Making a First Impression

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC

So normally, in addition to my oldest, I attend Tormenta games with my dad. Three generations of us all enjoying our Saturday nights outside watching soccer. It's a good time and while I admit I often take those times for granted, I still know I'm lucky to get to do that.

But this past week, my dad had surgery (he's fine) and wasn't able to go to the Portland game. He sent me his ticket and told me to find someone who might enjoy going. As luck would have it, there's a friend of mine who has been talking to me for the past year or so about wanting to go to a game so I sent him a message and, sure enough, he was free.

Now, he'd never been to a soccer game in his life and knew the very basics. Two goals, two teams of 11 (he did know that), no hands. That is oversimplifying his soccer knowledge, but only slightly. He was excited to learn and told me that my son and I would have to be his interpreter for the night to explain what was going on. I was happy to do it (my son slightly less so, but he's 16 so I get not wanting to have to explain things to his dad's friend all night. I'm willing to give him a pass on that.)

Friends, it's been a while since I've gone to a game with someone who had never been to a soccer game. He had a great time and I learned a lot about what people don't know that we might take for granted. And as I'm ever in search of things to write about to keep this blog interesting (at least to me), I figured I'd share some of my friend's observations and questions he asked throughout the night.

1. Those Guys are Big - We all got there as the gates opened and made our way to our seats on the far end of the stadium where the visitors warm up. As Portland's goalkeepers are walking out, my buddy was surprised at how big they were. He knew they were professional athletes, but I don't think he expected the players to be as big as they are. He specifically mentioned how big their calves were.

2. The Ball Moves Really Fast - To paraphrase the great Chicago philosopher F. Bueller, "the ball moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." My friend is a season ticket holder to Georgia Southern baseball so he's used to fast moving objects, but the speed of the game, the passes and the shots, was not something he necessarily was expecting. He (like me) had no idea how goalkeepers were able to stop shots that are coming in as hard as they are. 

3. The Footwork - More than once he commented on just how talented and skilled the players were with their feet. The agility and dexterity needed to control the passes and to be able to kick the ball where you wanted it to go was very impressive to him. Even during warmups he was impressed with the guys just juggling in a group

4. Fitness Levels - My friend knew there was a lot of running in soccer, but what he wasn't aware of was the limited number of substitutions and the no re-entry into the game once you came out. Around the 70th minute said it was so incredibly impressive that the guys were still running just as hard as the start of the game.

5. Positions - We covered the basics (goalkeeper, defender, midfield, and attacker) but he was intrigued that players were free to go anywhere they wanted and didn't have a set spot on the field. Had I thought about it, I might have sent him the Ted Lasso Total Football link, but I didn't. Tangentially, he asked if there were specific plays as in basketball. He wasn't necessarily surprised when I told him not really, other than free kicks. 

6. The Physicality of the Game - My parents got me in to soccer when I was little because they thought it was a non-contact sport and much safer than football. My friend, mistakenly, thought there was minimal contact in soccer and was surprised at just how many collisions and how much contact there was. 

7. The Officiating - No, not how you and I complain about calls as he was aware enough to know he didn't know all the rules for fouls. But the concept of playing the advantage was foreign to him. Once explained, he got it and understood, but when the official would wait a beat or two before making a call to assess if the advantage should be played, he would look at me and ask why it wasn't called right away like he's used to in other sports. He also commented on just how much power the officials have in calling it tight or letting things go. (We'd previously discussed offside and while he couldn't point it out, he got that it's basically a rule to prevent, to use a basketball term, cherry picking.)

8. The Players - He was interested to know about the players themselves and what they were like. Specifically he was wondering if they were prima donna types who were arrogant or thought themselves too good for others. I told him, to the contrary, all the ones I'd interacted with were down to earth guys who just happen to play soccer for their job. I recounted how I'd been at practice Wednesday with my two kids and after their warm-up drill, they all came over and gave both them high fives and told us they were glad to see us at practice.

9. Marketing - This was probably the one area I wasn't able to give him a satisfactory answer, but he was having a great time and wondered why more wasn't done to market the team and the games. Like I said, he's got season tickets to Georgia Southern baseball and while he wasn't ready to get Tormenta season tickets after one game, he said he'd certainly be willing to come to two or three a season if he knew about them. He said $15 was a great deal to come out on a Saturday night, sit outside and enjoy a game. He just needs Tormenta and/or Statesboro to do a better job of making people aware that they're here and how affordable the games are.

10. Crowd Enthusiasm - My friend knew enough about soccer to know the reputation for enthusiastic fans and chants and cheering from the stands, but that is absent at Tormenta games. Hank Williams Jr. and all his rowdy friends have not made their way to Tormenta Stadium. The Statesboro High School drum line was on hand and they always do a great job, but a drum line playing is different from the crowd or sections of the crowd being really into the game. He was a little disappointed by that. (I told him I was a working media member I couldn't really do that and my oldest in an honorary media member with me. That's the excuse we're going with.)

11. Stadium - Like everyone, he wants to know when the stadium will be completed (shorter answer: I don't know), but he liked how close to the field we were. He also commented that being so close meant you really had to pay attention to the game because it moved so quick and if you took your eyes off the game for a bit, you were in danger of getting hit. 

It was fun to experience guiding someone through their first game and it was made all the better by him being genuinely curious about everything going on. It made me look like I knew what I was talking about when Niall Reid-Stephen got subbed in and I mentioned that he's been hurt but that he's really fast. Minutes later he scored what turned out to be the game winner on a breakaway. Sometimes I actually do know what I'm talking about. 

In case you missed it, here's my recap in the Statesboro Herald of Saturday's win. 

US Open Cup vs. Charleston

With that covered, we turn our attention to tonight's US Open Cup matchup with Charleston Battery of the USL Championship. This is the third time in four years the two teams have met, with Tormenta winning in 2022 and Charleston ending Tormenta's Open Cup run last season on a goal in the closing minutes of extra time to come away with a 3-2 win.

Charleston is currently 3-2-0 in their regular season with a +2 goal differential so far on the young season.

The two teams are slated to square off again on June 28th in Statesboro in Jagermeister Cup action and have already met in the preseason.

"They're one of the elite clubs in the (USL) Championship," said Jordan Bell, interim Head Coach for Tormenta while Ian Cameron is in Wales working on his coaching license requirements. "For us, as an organization, we'd like to reach them in terms of our habits and expectations. From a player standpoint, they've got some talented boys."

"For us as a League One club, we want to go up against the best Championship teams. It's an opportunity for the boys as well to go in front of the cameras and under the lights. It'll be a great opportunity," Bell said. 

Goalkeeper Austin Pack is in his first season with Tormenta but he knows the importance of the Open Cup to South Georgia. 

"I love the Open Cup," he said. "It's something that's super important to the fans. It's super important to US soccer so we're excited. We know Charleston well. We played them in preseason so it'll be a good test for us."

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. It can be streamed on Paramount+.

I will do my best to have a recap here Wednesday, but I make no promises as I've got family commitments tonight, but I'll do my best.

Have a great Tuesday everyone.