D's Notebook

Tag: kickball (Page 5 of 6)

On The Kicking Of The Ball

September 15, 2016 /

Well, maybe my stressing about games played on diamonds isn’t completely over for this year. Despite the Royals season spiraling down the drain, I have one more game to get myself worked up about: M’s kickball team made the city championship game. They will play for the title next Wednesday. And I’m already a nervous wreck.

Her team had a fantastic regular season. They won their first game by nine runs over a very tough team. Their second game was supposed to be against another very tough team, but that was the day we had tornado warnings and we had to postpone it. They ran off three more wins by an average of 30 runs per game and had another postponement in there as well.

So Tuesday night they were making up the two rainouts. First they would play St. L’s, who were also undefeated. That game was the de facto division title game, as St. P’s opponent in the nightcap had not won a game all season.

The St. L. game was fantastic. St. P’s put nine runs on the board in the first inning, and left the bases loaded. They added 10 runs in the second, and left two on. After two innings, our girls were up 19–9. St. L’s was probably a better kicking team, as they have a group of girls who play soccer while St. P’s has none. But St. P’s is a terrific defensive team and can turn great kicks into outs, while St. L spent the first two innings booting the ball all around the infield on defense.

But St. L’s tightened up their defense and slowly clawed their way back into the game. In the fifth they had runners on first and second, no out, and their best three kickers coming up. The first launched a screamer to short right. Our right fielder was looking directly into the sun as she tried to track the ball. She got her hands on it at shoulder-level, then lost control of it. The St. L’s runners took off, thinking it was going to hit the ground. But our fielder recovered and caught the ball just above her shoe-tops, then quickly got the ball to first to double off that runner. The first baseman tossed the ball to our pitcher, but the St. L’s runner who left second was standing on third. All the coaches and St. P’s parents were screaming at our pitcher to throw back to second. In kickball, though, when the pitcher gets control of the ball inside the pitching circle, the play is dead. And our pitcher took the throw from first base inside the circle. So instead of tossing the ball to second to wrap up a triple play, the runner on third was given a free pass back to second. Our girls pulled off a triple play in practice a couple weeks back, and had been promised a trip to Dairy Queen if they did it in a game. I think they were more bummed about not getting ice cream than the inning continuing.

In the bottom of the sixth, the lead was down to six runs and St. L’s had two on with two outs. Their kicker sent a liner down the third base line that stayed just fair then spun toward the sideline. Our best player was in right-center and immediately took off after the ball. I didn’t see any way she would get the ball back in quick enough to hold the kicker to third, so began filling in three runs for St. L’s. I looked up to see the St. L’s kicker rounding third and our player 10 feet behind her, hauling ass. “What are you doing?” I thought. There was no way she could catch the runner. Our girl took two more steps then made a perfect, two-handed chest pass that zipped over the runner’s shoulder into the hands of our pitcher who was covering home. She tagged the runner to end the inning.

It might have been the single greatest defensive play in kickball history! This was kind of like Bo Jackson throwing out Harold Reynolds from the wall, only a girl ran over 100 feet – in two different directions – at full speed to make the play possible. It should have been a three-run game with St. L’s still kicking, but instead their rally was snuffed and their girls were deflated.

St. P’s added four runs in the 7th and were up 25–17 going into the last half inning. Even with that lead, I was nervous as hell. Yes, we had made great plays to kill rallies in three-straight innings. But they were all kind of lucky plays. Our offense had gone quiet since the first two innings and it sure felt like St. L’s had the momentum.

No need to stress: our girls had their cleanest inning of the night, giving up just one run and closed the game with an easy out at home that ended with them dog piling each other in celebration. St. L’s had kept our girls out of the city playoffs last spring, beating them twice by a total of four runs. Although that was a very different team (St. L’s was mostly sixth graders to our all fifth grade team), St. L’s best current sixth graders did play on that team. Our girls did not want to miss out on the postseason because of St. L’s again.

Up next was the nightcap. It would really suck to have worked so hard to beat St. L’s and then slip up against a team that had been run-ruled in every game they played.[1] Fortunately, our girls took care of business. They dialed it back a little, mostly keeping the ball on the ground and only taking the extra base when they absolutely had to. They closed them out in the minimum number of innings.

Now, thanks to the playoff format, St. P’s gets a bye directly into the championship game. Last fall they reached the semifinal, and lost a game to a team they should have beaten. Odds are they’re going to play another one of their nemeses in the final, St. B’s. In fourth grade, our girls pounded everyone they played. Except St. B’s, who smoked them twice. They actually run-ruled our girls in the first game, I believe the only time that’s ever happened to this class. Afterward, all the St. P’s parents were looking at each other wondering what the hell had just happened. We were happy to lose by only 15 the second time they played. St. B’s is famous/infamous for having a great program that is filled with girls who play travel soccer. They kick the shit out of the ball.

But our girls are pretty damn good, too. I think they’re excited for the chance to play them. The coaches and I are already stressing about the game. Seriously, I’ve had a headache for about 36 hours because all I can think about is next Wednesday. I think my hands are going to be pretty shaky when I try to hold the scorebook.

  1. Then we would have to play St. L’s again, with the winner moving on. No tie-breaker for head-to-head competition.  ↩

Mr. Commish

August 25, 2016 /

A few of my KC friends asked how the kickball thing was going. Well, it’s going, that’s for sure! Since this isn’t an entirely private site, I’ll share only some of what has filled the last month or so for me.

As coordinator, my job is to make sure we get everyone registered by the deadline,[1] recruit coaches, put the teams together, order and distribute uniforms and equipment, communicate with the CYO office about when our teams can/can not play games, sort and approve practice time requests, making sure all participants have all their healthcare paperwork submitted, and put out any fires that develop along the way. This fall was a little busier than usual as this is the first year that there is a third grade league in the fall. So two new teams added to my administrative tasks. We ended up with right at 100 girls playing on eight total teams.

Beyond having visitors from out-of-town and back to school prep, a big reason I didn’t post much here for awhile was everything listed above. For roughly three weeks I was spending pretty much all day each weekday working through all those tasks.

The only real wrinkle in the process came when almost an entire grade of girls decided to focus on other sports this fall. We went from 19 in that grade playing a year ago, to just three this year. That meant I had to combine them with another grade and then come up with the best way to build a team or teams from that group. Ideally a kickball team has 11–15 players on it. Twelve is the perfect number.[2] I had 18 girls for this team, which was too much for one roster, not enough for two. For about 10 days I went back-and-forth with parents from the two grades trying to figure out the best solution. Not everyone was thrilled with the process. One parent and student quit when I announced we were going with a single team. I was told that at one point in the middle of all this, pretty much the entire team quit, but a few level-headed parents talked the other families back onto the team.

There was a little more drama in that process than I’m sharing here. I think a few parents aren’t pleased with me personally more than the process. Fortunately none of them have let me know about it, so I don’t have to take it personally! The important thing is most of the girls got through it, are playing, and hopefully having fun.

Beyond that there was only one other small issue that involved a parental complaint, and that one was as much a request that I do things differently in the future than a threat to yank a girl off a team.

Lots and lots of emails. Many calls and texts. Running around to buy kickballs[3] at the only place in the area that carries them, which is about 30 minutes away. Buying scorebooks at another location where St. P’s gets a discount. Picking up new uniforms from the supplier. Arranging to meet coaches to hand over their gear. There have been at least 100 small logistical tasks that I’ve checked off over the past month. I have a folder where I stash all my kickball-related emails. A month ago there were a couple dozen emails in there, mostly forwards from my predecessor in the role. Today I have over 700 emails in there.

I got to wield one other power yesterday. Indiana got pummeled by heavy storms that included tornadoes yesterday afternoon. Fortunately the worst of the weather hit about an hour north of here, but most of the Indy metro area was in one tornado warning or another for about 90 minutes. When we got home after school, our sirens were going off. I took a look at the radar, saw the storms were going to stick around awhile, and I made the call to postpone all the games we were hosting. I sent a text to S telling her that M’s game was off, adding that I was “very powerful!” since I called everything off. She wasn’t as impressed as I was. And given that the area around St. P’s suffered serious flooding in the storms, it’s not like it took a genius to cancel outside activities for the evening.

The season started last week, so things are beginning to slow down a little bit. There are still a lot of questions from our first-time coaches, which is good because it means I have to investigate things and learn the rules or develop policies quickly. But I’m already thinking ahead. There are some aspects of how we evaluate players and pick teams that need to be overhauled. I have just a few months to figure that out, since kickball is a twice-a-year sport and we’ll be doing all this again next spring.

  1. Which typically moves a couple times because St. P’s parents are notorious for waiting until the last minute to sign up.  ↩
  2. Ten girls play in the field, and each player must play at least two defensive innings. Everyone kicks, though.  ↩
  3. The Mikasa S3030, if you were wondering.  ↩

Spring Sports

May 19, 2016 /

You know what you all need? You all need a damned spring sports update, that’s what you need!

Kickball

This was our first season with two kickballers. Which made for all kinds of scheduling fun, believe me. Fortunately, thanks to having friends on both teams, the girls always got to all of their games, even if S or I couldn’t be there.

M had her best season yet. She was very excited that, since no St. P’s sixth graders were playing this spring, they put all the fifth graders on one team. It wasn’t really an A team – their division had quite an assortment of talent – but she liked to think she was finally on an A team.

The night of M’s first game, I was keeping score at C’s game. The coach who was giving M a ride was supposed to call me when they got back to her house. When she called, we were in the middle of an inning, having a discussion with the umpire about the run rule, so I let it go to voicemail. About 10 seconds later, my phone rings again. This time it was M’s head coach. Why would she be calling right after the other coach called? I had a moment of panic as I swiped to answer, worried that M was hurt.

“Hey, this is K. I was just calling to let you know…that M had the best game of her life tonight!”

My heart leaped, dropped, then leaped again. The coach went on to tell me that M kicked the ball over the outfielders’ heads twice and made three great defensive plays. Afterward, M told her coach, “I wish my dad was here to see it!”

Yep, it was a little tough keeping score the next half inning.

M continued to have a great season. She kicked better, and harder, than she’s ever kicked before. She often played Suicide, the spot next to the pitcher that has to be ready to field hard-kicked balls quickly. She threw out girls at first from deep down the third base line. She even caught a few popups, which she had never done before.

Her team did well. As I said, their division was rather interesting. There was one team that was almost all sixth graders. Another team had mostly fourth graders. M’s team lost just two games, both to the mostly sixth grade team, both times by two runs. In the second game they had a five run lead with two innings to play and let it get away. Their best kicker came up in the last inning with the bases loaded, and two outs, and made her only infield out of the year to end the game. Those two games were a lot of fun to watch. Where C’s games often took as long as 90 minutes, these two were both done in about 35 minutes. When the girls understand how to play defense to changes everything.

Then they also beat the poor team with fourth graders by 52 runs one night. In just five innings.

But the girls had fun. And I think Meghan enjoyed it more than every since she contributed so much more than in the past.

C had a good season, too. The third graders are mixed with fourth graders in the spring, so the games aren’t complete disasters as they learn how to play, and she got three of the best St. P’s fourth graders on her team. When they won, they won big. I think they run-ruled three different teams. But when they lost, it was always in frustrating manner. They lost four games, all by one or two runs, every time falling behind/losing in the last inning.

C’s performance fit her personality perfectly. Offensively, she was really good. She can kick the crap out of the ball, then fly down the line. Her problem was she often popped the ball up and the defense would catch it. But when she got on base, she almost always scored, as her coach usually had her kick right before the fourth grader who usually kicked 2–3 home runs a game.

In the field, C was kind of a spazz. If the ball was kicked to her, she was never sure what to do with it. Throw it to first? To the pitcher? To the nearest base? You could see her panicking as she faked herself out by considering every option. Then, after she got rid of the ball, she would turn, flip her hair, and act like nothing happened. Like I said, kind of spazz. Most of the first-year players struggle with that part of the game, so she was not alone.

She finished off her season well. In her last at bat of the year, she came up with the bases loaded, kicked the shit out of the ball, and got a grand slam. The first official B girl kickball home run![1]

My favorite part about that kick was her previous time on base, she scored from first and clearly missed touching third. I was keeping score and stand right behind third base. After the next pitch, I called her over and whispered, “Nice running! Make sure you touch the bases, though. You missed third.” She nodded and got back in order. She most definitely did not touch third on her grand slam, but luckily neither the other team, their scorekeeper, nor the umpire noticed.

Soccer

L is again in the U8 league, again often playing against bigger kids. And she’s had another good year personally. But there was some turnover on her team’s roster. The two kids she played best with decided to play baseball and softball this spring, so for the first time in three seasons she was without them. The good side of that was they were replaced by St. P’s kids; seven of the eight on the team are first graders together. That meant there was a lot of silliness during games. And losing those two good players hurt the team. L had only lost one soccer game in her life coming into this season. With one game left to play, they’ve lost at least four times this year. Last year she and those other kids worked really well together. One would draw the defense and pass away to an open teammate. I’m not sure this year’s team has made more than five intentional passes all season. They all just put their heads down and barrel toward the goal.

She’s continued her goal-scoring. She has scored at least two in every game. One game she had 7 or 8. She is still really good at controlling the ball and at taking it away and then getting it up the field. But the second graders seem a little bigger this spring than they were in the fall, and her entire team has struggled at times to match up physically. Last Sunday they were getting shoved all over the place. L scored two goals but no one else could get close to the box.

After that game, during the handshake line, we noticed the other coach said something to L. We asked her what afterward and she said “She asked me where I went to school.” Was the coach just interested? Did she recognize L from somewhere? Or was she recruiting? I was taking pictures during the line and had to laugh when I was editing them because there is a series where that coach is clearly talking to L while she’s shaking other kids’ hands.

Softball

C is in her second season of softball. As expected, with the move up to kids pitch, it’s been a struggle. She can still hit the ball pretty well when she makes contact. But that contact part has been tough.

It’s not necessarily because of the speed of the pitches. I think it has more to do with the wildness that comes with kids pitch. One pitch is over your head, the next bounces home, then the third is right down the middle. I think C has had a hard time staying locked in when so many pitches aren’t worth considering. If you get to ball four, the coach comes in to pitch. All but one of her hits this year have come off the coach. She’s also got in a bad habit of bailing out on any pitch that is close to inside. She’s been called out on strikes several times this year when she’s had her front foot out of the batter’s box as she stepped away from the pitch.

On defense she’s spent most of her time in the outfield, so she hasn’t seen a lot of action. She’s complained to me about that, but when she’s been given a chance to play third or shortstop, she’s not always paid the closest attention to the game and let a few balls get by her.

Compounding all this is her team’s record: they haven’t won a game yet. A week ago they tied, with C standing on third with the winning run and one out but unable to get home. We had hit the time limit and it was about to start pouring, so we ended the game knotted up at 9–9. One lousy hit and C scores the winning run. She was excited about the possibility.

“Dad! I could have won the game!”

Monday she got a hit and stole second. She was standing there, not really paying attention, and missed a chance to steal third.[2] After another passed ball she took off. Most teams don’t try to throw out the runner but this catcher pounced on the ball and made a really good throw to third. C was two steps away from the base but saw the third baseman reaching for the throw, so she turned around and ran all the way back to second. At least she’s fast.

She’s not been thrilled with this season. She’s not getting hits, she doesn’t like the long innings in the outfield, there’s only one St. P’s girl on her team, and losing sucks. She’s already told us she doesn’t want to play again. She wants to continue to run cross country in the fall, start track next spring, and do kickball both seasons. We’re fine with her sticking to CYO sports with their three-week seasons. But wish we wouldn’t have invested in a nice helmet for her before this season began. Oh well…

  1. M, as you may recall, had a “home run” last year when she bunted, the Suicide booted the ball 20 feet behind home plate, and M circled the bases before the defense could retrieve it.  ↩
  2. In this league, you can steal but only if the ball gets by the catcher.  ↩

Election Days

May 2, 2016 /

A classic bait-and-switch subject line! You might think I’m about to drop some thoughts on the races for the Democratic and Republican nominations for president, as we are on the eve of the Indiana primary. You would be thinking wrong, though.

My interest in and passion for politics has been beaten up, brutalized, and nearly destroyed over the last eight years. Most of that is a result of the toxic political climate we live in, an era where it isn’t enough to disagree with someone and work to prevent their policies from being implemented. In fact, there has been very little debate based on pure policy in the Obama era. Rather, it’s an era where public demonization is standard. One where you don’t say, “This is bad policy, let’s try something different.” Instead you say, “Obama hates America. His policies are destroying America. And anyone that supports him hates America.” Etc.

Which means those folks have won, at least where I am concerned. I won’t get into political debates, I barely follow the news anymore, and I’ve disengaged almost completely. Which is the goal of the people who do nothing other than tear down rather than offer alternatives. They want people to either vote out of fear, or to remove themselves from the process. I hate that I’ve let them win, but I also find it easier to let them beat me out of the process.

Nope, this post isn’t about that at all. It’s about how I just won the first elected position of my life.

I am the new head of the kickball program at St. P’s.

This was not an office I sought, at least initially. I was kind of interested in joining the athletic commission, which also requires being voted-in. But a few of our kickball coaches approached me about filling the vacant coordinator role last week. I asked around, got a feel for the job, and decided, “What the hell?” I have two girls playing kickball already. And L will be playing the minute she’s eligible. I have no interest in coaching 13–20 screaming girls. The best way to support the program, beyond keeping score, is to take on the administrative role that guides it.

I heard there was another parent interested in the role, someone I know pretty well, who has coached before, and is almost universally beloved at St. P’s. If she wanted the job, I’d vote for her over me. But I also heard she had just thrown her name in because she was afraid no one else would. I contacted her last week and she confirmed she really didn’t want the job. She’d be happy to help me in any way, but she was more focused on her job and getting her two extremely athletic girls to all their games and practices.

I had just cooly eliminated my only competition for the job. The Clintons would be proud of me!

Anyway, last night was the meeting where new officers and coordinators were voted in. I got some ribbing from a couple dads I’m friendly with who coordinate other sports that I had “snuffed out” my competition. When kickball came up, I was introduced and the director said I was the only candidate, so the job was mine.

By acclamation, bitches!

The out-going coordinator handed me a couple tubs of extra jerseys that need to be recycled/donated, a couple bags of balls, and a promise to send me all the documents she has to help me do the job. She is hyper-organized, which will be good for me as she shares her records. She was also phenomenal at the job, which makes it tough to maintain her standard. I kind of have no idea what I’m getting into.

I know I have to send a lot of emails about getting girls registered, recruiting coaches, communicating with the CYO office for scheduling, etc. And I’ve always excelled at sending emails, so that won’t be a problem.

It’s also my job to get uniforms collected and stored in the next week or so as the spring season wraps up. Then get them distributed in the fall. I have to help start a whole new set of teams, as there will be a fall, third-grade league for the first time ever this fall. And I get to be the arbiter of conflicts. I’ve been assured that there have only been a couple complaints from parents in recent years. But if/when they surface, I get to deal with them. Someone remind me to check my sarcasm before I respond to the parent complaining about their daughter getting on the C team instead of the A team, when everyone who saw the tryouts knows this kid is lucky there’s not a D team.

It also has the chance to be a really cool experience. Like it or not, sports are often the face of a school, even at the grade/middle school level. When I’ve kept score, parents from other schools have told me how they never have problems when they play St. P’s teams, or how they enjoy coming to St. P’s because they always feel welcome. Beyond making sure the girls have a great experience, I can’t think of a more important goal than continuing an atmosphere where our teams, coaches, and parents compete hard but with respect and kindness and in a manner where other schools enjoy playing our teams. Even when we’re kicking their asses!

Make no mistake about it, we’re going to win. A couple coaches are already in my ear about ramping up the tryout process and I’m totally down with that.

To wrap this up, I’d like to remind you of one of the funnier stories from the early days when S and I were dating. One night I asked her if she played sports growing up. She said yes, she played kickball. I laughed in her face. She just about punched me as she said, “KICKBALL IS A REAL SPORT!” I checked with my female friends who went to Catholic schools in Kansas City if they played kickball growing up. “Sure, at recess,” was always the response. As I have learned, organized kickball is a very Indianapolis, Catholic school thing.

Almost 16 years later I have two girls playing, and another who is 18 months away from her first game. I keep the book and get kind of fired up during games. And now I’m running the damn program.

What a world. What a time to be alive.

Silly Season Begins

April 13, 2016 /

Our spring sports season begins today. M and C both have their first kickball games, while L has a soccer practice. All at the same time. At three different locations. This is my life on Wednesdays for the next month. C is also playing softball, so there are a couple nights where she has both a kickball and softball game. Fortunately that happens just twice so she can miss one of each and we won’t offend either coach too much.

M is excited about her fifth season of kickball. No St. P’s sixth graders are playing, and they like to keep the teams big in the spring since so many girls are playing multiple sports. So she’s on the A team, and it is made up entirely of her grade-mates.

This is C’s first season of kickball. She wasn’t that excited about playing, but we talked her into playing this year since she’ll probably run track next spring.[1] I haven’t watched her practice but she says she’s doing well and enjoying it. They mix fourth and third graders in the spring so the third graders can play with girls who already know the rules and understand the game a little.

Her first softball game is this coming Monday. She moves up to kid pitch this year. She’s only been to two practices because of weather issues and our spring break, but in those practices she was still smacking the ball pretty well. She struggles a bit in the field. I really should work with her more on that. But she’s kind of like Ted Williams: she thinks about hitting all the time and would be perfectly fine if she never had to make a play in the field.

And L is on a soccer team that has eight first graders from St. P’s. Practices so far have been a big goofball fest as they all mess around the entire time. There’s one poor kid who goes to a different school stuck with this group. Fortunately, he looks like a pretty good player, so I’m sure they’ll adopt him without any issues. Her season begins on Sunday.

Next week is when we really get busy. Monday we have kickball and softball games at the same time. Tuesday is open. Wednesday we have kickball practice, a kickball game, and a soccer game. Thursday we have a kickball game. Friday we have a kickball game and softball practice. Saturday we have a softball game. And Sunday we have a soccer game. Then repeat through the first week of May when we hit the kickball tournaments and things should calm down a little. Fortunately I will have a lot of help from grandparents, aunts, and other parents so as long as I keep organized, every girl should get to every event on time.

As for baseball, I eased into this season. I was ready for it to begin, but there was also a part of me that didn’t want to give up on the winter of the Royals being World Series champs. Throw in us being out-of-town and the Royals odd scheduled the first week, and it was easy to put off jumping into the new year.

I watched the last 3–4 innings of opening night on ESPN, but didn’t renew my MLB.TV subscription until this Monday, so the next four games I only followed casually via Yahoo. But the last two nights I’ve listened to the game through the early innings, then turned the TV on once the girls are in bed. I feel those familiar summer rhythms rippling below the surface, ready to break through and carry me across the warm months.

As I told a few friends, I’ve had weird flashbacks to October as I’ve watched games the last two nights. Eric Hosmer hit a liner down the left field line Monday night. It hugged the ground and never threatened the wall, but when they showed the replays, all I could think of was his double in the ninth inning of game five of the World Series, the hit that turned the tide of the game.

A few of the faces are different – Johnny Cueto, Ben Zobrist, and Alex Rios are gone; Omar Infante is back after missing the postseason; Reymond Fuentes is new – but the team still has that vibe that they will always get things done. I’m glad they’re back.

And I have faith in them this year, which surely is a bad sign. Last year I didn’t think they would have the pitching to get back to the postseason, even with better offensive seasons from several players. Shows what I know.

I still think their starting rotation is very shaky. But if I’ve learned one thing the last two years, you never doubt this team. That Royals Devil Magic works all summer, not just in September and October.[2]

The Royals will win the AL Central, but with fewer wins this year. Let’s say 89–90. When the playoffs begin, Toronto or Texas or Houston will be the favorites. But the Royals will get hot at the right time and win their third-straight AL pennant.

It’s an even year, which means the San Francisco Giants have to win the World Series, right? They put off the Chicago Cubs dynasty one more year and get through to face the Royals for the second time in three years. Volquez beats Bumgarner in game one, the Royals crush Cueto in game two, and they finish up the sweep with a complete game, two-hitter by Chris Young.

Mark it down.

  1. CYO track begins in fourth grade.  ↩
  2. And November!  ↩

Kid Sports

September 28, 2015 /

In reverse order of age this time, your periodic Kid Sports Update.

L., and her whole soccer team, rebounded nicely from their rough first week. Playing against teams that have not been full of second graders like their first opponent, they’ve won two-straight games in shutouts. She scored three goals last week and two yesterday.

Most impressively, her team is playing pretty, team soccer. Most of the kids are learning how to pass out of traffic and then run to space. Last week she was bringing the ball up the middle. When two defenders cut her off, she made a nice pass out to the left, where a teammate ran onto the ball. She immediately cut away and towards the goal. Her teammate took a couple dribbles and then fired a pass to the middle. She collected it, danced around a couple defenders, and scored. I couldn’t get my U–10 team to do that last year!

She also made a perfect pass from the goal line back across the penalty box that a teammate ran onto and blasted. He was unlucky, hitting the goalie square in the chest, but it was a gorgeous play.

L’s team has eight kids, there are eight periods, and four positions on the field. With every kid playing half the game that means they rotate through all four positions. Last week she had played sweeper and both forward spots. When her final period began, the coach asked, “OK, who hasn’t played goalie yet?” She turned, looked at the ground, and took a few steps behind another teammate. She clearly was not interested in playing goal. We laughed out loud at her attempt to hide. The coach found her, though, and put her in goal. We think she just much prefers offense. But she also got to play goalie one quarter last spring when she played up for a game. And she let in two goals when kids three years older than her blasted it by her because she was out of position. I think she has some nervousness about what to do. She shouldn’t have been nervous. She picked up the ball both times it was close to her and made great passes out to teammates.

C. has had a great couple weeks of cross country. Two weeks ago, at a big invitational meet that featured about 700 total kids, she finished 35th of 120 in her gender/age group. The top 30 got ribbons so she just missed on that. And she cut over 30 seconds off her previous best time.

This weekend she ran in a much smaller meet. We don’t have official times yet, but she was right around the 15:30 she ran the previous week. This time that was good for 13th place. When she finished I told her she was around 15th or 16th. As they were bringing the award winners up to the stage, and went past those two places without calling her name, I watched her look around to her friends with a look of surprise and amazement. I was glad I miscounted the girls in front of her, because it made her even more proud of her result.

Her team takes this weekend off then she runs in the city championships next Wednesday.

And then kickball. M’s team played in the city semifinals last week. We knew it was going to be a tougher game than any of their regular season contests. As the first semifinal was wrapping up, we watched St. P’s opponent, St. M, warm up on a side field. Their first baseman couldn’t catch anything. Their other infielders were having trouble fielding it. “Man,” I thought, “they’re going to cream these kids.”

Whoops.

St. P’s scored three in the top of the first, but that was a struggle because St. M’s was making every defensive play. Then, in the bottom of the inning, the first seven St. M’s players got on base and scored. One girl, who was about the size of the smallest St. P’s girls, cranked the ball over the head of our left fielder.

We held them scoreless for the next three innings, but could only add two runs of our own, making it 7–5. St. M’s scored two more in the fifth, and then two, two-out runs in the 6th. Our girls could only score three over the last three innings and lost 13–8. That one, poor inning was the difference.

St. M’s had some sixth graders, so our coaches told the girls there was nothing to be ashamed of. Besides, they got a trophy for winning their division and were super excited about getting that to put in the school lobby.

It may have been a good thing they lost, too. The team they would have played in the final, St. S, was very, very good. They beat the St. P’s team that had a mix of 5th and 6th graders twice in the regular season. Not saying we couldn’t have beaten them, but it was going to be a struggle.

The bigger thing, though, is we avoided St. S’s coach. Or rather I avoided him. We’ve heard stories about him all year. Apparently he is rather annoying if your kid is not on his team. He likes to yell out the calls on the bases, or at least his view of them, louder than the umpire. And then argues any call he disagrees with. We also heard, from the other St. P’s team, that he’ll yell at players on the other team, “Two outs, run on anything,” even when there aren’t two outs. The coach of the other St. P’s team, who we know pretty well and is about as laid-back and pleasant as you can be, had to tell him to knock it off the two times their teams played. Since I keep score, there’s a good chance I could have been standing near him for seven innings. Which meant A) my blood pressure would likely be sky-high if he really behaves as we’ve heard, B) my mouth would likely be bleeding from biting my lips, tongue, and cheeks to keep from saying anything and C) there’s about an even-money chance I would have said something to him at some point.

One thing I’ve learned in our girls’ years of sports is that games are much more pleasant and relaxed when moms[1] are coaching. Not that there aren’t still disagreements and discussions, and our coaches were all super competitive and wanted to win every game. But it seems like if there are two moms coaching, they find a way to work it out and end the game smiling and wishing each other luck. Men, and I include myself here, are generally overly competitive idiots who let the testosterone get in the way of letting our kids have fun.

That nonsense aside, M. really enjoyed this year. She got better and was on a really good team. On our way home after the loss, she said she was sad, not because the team lost, but because she wouldn’t be able to go to practice and games with that group of girls until volleyball begins in December. More than the wins or her personal improvement, that was my favorite moment of the season.

  1. Or aunts, etc.  ↩

Kid Sports Notes

September 15, 2015 /

With the late holiday, our kid fall sports calendars are a little odd this year. Kickball always starts just after school begins and runs for only three weeks. And soccer did not start until after Labor Day. But as of Sunday, we finally have all three girls on the fields each week.

Kickball

It’s been a fantastic season for M’s team. Last night they wrapped up a perfect regular season with their fifth run-ruled win in seven games. Now I must point out that some oddness in both the rules for this age group and how St. P’s picks teams combined to make M’s team much, much more talented than any team they faced. At this level, fifth and sixth graders play together. The best team from each school is put into the A league, and then the remaining girls get dropped into the B league. St. P’s had enough girls come out that they had an all-sixth grader team in the A league, and then a mixed sixth/fifth and a fifth grade-only team in the B league. M was on the fifth-only team, and because St. P’s just divides up girls rather than ranks the girls, her team ended up with the 4–5 best fifth graders. One poor team in their division only had three fifth graders and then a bunch of fourth graders that had to play up. St. P’s whacked them 61–11 in five innings. It was pretty brutal to watch.

Anyway, M’s team is moving on to the city tournament, which is next week. They play another undefeated team on Tuesday in the semifinals. Win that and they play either St. S, which beat the 5th/6th team from St. P’s twice, or St. B, our nemesis from kickball and volleyball last year.

It’s been cool to watch our girls play. Last year we had about two really good players. This year, most of the girls kick much better, understand how to run bases, and generally do a really good job in the field. They catch almost everything and routinely throw out girls at first base on anything that stays in front of the pitcher.

M. has really gotten better, too. She mastered bunting this year, which in kickball means you tap the ball so it goes beyond the five-foot arc[1] and then haul ass to first base. In fact, I think she only made one or two outs when she bunted. I forced her to kick hard late in games when they were way ahead and then she almost always made an out. Which led to this conversation after games, “See what happens when I try to kick hard, Dad? I make outs. And I don’t like making outs.”

Last week she had her best game ever kicking, assisted by some fielding issues by the other team. Twice she dribbled the ball forward and took off for first. Twice the suicide (infielder who plays next to pitcher) raced up to knock the ball foul before it crossed the five-foot arc. Twice the suicide was late and hit the ball after it had moved fair. Once she hit it about ten feet behind home and M. ended up on third. The other time the girl blasted the ball and it rolled 30 feet beyond home. M. raced around and came home for a Little League home run, kickball style. As I posted to Facebook, we are absolutely counting that as a home run!

She’s also gotten much better in the field. She’s thrown out at least six girls at first when playing suicide on the third base side. She quickly grabs the ball, turns and heaves it to first without looking. Somehow the ball is always perfectly on line, takes one big bounce, and beats the runner to first. One game the other coach told his players to kick it to her. She threw out the first two runners of the inning before he told them to kick it somewhere else. Respect from the other coach! Never thought I’d see the day!

Cross Country

C. has now run in two cross country meets. Her first, the weekend before Labor Day, had a relay setup. Each runner was paired with another, and they took turns running 1K loops until the team had compiled 6K total. She and her partner finished exactly in the middle, both in place and time. They were 17th of 35 teams, six minutes behind the winners and six minutes ahead of the last-place finishers.

She had her first chance to run solo this past weekend. She did great, coming in 25th of 60 third and fourth grade girls in 16:03.

She’s pretty funny to watch run. Like a lot of kids her age, she doesn’t have the best form. Her arms tend to drop and she is often leaning forward too far with her upper body. You’d think nothing could be more natural for a kid than running, right? Like probably every kid ever, when she runs close to us and we’re able to cheer loud enough for her to hear, she kicks it up a notch. And when she thinks she’s out of sight, she dials it waaaay back.

We think she’s enjoying it, although it’s hard to tell sometimes. I think she likes being on a team, enjoys the time she spends with a couple of her closest friends who are also running, and feels herself improving. But I don’t know that she loves the actual running. They practice three times a week, which means her evenings are kind of a wreck with her coming home tired and hungry. I still think she may be better suited to track than cross country, but she is only a third grader. She had plenty of time to figure that out.

Soccer

Finally, L. had her first soccer game last Sunday. She’s moved up to U8 this year, and her team is mixed between young first graders and second graders. The team they played Sunday was almost all second graders, and that age/experience difference showed. L’s team lost 4–1, primarily because the first three kids to play goalie for her team kept forgetting they could use their hands. A couple of the goals came when they were flailing at the ball with their feet and it bounced by when they could have easily picked it up.

For probably the first time since she started playing, she was not the best player on the field. She struggled to retain possession against the bigger kids. The few times she got the ball on a breakaway, they ran her down where last year she could outrun everybody. She never got a good scoring chance in the box. A couple times she shot the ball from way too far out to have a real chance.

We saw her developing some bad habits last spring when she was still playing against the younger kids. She needs to work to get rid of them. She developed a stupid ”trick” of intentionally falling down every time she kicked the ball hard. She was still doing that Sunday. And the shooting from way out thing was a way to challenge herself last year, when she had no defensive pressure on her and no goalie in front of her. Those are easy saves this year.

I think this year is going to be good for her. She loves soccer and says she wants to be a professional player when she grows up. She’s going to have to figure out how to hold possession against the bigger kids, how to pass and run to space in order to get good scoring chances, and remember to never turn the ball to the middle when she’s on defense. She still had lots of fun Sunday, although she was bummed that they lost. For her two classmates that were on her last two teams, this was the first time they had ever lost a game together! Pretty good run.

  1. In CYO kickball there is an arc that runs foul line to foul line five feet in front of home. If the defense can get to the ball before it crosses that line and push it back, it counts as a foul ball. Once it crosses that line, it’s fair and in play.  ↩

Kid Notes

May 19, 2015 /

Some assorted Kid Notes that have been jotted down in recent weeks.

This is totally unofficial, and I base it without knowing anything about the rest of the school, but I’m declaring my girls the Reading Champions of St. P’s.

Second graders are given reading wheels during second semester they are required to complete. They contain 12 categories, with the entries each, that the kids have to read a book for. For example, two mysteries, two animal books, two books of poetry, and so on. C. was the first kid in her grade to complete hers and earn a week free from homework.

Next, the entire school had a reading challenge in March. Each day you wrote down how much you read and at the end of the month, you tallied it up and turned it in. For some reason it took over a month to get the results, but both M. and L. were winners for their classes. Each girl got their name announced to the entire school, got an out-of-uniform day, and earned ice cream at lunch.

C. did a fine job there as well, but unfortunately (for her) a girl in her class read almost as much as M. and kind of blew the rest of the second grade away.

The best part about the reading challenge was that L. called her shot. When the explanatory sheet came home in late February, she announced, “I’m going to win it!” It ain’t braggin’ if you can back it up.

I hope L. keeps her love of all things school-related going forward. A mom from her class told me one day that, when the kindergarteners received an assignment that was supposed to be done over a week, her son said, “L.’s probably going to have it done before the weekend is over.” The mom also said that her son is always talking about smart L. is.

Oh, she did have that project done before the weekend was over.

One more reading note. L. and I read together most nights before bed. Some nights she reads to me. But we’ve been getting into longer chapter books and I’ve been reading to her again when we work through those. We’re three books into the Ivy and Bean series, which we are both enjoying.

In one of the books, Bean is talking about her big sister, who is always bossing her around and meddling in her fun. L. leaned over to me, put her hand to my ear, and whispered, “I know how that feels!” then looked at me with a crazy grin. I tried not to react, but in seconds we were both laughing. M. was sitting a few feet away from us. She generally thinks you’re talking about her even if you’re not, so she immediately began whining that we were making fun of her.

“We’re not!” I lied as I tried to control my laughter.

“Then what are you laughing about?” she shrieked.

“Oh…just that crazy Bean!”

L. and I looked at each other and lost it again.

I mentioned in my post for C.’s birthday how sweet she can be. L. has a sweet side, too. Recently M. completed a big social studies project with three classmates. It involved about three weeks of work and two get-togethers outside of school to assemble the materials. The girls got a perfect score for their research and presentation.

The evening the grading sheet came home, I found a dollar sitting next to it on the kitchen counter. When I asked who the dollar belonged to, L. said, “I gave it to M. for doing such a good job on her project!”

Now, I think that’s just L. being sweet. But there is a small part of me that thought, “I wonder if M. heard that kids in her class get monetary rewards for good grades and told L. to give her a dollar so maybe S. and I would start giving them money when they bring home A’s.” I wouldn’t put it past them.

OK, these are turning out to be mostly about L.. Oh well.

I may have mentioned this one before, but back when M. was still playing volleyball, we were sitting in the school lobby one afternoon waiting for practice to start. That was also the first day of track practice, and those kids – fourth graders and up – were in the gym going through workouts. The gym teacher walked by us, looked at L., and said, “L., why aren’t you in there with them?”

She just grinned.

The kid’s built quite the reputation already.

C. and L. are still in the midst of their sports seasons. Both continue to do well. C. is in a four-game run where she has not made an out[1] and L. is scoring goals at will.

But kickball ended two weeks ago. St. P’s ended the season with a game against St. B’s, the school that had beat them 27–2 earlier in the year. If that wasn’t a tough enough match-up, had our girls somehow pulled out the win, they would have to play St. B’s again the next day to break a first-place tie to determine who went to the tournament.

St. P’s got St. B’s out 1–2–3 in the first, then scored three runs in the bottom of the inning. Much better start than the first game, when no one reached safely until the third inning.

But it didn’t last. Those St. B’s girls are damn good and won 19–6. The St. B’s mom who kept score with me said that grade is filled with super athletic girls. Funny how talent sometimes pools like that. Our girls have a handful of good athletes, some that are ok, and some that are just out there. But the grade behind them is crazy athletic. Apparently they went through their kickball season not only undefeated, but with most games ended early because of the run rule. I’ve seen those girls in the library and some of them tower above M. and some of her classmates.

Anyway, we’ll see if this is M.’s final year of kickball. She wants to run cross country in the fall, which will require some work in the summer. She’s never run more than around the block, so I’m not convinced A) she knows what she’s getting into and B) she’s capable of running that far yet.

This was also, likely, the last time this group of girls will play together. Fifth and sixth graders play together, and the best girls are often grouped together. We’ve reached the point where talent is going to start moving girls in different directions.

Big, fat, daddy jinx for tomorrow’s game right there!  ↩

The Other Two

April 28, 2015 /

C. got her own sports post last week. The sisters deserve updates, too.

We’re in the last week of kickball season. Baring a miracle finish (and collapse by another team), M.’s team will not make the tournament. They’re currently 5–1, but that one L was a 27–2 loss to a team they face again in the season finale. That game was brutal. It was a cold, windy, nasty day. St. P’s was missing five players (although they would not have made a difference in the outcome). And St. B’s is the school that knocked our girls out of the volleyball tournament last month. That B might stand for something other than the saint it is supposed to honor!

M. has had a good couple of weeks. One night she went 3–4, with three runs scored, and even fielded a ball in the outfield and got it to second for a force out, something that does not happen very often. Against St. B’s, our girls were getting no-hit (no-kicked?)[1] into the third inning before M. got on base and scored the first run of the day. And in her next game she was 3–3 with three runs scored. We’d still like her to kick the ball harder, but she’s improved a lot at the plate, and is beginning to get a better feel for how to play the field.

At practice last night, they were short several girls. In order to get the team some more fielding practice, the coaches called over C. and L. and let them kick and run the bases. They both played true to type. C. kicked the crap out of the ball twice – farther than M. has ever kicked it – but both times it was in the air and caught for an out. L.’s first kick was a short roller to one of the suicides[2], who fumbled the ball then over-threw first base. L. raced all the way around the bases for a classic Little League home run.[3] All the fourth graders were screaming and cheering for her and did their home run chant after.

While we were eating dinner, M. filled her role perfectly. She began explaining to C. that she might be able to get away with kicking the ball in the air when she plays kickball next year in third grade, but in fourth grade she’d have to learn how to keep it on the ground. She then jumped up from the table and demonstrated the different ways to throw the ball, how L. was breaking the rules by leading off before the ball was kicked, etc. At least it was done with love.

As for L., her soccer team is 2–0–1. Yes, a tie in U6 soccer. Worse, it was 4–4 on a night when L. could have easily scored 10 goals, and her teammates could have added at least half a dozen more. But the entire team kept kicking the ball just inches left or right. Their coach even yelled at them, “You guys are like Florida State! Always wide left!” L. did have a sweet, left-footed shot from about 20 feet out that I swear she was trying to curl into the goal. She just missed, though.

She made up for those misses Sunday. Her squad was playing a team full of five-year-olds. L. and the other six-year-olds on her team just destroyed these poor kids. Each time the other team kicked off, L. or someone else ran up, stole the ball, and took off for the goal. They were scoring a goal roughly every minute, with most of the minute taken up by the other team walking the ball back to mid-field and prepping to kick off again.

L.’s actual goal count is a bit uncertain. S. watched the first half of the game, while I was across the park at C.’s softball game. Then we switched at halftime of L.’s game. L. scored somewhere between 11 and 16 goals. Or maybe more.

After the game she had to go to a birthday party. But as soon as she got home from that, she put on one of her old soccer uniforms and ran around in that until shower time. For bed, instead of wearing pajamas, she put on yet another soccer uniform. Three uniforms in one day!

For her morning work one day last week, she wrote that she scored seven goals in her first game, and wanted to score 100 for the year. As crazy as that sounds…

Oh, and C.’s team has now won three games in a row, and she’s gone 1–3 in each of her last two games. She and M. both have games tonight, so hopefully I’ve not jinxed either one of them.

One more kickball story. Coaches always have trouble positioning outfielders. They always creep in toward the infield, are often not paying attention to what’s going on at the plate, and are prone to running the ball back in rather than throwing it. A few games back, St. P’s best kicker came up. The opposing coach was screaming at his centerfielder to move back. She took a couple tiny, tip-toed steps back. He yelled to back up more. Two more tiny steps. Finally, the coach roared, “LOOK WHO’S UP!!!” That did the trick. She took like five big steps back.

That was a wise choice. A. kicked an absolute rocket right at the centerfielder. It bounced once, went over her shoulder, and rolled to the edge of the parking lot. Had she not moved, I’m pretty sure the ball would have taken her head off. I bet that girl learned her lesson, though, and moves when her coach says to move.

It’s always high comedy to hear dads talking during kickball games and struggle with whether to use baseball/softball terms, or adjust them. “Who’s up to bat next? Or, um, to kick?”  ↩

Suicides are the players who stand to either side of the pitcher. They have to play behind an arc that is about 15 feet from home. They either pounce on slow rollers or try to catch liners before they get smacked in the face.  ↩

Little League home run: when a player circles the bases thanks to an error or other defensive error and thinks they hit (or kicked in this case) a home run when they actually got a single with a three-base error.  ↩

Spring Sports

April 14, 2015 /

Several years back, as we were chasing likely just two toddlers around the yard, one set of our neighbors told us to enjoy those days. Because, they said, it wouldn’t be too long before our lives became this, and the husband pointed from our driveway, to the street, back to the driveway, back to the street. “You’ll be coming and going non-stop to practices, games, school programs.” They have two boys who are two years apart, both out of college now. But at the time they were still in the midst of high school sports. They spoke from experience.

Well, we’ve reached that stage.

Beginning last Monday, we are in a stretch where of the next 24 days, 21 have at least one kid activity on the calendar. Kickball, softball, soccer, First Communion related events. Swim team call out meeting. Study group for M.’s social studies project.

Several days have two events at two different locations. Last Thursday, for example, L. had soccer practice about 10 minutes from home. At the same time, M. had a kickball game 40 minutes away on the opposite site of Indy. Fortunately there is a family that has girls of the same ages, on the same teams, so we were able to split the transportation duties. Sunday I watched the first 15 minutes of L.’s soccer game then left to take M. over to her study group.

On top of the hassles of driving through construction zones and rush-hour traffic, there is the constant threat of bad weather endemic to the Midwest. Last Wednesday M. had kickball practice from 3:30–4:30, then C. had softball from 5:30–7. As we were driving home from kickball, the skies were darkening and the radar looked red and nasty to our west. I said to C., “I bet it starts storming right about the time we get to the fields.”

Sure enough, as we pulled up to the parking lot, her coaches were walking off the field waving everyone away. Then we raced back home and beat the hail into the garage by about 30 seconds.

At least M.’s kickball season only runs until May 1. If we had to do this for two full months, I might need some medications. Not that May is much easier.

We’re off to a good start, at least. M.’s team won their first kickball game by one run, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the sixth. They were down 8–2 early, had a four-run lead going into the sixth, then after giving up the lead got back-to-back doubles to get the win.

This season’s team is a little different that the past two seasons. Last spring they mixed the third and fourth graders so the third graders could learn the rules a but quicker. And in the fall, enough girls came out that there were two fourth grade teams. This spring, though, it’s just one team of only fourth graders. Which gives them 17 girls when everyone shows up. So the girls take turns playing in the field, but everyone kicks.

Based on one game, it also seems like the girls are better at fielding and throwing/catching at first base. You can’t dribble the ball to the pitcher and expect to automatically be safe at first. We’re desperately trying to teach M. how to put some ooomph in her kicks so she has a chance.

L. picked up where she left off last fall in her first soccer game. She scored seven goals, had two assists, and kept the other team from scoring any goals. We had hoped to move her up to U–8 this spring, along with two of her teammates from last fall. But the league kept all three in U–6 for another season. Our coach told the league commissioner that the kids were more than ready for U–8 and he was worried other parents/coaches were going to complain when our kids scored all the time. The commissioner insisted that would not be a problem. I’m not so sure.

C.’s first softball game is tomorrow. Because of weather, they’ve only had two practices. And about half the team has never played before. Which means tomorrow night should be very interesting. Based on practice, it looks like if you can get the bat on the ball, you will not only be safe, but you can run as long as you want. Not a lot of slick fielding in first and second grade softball. But getting the bat on the ball is easier said than done. C. made solid contact a couple times Saturday, so hopefully that will carry over to a game.

My biggest frustration with her is one common to any parent teaching a kid how to play base/softball: she always wants to catch with her glove facing up. I’m pretty sure I got corrected endlessly for doing the same thing 37 years ago. She can get her glove down on the ground, though, and has a decent arm.

L. begged me for a glove, too, just so she can throw the ball around when we go to C.’s practices. I got her a tiny tee ball glove that came with a cushy ball. Last night we were throwing it around and she did a great job. She has a good arm, but also struggled to catch. When she would get the ball in her glove, she had a look of amazement on her face after, like “How did I do that?”

I told her that I loved to play catch, my step-dad and I used to play for hours, and I hoped that at least one of the girls would learn how to throw/catch well enough to toss the ball with me. “I’ll play catch with you guys every night if you want to.”

“I’ll do it!” she said.

Of course she will.

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