Rotary Cup Champions

Chay's soccer team played their final tournament of the season right after the 4th. Last year, they were undefeated in this tournament but ended in up a 3-way tie for first and only two teams could play for the championship. These boys ended up losing the tiebreakers and were sent home a bit disappointed.

This year, we were worried our chances of making it to the championship had slipped through our fingers because we won two games and tied one. The thought was that two other teams must have won all three games and the tie game we had earlier in the day sunk our chances. We took the picture above when were were waiting for news of our fate. 

It turned out we ended up in a 3-way tie once again. One team won all three games and they moved on to the championship. Officials needed to decide if our team or the other team was going to move on. The other team was the one we tied earlier in the day. They were the only team to score a goal on us in the tournament. After all of the tiebreakers were tallied, we were still tied, a fitting end I suppose. So we went to a shootout to decide who would advance. Our team won the shootout 4-3 and were finally able to play for the championship. 

The final game was won 2-1. Our boys were champions! Below is a picture of Chay holding the Rotary Cup championship trophy. 

The entire team posed with the cup as well. 

It was a great tournament and our boys came out on top! Congrats to them on all of their hard work!

This championship was a fitting way to go out as it ends an era. Chay has played with six of his eleven teammates since they were all four years old, over half of Chay's life. A few of these kids (I think five of the 12) are moving on to competitive soccer instead of the recreational soccer they have been playing. This gives them an opportunity to focus on the game even more and play in more tournaments. For the rest of this team, soccer is not their primary sport and not even second on their list. For Chay and a couple of other kids on the team, this soccer team was more about the camaraderie of playing with their friends than it was on the game itself. With five moving on, Chay had to decide if he was going to go with them, continue with just rec soccer, or call it a career. Chay has chosen the latter and may have possibly played his last official soccer game. Only time will tell and Chay can pick it up again later should he choose.

The soccer team had a great run the last five years. It was great to coach these boys and watch them all improve their games and become good friends.

For now, Chay is going to focus on hockey and baseball and remember that he went out a champion!