Matthew’s Basketball Game

I’ve compiled about two and a half minutes of Matthew’s on court adventures into one file; you can find that here.  He scores two baskets and has at least two or three more chances that don’t go in (and two miss pretty badly…)

Highlights(?):

• The kid is all over the place.  They are supposed to play man to man and not all go to the ball, but, in the first quarter at least (about the first four plays of the tape) he was matched up against one of the weaker players on the other team and I think you can tell that Matthew’s decided that he doesn’t need to guard him too close.  He’s constantly cheating over towards the ball on defense.
• He’s not afraid to shoot.  I bet other parents are calling him a ball hog; if he’s open, he’s going to take the shot.  He did pass a little more later in the game, but, early on, he was going for it. 
• I didn’t use any video from the 2nd half but he had at least three chances for easy lay-ups after rebounds (similar to what you see in the tape in the first half) and missed them…..my introduction to basketball coaching has at least brought me enough knowledge to be able to tell him today what he was doing wrong.  The layup in the first half you can see he’s coming in more from the side; the ones in the second half he came almost straight at the basket from the middle of the court; that’s a much harder shot. 
• I didn’t capture the aftermath on video but you’ll see him diving to save the ball twice in the clip…..that second time he hurt himself a little bit and came up limping as he ran down the court.  His legs have all kinds of bruises on them right now from basketball and today’s snow adventures…..

Polish

So, you see the title….did you think

a) this post refers to a young man of Eastern European descent?

or

b) something that you might do a table, or a musical piece?

We’re talking about the second definition, where my part-Polish son was reintroduced to the concept of polishing his musical pieces so that his work is of the highest quality. 

You can see Kevin’s performance at the District Solo & Ensemble Festival if you click on the link.  The piece should sound familiar, it’s the very-famous Bach Suite #1 (transcribed for viola). 

You can see the judge’s comments here.  I taped them (to her dismay) so that Kevin’s private instructor could hear them first-hand, not second hand.  The sum total is the familiar story….you have talent, but, you need to take the time to master the piece and get all you can out of it. 

Kevin did achieve the highest rating (a ‘1’) for his performance (you may not believe that after hearing the judge’s critique….someone had told Kevin before he went in that she was ‘nice’; I don’t think she as mean, but both Kevin and I thought there was no chance he would get a ‘1’…..).  This means, I think, that he qualifies for the State Solo & Ensemble Festival. 

Of course, as we’re walking out, Kevin tells me that he wants to learn a new piece for that event (in a month or two).  I’m adamant that my Polish son will polish the Bach towards perfection……

Sports Update:  Christopher’s team won by almost 30…..if you enter third graders in a fourth grade league, you get what you deserve.  He did prove he’s a true center though, he had more fouls (4) than he had points (3).  The fouls I knew were coming, he’s been talking and talking in practice about fouling back if he got fouled and ‘voila!”, there they are.  Hope this was a good lesson.  His points were a made bucket (on a foul!) and him making the free-throw for the three point play in the first quarter.

I have mucho-video of Matthew and will post that later!  They lost, but, I refuse to call the game he is playing basketball anymore..it’s basket-rugby.

What’s going on this weekend?

Kevin:  I would love to know if they called back everybody who tried out (or every boy) for the musical…..very surprised to hear that Kevin was called back!  He’s one of six boys called back for three speaking (but not singing) parts.  That call back occurs today and we find out on Monday if he gets one of the parts.

Kevin also has his solo & ensemble performance on Saturday; I’ll have tape of that online Sunday I’m sure.  We also will be filming/recording his audition for Interlochen.  I think that Kevin would prefer to go to Blue Lake for composition, but, if he can get a decent scholarship to ‘lochen, well, he might go there as well.

Christopher:  More basketball….against another group of third graders.  I predict…..pain.  He’s getting more….nasty…about getting fouled (since it’s happening a lot and the calls aren’t occurring).  In practice, he hasn’t been hesitating in fouling right back.  This is a complete 180 from football and it makes me really curious what’s going to happen when football comes around again.

Kevin will be doing some taping; going to try and get some pictures as well……

Matthew:  Has another baskugby game Saturday.  Came to both of Christopher’s practices this week and definitely had his moments in the scrimmage at the end; one of Christopher’s teammates didn’t bother guarding Matthew all that closely (not sure why…) and his team paid for it as Matthew sunk three shots from outside…swish! 

Spring Break 2011

I would be remiss if I didn’t blog about the planning that’s gone into trying to figure out what the heck we are doing at the end of March and early April.  We’ve been trying to hammer this out since Christmas, and we still don’t have it resolved what exactly we are going to be up to.

What I do know:

1)  We are most likely going to be spending the better part of two weeks away

2)  One week will certainly be in Orlando

3)  Some part of the other week (or, the whole week) will be spent on a cruise.

(I started this post about 3 weeks ago….I guess I can finish it now!)

(Matthew is ready for Spring Break!)

Plans, for the most part, are finalized now.  We’ll be heading to Florida on the weekend of Matthew’s Birthday; we’ll be stopping in Niceville for a day, heading to Orlando for 4 days (where we will definitely be doing the Harry Potter experience at Universal) and then heading over to Port Canaveral (where we’ll go to the Kennedy Space center) and then board the boat.

Boat?  Ship….big ship!

(The Carnival Dream)

I’m a little bit in the doghouse right now because I haven’t been ‘participating’ in Suzanne’s exhaustive research about different shore excursions (my excuse?  I’m really busy at work AND I have this black and gold distraction going on right now.  Check back in 3 weeks!).   We are touring the Western Caribbean (Cozumel, Belize, Roatan Honduras, and Costa Maya) and we’re trying to figure out what to do where.  I know we’ll be doing a fair bit of snorkeling….stingrays and nurse sharks seem to be the big attractions so that will be pretty awesome. 

More Mid-Week Musings

Christopher:  The basketball team won last weekend 42-26; Christopher had 8 points in the first half, including one stretch in the 2nd quarter where he hit three straight.  I’m running out of great things to say about him; he’s just a monster in the middle…even in our scrimmages at practice it’s so obvious how when the other team comes into the middle to shoot after shedding their defender they pull up and shoot before Christopher can move over and change their shot because his big arms and body are in the way. 

One sour note:  had a weigh-in recently and he’s bulked up quite a bit…..he did the same thing last winter and slimmed out a bit as the spring (and good weather and more running) arrived.  He’s still ‘ok’ by the charts, but, it was a definite jump that we were surprised by.

Kevin:  Performed at All-State; did well….I’m looking forward to hearing the CD when it arrives.  Tried out for the high school musical yesterday; we’re not expecting anything more than a role in the chorus, but, you never know.   He’s hoping to get one of the parts with lines, but not songs, since well, he feels he’s a better actor than singer.  We’ll see.

Semester finals have come and gone, looks like Kevin will finish with straight A’s.  Right now he is signing up for AP classes; looks like he’ll be in AP World History next year and get to skip one year of English based on his ACT scores.

Matthew:  His team lost both basketball games on Saturday; the first one wasn’t particularly close.  I find I’m not enjoying Matthew’s game; they are rec level and they aren’t calling fouls, or double dribbling, or travelling, or anything.  So, the result is that the game looks like basketball-rugby.  Matthew was driving to the basketball and got fouled so hard in the first game that he almost did a flip as he went to the ground…..

Steeler Fans:  Matthew and Christopher firmly onboard the Super Bowl wagon; both wore their jerseys to school on Tuesday (it was Jersey Day during Spirit Week…).  Kevin is apathetic, and Suzanne is accommodating but wants it to be over so that I can focus on Spring Break, not Steelers.

He heard me typing….

Even as I was typing the comment in the last post about Matthew’s free-throw shooting I was thinking “you know, that’s probably not fair, overall, he’s going to make a higher percentage than Christopher”.  But, that’s the way it went down at Tuesday’s practice, so, that’s the way it was recorded.

So, today at practice, the other coach says let’s divide the team in two, each kid takes 10 shots.  Matthew this time is the lead in my group, making seven (Cpher had 4).  The same good guard (Brook) has the lead in the other group, again with 7. 

We decide to have a shoot-off; the top shooter in each group represents the 5 players….whomever loses has to do suicides with the rest of his group.  The team lines up on each side of the ‘box'….the shots commence.

Matthew steps up.  Swish,swish, swish, swish….miss.  4 of 5.  The other 9 kids (especially the ones not in Matthew’s group) are going “Whoa!”.  Brook’s turn.   During this interlude the other coach turns to me and says “He is playing basketball, right?”….

Brook goes swish, swish, swish, swish….miss.  It’s tied after the first round.

Matthew steps up again.  miss.  swish.  swish.  swish.  swish.  Brook does the same, it’s tied, no suicides’s, everyone is off to get water.  Matthew, after his shots, took a deep breath to exhale, it was pretty obvious he was feeling the pressure.  I think this drill was the closest we’ve come to replicating the game pressure (and we put some other kids through it in the middle and at the end of practice) to show them just how things change when you have the weight on your shoulders….

But man, under pressure, that boy was just cold as ice.  Teach me to not give him his due in the blog! 

Mid Week Musings

• Working out of the car and at Buffalo Wild Wings while I wait for Kevin after his first day of All-State rehearsals.  I let him drive here (Grand Rapids) from home; our first trip on the the Interstate.  He did fine except for not being able to keep a constant speed, but, that was to be expected.
• Musical tryouts are next week; you can hear Kevin singing and practicing if you cock an ear towards the basement….I don’t expect much here, he’s a freshman, he’s not in choir, so, I feel he’s destined for a role in the general chorus.  We’ll see…
• I don’t think I’ve mentioned that part of Kevin’s viola lessons are some instruction on music theory…he’s progressed to the point that he’s composed a piece (a waltz) in five parts (2 violins, a viola, a cello, and a bass).  I need to install his music software on this computer to figure out how to have the computer play the music and get a sound file of it.  He’s hoping to submit the piece and be accepted into Blue Lake’s new composition program…..
• In the mail the other day was the generic announcement from the school that our fourth grader was going to start receiving some sex ed content soon…..don’t know if I’m ready for Christopher to get this.  I anticipate a lot of follow-up as he brings home questions……
• I think I’ve mentioned that Matthew’s basketball practices and soccer practices are at the exact same time and it’s a problem.  I think we’ve come to a resolution; he’s asked to come along to Christopher’s practice.  He holds his own in the drills and I think it’s good for him to be practicing with the bigger (and better) boys…..
• Speaking of the last practice; they had a drill where each kid had nine fouls shots…..no one made nine, no one made eight, the good guard made 7 and I’m just shocked that the next best kid was Christopher at six!  Matthew, for reference, made only three.  Christopher is enjoying being able to tell his brother “I’m better than you at basketball….” and a little of that is ok, given how soccer has been for so long. 
• Itunes Library crashed….Ugh!  That’s several hours of reloading the music and movies into the library; hate when that happens! 

“I was awe-some!”

So says Christopher after today’s basketball game!  And he is right.  We won, 22-13, beating the undefeated Ionia team. 

Christopher scored six points that he later told us were “one basket for Mom, one for Dad, one for Matthew”.  We told him he needs to score one for Kevin, for the dogs, the cats, etc.  He had a ton of rebounds….what was really cool was in the fourth quarter, when each team can press, he was getting the rebounds and quickly passing the ball up court for breakaway layups.  He’s always hustling; he’s picked up their guards who are coming in on breakaways and stopping them, it’s really cool to see how his court awareness has improved.   One time the other team’s guard (and each team always seems to have one really good guard) had dribbled past one guy, past another, and came into the middle where Christopher was.  Christopher literally reached out and pulled the ball out of the guy’s hands…..other times kids dribble into the middle and completely change their shot when confronted by 62+ inches of boy….again, it’s pretty awe-some to see!

I don’t think I have enough words to express how proud of him I am….too often things are difficult for the big guy; I’m glad this seems to be easy and he’s excelling at it. 

He dresses well too…..

 

PS.  That awesome?  You need to more sing it than say it…a real high ‘awe’ followed by the ‘some’….

A More Detailed Weekend Update

Kevin:  He had the best line of the weekend so far this morning when he woke up ‘I woke up and it wasn’t a dream…the Seahawks did win!”.

Anyway, the Winter Walden ski adventures are still going.  The program has levels you progress through as you take lessons and Kevin has said he’s just a little bit shy of reaching the end of the levels.  Some days (like this Saturday), they offer a ski competition where an adult racer sets the time down the course and the kids follow the same course and see how they can do.

Like everything (for the most part) now; you can find his results online.

I have no idea what the handicap means or how it’s calculated and I assume that the times listed are in the order that he attempted them.  I’ll have to ask him about the handicaps.  I really like that he can do this and he’s gotten good at it; I’ve never been skiing and am sure that I never will at this point….

Christopher:  So, after the game, as we’re shaking hands, the Dewitt coach says “you know, it’s not really fair that our teams are in the same division…I’m not sure why they do that….maybe you guys should be in a different division”.

Ummm, we are in the right league.  The Dewitt basketball ‘gods’ decided to move their 4th grade team to a different league and have their third graders play in our league, which is primarily (but not exclusively), fourth graders.  So, at halftime, when the score is 26-2, well, the game is effectively over and we’re just going through the motions in the second half.

Cpher had four of our first six points and had an ungodly amount of rebounds; this will happen when you are at least a foot taller than most of the kids on the other team.  He’s really becoming more comfortable with the game and what he’s supposed to do; it’s fun to watch.

Matthew:  The first game of the rec league was about 90 minutes after the end of Cpher’s game.  Matthew made two baskets, one close-in and one jumper from long-range. 

I didn’t sit next to Suzanne during the game (dragooned for volunteer-scoreboard duty) but she mentioned afterwards just how much Matthew wants to go the right.  He’s a rightie, it’s natural, but, man, if he was on the left, he would, every time, dribble around the perimeter to get over to the right before even thinking about taking a shot. 

At this age (still beginner basketball..,.,Christopher could be playing here and watching this game really really made me glad that I had Christopher try out for the competitive team…) you can’t steal, you can only pick off passes.  Matthew is all into this; probably to the detriment of his overall defense, if he misses the pass his guy is going to go right by him.  Overall, he’s in the top quarter in terms of size so when he’s guarding someone he does a pretty decent job of it.

No game next weekend (no games on weekends when school is out on the Fri or Mon) but two the week after…..

Quick Weekend Update

Kevin:  Achieved a ‘gold’ rating in his skiing races today; this is a first, never higher than silver before. 

Christopher:  4 points in the first quarter as his team blew out a team of third graders.  He had a good game while it was still a game…

Matthew:  4 points in the first game of the year; a win. 

More on all of this later….

Things

• Matthew’s first soccer practice was this week; as expected, the team is going to be split into two teams.  As stated before, I think this is nothing but good for Matthew.  I do sympathize with some of the other parents who are going to have their children move away from the better players, but, it will give those kids more of a chance to shine and play and I think that has to be viewed as a positive.  We had a parent meeting afterwards and I asked the white elephant question….”when are you going to choose who is on which team?”.  Not that I had any concerns, but, couldn’t believe nobody else was asking. I guess the nice thing about asking was it earned me a call from the coach afterwards….he was very nice and said a lot of nice things about Matthew….really happy with how he’s playing, definitely in the upper group, and they strongly considered moving him and one other boy up an age level before they added enough players to split the team at this level.    So that’s all good.
• I am not rooting for the Colts this weekend; if they win, they play the Steelers.  I’ve already made it clear in that situation that my youngest better prepare to go watch that game up the street….he’s *not* going to be allowed to watch it here!
• It’s another book report weekend for Christopher…..a lot of this can happen on powerpoint so that should make it easier.  He’s still seeing the tutor twice a week.
• Had a little fun with Kevin this week (he has regained his table tennis title, sadly).  Kevin received an iHome as a present; his old iDock wouldn’t handle his new iPhone and we wanted him to have something that would amplify his alarm since he was having difficulty waking up for it.  So, on Monday, at 6 am, I’m waiting to hear Kevin rousting about…..nothing.  Go down, he’s zonked with 2 cats, and Holly jumps up and wakes him up as I get him up and ask what happened?  6 pm it all becomes clear as his alarm goes off…..      Tuesday, 6 am, no Kevin.  Same story.  Tuesday night, Mom and Dad are getting on Kevin….come on, can’t you set a clock?  Lot’s of excuses (there’s no am or pm sign!), lots of bluster, we finally ask “why didn’t you just set your phone for the alarm?”…..”Oooooooh….”.   The rest of this week has gone well……
• One last story….we had 'misplaced’ the rubric for the book report amidst the Christmas chaos, so, Christopher knew that he had to ask for another copy on Monday.  He comes home, tells me hid so, and says that he told his teacher that “the paper was underneath a paper towel that had a grilled cheese sandwich and the dogs reached up onto the counter and ate it…”.   So, we have a long talk about why he felt like he had to make up a story and I asked him not to do that again.  Talk to the teacher later this week and apologize….she says 1) she believed him and 2) it was the very first time a student had used the phrase ‘a dog ate my homework’ with her.

Prognostication

I think I’ve previously posted here that Suzanne and I participate in a football pool; pick the winners, rank each game from 1 to 16, and the person with the most aggregate points wins. 

Suzanne, by total points, this year, kicked my butt.  She’s in 4th, I’m like 42nd or something like that (out of 60 something entrants).  But, for a while, I had bragging rights because I won a week.  Suzanne won about two or three weeks later, so, there went that.

The last week of football brought me a present; I won again (I’ve done so well I don’t even need tonight’s game to win…only lost two games for a total of 6 points down the drain).  So, while Suzanne’s overall ranking in the pool may be much higher than mine, the only thing that counts (dolla dolla bills y’all) has me bringing in more than her.

It’s a competitive world around here (I am back on top of the table tennis world!); I’m glad I’m ahead on this front!