Quizbusters – 2013 Round One

 

Another year, another season of Quizbusters!  The 25th season as a matter of fact.

Hey, that’s Kevin in the Captain’s chair!  (He only found out last week that he was voted the captaincy….this year’s team plus alumni vote).

So, those three from left to right?  All NM semifinalists.  And Ravi, a sophomore, who yes, is very short.  This picture was taken before the ritual adjusting of the chairs (even when they have Kevin’s all the way down and Ravi’s all the way up there is still a noticeable difference).

So, we won, 470-190 over Portland.  But it wasn’t as easy as that sounds…..the team buzzed in several times and didn’t get the right answer and gave toss-ups away to the other team.  So, lots and lots of room for improvement.

Captain Kevin did ok…missed his first question but got more than a few later on.  Will do the full rundown once the episode airs (it was the first episode taped, so, should be on air here pretty shortly….and then there are 31 more episodes PLUS second round episodes before we see the team again).

From The Sports Desk – Two Weeks of Football Edition

 

The video isn’t good, there are few pictures…..let’s get on with it.

Last Weekend; Cpher:  Lost, by a lot, to Haslett.  Thought he played fairly well but he really got yelled at late in the 4th quarter for completely missing a blitzing linebacker who was coming in from the outside.  Not sure why he didn’t pick the guy up (I have continuing questions that Cpher is not sure on any given play who he is supposed to block…do we run a zone-blocking scheme or do we not?  need to talk with coach!) but man did the coach let him know about it…pulled him off the field (for the first time that game) to give it to him!

Last Weekend; Matthew; Lost, by a lot, to Lansing Catholic.  I’ve come to understand that Matthew has been asked to play the Will linebacker position….and consequently he is tasked with reading and reacting and I think this placement is a complete waste of Matthew’s aggressiveness and ability.

Of course, as I always remind him when he gets frustrated, he isn’t at practice all that much.  So we can be frustrated, but, that is the end of that.

Not much better on offense…..the line really can’t block, the qb threw 3 interceptions out of the first four passes and twice the QB ran into the wrong place on a running play and hit Matthew who was coming out to block for him.  Sigh.  Had a fairly nice 15-yard kickoff return; the last five yards were after breaking a tackle or two.  

This Weekend; Matthew:  Had to leave at halftime to make it to soccer; they were losing 14-0 when he left.  I wasn’t there, but Matthew had a lot of the same frustration with the game that I typed above.  Only got to run the ball once; received the ball and two defenders are already tackling him.  Etc, etc, etc.

At this point, I would really be surprised if Matthew is playing football next year.  And if he is, would really be surprised if he was doing anything more than kicking for the team.

This Weekend, Cpher:  Got some pictures here.  We lost 40-0 to Lansing Catholic.

When the boy engages, he stays engaged.  And does a pretty good job of blocking…

This will always be a challenge for Cpher; trying to get out and get the linebacker that is lined up a yard or two outside of him…..

He gets there though….and does a nice job pushing this guy further up field and out of the play.

From The Sports Desk – Futbol Game Five Edition

 

The Pre-Game: A ride-through-Michigan day (on Suzanne’s birthday no less….I’m certain she could have found better ways to spend her day).  I was off with Kevin for a tennis invitational (wake up time:  5:20 am); Suzanne back home with Fric and Frac…..and Matthew’s game is at 3 pm in Dearborn. 

The tennis is up near Pontiac…..Kevin is actually done at 1 pm (more on this later!) and is able to come with me instead of heading back to home with the team.  The football (at home) starts at 12:30 so Matthew will have to leave at halftime to make it to soccer, and most likely will be there a little late.

Football game starts late; Matthew leaves late (not without a last minute plea from Matthew and coaches to stay through half-time and at least take the kick-off).  There is an accident on the way; redirect Suzanne around it but the GPS takes her onto one of the local roads (not the way I would have gone) and she is stuck in red light after red light.  Matthew arrives 5 minutes after kickoff

The Game: 

(the boy was actually rubbing his chest after taking this ball….we’re not sure if he lost his breath or if it really hurt or what….afterwards he said it was no big deal)

Wasn’t sure what to expect here…the team we were playing had won their first two games.  BUT, I think we should have won comfortably and we did…even though there was still some trying-to-get-the-boys-playing-the-way-the-coach-wants-adventures.

This boy at least provided Mom with a good day of soccer to offset the crummy driving/stress parts of the day.  Came on midway through the first half at attacking center-mid….I like that he is playing here some, he is moving well without the ball and getting open.  Not many chances with the ball though and I’m not sure why…probably just random chance more than anything.

Spend the second half (except for 2 seconds at the end) at center back.  And did very well back here, especially on the offensive part of his defensive position.  Made several runs forward with the ball and in support and was in front of the goal and got a foot on a cross to (accidentally) tip it along to his teammate for the second goal (he gets an assist for this touch…but he and everyone knows he wasn’t trying to pass it along there…oh well). 

Was making a run with the ball very late in the game and was coming up on midfield when a player on the other team fouls him.  Fouls him hard and cheaply, right to the calf, Matthew goes down and stays down and is moving his other leg back and forth and we know he is in a lot of pain.  Learn later that the kid who did it got a yellow card; the other coach yelled at his kid “just grab his jersey, you don’t need to hurt a kid like that”.  Matthew hobbles off, and they restart and 2 seconds later the game is over.

Coach Stu comes over as Matthew is limping his way over to me and tells me a) the coach’s words above and b) that Matthew, as typed above, had a pretty good second half.  Matthew, happily, wasn’t limping at all very late Saturday evening. 

Coach Stu Says:

1ST HALF SUMMARY:

The boys started off fantastically with the boys keeping the ball calmly and swinging the ball across the back line! I was very pleased that the boys played the right way despite the conditions of the field and the way in which the opposition started. We expected them to play a little direct and put us under pressure and we dealt with it really well! A few times we took a little long to swing the ball and the forward-backwards-forwards passes were not sharp enough! However the ideas were there and the boys never really panicked with the ball. I discussed a few learning outcomes before the start of the game and it was clear to see that the boys where trying to implement a style of play! I would say there were a few times when we lost the ball and we didn’t transition quickly enough to win it back. Although I want us to be calm on the ball I want the steel and tenacity to win it back when we lose it!

2ND HALF SUMMARY:

We were much more direct in the final third which again is the style we want to implement! We have talked about building through the back. I want the boys to be “choosing to go the way you face” in the middle third and continue “being direct in the final third” (unless it isn’t on then start again!) And we got two really good chances before we scored; we looked to form quick combos to open up the passing lanes to find the strikers and wingers in space, this was pleasing to see the ideas turn into play. Then we got the goal we deserved when we played the strikers’ feet and he span in and punished the opposition. We made this happen because we swung the ball and stretched the opposition! We did not have it completely all our way. We were a little sloppy in playing the ball back a few times and gave the opposition a few good chances that our goalkeeper saved us! Then we scored a goal of true beauty! A perfect counter attack from the center-back out to the winger who then crossed back for the center-back and striker to get to and score! This is the type of fluidity I expect to see more of and it was a moment that I could stop and take a little smile to myself!

OVERALL:

Pleased with the overall performances! A few players switch off a little when we don’t play at a fast tempo for the whole games but I want us to be calm in possession and work aggressively to win it back! A few players still shy away from the ball and we need 11 players that want the ball all the time to be able to implement our style of play!

Goalkeeper: Good solid display! Got a little quieter towards the end of the each half and need to make sure that you are always focused and engaged with the team!

Defenders: Good defensively and spaced us out well to play good soccer. Need to be able to do things quicker as we gave away the ball a few times in positions that cost us!

Midfielders: Very calm and the movement was sharp and fantastic. Still need to be more creative in the final third however it is starting to take shape!

Forwards: Good movement and finished chances off well! Need to make sure that we are more available to feet but also play the ball back and spin in behind more, use your athleticism in that final third!

From The Sports Desk – League Championship

 

No drama here.

Boys tennis roundup: Okemos earns CAAC Blue title

Okemos earned championships in seven of eight flights to win the CAAC Blue tournament Thursday on its own courts while repeating as league champions.

The Chiefs compiled 55 points to top East Lansing and Jackson, which tied for second with 39. Holt and Grand Ledge followed closely with 37 and 30, respectively.

“It was even more than what I hoped for,” Okemos coach Chris S. said. “This is probably the best tennis I’ve seen out of my kids this year so far.”

Jackson’s Jussi T., an exchange student from Finland, kept Okemos from making it a clean sweep when he topped Chiefs senior Elan D. 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 at first flight singles.

“(D.) fought hard against a phenomenal player,” S. said. “That was some of the best tennis I’ve seen from him in a long time.”

Okemos sophomore Jordan J. and senior Mazen O. avenged dual match losses to Jackson junior Michael B. and senior S., respectively, while capturing second and third flight singles titles.

Junior Alex G. filled in for an ill Chiefs teammate and joined senior Denton W. in an upset of No. 1-seeded East Lansing junior Nick R. and freshman Jesse W. at third doubles.

Okemos senior Kevin H. and sophomore Adham O. had to overcome a 4-3 deficit in the third set to avoid an upset and edge East Lansing freshmen Peyton Brogan and Caleb Hoekstra, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, at second doubles.

 

(really would like to know what the school does with all of these..there must be a big storage room somewhere I guess!)

Okay, so a little drama, since Kevin and his partner can never do anything the easy way.  Missed his first match, a 6-1, 6-2 over Jackson, and missed the first and second set of the final (was off with Cpher…more on that later).  But I arrived just as the third set was starting up, and while most tennis matches are ‘on-serve’, this set was ‘on-break’, as each team broke the other team’s serve over and over until, as they said above, the boys were down 4-3.   Then they broke the other team, finally held, and broke again….and that was it.

Hats off to the EL team…they are both freshman, and I am sure they are going to cause the Okemos team fits for years to come.

(picture stolen from twitter…it had a caption “2013 league champs! love this team. 6 seniors representing the chiefs today”

Season is winding down….an invite on Saturday, regionals in two weeks, and then states one week after that.

From The Sports Desk – The Battle for Mid-Michigan

 

When the end of the season accolades come out, there will be grumbling in these parts that Lansing Catholic is disproportionally represented in the all-area team.  It happens every year.  Even when there are results that indicate that placement isn’t really valid.

Like this one, for example.

I don’t have much else to say about the match…..Kevin reported they won via text (the match was away) but that was it….

The Print Media

 

The official announcement of Kevin’s semifinalist status came out in the paper today.

Kevin’s current plan is to apply at Michigan, Boston U, U. of Chicago, George Washington, Georgetown, and two schools that are to be determined but are on the list of schools that offer serious inducements for National Merit types….

From The Sports Desk – The End of Tennis League Play Edition

 

Two matches this week; that will conclude the end of league play for the team.  No reports from the paper for the first match, but, they played Lansing Eastern….and they struggle to even field a team.  Kevin reports they put up the double bagel, won –0, and –0.

Thursday’s match is against East Lansing; traditionally, this match tells the tale on who will win leagues.

I’d say it looks like we’ll be winning leagues. Matthew and I made it out to EL and saw the first set….

Took some pictures as the teams warmed up so we will start with the obvious; the new uniforms are in!  I think this might be the first time ever I’ve see the team all wearing the same thing (ok, not quite, one kid wasn’t in the team gear!)

But I had never been to a league match for the start of it….so I was surprised to see the little ceremony at the beginning of the match where the captain introduced the team and the opponents met each other….and it was nice to see the team do a chant and get fired up before the match as well.

So they won 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.  Thought they looked awful in the first set, a whole lot of double faults and unforced errors and was pleasantly surprised to hear later that they won.  Kevin reports they were down 4-2 in the third set before rallying to close them out.

League championship tournament is next Thursday..so we’ll see how the rematch goes.

I’m certain the #1 doubles match will be a focus; one of the EL kids was loud and obnoxious; we’d hit the ball into the net on the serve, he would loudly yell ‘nope’….which I guess doesn’t sound too bad as you read it but is just a smart-ass punk type of move (you are supposed to yell or indicate if balls are in or out, but serves into the net?….it’s obvious).  Heard that the coaches got into it a little bit about that kids behavior during the match….certainly might add a little spice to Thursday’s league tournament and the regional tournament the following week.

From The Sports Desk – Futbol Game Four Edition

 

No pictures or video here; this game ended the streak of soccer in beautiful weather; cloudy and drizzle all game long.  Second weekend in a row with a two games….

Despite the score, I’ll remember this game for a long time….because what happened here is one of the big reasons I felt that Matthew should switch clubs.

If you would have asked me before the game I would have said this was an absolute lock for a win.  But I realized in the first half that Coach Stu wasn’t playing to win…he was having the boys play a certain way and didn’t care if we won or lost.

We did score in the second half, Matthew had a nice pass over other other team to spring our striker in for a goal.  And we gave it right back and that was it for the scoring.

In the league we play in, the parents are on the same side of the field as the coach (this approach is a hallmark of a league that had a nasty parent-versus-parent fight in the past).  So Suzanne and I sat up near Coach Stu and listened to him coach the boys.  Coach Stu definitely had a plan and was going to go with that the entire game…and boys who decided not to do that were going to get chided.  A pretty funny day.

So, not playing a game to win ended up with more than a few parent comments….and with the game reports there was quite a detailed explanation of what was going on.  I may be the only one who cares about all of this, but, we’ll reproduce both the email and the game report below.

Matthew played the entire first half at center-back; played center-mid the 2nd half and may have been benched for not doing what Stu wanted a one point…it was hard to tell if the benching was part of a plan or not…he certainly wasn’t doing what Stu wanted, even though he had a sweet pass for the goal.

Coach Stu Says Part One:

Hi All,

I hope this email finds you well. Attached is the game analysis from this weekends games. I have to say that at times in both games the boys played some lovely eye-catching soccer. However, like you would expect from players at this age playing on such a big field, we made a lot of mistakes too. 

I wanted to take a few moments to explain why I am doing a few things I am doing. I few of the boys told me at yesterday’s practice that their parents were annoyed that we didn't win on Sunday. Also that we passed the ball backwards too much and that we didn't go forward enough. And although you are not completely wrong it kind of reminded me of when I bring over new coaches and they watch American Football! They always get so frustrated when the running back run towards the offensive and defensive line and that they should just run around everyone (it does sound easier the just gaining a few yards hoping someone opens a lane for you). We could have won the game playing direct. We could have won the game taking a few long throws. We could have won the game playing every one in their best position. We could have also won the game playing the exact same way we did and just converted a few of the chances we created in the first half in 2v1 situations (about 7 times!). However what is the point in beating weaker teams when you are 11 and 12 years old if you play a style of soccer that doesn't allow you to beat good teams at 12,13 and 14. Its all about the future. Premier league clubs will sacrifice a result at this age to play the center-back and forward the other way around to challenge them mentally and that is what I am trying to do. Don't get me wrong I WANT TO WIN, but not at all costs. 

I have asked all the boys to start watching more premier league games since they are all on NBC. The boys need to do this to see what I am talking about in training. If the only soccer they are watching is what we do then it is going to be hard for them to grasp the big picture. If you watch the premier league or the Spanish league or any top league will see that teams try to keep the ball to break down the opposition. Sometimes its hard to know if you don't know the players but the center-mids will drop back to receive the ball and they could be the deepest player as everyone else moves forward and checks to get the next pass. There is patience and then when they get in the final third their is urgency!  We cant always go forward and we must get more used to passing the ball and building out the back!

Although we over-played the ball this weekend I wanted to make them do more. The last few weeks the stats have shown that the number of passes per possession have decreased as we have gotten away with playing and winning on athletic ability alone. We are passing the ball fewer times, however, virtually any time we pass the ball 5 times or more we create a goal scoring opportunity. We must add this to our game more like we did against LCSC in the second half of the rush tournament. Yes we over-played it this weekend but it is all about learning when and where to build and the result will speak for itself in the future!

I just ask you to trust me that I am trying to build something special and we have a lot of the pieces in place to do so. The boys are learning so much and we must be patient. I will push them HARD when they need it but I ask for more patience from you at home and if you have any questions PLEASE call me as I would be happy to chat and explain why we are doing things.Thanks for all your passionate support and trust me we will get the balance right quickly!

Coach Stu Says Part Two:

1^ST HALF SUMMARY:

I told the boys that if they played the way we did yesterday that we would win and win comfortably. But then what would we have learned from our defeat? They all agreed that they wanted to play ‘BEAUTIFUL SOCCER’ and pass the ball around and use all the players on the field to draw in the opposition and create very good goal scoring chances. I would rather tie 0-0 and never give the opposition one touch of the ball then win 5-0 against a weaker team (obviously I would rather win 10-0 playing beautiful soccer and also have the opposition only touch the ball to kick off). I challenged them to switch the ball until we drew in the opposition then quickly attack; playing good quick combos and no easy goals (i.e. Long throws) since I wanted them to have to do all these things while the score was close and not make it that easy! This may seem a little strange but results mean nothing this fall and we must develop our players to play the right way so when we play great teams next year we are capable of keeping the ball. We had a great start from the boys. The boys were patient and drew the opposition in and when it wasn’t there we swung the ball. We ended up with some outstanding chances in the wide areas by switching it and then creating good 2v1s with the full backs and wingers combining! We got a little sloppy as the half went on when there wasn’t as much purpose to our play. The reason to switch is when there is more opposition on one side then the other. If the opposition is spread out then we start to find the midfielders more! It was also difficult with the wet conditions to do this, which added to how hard the boys would have to work to keep the ball.

2ND HALF SUMMARY

We started off a little sloppy in possession. They pressed us higher (as we expected) and that should have helped us break them down easier but we didn’t get our head up quickly enough. We then scored a goal that was directly from our style of play. Because we had tried to keep the ball they had all 10-outfield players squeezing us and we hit the long ball and scored. Obviously this is the type of goal we will score a lot, even against good teams, if we draw in the opposition, and this one was done within two passes after receiving the ball (but still directly in relation to us keeping the ball the previous possessions). Then we made a few mental errors and conceded a very poor goal. You could see the boys panic and wrestle with the demons of “do we go direct or do we keep the ball”. Unfortunately we were often of two minds for the rest of the day. The boys played too many passes short or long without putting enough communication on them and gave away the possession of the ball too easily. Although we still created a few great chances there wasn’t the same swagger or confidence as we had the first half.

OVERALL

OK well I expect a little flack for this one but I told the boys that we have to go back to basics after the Wolves game. During the Rush tournament the boys played the ball side to side to break down the opposition but didn’t have the killer instinct and couldn’t find the channels into the striker after we broke the opposition down. Now that we have worked linking with the strikers and wingers more the boys have played too direct the last few weeks. It is all about trying to find the right balance. If you take little snippets of every game and put them together that’s the beautiful soccer I want. I want us to be able to keep the ball and draw the opposition as well as to be able to quickly counter attack. I want to score goals from direct play to keep the opposition honest and I want to score from set pieces and throw ins. The 11v11 game is tough enough when you are 6 feet tall never mind the bunch of little guys we have playing it. I just want the boys to blend all these styles over the next two months and then I can really get the details of third player runs and switching positions over the winter. If I sounded like I wanted negative soccer  on the sidelines I apologize, but when you have a bunch of talented athletes like we have (that can win without my help in games like this) every now and again I have to really push them to a style that puts them under pressure to play the game the right way. Their athletic ability alone will not beat the Crew or Wolves or Vardar so we have to have a style of play that can help us keep the ball and then break down the opposition. There were a lot of encouraging signs this weekend and now I have to help put it all together! I am looking forward to more games in two weekends time and seeing if we can better blend the two styles!!!! It is a process and wins at 11 and 12 don’t translate to wins at 14, It must be our style over wins at this age and I will continue to get us playing the right way. As us Brit’s say lets just “stay calm and carry on.”

Goalkeeper: Better build up play through you and just need to make sure that your continuing to talk to your team in future games

Defenders: Good build up play in the first half. Little quieter in the second half and the ball didn’t move as quickly as I would of liked.

Midfielders: Great stiff at times but as the game wore on too many passes were played in front of players and we lost possession of the ball to easily.

Forwards: Some good link up play in the first half little bit wasteful in the second half Must remember that a 1-2 is easier then just beating players and the play of two 1-2 to start the half of was what we should be doing all the time!

From The Sports Desk – Futbol Game Three Edition

 

Played inside on Saturday for the third game of the league season, this time against the B team for one of the two best clubs in Michigan….should be a good game.

(I took pictures and did the Suzanne-thing….pictures of everyone but the boy!  This is the best of the measly two pictures I took of him.  No video, the video camera has gone belly-up and it seems like we will have to stick with the replacement we bought on Saturday night).

A strange game to describe…we played really well at times and then played awful at times…and didn’t seem to handle adversity very well at times.  Could have been 2-1 to close the first half if we had converted on a penalty kick but we hit it off the crossbar and up and over. 

Matthew played center-mid and I don’t think he had a very good game at all.  The first goal was completely on him; he had just entered the game and made a very poor pass that the other team promptly picked up and 2 quick passes later it was 1-0 Wolves.  Ended up playing some attacking center-mid late in the game (this is the first time this year in that position) and moved and played well but never had a real chance on goal.

Dislike that we played inside…it was 70 degrees and sunny outside so of course it was stifling hot inside.  I don’t think Matthew has ever played a game in here during the regular season on any team and had a lot of success. 

Coach Stu Says (it is more than amusing to me that I have to edit Coach Stu’s updates for grammar and English-to-American translations):

1ST HALF SUMMARY:

Started off like a dream. Used the ball well; swinging it from left to right and used all the players around them. We created good goal scoring opportunities but just did not convert them. Some players were doing a good job communicating and the angles of support we were giving off the ball were good. Then we got caught in possession playing an ill-advised pass off balance and they broke in behind the midfield and left our goalkeeper with no chance. They then scored another and as we continued to make silly costly mistakes! We played a few good passes with our wide players to combine to get to goal and created a penalty from this! Unfortunately we missed this and panic set in! We rushed everything and did not try to change the pace of the game or slow things down when there wasn’t a run available.

2ND HALF SUMMARY:

The second half was a very open game and although we had tons of chances everything we tried to do was too quick. There was no real build-up play’ just winning the ball back and instantly trying to counter attack. We were very reliant on our speed to score and this made it easier for the opposition to contain us! Too often we played balls to space or tried to beat two players instead of knocking the ball backwards and then forwards again to draw defenders in or even attempting to switch the play.

OVERALL:

This was probably the only game this season that I wanted to win given the coach we played. I told the boys I loved the work rate and commitment during the game. However they just must simply play better soccer. This has been a few weeks in a row where we have not been playing the level of soccer that we want and relying too much on athletic ability. I hoped that when we played better teams we would just step it up and play with more purpose, which we did for a little while. But we can’t change our style of play that early in a game if we concede; there is just too much time left in a game to panic. Don’t get me wrong I don’t care how we score (all goals are worth the same) and there is a time and a place for simply beating a player 1v1, however we have to have more arrows for our bow and try to play a better brand of soccer. There are very few times that a coach has this much natural talent at this age and I must make sure that I nurture the boys the right way and put performance over results at this age in the league.

Goalkeeper: Good game. Made several good saves. Still want you to be more vocal at commanding the ball and not play within your self so much.

Defenders: Made some good challenges and for the most part kept the game in front of them. Didn’t play the ball well enough out the back or demand the ball back to them enough.

Midfielders: Didn’t get on the ball and change the pace of the game enough. Everything was very fast and this played into the opposition’s hands.

Forwards: Too direct with not enough quality in the final third.

From The Sports Desk – Football Week 2 Edition

 

Matthew:  They lost 24-8 to Grand Ledge

Matthew played every down of this game…which is just completely shocking to me since he misses about half of the practices.  I know he splits some time with another kid, and that kid wasn’t there, but, still.  And in true Matthew form, he’s unhappy at the end of the game because he only ran the ball once (and got stuffed).  I must have said ‘you only go to half of the practices’ ten times on the way home’

He would have gotten more yards on his one carry…there was plenty of room in front of him, but, the GL player made a nice grab and wrapped up his leg…Matthew did a 360 trying to escape but by then the rest of the defense had arrived.

Liked this picture; Matthew is in motion to go and block….need to mention to him that he can act like he is getting the ball at first; a little deception helps.

Of course, he does take a good kick! 

He did make a lot of tackles.  A lot of tackles.  Thought he absorbed a lot of hits though…it was more as if he was tackling them when they got to him instead of vice-versa.  The above picture I guess doesn’t how that viewpoint as much.  Thought GL had definitely been taught to deliver a hit when they got tackled, and saw him get up off the ground slowly more than a few times.

He did get the ball one more time; a short kickoff came straight to him.  Did a nice job on the return…the first picture is of the middle of the long-patented spin-move; you can see in the second picture the dude that was trying to tackle him is on the ground and he’s going to get another 8 to 10 yards before running into a host of GL players (and he just ducked his head an barreled forward for a few more yards at that point

Attempted an onside kick in the 2nd half too….didn’t go so well, he thought the kick was going the other way and set up the ball wrong (at least that is what he says) and while we recovered it, the ball didn’t go ten yards. 

Cpher: Can’t go anywhere but up after last week’s debacle….and it as a lot better this week, even though they ended up losing to Grand Ledge 18-14.

Went back and watched the first half of last week’s game with Cpher; and found I didn’t have a lot negative to say to him…..seemed to be there on defense when he need to and while not great, he wasn’t bad at blocking either.  Wanted him to hold his blocks a little longer, and we talked about that.

One of the coaches emailed asking about the video from this week’s game and said “Cpher played well” in this game.  And we would agree. 

He tends to line up about one extra step back on defense….not sure why.  Am happy that he was not one of the kids who jumped offsides (had some problems with that this game).

Had a few tackles…and certainly held up his end of things on the defensive front.  Was a lot more active in pursuit this game…

Got his hands on this guy to slow him down (didn’t make the tackle here…one of the smaller kids came up and missed the back and whaled into Cpher!…probably took his biggest hit of the game from that!)

And did a nice job blocking too…..there were more than a few plays he had some kids completely on the ground, and a few others where he had knocked them five or six yards downfield and was still blocking as the whistle blew.

Click on this picture for video…which includes the end of this play (as you can guess by looking at it, it ends well for Cpher and poorly for the GL quarterback).

From The Sports Desk – A Week Of Tennis Edition

 

The new uniform order has been a disaster; shirts arrived without the embroidery, shirts arrived 2 weeks after the shorts.  Blah blah blah blah.  Don’t understand how every other team at the high school figures this out but the tennis coach can’t.

Two league matches this week.  From Tuesday:

This result does not bode well for our chances at States (I’d say this means there is no chance we’ll reproduce our finish from last year).  Because we shouldn’t lose at singles like this to Jackson.

I did get the chance to watch Kevin’s match, and they should be embarrassed that it was –2, and –2, because it should have been –0, and –0.  Watched Kevin, and then watched Adham, double fault an entire game away.  Very erratic…the #1 doubles team played right next to Kevin and I watched a bunch of that…and they had a slow start too….but then they blew the other team out.  Kevin and Adham had the same slow start, and seemed to rally as each set went on, but, they did the same thing in the 2nd set too….)

They played on Thursday also….but that never made the paper.  Beat Holt 8-0

Kevin/Adham won 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1….I saw much of the first set and it certainly seemed like Kevin’s server was switched to ‘on’ and they blew the other team away.  Storms blew in during the 2nd set and he says the wind helped to make the 2nd set more competitive…..and then they went inside at MSU for the 3rd set and blew them away again.

Having a day….

 

Yea, Kevin had a day….the first photo isn’t all that great, it is what Kevin texted us during school and I didn’t bother waiting for him to turn over the actual paper to scan in….

so that was this morning; this letter arrived in the mail this afternoon.

So…what does all of this(!) mean?

Let’s take the first one….a few quotes from some news articles found on the web today…

“About 1.5 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2014 scholarship program by taking the 2012 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. From that number, the list narrowed to 16,000 semifinalists, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC)”

“Semifinalists must now submit applications that include information about their academic records, participation in school and community activities, leadership abilities, employment, honors and awards. They must also gain the recommendation of a high school official, write an essay and achieve SAT scores in line with their qualifying scores.”

So, we will see how all this turns out!   Some schools are very generous with financial aid for national merit finalists (and semifinalists!).  And it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch to think Kevin will make that step; it is more confirmation than anything else….and it looks like he achieved the confirmation SAT score last May when he took the test last May.

How generous?  Well, here’s three examples…

NMF: National Merit Finalist
NMSF: National Merit Semi-Finalist

University of Alabama
NMSF Award: Full Tuition (NMSF + 3.5 GPA required)
NMF Award: Full Tuition + 1 year housing + $1,000/year + $2,000 exp + iPad

University of Central Florida
NMF Award: Full Ride ($36,000/year + departmental benefit)

University of Nevada – Las Vegas
NMF Award: Full Ride + study abroad

And the second one?  Wrote this earlier but it died in the loss of that back-to-school rough draft….Kevin has done very well on his AP tests.  Told him any frustration with his B/B+ in AP Stats last year would be completely replaced with a ‘5’ on the test….and he got a 5 on the test.  He’s also gotten ‘5’’s on AP US History and AP World History….three ‘5’s gets you recognition as an AP Scholar.

Kevin is taking four(?) more AP tests this year (he plans on self-studying for two…he is taking AP Literature and AP Government and will self-study one of the AP Econ’s and AP European History.

You may ask why no AP German?  Kevin doesn’t think that the coursework at school will leave him prepared enough to take the test….which I think is strange in many ways but am not choosing to argue with him about.  He plans on taking whatever test the college he goes to administers to place out of whatever German he can…..

Quite a day!

From The Sports Desk – Fall Futbol Game Two Edition

 

A lot of league games to start the year; both Saturday and Sunday games for the first 2 weeks.  Sunday’s game is at home against Laforza.

Everything the team didn’t do right on Saturday they did do right on Sunday…..lots of passing, combinations, crosses, and teamwork results in a 6-1 win.

Again, no nice camera at the game…..so pictures are from the video.

Matthew spent the whole game at center-back…and played 90% of it…never came out in the 2nd half.  One of the points of focus for this game was obviously switching the ball across the field…Matthew has just received the ball from Zane on this throw-in (backwards, as opposed to my CASL instruction of always throw the ball forward….enough skill to do that now…but, oh, what I wouldn’t give to have a do-over on some coaching at an earlier age) and is about to send the ball all the way across the field to begin the attack.

Matthew had an assist, off a corner kick, on the third goal of the game.  The picture is of him celebrating with the goal-scorer, Austin.  Click on the picture above for the short video.

(These two pictures are of the same sequence in the second half.  Matthew has stepped up and relieved that brown-haired kids there of the ball….and the brown-haired dude and his friend in front of him are now trying to get it back.)

Well, the 2nd picture shows how that worked out….Matthew has beaten both of them (one kids is now fixing his shin pads as the play has gone by) and has passed the ball upfield (you can see the ball on the midfield line and the guy he is playing to do behind the blue kid on the far right….).  I clipped out these pictures and then had to go back and watch to see how the pass turned out….Matthew hit it strong (if you read the notes from Saturdays’ game, Coach Stu was not happy with under-hit balls)  so that kid and another kid ran onto it and we ended up with a decent chance on goal that went high.

Matthew was on the field and may have been a little at fault for the one goal we gave up; I’ve mentioned to Matthew that we will be watching that video so he can see what I was talking about….

Coach Stu Says:

1ST HALF SUMMARY

Well we started as we left off the day before. Sloppy in possession and did not pass the ball around with any composure or purpose. After we made a host of substitutions we played much better. The boys on the bench could see what we were doing wrong and executed much better. We became more patient with the ball and this helped us open up the opposition more. We scored a few nice goals from set pieces and a very good goal when we swing the ball one way then cut back in and played it across the other way to the open right midfielder. The boys seemed to be communicating a little better as the half went on and looked in control.

2ND HALF SUMMARY

Started the half off very well. Moving the ball around well and players were buzzing around showing for the ball and we created a few chances. We conceded a very sloppy goal where we allowed the to play in to the box to a striker who was allowed to turn and get a shot off. I was more then disappointed with this. Then we played some good stuff resulting in us scoring from another set piece where we played the ball off the left back to a shot. The game got a little sloppy as we stopped moving the ball around with the same urgency. Then we picked it up again and started driving from the wide positions and cutting inside and setting up chances and goals.

OVERALL

Much better performance. The boys are going too take time put it all together and it is such a big field that at times we are going to just lose are style but its how quickly we can settle back into it. The boys just need to be more patient and be willing to keep the ball more without forcing the play.

GOALKEEPER: Good job and two or three very good saves. Still want you to be more mobile and moving underneath the center backs to help s switch.

DEFENDERS: Switched the ball much better (aside from first 10 minutes) and started looking to move up and help us build. A few mental errors that we will address this week.

MIDFIELDERS: Much better movement off the ball and the boys were a little more patient. I still think we need to swing it through them more and we need a little more creativity in there at times. Also need more quality shots from distance here.

FORWARDS: Good movement off the ball and recognition of when to pass it and when to drive at the opposition. Got some great crosses from the wide forwards and the link up play with the striker was much better.

From The Sports Desk – Rainy Days and Blowouts Edition

 

I was going to do a whole post on both of these subjects, but, the way it turned out, only one post is needed.

Kevin:  Quad is rained out halfway through; Adham is back and they lost 6-0, 5-7, 10-2 to St. Joseph.  I was off with Matthew for soccer; Suzanne reports that a whole lot of double faulting and unforced errors was the story of the day. 

At times I have to remind myself that Kevin will only get out of tennis what he puts into it…..and he can’t say that he’s put a whole lot into it.

Cpher:  When you are losing 39-0 at the half there just isn’t a lot to say.  The final stayed at 39-0 due to some better offense in the 2nd half and the mercy rule of a running clock.

Had a long talk with Cpher Saturday night while we were dog-walking about being aggressive on offense and defense and not stopping after first contact and finishing the play.  Don’t think that worked out very well…too be fair, nothing worked out well today.  This game was the very reason we probably shouldn’t have split teams, if Cpher’s team has 16 players one was missing and one was injured in the first quarter and never returned.  That’s a long day for the boys.

He did force a fumble (that we recovered) in the fourth quarter….because he did remember to follow the play and not stop after first contact.  Looks like it is going to be a long year…..and we knew that the moment they split the teams….

I took some video…..will probably watch it with Cpher to show him what I’ve been talking about.

From The Sports Desk – Fall Futbol Game One Edition

 

Travelled to Midland for the first game of the fall regular season.  Being excluded from DA means that many of these games might not be that competitive, but, this is one of the exceptions.  I’m expecting a good game.

And it was a good game; we won 1-0.

Wasn’t the most satisfying of games; the boys had been practicing some strategies for offense and didn’t put any of that practice to use during the game.  It might have helped; the scorekeeper had us with 21 shots on goal and our goalie with only 2 saves….

(no camera for this game, so, photos taken from the video.  I liked this field; set downhill from where the parking was, so I set up the camera on top of the Odyssey and stood up through the sun roof to get a nice angle…..looking at the video I was zoomed out too far at times though)

(these two photos are one right after the other…Matthew plays the through ball to Nigel on the left there)

Matthew played center mid in the first half, spend the first part of the 2nd half at center back and then moved up to center mid when he came back in.  Had his best chance of the day early in the 2nd half on a corner….he ran into the middle, and then circled around to come in again on the far side…..and the ball made it all the way through the box and he one-timed a shot right into the post! 

One more interesting thing…you learn something new everyday...and Matthew and I learned something new about soccer rules today.  We score in the 2nd half, and the teams line-up for the kick-off….and the ref calls for Matthew and walks over and talks with Matthew and Coach Stu.  I see the ref make a gesture that makes me think that Matthew has over-celebrated after the goal and the ref is delivering a warning…so I’m not very happy as the game is ending because I am a firm believer in ‘act like you’ve been there before’ when you score. 

Turns out the story is a bit weirder than that….the ref (an old crank who is the kind of ref who wants to be the center of attention….always talking to the kids and thinking his job is to teach the game not enforce the rules) is warning Matthew not to say ‘mine’; there was a ball in the air in the run of play before the goal and Matthew called it by yelling ‘mine’……and well, I guess, by the rule, you’re not allowed to do that…you need to say your name or something.

The rule actual says something like “….it has never been a "foul" to call out "mine" when going for the ball, but it is misconduct and subject to a caution and yellow card for unsporting behavior if, in the opinion of the referee, the player's action was intended to deceive an opponent unfairly. Just calling out "mine" is not misconduct.”

Matthew says he wasn’t trying to deceive.  Coach Stu was trying hard not to lose patience with the ref. 

Coach Stu Says:

1ST HALF SUMMARY

We did not pass the ball around the way I had have hoped in perfect playing conditions. Everything was very rushed and we tried to play the ball in behind the opposition and play forward quickly instead of playing the ball side to side and backwards when it wasn’t on. We were way too direct and that is fine to do every now and again against teams when we are under too much pressure but we didn’t do the direct style very well either. Every ball we played was under-hit and we coughed up possession too many times. As the half went on we created a few good chances when the full backs got involved going forward. However most of the chances we created were from one or two quick passes and being pretty direct.

2ND HALF SUMMARY

The movement off the ball was much better in this half with our spacing and positioning being much better. However we still did not pass the ball to feet, too many passes in front players, especially in the middle of the park and this again lead to us giving the ball up. We made a few mistakes in the central defense as when one defender stepped the other must drop and we let the opposition in behind a few times. We created three or four chances with some good through balls after we switched the formation to a 4-4-2 and got the goal from the two strikers linking up and what a finish!!! After we scored we kept the ball for the most part but the boys need to learn a little more gamesmanship. If its 1-0 with a minute or two to go we shouldn’t be sending our center back up for corners and we should be able to play short throws and hold the ball in the corner. These are little things we must be able to do at the high level we want to be able to go.

OVERALL

Not a very good performance from the boys. We MUST be more patient with the ball and play forwards and backwards and Switch the Ball. We have so much athleticism and we know that we can beat teams 1v1 so we are trying to force the ball. This us not the style the boys or I want to play, however we just are not patient enough right now. The boys seem afraid to switch the ball or getting open 20 yards away. We are crowding each other out to much with our movement too the ball. The boys need to have the same confidence we had in each other at 8 v 8 and give each other more time (less defenders drawn in) by giving better options off the ball.

GOALKEEPER: A good save when called upon. Needs to demand the ball more and get us playing through him more.

DEFENDERS: Gave away the ball too quickly and didn’t open up to switch it as well as I would have liked. Also a little off with when to step and when to drop at times.

MIDFIELDERS: Sloppy in possession and tried to force the ball too much, the levels of communication where not at the level I want and we need to trust our skills and keep the ball for longer periods during the game.

FORWARDS: Movement wasn’t as sharp as I would have liked and didn’t play the ball backwards quickly enough. Need to get better at the check, lay off spin.

Flash Drive Treasure

 

Always like discovering a flash drive that one of the boys has used for school work….it literally is like buried treasure!

Such as this….the Diary of a Panda!

And then there’s Christopher’s ode to Americum.