Beach football
- Air Force team ‘Steps Up’
By AC Kirsten Pease
After years of watching the great Brazilians display their silky skills at beach football, I promised that if I ever got a chance, I would give it a stab. That chance came on Saturday 13 February at the Takapuna, four-a-side, Beach Football competition—not quite Rio de Janiero, but it would do.
The Air Force ‘Beach Babes’
The competition design was that you had to win to stay in. Entering an Air Force mixed team into the competition, I was unsure how we would fare—40 teams had entered, and we were in the minority with a mixed team.
Preparation for the competition was not great and watching our opposition, with ‘all the gear’, flags, and a crowd of supporters, put a lot of pressure on our sole supporter, Chantal—AC Rhea Murray’s cousin.
Despite the odds and in true Air Force ‘Step Up’ spirit, we managed to pull off a shock 2–0 victory against one of the competition favourites. Even after losing Leading Aircraftman Lincoln Adomea, we managed to secure enough victories to see us through to the Semi-Finals. However, due to the lack of subs we were starting to fade. Along with the heat of the day, we were feeling the burn—no more so than CPL Chris ‘Albino’ Campbell, who was starting to turn a shade of salmon! Luckily, ‘Big time Charlie’, aka Sergeant Steve Rodwell turned up in time to pull off some great saves, sending us through to the Finals.
In the final we were playing the team that was also through to the Elite Final—no pressure!
It was a tight game with nothing to split the teams at the end of the match. Therefore, the game went into penalties. I stepped up pretty nervously—not wanting to let the boys down— and managed to score a goal. Together with CPL Campbell scoring and SGT Rodwell saving two, we emerged as champions.
Special thanks go to Corporal Marc Thomas for his cameo appearance, and CPL Daniel Roberts for helping with the ‘after-match’ celebrations.
After such a successful effort, the team is already talking about defending the title in 2011!