Fan Reborn

Martis, Dhanus 17, 249

Pitch view of Top-Side and Spectator Shuttles

I was born on Earth and I have memories, for good and for bad, of playing sports and being outdoors... real outdoors, breathing the actual air and not having to be reliant on any bubble to protect me from an environment that isn't species appropriate, to put it mildly.  I like games, but yes, I was one of the skeptics of the MAFL and open concept stadiums.  Just on the practical side alone, we have a lot of other pressing matters to contend with on this planet, so risking lives to play outdoor soccer didn't seem like a worthy priority.

With this notion, I've only followed the season in the news or caught partial segments, so this past week was my first live experience. 

As our shuttle drove toward the stadium grounds, something started to happen. I began to feel anticipation that I hadn't expect.  Was it possibly because I haven't been outside of the hab for months?  This clearly wasn't an instantly gratifying holo experience that could be switched off; the shuttle wasn't going to turn around on my account, after all.  

Had I underestimated the powers of anticipation that can be brought on from a glorified bus ride?  Or had I forgotten the feats of engineering and series of miracles that had taken place in order to fly us across the solar system, land on an inhospitable world, set up camp to live, grow food, and not only to actually survive on this red dust ball, but to also invent and enjoy sport here too?

I didn't leave the comforts of the bus... The spectator deck was surprisingly immersive and I wouldn't have believed that the shuttle would, in all intent and purposes, disappear as I became enthralled with the match.

Within the first 5 minutes, I had to remind myself this wasn't a virtual game. These players were really performing feats and maneuvers I've never considered safe, let alone possible... and I've lived here for more than two decades.  It also shattered my preconceptions of size, strength and prowess.

At 38 minutes,  #30 Isabelle Marsh, a petite, young woman, charged to deliver an incredible kick that beat Dynamo's goalkeeper to open scoring.  Just minutes later, seconds before half-time, #39, Aba Samma, in a graceful display of aerial control, blew a reinforcement goal past Kyrlyuk.

I may be remembering wrong, but sports back home never felt like this!  The blend of acrobatics, tenacity, and, quite frankly, danger, have converted me.

I admit, there have been a few times where I've regretted my family bringing me to Mars, but that pales in comparison to what I was feeling then and there for not coming to support the games sooner.   As we work hard to build this planet, it is easy to forget not to apply that same efforts in maintaining our humanity.  The MAFL has, quite possibly, offered us the first vehicle to free us from often mundane, repetitive, and measured routines we must perform to survive here.  It is recreations such as these that expand the definition of what living on Mars means and helps bring all of us together. 

Not only did my home team take the bout against the Dynamos, but this match secured my loyalty to the Club, the MAFL, and, in many respects, this planet.

This win brings Marineris Comets to 6 and 4.  With two back-to-back wins, they are 2nd in the league standings.  

Next week, Comets face the struggling Tiangong Wuji. 

Payback: Titans Beat Immortals in Rematch

Lunae, Dhanus 16, 249

If their first match lay birth to the Lanka Legend, with the Immortals’ Captain scoring a phenomenal 4 goals that day, then the rematch was all about Titans’ payback, delivered by the brash Readale Nash.

“If Uday Lanka is Lanka Legend, then call me Nash the Cash. Because I am Money! Payback’s a Bitch,”

— Readale Nash #8, Titans Forward

Nash deposited both goals for the Titans leading them to a 2 to 1 victory over the Immortals. With the win, the Titans move to a league leading 9 and 1 in the standings while the Immortals go to 5 and 5. The Titans’ only loss of the season – to those same Immortals in Week 3.

In this highly anticipated rematch of their Week 3 showdown, the stars were aligned and shone brightly as the league’s top two scorers, Lanka Legend and Readale Nash were the difference makers.

Another difference maker albeit unexpected, Immortals goalkeeper Chamunda Badal.

Six of the Titans’ nine shots on goal came from interceptions of botched passes and failed clearances from Badal. Two of those shots ended up as goals by Nash.

A livid Immortals owner Vijya Pandey was ballistic afterwards, “We had that bloody game won! If our stupid goal keeper can’t do her job right, what the bloody hell is she good for? We gave them the game.”

Titans Captain, Raenia Ware disagreed with Pandey’s assessment, “We put the pressure on the Immortals all game especially on Badal. There’s a reason why we’re the best team in the league and their owner is the beast of the league.”

A mortified Badal quickly ran off the field after the whistle and could not be reached for comment afterwards as Immortals Captain, Lanka Legend shielded her from the media’s stink eye.

“We win together and we lose together. We should’ve done a better job of protecting Badal out there and not letting the Titans pressure her so much”, said Lanka.

While noble in his intention, Lanka’s assessment does not hide the reality that Badal’s blunders enabled the Titans to escape another potentially embarrassing defeat from the Immortals.

Overall, the Immortals had the advantage in terms of possession time and came out much more aggressive to start the match than the Titans.

Lanka started off the scoring with his league leading 9th goal of the season at the 16th minute. Lanka intercepted a pass from Titans’ Midfielder, Sara Kelly, dribbled across the six-yard, beating two defenders and finished with a spectacular volley into the roof of the net.

The Amrita Attack did not let up as just over a minute later, Lanka picked the pocket of Midfielder, Bajen Avdi, and passed off to teammate Akkilic Talpur.

Lanka rushed down the field and controlled a return pass off his chest from the edge of the area, turned and delivered a low shot past the outstretched hands of Titans goalkeeper Usian Busara into the far bottom corner…post. No goal.  

And that scare is likely what woke up a Timid Titans team before that point.  

They responded with a scoring chance from Bajen Avdi whose shot just sailed over the top post at the 21st minute.  

Then at the 25th minute mark, Nash waited behind Badal. Waited until she dropped the ball to sneak in, picked it off her boot and then drove it back into the net for his 5th goal of the season to tie up the match.

A minute later, Badal failed to clear the ball again and a surprised Nash volleyed the ball over the top post this time, cursing himself as he walked away from his squandered chance.  

Sensing the momentum shifting away, Lanka stole a pass from the Titan’s Tarik Lema Girma minutes later, and passed over to teammate Laurien Hagendoorn. Lanka quickly sliced through two defenders and delivered a header off a crossing pass just over a leaping Busara and…just a pinch over the top post.

Another missed Immortals’ opportunity gave the Titans’ the momentum they needed as they continued to capitalize on sloppy goalkeeper and defensive play with two more shots on goal just before the end of the first half.

In the second half, more of the same from Badal as her errors caught up with the Immortals as Nash scored the winner at the 59 minute mark. Badal weakly played a backpass from teammate Tanigawa Kata, right into Nash’s path. A Nash pass to Ware resulted in a return pass to Nash who rounded Badal and kicked into the low far corner for his 6th goal of the season.

Nash almost made it a hat trick with scoring chances at the 76th minute and 80th minute.

With a committee of Titans defenders (Maria Fernanda Carballal, Terry Park, and Renatta Blundell) smothering Lanka Legend, none of his teammates stepped up and the Immortals were unable to generate any shots on goal in the 2nd half despite strong possession time.  

Unlike their first match in Week 3, there were no substitutions, injuries or equipment failures in this match. In the Week 3 match, a miscommunication between Titans’ teammates and a remarkable boost jump into safety by Lanka, resulted in an epic car crash of a play resulting in Titans’ defender Terry Park taking out his own astonished teammate Maria Fernanda Carballal with a sliding tackle attempt.

“Us not talking in that Week 3 match,” said Carballal. “That was early in the season and like I said then, we just needed time to adjust and get to know each other, and I think our communication today was solid as we shut Lanka down this match.”

On Carballal’s assessment, Lanka replied, “Congratulations to them on their victory. However, I don’t necessarily agree with her statement. In the first half, two of our shots had beaten their keeper but both missed by maybe an inch. This match could have gone our way just like in Week 3.”

“The better team won today”, said Titans Captain Raenia Ware. “For Week 3, if we don’t go down to 10 players, I’m confident we would have gone out and had a strong second half just like today, and won that match as well.”

Lanka gently smiled when told Ware’s comment, “With all due respect, we were up 2 to 0 with Park and Carballal in that Week 3 match, after just 6 minutes of play. We would like to think our team’s play had something to do with us winning that day. ”

“That’s fine,” said Lanka calmly. “We look forward to next time when we’ll be on our home field. There’s a whole bunch of new moves we’ve been practicing that we can’t wait to unveil. ” The last time, Lanka used a practice move in a match resulted in his now infamous boost bicycle kick goal in Week 3 for the 4th goal of the game.

Week 17 @ Amrita – Titans vs. Immortals – Round 3.

Monkey Wrench

Lunae, Dhanus 16, 249

Vijya Pandey (Left), Immortals owner, with Andam Mirza (Right), Club Manager

“A setback. A mere blip. You know the thing about setbacks? They are temporary. And blips are fleeting. I am not the trigger happy type. You folks are. So, before you jump the gun, remember that deliberation should be the hallmark of good journalism. I am not backing down from my assertion that my team is on a trajectory to top the league. But before you spin tales of impending doom after a single loss, remember that hindsight can hurt your behinds soon. You may need to stock up on eggs and keep them close to your faces if you overreact.”

The snarling smirk from last week was now replaced with a scowl. Vijya Pandey would have been better served by a pout. The result of the game had rained on his parade. A parade which the owner of the Immortals had bombastically led off, firing all his cannons just the previous week. And now he was pre-emptively accusing the media assembled at the post-game press conference of imaginary pulldowns of his team following the tense loss to the Titans on the night. We could only chuckle under our breaths.

Andam Mirza had stared expressionlessly off into space at the podium. The loss to the league topping Titans was surely hurting the Immortals’ manager. The statistics for the game reveal that his team had held the upper hand right through. Their aggression had given the Titans, a team which has made a habit of laying waste their opponents in intimidating style, a mighty scare. The plethora of scoring chances the Immortals squandered away all night was surely weighing heavy. The manager hadn’t spoken yet. How could he? All the oxygen in the room was being sucked up by his hyper-ventilating owner.

The feeling tonight was nothing like the week before. That night, Mirza had watched his squad ratchet up the feverish excitement in a packed Amrita Stadium with a spectacular highlight reel goal in the second half that sealed the game. More importantly, the win against Tiangong Wuji had extended their winning streak to three. His move to a 4-3-3 formation in Week 7 appeared to have aligned the planets for his team. Not only had it seemed like they had discovered their mojo, but the shackles seemed to come off and there was more fluidity in their play. More importantly, they had discovered a consistency which had been sorely lacking at the start of the season.

A keen student of the game, Mirza would surely have offered us his astute thoughts on his team’s progress in spite of the loss. But enter stage left, Vijya Pandey! Owners are oh so rarely represented at post-match press conferences. It is the manager’s prerogative. But one Mirza’s father-in-law and boss Pandey gives a rodent’s arse about. And of course, on this night, Pandey had to appear. He needed to explain away the loss. He had made it a fait accompli – after the no-holds-barred performance at Amrita Stadium after the win against Tiangong the week before.

“Mark my words. Write them down”, he had thundered. “The juggernaut is only getting started. This dragon is no longer asleep. This is not a warning shot to all other teams in the league but the opening salvo of the battle for supremacy. There is no going back now – just continued rampage. Writing my team off was foolhardy. And you know that. And I want to make sure you remember it hereafter. We are not here to make friends. It is an all-out lunge for the jugular now. I can’t wait for the next game. I always knew this was coming. You should have listened to me all along.”

Really?

Three weeks earlier, it appeared the wheels had come off the Immortal’s wagon as they careened and crashed at Marineris Stadium in Week 6. It was their third loss in a row. More than the losses, it had been the manner of them. For three games, following the jaw dropper of a four goal performance by their magnificent captain Uday Lanka against the Titans in Week 3, the team had hit the collective skids. Lanka had toiled like a champion, but neutrals had watched on perplexed by the play of his mates looking like they were swimming in molasses.

And Pandey lashed out. At everything in sight. His soap box had been sawed off in half and the spice magnate was livid. His deranged haranguing of his beleaguered manager Mirza had been uncomfortable to watch. And we had cringed imagining what Mirza was in for at the family dinner table now. And then Lanka. In what would go down as the most unhinged tirade of them all, he had trained his sights on Lanka. “Very disappointed with our captain. How can we win if he only scores in the penalty shootout? He needs to produce when it matters.”

Perhaps Pandey’s mind was still stewing and clouded by the events of the morning at the Colonial Securities Commission headquarters in Marineris. The long ongoing investigations by the CSC into the statutory import regulation violations of Pandey Inc. had culminated in the commencement of closed door hearings. Allegations of financial blowbacks and skulduggery in his cozy relationships with exporters back on Earth had been swirling around for a long time. Pandey had testified that morning in front of the CSC and had emerged pasty faced and grim – proffering not even his regulatory squawks to the media who had chased him as he left for the night’s game.

The loss in this night’s game is a bugaboo only in the convoluted mind of the owner. The stoic and focussed Mirza is not going to see red after a hard fought loss. And the classy and uber-talented Lanka is certainly not losing sleep over any deranged comments by his owner. Lanka has shone effervescently all season – in wins and losses. Seeing his name in the scoresheet has become de rigeur to all watchers of the game. The Immortals (5-5) certainly have turned a corner in the season. And we can only wait in anticipation to see how they move on from what really should be a blip. Pandey is right on that one. Now, if he would only leave us and his team alone to relish the journey.

We can always hope for the CSC to get their act together.

You Kick Like a Girl

Lunae, Dhanus 16, 249

Farra, Ware,and  Barnato are among the women taking MAFL by storm.

When Al’amal SC were looking to pull off a stunning upset of the Marineris Comets in Week 8, Captain Musaddiq Baddour instantly knew who his dance partner would be.

“Arwa Farra is our most agile and precise player. If anyone was to manage their way through the Marineris Comets’ defenders, it would be her.”

— Baddour

And that she did.

For the game’s first goal, Farra cleverly anticipated and intercepted Comets Defender Stephen Liu’s pass, passed it to Baddour as she ran through the defenders, played his return pass and finished with a boost kick dagger into the far corner. 

Care for another dance?  Baddour and Farra did as they continued their match magic on the second goal of the game.

This time it was Comets Defender Zaida Agre who was victimized by Farra who intercepted Agre’s errant pass and passed over to Baddour who began a crisp, flowing team move. Baddour then delivered a no-look pass over to a streaking Farra who brilliantly rounded the keeper and lofted the shot into the net for the second and final goal of the match.

Al’amal SC: 2, Marineris Comets 0.

Baddour’s confidence in Farra’s ability is no shock as the emerging impact of Women players this year has been one of the more exciting themes in this early MAFL season.

Another theme: The top team to date are the San Olympus Titans with an 8 and 1 record.  

Their Captain: Raenia Ware, 22 years old, Earth Born and the only Woman Captain in MAFL.

Ware isn’t even the Titan’s leading scorer. That distinction belongs to her teammate, María Fernanda Carballal with 3 goals to date. You guessed it, Maria’s a Woman as well.

Amazingly, it wasn’t that long ago that the gender parity discussion was a hotly debated one.

So much so, that even up to the 11th hour of MAFL inauguration, MAFL officials were debating the merits of having two separate leagues: one for each gender (with non-binary players given the right to choose which league).

Ultimately, MAFL decided to bring everyone together in a parity party with target numbers to create balanced player demographics for gender and for birth place.

While we’re not quite at parity yet, the disparity isn’t as wide as you think.

Of the 84 goals scored after Week 8, 43% have been scored by female athletes.

43% of the top 14 scorers to date are women:

• María Fernanda Carballal of the San Olympus Titans;
• Arwa Farra  and Vivian Badour of the Al’amal SC;
• Yvonne Barnato of Europa United;
• Mariya Nikitovna of Novyimir Dynamo; and
• Samantha Park of the Marineris Comets.

While aspirational gender equity played a factor in mixed league play, some cynics believe sheer pragmatic population numbers, and lack of, may have played an even bigger role.

Raenia Ware however, isn’t buying any of that. She insists the decision to go mixed was based on merit.

 “Frankly, we’re almost in the 22nd Century and I can’t believe we’re still fixated on gender. If you look at the numbers, they confirm what myself and others already know. Some of the best players on this planet are women, full stop”, said Ware.

“There’s a reason why they made me Captain of the Titans just like there’s a reason why Maria, and Arwa, and Vivian are doing so well in this league”, said Ware.

From one Captain to another, Liddell Bradley of the Comets has his own theory on why women players have had such a strong impact so far.

“I think it’s great for the game that our Lady friends are doing so well but I know in those two games where Nikitovna scored on us in Week 3 and Farra scored twice on us in Week 8 , I can honestly tell you that our Defenders weren’t focusing on them” said Bradley.

“Our defensive strategy was focused more on shutting down Ilya Jaroslav Petrovich, Sergey Samrend, Mussaddiq Baddour, and Hamad Fayad. I guess when I think about it, they’re all the male stars so maybe there’s this unconscious bias we have. I don’t know. ”

Coach Matthäus Reinmann of Europa United agrees with Bradley, “I’ve seen all the matches so far and I can say, all of us are guilty of collapsing our defenders around the star male players and it’s like we’re ignoring the ladies and taking them for granted. They are definitely getting more chances.”  However, some experts wonder whether the chances women players have displayed to date relate to their unique biology and adaptation to Mars environment.

Early NASA studies and ongoing research at Marineris Tech U on gender in off-world conditions provided suggestions at how the cardiovascular, immunologic, sensorimotor, musculoskeletal, and behavioral adaptations may differ.  Some of those key differences:

• Women had a slight bias towards accuracy versus speed in alertness test vs men.
• Women suffered less visual impairment than men.
• Hearing sensitivity, when measured at several frequencies, declined with age much more rapidly in male astronauts than it did in female astronauts.

“When my helmet’s on, all the Closed Circuit Player Communication noise doesn’t faze me”, said Carballal of the Titans, “I’m able to process it and tune it out when needed. I know some of the guys hate it. They say it distracts them.”

Recent studies on first generation Mars habitation looked at Mars’ gravitational impact on muscle/bone mass loss. Early results suggested that since men generally have more muscle and bone mass than women, the rate and percentage of loss for men appeared to be greater than women.

The more you have, the more you lose according to these studies thus Men apparently had to train harder to reduce the amount of bone/muscle decrease. However, the more you train, the more likely you experience sopite syndrome – a neurological disorder with symptoms of fatigue, drowsiness, and mood changes to prolonged periods of motion.

Bradley admitted to experiencing some of those challenges. “I put in as much Gravity training as possible and I still find it hard to find equilibrium. You can only use the centrifugal services so much and it isn’t feasible to live 1 g on Mars all the time.  It’s an ongoing struggle.”

In addition to exercise, nutrition and medication has been used together as the holy trinity to mitigating Mars gravity.

Some studies suggest women may be responding to diet and medication better than men as early results have indicated more reported incidences of nausea, extreme muscle/bone loss, and allergic reactions in men than women.

One potential reason for the male side effects: a large portion of that medication is in the form of fertility drugs. Those fertility drugs (clomiphene citrate, human chorionic gonadotropin, and human menopausal gonadotropin) were generally made for women initially but have been approved for male use as well to help boost fertility and mass.

So while science may be suggesting a few biological and adaptive advantages for women over men, others are not so convinced.

“If you’re basing things on biology, well, men generally have more endurance than women so I expect as the season goes on, women will begin to tire more quickly”, said Coach Reinmann.

“Teams will also make adjustments and focus more defensive assignments on the gals, so I expect some correction later in the year with men’s scoring up and women’s scoring trending down.”

— Reinmann

Bradley added, “Well, all that geeky science stuff sounds nice but none of it seems conclusive. What is a hard fact is men have scored more goals than women so far and that Uday Lanka is the leading scorer in the game right now and last I checked, he’s a dude.” 

When told Reinmann and Bradley’s comments, Farra replied, “Well, let’s see what happens for the rest of the season. I have lots of respect for Lanka but my teammates have put money on me being the top scorer at the end of the season, and I want to make sure they get paid.”

Regardless of what happens during the rest of the season, one can agree that the Shape of the Game is much more enhanced with women in the picture.

Final Farra words, “Boys - Beware the Chick Kick”.