The Champs Are Here!

I had mentioned earlier on in the year that the lack of competitive sports has been one of the things that I’ve missed most down since coming down to Nicaragua. There has been a fair amount of pickup futbol and basketball, but one the game ends, so does the rivalry of the day. So when the opportunity came to help establish a men’s futbol league, I jumped at the opportunity, looking to make up for that void in my life. Those first initial meetings were in January, and now four or five months later, I already find myself at the end of our first season of LIMFUT VC (Liga Municipal de Futbol Villa el Carmen). Might I add, a highly successful first season. I say highly for a few reasons. One, coordinating games every week between different communities is no easy task, so the fact that there were few forfeits over the course of past four months is a minor miracle. Two, word got out about the league, and we’re expanding 100%. We had five teams in inaugural season, and upon seeing its success, five more teams from various communities have pledged to join in the next season (which will start in a few short weeks). The more teams the merrier, am I right? Third, competition remained relatively high for Nicaraguan futbol. Now don’t confuse high competition for high level of play. The two are not synonymous. What I mean by that is every weekend the games were relatively intense and hardly fought. People would go into tackles hard, and really take the game seriously. There is always a danger that people will just go through the motions, and when that happens, the game play just really deteriorates. So seeing teams come out week after week and play with true grit was encouraging. Fourth, the league is always better when you’re the champs! That’s right folks, you’re in the presence of a local celebrity, or at least that’s what it felt like immediately after the game. To begin with, there were a few hundred people from the community at the final game, to watch the cross town rivalry that would take place. Our opponent, the Rojos (sporting red Liverpool jerseys), were also from the villa, and as it happens the guys we play pickup with every day. But that friendship we have during pickup, banished the second the whistle blew for the first time, and the battle begun. It was hard fought on both sides, and no one was spared from bumps, bruises, and minor injury. As the dust settled, and the game ended, my team the Blancos (sporting white Real Madrid jerseys) came out on top, 2 – 1. Even had we not won, the joyful reaction of my team mates (or that of the other team) would’ve been worth the play of the entire season. You got to take into account that organized sports, youth or adult, do no exist down here. The leagues that we take for granted in our youth, in particular high school sports, are almost non-existent. As a result, the majority never have won a trophy in their life, let alone the pile that we seem to gibe out in the states for essentially doing nothing or being average (but that’s a different topic all together). It stands to reason then, that upon being presented the trophy by the mayor (how legit is that) in front of a few hundred fans, lifting the trophy into the air and shouting with joy was not an uncommon gesture that afternoon. If for only the afternoon, my teammates and I were the champs of the town, and had a reason to hold our heads up high, and smile from ear to ear. Although not everyone went to the game, by the time I walked home after the celebration and photos, I couldn’t walk half a block with out being congratulated by some one or another. Not only did I feel like I legitimately was a local celebrity for the day, I had the feeling that I had successfully integrated into my community. Check out the photo’s below of my team and the celebration: