First off, obviously there are some changes here. I finally got everything moved over to my new site host and, hopefully, functioning properly. There\u2019s still work to do: I need to pick a new theme that I like, I\u2019m having some trouble getting footnotes to work, and the Markdown text language I\u2019ve been writing in for years doesn\u2019t seem to be converting properly, which is messing with my head. Ten years ago when I was constantly messing around with how the site looked and worked, those fixes were easy. Now that I\u2019m out of practice, they are awfully tedious.<\/p>\n
But it does seem like I can post from my desktop and I can once again include images in my posts, so we\u2019re moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n
Now for some kid sports updates.<\/p>\n
The kickball season wrapped up last week. Neither C\u2019s or L\u2019s teams were super successful; C\u2019s team won only one game, L\u2019s team went 4\u20133 in a very tough division. Both girls had solid seasons. They both kicked pretty well and L was very good on defense. C has always played the suicide position next to the pitcher. She finally reached the age where that\u2019s not as important, so we tried to move her to the outfield against good kicking teams, but she was uncomfortable out there. She made a lot less plays because she was out of the spot she\u2019s been in since fourth grade. Amazingly we had only one night rained out all season, which is a new record. L said that was likely her final season to play, although I\u2019m hoping I can talk her into one more in the spring.<\/p>\n
While their teams didn\u2019t do all that well, one of our fourth grade teams won the City championship last week. That was a big deal, ending at least an 0\u20137 stretch in kickball City championship games for St. P\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Cross country is getting close to wrapping up. For C it\u2019s been a challenging year. She\u2019s been saying all season that she doesn\u2019t enjoy it as much as in the past. Her times have been a little slower, and it has not helped that our very warm September has meant she\u2019s been running in heat every week. She had still placed in three of her first four meets, and in the fourth meet she missed placing by one spot and 10 seconds. Saturday she ran her best time of the year, her second fastest time of the past two years, and her best time ever on that course. She snuck into the top 25 to get another ribbon on a day when a lot of good runners were really struggling. It looked like she was going to finish the season really strong.<\/p>\n
And then yesterday she could barely walk. We haven\u2019t taken her to get x-rayed but based on how the pain had been building for a few days and its location, S is reasonably certain C has a stress fracture in her foot. So we\u2019re pulling her out of this week\u2019s practices and meet, putting her into a walking book, and hoping that with the next weekend off, she\u2019ll be ready to run again for the City meet in two weeks.<\/p>\n
For M, XC has been a struggle. The practices are hard. The meets are really hard. She\u2019s often one of the very last runners on the course. She kept telling us that she was enjoying it, but we know that her performances are getting to her. Especially when she looks at her per-mile pace and compares it to C\u2019s. We try to find some positive in each week, and I remind her how many girls on her team decide not to run every week. She might be bringing up the rear, but she\u2019s out there trying. She did miss this weekend\u2019s meet because she was sick. That may have been a blessing because the course they ran on was super hilly and it could have gotten very ugly. She has just two more meets left. I would guess that she will not run next year, but this season has served its purpose: it helped her ease into high school and gave her an instant group of friends. And she will always be able to say that she earned a (JV) letter in cross country if she can survive the last couple meets. It\u2019s also been fun to hear her and C talking about running together. They struggle to connect at times and C craves her big sister\u2019s approval. Although their abilities are very different, at least XC has given them some common ground.<\/p>\n
While kickball has wrapped up, we are three weeks into soccer and about to start basketball for L. Her soccer team is 2\u20131\u20131, she is tied for the lead in goals and has the lead in assists despite missing a game. She\u2019s playing well, often more in a midfield role than her traditional forward spot. But she\u2019s also playing with a lot of girls who have a much lower soccer IQ and I think that frustrates her at times.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a little hard for me to watch from the sidelines. Although I was happy I did not have to coach her team this year, after doing it for three years I have a different perspective. I also don\u2019t believe parents on the sidelines should be yelling at kids on how to play. So I tend to lean over to S and mutter, \u201cWhat they hell are they doing?\u201d or \u201cWhy does he have that girl playing that position?\u201d I also get unreasonably bitter when L subs out, because it always happens at the worst time. Example: Saturday she started the second half on the bench. No big deal, it was hot, she ran hard in the first half. Naturally we get a penalty kick for a hand ball in the box. The girl we send to take the shot has no idea what to do and hits a dribbler the goalie saves easily. Last week when L took a PK, she blasted it into the corner where the goalie had no chance. Obviously, this was totally random; the coach didn\u2019t know we were going to get a PK while L was out. Yet I was bothered. Fortunately L took a great corner later in the half that a teammate tapped in for a goal and the 1\u20130 win.<\/p>\n
Her first basketball game is Wednesday night. They\u2019ve been practicing 2\u20133 times a week. I got asked to help last week when both of their coaches, who I coached with two years ago, we going to be late. The team is super athletic. We have some size, lots of speed. And our center is a setter in volleyball and knows how to make quick passes out of the post to cutters. If they can learn how to hit shots they could be really good.<\/p>\n
My expectation was that L would play off the bench. But from what I saw Friday, and from what she\u2019s told me, I think she\u2019s going to start at point guard. I hope she\u2019s ready to face sixth graders who play year-round.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s been loving it, though. I don\u2019t remember if I mentioned this already, but she told me a couple weeks ago that she wants to play basketball this winter and is reconsidering whether she plays club soccer next year because she likes basketball so much. It\u2019s been cool to see her connect with the sixth graders, too. I\u2019ve seen them run over and start talking to her as the walk into school in the mornings. One who lives near us invited her over to hang out this weekend. In some ways I think she connects better with them than her two classmates that are also on the team. Game recognizes game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First off, obviously there are some changes here. I finally got everything moved over to my new site host and, hopefully, functioning properly. There\u2019s still work to do: I need to pick a new theme that I like, I\u2019m having some trouble getting footnotes to work, and the Markdown text language I\u2019ve been writing in for years doesn\u2019t seem to be converting properly, which is messing with my head. Ten years ago when I was constantly messing around with how the site looked and worked, those fixes were easy. Now that I\u2019m out of practice, they are awfully tedious. But it does seem like I can post from my desktop and I can once again include images in my posts, so we\u2019re moving in the right direction. Now for some kid sports updates. The kickball season wrapped up last week. Neither C\u2019s or L\u2019s teams were super successful; C\u2019s team won only one game, L\u2019s team went 4\u20133 in a very tough division. Both girls had solid seasons. They both kicked pretty well and L was very good on defense. C has always played the suicide position next to the pitcher. She finally reached the age where that\u2019s not as important, so we tried to move her to the outfield against good kicking teams, but she was uncomfortable out there. She made a lot less plays because she was out of the spot she\u2019s been in since fourth grade. Amazingly we had only one night rained out all season, which is a new record. L said that was likely her final season to play, although I\u2019m hoping I can talk her into one more in the spring. While their teams didn\u2019t do all that well, one of our fourth grade teams won the City championship last week. That was a big deal, ending at least an 0\u20137 stretch in kickball City championship games for St. P\u2019s. Cross country is getting close to wrapping up. For C it\u2019s been a challenging year. She\u2019s been saying all season that she doesn\u2019t enjoy it as much as in the past. Her times have been a little slower, and it has not helped that our very warm September has meant she\u2019s been running in heat every week. She had still placed in three of her first four meets, and in the fourth meet she missed placing by one spot and 10 seconds. Saturday she ran her best time of the year, her second fastest time of the past two years, and her best time ever on that course. She snuck into the top 25 to get another ribbon on a day when a lot of good runners were really struggling. It looked like she was going to finish the season really strong. And then yesterday she could barely walk. We haven\u2019t taken her to get x-rayed but based on how the pain had been building for a few days and its location, S is reasonably certain C has a stress fracture in her foot. So we\u2019re pulling her out of this week\u2019s practices and meet, putting her into a walking book, and hoping that with the next weekend off, she\u2019ll be ready to run again for the City meet in two weeks. For M, XC has been a struggle. The practices are hard. The meets are really hard. She\u2019s often one of the very last runners on the course. She kept telling us that she was enjoying it, but we know that her performances are getting to her. Especially when she looks at her per-mile pace and compares it to C\u2019s. We try to find some positive in each week, and I remind her how many girls on her team decide not to run every week. She might be bringing up the rear, but she\u2019s out there trying. She did miss this weekend\u2019s meet because she was sick. That may have been a blessing because the course they ran on was super hilly and it could have gotten very ugly. She has just two more meets left. I would guess that she will not run next year, but this season has served its purpose: it helped her ease into high school and gave her an instant group of friends. And she will always be able to say that she earned a (JV) letter in cross country if she can survive the last couple meets. It\u2019s also been fun to hear her and C talking about running together. They struggle to connect at times and C craves her big sister\u2019s approval. Although their abilities are very different, at least XC has given them some common ground. While kickball has wrapped up, we are three weeks into soccer and about to start basketball for L. Her soccer team is 2\u20131\u20131, she is tied for the lead in goals and has the lead in assists despite missing a game. She\u2019s playing well, often more in a midfield role than her traditional forward spot. But she\u2019s also playing with a lot of girls who have a much lower soccer IQ and I think that frustrates her at times. It\u2019s been a little hard for me to watch from the sidelines. Although I was happy I did not have to coach her team this year, after doing it for three years I have a different perspective. I also don\u2019t believe parents on the sidelines should be yelling at kids on how to play. So I tend to lean over to S and mutter, \u201cWhat they hell are they doing?\u201d or \u201cWhy does he have that girl playing that position?\u201d I also get unreasonably bitter when L subs out, because it always happens at the worst time. Example: Saturday she started the second half on the bench. No big deal, it was hot, she ran hard in the first half. Naturally we get a penalty kick for a hand ball in the box. The girl we send to take the shot has no idea what to do and hits a dribbler the goalie saves easily. Last week when L took a PK, she blasted it into the corner where the goalie had no chance. Obviously, this was totally random; the coach didn\u2019t know we were going to get a PK while L was out. Yet I was bothered. Fortunately L took a great corner later in the half that a teammate tapped in for a goal and the 1\u20130 win. Her first basketball game is Wednesday night. They\u2019ve been practicing 2\u20133 times a week. I got asked to help last week when both of their coaches, who I coached with two years ago, we going to be late. The team is super athletic. We have some size, lots of speed. And our center is a setter in volleyball and knows how to make quick passes out of the post to cutters. If they can learn how to hit shots they could be really good. My expectation was that L would play off the bench. But from what I saw Friday, and from what she\u2019s told me, I think she\u2019s going to start at point guard. I hope she\u2019s ready to face sixth graders who play year-round. She\u2019s been loving it, though. I don\u2019t remember if I mentioned this already, but she told me a couple weeks ago that she wants to play basketball this winter and is reconsidering whether she plays club soccer next year because she likes basketball so much. It\u2019s been cool to see her connect with the sixth graders, too. I\u2019ve seen them run over and start talking to her as the walk into school in the mornings. One who lives near us invited her over to hang out this weekend. In some ways I think she connects better with them than her two classmates that are also on the team. Game recognizes game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31,137,98,37,30],"class_list":["post-7616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-basketball","tag-cross-country","tag-kickball","tag-soccer","tag-youth-sports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13139,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7616\/revisions\/13139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dsnotebook.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}