Fans' View

Fans’ view: My favorite soccer weekend

Photo: Staci Klemmer

When my eldest made the travel team at age 9, I had no idea what to expect. I knew it involved playing other local teams and going to tournaments. Most of the tournaments on our schedule were fairly local — maybe 30 minutes away.

Our club offers some flexibility to choose what tournaments to go to with one exception. Our club always goes en masse to the Hempfield Fall Classic in Lancaster. It happens every year the weekend before Thanksgiving. Over 700 teams from Pennsylvania and surrounding states participate.

This is my favorite weekend.

Why, you ask?

Not because of the downright crazy cold temperatures – it was 18 degrees when we got up on Saturday morning. Thank goodness our games didn’t start until 10:30 am – when it was a balmy 32. Last year the wind/cold combo was so bad that the Sunday games were cancelled. Our first year, the tournament committee was leaf blowing the snow off the field.

Not because our teams win – our goal going into this tournament is not to get pummeled, and maybe, just maybe, win a game. A caveat to that is my younger son’s first year at Hempfield, when the stars aligned and they won the championship in PK’s. (Yes, it aged me.) My complaint is Hempfield has an elite division, an A division, and everybody else. One of my sons is in a division where he is playing the A team (Division 2 in ICSL) from a local club when he is a C team (Division 4). There is always at least one team in each bracket that purposely plays down so they can say they are Hempfield Champions, but that’s another post.

This is my favorite weekend because it is one big party.

Our club takes over a local hotel and we (adults and kids) run wild. I tell my kids, go, have fun, I don’t want to see you until curfew at 10:00 pm. All the parents gather and consume lots of beer and bond over shared soccer war stories. The kids are in and out of the pool, the game room, and generally running amok in the halls.

Fave Soccer weekend 2

Since this is a large hotel with a gorgeous ballroom, inevitably there is at least one wedding during the weekend. The ballroom opens out into the hotel lobby, where a bunch of us congregate around the fireplace. Two years ago I noticed a couple of players from my older son’s team (they were 12 at the time) sneak into the reception. I followed to see what was going on and they were quietly standing in the back of the hall bouncing to the music. I saw the bride walk toward them and instead of asking them to leave, grabbed them by the hands and pulled them on the dance floor. After a few moments, out of nowhere, 11 and 12 year old boys started streaming on to the dance floor, followed by the moms (drinks in hands) and then the dads (cameras in hand). We all danced the night away and that bride had a unique reception that she will never forget. And don’t worry – she was OK with it.

This weekend is not about soccer – it’s about team spirit. It’s the one weekend our whole club is together. I love seeing all of the players in our club colors in the hotel, on the fields, at the outlets. It makes me proud to be part of our club and youth soccer.

Paul’s team went 2-1-0 and almost made it to the championship game. James’ team was not as successful, but on a positive note, at least they scored a goal!

3 Comments

  1. Staci, after many years traveling to Bethesda, which is the location for the kickoff tournament for travel teams that start after the High School season, last weekend was our last one. My youngest is a Senior in High School and played on his current team since U8. Saturday night a lot of us ended up in an Irish bar in Silver Spring after dinner. 3 set of parents have been together since then (the other parents had sons who joined the team later since most quit the team to play for the Academies and a few quit). Anyway, I will never forget Saturday night since we had a blast and talked about soooo many memories we have had during the 11 years! So enjoy the ride and look forward to your sons U18 season, if they are still playing!

    • This year was bittersweet because most of our A teams went to Bethesda Many families had to send one parent there and one parent to Hempfield. I have heard great things about it!

  2. You know, 27 years ago I played on a pretty good travel team and without fail Hempfield would kick our ass every time in every tournament we faced them in: Lehigh, Bethlehem, Boyertown. I hated that team like an immature child because of how much better they were. I respected them too though and maybe that was the deeper part of me a bit wiser than my immaturity. Hempfield Knights. Blasted us. Good club.
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