Des Moines Menace Soccer

Road trip! This past weekend the Menace team traveled to Thunder Bay, Canada.  For all of you who have never traveled to this amazing tourist location you are really missing out.  The journey was long as we traveled the Northern Midwest into Canada.  We were lucky to have the Menace u17 boys join us for this trip.  It was a great way for them to see their future first hand.  I know the PDL boys really enjoyed having them on the trip and it was nice feeling like we had little brothers around again!!   Since the trip was way too long for me to give a detailed play-by-play, I will cover some of the more noteworthy events that took place. 

The u17 boys were the first on the bus as they tried staking their claim in the back of the bus.  It was a worthy effort but they quickly found their true place at the front of the bus.  I have to note that it almost worked so I have to give them credit.  About 45 minutes into the trip the boys already started to get restless.  The bus was packed to capacity and seats were secured.   We should have been well outside of Des Moines but our bus remained parked as one of the young boys thought he would enjoy a few extra minutes of sleep at the teams expense.  Don’t worry he received plenty of banter from the boys and the ultimate prize of sharing a seat, by the way the trip their lasted around 12 hours.

If I remember correctly it took less than an hour for Cody Reinberg to have his shirt off proudly showing the young boys what a real body looks like.  For all of you who might not know Cody, he really could be on your next Abercrombie shopping bag.  It did not take long for someone to point out that you might want to have a body like Cody but you do not want to be Cody since his game with the ladies is weak!  Just ask him about front tuck. 

We woke up to terrible weather Friday morning and the games were canceled for the day.  I could tell everyone was a bit frustrated that we would have to wait another day to play, but it worked out well and gave us another day to rest and recover from our long trip.  It also gave us a chance to play a little indoor soccer.  As soon as Casey announced we would be playing a friendly tournament the competitiveness turned up.  Each team had three PDL players and three younger players.  It is very fitting Dan Williams, the goalie, scored the goal of the tournament.  I might as well add my team won! J

Go figure the PDL boys would be the ones causing trouble in the Hotel.  Reports from the front desk came in that boys on the forth floor were bothering people on the third.  Most of the time these reports would be of major concern but it was the older boys playing pranks on the younger ones.  They would call down to their room and have them look out the window.  As soon as they would look out the window, the older boys would pour buckets of water on tops of their heads.  The plan was amazing and they were all in it together, at least that is what they thought.  When Casey knocked on their door to confront the prank, Cody could not wait to tell on everyone but himself.  Go figure!! LOL

Saturday was a great day for both Menace teams.  The u17’s started the day off with a big win and the PDL followed it up with a 0-0 tie.  In most cases a team would not be all that happy with a tie but since it was opening day for Thunder Bay a tie on the road is huge.  It would set up for a big showdown on Sunday.

Sunday could not have been any better.  The PDL team won 3-1 against a very physical Chill team.  It was an amazing team performance that really brought the team together.  The game got a bit rough but it was awesome to see the boys standing up for one another.  When I got two footed on the sideline several people came to my rescue.  Jack was the first to arrive standing up to a Chill player double his size.  The Norwegian Hummer (Ossie) was next to arrive at the scene.  I could not hear everything he was saying something about a RV and gypsies.

The bus ride home was a great bounding trip for both teams.  It was funny to see Dan Williams, PDL goalie, having a war with the front of the bus.  I am not totally sure what was going on but all I could see was Dan holding up a pillow like a shield and flying M & M’s.  When I asked him what was going on he responded by saying “a war, duh”.  The back of the bus was quite loud as the PDL boys sang their favorite songs at the top of their lungs.  A duet by Joe Salem and Cody might have won them American Idol.  The best song of the night has to be the team performance of KC and JoJo, All my life.  It was a must see!

The trip ended when we got back to Des Moines around two in the morning but no body seemed to care.  It was a great weekend both on and off the field.  We really enjoyed our trip to paradise and our really glad we could share it with the younger boys!!!    

Joe Klosterman #2