Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Successful McDonald's McSoccerfest



A year ago we posted about how much fun we had at the McDonald's McSoccerfest, a huge 4 v 4 soccer festival in Maryland. (See "McSoccerfest: Simple Soccer For The Masses")




So we're delighted to tell you we went again this year and had even MORE FUN! Part of the fun was that it was such a beautiful weekend, especially Sunday, a cool, dry, sunny day more like late September than early July.




The best fun of all, however, was our older boys team winning the championship of their division. Last year this same group came in a disappointing third, but learned a lot. They put their education to good use this time, playing four really solid games and winning a thrilling 3-2 victory on a last second strike in the final game.




The great thing about the McSoccerfest is that, win or lose, the kids will have a good time and the parents don't have to give up their entire weekend for it. (Ok, we did give up the weekend, because we had two teams, one that played Saturday, and one on Sunday.) The games are short--just 20 minutes--and fast, which allows teams to play three or four games in a matter of just four hours. After 20 minutes of play, you can't believe it wasn't longer!




We also took our little guys--third graders--to play. They ended up playing mostly fourth graders (because one of our third graders has a birthday that's puts him up a year) and had a tougher time of it, but still did a good job.




One of the things we like about the McSoccerfest format is that there is little downtime between games (and plenty to divert the kids during that downtime), so you don't find yourself trying to kill three or four (or five!) hours between games as is the case at a typical two-day travel soccer tourney.




If you happen to have an interest in a future McSoccerfest, here's their website.
Below: The Champs!

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