Kevin/Dad: Since we are back on standby with Kevin’s knee we went out and did our league match. I won, but it wasn’t as easy as last time; 15-9, 15-8, 15-9. Kevin thinks another two weeks and he’ll be ready to stomp me…..I just laugh. Tried the GoPro outside of the glass wall, might post some video later.
Matthew: I am four games behind on Matthew story-telling. No pictures because as always it’s gloomy dark inside.
Game 1: Beat Farmington 01 2-1. In this session we play three teams that are a year older. Their striker was/is was really good; he was a handful. Traded sloppy goals early and we punched one in midway through to win. They moved the ball fairly well; a good game overall. Will see them again later in this update.
A strange game for Matthew…started at center back but was pulled almost immediately because the coach saw that really super fast striker and realized that was a bad matchup. But then, in what is going to be a trend in these four games, spent more than his share of time on the bench. Part of this is Matthew, I think, reverting to one of his bad habits, putting his hands on his hips when he is just standing around….he’s not tired (or at least claims not to be tired) but he certainly looks like he is. Top that with some dubious decisions that led to turnovers and he definitely earned his place on the bench at times.
At the end of this game took a shot to the mouth and his braces cut into this gums….out again due to that.
Game 2: Beat LCSC 5-3. The third time this year we’ve played these guys, again, we will play them again later in this session. Every goal, ours and theirs, all came from the left side of the field...very strange (not a good day for right backs). Our striker had 4 goals and an assist; a big day for him but a good job by everyone finding him out in space.
Again, not a lot of Matthew here…..started the game on the bench dealing with bleeding but then would only come in for 10 minutes before heading out again. Made a big mistake that led to a goal when he was playing out of position……at least he understood what he did wrong.
So, that was the first weekend and I checked in with the coach to see what was up…..that dreaded word ‘fitness’ came up and certainly made me regret not having Matthew play basketball (can’t even think how we would have made that work though!). The coach took some of the blame, Matthew’s repeated play at center back has meant less running during games…..and now that he’s back out on the field it shows.
The Wednesday between these games was a conditioning practice. Have never seen Matthew complain about being as sore as he was after that! Heard a lot of kids weren’t shy about telling the coach they weren’t happy with practice….of course, this just makes it easier for him to keep piling it on! Glad Matthew kept his mouth shut!
Game 3 (this last weekend): Lost to Tigers 01 2-1. We gave up two incredibly stupid goals, one from the new center back who decided (twice even!) to do what I yelled at kids when I was coaching over and over “DO NOT CENTER THE BALL ON DEFENSE”. The second time it caught up with us and they scored and that kid went to the bench for a little ‘talk’.
I thought Matthew played pretty well and he played about half the game…..but the coach ripped the team after the game (we had an hour break) and I think Matthew took it all too personally. We had a little talk during the break and they went out for the next game.
Game 4: Beat Farmington 3-1. A much better outing, scored within the first 5 minutes and never trailed. But not a lot of Matthew….played really well while he was in there but wasn’t in there very much at all.
So…..I guess there are two points to talk a little more about
1) Fitness – Not too concerned about this….he starts lacrosse next week so he’s going to be going to practices 4x/week. But I think he is beginning to understand that it can’t just be what he does at soccer practice…he needs to start putting in the time outside of that.
2) Playing Time – I don’t think he’s playing poorly…so this confuses me. Will seek more guidance from the coach on this if it continues next weekend.
Cpher: The year-end tournament for basketball finally rolls around
We are the #2 seed in the lower of the Gold brackets. Find out before the tournament starts that the #1 seed isn’t showing up. This is only neutral news for us…..it is a big benefit for the winner of the #4/#5 game.
Game 1: So we go out and lose the first game to Laingsburg! A team we had beaten by 15 in the regular season! But they came out and made almost every shot…and we missed a lot of layups and easy shots near the basket and were down by 12 at the half. Roared back to tie it up with about a minute to go….and had a three-pointer to win it that just missed. So, on to the Loser’s Bracket.
Game 2: Beat Grand Ledge. Beat them going away…we win by 20 or so. Back-to-back games on Sunday until we lose.
Game 3: On Sunday….since we are in the losers bracket we get the benefit of the forfeit…our first game is the 2nd forfeit and we don’t have to be on site until 11:30 instead of 9 am.
We blow out Eaton Rapids. Cpher plays the last 12-15 minutes of the game as we try to rest some of our other players for the back-to-back gauntlet we have to go through.
How did Christopher play? Ok…..still wish he was more confident in himself to go up to the basket strong when he has the ball underneath. But, of the two big men, he played the most…the other guy didn’t play much at all (and that seems very strange to me….we had an opportunity to bury Holt as their big guy was in serious foul trouble. Sadly, no real effort by us to pound the ball inside when that happened. Oh well.
Game 4: Beat Laingsburg in the rematch. They were again leading at the half but we put them away in the third quarter and the end of the game.
Game 5: Lose to Holt and that ends the tournament. Finish in 2nd place. We hung with Holt and the game was tied at the start of the 4th quarter but the boys are too tired and Holt pulls away.
(I’ve never seen a team make it successfully through the loser’s bracket. Just a long way to go…especially if you lose on the first day to end up there!)
