By Harold
I think I saw the sun for 10 seconds yesterday, which means spring is eventually coming. So now is a good time to recommend Rainbow Soccer in Chapel Hill, which starts its spring season on March 1. It costs $80 to register and the season lasts 12 weeks.
Rainbow teams scrimmage twice a week, with games on Saturdays. So while it’s good exercise and a fun environment, it’s still a little more serious than just a pick-up game. Actually, it’s an interesting mix of people who are just in it for fun, and people who think they are God’s gift because they were the third-leading scorer on a high school team made the second round of the county playoffs 10 years ago.
My fall team, the NewBees, were in the first category. The NewBees were mostly made up of Chinese graduate students, and some of them actually smoked cigarettes at halftime. While we tried to win, my teammates didn’t seem too concerned with the final result, although that’s just based on body language because I couldn’t understand what they were saying.
Also, because there were more teams than there are colors of the rainbow, we went in the other direction and wore a color never found in nature — “emergency yellow.” At least I never got run over biking back from the game.
Rainbow is a good way in if you’re looking to be part of a team and play the world’s game. No one officially keeps score and there’s no league standings. And the rules are stricter than even high school, since there’s no contact allowed. If you want the ultra-competitive experience, I’d look at another league. But if you just want to play soccer, buy some new cleats (believe me, the ones from high school don’t fit any more), sign up for Rainbow and I’ll see you on the pitch.
Laura
Harold
