D's Notebook

Tag: soccer (Page 5 of 9)

More Kid Sports and Weekend Notes

May 15, 2017 /

A pretty busy few days, anchored by kid sports. So we’ll start with those and add in the other fun things that were a part of our weekend.

First off, C’s kickball season came to an end Thursday night. You may recall her team was in a three-way tie for first place going into the final game of the season. All three teams were scheduled to play teams with worse records, so we were stressing about how the league would break the tie. Turns out that wasn’t an issue as two of the teams, including C’s, lost their last game. C’s team was terrible through the first three innings. They kept kicking the ball in the air, in the infield, and their opponents had two girls who could catch. So they were down something like 15–2. They made a furious run late, cut it to four runs, and had the bases loaded with two outs in the 6th. But the wrong part of the order was up and the season ended with the top of the lineup two spots away. C, who kicks second, kicked her team-high 7th home run of the season earlier in the game. Would have been really nice to get her up for one more kick…

Onto soccer. L’s team has been struggling this season. They’re a fairly small, young team and it seems like the bigger kids they played against last fall all hit growth spurts while her team all stayed the same size. They’ve been getting manhandled at times, and have a few really ugly results. But, when they play a team that is more their size, they do well.

L started the season slow, with only one goal through the first three games. But she was also figuring out how to adapt. She saw that against the bigger kids, she was struggling to get close enough to the goal to shoot. So she started taking the ball wide and then sending crosses through the box. Sadly often her teammates didn’t know to be there for the pass. Every now and then she’d pick the right moment and right teammate and would get an assist on those crosses.

They played a makeup game Thursday night and got trounced 10–1. L scored the only goal. Saturday they finally faced a team that appeared to be mostly second graders like them. L’s team was up 3–2 at halftime – she scored one of those goals and assisted on another – before things got nutty in the second half. L scored two goals in about 45 seconds, made a sweet assist on another about two minutes later, and knocked in two more before the game was over. They ended up winning 10–2 in what was “The funnest game I’ve ever played in!” according to L. She scored from right in front of the goal, twice from outside the penalty area, once on a follow of a miss, and a third time when she slalomed through the defense and poked it in as she was falling down.

Once she lost her shoe and was sitting on the ground trying to put it back on when the ball came to her. She hopped up, with her shoe in her hand, and began cutting through the defense. She held the ball for about 10 seconds, lost it, got it back, and controlled it for another 10 seconds. All while holding her shoe. It was very funny.

OK, onto the other weekend activities. Saturday night we went to an Indianapolis Indians game. It was a gorgeous night for baseball. The trip was made even better as we were sitting in S’s company’s suite. So free food and drinks, and great seats above home plate. The girls got to take a picture with the Indians’ mascot. M was all proud because she got his autograph earlier in the week when she went to a game for a school field trip. She’s, like, totally an expert on getting mascot autographs now. I got to meet the president of the team. He saw my Royals jersey and started telling me about his one year in the Royals organization back in the early 1970s. It’s a pretty solid way to watch a game.

 

 

And yesterday one of the girls’ new cousins got baptized. L had to wear a dress for the third time in a month, which is some kind of post pre-school record for her. There were four babies getting baptized and one of them was related to a family who used to live near us. They had a son in L’s preschool class and their daughter went to St. P’s for two years with M. They were pretty tight back then, but hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since they moved. Before the ceremony began I asked M if she noticed A standing over there. Her eyes got big and she said, “Is that really her? She’s so tall now!” And then she refused to go over and say hello to her. Kids are weird, man. I was going to drag her over after the ceremony but the families all split into different parts of the church to do photos and I lost track of them before I had a chance to force the issue.

Although there are two weeks left in the school year, this was kind of our last weekend of the spring. Next weekend we put the boat in the water and officially open up the lake house for the season. Time freaking flies.

Breaking It

April 10, 2017 /

We stuck close to home over our spring break last week. Doesn’t mean we didn’t do fun stuff. As is tradition, a quick recounting of the past 10-ish days.

The girls’ final day of school, March 30, was an all-school day of service, a first-time attempt at St. P’s. There were some minor hiccups but, all-in-all, it was a good day. I was supposed to help out with C’s class, but they got rerouted and I ended up at the same place as both C and L, the Down Syndrome Society. They learned about Downs Syndrome and made Mother’s Day cards for women who are involved with their programs.

On the first day of spring break, the Mrs. worked a half-day and we decided to go check out the lake house for the first time since November. Since I was last down there to blow leaves away, we’ve had the land surveyed, our dock area dredged out, and two huge, dead trees removed. Most importantly, the day we went down a crew started tearing down our old boat house in preparation for building a new one. Our old one was perfectly fine in most ways, except for it was not built to safely hold a boat lift. So our boat has always been in the water during the three summers we’ve owned it. We have a clean lake, but it’s still good to get the hull and engine up and out of the water if you can. Last week they got most of the framing for the new house up, so we’re hopeful the weather holds and everything is knocked out by Memorial Day weekend.

Last week, we had at least one activity lined up each day.

On Monday the girls got to cook with their aunt, who is a chef. We also mixed in a trip to the library. They borrowed a huge stack of movies and I think they watched one or two of them.

On Tuesday we hit the zoo and a fancy bakery on the way home.

On Wednesday, we went with the cooking aunt to a cool Asian market to help her load up on supplies, then took the girls to a Vietnamese restaurant. They had bubble tea smoothies while I had some tasty Pho.

Thursday each girl had one friend over for a trip to the bowling alley and then a sleep over. It was funny to watch them all separate into their own groups. The sixth graders were far too cool to hang out with the fourth graders, who wanted their own space away from the second graders.

Friday, after returning their friends home, I took our girls to an indoor go-carting place. They had fun, although they were all a little light on the gas pedal. They were racing only against other kids, all of whom were boys who hauled ass. My girls got passed early and often. But they liked it and want to go back again sometime.

Saturday the weather finally turned warm. C had kickball practice, M and L had play dates, and we all went to dinner with friends from St. P’s.

And finally Sunday L had her first soccer game of the year. They lost 5–3. Since severe storms, cold weather, and spring break had wiped out their two scheduled practices, this was the first time they were playing together. And two kids were still on spring break. L struggled a little. She just didn’t seem to have a ton of energy, and was often bent over huffing and puffing. It being the first really warm day of the year may have had something to do with that. After the game, the coach called all the parents over to say he was proud of how the kids played for having zero experience as a team. And he said he really appreciated that his son and L gave it up for the team by playing in goal and sweeper respectively. “And those two HATE to play defense.” She’s played for this coach twice before and I’m glad he hasn’t forgotten homegirl needs to play up front!

Bedtime was not easy last night, at least for the older two, who were loaded with complaints and foot-dragging to get their shit done before lights out. Just seven more weeks of the school year left. And kickball season begins for both M and C Tuesday, so the next three weeks are going to rocket by.

Fall Break Wrap

October 24, 2016 /

It was a pretty laid back fall break for us. As I said last week, we had no travels on the agenda and hoped for good weather so we could do some fun stuff locally.

Things started off as well as I could ask: we had been home five minutes on Wednesday when I got a call from the mom of one of M’s friends, asking if she wanted to come over and spend the night. Ten minutes later I was dropping M off and we were down a kid. L had playdates both Thursday and Friday, and C had a friend over to spend the night Friday. Those four get togethers really made the first half of the weekend fly. We also squeezed in flu shots Thursday, which is the highlight of any good fall break!

Saturday we went down to the zoo for the first time since early July. We timed it to beat the afternoon rush, when the Zoo Boo event started. That was smart thinking. We had no trouble parking or walking around when we arrived. By the time we left, the parking lot was almost completely full and there were parts of the park that were hard to move around in because of all the people. We tried the new gondola ride for the first time, which the girls really enjoyed. I imagine it’s more awesome on warmer days when the orangutans are crawling on their walkways that are also 50 feet above the ground. They had no interest in coming out on a cool, fall day.

Sunday was L’s final soccer game of the year. She had been struggling with a bad cough for several days and did not play with her usual energy. I had just made a comment about her kind of dragging ass when she got the ball on the right wing, dribbled through a couple defenders, and sent a shot toward the goal from outside the box. She curled it around the defense and snuck it between the goalie and the far post for her ninth goal of the season. After the game she was crying, not because she was sad the season was over, but because she felt so bad.

Her team ended up going 2–5–1. Her nine goals led the team. The second leading scorer was the smallest boy on the team, so power to the little kids I guess. She still loves soccer, and did great for being one of the smallest kids in her first year in U10. She’ll play in the spring for sure, but next fall she’s already talking about wanting to run cross country and play kickball for St. P’s, so we’ll see if she takes a season off from soccer.

The only other highlight of our fall break was we spent some time planning our next trip, which will come in early 2017. But more about that later.

This is a weird week for us, too. Wednesday is teacher conference day. In the past St. P’s did two half days with conferences in the afternoon. This year the school takes Wednesday off and that entire day/evening is devoted to conferences. So school today and tomorrow, Wednesday off, then back on Thursday and Friday. That’s not going to throw anyone off.

Tuesday Notes

October 18, 2016 /

A few assorted tidbits for Tuesday.

Here’s the thing about Indian Summer: you never fully appreciate it. Sure, you can talk in wonder about it being in the mid–80s in the back-half of October. You can take a long lunch, leave work early, or just take the day off to get outside. But as good as these days feel, we are also craving those cool, autumn breezes. It looks like the weather here is going to shift dramatically in the next 36 hours. I’ll miss these warm, muggy, breezy days.

Sunday afternoon was kind of crappy around here. It rained pretty hard for about 90 minutes, which just happened to coincide with the time of L’s soccer game. I think the kids mostly enjoyed running around in the rain and mud. I was a little surprised there wasn’t more sliding around. L played probably her best game of the season, scoring two goals, and just missing three other chances. I think it helped being little, as the bigger kids were having more trouble cutting on the wet grass. Four times she brought the ball up the sideline, cut hard back into the penalty box, and then fired away. One went in. Another hit the post, the goalie, and then bounced away. And two others the goalie knocked away.

We took advantage of yesterday’s delightful weather by heading down to the lake after we dropped the girls off at school in the morning. S and I did some yard work, met with some contractors to talk about some winter projects, and then pulled the boat out of the water for the year. Our contractors showed up a little late, and our conversation took the better part of an hour, so I missed the chance to haul ass one, last time. I did get to take a quick spin as S was getting the trailer into the water at the marina. I think the boat knew this was her last chance to show off, because she jumped up and went fast quickly. Or maybe it was just having one person inside and not towing anything behind that made her go so fast. Regardless, I enjoyed the five minutes of racing around the dam-end of the lake while waiting for the trailer to be ready.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d much rather that the Royals were playing in this year’s MLB playoffs. But I have really enjoyed this year’s games so far. I think it helps having no strong feelings about any series, other than wanting Toronto to lose.[1] It’s way less stressful to watch the games that have been close deep into the contest when I can be reading an article on Instapaper, or scrolling through Twitter as I watch. And I’m free to go to bed at 11:15 even if the game isn’t over yet.

That said, I’ve missed a couple excellent finishes by calling it a night before the final out has been recorded.

  1. Such a shame that team is on the verge of losing to a team from the AL Central for the second-straight October.  ↩

Fall Sports Roundup

September 19, 2016 /

The countdown continues for the big kickball game Wednesday. Other things distracted me a bit over the weekend, but I imagine the nerves are going to start to kick in again later today.

The distractions were good ones, though. First, C had her best ever finish in her cross country meet Saturday. She finished 16th in her first meet of the year. She was running against 5th and 6th graders in that race and there were over 100 girls total in her race. A week ago, she fell into two mud puddles on a terribly sloppy course and still claimed 9th place in the 3rd/4th division.

This Saturday she was again running on a pretty wet course. Fortunately this one was mostly grass, so it was more spongey than muddy like the previous week. But it was also super humid and the sun popped up just as her race began. All the kids seemed to be struggling with the thickness of the air.

She was again running in a race that spanned four grades, but this week she would just be scored against the 3rd and 4th graders. But we had no way of telling which girls were in which category. One parent noticed that some of the girls had yellow numbers, others had white. We decided that must be the way to tell the two groups apart. We were wrong.[1] But we were counting the yellow numbers as they went by. And when C passed us, just before the finishing stretch, she was in 12th place and right on the heels of the girl in 11th. She didn’t quite catch that girl, but came in right at her PR time and was looking strong. It was a great race.

We were having guests over that evening, and this was a late afternoon race, so we didn’t stick around through the next three races to wait for the awards ceremony. I was shocked when I got a text a little after 5:00 saying C had finished 5th! Holy crap! She was again the fastest St. P’s 4th grader, two places behind our super-fast 3rd grader, and had two classmates in the top ten with her. I ran up to her room and told her. She got a silly grin on her face and said, “Since when did I finish 5th?!?!”

She’s doing a great job and having a lot of fun running.

Sunday was L’s second soccer game of the year. She moved up to U10 this year, which means a much bigger field (60 x 40 yards), 7 v. 7, and 25-minute halves rather than the small field (35 x 20 yards), 4 v. 4, and 8-minute periods U8 rules she played the last two years. And she’s a seven-year-old playing against kids that are beginning to get a lot bigger than her. She was humbled in her first few practices, when she couldn’t just get possession and weave through the defense at will then fire away. In fact, after one practice she decided she did not want to be a striker anymore and instead wanted to be a sweeper.

Their first game was pretty rough. They had a 2–0 lead at halftime, but the coaches made a poor choice in goal to start the second half and gave up four goals in about five minutes. Our kids ended up losing 7–4. L had one decent chance to score but couldn’t convert.

This week we got a better matchup, our kids looked more comfortable, and our coaches had the lineups a little better balanced. Just like last week, our kids broke through late in the first half and had a 2–0 lead at halftime.

That’s when homegirl decided to do her Roberto Baggio act. Early in the second half, she got the ball out wide right just over the midfield line. She angled toward the middle of the field, got a defender to turn and commit that way, and then cut the ball back hard right. That defender was toast. She got him spun around then cut back left again, dribbled through the 18-yard box, and fired a shot in from about six feet out. It was a pretty sweet play!

She had a couple more near-misses before she pulled off a Roberto Baggio play. She collected a loose ball in the corner and dribbled through about five defenders along the end line. She faked the goalie one way, took a quick touch to get an angle, and shot the ball by her with the outside of her foot. Another sweet-ass move, if dear old dad says so!

She had a third goal later, but the referee was out of position and didn’t give it to her. After the game, when I asked L if that ball went it, she said, “YES! That ref wasn’t even watching!” I liked her attitude and told her I was giving her credit for it anyway.[2] Her team won something like 8–0. We honestly quit paying attention once it got out-of-hand.

I think she’s more excited about being a striker again now that she’s seen she can score at this level.

  1. We never figured out what the difference between the yellow and white numbers were.  ↩
  2. Hey, we don’t keep official score in these games, so I can give my girl credit for a goal the ref robbed from her!  ↩

KD and the Euro

July 7, 2016 /

Between swim practices and meets, family visiting, daily errands, and general laziness, I somehow started two posts late last week that I never got around to posting. So much for using interesting links as the jumping-off point for my own writing! We’ll get there, pop. We’ll get there.

Anyway, a couple sports notes.

KD to GS

Man, color me shocked when Kevin Durant announced he was signing with Golden State on Monday. The rumors had been around for months, but they never seemed real to me. I figured he would either re-sign with OKC, or go to an east coast team.

In the wake of his decision, I think there are three camps in moments like these. 1) The jilted fans from a player’s old team, who have every right to be upset. 2) Neutral fans who like the player, and thus are fine with his decision. 3) Neutral fans who do not like the player or the team he goes to, and thus are pissed about his decision.

I’m a big KD fan, and I like the Warriors. So I was just fine with his move. I don’t get all the outrage, though. He handled it way better than LeBron handled his move to Miami.[1] He was respectful of OKC and its fans. He didn’t burn any bridges. And in the end he did what we are supposed to want players to do: he made the move he thinks gives him the best chance to win.

We rip players who sign huge free agent contracts with middling teams that have no chance to win a title. “He’s just out for money and himself!” Durant did exactly the opposite: he signed with the team that just won the most regular season games in NBA history, won a title a year ago, and lost in game seven this year. Yeah, he’s not exactly taking a pay cut to do it, so it’s not like there’s a sacrifice involved. But he’s also entering a situation where he will not be The Man. Which is an amazing thing for a guy who is one of the top three players in the league and won an MVP two years ago.

You don’t have to love the move. But I don’t understand how you can rip it as a sign of everything that’s wrong with the NBA. KD is just as free to make the decision he thinks is best for his career as every other player is.

And all the people saying “Magic never left the Lakers to play with Bird,” or vice versa need to stop. Totally different eras in every single way. How do we know one of them wouldn’t have switched coasts if they had grown up in an era where the elite players all know each other from a decade of summer ball as teenagers and after two generations of free agency have made all pro athletes less loyal to the team that drafts them?

(News broke late Wednesday night that Dwyane Wade will be leaving Miami for Chicago today. I imagine his age plus going to his hometown team will bring a different reaction. What if he had signed with Cleveland, though?[2] I imagine he’s getting more money from Chicago. And the Bulls are certainly a lot farther from an NBA title than the Cavs. Is his move selfish? Shouldn’t he be more concerned with winning? I’m sure all the people who bitched about KD on Tuesday will be ideologically consistent today.)

Euro 2016

I missed much of the quarterfinals, including Italy’s heartbreaking loss to Germany on penalties and Iceland’s dream tournament coming to an end in a first-rate thrashing to France. But even with my Azzurri falling, I had a team to support. I may only be 1/4 or 1/5 or 1/8 Welsh,[3] but since my last name is Welsh, I claim them. And this year’s Wales team making it all the way to the semifinals was a joy to watch. I caught all of the second half of their quarterfinals win over Belgium, which was brilliant. And Wednesday, their fans were in full-throat the entire day against Portugal. Sadly Wales was playing without two key players because of the stupid yellow card rule, had a bad three minutes, and lost 2–0. Since I despise Christiano Ronaldo, and thus the current Portugal team, it was an especially tough loss. Now I’m potentially forced to pull for France in a major tournament final, unless the Germans can knock off the hosts today.

I enjoy European soccer a lot, but I hate how these tournaments often totally change character when the knock-out rounds begin. Teams that pushed forward and made an effort to score in the group stage suddenly pull back and play not to lose as much as to win. It’s so frustrating to watch teams that played beautiful soccer in their first three games pull the throttle way back when a loss means a ticket home. That’s one thing that was so much fun to watch about Spain during their four years of dominance; they always looked to be creative and find chances to score. But most teams are so scared of making a big mistake and falling behind early that they neuter what got them deep into the tournament in the first place.

  1. A decision LeBron acknowledged was a mistake, to his immense credit.  ↩
  2. No idea if that was ever a serious possibility. There was discussion of that move on a couple sites, but whether there was substance to the rumor is another thing.  ↩
  3. I’m all mixed up, so I have no idea what percentage Welsh, or anything else, I am.  ↩

Small Ones

June 15, 2016 /

A few random notes.

Swimming

The girls swim season is off to a solid start. L moved up an age group this year, and is now swimming full, 25-yard lengths of the pool instead of the 6-and-under, 12-yard lengths. It’s been a good challenge for her. We were especially proud of her last night. The team we were swimming against has a family that we’ve had a minor conflict with over the years. Nothing serious, silly neighbor stuff, but they’re also not a family we want to spend any time with. L was matched up with their daughter, who coincidentally was born on the exact same day, in the backstroke. And L freaking smoked her! It was probably L’s best backstroke swim ever; she only hit the lane divider once and that didn’t slow her down at all. And she scored one for the family in the process!

C and M are both doing fine. They’re in the age groups where the kids who swim year-round really begin to separate themselves. So the only time our girls swim in heat one is in relays if there aren’t enough girls for two heats. But they’re having fun.

Euro 2016

I didn’t get to start watching games until Monday, but I’m enjoying having soccer on ESPN all day. This triple-header stuff during the group phase is fantastic. I watched every minute of Belgium-Italy and was thrilled with how the Azzurri played. Just a fantastic effort in taking out one of the tournament favorites in a year not much was expected from the Italians.

I was able to watch a good chunk of Iceland-Portugal yesterday before swimming. It was magical watching the Iceland fans sing their national anthem. Those were some happy folks! They got even happier when their side tied the heavy favorites in the second half on a beautiful goal by Birkir Bjarnason. Even better was noted ass Christiano Ronaldo complaing about the Icelanders celebration after the game. Some folks have suggested that he’s doing a Kobe and playing up his image as the villain. I don’t buy it. I think he’s genuinely a selfish, shallow person who was bothered that a country playing in its first-ever major tournament were excited about earning a draw against one of the best teams in the world.

Speaking of magical, former German national and Arsenal goaltender Jens Lehmann posted this video from Paris.

What a magic! I’m saying that constantly for the next month.

I’m very much looking forward to the ancestral battle tomorrow, as Wales battle England. When it comes to my ancestry, I’m pretty watered-down. I believe most of Northern Europe is in my blood. If I did an exhaustive tracing of my roots, I have a feeling I might be more French than anything else. Which is terrible to consider. But my last name came from Wales, so I generally call myself Welsh.[1] Since I generally dislike the English national team, I’ll be rooting extra hard against them tomorrow.

Big Events

A couple huge world events have passed without any comment from me. The first, the death of Muhammad Ali, came while we were on vacation. Because of that, I missed much of the coverage that followed. I did learn of his death in the most old school manner possible: the next morning I went for a walk around the Fenway area and, passing through our hotel lobby, saw the complimentary copies of the Boston Globe that had the new written in huge typeface above the fold. I had shut down the old Twitter machine roughly 15 minutes before the news broke the previous night.

Anyway, I did not grow up loving Ali. I had an odd, contrarian streak in me even as a very young kid. If things seemed to be loved by all, I went the opposite way. I hated the Beatles growing up because my parents and all their friends loved them. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I finally acknowledged the Beatles are the best band ever.[2]

My dislike of Ali came later, as my parents weren’t big boxing fans. I just remember when I first learned about him hearing how he was “The Champ,” was aging, and that a lot of people thought he shouldn’t be fighting anymore. So I decided I didn’t like him, without knowing anything about him. I remember waking up and hearing that he had lost to Leon Spinks in 1978. This was huge news where we lived, in southeast Missouri, since Spinks was from the St. Louis area. I was thrilled that a local kid had topped the aging icon.

Over the years, I slowly learned more about Ali and came to admire him. But he wasn’t like a big part of my life or anything. This was a moment that was obviously coming based on his age and his disease, so it wasn’t much of a shock. If anything, it came as a relief, as Parkinson’s is a mutherfucker.

Like so many public figures, Ali was a complex dude. For every thing I admire about him, there are also aspects of his life that make me cringe. But I’ve always measured people on the concept of balance. I think Ali did more good and worthy of praise than bad and worthy of scorn.

The Red Sox game I attended was the day after his death, and the team offered a moment of silence in Ali’s honor. In the brief accounting of his life, the PA announcer pointed out that Ali rose from the streets of Louisville to the most recognizable man in the world. That’s a hell of a thing, isn’t it?

Second, Orlando. There is no correct word to use to describe my reaction, or feelings. Because we’ve used them all before. Like the “thoughts and prayers” our elected leaders keep offering after mass shootings, saying I’m shocked, devastated, furious, depressed, etc by the latest one does nothing.

We keep being shocked, devastated, furious, depressed, and offering thoughts and prayers, but nothing changes. This will happen again in a week. Or month if we’re lucky. But this is the world we’ve chosen. This is what happens when guns are not viewed as a symbol of freedom, but as freedom itself. This is what happens when a minority of the country views a document written before the discovery of electricity, before radio and TV, before we landed on the moon, hell, before we freed the slaves, as something that can not be altered. A document written when our weapons were slow to load, difficult to aim, and unreliable. Not when weapons spit out highly accurate, incredibly destructive ammunition at the rate of dozens per minute.

It is possible to have reasonable conversations about guns. I don’t like guns, but I don’t think that people who have been trained to use them shouldn’t have access to handguns or hunting rifles. But there is no reasonable argument for allowing the general public to have weapons created for the sole purpose of killing or wounding the greatest number of enemy soldiers as quickly as possible. Not one. Yet suggesting that we get rid of assault rifles and ban ammunition designed for warfare is seen as an idea that will cripple the core concepts our country is formed on by enough people in power to keep it from ever happening. If Sandy Hook didn’t change anything, nothing ever will.

  1. Which, I should point out, I – and much of my family – thought we were actually German until the 1990s, when an uncle did some research and discovered our family came from Wales rather than Germany. I’ve also got Irish and Danish blood in me.  ↩
  2. Please note not my favorite. That would be the Clash. But the Beatles are in my top 5.  ↩

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.  ↩

The Twelfth Man

May 16, 2016 /

I had a very busy Friday; I left the house with the girls in the morning and didn’t return until after school. Then I had to dive right into the yard work as C’s birthday party was Saturday and we had a softball game plus bad weather to work around.

So apologies for not sharing any music Friday.

To kick off this week, I thought I’d share this mini-movie of the scenes before a recent Tyne-Wear Derby: the rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland in the British Premier League. Although I’m sure things are indeed very tense at these matches, I think the rather magnificent editing has added a little extra sense of menace to that day’s affairs.

As I watch, though, I think how different our sports in America are. After pretty much every NFL weekend we see videos of a couple drunk dudes fighting in the stands or parking lot. And there are plenty of incidents at baseball, basketball, hockey, and other events. But here it almost always is focused on the individual. It can be annoying to run into a group of fans of your rival at a game – especially if it’s after the game and you lost – but is there ever a scene like any of these? At our worst, sometimes people are throwing ice and cups and bottles from the safety of a group at another group. But we don’t have masses of people being kept from law enforcement from charging each other.

I did not enjoy watching Villanova fans celebrate around me in Louisville a month ago, but none of them threatened me, or the KU people around me, in any way. They just cheered their team and they fellow fans.

Even if the editing does exaggerate the actual threat posed to anyone in the midst of these pregame rallies, it’s still a pretty amazing little film.

 

 

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!  ↩
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