By John Ruddy

Out at sea, the aircraft carrier USS George Washington is used to kicking butt. During their last six-month deployment, from which they returned last December, the crew spent a hectic 150 out of 180 days under way. They launched numerous sorties over Iraq and interdicted ships trying to smuggle illegal oil out of the Persian Gulf.

But now they're on land - sandy beach.

This weekend, the GW Spirit, the carrier's soccer team, will be among eight teams competing for $6,000 in the North American Sand Soccer Championships, taking place at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront June 9 and 10. With that much money at stake - not to mention the difficulty of playing soccer on uncooperative, unbouncing sand - the competition will be stiff.

"We've discussed this actually," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Lance Leopin, a nuclear machinist's mate and the captain of the GW Spirit. "I sat the team down and told them what it was like."

What is sand soccer like? It's like playing regular soccer - with something like 15-pound weights on your feet and a soccer ball that refuses to bounce or travel in the direction you kick it.

"A couple of the guys were like, 'Whoa, I hope we don't get our butts kicked,' " Leopin said with a laugh.

No matter how the team of GW sailors fares, the military will put in a good showing at this year's NASSC. It's the eighth year for the championships, and this time around will be the biggest ever with more than 480 teams and 4,800 participants. This year's tournament also boasts a few firsts. The professional beach soccer teams from the United States and Canada will face off in their first stop on the mid-Atlantic seaboard as part of the "Professional Beach Soccer Tour." The tournament will also showcase for the first time the "Pro Beach Soccer U.S. National Finals," which the GW Spirit will be competing for a $6,000 first-place and $3,000 second-place prize.

"They're excited about it," Leopin said. "It's a really good opportunity to go out there and play at a high level of competition. I think we're going to have a lot fun doing it. I just told my guys, 'Hey, go out there and give 100 percent, play as hard as you can.' "

They'll have to. As the sand soccer event has grown over the last several years, the competition has gotten tougher. The event has drawn more and more teams with more and more talent. Just like anyone else competing, the GW soccer players would love to come out on top, or as close to the top as possible.

"If not," Leopin said, "we'll walk away with a good experience and come back next year."

Apparently, a number of Navy and military teams have had good experiences in the past - they've returned and have attracted others. This year, 17 Navy, Marine Corps and NATO teams are participating - the most military teams the sand soccer tournament has attracted yet. To accommodate them all, the tournament can boast another first - the new Men's Open Military Division. One of the teams returning and playing in the new division has barely had enough time to unpack, let alone play soccer.

"We just got back from deployment," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Walter Vasquez, an aviation storekeeper aboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which just returned from a Mediterranean cruise May 23. Of the 25 or so soccer players aboard the Truman, Vasquez and about seven others will compete on the beach this coming weekend.

"I've seen some of the other players from other teams," said Vasquez, the team captain. "They look pretty good, pretty decent, but you know, we're pretty good ourselves, so I think we have a good shot this year."

They put in a good showing last year - they made it into the finals in the Men's Open Division. But in the last game, it was a pretty good shot that lost the game for them.

"We lost it on a penalty kick," Vasquez said.

The VF-101 Grim Reapers are also returning. They had a good time last year. Unfortunately, they didn't fare as well as the Truman team did.

"We got our butts handed to us out there on the field," said Chief Warrant Officer Matt Hampton, maintenance training officer with VF-101 and the squadron's soccer coach.

"We threw a team together. Didn't fare so well," he said. "This time we mean business. I'm thinking that we're going to fare a little bit better this year."

Though the pool of talent coming from the military teams is diverse - some have been playing since they could walk, others have only been playing since they signed up for the team - there's one thing the teams all have in common. When they go out to play they give it their all. And of course, another thing they have in common, and something that puts them at a distinct disadvantage, is that duty comes before soccer. Deployments mean long days at sea with little time for soccer. And workups to get ready for deployments also leave little time for anything else. Even after deployments, a good soccer team can become occupied with other things.

"Most of them are on leave right now," Vasquez said of the 25 soccer players aboard the Truman.

"About the only time your team can get some cohesion is when you're in the yards here for a while," said Senior Chief Personnelman Brent Benlien, a crewman aboard the GW and player on the GW Spirit. Since the end of the deployment, the carrier has been in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth for maintenance. That has given the Spirit ample opportunity for soccer. They recently finished playing in a winter indoor league and have been practicing two to three times a week on the beach at Dam Neck.

"But whenever you start deploying, it's really hard to do anything," he said.

You can do a little, though. Carriers like the Truman and GW have plenty of fitness equipment, treadmills, weights and furlongs of flattop to run on. There's the occasional pickup game of three-on-three in the hangar bay. And of course, there's soccer on liberty call.

"We played every time we pulled into port," Leopin said. "We played the local team of whichever country we were in."

During the GW's deployment, Leopin's team played a number of games against college and national teams in Bahrain, Croatia and Turkey. But such matches are not always reliable - Vasquez's team had to cancel games against teams in Greece and Italy because of weather and deployment schedules.

"Now that we've gotten back, everybody's gone off on their own just trying to get back in shape," Vasquez said. "Our team has been together for a while so we all know how each other plays. We're kind of set for the tournament."

And the tournament setup is set thanks to military involvement. About 100 volunteers from six commands and units throughout the area are pitching in to set up the 35 soccer fields, bleachers, scoreboards, tents and more for the event. Some of the volunteer force will stay on during the tournament to help out and then break it all down after its over on Sunday.

"The military part of this tournament is crucial," said Dick Whalen, a retired Navy captain and the founder and director of the sand soccer tournament. "We absolutely could not do this without them. It's another one of these examples of the military being such a plus to the community."

Without the help, the Hampton Roads Soccer Council, which puts on the tournament, would have to pay workers to set it up. That could sap the council's charity funds, which go toward the 75-acre, 19-field soccer complex at Princess Anne Park in Virginia Beach. With funds from this year's tournament, the council hopes to raise enough money for a planned $500,000 two-story building at the complex. The facility will have locker rooms, training rooms, restrooms, facilities to sell concessions and space for administrative work. By volunteering, the sailors and Marines contribute to the building.

"They're just doing it because they like to do volunteer community work," Whalen said.

As the military liaison, Hampton helps coordinate the volunteer effort. "We're almost at the cutoff point," he said. "We almost have too many people."

And as the liaison, Hampton helps to get the word out. By getting in touch with the Morale, Welfare and Recreation representatives of local ships, squadrons and commands, Hampton has been able to get in touch with the right people: military soccer players. The new Military Division seems to have drawn more Navy teams already, and Hampton and Whalen are looking to recruit even more next year, including teams from the Coast Guard, Air Force and Army.

"That's obviously a goal of ours," Hampton said, "to increase the amount of military teams."

But that's long-term. The short-term goal for the military teams this weekend is to score as many goals as possible. It'll be tough - the scores of other teams are just as eager to win, and running around on the sand chasing a soccer ball can wear any athlete down quickly. But, as usual, the military teams will give it their all. And there's a few grand riding on it for the GW Spirits.

"I think we'll have a good showing," Leopin said. "We'll do pretty decent."