Charter bus: $2500. Dinner for 32 soccer players: $980. Playing in the Temecula College Classic: priceless. This was exactly the experience that I and my 25 fellow teammates on University of New Mexico Women’s soccer team were fortunate enough to be a part of this past weekend. This weekend all 26 members of the Lady Lobos piled into one charter bus to travel for 14 long hours to play four games in three days.
The weekend kicked off with a restless night spent traveling across New Mexico, Arizona and California and an inspiring movie, The Blindside. The team snacked, laughed and tried to get some sleep knowing that we had a long weekend ahead of us. After arriving at our Hampton Inn, we got a few hours of real shut eye in our hotel beds, which felt like heaven after squirming on a bus floor all night. After a taste of rest, it was time to do what the team traveled to do: play soccer.
Our first opponent was a nationally ranked team from Colorado. As Rachel and I approached the referee to call the coin toss, he asked both our team and Denver how our trips in were. The captain from Colorado’s team replied, “There was a little turbulence, but it wasn’t bad.” At this point, my blood boiled just a little bit. I would have killed for “a little turbulence” as opposed to a cramped body and a restless night. After the coin toss, we approached the huddle and I explained to the team that Denver was a little tired because of their rough, turbulent trip. The girls seemed to feel the same way that I did and the comment fueled us into kickoff.
Our first game saw only a 0-0 tie, but we played with passion and drive, not to mention a chip on our shoulder from travel accommodation jealousy.
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