2007 Fall Sports-Who's doing what?

[AGibbsGirl]

Thought I'd start a thread, this way we can look for each other's teams in the papers

We are Varsity Boys Soccer at Brunswick HS in Maryland (1-1)

and Freshman Football at Middletown HS Maryland (1-1)

[smoot]

NC State Soccer (2-0)

[AGibbsGirl]

Ok, so even though only smoot and I ever come in here...(ok maybe CarMike once in awhile) I wanted to share my Soccer Mom story.

Setting the stage for you:

My son's soccer team (BHS) was undefeated last fall and so his coach moved the team up a division level this year from I to II/III. We played the first game against a III school and got killed, played a I division level school and killed them.

So last night:

We faced a team from III, so of course our boys thought they'd get killed.

This other team came in thinking they would make quick work out of us and showed surprising arrogance for High Schoolers

(...now if this were a fairy tale I'd tell you we won, we didn't, it was 0-2)

However, we did not allow them to score until DEEP into the second half and we had many more shots on goal then they liked. Their second goal came literally at the end of the game...and we did "score" right at the whistle at the half but the ref wouldn't give it to us....(even though he gave them the one at the whistle at the end ~grrr~)

...but I digress....

BHS had the other team so crazy that they stopped all of their "razzle dazzle" moves and just played all-out soccer. They have a huge International community that feeds into this school and so they have great soccer kids. But their star player was shut down at every turn (he was pounding his head, pounding the ground...it was great!) and their coach was so frustrated that he got a yellow card for screaming at the Ref's so much. Our parents were going nuts!!! It was one of the most exciting games I've ever seen and we were giddy with excitement that our boys handled themselves so well.

So anyway, the coach was proud and Mom was proud, thanks for listening!

PS: I fed them all a big spaghetti dinner a few hours before the game, I'm convinced that's what did it!

[smoot]

Setting the stage for you:


awesome story agg, games like that are why i play the game. the excitement is nothing less than surreal. (except if i lose like your son's team did, you prolly wont see me talk to anybody for 2 or 3 days)


Their second goal came literally at the end of the game...and we did "score" right at the whistle at the half but the ref wouldn't give it to us....(even though he gave them the one at the whistle at the end ~grrr~)


this part bothers me though. any referree worth his salt blows the halftime/full time whistle off a reset, preferable in the middle third of the field. To call a game while a team is attacking the goal is assanine. However, since some of my high school refs were the dumbest people i've ever met (and i mean a collective iq below 100 between the 3 of them dumb) i can understand your frustration.


good luck to your son as the season goes on, moving up a division is always tough, but it's usually a great indicator of a team's abilities. btw, if at all possible, videotape whatever games you can for your son...absolutely nothing will help him more than being able to physically see what he is doing wrong/right (if he's willing to subject himself to that). It's also fantastic to see the difference in the level of play of the team as the season goes on and they begin to feel for each other during the game.

[AGibbsGirl]

btw, if at all possible, videotape whatever games you can for your son...absolutely nothing will help him more than being able to physically see what he is doing wrong/right (if he's willing to subject himself to that). It's also fantastic to see the difference in the level of play of the team as the season goes on and they begin to feel for each other during the game.

Thanks for all of the kind words, and this is an excellent idea, he would probably really appreciate if we did this, probably the coach would too.

[smoot]

Thanks for all of the kind words, and this is an excellent idea, he would probably really appreciate if we did this, probably the coach would too.
it did wonders for me and the group of friends who also did it...if you guys have a tower or anything of that sort, thats the ideal place to film it from as you need a much of the field in view to get a true perspective

[Minnesota Mike]

it did wonders for me and the group of friends who also did it...if you guys have a tower or anything of that sort, thats the ideal place to film it from as you need a much of the field in view to get a true perspective


I totally agree with the video idea.

My daughter is a swimmer. Last year as an 11-year old 7th grader she got a varsity letter at her school (which is K-12). She will again letter this year.

But back to the video. I video recorded one of her races this summer, and instead of just zooming in on her, I included the swimmers on either side of her in the frame. This side by side comparison of her stroke with the other two swimmers, showed her a stroke flaw that I have been telling her about with very little improvement for over a year. Once she saw with own eyes what I'd been trying to explain to her, she got it right away. And she has made some good progress to improving it.

The ability to see yourself doing something is far more powerful than somebody telling you about it. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I'd add that a video is worth a thousand pictures.

[AGibbsGirl]

I totally agree with the video idea.

My daughter is a swimmer. Last year as an 11-year old 7th grader she got a varsity letter at her school (which is K-12). She will again letter this year.


This is great Mike, congrats to your daughter on a job well done last year! Please keep us updated

[Minnesota Mike]

This is great Mike, congrats to your daughter on a job well done last year! Please keep us updated

When she got her letter last year as an 11 year old, I pointed out to her that I didn't get mine until I was in 11th grade. If she sticks with it, and I suspect she will, she will end up being a 6 year letter earner, and maybe even a two-year captain. She's doing pretty well at, especially considering she's usually up against girls that are 5 or 6 years older than her. And these team meets aren't just about winning events. High schools swimming is all about team depth. Swimmers that can get points in 2nd, 3rd and 4th can really help the team accumulate points toward the team win. So last night, for instance she got two 2nd place finishes and helped a relay finish in 1st.

[AGibbsGirl]

Latest drama on Varsity soccer.

So Michael's undefeated team of last fall has only won 1 game so far this fall.

And now Michael has been permanetly benched. Apparently he went from "You are so versatile we can play you anywhere" to "You've shown us nothing, I don't have a spot for you anymore" problem is...he has played very, very little this season, so what is the benching based on?

And the reason I'm mad...if you didn't have a spot for my kid on the team, then you should have said so from the get go...he could have played another sport or concentrated on his studies, instead you lead him on with all that crap about him being so versatile...sheesh....:smash:

On a positive note Jake's football team is now 2-2 having won on Tuesday

[smoot]

Latest drama on Varsity soccer.

So Michael's undefeated team of last fall has only won 1 game so far this fall.

And now Michael has been permanetly benched. Apparently he went from "You are so versatile we can play you anywhere" to "You've shown us nothing, I don't have a spot for you anymore" problem is...he has played very, very little this season, so what is the benching based on?

And the reason I'm mad...if you didn't have a spot for my kid on the team, then you should have said so from the get go...he could have played another sport or concentrated on his studies, instead you lead him on with all that crap about him being so versatile...sheesh....:smash:

On a positive note Jake's football team is now 2-2 having won on Tuesday
in my experience, this is almost always related to one of two things, and based on what you've said with his experience last year, it appears to be the latter.
1. Politics. plain and simple, high school sports, especially soccer boil down to politics between the coach and the player (or even sometimes moreso, the parent). If a coach finds a player that he likes for some reason or another (cough cough, warrick holdman, cough cough), he's going to stick with that player despite the flaws that may be obvious to everybody surrounding.
2. Practice. it seems to me as though most coaches at the high school level treat practice as a time for them to demonstrate their authority whether they realize that they do it or not. If a player goofs off, they take it personally and can sometimes hold a grudge over it.

Either way, if either of those is the case, it boils down to one thing....bad coaching, which is the one thing that you cant really do anything about.

Good luck

[Minnesota Mike]

in my experience, this is almost always related to one of two things, and based on what you've said with his experience last year, it appears to be the latter.
1. Politics. plain and simple, high school sports, especially soccer boil down to politics between the coach and the player (or even sometimes moreso, the parent). If a coach finds a player that he likes for some reason or another (cough cough, warrick holdman, cough cough), he's going to stick with that player despite the flaws that may be obvious to everybody surrounding.
2. Practice. it seems to me as though most coaches at the high school level treat practice as a time for them to demonstrate their authority whether they realize that they do it or not. If a player goofs off, they take it personally and can sometimes hold a grudge over it.

Either way, if either of those is the case, it boils down to one thing....bad coaching, which is the one thing that you cant really do anything about.

Good luck


Not to start a new topic here, but look at the US Womens Soccer team and that goalie situation.


My daughter's swim team had some drama recently too. Two of the Seniors on the team came into practice one day last week and told the coach they were quitting. They were done and didn't want to do it anymore. It was kind of a wierd deal for my kid. Both of the girls who quit were pretty good (for HS) so it will certainly impact the team results in some of the upcoming meets. Plus the hard part of the season is over so it seems kind of odd. I'm trying to figure out what kind of learning opportunity I can turn this into for my kid, but I haven't come up with anything yet.

[AGibbsGirl]

in my experience, this is almost always related to one of two things, and based on what you've said with his experience last year, it appears to be the latter.
1. Politics. plain and simple, high school sports, especially soccer boil down to politics between the coach and the player (or even sometimes moreso, the parent). If a coach finds a player that he likes for some reason or another (cough cough, warrick holdman, cough cough), he's going to stick with that player despite the flaws that may be obvious to everybody surrounding.
2. Practice. it seems to me as though most coaches at the high school level treat practice as a time for them to demonstrate their authority whether they realize that they do it or not. If a player goofs off, they take it personally and can sometimes hold a grudge over it.

Either way, if either of those is the case, it boils down to one thing....bad coaching, which is the one thing that you cant really do anything about.

Good luck

yeah, the politics thing is at play here. The senior captain (The Golden Boy as we sarcastically refer to him) got caught hanging out with the girls instead of being at practice (he said he had a Dr appt) when he got punished, he quit. The coaches told him fine, you're done then.

But his parents went to the Principal and she told the coach and AD that they had no authority to kick him off the team, so not only was he back on the team, but he was back on the field two nights later for the game. The boys were confused, the coach and AD were confused about who actually was in charge and the parents were PO'd at the lack of responsiblity...now what kind of lesson did that teach?

and, oh yeah...guess who was going to be his replacement?...yep, my son.....and from that point on, Michael never had a place to play...oh well, he's decided to stay on...so I will be off shortly to watch the team play

[AGibbsGirl]

My daughter's swim team had some drama recently too. Two of the Seniors on the team came into practice one day last week and told the coach they were quitting. They were done and didn't want to do it anymore. It was kind of a wierd deal for my kid. Both of the girls who quit were pretty good (for HS) so it will certainly impact the team results in some of the upcoming meets. Plus the hard part of the season is over so it seems kind of odd. I'm trying to figure out what kind of learning opportunity I can turn this into for my kid, but I haven't come up with anything yet.

The only thing you can do is stress sticking with something after you've made a commitment, and not committing to something unless you can stick with it. Very tough break for the team and for your daughter who probably looked up to these older girls as mentors.

[AGibbsGirl]

Welp, our sport season ended on Wed with our last Freshman football game. Both of my boys had really bad season's in regard to overall standings, but good season's in regard to enjoyment...well besides all of the drama, all's well that end's well yeah?

I'd like to say we came away in 1 piece but Jake broke the growth plate in his thumb and is in a cast for 6 weeks. However, he got a doctor who was sympathetic to his need to play and was given a note allowing Jake to return for the last 2 games. He maintained his starting position on the O-line and seemed to play better...coincidence?

Hope everyone else's season went well and I look forward to hearing about Winter sports. We take the winter off so that the boys can indulge in snowboarding...pray for snow! :D

I'll report back once Rugby starts in the spring