There's nothing quite like a road trip. And unless you've ever been embedded with a youth soccer team, you'll have no idea just how "unique" the experience can be. Suffice it to say that attending tournaments in far-flung locales involves a weird Dickensian duality that is indeed the best of times and worst of times.
This past weekend, I went undercover with a Richmond Youth Soccer Association Boys U12 selects squad, as they travelled down to Washington State to take part in the annual Baker Blast tournament, an event that this year featured 186 teams from in and around the Pacific Northwest. And as tempted as I am to turn this into a tell-all, some of what happens in Bellingham
stays
in Bellingham.
Born and bred on Canada's "wet coast", I'm accustomed to damp and dreary weather - we live in a climate where green algae slowly invades your sundeck until you can bring out the powerwasher when summer hits: usually somewhere around the middle of August.
Never, and I mean
absolutely never
have I experienced such torrential rain and hurricane winds. At one point, play was suspended for half an hour due to lightning strikes ...
