Playing soccer in the military

I'm at Hanscom Air Force Base. There is a base team that plays in local rec leagues, but there is no intramural league here. When I was stationed at Los Angeles AFB, there was an intramural 8v8 league that I played on, but we didn't have a base team.

There is no MAJCOM championship in soccer, but there is an Air Force team that you can try out for.

 

Well, I'm separating in about a month, but I would do it again. I've learned a great deal that I can use for my life as a civilian.

 

I played on the All-army soccer team in 2000. We played in a round robin tournament against Air Force, Navy, and Marines. We came in second with Air Force getting first.

I was selected for All-Armed forces team which played in a World Tourney in Quatar the following summer but I got out of active duty and went into the reserves before the tourney.

 

I played for three years while stationed in Okinawa at Kadena AB. There was an extensive program in place. I participated on the base team, the intramural squad for the Comm Squadron, and then was "drafted" to play in major tournaments for the All Island team against Japanese teams. All were pretty competative.

I was invited to try out for the Air Force team by one of the coaches but I decided not to take up the offer. We were close to having our first child at the time and didn't want to leave my wife behind alone while I pursued a dream. I have no doubt that I would have made the team because the coach hounded me about it whenever he saw me. Looking, part of me wished I had, but I still think I made the right decision.

I would venture to say that the majority of bases offer a base team. Unfortunately, they didn't have one at Tinker AFB at the time I was there. There wasn't an intramural team in place either. I was forced to play indoor for the short time I was there.

I have to say, though, that my time in Okinawa was really boosted by my opportunity to play. If it wasn't for soccer, I would have had nothing really positive to say about the island.

We played a lot against the Marines. Those guys are machines. They just keep going. But a well organised Air Force team will beat them everytime. The Japanese were fast as hell. But we had them on size and strength. They very rarely beat us. Plus, they loved coming on base because our fields had grass.

We had an opportunity to play one of the Navy Seal teams, I think it was Seal Team 5. I thought the game was going to be a rough affair. We ran circles around those guys. They took the beating well. All of them were pure class acts. Had we played paintball, I'm sure the result would have been reversed with much worse results.

I would have to say, that I played more soccer in my three years in Okinawa, than I had in my years in junior high and high school.

But if you don't know where to start, go to the Rec center or the weight training facility on base. They usually have all of the information for contacting organizers for all of the sports on base. Good luck.

 

I don't have any stories to tell but my dad has seen a pic about a U.S. soldier playing in his boots with an Iraqi dressed in an Iraq national uniform. I'll try and find the pic to send to you

 

Never served in the military.

But lets say your an air traffic controller they have teams. They even go to Europe to play against other air traffic controlers. Except most of the ones in the US suck My son in law went and he sucks.

Your a professional singer from Italy they get together and play teams in Brooklyn That's true happened a couple of years ago duriong the Santa Rosalia tournament.

Ever been sent up? Prison I am talking about the Island blacks in the can play all the time.

You know how the blacks hate the whites and visa versa in prison. Only if the white guy can't play the game. If he can they love him .

Richie

 

Not sure if this qualifies as a cool story, but my military unit played a Gibraltarian military unit stationed in Gibralter. The game was played on an outdoor artificial turf field blanketed by a thin layer of gravel and was about as close to sandpaper as you could get. Slide tackle and loose half your hide type of thing. The field was nearly the largest, open space on that tiny peninsula, and sat close to the only major road that had to have a section closed down every time a plane landed, as the runway cut right across it.

Anyway, the Gibs showed up as cocky as a high dollar stripper to play the soccer know nothings from the U.S., which was not far from the truth. Our keeper and more than half the team had never played soccer in their life. I had the most experience, but was coming off, hands down, the two most drunk weeks of my life (first time I thought I was going to die during a game). To make a long story short, we kicked the crap out of the Gibs 4-2, at one point we were up 4-0, but the embarrassment became too much for them so they called in some of their ringers, who were on duty at the time, and they managed to notch two. The funniest thing to see was one of our guys close his eyes and jump awkwardly into the air to blast home a terrific header off the back of his head from a running cross that was swung in from the touchline. The guy had never played a game in his life, but the ball bounced off his head like he was frickin' Brian McBride. Beginner's luck I guess.

I heard that the next group of Americans got crushed.