Phuket Football

In the middle of November C girl went to Phuket to play football (soccer) with her school - interschool sports. As this was her first overseas trip with the school and her being in only Year 5, I tagged along.

I managed to get the same flights to and from and I kept a watchful eye (from a distance) to make sure she was being supervised - especially in KL airport - where we had a 3 hour stopover. Happy to report they were VERY under control, in fact they were BRILLIANT. Not just the kids (all the kids were great mates and got along great), but also the teachers. They had quizzes for when they were waiting in the gate lounges, they had games they played along the way, plus they gave them a little bit of responsibility, whilst still keeping a really good eye on them.


The kids were staying at the school boarding house in Phuket - I stayed in a nearby hotel in Phuket city (just in case she needed something during the night - you never know).

The next morning I hitched a ride on the back of motorcycle being driven by a Bangkok Mum (about 17 schools were in the competition). I helped direct her and we got there safely.

C girl was in the two team that our school sent. She was in Year 5 and both teams were Under 11 - with the majority of girls in the B team being in Year 4 and the majority of the girls in the A team being in Year 6 (the boys had U9 and U11 teams - so much easier). C girl and her two friends were the only ones from Year 5, so they were allowed to play in both teams - little did the other schools know that those 3 girls happen to be the best players.

The B team lost all 3 games in the first day (against girls that were in Year 6) - but they improved with each game. The A team won all the games in the first day.

The Saturday was the final rounds. The B team lost the first game - but won the 2nd game (C girl kicked 3 goals - as a midfielder) - they came 7th. The A team lost the first (not because they should have, it was just bad luck in the end). The final game was playing to get 3rd or 4th. It was a total nailbiter. Going to penalty time - then onto penalty kicks. Our girls finally came through when C girls best friend ended up as goalie (she hates being goalie but the other goalie had done a heartlidge (did I say that, I meant hurt her hand).

Afterwards I had to take C girl over to a big man, who had called her a dirty pusher (from the sideline) and I had told to stop now when the game was playing (I didn't get man - I just said "stop now". I took her over after the game and told her the BIG man had something to say to her (he was the father of the other girls best player). He apologised - but when I went back to our group - my name had been cemented. Scary Mum. That's my name now.

We ended up being delayed on the sunday in Phuket airport for 6 hours. A long time. I ended up getting to know the other parents pretty well. It ended up fine.

Best surprise - when C girl surprised me with a handbag that she had bought at the airport.

Biggest Find - 7 11 stores in Phuket sell red wine in a can - and it doesn't taste all that bad (wine in Jakarta is very expensive and is sometimes very hard to buy). Handy when you are waiting for a taxi after finishing a hard few hours at a night market.

Best parenting moment - I always insist on a lot of sunscreen and she has to have her hair out of her eyes. When she plays I put the fringe up into a spout (or off to the side) - 2nd day all the girls wanted their hair in a spout. Even on the first day the zinc cream ended up like war paint on all the girls (after they had put sunscreen on of course). What could have easily become a daggy thing you had to do to make your Mum happy ended up being something that was pretty cool. Phew. (just as well - it was going to happen regardless).

They are pretty great kids - all 36 of them.