GRANVILLE, Ohio — Every Friday, Sunday and sometimes Wednesday during the summer, you’ll find a group of people playing pick-up soccer at Raccoon Valley Park in Granville.
They’ve been accidentally doing so for more than 17 years. Many of them started playing in their 30s and 40s, and now, they are in their late 50s.
"They call it 'old guys.' I'm not crazy about the name old guys, but that's what it's adopted,” said Jim Neuenschwander, 56.
Jim Neuenschwander and Andrew Male are Granville residents. They coached youth soccer for more than 10 years and said they found many of the parents to be overbearing.
“They'll yell at their kids ‘play harder, kick it straight’ or, you know, do all those kinds of things and what they don't realize is it’s a difficult game,” said Neuenschwander. “The parents would get on the kids and we said, you know let's get them out and see what they can do, and see how hard the sport really is.”
“The parents were yelling at kids, shouting at kids. And it was it was not allowing the kids to play,” said Male.
They invited all the parents to play pick-up soccer games on Sundays.
“The idea was just to humble people and say, listen: be better fans. Be better parents,” said Neuenschwander. “I don't think we had any real vision for it.”
What Neuenschwander and Male didn’t realize at the time was that many of the parents would come to enjoy the game. Seventeen years later, the group is still playing, sometimes three days a week.
“No slide tackles. Everybody’s got to work tomorrow so we play very clean soccer,” said Neuenschwander. “We just thought that we would get these parents to be quiet and play a few times with them and now 17 years later, there's people that can't wait to get out and play. It's just morphed into this really cool group of people that play together, like each other, respect each other and have a lot of fun.”
Over the years, they’ve had fathers and sons and mothers and daughters join them. It’s a multi-generational group with people of diverse occupations and backgrounds. Many people have come and gone, but the founding few so-called “old guys” remain the same.
“It's just people tell people and they show up and people move and there's just like this little group of us that have always been here,” said Andrew Male, 54. “You can see the good it does for people. Obviously, we've all aged and come more decrepit, but it just keeps people going and it keeps people out there.”
They usually play outdoors every Friday and Sunday at Raccoon Valley Park in Granville. In the summer, they also play on Wednesdays. During the winter, they’ll sometimes play at The Bryn Du Mansion’s fieldhouse. Even if they have to use trash cans as goals, they find a way to play.
“We play year-round. We have played — one year I think we played on Christmas Eve and then played again on New Year's Eve. And so yeah, as long as the weather's permitting, we'll be outside all year long,” said Neuenschwander.
“We always find a way to play. Very rarely we don't play. Very, very rarely,” said Male.
Although many of the players are competitive, it’s more about compassion and camaraderie. Steve Barns joined the group the second week they played and has been with them ever since.
“We'll show up in four days and the teams will be completely messed up,” said Barns, 55. “So if I make an enemy now, I'm gonna be on their team in four days. And that doesn't work out. It's like driving around in a small town — you don't honk your horn at anyone, because you're gonna see them at the grocery store and a day later.”
Even after all this time, the original intention of the group continues. Matt Salisbury is one of the younger players. Neuenschwander and Male have designated him the person in charge of keeping the group playing for generations to come.
”It's really funny, because, you know, now that my son's playing, I'm sitting on the sidelines, and even though I played for many years, I have a tendency to keep my mouth shut now, a lot more than I probably would have had I not probably been a part of this,” said Salisbury, 43.
It’s pick-up soccer game that was meant to last a season but has now fostered life-long friendships.
"Soccer is the thing. That's the glue,” said Male.
“I’ve really developed some of the closest friendships in my life,” said Neuenschwander. “I really love these guys and girls and the gals that have played with us, it has been amazing.”
These self-proclaimed “old guys” hope to keep on kickin’ for many more years.
“I've played soccer all my life so they're gonna bury me with a soccer ball,” said Male. “So as for me, I like the enjoyment from all these people out here. I feed off their enjoyment of it.”
“I'm 56, several of us are close to being 60 years old. And now we're saying soccer till we’re 70,” said Neuenschwander.