USASA National COED Championship Sept. 28, 29, 30, 2001

the morning after................
champions, yippee, dudes - we won, miracle on grass, panther power...

Wolf and Kim-

Thanks for a fantastic weekend.

It’s most excellent to wake up this AM as the NATIONAL CHAMPION!!!!

viv

Thanks everyone for a great time this weekend!

People at work are a bit confused about why I am skipping down the hall. I think they are beginning to wonder about my ‘activities’ for the weekend.

Viv

People are afraid of what I’m whipping out of my pocket. Then they look really confused when I get my house keys by mistake! It is wicked fun to have this medal (thank God I didn’t have to carry in the Cup). I had a great time. ready to go again.

I lve my soccer life.

Susan Hanley

Viv, You can skip? I am really impressed. I’ve been smiling all morning, but that may be the only thing I can do without pain. Thanks for the great experience guys. I’m finding it difficult to explaining to people how special it felt to be part of a true team effort. Enjoy the afterglow,

Brenda

First off I’d like to thank all of you for the wonderful experience. No one can appreciate something like this by just hearing words trying to describe it. I know a lot of you thought that I was the one making the sacrifice by staying, but it was all of you who made it by being willing to help defray the cost of my trip back to keep me there. I’d like to thank Wolf especially, because most of you weren’t there when he signed over the check we won to me to pay for the airline ticket. On this trip, many new friendships were made and already existing friendships were made stronger. I am so happy of the caliber of people that we have on this team, all heart on and off the field.

Here goes the individual list of thanks in no particular order:

Nelson, for all your goals
Paul, who gives me the confidence in the back knowing he’s always there
John, making sure that only miracles will help the other team score
Chris, brilliant play on the left side and for singing the Bee Gees
Susan, thinking everyone on the other team was in the room next to yours and making them pay for keeping you and Brenda awake
Brenda, for giving it your all no matter where you were and showing us your tattoo
Mary, great playing running up and down the sidelines and the magic orange fleece
Vivian, for your goals and play up front with great crosses (I think you might have been the only female over-30 to get a yellow card)
Lyn, for your great play at right full and for keeping the team cooled down with wet towels and energy level up with cookies
Kim, being all over the central midfield and giving it your all
Bill, for running tirelessly in the midfield and shutting them down, making it easier for us in the back
Maria, for great clears and aggressive play never letting the other team have any space
Scott, for using your speed to pursue the other team around the midfield and get some good runs (also for partaking in smoking cigars)
Lou, excellent play splitting time with Chris, dude way to get your belly on that girl’s back
Sam, for all your great play everywhere we needed you and for not snoring
Jenny, for being our fan (even though you couldn’t come to any games after the first) and for the tequila challenge
Wolf, for arranging everything and all the hard work that entails, always giving us encouragement and coaching, but most of all for always telling us to have fun above all

Thanks again for all the great playing by everyone, I don’t want that to get lost in the individual thanks. We all played great and had fun doing it.

Theo

PS. The Washington Post got hold of a rumor that is going around that was started at Nick’s Bar and Grill in Plano, TX involving a black crow, an orange fleece, a van going over a curb, some dude, and a ton of shit!

Oh wow. What a weekend. I’ve been playing sports in one form or another for over 30 years, and I’ve never had an experience like this, and never will again. I can’t stop smiling. Thanks to all of you for making this wonderful time.

I have to give a speech this afternoon at a retirement reception, and when I got into work they told me that 1300 people were expected at it. I’m a little nervous, but not as nervous as I was before the final, and I reckon it will be OK so long as I yell “TON OF SHIT” at the start.

I love you all.

Chris

Some people rest on week-ends. We, on the other hand, win National Championships. My medal is hanging on a wall in my office. It’s a hoot to see my co-workers’ eyes light up and their smiles grow wide when they examine it. Can’t wait to tell the next person about our “Ton of shit!”

Bill

My thanks to everyone for a great and forever memorable weekend. The team work and camaraderie and dogged perseverance shone through to the end.

My thanks to everyone who “took one for the team”, especially Susan who was hit so hard in the stomach that we could tell that the ball was made in Indonesia from looking at the imprint that was left. Susan, hopefully it will never go away, a nice momento.

Sam I hope your thigh is healing. All I can say is it didn’t show, you charged around the field like a man possessed.

To the Texan side line supporters - “UP YOURS, ASS-HOLES”.

Wolf, I hope you enjoy the hat. It is a token of our appreciation for all that you have done for the team and for us. Thank you.

At the end of the day we really did come down like 1000lb of excrement.

Paul

To all,

On behalf of the 2001 30+ National Coed Cup champions Hot Pink Panthers, I want to express my gratitude to all involved in this year’s event. We were looking forward to this competition all year and were determined to have a lot of fun while playing some good football. Our efforts, combined with a little luck when needed were enough to win the championship this time.

We all feel that the overall organization of this last weekend was the best so far in the short three year history of this event. We want to thank the tournament committee, it’s staff and volunteers, the officiating crews, and all the teams and players that were contributing to this event. See you all next year.

Cheers,

Wolf Antoni
Team Manager, Hot Pink Panthers
W: 703-295-0690
H: 703-295-0690
e-mail: admin@coedfun.org
web: www.coedfun.org

Paul-

That’s 2000 lbs in a ton. And I’d to think how close we are to that weight!

We really are the champions, I still can’t believe it’s true.

Susan Hanley

It wasn’t a miracle, but it was pure guts. That was an unbelievable effort by everyone, and I’ve never been part of a more exhilarating team experience and win in all my Over 30 years - I’m still reeling today. We came back from that first loss to ultimately hold off our championship match foe like Chamberlain and the 20^th Maine at Gettysburg (as Sam might metaphorically term) - I’m just incredibly proud of everyone - each your elated faces will be always be in the reflection of that beautiful gold medal (a little hokey but true). The only thing that could have kept us from returning with that trophy was the flight back, but not even our aborted landing or rough touch down stopped that.

Special thanks to Wolf for your leadership on and off the field throughout this trip, and for making this whole thing happen, and for finally finding a hat that fits you.

Let’s all baske in the glory.

Scott

Panthers,

Several times in my life I have been part of a successful team effort, but never at a championship level where there was a title at stake. I cannot tell you how good I feel about being part of this team. Each one of us contributed what we could. I would venture to say that all us left everything we had on the field. I am in pain right now, worse than I was before the Cup, but I would do it all again, without hesitation or second thoughts. Each of you made the pain worth it because we shared it, like the Cup itself, as a team.

Proud to be Panther!

Proud to wear the Hot Pink!

Lou

I have put in an order for an additional 12 ankle bracelets for the men! Sorry you were left out originally. Guess I need to remember that the Panthers are a team!

When are we going for our team dinner? (i.e. another excuse to get together).

Also...suggestion....Let’s not display the trophy (cup) at Glory Days. It is Wayyyyyy to classy! I think we should each get it for a few weeks. Of course, this is all after we drink Champagne out of it at Wolf’s.

I’ll go for a team dinner at O’Cha and try to get Darion to give us a ticker-tape welcome.

Paul

I couldn’t agree more. We really played like a team—each and every one of us came through—it was really something to see and be a part of. We were all tired, but we just never quit. The weird thing is—even though I had trouble sleeping Sat. night because my hamstrings were so achy -- I feel awesome today—hardly any soreness. I haven’t even had any Advil since last night—I think I’m still basking in my post-championship glow.

Thanks to everyone for giving so much—it was a gem of a weekend. It truly doesn’t get much better than that. I even enjoyed drifting off to sleep on the plane and replaying parts of that last game in my head.

And to think Wolf and Viv—you guys had to talk me into coming. Now, I am really glad you thought to include me.

Thanks!

Mary

To echo all of you, it was one incredible weekend. I think Mary put it best when she kept describing it like a movie.

It has all the tear-jerker elements - the come-from-behind team, the troublemaker who keeps trying to get everyone off-focus, and the team member who we will lose if we don’t pony up some cash! And those were just the large picture items. There are tons of little sub-plots - tequila, contraband cigars, the pool, muscles that are pulling, the tears, the fears, dancing, the pain, the steam room, the nausea and the sheer guts.

We could sell the story to Disney! However, I am sure they would send the script back and say make this more true-to-life! Make it believable, people!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you guys and I am proud to be a Pink Panther! Thank you!

Now onto the Senior Olympics?

Lyn

Thanks fellow Panthers for an amazing weekend! National Champions - what a tremendous accomplishment! We pulled together when it counted most and pushed ourselves beyond the physical pain through our sheer determination to win. Everyone made sacrifices and no one gave up for a moment. Most importantly, we never forgot to have fun. From the “dying cat” rendition of Staying Alive to the playing of the National Anthem, we shared the true spirit of team and showed the rest of the country what it takes to have Panther Power! Thanks for the wonderful memories!

Champagne from the trophy (cup) - sounds like a plan . . .

Kim

It has been so much fun reading the emails that you all have written the past couple days. Since my kids really don’t understand what we did while we were away, my brief moments on the computer reading your recollections have been my big chance to “bask in the glow” of our accomplishments and to enjoy remembering all the wonderful things that made our weekend special. Thank you!!

(Kate really did appreciate the pink panther though. I think it looked familiar to her after coming out to a few games recently.)

Maria

A phrase has always bothered me. That we weren’t the better team-Lu-kick ball team Well, we may not be the better players, but obviously we are the better team! enough of that I guess. ;o)

Susan Hanley

Well, here’s another one for you. Some famous soccer coach (not me I’m afraid) stated: winning is 10% skill and 90% luck.

Were they better? Hell, yes, individually at least. If you line up their players one on one with our squad, it is probably something like 11 to 6 or 12 to 5 in their favor. Of course, that math kind of stinks since I don’t even know that they had 17, I know we did. Then again, I never really played (except in my head and hopefully got a little bit in theirs as well), so are we 16, 17, 18? I don’t really know.......

Regardless, skill or talent means squad (see above), we certainly won because of a number of other factors. For one, we scored, they did not. Should they have? Sure, perhaps as many as eight goals, but still, they did not. We did. Were we lucky? Of course we were, more than ones. We did however win in one (if not the most) important category. Determination! We could have probably won against any team that day. This determination, combined with our team unity and our relentless support for one another were keys to the overall success.

Keep also in mind, we did start this journey in February not September. The last and only goal in the final was just the dot on the i. We worked towards being there and to be the best we can the entire year. So many little things contributed to the overall success, from recruiting the right people, to developing the best chemistry for our group, to finally getting on the plane after September 11^th. I for one, was happy to get there with a full team, the rest is history.

Let anybody else say what they wish. We are the one with the trophy. Nobody can ever take this away from us. It does not matter what individual role anyone played, it all helped to get were we are. This is after all about team work and we have worked our asses off to become, grow, and succeed as a team. And by the way, you don’t even have to win to be a great team, of course, it does not hurt if you do.

Wolf

Thank you for the memories………………………….