Sunday, December 14, 2008
The Soccer, It's Overwhelming
It's been quite a weekend. The annual SISCO indoor soccer tournament ran this weekend, and since I coach two teams (Brennan's Aurora Jets, Aidan's Aurora Apollo), I had to do double duty over the past few days. The craziness actually started with a non-tournament game on Thursday night, one that I didn't have to coach. Brennan, who is 9 and plays in a U12 Division 3 league, was called up for a Div 2 game for a team that was missing some players. They rode him like a horse, I have to say, and he really proved his worth for them. They had him on defense and gave him very few breaks; pretty much as soon as he was on the bench they were ready to send him back out. And when the game was over they approached us and asked if he would be willing to join the team for an out of town tournament at the end of January. Of course he's interested.
Anyhow, on to the tournament this weekend. On Friday Brennan's Jets played at 4:45pm, and then Aidan's Apollo at 6pm. Jets won 1-0, Apollo lost 5-2. Next morning, the Jets played at 8am and the Apollo at 8:30, so my assistants for Apollo had to run things for the first half, since my assistant for the Jets was out of town. Jets tied 1-1, Apollo won 2-1. Jets played again at 1pm, and lost 3-1. Apollo was on at 2pm (and I had to run over, but made it for the start of the game - lucky this was all in one facility) and won that one running away, 9-2. The first half of that game we scored in the opening ten seconds, and then Aidan kept us in the game, making save after save until the boys found their groove. It was 3-0 after the half, and we opened it up in the second. And then there was one more game that day, the Jets on at 6pm, where they played to a 0-0 tie.
10:30 that night I finally found out that the Jets had made it to the semi-finals, something that I already knew that Apollo had managed. And so the next morning we were there for the Apollo game, at the ridiculous hour of 7am. Frustratingly, the team we played had speed to burn, and for the first 15 minutes they rolled past us with ease, and soon it was 4-1 for them. We fought back, though, and I'm proud to say it was soon 4-4. But then two defensive lapses resulted in two goals for them, and on the flip side we missed what looked like two no-brainer goals. But still, I was very proud of the boys for fighting back and making a game of it.
The Jets were a little less lucky. The team they played in the semi was the team that beat them in the round robin, and they put the boots to us. In fact, the opening goal was scored after less than 20 seconds. We were tentative and scared of the ball, and it was obvious that three of the boys were sick (one had been puking the night before), and we were also missing one who'd been sick all weekend. Before we knew it we were down 4-0 (the last on a penalty shot), before Brennan scored a goal only seconds later, but we couldn't muster much more, and you could just see those poor kids' shoulders slumping in defeat and exhaustion, as the game finished with us on the very wrong end, 8-2.
Still, I'm proud of all of those boys. It's not the same Jets team that started the season with a 13-0 win, so we need to find them again, but everyone fought hard this weekend, and I can't fault a bunch of kids between 9 and 11 for coming out of such a long and difficult weekend with little or no energy left. Good for the Jets, and good for Apollo.
We are, needless to say, all exhausted.
Anyhow, on to the tournament this weekend. On Friday Brennan's Jets played at 4:45pm, and then Aidan's Apollo at 6pm. Jets won 1-0, Apollo lost 5-2. Next morning, the Jets played at 8am and the Apollo at 8:30, so my assistants for Apollo had to run things for the first half, since my assistant for the Jets was out of town. Jets tied 1-1, Apollo won 2-1. Jets played again at 1pm, and lost 3-1. Apollo was on at 2pm (and I had to run over, but made it for the start of the game - lucky this was all in one facility) and won that one running away, 9-2. The first half of that game we scored in the opening ten seconds, and then Aidan kept us in the game, making save after save until the boys found their groove. It was 3-0 after the half, and we opened it up in the second. And then there was one more game that day, the Jets on at 6pm, where they played to a 0-0 tie.
10:30 that night I finally found out that the Jets had made it to the semi-finals, something that I already knew that Apollo had managed. And so the next morning we were there for the Apollo game, at the ridiculous hour of 7am. Frustratingly, the team we played had speed to burn, and for the first 15 minutes they rolled past us with ease, and soon it was 4-1 for them. We fought back, though, and I'm proud to say it was soon 4-4. But then two defensive lapses resulted in two goals for them, and on the flip side we missed what looked like two no-brainer goals. But still, I was very proud of the boys for fighting back and making a game of it.
The Jets were a little less lucky. The team they played in the semi was the team that beat them in the round robin, and they put the boots to us. In fact, the opening goal was scored after less than 20 seconds. We were tentative and scared of the ball, and it was obvious that three of the boys were sick (one had been puking the night before), and we were also missing one who'd been sick all weekend. Before we knew it we were down 4-0 (the last on a penalty shot), before Brennan scored a goal only seconds later, but we couldn't muster much more, and you could just see those poor kids' shoulders slumping in defeat and exhaustion, as the game finished with us on the very wrong end, 8-2.
Still, I'm proud of all of those boys. It's not the same Jets team that started the season with a 13-0 win, so we need to find them again, but everyone fought hard this weekend, and I can't fault a bunch of kids between 9 and 11 for coming out of such a long and difficult weekend with little or no energy left. Good for the Jets, and good for Apollo.
We are, needless to say, all exhausted.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Kids' Soccer
So for some reason I find myself coaching both Aidan and Brennan again this year. I had insisted that I would only be a co-coach or assistant coach for Brennan, since when we get out on the field he and I tend to butt heads. But, it wasn't to be; turned out that the club was having real difficulties getting even unqualified volunteers, and so in the end I stepped back to the plate.
They do things different here. The city has a number of clubs, and these clubs enter teams into a city-wife league. Our club is Aurora (it's based on where you live), which is the largest club in the city. In the four age groups - U18, U16, U14, and U12 - we have fielded 48 teams. These age groups are further divided, of course, into Boys and Girls, and then into Premier, Division II, Division III, and Division IV.
Neither boy stood a chance of making the Premier teams, in U14 for Aidan (Aurora Apollo) and U12 for Brennan (Aurora Jets), largely because the teams had to have their rosters set before open tryouts happened. Because we had just moved from out of town, both boys had to start with Div III tryouts, and Aidan went through a couple more rounds before he was ultimately relegated to Div III. Brennan came close to making the cut for an additional Div II tryout, but in the end also had to settle for III. Since it's a U12 league and he doesn't turn 10 until February, he understands this isn't a bad thing.
One of the things that's different here is that, as a coach, I actually had to draft players for my team, which meant we had to go and watch the boys play for a viewing. Each coach of course got to hang on to his own boy, and a few times if you drafted one player you had to get another (I, for instance, have twins on the Jets). But both times I got first draft, where we picked for 4 teams in the U14 and 3 in the U12. It was fun, but difficult, and I took a different plan to each draft.
With the Apollo, for instance, I know for a fact that in Aidan I have the best keeper in Aurora for this group (and maybe for Div II as well, since a combination of him being tight and unpracticed and coaches who didn't know him conspired to push him down), and so my first pick was a fast kid with good feet and a remarkably hard shot. And imagine my joy to find when my 2nd pick came, 8th overall, that the kid I rated the best defender on the pitch was still available. We're two games into the preseason now, and after having given up the first goal each game, we won 4-2 and 5-1. My top pick has only scored one goal in those two games, but he's causing the other teams all sorts of fits, and when they focus so much on him it leaves plenty of room for lots of other talented players. Bonus: I put this kid in goal for the second half of the second game, and he played well and even ran the ball out to past half to try and set up a play. And, Aidan scored a goal in his brief time out on forward (where he shows great footwork, incidentally, although he's not the fastest kid when he has the ball).
Brennan can play keeper as well, but his talents loom largest when he's out on the pitch. Defender, midfielder, forward, he's a threat no matter where he goes. For the Jets, my first pick was a keeper. I wasn't as sure about this team from the beginning, partly because I thought the talent pool I saw at the tryouts wasn't as deep (and yes, I'm accounting for age difference), and the first exhibition game was a tough 2-1 loss. But now we're into the regular season already, and the first game, in which we had precisely zero (0) subs, we won 4-1, and then tonight the boys absolutely manhandled their opponents, 13-0. Brennan scored 3 goals, and the boys I drafted to be keeper scored 4, to go with one he scored the other day. And yes, I did everything in my power to mix things up, putting defenders up front (where one promptly scored a hat trick), forwards in back, changed keepers, insisted that the boys pass more and more, but everything conspired against their opponents tonight. But the boys were gentlemen about things, and they seemed to understand my concern about making the other kids feel worse than they must have already.
I can't say that either team is going to go undefeated this year, but my goodness, it's nuts how lucky I've gotten, not just with the sheer talent of these kids, but also their willingness to listen and to buy into a system.
They do things different here. The city has a number of clubs, and these clubs enter teams into a city-wife league. Our club is Aurora (it's based on where you live), which is the largest club in the city. In the four age groups - U18, U16, U14, and U12 - we have fielded 48 teams. These age groups are further divided, of course, into Boys and Girls, and then into Premier, Division II, Division III, and Division IV.
Neither boy stood a chance of making the Premier teams, in U14 for Aidan (Aurora Apollo) and U12 for Brennan (Aurora Jets), largely because the teams had to have their rosters set before open tryouts happened. Because we had just moved from out of town, both boys had to start with Div III tryouts, and Aidan went through a couple more rounds before he was ultimately relegated to Div III. Brennan came close to making the cut for an additional Div II tryout, but in the end also had to settle for III. Since it's a U12 league and he doesn't turn 10 until February, he understands this isn't a bad thing.
One of the things that's different here is that, as a coach, I actually had to draft players for my team, which meant we had to go and watch the boys play for a viewing. Each coach of course got to hang on to his own boy, and a few times if you drafted one player you had to get another (I, for instance, have twins on the Jets). But both times I got first draft, where we picked for 4 teams in the U14 and 3 in the U12. It was fun, but difficult, and I took a different plan to each draft.
With the Apollo, for instance, I know for a fact that in Aidan I have the best keeper in Aurora for this group (and maybe for Div II as well, since a combination of him being tight and unpracticed and coaches who didn't know him conspired to push him down), and so my first pick was a fast kid with good feet and a remarkably hard shot. And imagine my joy to find when my 2nd pick came, 8th overall, that the kid I rated the best defender on the pitch was still available. We're two games into the preseason now, and after having given up the first goal each game, we won 4-2 and 5-1. My top pick has only scored one goal in those two games, but he's causing the other teams all sorts of fits, and when they focus so much on him it leaves plenty of room for lots of other talented players. Bonus: I put this kid in goal for the second half of the second game, and he played well and even ran the ball out to past half to try and set up a play. And, Aidan scored a goal in his brief time out on forward (where he shows great footwork, incidentally, although he's not the fastest kid when he has the ball).
Brennan can play keeper as well, but his talents loom largest when he's out on the pitch. Defender, midfielder, forward, he's a threat no matter where he goes. For the Jets, my first pick was a keeper. I wasn't as sure about this team from the beginning, partly because I thought the talent pool I saw at the tryouts wasn't as deep (and yes, I'm accounting for age difference), and the first exhibition game was a tough 2-1 loss. But now we're into the regular season already, and the first game, in which we had precisely zero (0) subs, we won 4-1, and then tonight the boys absolutely manhandled their opponents, 13-0. Brennan scored 3 goals, and the boys I drafted to be keeper scored 4, to go with one he scored the other day. And yes, I did everything in my power to mix things up, putting defenders up front (where one promptly scored a hat trick), forwards in back, changed keepers, insisted that the boys pass more and more, but everything conspired against their opponents tonight. But the boys were gentlemen about things, and they seemed to understand my concern about making the other kids feel worse than they must have already.
I can't say that either team is going to go undefeated this year, but my goodness, it's nuts how lucky I've gotten, not just with the sheer talent of these kids, but also their willingness to listen and to buy into a system.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Aidan, Opening Up a Science Fair-Sized Can of Whupass
Yes, that would be my son with a gold medal and a slightly more ostentatious item, the Ministry of Environment - Environment Award (Special). The trophy stays with the school for the year, but he received a suitable-for-framing certificate as well as a $50 gift certificate for Books and Company.
Six kids from his school, six gold medals, and three other special awards. These kids rocked today!
Yes, that would be my son with a gold medal and a slightly more ostentatious item, the Ministry of Environment - Environment Award (Special). The trophy stays with the school for the year, but he received a suitable-for-framing certificate as well as a $50 gift certificate for Books and Company.
Six kids from his school, six gold medals, and three other special awards. These kids rocked today!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Much To Be Proud Of
Of course, I'm proud of my boys any time of the day, but they've both managed some special moments for themselves these past few days.
Aidan was sick last week, and so was away from school on the week they had their science fair. This year the school made participation mandatory for grades four through seven. Teachers marked each project for part of their class science mark, and then chose the top five to go on to a school-wide event. Because Aidan wasn't there, he wasn't able to do the oral presentation for his teacher, but she was so impressed with his project (more on that in a moment) that she moved him on. On Friday I showed up at the school to pick up the project and was met by one of the judges out in the parking lot (some of the parents are scientists/researchers, and so were judges). She told me she was monumentally impressed with his project, and so were the other judges, and felt that if he did a good oral presentation the next week, he should go on. Kids were excitedly telling me the same in the hallway, and the principal confirmed this. And so on Monday a still-tied Aidan attended school and did his oral presentation twice, once for class and once for a judge. And wouldn't you know it, he moves on to the regional science fair up at UNBC, one of six from his school.
The project was on greenhouse gases. He took a terrarium and built a small city on a landform on one side and another landform on the other, using Lego and clay. In between was the "ocean," and on the second landform was a "glacier," a large block of ice. The terrarium was lidded, with a thermometer probe inside, and then a fairly hot work lammp was shone from the outside. Temperatures were taken every fifteen minutes, and the time the glacier finished melting was marked. Then it was done a second time, with CO2 added by mixing baking soda and vinegar, and then it was done a third time, with CO2 also added midway through. Interestingly, that third test sped up the melting and brought the temperature up higher at the end. All this came to Aidan because he recently watched An Inconvenient Truth. I'll update after the regional event.
As for Brennan, he turned 8 last week, and for his party this past weekend he decided he didn't want his friends to bring presents. Instead, he asked them to bring the approximate equal amount of money, and is donating that money to the African Wildlife Foundation to adopt some animals and now, because he received so much money, he'll adopt a polar bear as well. With the money he kicked in himself, he received over $300, which means he'll be doing several adoptions.
I had talked with Aidan about doing something like this, since he's soon going to be 11, but I hadn't intended to broach the subject yet with Bren. But he overheard us talking, and decided he would do it himself. And so we put our heads together and searched for a good place for the money to go. It was a big decision for a little guy, and he handled himself with aplomb the whole time. Not even cranky after the fact when it might have hit home that he wouldn't be getting the usual haul of presents.
Of course, I'm proud of my boys any time of the day, but they've both managed some special moments for themselves these past few days.
Aidan was sick last week, and so was away from school on the week they had their science fair. This year the school made participation mandatory for grades four through seven. Teachers marked each project for part of their class science mark, and then chose the top five to go on to a school-wide event. Because Aidan wasn't there, he wasn't able to do the oral presentation for his teacher, but she was so impressed with his project (more on that in a moment) that she moved him on. On Friday I showed up at the school to pick up the project and was met by one of the judges out in the parking lot (some of the parents are scientists/researchers, and so were judges). She told me she was monumentally impressed with his project, and so were the other judges, and felt that if he did a good oral presentation the next week, he should go on. Kids were excitedly telling me the same in the hallway, and the principal confirmed this. And so on Monday a still-tied Aidan attended school and did his oral presentation twice, once for class and once for a judge. And wouldn't you know it, he moves on to the regional science fair up at UNBC, one of six from his school.
The project was on greenhouse gases. He took a terrarium and built a small city on a landform on one side and another landform on the other, using Lego and clay. In between was the "ocean," and on the second landform was a "glacier," a large block of ice. The terrarium was lidded, with a thermometer probe inside, and then a fairly hot work lammp was shone from the outside. Temperatures were taken every fifteen minutes, and the time the glacier finished melting was marked. Then it was done a second time, with CO2 added by mixing baking soda and vinegar, and then it was done a third time, with CO2 also added midway through. Interestingly, that third test sped up the melting and brought the temperature up higher at the end. All this came to Aidan because he recently watched An Inconvenient Truth. I'll update after the regional event.
As for Brennan, he turned 8 last week, and for his party this past weekend he decided he didn't want his friends to bring presents. Instead, he asked them to bring the approximate equal amount of money, and is donating that money to the African Wildlife Foundation to adopt some animals and now, because he received so much money, he'll adopt a polar bear as well. With the money he kicked in himself, he received over $300, which means he'll be doing several adoptions.
I had talked with Aidan about doing something like this, since he's soon going to be 11, but I hadn't intended to broach the subject yet with Bren. But he overheard us talking, and decided he would do it himself. And so we put our heads together and searched for a good place for the money to go. It was a big decision for a little guy, and he handled himself with aplomb the whole time. Not even cranky after the fact when it might have hit home that he wouldn't be getting the usual haul of presents.
Labels: kids
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