BenK91

I play in an 8v8 league here in Denver, it's indoors as obviously gets a bit chilly here too.

They have just upped the fee's for this coming season though so not 100% sure I'll continue. The facilities are still pretty crappy and a lot of the time a game gets forfeited as the other team doesn't have enough players etc etc.

The only other leagues around here involve colleges and I really can't be bothered to deal with a ton of frat bro's/chad's on a weeknight so guess I'll have to make a better effort to go to the gym!

Maste

Yeah, they didn't. Apparently this winter has been colder than usual, but typically it's a mild winter so outdoors works. But still... Rather them than me. I've played in the typical peeing it down and the pitch turns to a bog and the ball doesn't even move properly back home in England, but I ain't playing past -5 degrees.

That sucks. The league here is pretty decent, as for some reason there's a lot of people who want to pay recreational soccer. You going to get into the 5x5 well all recommended a while back?

SultanOfSwing

It is a colder winter than usual, that's true.

I refereed a match in 'typical UK conditions', but I haven't played on one. It's rare that we get to anyway as the park districts shut the fields down if they know a major storm is coming. This one just happened to start mid-game and we play until we're told otherwise at that point

Lion in Winter

Are there no Mexicans in Denver? They are normally very good at organizing football leagues - it's huge here in Chicago.

SultanOfSwing

Not just the Mexicans. There's a team made up (almost) entirely of Serbians that play in a competitive league up by me.

My rec league also has a few Russians/Ukrainians/Belorussians too, in addition to some really bloody good Mexicans, one of whom I was lucky to be on a team with the last two seasons.

Lion in Winter

Good point, I had forgotten about them. My son's wrestling team also has a Serbian and a Russian.

BenK91

Funny you should say that as one of the teams we played last year was all Mexicans, bloody good!

My team consists of an Englishman, Bosnian, Bulgarian and German and then the other four are Americans, nice to see how diverse it is! I think we were due to train this week but no one seems particularly keen which doesn't bode well for the season especially if I've gotta pay more in membership fees

SultanOfSwing

Yeah, there's quite a large Russian population around the Chicago area. More Poles, of course, but I hear people speaking (what sounds to me) like Russian quite a bit when I'm out and about.

PBRlad

One thing I miss is how accessible 5 a side pitches were back home!

WEBlue

I'm so happy that our ice is melting on the walkways, so I can take my daily walks *without* ice cleats strapped on my boots. There's still snow around, and still ice in the ponds & marshes, but the roads & pavements are (mostly) walkable now. Hurray!

Maybe, just maybe, that's the worst of winter ice behind us now.... Time to get out the bicycles & check them over. Shoveling snow is great exercise, but I've had quite enough now, Weather Gods!

Maste

amen to that. Was so easy to arrange a 5-a-side game too

Bob

Was at a curling competition on Sunday. 3 matches in one day, that was almost 5.5 hours of curling...Monday morning, hurt. A lot.

We weren't terrible either. Played against the three best teams there and came away with a draw, loss and a tie against the team who had spanked their previous opponents that day.

SultanOfSwing

Just looked up the weight of those stones. Looks to be around 40lbs, so depending on how many times you have to lift/move them, it'll work your arms and back a fair bit.

Bet you wish you'd taken up darts now, though.

Bob

Yeah, they weigh anything from 40-44 pounds, but our club stones are 42 pounds. It's not a bad work out. The worst is at the end of the night, when you've got to lift them off the ice and carry them to where they're stored.

The thighs get a beating too, getting down to do those slides.

It's a weird sport. Really easy to pick up and chuck a stone down the ice, but like golf, or anything with fine skills, really quite tough in the details.

I don't know why there's so much hate for it being in the Olympics. It's far more sporty than say the shooting events, or archery and they're great events.

There is a fair bit of drinking after the games though too, which isn't bad. Darts, probably better for drinking during, though

SultanOfSwing

No different from re-racking your weights, I suppose, when it comes to putting everything away.

The good thing about playing soccer is that the club supplies the ball, so all I have to carry home are my shoes