By: Tiffany Weimer
You can catch Tiffany Weimer in action this summer with the WPSL's SoccerPlus CT Reds.
With cold, snowy, winters indoor soccer is completely necessary for players in New England, if you want to keep up with the rest of the country that is. Indoor is a faster more technical game, but it will never quite be the game.
The start of spring is like a breath of fresh air and a flash back to what the game is all about.
Driving up to a field you can smell the fresh-cut grass, even if it’s not quite as green as you’d like yet. The white lines have been recently painted… you can tell because you have a white line across the back of your shorts. You get to bring out your brand new cleats and as much as you don’t want to get them dirty, it’s inevitable.
Other things stand out when I think about getting to play outside again- full size goals, shin guard tans, having to judge the ball on a bad divot on the field, playing until it’s dark.
Instead of those little black pebbles from the turf all over your car, there is finally grass and dirt (I never thought I’d actually be happy with that).
I love that you don’t have to wait for a specific field time at an indoor facility, you can just go to any field at any time of the day. It’s peaceful being able to just kick around by yourself and not always having people watching you.
The spring brings one more thing for me- an actual season. During the next few weeks the SoccerPlus CT Reds will be coming together for the start of the 2008 WPSL season. Most of the players are still with their college teams so formal training won’t begin until school is out.
With this being our second season, we have a lot of returning players and some newcomers to make for a more talented team than our inaugural one and a team that will compete for a 2008 WPSL National Championship.
As the season approaches, memories of last year start flooding in… all the good ones of course.
Jumping in the lake after mid-summer practices, Revolution games, concerts, trips to the beach, pool parties, bus trips, winning games and the best memory of all, our trip to Seattle.
After we won the U-23 National Championship, our amazing coach, Tony DiCicco, took the team on an incredible yacht ride around the port of Seattle. We all had our championship medals on as we watched the sun set on the day and on an unforgettable season.
This year will be the last season for many of us who will aspire to play and coach in the WPS next year. So, regardless it will be a special year for all who are involved, because it could be the last time we all play on the same team together.