The Soller Football Club is 91 years old this year – its birthday is on August 24th. The stadium was built in the centre of the City about 5 minutes walk from the square. Of course when it was built it was on the outskirts of the City but these days the urban sprawl has caught up with it and placed it bang in the centre. It has to be the most beautiful football pitch in the world with spectacular mountain scenery all around. It is a very well used club and has its own café within the grounds to feed the never ending supply of the Soller population who use the pitch and facilities. It is home to the Soller Football Team who are looking forward to better days in the league. It is also a very significant location for hundreds of young people who use the space every week. The reason I know so much about this place is because Mimi, my ten year old granddaughter just loves to play football. She has joined the soccer school and turns up twice a week for training with additional commitment at weekends to play home and away games.
This is the sort of club that has hundreds of bikes left propped up against the wall. The children get on their bike and cycle to the pitch, play football and then cycle home again. The exercise regime for these children is first class and they are very enthusiastic. The children’s soccer life is very well organised with the early training programmes leading to a place with the team which is affiliated to the Spanish Federation of Junior Football. The ‘Federation’ is much revered and it is the players ambition to be spotted by one of the Federation’s coaches and offered a place on the Team. This is certainly the children’s desire and of course the ‘Soccer Moms’ will support their children. This is not without cost to them and the day their child gets a place on the team is the day their life changes. Then it is supporting them in home games, driving them all over the Island for the away games, washing the kit, preparing food for the social events and paying the subscriptions. They get to know Majorca’s football pitches very well including the smallest villages who are so proud of their facilities.
The Soccer Mums are a friendly bunch and in the end the club becomes an extension of their social life. Or in the case of Rachel Fox (our wonderful photographer for this page) an opportunity to take photographs in unlikely places. She has been a Soccer Mom for more years than she cares to remember and has managed to photograph the whole Island on her weekend trips with her football mad sons.
This week I spent three days at the pitch with Mimi who was competing in a Football Tournament. She is a rare breed as a footballing girl and some of the boys are not too sure what to make of her. The coaches are very accepting of anyone who is enthusiastic about the sport and turns up to practise, so they are her big fans. I had coffee with the SM’s and listened to their plans for the season. I admired their commitment which saw them making plans for their lives around the football season and scheduling. These parents are going the extra mile to make sure that their children keep fit, have a great time and keep the spirit of Soller football alive. Soccer Moms – we salute you!
Meanwhile at Son Angelats Sports Centre on the other side of Soller the Basketball Moms are doing the very same thing. They live, breathe and sleep basketball with their children and ferry them all over the Island for competitions. They also have a stadium with mountain views but they have a hidden extra. The new Son Angelats Centre is also home to the new heated swimming pools of Soller. The history of the pools is complicated and boring but suffice it to say that after years of problems the pools were opened to the public a year ago. The Basketball Moms have been known to watch their children in half a match, go for a leisurely swim and get back just in time to see the end of the game. Everyone keeps fit in this regime and the bikes are the method of transport for the majority of the children.
We live in the most beautiful place on earth with fantastic opportunities for keeping fit and the interesting point about the Soccer Mums and the Basketball Mums is that they buy into it 100%. Many people talk the talk about healthy eating and exercise but here in the Soller Valley hundreds of families live this life every day. I am proud to be associated with them. I really do salute their efforts and I know that their children will be grateful that they had a ‘Soccer’ or a ‘Basketball’ Mom!
