Soccer
Mary Plays Soccer
I've been playing soccer since I was 6 years old. I love the game and have played nearly every position on the field. When I was in college (Division III), I was primarily a midfielder and a sweeper. In the past few years, I've switched to playing in goal.
League Play
I currently play in the Greater New Orleans Women's Soccer League on a team called The Fury. There are currently six teams in the GNOWSL and we play spring and fall.
While in California, I joined a Women's Over-35 team that plays in the Golden Gate Women's Soccer League. The Mavens were a great bunch of women and it was pretty darn nice not to have to contend with speedy little whippersnappers stealing the ball all the time.
I also play on a coed team in the New Orelans Coed Soccer League called Extinction. The coed league plays winter and summer which has been quite a change for me. I haven't experienced high humidity in years and now I'm playing in the heat of the south. However, the guys and gals on the team are worth dealing with the weather.
Before I left the San Francisco Bay Area, I played and coached in the Golden Gate Women's Soccer League. I started playing with Avanti and, after a disagreement with the team manager, formed a new team with 11 members of that team. The new team was called Las Brujas and we started each half by quoting from Macbeth. We were in the fourth division (of seven) and typically ended the season in second place.
I also served on the Board of the GGWSL as a member and as theTreasurer for four years. The Golden Gate Women's Soccer League was founded in the 1970's with 4 teams and currently has over 50 teams in 8 divisions. Women of all ages and skills play. In 2004, the league started an over 35 division for those of us who don't think aging is an excuse to stop playing.
Tournaments
The Greater New Orleans Women's Soccer League puts on a Women's Soccer Tournament each year around Mardi Gras. In 2005, my team made it to the semi-finals. After Hurricane's Katrina and Rita, we had to cancel the 2006 tournament. The fields we usually used were repositories for huge piles of trash. I'm now the Tournament Chair and the 2007 event was a success. We had only half the usual number of teams but it is encouraging how many came back. My team made it to the semi-finals and were beaten by the team that eventually won it all.
I played with Spikes Too at the 2004 International Gay and Lesbian Football Association World Championship that was played in beautiful San Francisco, CA. As the only woman on a boy's team--I switched to their team because they didn't have a goalkeeper--I got a little well used. While we didn't win a single game, we had a great time during this week long tournament.
I played with Olivia Scores at the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney, Austraila. We took home the bronze. This was a fantastic tournament with 28 women's teams from around the world. We played teams from France, England, South Africa, Canada, and, of course, Australia.
