Here is the award-winning Vineyard soccer team!

Well, OK, maybe we are not exactly award-winning. And actually, we had just lost a game before this photo was taken. However, we lost by an amazing, unstoppable goal that the other team scored in the last 20 seconds of the game, so we didn't feel too bad about ourselves.

Our team (headed by Cap'n Andy--holding the soccer ball) actually finished near the top of the standings, I think. Or maybe in the middle. We weren't at the bottom! The problem is that our first playoff game was scheduled smack dab in the middle of a wedding that almost everybody on the team attended. So we had to forfeit. There are plans in the works for another team next fall, however. And instead of playing on the purely recreational level, we'll be playing one level up on a (gulp) full-size field.

I played only three or four of our games, but I loved every minute of it (even it was during my first game that I discovered--the hard way--that I now have asthma). One of my favorite moments was running into the mud puddle everyone else was avoiding to retrieve the soccer ball and kicking it out, despite the flying mud that covered me from the knees down. Another favorite moment was facing down a giant opponent who had the ball and blocking him so he couldn't advance, as all of the guys on our team, standing on the sidelines, cheered wildly.

I hope next season to actually learn some ball-handling skills (or relearn them). That way I'll be able to do more than just be a pesky distraction.