D's Notebook

Tag: kickball (Page 2 of 6)

Spring Sports, Pt. 1

April 15, 2021 /

We are about 10 days into the spring CYO sports schedules, which means we are at roughly the halfway point of those compact seasons. Here’s a quick look at how the family has done so far.

Both C and L are two games into their kickball seasons, with a third game rained out for each team.

L’s team is 2–0. They won their first game by 10 runs against a team that is usually pretty good. She had a magnificent day: 4–5 with three home runs and 10 RBIs. The gold star moment of that game came in the fifth inning. She came up with the bases loaded twice. Both times she kicked monster grand slams. Call her Fernando Tatis (senior), I guess!

They played again last night and romped to a 37-run win in five innings. It could have been much worse. In the top of the first our first two kickers both made outs before we scored 11-straight runs. In the third inning we went scoreless. Because of Covid the inning run rule has been bumped down from 20 to 14. They scored 13 in three innings. Seriously, they could have won by 60 under the old run rules and without that one bad inning.

L went 4–6 with two more home runs.

They play their biggest game of the year next Monday. The winner will likely be division champs and move onto the City championship in May.

C’s team is 1–1. In our first game – I am again helping to coach – we played the team that has been our nemesis for three years. The same team we beat in dramatic fashion last fall in what we thought would be the 8th graders’ final game. So of course we had to play them to start this unexpected spring season! We scored 11 in the top of the first and were never really threatened, winning by five. It was the least drama we’ve had in five or six games against this school since fifth grade. C went 3–4 with two triples and a double. The bummer about the 8th grade league is even if you kick the crap out of the ball, like she did, the defense can get it back in and hold you short of a home run. Even with her speed she got stuck on third.

Tuesday they played St L, a school that we’ve taken turns winning and losing close games against for the past four years. It was another close one, but we had a bad defensive inning in the top of the 7th and lost by seven. The head coach and I had our first run-in with an umpire this season, arguing about a rule she was interpreting incorrectly that cost us an important out. We would have lost anyway but we both get super bothered with the damn umpires don’t know the rules.

C went 3–4 again with two home runs.

So the B girls are kicking the shit out of the ball so far!

C is also playing CYO soccer. It’s become a St P’s tradition for 8th graders who either have never played soccer or haven’t played for years to join the team and play just for fun. C hasn’t played since fourth or fifth grade, but wanted to jump in and give it a shot. Before her first game S told her if she scored a goal this year, we would let her get her ear cartilage pierced. Some other parents heard this and had mixed reactions. A few thought this was a terrible idea because then their kids would want the same thing. A few others started telling their kids to pass to C so she could score. I think it was more to see if S would follow through than to help C get what she wants.

In her first game, a 6–0 win, she didn’t have any chances. She’s missed a couple games because of kickball, but got a chance to play last Thursday. I was with L at kickball but apparently C had a great chance to score and just swung too early, putting what should have been a sure goal over the crossbar. Her team is really good – they are 3–0 – and I have a feeling the boys that score most of the goals will start looking for her when the game in no longer in doubt.

Most importantly she’s having a really good time. She quit playing soccer because she had gotten kicked hard a few times and wasn’t enjoying it as much. She actually looks forward to the practices and games. It helps that she’s on a solid team.

Both girls are also running track. Their first meet will be this Sunday. C will run the 200, the 800 (which she’s not happy about), and one relay. L is running for the first time ever and has, apparently, dominated the sprints at practice. Each night she gets in the car and tells me how good she is. She’s going through a not-very-humble phase. There are a couple pretty quick girls in her class, and she’s always been fast on the kickball bases. But we won’t know how fast she really is until we see her in a meet. She’s running the 50, 100, and 200 this week.

We are busy! It’s kind of nice that kickball will wrap up in the middle of track so the girls will have a couple weeks to concentrate on running and get ready for City.

Those are the middle schoolers. M is playing tennis at CHS, and her first match is tomorrow. She’s been taking lessons, either privately or with a group, for seven months. I hope they pay off enough that she can at least get her serves in and win a few points. Luckily since last spring was wiped out, most schools are keeping all their sophomores and there will be a lot of chances to play other girls who have limited experience.

End of Two Seasons and A Career

September 15, 2020 /

The fall 2020 kickball season has come to an end for our family.

L’s team capped their season Wednesday with a run-rule win against the nearest parish. L had a grand slam, a three-run triple, and a single to close out the season.

She didn’t kick quite as well this year as in the past. I’m not sure if that’s because she hasn’t played soccer in a year, or just from her body changing – she’s stretched out more over the past few months – and her form changing along with it. She’s becoming more like C, though, and kicking line drives then racing around the bases. There are a couple girls that are probably faster than her in a straight line. But no one runs the bases like she does. Her grand slam was legit, though, a towering ball that an outfielder couldn’t contain and rolled all the way to the school building.

C’s team had their final game Thursday. It was against a school we’ve had issues with for years. We beat them like a drum back in fifth grade. But something happened between that game and sixth grade. Our girls all seemed to plateau while the St J’s girls all got bigger, recruited some friends, and figured the game out. Not only had they beaten us something like five-straight, including earlier this season, but some bad blood had developed between us and their coaches. Their coach is super competitive, as are we, but always acts like she doesn’t know the rules. She’s been coaching long enough where she damn well should know them. Our head coach is our school rules expert, and it drives her nuts when this coach pretends she doesn’t know what is going on.

And weird things tend to happen in these games. Once it started sprinkling during the game, then raining a little harder. The umpire refused to stop the game and a couple of our parents yanked their kids off the field in the middle of an inning. Another time C felt like she was going to throw up and had to exit in the middle of the game, likely costing us that game. Our head coaches also argued about when to reschedule another game that was rained out, and a third game that was halted because of darkness three innings in. And we ALWAYS seem to get some crazy umpire when we play them. In our first meeting this year we got a total dick who refused to call St. J girls out for crossing the kicking line because he said it was too hard for him to see it.[1] Then he yelled at our head coach, telling her to “Come out here and see what I can see!” when she attempted to protest.

In short, when we play St. J it always ends up being some super stressful night that isn’t fun at all. Plus we lose.

When we rolled up to the field Thursday my stomach did a flip. We had the umpire from M’s infamous “Longest Game Ever” three years ago. This was the umpire that made two absolutely horrific, and wrong according to the rules, calls that nearly cost us the game. It was the maddest I’ve ever been during a game and the only time I’ve decided to chat with an umpire following a game.

L’s team had her earlier this year and she missed a couple calls against us in a close game.

Just freaking great.

We gave up eight runs in the first inning. Not a great start. We got a few back in our half, played better D, and slowly chipped away. In the third inning the umpire made a “wrong by the rules” call. In kickball a runner at first is in play if she turns back inside fair territory to get back to first. Doesn’t matter if their intent is to go back to first. A St. J girl did that, our girl playing first tagged her out, but the umpire refused to rule her out. Our head coach went out to discuss, but the umpire would not change her call. Between innings they had a chat and the umpire admitted she was wrong. Fortunately we got that girl out at second so it didn’t alter the score.

But my blood pressure was rising.

We continued to play well on defense and took a three-run lead into the seventh.

We gave up five and St. J had the bases loaded with two outs when their kicker stepped over the kicking line when she made contact. The head coach and I started yelling, “SHE’S OUT!” The umpire gave us a look, nodded, waited until the girl passed first, then called her out. Redemption!

Now we needed two runs to tie, three to win, with the heart of our order coming up. Our best kicker was first. She’s a lefty and kicked the longest ball I’ve ever seen on our field. She easily scampered home for the first run. We got a runner on, made an out, then had another big kicker come up with a runner on second. She blasted one, bringing home the tying run and ended up on second. We had a good, if inconsistent kicker up next. She sent a low liner toward the shortstop. It skipped, got by her, and bounded into the outfield. I coach third and was screaming at our runner, “COME ON, COME ON, GO! GO! GO!” windmilling my arm and sending her home. She scored easily, our girls all lost their shit, and they ended their careers with a very sweet win.

Whew. I literally smacked our head coach in the shoulder when we got to our bench. “HOW ABOUT THAT!?!?” I yelled at her. The girls hugged, took pictures, thanked their classmates that had come to support them, and we headed to Dairy Queen for an ice cream celebration. And then the St. J’s team all showed up. That was a liiiiiiittle bit awkward. With Covid restrictions in mind, we claimed one side of the patio, they stuck to the other, and the peace was kept.

C got on three times and scored a couple runs. She had one play where she was able to open up and fly around the bases, scoring from first. One of the St. J’s players said, “Wow!” as C passed her at full speed.

That is what I’m always going to remember and miss about C. Once she figured the game out, she was the best player in her grade for about three years. In sixth grade she was one of the very best players in the entire school, both because of her kicking and speed and the way she could basically play the entire infield.

She’s lost some of that over the past year. Her kicking isn’t as consistent, but she still occasionally really got into one. Her fielding took a huge step back. I think all those blasts up front, and resulting injuries, wore her down.[2] But the girl could still fly when she got on base.

M and C had very different kickball careers. M was always on great teams, but was often the weakest player on the team. C was on a bunch of mediocre to bad teams, but usually was the most complete player on the team.

I have two favorite memories of C’s kickball years.

The first was in fifth grade. I don’t remember the details of the game. I just know she kicked a couple home runs and made a ton of plays in the field. That night a friend of ours with a daughter on the team sent me a screenshot of the text her son, who is in M’s grade, sent her after the game. He said that his sister made a couple nice plays and that C “Had the greatest kickball performance I’ve ever seen.” I show that to C every year when it pops up in my Timehop memories.

Second was a moment in sixth grade. I was keeping score and the mom/grandma keeping score for the other team kept bragging about her daughter/granddaughter and how fast she was. “Yeah, you’re not going to throw her out,” when we tried to throw her out at first. She told me how the girl was the fastest on the St. C cross country team. I nodded and smiled, not saying a word about C’s speed, and knowing C had beaten her at every XC meet that season.

Fairly early in the game this girl was on first and the ball got away from our pitcher, rolling behind home plate. The runner saw this and took off, getting to second easily and turning towards third. C had taken off after the ball immediately, picked it up a good 10 feet behind home plate as the girl was rounding second, and then roared across the field to tag the girl out a step before she got to third. Giggling the entire time.

The mom/grandma literally gasped and made some semi-snotty comment about how it was a lucky play to her kid when she checked in with us as out. It was very hard for me not to say “DON’T EVER FUCKING RUN ON CB AGAIN!” I did say it to myself. Bitches.

Those moments of speed are the biggest thing I will remember about C’s career. She could be moody, get down on herself, and mentally check out. I lost track of how many games she started crying in, whether because she was getting beaten up by the ball or was frustrated with the umpire. But when that girl got a chance to run, she was so much fun to watch.

  1. There is a line in front of home plate that kickers are not supposed to cross when they kick. I know there is an official distance this line is supposed to be in front of home, but it differs on every diamond. If a girl steps over the line and kicks a fair ball, she is supposed to be out.  ↩
  2. She had her worst injury a couple weeks back. She was pitching and took an absolutely crushed ball right in the hand. It bent her hand completely backward and she immediately burst into tears and came out of the game. I was worried her wrist was broken. It turned out she just had a nasty hematoma that lasted about a week. S said the force of the ball likely burst a blood vessel in C’s arm. I’ve been trying to tell you all for years how rough real kickball is!  ↩

Post Holiday Notes

September 9, 2020 /

A late return after the long holiday weekend. My in-laws have been in town since last Wednesday, which has adjusted my daily routine a little.

Our Labor Day weekend was pretty low-key. Friday night was so cool that we kicked on the outdoor fireplace for the first time this season. A couple of the girls hung out with friends on Saturday. On Sunday we hosted a light family gathering at the pool.

Last week we had absolutely perfect, early fall-like weather. Windows open at night, the air on for maybe a couple hours in the afternoon. Summer came roaring back yesterday, though. I played golf in the morning and my shirt was completely soaked before I hit the fourth tee. I think it’s the hottest round of golf I played this season. Sadly the word “hottest” only applies to the weather and not to my game. More on that whenever I get around to another golf post.

We are in our final week of kickball. Last night C’s team had a 10-run lead at one point and then had a couple bad innings on offense, but still went into the final inning with a three-run lead. They got two of the first four kickers out and seemed on the verge of their second win of the year. Then their opponents suddenly kicked the ball better than they had all game, our defense let us down, and we gave up 15 runs. We could only muster one run in our half of the 7th and gave our opponents their first win of the season. I should be used to how C and her teammates fold under any kind of negativity but last night really stuck with me. The team they played were not very good but our girls just kind of meandered through the game. They could have easily doubled their lead, perhaps even run-ruled the other team. And then that last defensive inning really sucked.

They have the final game of their careers on Thursday.

L’s last game is tonight. She’s been threatening to not play kickball anymore for over a year now, but this could for sure be her final game, depending what she does in the spring and if she is still interested in club soccer a year from now.

Her basketball team has had five practices. We tried to put some offense in yesterday. It’s a pretty simple five-out, motion offense, but it does take some time to understand where the cuts are, where you move to when the girl next to you moves, where the open spot the cutter should end up in is, etc. I’m hoping they can grasp it in time for games so we aren’t running the same plays we’ve been running for five years.

We’ve had very good luck with phones, both S and I, and M and C since they got theirs. We’ve never cracked a screen, permanently lost one, dropped one into a lake, etc. C’s phone is suddenly acting super wonky, though. Taps on the screen are not registering while phantom taps can take over and launch apps or attempt to make calls she wasn’t trying to initiate. It was almost like the phone had been hacked and someone else was controlling it.

Last night I did all the troubleshooting I could – hard resets, restoring the software, etc. – and nothing seemed to work. This morning I took the case off and it seemed to be working more normally. At least there aren’t the phantom taps. But a section of the screen still appears not to work. She drops it roughly 175 times a day so I would not be surprised if something inside has become disconnected even if the screen has not shattered.

L is pretty excited that she finally gets a phone of her own when her birthday rolls around in four weeks.

C’s grade had their first student test Covid positive since classes began this week. Fortunately the student was not in her room so we just got the generic email from the principal rather than a call.

Those calls are what all us parents fear right now. The call to come get your kid because they’ve been exposed, their siblings also need to go home, and your entire household probably needs to be tested. Thus I puckered up a little bit this morning when I got a call from school. Thank goodness it was just L asking me to bring her the homework binder she had left at home.

Kid Sports Notes

September 23, 2019 /

First off, obviously there are some changes here. I finally got everything moved over to my new site host and, hopefully, functioning properly. There’s still work to do: I need to pick a new theme that I like, I’m having some trouble getting footnotes to work, and the Markdown text language I’ve been writing in for years doesn’t seem to be converting properly, which is messing with my head. Ten years ago when I was constantly messing around with how the site looked and worked, those fixes were easy. Now that I’m out of practice, they are awfully tedious.

But it does seem like I can post from my desktop and I can once again include images in my posts, so we’re moving in the right direction.

Now for some kid sports updates.

The kickball season wrapped up last week. Neither C’s or L’s teams were super successful; C’s team won only one game, L’s team went 4–3 in a very tough division. Both girls had solid seasons. They both kicked pretty well and L was very good on defense. C has always played the suicide position next to the pitcher. She finally reached the age where that’s not as important, so we tried to move her to the outfield against good kicking teams, but she was uncomfortable out there. She made a lot less plays because she was out of the spot she’s been in since fourth grade. Amazingly we had only one night rained out all season, which is a new record. L said that was likely her final season to play, although I’m hoping I can talk her into one more in the spring.

While their teams didn’t do all that well, one of our fourth grade teams won the City championship last week. That was a big deal, ending at least an 0–7 stretch in kickball City championship games for St. P’s.

Cross country is getting close to wrapping up. For C it’s been a challenging year. She’s been saying all season that she doesn’t enjoy it as much as in the past. Her times have been a little slower, and it has not helped that our very warm September has meant she’s been running in heat every week. She had still placed in three of her first four meets, and in the fourth meet she missed placing by one spot and 10 seconds. Saturday she ran her best time of the year, her second fastest time of the past two years, and her best time ever on that course. She snuck into the top 25 to get another ribbon on a day when a lot of good runners were really struggling. It looked like she was going to finish the season really strong.

And then yesterday she could barely walk. We haven’t taken her to get x-rayed but based on how the pain had been building for a few days and its location, S is reasonably certain C has a stress fracture in her foot. So we’re pulling her out of this week’s practices and meet, putting her into a walking book, and hoping that with the next weekend off, she’ll be ready to run again for the City meet in two weeks.

For M, XC has been a struggle. The practices are hard. The meets are really hard. She’s often one of the very last runners on the course. She kept telling us that she was enjoying it, but we know that her performances are getting to her. Especially when she looks at her per-mile pace and compares it to C’s. We try to find some positive in each week, and I remind her how many girls on her team decide not to run every week. She might be bringing up the rear, but she’s out there trying. She did miss this weekend’s meet because she was sick. That may have been a blessing because the course they ran on was super hilly and it could have gotten very ugly. She has just two more meets left. I would guess that she will not run next year, but this season has served its purpose: it helped her ease into high school and gave her an instant group of friends. And she will always be able to say that she earned a (JV) letter in cross country if she can survive the last couple meets. It’s also been fun to hear her and C talking about running together. They struggle to connect at times and C craves her big sister’s approval. Although their abilities are very different, at least XC has given them some common ground.

While kickball has wrapped up, we are three weeks into soccer and about to start basketball for L. Her soccer team is 2–1–1, she is tied for the lead in goals and has the lead in assists despite missing a game. She’s playing well, often more in a midfield role than her traditional forward spot. But she’s also playing with a lot of girls who have a much lower soccer IQ and I think that frustrates her at times.

It’s been a little hard for me to watch from the sidelines. Although I was happy I did not have to coach her team this year, after doing it for three years I have a different perspective. I also don’t believe parents on the sidelines should be yelling at kids on how to play. So I tend to lean over to S and mutter, “What they hell are they doing?” or “Why does he have that girl playing that position?” I also get unreasonably bitter when L subs out, because it always happens at the worst time. Example: Saturday she started the second half on the bench. No big deal, it was hot, she ran hard in the first half. Naturally we get a penalty kick for a hand ball in the box. The girl we send to take the shot has no idea what to do and hits a dribbler the goalie saves easily. Last week when L took a PK, she blasted it into the corner where the goalie had no chance. Obviously, this was totally random; the coach didn’t know we were going to get a PK while L was out. Yet I was bothered. Fortunately L took a great corner later in the half that a teammate tapped in for a goal and the 1–0 win.

Her first basketball game is Wednesday night. They’ve been practicing 2–3 times a week. I got asked to help last week when both of their coaches, who I coached with two years ago, we going to be late. The team is super athletic. We have some size, lots of speed. And our center is a setter in volleyball and knows how to make quick passes out of the post to cutters. If they can learn how to hit shots they could be really good.

My expectation was that L would play off the bench. But from what I saw Friday, and from what she’s told me, I think she’s going to start at point guard. I hope she’s ready to face sixth graders who play year-round.

She’s been loving it, though. I don’t remember if I mentioned this already, but she told me a couple weeks ago that she wants to play basketball this winter and is reconsidering whether she plays club soccer next year because she likes basketball so much. It’s been cool to see her connect with the sixth graders, too. I’ve seen them run over and start talking to her as the walk into school in the mornings. One who lives near us invited her over to hang out this weekend. In some ways I think she connects better with them than her two classmates that are also on the team. Game recognizes game.

Fall Kid Sports

August 26, 2019 /

Fall sports have begun. Right now we are actively involved in five sports, with another to begin tomorrow. Joyous times.

The fall kickball season started last Monday. We have nine teams at St. P’s this year, and got off to a great 7-2 start on opening day. The two teams to lose? My girls’ teams.

C’s team, which I’m helping to coach, gave up four runs in the 7th to lose by one. They did not play all that well and I was honestly shocked that we had the lead going into the 7th. C absolutely blasted the first pitch of the season, maybe her most powerful kick ever, but had bad luck when it went to dead center and hit a telephone pole that is an automatic ground-rule double. A foot toward left field and she has an easy home run. As tends to happen, that got in her head and she didn’t play well the rest of the game. I told her before the game I just wanted her to play and have fun this year. I wasn’t going to get on her when she made mistakes. I took that pledge back when we got in the car after the game, though, when I had to ask her why she failed to field a couple balls that are normally easy plays for her. Teenage girls are a challenge, and she’s going to be our most challenging in terms of moods and how we push her to work through them without pushing too hard and making them worse.

L’s team was playing at the same time, against the team that beat them in the City championship game last spring. This game wasn’t much better, with our girls losing by 16. I talked to her coach afterward and she insisted it was one bad inning that killed us and we were fully capable of beating them if we played them again in a division championship game.

That opportunity went out the window Thursday when L’s team lost their second game, this time by just two runs. I was at this game and I have to say, I have no idea what has happened to L’s team. Last season they had four girls who could be relied on the blast the ball every time they kicked, then 2-3 others who might give you a big kick. They all, including L, kicked like crap Thursday. Worse, they kept kicking it directly to the pitcher who made play-after-play. This girl was the best player on the basketball team that gave L’s team their only two losses last fall, which made it worse. She’s a really good kid, but come on, girls, show some pride and beat her in something! Or at least make her work for it! L made an egregious mistake on the base paths that really cost us, too. That was more frustrating to me than the loss.

Cross country began on Saturday, which was an absolutely perfect day here in Indy. Sunny, cool in the morning, only in the 70s by late morning. Just a delightful day.

I went with M to her first ever race. The varsity boys and girls ran a Hokum Karem relay to start the day, then the JV kids ran a two-mile race. My goal for M was to 1) finish and 2) not be last. Success! She finished, even kicking in fairly strong at the end to pass a few girls. She was not last! She was very close to last, though. More importantly, she cut three minutes off her time trial time, which she was very pleased with. Overall it was a good experience. Next week is tougher as she has to run a full 5K. And, if nothing else, cross country has served its purpose for her by giving her a way to meet people, which opens the door to meet other people. She’s already hung out with several girls she’s either met directly through XC, or through a teammate.

C’s race was also a relay, and she was paired with St. P’s best 8th grade runner. This is the traditional first meet of the season and C has always run the flatter, faster leg or the relay. This time they gave her the hilly half. I don’t know if it was the tougher side of the trail, or other issues, but S texted me that C really struggled. She was fighting a bit of a cold and that may have affected her a bit. Or it could have just been whatever was in her head last week. But it took her a long time after the race to recover and she was very upset by her performance.

She had already told us she wasn’t enjoying cross country as much as in the past, but hasn’t really explained why. We think some of it is how much she enjoyed track, and how she’d rather run for 20 or 30 seconds than 13 or 14 minutes. I’ve been trying to motivate her by telling her that her times from last year are better than a lot of the high school runners’ times. But I also realize that as girls bodies begin to change, often their athletic abilities change. I was in a conversation a week ago with a few parents, discussing what sports we thought our kids might stick with in high school. One mom said, “Once girls get boobs and an ass, everything changes.” C’s body hasn’t changed that much from where it was a year ago, but it is changing, and maybe this is all just part of that process. I hope she can find a way to make the rest of the season fun again regardless of her times.

As I may have mentioned, CYO girls basketball has been moved earlier in the calendar because of dumbness. Teams were announced last weekend and L made the 5th-6h grade A team. We had a long talk before tryouts about the pros and cons of A team vs B team. She was excited to have a chance to play on the A team, but understood there’s a sixth grade point guard who made the A team last year that she would back up. And there would be fewer of her friends on the A team. While on the B team she would start, likely be the best player, play a ton of minutes, and be with more friends. She told me she was good either way.

And then she went out and rocked her tryout. I heard from the mom of a sixth grader that her daughter told her after, “L was the best player there today.” I don’t know if that’s true, but apparently she played really well and earned her spot. Two of her classmates also made the A team. I was a little surprised because one of those is also a point guard and I thought they might pick either L or her to keep on a B team. But that girl can also be turned into more of a wing so it may not be an issue.

They’ve had two practices so far and L is enjoying it. I think the coach, a mom I’ve coached with before, is really enjoying having to plan around two kickball schedules, a swimmer, several cross country runners, and a couple soccer players when she tries to get practices on the calendar. Glad it’s not me!

Oh, and L starts soccer practice tomorrow. This will be her final year in a rec league. We’ve heard that registrations were way down this year, so we don’t know if she’s going to play the same two teams over-and-over, or if her league will partner with another to find games. Once again she’s on a team that is a random mix of girls, which can be trouble at this age because they end up playing teams that stick together from season-to-season.

Back at It

August 15, 2019 /

Whew! It has been a very busy couple of days.

Wednesday was the first day at St. P’s, C starting 7th grade and L starting 5th. Which meant it was also our first day dropping off at two schools. The morning went about as good as possible. C was already awake when I got up, everyone was ready to get out the door at 7:00, and we encountered no slowdowns on the way to CHS. It’s about 20 minutes to CHS, then 10 or so back to St. P’s.

What did I do on my first day alone in a couple months? Well, I spent the entire day working on kickball things. Schedules came out the night before so I was plugging them into both our scheduling calendar at school and our personal calendar. I was making final adjustments to a couple teams. I was answering questions from coaches. I was sorting uniforms and getting them ready for distribution. I dealt with a couple minor issues with players and parents. I collected sports physicals so players are eligible. And I also had to scramble as I got a nasty gram from the parish office because of some parking issues at practice. It was a constant cycle of emails, texts, and calls that added two things to my task list for each item I checked off.

Thursday morning was also easy. C was not only awake when I got up, but she was dressed, had eaten, and was turning on the Xbox. We’ll see how long this new morning routine lasts with her. Friday will be the first day I take C and L to school then come back and get M since it is a late-start day at CHS.

Thursday I did take some time to relax a little. Unfortunately I decided to go hit golf balls and it was a disaster. I had been working on the swing changes my coach gave me and they were becoming more comfortable. I wanted to hit some balls Thursday, which would be the first time in a couple weeks, and then hopefully go play one day next week. But, good grief, you would thought I never swung a club before. Normally I can get a rhythm with my irons and hit two decent shots for every one bad one at the range. It’s on the tee that I struggle.

Today I couldn’t hit an iron to save my life. I kept hitting awful shot after awful shot. Once I took a huge divot about five inches behind and three inches inside of the ball. The ball sat there, untouched, taunting me. But I was halfway decent on the tee. Driver was slicing every time, but not always a terrible slice and generally with decent distance. And I was scorching my three wood. I’d say I had a 50-50 split between straight shots and slices, and the straight ones were very long. I’d hit 7-8 shots with the three wood, feel comfortable, and try to take it to my irons. As soon as I swung a lofted club my swing went to shit again. Usually it’s the opposite way. Looks like I need another lesson before I try to play.

My afternoon and evening were a constant battle with traffic. Pick up at St. P’s at 3:20, back home. Leave at 4:30 to get M from practice. Because of traffic what would be a 40 minute trip in the morning takes an hour. Immediately back into the traffic to get C to her practice. Back through same traffic again to go home and eat. And then back to get C. Part of me is bummed that C and L play kickball games at the same time, in different locations, four times this season. Another part of me is happy because that’s a few less drives I have to make since I’ll get one girl or the other a ride to her game.

Curses

May 14, 2019 /

Yesterday was the fourth time one of our girls played in a kickball City Championship game.

For the fourth time, we played our worst game of the year and walked away losers.

L’s team got waxed pretty good, 20–4, and it really wasn’t that close.

The team they played was solid at the plate and really good in the field. They only had a couple girls who could really blast the ball, but every other girl knew how to either kick away from the defense or to the spot that forced the defense to make a tough play. Our girls have been fantastic on defense this year but they made just enough mistakes to put us in a hole early. Then they could never get anything going on offense and the result was not in question after about the third inning.

So much of this game reminded me of some of M’s City title games. We got down early, and you could see our girls tightening up. There were those bobbles in the field, something M’s team always and only did in championship games. And we were cursed by the big roster. You play ten in the field in kickball, but everyone kicks. Because we weren’t putting long innings together and have a roster of 16, we didn’t make it through our entire lineup two full times. Our last kicker was on deck for her second attempt when the final out was made. Which meant L and our other big kickers only kicked twice. Unless you’re perfect in the field, you can’t win that way. Same blueprint as two of M’s City losses.

L did ok. She had two singles. Her first kick was solid. It could have been caught but they only knocked it down and were able to keep the runner in front of L from advancing, which kept L at first. Her second kick was down the third base line and kept in the infield. She told me before the game she was nervous and it showed in her kicking.

The team we played had a couple girls that looked more like sixth graders. Seriously, one of them was almost as tall as their coach. One of L’s teammates has cousins at that school and she said she was going to check their yearbooks to make sure those girls really were fourth graders. A little late if they’re not!

The other bonus was this team was coached by the crazy coach C’s team played against earlier this year. We were walking in at the same time and she did a double-take, “Where do I know you from?” she asked. “I coach our sixth grade team. You beat the crap out of us last month.” As she was after C’s game, she was super nice in the few moments we chatted. But, man, during the game she is turnt up, as the kids once said. I was glad I was on the opposite side of the diamond from her this time.

So we are now 0–5 in City playoff games as a family, all the losses coming to teams from the south side of Indy. Seriously, there’s something in the water down there because they just eat up good teams from the north side. Looks like we’ll need another combination of craziness like M’s team had last year to ever win another City title.

There was some pressure on this group because we’re pretty sure it’s the last time all of the best girls will play kickball. We’re still debating whether to move L into a more competitive soccer league next fall. Another good player runs cross country and plays competitive lacrosse and we’re not sure if she’ll come back. Two other players are at the point with softball where they will start playing year-round travel ball.

If this was it for them as a whole class, it was a great season with a disappointing finish.

Oh, one thing I forgot to add to my weekend wrap: C’s kickball team won their last game of the season last week! After two close calls – games we really should have won – we avoided going 0-fer with a five-run win. The girls were all super excited. And I think they were done with the head coach and I. We were a little intense in the last couple innings as we tried to will them to the win. Two girls in the field who kept getting in each other’s way were especially done with us. But, hey, we got the Dub!

C finished a fantastic individual year with another home run, a couple more runs, and some more great plays in the field. Her dad coaching third did run her into an out, though, when he fell asleep. She was flying around second and my focus was on the runner in front of her, who was dragging ass. I was yelling at her to move it as C approached third. A defender was chasing but I assumed she would dump the ball off to the pitcher to end the play. Instead she cut toward C and had a great angle. I yelled at C to stop, she skidded, ended up on her ass, and was then tagged out. I quickly told her it was my fault as she wiped away tears of pain because of her skinned palms. She nodded and walked away wordlessly. I seriously don’t think anyone has ever run her down on the bases so I think she was pissed about that more than the pain in her hands. But it was totally on dad, which she forgave me for later. Thank goodness we didn’t lose by one!

Weekend Notes

May 13, 2019 /

It was a pretty quiet weekend for us.

Friday was the annual St. P’s eighth grade Mother’s Mass. All the eighth graders and their moms got dressed up, had a special Mass first thing in the day followed by a brunch at school. Then they were excused for the day to go do stuff together. The girls all went to Top Golf and then a bakery to get treats.[1] Although I handle a lot of the mom duties in our house, S did take this one and I believe both she and M had a really good day. M got her hair and nails done the night before, which along with her new dress and shoes made her happy. All this was prelude to the really big day, her eighth grade graduation at the end of the month.

After school Friday L and I rushed over to a neutral school for her kickball playoff game to see who won their division. We gave up nine runs in the top of the first and then our lead-off kicker got tagged out at third when she tried to be sneaky. But we went on to score 11 in that inning, had a couple great defensive innings to create some space, and ended up winning 41–17. They play for the City championship later today.

They did not play quite as well as they played the previous game, when they beat the same team by 28. But they still played really well. L’s performance at the plate was not as impressive, either. Only one home run along with a couple doubles and a long, loud, three-run single. But I was really happy with how she noticed where the good fielders were and tried to kick away from them, sacrificing power for making sure she got on base. That’s easy to do when you’ve played a team three times. I’m telling her to just kick it as hard as she can today.

Saturday, on a clear and cold morning, we hustled downtown to the IUPUI track stadium for the preliminary heats of the City track championships. It was in the mid–40s when we got there, which was great for running but not so fun for watching the runners. The kids did not seem impressed when we told them people like Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Florence Griffin Joyner had run on this track. Kids!

C got her wish and was switched from the 800 to the 200. She had not run the 200 at a meet but they run a ton of them in practice she we hoped she was ready. In the 400 she got placed in the fast heat and finished fourth, which was good enough for fifth overall and a place in the finals. Then in the 200, she smoked her heat to win it by two seconds. That was again good for fifth overall. But while she’s five seconds behind the fastest time in the 400, the top six girls in the 200 are all within a second of each other. She got a little ragged in the last 20 meters but if she can hold that together, she can be right in it.

The finals are Wednesday night. She will also run a relay race then so it will be a full night for her.

One of the highlights of the track meet was the one final that was run that morning, the 1600 for 3rd and 4th graders. One of L’s good friends was competing and ran a great race. Until she got confused about the finish line and came to a stop about 50 yards early. Luckily her coach was near her and started yelling at her to get moving again. One girl passed her but she somehow got back up to speed quick enough to catch her and finish third. We were across the track and all screaming and laughing at the same time. When she came over after she had a big, goofy grin on her face. We made sure all the other kids knew where the finish line was after that.

But the really big news of the weekend is that I got a cold. “How is that big news?” I can hear you asking. Well, it’s been over two years since I’ve had a cold. I have no idea what I have or have not been doing that launched this extraordinary streak. There have been many times over the last two winters when I felt a scratch in my throat or a touch of the sniffles and thought, “Here we go,” only for them to pass the next day. But this time it reached up and grabbed me pretty good. I’ll admit I was a big baby about it, barely moving off the couch on Sunday. Fortunately there was a lot of good sports on TV so I could focus on those. In my defense, though, S looked at me a couple times and said, “Wow, you look terrible.” Glad my look matched how I felt.

As I said, a pretty boring weekend.

  1. Apparently the boys and their moms drove an hour to go do paintball out in the middle of nowhere.  ↩

Weekend Notes

May 6, 2019 /

We had a big sports and family weekend. So some quick notes are in order.

Friday L had a big kickball game. This was against the only team to beat them this season, a game we lost by three runs after giving up 12 runs in the first inning. Things were a little different this time. We held them to six in the first and then scored 11 in our first kicks. It was close for a couple innings but our girls played the best they’ve ever played and run-ruled them in five innings.

L went all George Brett in Game 3 of the 1985 ALCS on them. Three home runs – two grand slams and a three-run shot – a three-run double, and she missed a fourth grand slam by about a foot when an outfielder made a running grab that she bobbled twice before pulling it in. It was a seriously great catch. I even cheered for her. But, holy shit did L play well! For that matter her whole team did. They are fortunate to have about five really good kickers, and the coach has them sprinkled through the lineup so that every 3–4 kickers here comes another big leg. Every one of those girls was kicking the crap out of the ball Friday.

Now we get to play that team again this Thursday in a tie-breaker game to see who goes to City. That didn’t work out well for this group a year ago. Hopefully they saved some kicks for that game.

Saturday we went to a wedding for S’s cousin. It was a cool, dreary day, which kind of sucked. Fortunately it stopped raining just before we headed out to the ceremony. It was a very nice ceremony. We all commented it was one of the best, and funniest, homilies we’ve ever heard at a wedding. The reception was also nice, although we were lame and cut out pretty early.

A good friend of mine just informed me of her wedding date next March. When I told her how sad it was that I can’t drink very much these days and was fine leaving the reception early, she responded that I had a year to get that shit figured out. She’s right.

Sunday was a beautiful day here. Right at 70, bright sun, light breeze, no humidity. Just perfect.

C had a track meet. She got placed in the A heat of the 400 and finished third again. But she cut four seconds off her time and was five seconds behind the first and second place runners, who are two of the fastest girls in the state, girls who fought for every cross country win last fall. She was a little bummed and I told her that her time would have won the 7th/8th grade race and she perked up a little.

She struggled in the 800 – she said she used up most of her energy in the 400 – and took fifth, but did track down two girls on the final stretch. The same two girls who were at the front of the 400 took 1st and 2nd again.

For her relay, she and another 6th grade got bumped up to the 7th/8th grade race because our best 8th grader was at the meet. C ran the opening leg and had us in first, our second leg dropped us to third, then our 8th grader put us in first. But our 7th grader, who won her 800 with a blistering finish, ran out of gas and got caught in the last 50 and we took second. C thought it was cool to run with two older girls.

Next weekend is the qualifying meet for the City championships. As long as she runs well, C should probably qualify for the 400. I believe 18 qualify – 16 finalists plus two alternates – and since she’s been in the top three with great times at her two meets she should be good. You just never know how many kids from schools we’ve not run against are in her same range and could nudge her out.

The 800 is in her head. I think she is capable of running a good enough time to reach that final. But she told me last night she hates it and doesn’t want to run it next year, so it may be too much for her.

As long as we have our kick-ass fifth grader, who is juggling like 13 sports right now, and they pass the baton safely, they should get through in the relays.

L also had her final soccer game of the year Sunday. I missed it while still at track but it was another tough loss and they finished the year 3–3–1. I had been against her playing CYO soccer. I’ve heard stories from other parents of better players that it can be tough. I think that was her experience, too. Last night she said she didn’t like it. I believe some of that attitude comes from having three bad losses in their last four games. I think she was also bothered by how her team was all either really solid players or really weak players. There were literally not kids in the middle talent level, and the weaker kids really pulled them down. She is ready to return to age-group soccer next fall.

Kid Sports

April 29, 2019 /

We put M on a bus to Washington, DC at 6:15 this morning. So seems like the perfect moment for a kid sports update time!

Kickball

C’s team, which I am helping to coach, is 0–2 with one game rained out so far, another removed from the schedule because the team we were supposed to play could not play on the date originally planned and were jerks about finding a makeup date, and tonight we play a team that is just crushing everybody, including one of the teams we lost to. Sooooo not a great start.

Worse, both losses have come by the run rule. There’s really not much to get into about either game. We played poorly, the other teams played well. The first game the opposing head coach was a loud woman who literally drowned out both myself and our head coach with her yelling. She would scream at her kickers from the first base coaching box, “I NEED YOU RIGHT HERE! PUT IT DOWN THE LINE AND GET HERE!” non-stop for the 45 or so minutes it took them to kick our asses. More fun was when she yelled “SAFE!” on every close play at first when her team was kicking. I think that’s kind of bullshit but she out-weighed me and would have likely kicked my ass had I said anything. She was very nice after the game. C and I were parked near her and she came over to compliment C on her play. But, man, during the game she wore us out more than her team did.

The second game just got away from us slowly as our girls struggled in the field. Which is a recurring theme this year. I know how this is going to sound, but trust me when I say I’m being honest: if C doesn’t make the play on defense we have about a 5% chance of getting an out. Our other players jump out of the way when the ball is kicked to them, bobble it, throw to the wrong base, chase the wrong runner, or just forget what to do and freeze. Meanwhile C is running all over the place getting outs by chasing people down. We’ve had her pitch more this year, which is problematic because each play doesn’t end until the pitcher controls the ball in the pitching circle. She’s used to running around and chasing people, making sure they’re on a base, and then throwing to the pitcher. This year she chases them, get everyone to freeze, then calls a teammate over, hands them the ball to so they can hold the runner, and scampers back to the circle. It’s exhausting to watch. I’ll straight up say this: there’s only one other girl at St. P’s who plays defense as well as C, and that girl is a classmate of M’s who is likely the best overall athlete in the school. I’m proud of C but, damn, I wish some of her prowess rubbed off on her teammates.

L’s team is 3–1. The only loss came last Tuesday, 20–17 after they started the game down 12–0. I was at C’s game that night so missed it but all the coaches were angry after because they knew the one inning killed them. Luckily we play that team again this Friday so can hopefully get a W to force a playoff. Unluckily L hurt her leg in that game. She came home in pain and could hardly walk the next three days. A coach told me that a ball got through the infield and L tried to run it down and she looked like she was “running angry.” Maybe in that running angry she pulled something. It also could have been because she overused it last Monday when we went on a bike ride, played baseball, practiced soccer, and threw the football for a few hours in total. Regardless she missed Friday’s game and would have missed her soccer game Thursday had it not been rained out.

Her team is really good and we all hope they can get a win Friday because we know this is the last time we might have all the best players in this class together. L will likely go to soccer, another player will go to softball, and another player will go to lacrosse and cross country. Maybe not all next fall but soon those three will all be playing sports that don’t allow time for kickball.

Soccer

L is also playing CYO soccer, on a team with 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Which is funny to watch. There are some rather big boys on her team and she plays up front with a couple of them. The contrast in size is amusing. The season started off well. They won their first game and tied their second, and L scored a goal in each, tying her for the team lead. In the third game, which they won 2–1, she scored again. Unfortunately it was an own goal when a ball deflected off of her and into the St. P’s goal. I immediately joked that “That’s what they get for trying to play her on defense.” She just does not like defense and isn’t the same player when she’s forced to play there. I keep telling her she needs to get over that and play with the same kind of aggressiveness but she remains passive. This, though, was a total accident, a bad ball that she couldn’t do much about.

She seemed fine after the play. However, when she subbed out a few minutes later she came running over to me. She had a big smile on her face but when she got to me she burst into tears. At first I thought she was hurt, “What’s wrong?” I asked. “I messed up!” she said as she buried her face in my shirt. I tried to calm her down and told her it wasn’t her fault, it’s happened to other players, and it was wasn’t that big of a deal, but it took her several minutes to get control. Once she did she subbed back in and played fine. After the game she said she was the MVP for the other team since she had scored their only goal. I guess she came to grips with it.

Sunday she was back on the pitch for the first time after her injury and seemed to be moving ok. However, her team was missing a couple of their best players and they were playing an awesome team. We were down 4–0 at halftime and lost 10–0. You read that right, ten-zip. We hit the post once, had maybe two other scoring chances the whole game, and then got blitzed on the other end. Bummer.

I’m hopeful this year is helping her to get better by playing against older boys. I guess we’ll see in the fall when she goes back to playing against age-group girls. This season has highlighted some areas she needs to get stronger in, most notably her dribbling and possession skills. And not scoring for the other team!

Track

C’s first track meet on Masters Sunday was cancelled because of rain. So four schools got together last Wednesday and had a mock meet to get the kids some experience. C was scheduled to run the 400, 800, and the medley relay. She finished third in her 400 heat, but in a time that would have won the boys race. However after she crossed the finished she caught a spike and turned her ankle. She was in some pain and decided to sit out the 800 so she’d be ready for the relay. She ran the 200 leg of the relay and did great, afterward saying she wished she had run her 800. Oh well…

Sunday was her first real meet. She was placed in the easier of the two 400 heats and won it in 1:14. That time was good for third overall. They put the girls from all age groups into one 800 race and she finished 10th, good for third in her age group again.

I had to take L to soccer so missed C’s relay. She ran the anchor leg this time, which is a full 400 meters. As the story was told to me, St. P’s was in fourth – last – place going into the her leg. C chased everyone down, including the leader in the last 20 meters to pull out the win. I was bummed I missed it because that’s like the coolest thing in track: coming from behind to win a relay race.

Anyway, she’s really enjoying it. She has some Michael Johnson in her running style, very upright with kind of short, choppy, powerful steps. But she moves.

As a parent standing outside for four-plus hours when the windchill is in the 30s and 40s the day wasn’t great. We’re totally expecting it to be brutally hot next weekend when she runs again.

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