Quizbusters - Hartland

The final episodes are finally airing!  Click on the picture to go to the video….

Quick Ten:  Another state capital answer; Albany.  And then he buzzed in earlier and puzzled his way to the right answer of the River Thames.  Up 80 to 20.

Toss-Up 1:  Kevin knew all of the poets from the first toss-up.  Had to laugh at the math question; everyone but Kevin goes for the button when they hear ‘Mersenne’….winning 160-70.

Pop Quiz 1:  R-O-S.  Kevin knows the explorer Ross, knows the sled is Rosebud (I was surprised he got this).  Did not get Rosenberg.  Winning 240-90.

Toss-Up 2:  Nothing going on here….we lost both toss-ups.  Winning 240-130.

Toss-Up 3:  Miss that pesky toss-up that leads to the video question again!  I don’t think I noticed at the time that they had closed to within 60 points….but we win the next three toss-ups and pull ahead.  The second toss-up is one of the highlights of this show, Kevin gets his chance at obscure Caribbean capitals.  Kevin almost pulls the sweep here but messes up the saints for Grenada.  Couldn’t believe they didn’t know Watership Down though!  Winning 300-180.

Pop Quiz 2:  R-O-O.  Kevin was waiting for ‘rook’ and jumped all over that.  The highlight of the show is next…Kevin pulls out ‘Rooney’, probably through osmosis or some other genetic pass-through and saves himself an endless amount of abuse. Kevin’s facial expressions during this question are priceless and well worth a second viewing.  Missed ‘root’.  Winning 370-230.

Toss-Up 4:  Picked the wrong Bolivia capital to bomb out of the first toss-up.  Did well on the Italian questions, missed the last one.  Watching those other three kids crash the buzzer on the science question is pretty fun.  Hard for me to tell watching it if Kevin knew the Greek questions.  Winning 460-230.

Lightning Round:  Ravi has another spectularly wrong answer (girls instead of boys for snips and snails and puppy dog tails) that gets you a lot of kidding after the show is over.  Kevin gets albatross but is pretty quiet through here, we win 520-260. 

The next show is the Green Division Final….and the day of the car accident!

From The Sports Desk – End of Season Soccer Evaluations

Didn’t receive these electronically, so, it is just scanned images for use on the blog.

 

So, some thoughts on the team evaluation.

1)  Maybe we have been a little dense; maybe it could have been communicated more clearly to Matthew and us, but, “…a few players below expectation”.  Well, that’s Matthew.

2)  Which is a little strange (see, I am a little dense!) because when I read the comments I think Matthew does a pretty good job at some of the critical points mentioned.  He does try and play quickly (although I think it would be fair to say that the phrase “play quickly AND effectively!” would be something Matthew should look to do). 

3)  In the Areas of Improvement for the team, I don’t think he has anything to worry about for #1, he is pretty good at challenging, being physical, and tackling.  He doesn’t shoot enough by position for me to be too concerned about being ‘clinical’.  And I’d love for him to be more vocal on the field….need to have more of a talk with him about that.

And this evaluation isn’t bad at face value; it was seeing, at a glance, his teammate’s evaluations (teammates we think Matthew is much better than!) with a lot of marks for mastered where Matthew had none that really sunk home that, hey, your coach doesn’t think you are the player we think you are.

And we, as a group, were pretty pissed about this at the end-of-year party.  A pretty bitter pill to swallow!  But Matthew has, I think, settled into a “I am going to prove him wrong” mentality and at least in Day 2 after the evaluation, is hard at work making that happed (even as I type this, he just left with ball in his backpack to go down to the park and shoot on goal).  If having this in print is what it takes to motivate him, great.  Suzanne and I will get over being disgruntled about it.

Popular Posts

It’s taken seven years, but, something I have worried about for a long time with this blog has happened.    Someone within a 10-mile radius of Casa de Graystone has become the most common visitor to the blog!

You can actually see a trace of it while you’re looking at this post.  Scroll down and look over on the right…you’ll see the list of popular posts.

  

Normally, around this quiet portion of the internet, the visitors are few and family-related.  That makes whatever I have posted most recently a very likely candidate to show up on the Popular Post list.  But over the last month, the blog tracking bot says the most common visitor isn’t family, it’s a new IP address.  That person hits the blog by hitting that Quizzing The Year Away page.  A cursory examination of the IP address (I don’t pay for the full version which would give me the whole number, I only get the first three numbers of the four number address) shows that yup, it’s a comcast address from mid-michigan.

So welcome new visitor! 

The 2014 Edition of the Annual Charting of Progress

Decided to get the physicals out of the way early this summer instead of later.  Anytime after April 1 works for the sports physical requirement for sports.  Both boys requested to go with each other again.  As I type this, I don’t know why I continue to be stupid and do this…..there was so much silliness in the examination room it wasn’t even funny.  I mean, I guess it was funny, I could post the six second video I have of Matthew mooning me with the hospital gown on.  And the nurse and doctor both found it amusing I guess….but it grew old quickly for me.

Anyway, onto the charts!

 

Tumbling back towards the chart?  I actually think this is more of a reflection that the boys seem to be later to the growth spurt than their peers…..there are more a lot of kids on Cpher’s team with deeper voices.  Cpher is not one of them; doctor estimates about halfway through puberty…and most of the boys growing occurs at the end of puberty, not the beginning.

 

Not.  Good.  More on this after the next chart.   I have asked Cpher to weigh himself every Monday and this was the confirmation that he hasn’t been reporting the number on the scale. 

The other part of the weight problem.  Heading over the 95% mark on BMI earned Cpher a trip for some blood work…don’t have those results yet.  But, like the shot at the physical, getting the blood drawn was a major production in protest and pain.   Just amazing a kid his size can act this way about it….

Anyway,  about the poundage.  He’s going to have to work at it (and we’ve instituted a pretty good exercise program for him, and me, and Matthew) and as long as the blood work doesn’t show anything alarming the doctor isn’t too alarmed…it is common to bulk up a little before growing, and she, after talking a little about Kevin’s height, said, “Oh, he is going way past him”.   We’ve taken up writing down what food we eat (I do this with Fitbit anyway)….I think it will help Cpher to focus on what he consumes (because he can pack it away at times!).   Plan on posting this chart again at the end of August to see where we are at…..as I told Cpher, the worst part about this is he just finished coming off of two sports with lots of running….he will be hard pressed to hit that level of physical exercise during the summer without putting in some serious time and effort.

 

Six years of measurements exactly on the chart, gone!  Maybe this dip, and Cpher’s, is because of a change in measurement at the doctor’s office?  Who knows?

 

I think, if we had taken a bunch of measurements between the last two measurements you would see a little spike in Matthew’s weight away from the curve where he has always been.  By his own admission, falling out of shape resulted in some bulking up in late winter……he has worked hard in lax and soccer and you can see the change in him on the field.  Better yet, he can see the change, and is pretty motivated right now to continue.

Not much to report here.

As I said, both boys are tracking what they eat and made some goals for themselves, both weight and fitness related.  Should be an interesting post in August to see where we have ended up!

From The Sports Desk – The End of Soccer Edition

Like all of these FTSD posts…..there is nothing current here.  Part of it is that I like to wait for the game reports, but, they seem to have fallen behind as well.  I’ll come back and post them if they ever show up.

Midland:  After the four games of lacrosse at the Waverly Festival, Matthew and I headed north and east for the long drive to Midland.  The game was a 6 pm start, conveniently scheduled as part of a double-header after we played our state cup game.  Since we didn’t qualify, this game is a pain in the ass on many levels (long drive, ugly time).   I can’t complain about the away schedule though…only three away games out of eight on the road and one was an easy jaunt down to Jackson.

Anyway.  We travel north.  Matthew and me in a car for 3+ hours; good times…had some good conversation, he had to get some of his homework done on the car on the way there as well.  So there’s that.

Ask Matthew after the game what he would grade himself at; he says 8.5.  I might have gone 9.  Since I have some extra time on my hands (hah!), I went through and clipped out every instance of him touching or being on the ball.  So, if you click on the photo below, you’ll get that video.

Of course the best place in the video to clip out for a picture is where he makes one of his two…um, areas for improvement from today’s game.  He decided once or twice to linger on the ball and take multiple touches for one reason or another.  And it didn’t work out well either time.   He always works on quick and simple soccer…when it doesn’t happen he knows bad things are going to occur.

So we tie, 2-2.  Matthew has an assist…we score an own goal…that never helps.  But it happens.

Next three games are at the Canton Cup – they are all basically forgettable.

1)  Lost to Knights FC 4-2.  Had a back-up coach for this game and he made some serious…um…errors with playing time.  Matthew only plays last 3 minutes of first half and first 3 minutes of second half…he’s not happy, parents aren’t happy. Not good.  It’s too bad….the team reverted as a group to this ball-first defense I’ve talked about before and having some Matthew-physicality out there.  The less said about this debacle the better.

2)  Lost to Vardar 5-1.  They are one of the two best teams of the state…..this result is not unexpected.  Thought the boy played well as playing time returned to normal but we were just overmatched….it was only 2-0 at the half but they just wore us down.  That Midland game showed about the best of how we can be in possession; there is still a big gulf between us and a really good possession team like Vardar.

3)  Lost to Ole 5-1.  I have video of he first half that I may go back and grab stuff from but, again, they are good and giants are we are not.  Giants.  And sometimes we aren’t even good.  Missed two goals where the guy was alone in front of an empty net.  Sigh.  Thought Matthew again played ok….did not take any physical crap off of those big giants…..and when he stood them up good things happened.

I sent this picture on to a friend to help illustrate the problem of playing Ole.  Matthew is not small, you can only see his head between 9 and 11 there.  The guy bending over is at least as tall as the other kids.  And there are two others at least as tall as them. 

This is before a corner kick we are defending.  Matthew is the one who gets to the ball and gets it out of danger.

Game and tournament reports for these games?  We’ll see……I hope to get them at some point.  That’s the end of the season though; we missed the next game (a 4-0 win) for graduation and the last game of the season was a forfeit.

2014 Spring WSSL Standings

 

2014 Canton Cup U13 White Results

A Smattering of Graduation Photos

I’ll do a more thorough post on the Open House ad Commencement later, but, for now, let me at least get some of the photos that have been sitting on my Iphone out there.

The traditional spot for the first day of school photos; this is the last day of school photo.

 

One down, two to go!

 

La familia.  Man Suzanne and I look short in this photo!

 

Kevin and friends….

 

Kevin and Gavin.  Viola, German, Quiz Bowl….these two have seen a lot together.  Both will be in Boston next year.

     

One of Kevin’s graduation from his parents; this compass. Initials engraved on the front; this phrase on the back.  The phrase is from….

      

Mom had a great idea here….

and Kevin really liked it.

From The Sports Desk – Lax Catch Up and Conclusion Edition

I am so far behind on the sports front it is not even funny.  Let’s figure out just what I’ve missed….

Christopher:  Again, I think I’m really light on Cpher photos.  Part of this is that either he didn’t play scheduled games due to weather or I wasn’t there.  I know the split into 7th and 8th grade teams for games against Caledonia; the 7th graders won 6-5.  We played the ‘A’ team from Holt; we lost 11-0 and it really wasn’t that close.  Apparently the communities agreed to split teams, if you have two, evenly, and everyone but Holt did that.  Did get to see Cpher at attack and middie in this game so that was fun.

The end of the season tournament was out in Clarkston…again, it was the same time as Kevin’s Open House so I missed it.  Cpher drove out with the coach and a friend or two.  They lost both games…..I really think the lacrosse program needs to reevaluate how we enter these tournaments and festivals.  The other communities are entering A and B teams…..even if we would split by grade we would be more competitive.  As it is, the 5th and 7th graders are weak spots on both teams.  Cpher only played Saturday; spent Sunday at home with us for graduation.

Matthew:  There are no pictures from the two games between the Waverly tournament and the end of the year tournament, but, each game had something to talk about.   The first was a 6-4 win against East Lansing, where, again, my boy is the one who is hurt when some kid on the other team decides to pick up the granddaddy of penalties, 2 minutes, non-releasable. 

So what happened?  Matthew is charging in after picking the ball up on defense; he beats one kid, he beats another, spins, spins….and the last defender comes up and uses his d-pole like you would use a spear against a charging pig…..and literally shoves the head right at Matthew’s neck!  Every parent, from both teams, makes that ‘Ooooooo’ sound; not good.

Of course, Matthew goes down in a heap…..he comes off the field and does end up going in later, but, he has taken his share of lumps this year!

The last ‘game’ of the year is parent appreciation day….it is a scrimmage against the other 5/6 split squad team.  Apparently, there is a lot of trash talk at school before the game; Matthew’s team is undefeated in split squad games so he is feeling pretty confident and has not been shy about telling the other team both that fact and his opinion.

He was right; we win 11-3.  The boy had every chance to score in this game; I think he put two shots off the post!  I thought his finest moments were when he took faceoffs against one of his best friends, Joey.  Absolutely dominated him; won possession, headed upfield, took great shots on goal.  

The other highlight of this game was that the coaches asked the kids to sign cards for their parents.  Many kids went simple, Thanks-Mom, something short.  Matthew put some time and thought into it…he told us afterwards as he sat there and wrote his card out that two or three kids came over with their card and left as they were done.   We told him he was the hero of the day, because other parents were pretty jealous when we opened our card and received a well thought out thank you.

Cpher thought he might have merited a mention (and he might be right).  Kevin was pretty touched to hear that his two years of lacrosse was remembered by his little brother…..

Matthew’s season, like Cpher’s, ends at Clarkston.  His games are in the morning so I go out with him for the double-header.  Like his brother, we run up against A teams with our full squad and that is not a recipe for success, we lose 6-0 and 11-0 or something like that.  I do have some pictures.

I’m a broken record sometimes; team gets hammered and I think Matthew has played well.  But I do think, if it were just our 6th graders playing his team, it would have been a different story.   

Played middie.  Again, this faceoff isn’t particularly fair. 

I think this kid was reduced to trying to flop his body over the ball after Matthew flattened him…

 

I think, I know(!), that I have been talking to Matthew for a month about leading by example in his sports and being physical…both teams, lacrosse and soccer, seem to have a lot of defense-without-contact going on and well, it just doesn’t work.  In lacrosse, if you are all stick and no body the guy just goes by you.

Matthew, bless his little heart, has been a stalwart at knocking kids on their butts.  One sequence in this game is memorable enough for me to remember two weeks later….this one kid from Howell is running up the sideline and our parents are yelling ‘Push Him Out, Push Him Out’.  And two kids can’t do it….and finally Matthew comes over and flattens the kid and he hits the sideline and the ball is ours.   I should mention Matthew also is doing this cleanly…he hasn’t seen he penalty box in a long time…..

In the second game, this defenseman on the other team is running upfield through the middle of the field; he has beat our two middies and three attack and the only thing standing between him and our defense is Matthew about midfield.  The guy comes in, fakes, Matthew slows him a little with his stick and runs through him.  Turnover, Matthew heads upfield with the ball……

 

Had his chances to score in the first game….did a nice job with the ball when he had it.  But didn’t play as much as he or I would have wished because of the large team size….