Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 25, 1995                   TAG: 9505260007
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KIMBERLY D. DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SOCCER HAS A WAY OF GETTING IN YOUR BLOOD

On Memorial Day weekend in 1990, the Metuchen-Edison Soccer Conference girls' traveling team drove from Metuchen, N.J., to Roanoke for the Crestar Festival Soccer Tournament.

I can't say it was my fondest memory, but it is one of my most vivid.

Who could forget that huge, man-made, lit-up-like-a-Christmas-tree star on top of Mill Mountain?

The fields were the nicest I'd ever seen, with grass as green as my birthstone - emerald.

I'd just turned 16, and my Aunt Verna and Uncle Bobby bought me my first pair of "Adidas Samba Classics."

It made no sense really, because they weren't cleats, they were just cool indoor soccer shoes that every other player had. My parents, Linda and Carlton, paid for my trip to Roanoke, and they even bought me some "Umbros" and a T-shirt.

Yes, I looked like all the other soccer players who descended on the streets of Roanoke that weekend, but I didn't care.

We played some really good games in the two-day tournament. The air was so heavy, I almost passed out during a couple of them. I mean, it was 50 degrees in New Jersey; I came here, and the temperature was in the 80s. What's up with that?

At halftime of every game, we drank water and ate sliced oranges. I can't remember why. I think it was some weird soccer thing.

During one close game, our left forward, Michelle Bayer, played as if she were on the Olympic team. At one point the ball sailed toward her, she turned around and executed a perfect bicycle kick. She jumped in the air off her right foot and kicked the ball toward the goal with her left. The shot hit the cross bar and missed the net, but that was OK. We thought it was awesome.

After we won that match, my coach said I had done a good job, even though I almost passed out.

I experienced first-class soccer that weekend. My team and I couldn't take our eyes off one girl, who was about 9 years old, because she could successfully complete a somersault throw-in.

Every time her team had a throw-in, we begged her to "do the flip!'' No one on our under-17 team could do that. Roanoke was like a different world.

It was the whole soccer atmosphere that thrilled me. Although I'd only played soccer for two years, I really loved the game. Just being around people who liked the sport as much as I did made me feel good.

We felt even better on Sunday.

With little fanfare, our coach told us we would play for the championship. It was an experience I will never forget - I have the championship trophy to remind me.

The game and players have changed a lot since I was 16, and the sport continues to grow. Aiding in that growth is the Crestar Festival Soccer Tournament and its organizers, the Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer Club.

This year's Crestar Tournament has expanded and covers more states, executive director Danny Beamer said. The teams in the 1995 tournament are of a different quality, especially in the girls' division.

The under-14 girls' division has tripled, with 18 teams compared with six last year.

However, girls' teams make up only 25 percent (47 out of 188) of those entered in the tournament.

I stopped playing soccer during my junior year in high school. It is a decision I will most likely regret for the rest of my life. Although I play intramural soccer every spring at Northwestern University, it isn't enough. Soccer gets in your blood and takes hold of your heart.

But, you know, it's never too late to get into coaching.

Kimberly D. Davis, who sometimes dreams about soccer, is an intern reporter from Northwestern University.