Physics Teacher Plays Indoor Soccer

Fifteen months and 80 games ago, Physics teacher Mary Ward walked into the rubber-smelling, soccer-ball-thumping atmosphere where she would spend every Thursday night. She shyly wandered over to the group of 11 women clad in black shirts, chatting easily amongst themselves. They ranged in age from 20 to 40, from physical therapists to moms. Ward was nervous because she had never played indoor before and wasn’t quite sure of all the rules, but she was happy about her new teammates.

“I was glad the people on my team seemed nice, and they weren’t crazy over-the-top screaming at the other team type of players,” Ward said.

This random group of women gathered for various reasons. Ward’s teammate, Joanna Barbara wanted a chance to practice soccer with real players and learn the game. Ward heard about it when her aunt told her All American was a great place to play soccer. Ward had been in Kansas City for a year then, and decided it would be a great way to meet new people.

“When I moved to K.C. I didn’t know that many people and I liked playing soccer in high school, and I had heard from my aunt about where to play,” Ward said.

Ward called All American looking for a team and, when asked if she could play on Thursday nights, replied yes.

“It’s the house team so basically you don’t have enough people to field a team so they put you on the house team,” Ward said.

Ward and the team, dubbed Coco’s House Team, have meshed effortlessly. Although the ages and professions have a large variety, all of the women are fairly close in skill level and effort.

“We do play hard, but I wouldn’t say we’re hardcore, out there to win every game,” Ward said, describing their mental attitude.

Barbara, a teammate of Ward’s, describes their mindset in the same way.

“We like to win, but we’re pretty laid back,” Barbara said. “We support each other through the bad games pretty well. The intensity of the game generally depends on the attitude of the other team, or if we have had a run-in with them before.”

All of the women on Ward’s team have played some sort of soccer before. Ward got her start in Fort Madison, Iowa during recess. She would play every day, learning the basic rules of soccer. Once Ward reached middle school, she played for the school team. After that followed the high school team. Ward’s high school was made up of 700 students, but there was no girls’ soccer team.

“You would think there would be enough to field a girls team,” Ward said, “But for some reason only four girls came out for the team every year and 50 boys came out.”

Ward and the other girls tried out, practiced, and played on the boys’ team, which had its good and bad points. Ward played JV her freshman through junior year, and suited up for varsity her junior year and was on varsity as a senior. Each year there was a new batch of boys who had to get accustomed to playing with Ward, and whom she had to prove her ability to.

At practices, some of the boys were mean, some nice, and some didn’t want her to play, ignoring her very existence. One of the mean things the boys did was moon her on their daily 1.5 mile run through a woody trail.

Despite the rough times, Ward thinks that playing with the boys helped her.

“I had to learn to compensate for being smaller and not as fast so my other skills strengthened,” Ward said.

Playing against all the big male soccer players has made Ward undaunted when playing soccer and it made her more aggressive.

Her opponents were, in fact, the ones that were rudest to her. They thought she’d be easy to get past, so given the choice between one side and a side with a girl; they’d go towards the side with the girl time and time again.

“Some got really upset if they got beat by a girl,” Ward said. “There were definitely some that got their ego bruised.”

Ward’s team mates can see how playing with boys has affected her playing.

“As a player, Ms Ward is like a defensive wall,” Barbara said. “No-one is getting past her. Plus she can run forever.”

Ward continued to play soccer while attending Iowa State University. She participated in soccer intramurals several times a year, and played with her friends every Friday afternoon. Neither was incredibly intense, but it was a fun way to continue playing soccer and spend time with people.
Ward and the rest of Coco’s House Team are a laid back team: the women arrive to the game shortly before start time, stretch a little, and kick the ball around, with no real heavy warm-up. They are, after all, there for fun and exercise–not to dominate the league. They are always quick to laugh and boost each other’s confidence.

“[Ward] brings enthusiasm and humor to our team,” Barbara said. “She is always very encouraging to everyone on the team.”

All photos by Grant Kendall.