Soccer season is now in full swing. The high school girls junior varsity played three matches last week. This week is spring break, so there will be no sports activities for me to photograph which means I will have to go into recent archives to find appropriate post material. One fact that is sometimes overlooked about the game of soccer is that it is a contact sport. There is a lot of bumping, pushing and shoving going on while trying to gain control of the ball. Here are a few examples.

Cutting off your opponents path to the ball with a little shoulder action is perfectly acceptable. The ref in the background does not have a problem with this level of contact.

Sometimes you just have to split the difference when you have the ball. Two defenders fail to stop this Tiger on her way to the goal. (Note; I submitted this image to a website called Pixoto. They put your image up against others in one on one duels and people vote for their favorite. This image was the No. 1 sports/soccer image of the day!)

A face to face close encounter with the goal keeper is just part of the game when you’re a forward. Play on!

If you lose your balance, you’re likely to get run over.

Going to the ground too early to block a shot can result in the ball flying over your outstretched arms and into the goal.  Have a blessed week.