Yesterday I played in a soccer tournament in Jacksonville. The team I was invited to join was composed of only 11 players, and 7 of those started each game. 3 of my associates and I from Melbourne, FL drove up for the weekend to play. Without our knowing, our teammates had never played an organizaed game before, they were newbies. Despite this we won our first game 4-3, myself scoring 2 and assisting 1, and my friend scoring 2 and assisting 2 as well. Still, it was a hard faught game, and was not easy at all. It felt like carrying people through quicksand. Our next game was against a team composed of 7 starters and 13 SUBS, this team played hard and mean. They were faster, taller, stronger, brutal. One of our inexperienced players ended up in the hospital. Despite the 4 of us keeping our composure, we can only do so much. They were literally clobering us illegally, but the ref looked the other way. We went onto to get last place of the tournmanet with our team only scoring 6 goals in total, 3 coming from Dan and myself each. We could not have done anything else, between the inexperienced players and the bad ref’s, the odds were against us. Despite the dissapointments I could look back and say I did my best, I kept a good leveled head, lead the team, and even took being subbed off to allow others to play gracefully. Sometimes life will give you a bad hand, but if you do your best, lead with dignity, keep a level head, and follow your promise through. You can say that you fullfilled your promise as a man. Plus: When you have the chance to go on a trip with your boys. You go on a trip with your boys. 💪