Dear Barbarians:
This newsletter may be overdue but it comes with great appreciation to all our members, for our most recent venture to the Northeast Mid Atlantic Region One National Futsal Tournament and teams. In all, The Barbarians had 6 teams compete in the tournament and represent Western Pennsylvania. We are happy to report that despite adversity and controversy we were well represented by a determined group of 52 team players, whose focus was unanimous. By now you may be are aware that the U11G and U14B teams made it to the finals this year and each suffered the one defeat to finish second securing the Silver Medal.
The U10B bowed out of the tournament in the quarter final round, as well did the U16B. Our U19B were semi-finalists but our U14G were eliminated in regular pool play with a mark of 0-1-2. Overall our teams finished the tournament with a 12-10-3 record, scoring 125 goals while allowing 92 against. We are certain that a few of the losses could have gone either way and as for the draws the same holds true even though we believe that we had the better of the play a majority of the time.
For the first time in our history many of our players traveled unaccompanied by parents but it was a community type effort that afforded us this opportunity, and we did receive compliments on more than one occasion of how well behaved our players were in every aspect of this undertaking. I am in your debt, for having seized the opportunity amidst any adversity or controversy that may have brought you here, and to have shown your best while representing The Barbarians in the manner you did. It is an honor to you, your parents, and this club for you to have represented yourselves in the way you did, both on and off the pitch as well as how well you represented your state organization! Thank you for your effort. Well done, Barbarians. Well, done!
By virtue of their strong finish, the U11G and U14B have automatic births to the National Futsal Tournament on July 10 –13, 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland. We plan to attend and believe that the U11G will be a contested age group and the team will not have to play in a U12 bracket. We have also solicited at large bids for all of our other teams whom competed in the regional tournament as well. We know that you are capable of competing there and would like everyone who traveled to Massachusetts to make whatever arrangements are necessary to be a part of this year’s National Tournament if we are able to secure the at large births. You can monitor information about the national by following this link http://www.futsal.org/usfftournaments_nationals.htm
We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge those players who participated in the Regional Tournament and encourage you all to share whatever insight you may have gained about the game with your fellow club mates, in hopes that we can all be better for it. The U10B included: Jamie Beiriger, Michah Griffin, RJ Heaps, Josh Kucmeroski, Matt Rytel, Zach Vaughn, and Chad Wright; U11G: Kiersten Bradnam, Kirstie Branthoover, Chelsea Burkhart, Madison Fisher, Bria McMahon, Olivia Ott, Hannah Ponitz, and Madeline “Mad dog” Wensel; U14B: Torey Doaty, Ben Gallina, Andrew Greenway, Jeffrey Kelly, Trevor Martz, Max McDowell, Nolan Shula, Steven Sieber, Ryland Smith, Sam Swarts, and Jeremy Thomas; U14G: Carley Bogan, Rebecca Bradnam, Fran Crouse, Sierra Davis, Kate Gamble, Magail Heaps, Samantha Kalup, and Kara Novotny; U16B: Rooney Columbus, Joe Fearer, Brett Gwosden, Alex Merchbaker, Alex Novotny, Nicholas Scioscia, Ethan Shula, Eddie Stover, and Mike Wilkie; U19B: Gabe Cooper, Colin Curry, Alfonso Fajardo, Shane Hallett, Tim Nguyen, Romaric Setodji, Douglas Sorek, and Matt Vickers.
Lastly, thank you all for your effort in making our trip a memorable one. Hopefully everyone enjoyed their selves as much as the coaches did even if we may have been spread out, hungry and tired!
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As usual, I will see you on the pitch!
David W. Sayles