Liz played lacrosse on Saturday in the PNC Invitational. It was hosted by Loyola University. The game was later broadcast on CWBaltimore. I watched the game live from a press box. And later watched it televised at home sitting with Liz’s grandfather. He has been too sick to get out and watch the kids play and watched the game from his wheelchair.
Liz had an assist in the game. She played well. Her team is ranked 17th in the country.
I don’t have pics of Maggie or Jack, because we didn’t attend the event.
Maggie, Luke, and Jack all competed in Gobble Gobble Go at their school. Maggie completed 16 laps. Luke completed 8 laps. Jack completed 13 laps. Jack beat most of the 5th graders, and was tops in his grade, 1st grade. Maggie might have been tops in her grade, 5th grade.
It is Thanksgiving morning, and we have been talking about the Turkey Trot. I just threw the clothes in the dryer, as it is 23 degrees out. I am not running this year. Liz, Noah and Maggie all want to run. It is almost time to wake them up, so we will see.
Noah, Luke and Jack all played soccer this fall. Luke and Jack are really enjoying their teams and playing. It has been a rainy fall, and a lot has been canceled. But they are enjoying it none the less.
Noah is playing on two teams. He did not participate fully in tryouts so that he would be placed on the B team, which he was. But then he went to a pickup game in the summer, and the A team coaches saw him, and asked him to double roster. It has been a great opportunity for him. He is having fun and competing on both teams, and we are really enjoying both sets of coaches.
One of the parents on the Gold team takes pictures of all of the boys. It is really great when parents do this.
Noah captured above playing for the Catonsville Cobras Gold team. With one game left in the season, they are sitting in first place in the league. If they win next weekend, they win the league.
The kids are out cheering on Noah. Jack needs to put on some weight.
Jack playing for the Avengers
Luke playing. He loves playing in the goal.
I teach my children and the players in my club respect. In words, I tell them to respect their opponents. To respect their teammates. To respect their coaches. To respect the game. And to respect the officials.
The last one is getting harder and harder. The officials are getting less and less talented. They are missing calls. Kids are getting hurt or cheated. And the officials aren’t competent enough to keep games under control. I have coached games where girls get repeatedly checked in the head with no calls. I was in one game where a girl on my team scored a goal and was checked in the face so hard there was an immediate mark and later a bruise. She fell to the ground and I rushed onto the field to check on her. The referee gave me a yellow card for entering the field of play. He did not call the check to the head. There is just no excuse for bad refereeing, especially when the level of play is so good. When the skill level is high, referees need to be on par with their own skill level … and professionalism! God, there is a lack of professionalism.
On the biggest stages of the sport in the last month, the officials have impacted the game immensely.
In the world games, Canada was robbed by the referees, after they held a 1 goal lead late in the game. They won the faceoff, then US was awarded the ball on a mysterious off sides call. US tied it up. Then when time ran out, extra seconds kept magically being added to the clock to give the US three additional shots after time expired on the clock that the players could see. The US won the World Games, and there was no integrity to it.
Two nights ago, Jeff Teat, arguably the best player in Canada, and one of the best in the NCAA, was playing in the Minto Cup, Canada’s amateur national championship. I did not see the game, but heard that the referee from the west coast was taunting him all game. I have seen posted online that after Teat was shoved from behind into the goal, that the same referee was yelling at him to get up. After the game, said referee leveed a 3 game suspension of Teat, and of his father, Dan Teat. He claims he was threatened by them.
I have met both of these men on multiple occasions. Jeff Teat is an ambassador of sportsmanship. I am so impressed by this young man. And he must get it from somewhere. Anything is possible, and I shouldn’t judge anything without evidence or knowing facts, but I find it hard to believe that Jeff Teat would threaten a referee.
Let’s make it all about the refs!
Are you kidding me!
Our trip this year to Bethany Beach was a bit chaotic, but well worth it. Life goes on, even though you plan a vacation. Dad was still in the hospital. Noah had tryouts for lacrosse. Eden and Liz had tryouts for field hockey. So, we came and went, but we enjoyed each other.
We celebrated Luke’s 8th birthday at Five Guys
Since Luke is our beach baby, we always go to the beach on his birthday. This year, we arrived home from Mexico late in the evening on his birthday. After celebrating at home with him, Marcia packed up all the kids, except Noah, and headed to the beach that night. What a cool mom. Noah and I stayed at home for Sunday, so that he could try out for a new lacrosse team. Although he missed some of the tryout dates, he earned a spot on FCA. He and I went to the beach late Sunday night, and we were all together on Monday night to celebrate Luke’s birthday.
We also convinced mom to go to the beach with us to give her a break from the hospital. She came down on Sunday, and stayed until Wednesday. I think it was a good break for her. We did jigsaw puzzles, and were right on the boardwalk. We played putt putt. They gave the kids cool pirate tattoos. And Noah earned a free game by getting a hole in one on the last hole.
We also got in some great beach time. There were no real waves to speak of. And so everybody really enjoyed the water. Luke was really brave. He is able to go in the water by himself. And was boogey boarding. Jack was jumping waves, while holding my thumbs. He loved it. Everyone else is completely independent. Marcia’s mom brought their cousin down for the last day at the beach. And we had dinner at Ropewalk.
The older girls were home for the better part of the week. I drove them home on Wednesday, visited with my dad, then came back to the beach that night. While at home, they both earned spots on varsity field hockey at SPSG.
On Saturday, we were checking out, and George texted that we could stop by Sue’s house. We did, and what a visit it was!
George took us out on Sue’s new pontoon boat. It was great. All of our kids got to drive the boat. We went swimming in Assawoman Bay. And we docked and ate lunch at Harpoon Hannas. And then George and I pulled up some crab pots. What a great boat trip.
When we got back, the kids were paddle boarding and kayaking in the canal. They had so much fun with their cousins.
A great day in the bay capped off a wonderful vacation. Our last meal, at Tonalteca, was nothing to write home about, but we survived it, and then made the trek home. Another great vacation in the books. I can’t wait until our next family adventure.
As Bobby’s wedding is a few weeks away, I won’t have to wait long.
It has started. All six kids are playing fall sports. It is overwhelming and school has not even started.
Luke and Jack are each playing both soccer and baseball this fall. We are waiting to hear their teams, but are hoping at least that they are both on the same baseball team.
Maggie is playing field hockey. There are two practices a week and games on the weekends. Marcia is coaching.
Noah is playing on two soccer teams. He didn’t try out for the A team so that he would be placed on the B team with his friends. And then the A team coach saw him and wanted him on his team. Now he is on two teams. Two tournaments this weekend.
Eden and Liz are playing field hockey. They are both on varsity together and they play their first scrimmage tonight.
And 4 of them are playing lacrosse this fall. We are loading up Liz’s weekends with prospect days. Eden will have some fall events later in October and into November. Noah is now playing for FCA and we don’t yet know his fall schedule. Maggie is playing Redshirts this fall again, and has a fall schedule, which I have yet to publish. Luke and Jack aren’t playing lacrosse yet, but they want to.
We don’t have schedules for most of the kids yet. And they are back to school next week and the week after. With dad in the hospital and mom struggling with her knees, I don’t know how we are going to manage. But it will be worth it I think. The kids really do like their sports, and we love watching them.
Eden and Liz both made varsity field hockey today at SPSG. Eden as a freshman and Liz as a junior. It is so exciting that two of my children will be competing together on the same team. I have six kids, but this doesn’t happen often. I am proud of both of them, and excited to watch them play.
Eden was headed to her second day of tryouts. I sent her a note of encouragement beforehand. In the note, I told her how proud I was of her. And I reminded her of all of the good things she did in the 1st day of tryouts. And, again, I gave her some advice.
Today, follow it up and work even harder. You now know what you are up against. But don’t worry about what you are up against. Work for yourself. Be the best you can be. You have two hours. Play the hardest you can play. Push yourself as hard as you can.
You have the stickwork. You have the athleticism. You are a smart field hockey player. Show them that you have the hustle. That you won’t give up on a play. That you can hound offensive players all game long. That you aren’t afraid. That you deserve to be there. Because you do.
I am glad that you have an older sister that sets the bar high for you. And I am glad that you sometimes pass that bar, and push her to set the bar higher.
I am proud of you. So is Mom. So is Liz. Now go make yourself proud. Show yourself what you can do. Give it everything you’ve got. There will be time to rest and recover, but not today. Today, make your mark. Whatever happens happens.
Oh … and eat lunch today 🙂 I got some bananas and lunch meat and cheese.
Eden is going into her freshman year of high school. She is trying out for varsity field hockey. I drove her and Liz home from the beach so that they could try out. Liz is a rising junior and was on the team last year.
Eden had a lot of nervous energy all week leading up to the tryout. And also the week before, when she would drag her sister to the high school to practice. She was most nervous about the MD test, a series of sprints (20 of them), which needed to be completed in a time frame (18 second 100 yd sprint, 42 seconds to jog back for the start of the next sprint).
I did not pay attention that Eden was so nervous she skipped lunch.
On the way to the tryout, I told the girls how proud I was of them, how much I believed in them, and I gave Eden a couple pieces of advice:
Go Hard. No matter what you are doing, go hard and don’t give up. Even if you get beat, hustle and make a play. You only have two hours, put all your effort into every play.
Get to the front of the line. When there are drills, don’t hang back. Get to the front. Get the most opportunities you can to shine.
Challenge the seniors. Try to steal the ball from seniors (Eden is a defender). Don’t back down because they are older. Step up and challenge.
Talk. Be loud and talk on defense.
Thank your coaches. Seek out all the coaches and evaluators after. Firm hand shake. Eye contact. Thank you.
I did not stay for the tryout. But when I came back and picked them up, I could tell that Eden was upset. Liz did well. She finished first in the MD test. Only a few girls finished, maybe 4 or 5. Eden missed the time on the 9th sprint, but still continued on and finished the 10th and final sprint. She was very disappointed in herself and upset. Liz quickly reminded her how well she did in the drills (especially stealing the ball from a senior) and how much better she did in the MD test than most of the other girls trying out. Eden felt though that as a freshman, you need to stand out big time in order to make a varsity team.
5 months ago, I had the idea to take Marcia on a special trip for her birthday. I wanted it to be a surprise. And I wanted it to be just the two of us, so that she could unwind. She works really hard, and so do I, and things can get stressful. So, I booked a trip in March to give to her for her birthday in May. I told the kids, and they all did a pretty good job of keeping it a surprise for Mom.
On her birthday, I told Marcia that we were going to Mexico, to Playa del Carmen, in August. She and I were both excited.
And so I had to make some arrangements. I wanted the trip to be relatively stress free. Free from work stress, lacrosse stress and family stress. I planned my lacrosse club’s tryouts early. I got my parents to agree to babysit for the week. And I scheduled the time off from work well in advance, and about two months after a scheduled release of my company’s web site.
Well, of course, the best laid plans don’t always work out. The web site was delayed and is still not ready to roll out. The tryouts went well, but I still need to hold a supplemental tryout for one of my teams when I get back. The most significant event though was that my dad had a brain bleed and needed an emergency craniotomy about 10 days before we were to leave for our vacation.
It was scary, but he made it through. He was having a remarkable recovery for about 9 days. Then, the day before we left, my mom became concerned about his progress. We made the decision to go on the vacation the next morning.
Less than a day into the trip, we were getting text messages that he had a possible brain infection. Or that he had a stroke. He has had setbacks. There are spots on the latest CT scan. All of the news we were receiving was sounding really bad. We were checking flights and it was difficult to get home. We were no longer on a vacation, it was kind of a nightmare, just hanging by the phone for the next update, hoping that update was not worse than the last.
And I decided that I needed to focus on the vacation. My brother was with my dad and mom. There was nothing that I was going to be able to effect by going home. So, I stayed on the vacation, at least for another day or two. I had already dropped a lot of money to go on an excursion on Tuesday, and I could find flights out on Wednesday. So, I tried to relax, and focus on the vacation. I figured that it would do no good to worry all week or the remainder of my vacation, and go home a wreck and be in no better state to help my family than when I left. I need to somehow get some rest and be ready for when I went home.
I was able to have a bucket list day on Tuesday in the jungles of Coba. I was able to stay present in Mexico. I have had some nice meals with Marcia.
And we got in some nice shopping for the kids in Playa del Carmen
We facetime or talk with the kids a few times a day. We miss them dearly. We have had some good news about my father. I am hoping that continues, and we finish out our vacation.
Six With Sticks 