Great practice everyone!

Thanks to all who showed up for practice tonight. We were only missing Noah and Mia, so good turnout. I know it's a non-game week, but the level of commitment is still great. We don't always get to play against others, but we always have to be prepared.

I know it's getting dark earlier and it gets cold by the end of practice. Make sure kids are at least bringing a jacket or sweatshirt to put on before and after practices.

We are running more to keep warm so make sure your kids have water at practice.

October 11, 2008

I am seriously going to cry. I had the ENTIRE blog for this past Saturday ready to go and ...poof...it was gone.

So, as I find a little something to go in my hot chocolate, I'll at least get the pictures back up and write in them tomorrow.

Trying for pictures again

Blogger lets me add ONE photo at a time, so I'll keep coming back to do one at a time. Definitely some glitch. Usually, it's five at a time.

Faith wins! She gets to be goalie.







Riley, Hannah and Logan vying for the ball.

Pictures...maybe

October 4, 2008

Rhinos vs. Osprey. I guess I need to review the coaching handbook, or better yet throw it out, and just assume we will provide both referees at every game, HOME or VISITOR. It's just easier to take control and responsibility. I'm not saying the other coach was wrong, per se, but I'm fairly sure they were supposed to provide one referee.

Anyway, in addition to ref'ing, as I had already planned to do, Coach Andrew Roberts had to referee as well. Thanks for jumping in there to help out even more than you had initially signed up for. I think we need to get Andrew Roberts a shirt saying "World's Greatest Interim Assistant Parent Coach and Referee". I was appalled that you had to both referee and coach. Thank you for helping. As much as I wish I could be in two places at once, I haven't figured it out yet. Which is why I love the dishwasher. I can do dishes while physically being somewhere else. I digress...

Soccer, our kids were great. As the HOME team we didn't switch fields at half-time, but I did figure out how to see all the kids play. The coaches switch fields. I like seeing everyone play and it works well this way. First half was a pretty even match-up. Even though I think our passing and overall skill were better as a team, they had a couple of little players that were clearly not only natural athletes, but cared about the game and doing well.

I called several personal fouls this game, and I'm not sure what to think about that. We actually worked on keeping our arms down in practice this past week, but I saw alot of flying elbows. Maybe the slippery conditions played a factor, but there was also alot of kicking at feet instead of kicking at the ball. Good practice to learn how to take indirect free kicks, but a coach never wishes that the fouls were being called on her team.

Oh, and if you see me calling things against our kids and not the other team as much, it's usually because I know our kids and what they are capable of. If I see one of ours flailing at someone with their feet, I know they know better. If I see the other team doing the same thing, I give them the benefit of the doubt. Once. Then, I start calling on that player. I actually blew the whistle on #11 (I think) from the other team about her wildly swinging elbows. No one heard the whistle, and by then we had the ball back so a free kick was a moot point and probably unhelpful. Still, I spoke with her at half. She was a great player and I would hate to see her get so out of control that she gets called on fouls that she could control.

I'm having trouble loading the photos for some reason. I will blame Aaron Oxenrieder for that. He was our photog and overloaded my camera with pictures of our kids.

Just kidding. I don't know why they aren't working. I think it's a temporary Blogger glitch. I assume all things computer are self-healing. If I come back tomorrow, it will probably work.

Thanks Aaron for taking pictures. I appreciate it very much. I am a little bit of a control freak and would love to take the pictures, coach, referee, keep the time, cram an orange in everyone's mouth at half-time, but I can't possibly do all that. So, Laura kept the time...Thank you! Aaron took the pictures...Thank you! Andrew coached and ref'd...Thank you! Gary yelled when the time was up...Thank you! I'm certain I've missed someone, but still...Thank you!

Will try to upload, download, whateverload the pictures tomorrow.

Thursday Practice - October 2, 2008

What a good practice we had today! I was impressed with the running the kids did. Much less meandering around. More get the ball and get back to business.

Thanks Benjamin for indulging me in a little one-on-one and then schooling me to keep me in my place.

Ashton, as always, just when I think I'm about to get to the ball first, there you are. Well done.

I liked watching everyone today and seeing the progress, skills and goofy faces. Your kids are super fun.