I had to think about if I really wanted to blog about this topic... it is something that bothers me but I should let it go. Perhaps writing about it will help me do that.
I play soccer and on Sundays with the over 30 women's division. I love playing indoors and think I have a great team with a really fantastic group of ladies.
Now I think I am a scrappy player.... I run my hardest and will fight for the ball. I am not shy about being assertive, but won't purposely hurt anyone.
I played yesterday against a team that is know to be good. They have a great goalie (whom I have known most of my life) and a former college all-star on their team. They also have a pair of sisters who don't seem to have the best of attitudes... what I mean by that is that one of them likes to throw her elbows into everyone and is a "pusher." The other sister has braces on both legs which aren't covered very well so when you get close to her you end up with scrapes and cuts. This sister also gets very upset if she is called out for a foul and will argue with the ref.
Anyways to make a long story relatively short...I had to play against this team yesterday and my team was short players. We played hard and supported each other very well. I play defense so I am used to going up against opposing offensive players who are aggressive... and I am ok with that. Soccer is an aggressive sport and takes scrappy players to be successful at it.
What I didn't enjoy was getting elbowed and stepped on (by cleats) by one of the sisters. Now this didn't happen just once, because that I would chalk up to a mistake...this happened throughout the game (my poor foot is proof). She is known for being an elbow'y player with a sassy mouth, which you can usually ignore. Her sister, we will call her Bracey, has the same attitude and mouth. In fact when she fouled on me yesterday, she was pissed and started yapping at the ref. Now Bracey has braces on both legs and these babies aren't covered. She is sort of a bigger player so you can imagine how much it hurts to be slammed by her and her pokey leg braces. This happened several times and my knees/legs weren't too happy :(
Towards the end of the game Bracey got mouthy with me and told me to stop being rough with her (which I wasn't) and I let it out!! I told her that perhaps if she was injured she shouldn't be playing ... her sister didn't like that comment and gave me a few choice words... which fueled me even more! I let the smart mouth sisters know that I was only playing as tough as they were and if they didn't like it they should stop:
- Stepping on other players feet
- watch their boney elbows
- crashing into me with their sharp braces
Look, I am no angel but I don't react unless acted upon. I prefer to have a nice sportsman-like game of soccer on a Sunday morning....not "Slam-fest 2013" So if you don't want me to get all "scrappy" in your face, then back down and play clean. If you don't, well then you brought it on yourself and you will have to deal with it. Remember, I usually don't start it, BUT I will finish it.
