishers and eventually outperform a team from Lexington Premier (division I).

The team earned their spot in the second day's play-offs by virtue of their goal differential. They scored more and allowed less goals to be scored on them. Because they made it to the play-offs, the team got to play a total of seven 24-minute games over the weekend: four on Saturday and three on Sunday.

The highlight of Saturday, besides beating the eventual second place "Stingers" from Alabama, was that everyone on the team scored at least once and the team never got shut out in any of their seven games. Ruby lead the scoring in the first games and Marlowe and Andrew turned it on in the later games. Marlowe and Sam floated some gorgeous long-distance "air-goals," and Marlowe and Zane hammered a couple of mid-range power goals. One of Marlowe's volleys literally detached the field number off the goal net! Zane, Ruby, and Andrew demonstrated pinpoint accuracy with goals shot from near the midfield, and Bill fused speed and accurate crosses for a goal and assist.

Besides the wonderful parity in scoring, the team exhibited great chemistry, strong pressing and challenging for balls, great passing, and excellent one-on-one decisions such as "should I pass, to who" or "should I shoot."

O30 Adult Recreational Chaos 2 Team Takes Third Place at Lexington 3v3 Kick-It Tournament

Making the weekend even more of a scheduling dance, the coaches for the U10 Barcelona and U13 Boys and U13 Girls played their own 3v3 games to take third place in the men's open division. It was entertainment for their children and empathy for their youth players for the coaches. Playing for the Chaos 2 team were Gerald Beavers, Dave Meibers, Alfredo Gomez, Ron Yoder, Joe Gershtenson, and Darryl Dison all of which are regulars for teams in the co-ed Monday night Madison Indoor Soccer league. We were definitely not the fastest team, but it was clear that neutral "body-English," field positioning, and passing gave us our wins.

All four teams that we brought (U13 Boys Rec, U13 Girls Rec, U10 Boys Competitive, O30 Rec) qualified for the 3v3 regionals. What's next? Stay in shape and stay free from injuries.

We do it because it's fun!