The Fastest Little Soccer Team in College Station, Texas
By Jared, 4th grade

It was the championship game of the Dallas Texans Austin Spring Rev-Up Cup soccer tournament. We were playing the Hammers. They were a team of all-stars from San Antonio and Houston that had crushed all of their opponents by at least 4 goals. No one, except our team and parents, thought we had a chance to win. But we are the Speed Demons and our team name is based on our secret weapon – blazing speed. Many of us have been teammates for a long time. Our team also has one of the best coaches in youth soccer. He used to be a trainer for the Minnesota Vikings. Before the game began, he told us we would win if we were the first to the ball and the last to give up.

Once the game started, we knew that everyone would have to play our best to win. The Hammers controlled the ball for the first part of the game. Their passing was better than other teams. Then, we let their midfielder get through our defense and he scored the first goal of the game on a hard shot. He celebrated by doing a flip afterward. We were down but our coach told us to keep playing hard because we had been behind before and still won in big games. We kept pushing forward and running down the ball before their defenders could get there. I was playing midfielder and passed the ball to our forward, David who has the best shot on our team. He dribbled by the defender and blasted a shot as their goalie came out to stop him. The ball hit in front of the goalie and then bounced over his head. Goal!! We were ready to run even harder now. A short time later David got a loose ball in front of their net and put a header into the goal. At halftime, we were winning 2-1 but our coach told us that we could not let up against this team. We kept the pressure on them and soon scored another goal when our midfielder, Hunter, dribbled past their defenders and passed to David who hit another wicked shot. We were all jumping around after the goal as the Hammers knew that the Speed Demons were for real. After we got the 3-1 lead, our coach put an extra defender back and told us to clear the ball whenever it came into our side of the field. They kept trying to get the ball forward but we always cleared it. Then their midfielder got inside the goalies’ box and our stopper, Evan, tried to clear the ball as he was hitting it. Both players got hurt when their legs hit together. The referee called a penalty kick. As their midfielder hit the penalty kick, our goalie, Allen, dove and almost stopped the ball but it fell into the net. The score was now 3-2. There was not much time left and the Hammers knew they had to score again. They took a hard shot at the upper corner but Allen tipped the ball over the net. After that, our defense took over and cleared the ball before the Hammers ever got close to the net. Soon the game was over. The Speed Demons were the Champions! We were running across the field and then we poured water on our coach. Over the past year, our team played 6 soccer tournaments in Dallas, Houston and Austin. We have been tournament champions 3 times and runner-up twice because the Speed Demons are the fastest little soccer team in College Station, Texas.