Win or Not, Bush Whackers Two Enthusiastic About Future Games

By Kelsey Draughon, MPSA ’13

The season began with promise and enthusiasm for the Bushwhackers Two team at the first Indoor Soccer game September 20, 2012. Similar to preschoolers on the first day of school, Bushwhackers were anxious but excited. When the whistle blew and the game got underway, the adrenaline, having long been absent from our sedentary and academic lifestyles, pushed us to continue. Not that we had much choice otherwise. The team was badly hurting for substitutes and it became very clear to us that we were not as young or energetic as our opponents, Los Italianos (false advertising as they were not actually Italian). Although the Bushwhackers lost 0-3, we put up a noble fight, did a good job hustling, pushing the ball up the court, and most importantly we had fun playing recreational soccer.

With the cold front came new and enthusiastic players…and new strategies. The Recreational Sports Intramural Indoor Soccer League rules mandates that goals scored by women be counted as two points. Despite the sexist nature of this rule, we discussed using it to our advantage by playing our female players in striker and midfield positions. Another strategy was to make better use of the indoor court walls by strategically bouncing the soccer ball off the wall and into the space in front of the goal. The Bushwhackers also enhanced their game-winning prospects by holding weekly Sunday afternoon soccer practices, led by the team coach, Scott Kenyon. Practices involve drills, strategy discussions, team line-up arrangements, and scrimmaging.

Our second game, played against Pringle FC, was ripe with potential. The team, unified by their new Bushwhackers athletics shirts, grew in numbers overnight and we were looking for a win. With a couple fellow Bush School students in attendance to cheer us on, we played with energy and drive. We made a couple of one time shots on goal and did better at communicating and passing to one another. Bushwhackers Two took another loss, but we are excited about our larger team and look forward to more practices that will help us work on shooting, ball-handling, and sideline cross kicks.

Our “less competitive” Bushwhacker indoor soccer team (registered at the Rec as Bushwhackers Two) shares the George Bush School name with the “competitive” Bushwhackers One team. Confused? Let me explain. In an effort to appease individuals that are interested in winning play-offs and separate them from those that joined an intramural team to have fun and get a good workout, the Bushwhacker Athletics committee created two indoor soccer intramural teams, labeling one “competitive” and the other “recreational”. This is all to say that Bushwhackers One (Thing 1) and Bushwhackers Two (Thing 2) may one day meet on the Rec court for a play-off game. For now, Bushwhackers Two is seeking its first victory on Thursday October 18th at 7:45 p.m. against the Honey Badgers at the Rec Center.