On Monday at the first day of practice for the Mini Kickers program of Martha’s Vineyard Youth Soccer, a coach explained to his four and five-year-old players that there would be eighth graders on the field. “Eighth graders!” one youngster said in a hushed tone, conveying both awe and misunderstanding. “We have to play eighth graders? That’s hard.” Practice proved to be remarkably easy though.

The Vineyard sent three youth soccer teams to the annual Massachusetts Tournament of Champions this past weekend in Lancaster and each team represented the Island admirably. Both the under-12 team and the under-18 team advanced to the final four of the state tournament, while the under-16 team won a game and tied another before being eliminated.

On the same weekend the U.S. national team was eliminated from the World Cup by losing to Ghana, a Vineyard soccer team was playing in a big tournament of their own, and very much like the U.S., facing the same team that knocked them out of contention in the last go-around.

The Vineyard Under-13 team (U-13s) traveled to Lancaster to play Ludlow Friday morning in the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions (MTOC).