A day he will no doubt look back on in his dotage

To think I was grumbling (albeit internally) about going.
 
Today was the boys’ regional soccer tournament in which Ottawacker Jr.’s school team (the Alta Vista Vipers) was participating. We’d had a slew of back-and-forths from his school, mainly about transportation and volunteers and the like, all of which I had ignored because, well, I’m a busy man don’t you know, and the idea of waiting around at Shefford Park in the cold and probably the rain was more than I could cope. Besides, I had Anna’s gymnasium pains to cope with, a doctor’s appointment in the morning, and more errands to run than I can list here. I did have every intention of going to watch some of the games, but these things are notoriously badly organised, the times of games given are, how shall I put it, more guidelines or suggestions than carved in stone, so I wasn’t hopeful of being able to schedule a visit where I could actually see one of the games.
 
Anyway, I went off to my first appointment, to see my Sri Lankan Wart Nurse. She was running late: she apologised and told me she was pregnant. I toyed with the idea of asking whether getting pregnant was the reason she was late – thought better of it, and smiled pleasantly. Then I realised she was telling me she was pregnant and, therefore, it was her last day – so we had a congratulatory chat and I told her all about Mrs. Ottawacker’s success with the TENS machine during her labour – and before I knew it, 15 minutes had gone by, I was late and she’d managed to do all she needed to do without me even noticing. For the record, the wart (on my leg) has now gone. She said it was stress related. I blame Mrs. Ottawacker. Maybe TENS machines work for that, as well.
 
I decided to ignore the rest of my errands for the time being and head off to Shefford Park, where I thought I might just be able to catch the first game. Surely, I thought to myself, they couldn’t be running late just yet. They were. The school Ottawacker Jr.’s team was supposed to face – Featherston Drive Public School – hadn’t turned up yet: so, I stood around in the glorious sun, watching my glorious son interacting with his friends, chatting to various people until they did.
 
The tournament was run on a round-robin group basis: two groups of four, decided on points, then into the play offs for the best-placed teams. The first game was a bit of a frenetic battle in which the plum of my loins made a couple of good saves to keep the scores at 0-0. Having stayed for the first game, I thought I might as well stay for the second too – so I did. This time they were playing Roberta Bondar Public School (I know, what great names). He again played well, but this the Alta Vista Vipers lost 2-1. I consoled him, and headed off to my next appointment. This meant I missed the final group stage match against Sawmill Creek. Sawmill Creek is the local athletics/sports powerhouse, so I held out no hope for AVV at all. But, I thought, I can come back for the “consolation places” play-off game and take him home after that. How wrong was I? By some miracle, AVV managed to beat Sawmill Creek 1-0 – and Ottawacker Jr., as he subsequently told me, had got the assist. This meant, again by some miracle, that they had made the play-offs.
 
The first play-off game, i.e., the quarter final, was against Vimy Ridge Public School, and AVV won 1-0. This set them up for the semi-final against Steve MacLean Public School, who had beaten everyone else so far and seemingly fancied their chances. It was a tight, tight game, and it finished 0-0. Ottawacker Jr. was very good – and made a couple of good reaction saves. It was the same during the two Extra Time periods. Then, right at the end, Steve MacLean’s striker came right the way through the middle for a one-on-one between him and Ottawacker Jr. Out came the keeper and, diving right at his feet, made a brave and rather robust save, during which he got the ball, the player, some of the nearby trees and at least half of the spectators. He did, however, get the ball first. (This is the blip.) The referee blew for full time, and so we had a penalty shoot out to decide who would go into the final.
 
Normally, for penalty shoot-outs, there is a series of five penalties, and whoever scores the most of the five kicks wins. If no winner is decided, then it is a sudden death situation. For this tournament, however, they decided on an initial three-penalty limit – and then, if undecided, into sudden death. The strange thing here was that the three players who had been chosen for the initial three spot kicks also took the sudden death penalties. Imagine my shock, then, to see that Ottawacker Jr. was not only the keeper, he was also taking the second of the three sequential penalties for Alta Vista. This had a certain amount of potential for disaster.
 
Both teams scored the first penalties, then Steve MacLean scored the second. This meant it was Ottawacker Jr.’s turn and I was watching through my fingers. Thankfully he is made of much sterner and cooler stuff than I, and he hit the ball nonchalantly into the corner of the net. 2-2. Both teams scored the third, which meant sudden death. Again, both teams scored, making it 4-4 on penalties. Incredibly, then, Ottawacker Jr. made a superb save from Steve MacLean’s fifth, diving down to his right and pushing the ball out. It wasn’t over though, as the ball seemed to take a wicked loop up into the air, then bounced back towards the net. He was up in a jiffy and dived to his left to make a brilliant second save and stop the ball crossing the line. This meant, of course, that he was to take the deciding penalty. If he scored, Alta Vista went to the final, if he missed, the sudden death started again. He scored. As calmy and casually as you like. Cue mass pitch invasion from his team mates. Unfortunately, I can’t say much about what happened after that as I had something in my eye – must have been some dust or pollen or something. But I can tell you, it was loud.
 
Unfortunately, the final was immediately afterwards, as the schedule was supposed to end with the school day. And it was a game too far for AVV, who met up with the Sawmill Creek team they had beaten in the group stage. This time they lost 2-1, and ended up in second place in the tournament. They were, quite naturally, devastated. (You see, this I can cope with – I am rather a good consoler, if I say so myself. It’s the happiness and praise that reduce me to tears.) His teacher, a woman called Beth, was magnificent and said exactly the right things. How proud she was of them, how everyone had made such a massive contribution, and how this was something they should all be proud of themselves. It was, apparently, the first time Alta Vista had ever made the playoffs in the tournament, and obviously the school’s first appearance in a final.
 
Later, as I was telling Ottawacker Jr. how happy I was for him, she came over and told him how good he had been and how teachers from other schools had praised his performances too. He was still a bit disconsolate, but you could see he was also proud – especially of the semi-final game. I mean, I played a lot, and never have I caused a bench clearing penalty winner – let alone one after I had saved a decisive penalty in a sudden death semi-final penalty shoot-out. I just hope this isn’t it – this isn’t his “peak” memory. You see this a lot with kids – they achieve something and then it all fizzles out. He’s got a lot of talent in a lot of areas: the key will be bringing it all out of him as time goes by.
 
To cap it all, my driving licence turned up in the post, so I can stop panicking about not being able to rent a car in Portugal.
 
We celebrated with a shawarma platter (his choice). I didn’t let him have any ice cream – no point going overboard :)