Hurricane resident Terry McWatters rarely uses his digital SLR camera. He has barely captured any photos, despite his three kids playing club and school soccer almost every other day. "It might have been a waste of money, really," he said.
BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. -- Hurricane resident Terry McWatters rarely uses his digital SLR camera.
He has barely captured any photos, despite his three kids playing club and school soccer almost every other day.
"It might have been a waste of money, really," he said.
Over the past few years, Terry and his wife, Cathy, have racked up over 300,000 miles driving to countless cities east of the Mississippi River.
Yet, each place seems the same, Terry said.
"We just end up seeing a soccer field all weekend long," he said.
On Friday afternoon, they found themselves at a familiar venue, joined by their son, Ryan, and daughter, Brittany. The four of them watched Wes, their son and sibling, who plays with the West Virginia U-15 Rowdies. The team squared off against a nationally ranked team from Virginia.
After the first 10 minutes, Wes, who played a striking role, was given a yellow card. At that point, Terry looked down and realized he had only snapped a few pictures.
A few minutes later, the touchline erupted with noise as the team from West Virginia scored a low goal to the corner. Despite Wes being sidelined, the McWatters erupted with cheers.
Since they started attending tournaments, the McWatters have embedded themselves in a traveling caravan of families who know each other just as well as their own kin.
"Some of the kids call me 'mom' and sometimes I'll call them 'son,'" Cathy said. "It really just consumes all of our lives. I don't know what we're going to do when the three of them go away to college."
Ryan, 17, is the closest to college, and plans to attend West Virginia University. He said he might play soccer in school, but plans to focus on going to medical school.
His sister, Brittany, 13, also wants to attend medical school, she hopes at the University of North Carolina.
Near the end of Friday's soccer game, the Rowdies began to channel some of the magic from the U.S. Men's National Team when it played Spain. They were 1-0 up, but faced wave after wave of pressure from the other team. Shot after shot, the ball clanged on the crossbar, post or just missed the goal by a few inches.
Every so often, there was a shout from the crowd or a compliment for the goalkeeper, who despite his short stature, kept his team in the game.
BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. -- Hurricane resident Terry McWatters rarely uses his digital SLR camera.
He has barely captured any photos, despite his three kids playing club and school soccer almost every other day.
"It might have been a waste of money, really," he said.
Over the past few years, Terry and his wife, Cathy, have racked up over 300,000 miles driving to countless cities east of the Mississippi River.
Yet, each place seems the same, Terry said.
"We just end up seeing a soccer field all weekend long," he said.
On Friday afternoon, they found themselves at a familiar venue, joined by their son, Ryan, and daughter, Brittany. The four of them watched Wes, their son and sibling, who plays with the West Virginia U-15 Rowdies. The team squared off against a nationally ranked team from Virginia.
After the first 10 minutes, Wes, who played a striking role, was given a yellow card. At that point, Terry looked down and realized he had only snapped a few pictures.
A few minutes later, the touchline erupted with noise as the team from West Virginia scored a low goal to the corner. Despite Wes being sidelined, the McWatters erupted with cheers.
Since they started attending tournaments, the McWatters have embedded themselves in a traveling caravan of families who know each other just as well as their own kin.
"Some of the kids call me 'mom' and sometimes I'll call them 'son,'" Cathy said. "It really just consumes all of our lives. I don't know what we're going to do when the three of them go away to college."
Ryan, 17, is the closest to college, and plans to attend West Virginia University. He said he might play soccer in school, but plans to focus on going to medical school.
His sister, Brittany, 13, also wants to attend medical school, she hopes at the University of North Carolina.
Near the end of Friday's soccer game, the Rowdies began to channel some of the magic from the U.S. Men's National Team when it played Spain. They were 1-0 up, but faced wave after wave of pressure from the other team. Shot after shot, the ball clanged on the crossbar, post or just missed the goal by a few inches.
Every so often, there was a shout from the crowd or a compliment for the goalkeeper, who despite his short stature, kept his team in the game.
Ryan, who plays with the U-18 Charleston Futbol Elite, said those are the moments he lives for.
"Clearing a ball off of the line is like scoring a buzzer beater," he said.
His sister, who plays for the U-14 WVSC Girl's Rowdies, disagreed.
"I love scoring goals," she said. Earlier in the day, she scored the only goal in a 1-1 draw against a team from New Jersey.
Ryan said the day had gone well for the teams from West Virginia.
His dad agreed.
"There was a time when you were trying to keep it under 7-0," he said.
The state could be more competitive, Terry said, if the top soccer players played for one club for each age group in the Kanawha Valley area. In the Charleston area alone, there are several clubs for the different age groups, he said.
If that happened, they said, then West Virginia could compete with the stronger teams.
On Friday, the U-15 team fought to hold onto its 1-0 lead. As the game wound down, Wes was back on, but playing a deeper role.
When he gets to high school, he hopes to play alongside brother Ryan, who plays center back for Hurricane.
Wes and the team tried to keep the ball out of their goal on Friday. The pressure got to them though and, in the waning minutes of the game, the other team equalized. The game ended in a draw.
"Some people are going to see that 1-1 score line, and think it was a slow game," Terry said. "It wasn't. It was fast and physical, and it went to the whistle."
Shortly afterward, he looked down at his camera and again realized he had barely taken any pictures since the game started.
Reach Jon Offredo at jonoffr...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5189.
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