I have officially joined a soccer team here in Mettmann, it is a womens team (obviously) and is apart of the Landesliga. The age range on the team is from 14-30+... but the under 16 year olds can't play in games.. so they just practice.. I dont know why they would do that but alrighty!!.. everyone is really nice..
During our first scrimmage against a Turkish club.. I played forward(weird) and we won 4-2.. it was very exciting! I still havent quite gotten down the soccer lingo.. so yelling spanish soccer commands apparently dont work..imagine that right?
During our first GAME in Dusseldorf last Sunday I couldnt play because I didnt have a players card yet...it was a rather embarrassing game to say the least. We lost 12-1.. During the last 20 minutes the coach sketchily pulled me aside.. he pretended to give me instructions to take some water to our goalie.. but really he was giving me a new name/birthday to memorize so that I could go into the game. My new name was Jamie Korshev..born August 8 in 1990.. yeehaw.. he failed to tell me that when you sub into a German soccer game the ref asks you for your birthday.. I nervously mumbled 8,8,90... but it worked!!
Naturfriebad
Not too long ago I joined a soccer team here in Mettmann.. with Mettmann Sport. Its the womens league (womens soccer isnt too popular here..) so there are people ages 16-30+ on my team. It's fine and I like it. The first few weeks were conditioning.. running.. sprints.. all that jazz. They then decided that it would be a good idea to do some wasseraerobics.. this sounded fun..
On a nice Sunday morning around 8:00am I walked down to the Stadtwald Park and to the pool. Yes, an outdoor nature pool with algae in it. At first we ran a little, then we did some core exercises. It was then time for the pool... the instructor made SURE that I knew how to swim.. he then told us that we needed to take a cold shower.. then jump in the pool. Because taking a warm/hot shower because getting into a cold pool wouldnt be good. This immediately caught my attention. I then dipped my toes into the pool...........................
this was going to be a long wasseraerobics..
I took a swift cold shower.. then dove into the pool.. I FELT LIKE I WAS COMMITTING SUICIDE OFF OF THE TITANIC.. I couldnt breath...no matter how much I moved around in the water.. I was not getting any warmer..
Any way.. we did some running relays.. but running on Algae isnt as easy as it looks hahah.. infact it was quite hard adn annoying.. After that we treaded water with our hands above the water.. tossing soccer balls around.. I'm sure the locals found this very amusing. Speaking of locals.. some were actually AT the swimming pool that morning.. TO SWIM.. are they crazy??? it was freezing!! but I guess they had a good show.. adn figured if a rather hefty German soccer team can do it.. then I can to. I was happy that I did the water aerobics.. it felt good to get out and regain feeling in my body.. but it was fun and memorable. Needless to say.. I will not do it again. Every time I think that I am cold.. I will think back on that moment and I will remember very quickly..
Uniforms
We have two sets of uniforms.. When we are the away team we wear a pale blue uniform.. with strange shorts that have panty linings- VERY uncomfortable.. our socks are regular socks except for the bottom.. its stirrup style. This means you have to wear socks underneath- what's the point? I do;however, like our home uniforms. They are all black with long sleeve jerseys. I guess we are sponsored by this grill in town called the "Chill out" so that's what the front of our jerseys say. Unlike in the US, you don't get a uniform with a certain number at the beginning of the season. We have a big bag before each game with everything in it.. and you simply take whatever number you want and whatever size shorts, and socks of course. At the end of the game you put the entire uniform in the dirty clothes bag to be washed.. so much easier. We also got warm ups.......the down side is that they are MAROON! I hope they look better in person than they do in the catalog... Scarf
Only in Europe would they wear fashionable scarves to practice in.. haha
Third Game
Today we played in a nearby town (about 25 minutes away) against a team that was pretty physical. The field was very, very old turf with sand. It looked like a big dried out sand dollar.. atleast that was my impression. I hurt my ankle- shocker there.. but I still played.It's a little swollen, but what else is new. I'm used to the perpetual kankle. I SCORED!! woho that was exciting. It was a perfect day for soccer that's for sure. Clear skies.. 50-60 degrees. Perfect. We lost 8-4 but who cares!! I took my first communal shower. Seems stupid to make it a big deal, but I guess after Claire finally faced her communal shower fear in Spain on the last practice it seemed like a bigger deal when I had to deal with it. But I was just kind of slammed with it at first. After our first scrimmage we were in the locker room and I was taking off my cleats and i looked up.. then BAM NAKED GERMAN LADIES. Needless to say I hadnt prepared myself for that spectacle so I scurried out of the locker room. But now, I figured what the hell.. it's all the same.. whatever! so I took a nice hot shower after our game today. Yes, I kept myself slightly huddled in the corner. Quickly shampoo'd my hair.. wrapped myself in my town and that was that. It wasn't that big of a deal, but I am happy that I did it. How many times have you heard that one? "I'm happy I showered with a bunch of German ladies".. bahhha
Evy
Every Friday we have practice on the nice Turf fields. My best friend on the team is named Yvonne (pronounced Evy. She's our goalie.. and is very friendly. A while ago she hurt her shin/knee and couldnt do any physical activity for a long time.. this caused her to eat a lot to compensate for her depression. Last year she lost 30 kilos(conversion?) and she's still very heavy set. Any way.. every Friday I go early with Evy to run an hour before practice. She can practice her English and I push her to finish our 15 laps.
Merle
bahha.. Last night at practice I taught Merle the W-O-W,M-O_M, C-O-W thing with your hands and mouth.. and on Wednesday we had these strange cones.. that looked like Teletubby heads.. and we were laughing about it. So last night we were just messing around and she put her middle finger up to her forehead and goes "PO!!!!!"
Third Game
Today we played in a nearby town (about 25 minutes away) against a team that was pretty physical. The field was very, very old turf with sand. It looked like a big dried out sand dollar.. atleast that was my impression. I hurt my ankle- shocker there.. but I still played.It's a little swollen, but what else is new. I'm used to the perpetual kankle. I SCORED!! woho that was exciting. It was a perfect day for soccer that's for sure. Clear skies.. 50-60 degrees. Perfect. We lost 8-4 but who cares!! I took my first communal shower. Seems stupid to make it a big deal, but I guess after Claire finally faced her communal shower fear in Spain on the last practice it seemed like a bigger deal when I had to deal with it. But I was just kind of slammed with it at first. After our first scrimmage we were in the locker room and I was taking off my cleats and i looked up.. then BAM NAKED GERMAN LADIES. Needless to say I hadnt prepared myself for that spectacle so I scurried out of the locker room. But now, I figured what the hell.. it's all the same.. whatever! so I took a nice hot shower after our game today. Yes, I kept myself slightly huddled in the corner. Quickly shampoo'd my hair.. wrapped myself in my town and that was that. It wasn't that big of a deal, but I am happy that I did it. How many times have you heard that one? "I'm happy I showered with a bunch of German ladies".. bahhha
Evy
Every Friday we have practice on the nice Turf fields. My best friend on the team is named Yvonne (pronounced Evy. She's our goalie.. and is very friendly. A while ago she hurt her shin/knee and couldnt do any physical activity for a long time.. this caused her to eat a lot to compensate for her depression. Last year she lost 30 kilos(conversion?) and she's still very heavy set. Any way.. every Friday I go early with Evy to run an hour before practice. She can practice her English and I push her to finish our 15 laps.
Merle
bahha.. Last night at practice I taught Merle the W-O-W,M-O_M, C-O-W thing with your hands and mouth.. and on Wednesday we had these strange cones.. that looked like Teletubby heads.. and we were laughing about it. So last night we were just messing around and she put her middle finger up to her forehead and goes "PO!!!!!"
