State soccer champs!

My high school won the Ohio high school soccer championships today!  I am so excited for the team and community.  Soccer was a big part of my life when I was in high school.  We were a powerhouse at the time.  We made two state-final-four appearances and were often ranked in the top ten in the state (and sometimes at #1).  We never could quiet get over the hump to make it to the finals though, let alone actually win.  The best part (in my opinion) is that the coach is a classmate of mine.  He was probably the best soccer player to ever go through my high school and played at the collegiate level.  I was a statistician for the boys' team all four years of high school, and I loved every minute.  I'm so proud not only of the team and their coach, but of how the community has supported it all!

Season over

Soccer season ended this morning. HT had his last game. While I'm happy to know that our Saturday mornings are now unscheduled, I was a little sad in that HT actually had his best game of the year this morning! He's ready to be finished though, and I'm glad that he isn't sad about it. I also attended the game of one of our friends' sons and enjoyed watching him play as well. I don't think anyone is playing basketball in this house, so until baseball season starts in about five months we will have more free time...or as much as you can have with three children!

Switching sports

It seems that HT, as with the others, is really not into soccer. This is not terribly surprising to me, although it is somewhat disappointing. We had thought that maybe the lack of enthusiasm was due to the 9AM game times, but even the 10:15 game times aren't exactly bringing out the zest for soccer. I asked HT if he thought he would be playing soccer next year, and he announced that he would prefer to try badminton. I got quite a chuckle out of this...how on earth we'll find a rec badminton league for seven-year-olds is beyond me!

Soccer success

Today was the beginning of soccer season for HT. He is the only one of our three playing this year. It was a successful beginning to the season! His black cast even matches his uniform. After his game we joined some friends for lunch, then went to watch their older son play his game this afternoon. Right now we are getting ready to settle in for the ND/Michigan game, played at the same time as the Miami/Ohio State game. Thank goodness for remote controls!

So close!

That was pretty much the theme of the weekend. Notre Dame was so close to beating Michigan, and OSU was so close to beating USC. Today was the biggest though. Three times today, JR was so, so, so close to scoring a goal in his soccer game! A friend and I were so excited and we were practically kicking it in our seats for him! I got tears in my eyes when I thought about my oldest son, and everything he's been through, and we wanted so badly for him to score. Not to be today, but it was so close!

We've made it through the day

I'm exhausted, but for the most part we've made it through the day. I knew it would be a long one. The original plan was for our family to go to HT's soccer game at 9, then my husband would head to a friend's house to help chop firewood. I would take my three and two of JR's teammates to his noon soccer game which was about 20 minutes away. Because of scheduling conflicts, I was also supposed to help coach. Then later this evening I would join my husband at our friends' house and we would spend a lovely evening visiting. Not to be though. My wonderful husband awoke at 2:30 this morning with a fever of 101.9. Yuck! The kids were in no mood to get up and at 'em this morning, but somehow we made it to HT's game on time. He did fairly well. The cute thing is that he really wants to play goalie, but there is no goalie at that level. I came home between games long enough to clean and refill water bottles for round two, as well as throw a snack together for the little ones during their older brother's game. We followed the directions perfectly, and when we arrived at our destination I was alarmed to notice there WAS NO SOCCER FIELD! Several other parents arrived at the same time so it wasn't just me! I was able to get in touch with our league president, and he knew exactly where to send us. And as a bonus, the assistant coach was able to be there so I didn't have to make my coaching debut (Thanks goodness)! JR's team played to a 5-2 victory, but unfortunately JR was in goal for both of the opposing goals. We've come home to finish the day with football and movies, and hopefully a good night sleep! My husband's fever is down to about 100, and fortunately he doesn't feel awful. He's staying away from all of us though!

Soccer begins

Yesterday was the official beginning of the soccer season for JR. JC isn't playing this year, and HT doesn't have games until after Labor Day. Due to a scheduling conflict, I wasn't able to go to the game yesterday, but JR's team won 8-6. Today I got to see the game, and was so excited that JR got an assist on the first goal scored today! It was a painful game though, as we were ahead most of the game until the last 10 minutes when the other team scored four goals to win 4-2. Still plenty of soccer left to be played though!