Unstoppable

These boys were unstoppable this season. 

 Meet the 2012 7 & 8 year old Southern Tier Youth Football 

SUPER BOWL Champions!

What a season!  Their first game they came together as a team and played hard. It was their only loss of the season (and not a division game).  They won the next six games and the Division Champion title.   

Playoff games – they had two.  They won those games.  Next stop – the Super Bowl!

They played. They won.  They are champions.

Great season and many thanks to the coaches, the parents and community for their support.

So proud of these Panthers!   

It's over

Tonight it ends. 

One more football practice!  Whoot!  We are excited. Our week nights will be less hectic.  

Stay tuned for Monday’s update.

Will these mighty Panthers bring that Super Bowl trophy home?

 

Give them....

A new coach.  A patient coach.  A coach that can teach young girls how to cheer and have fun.  One that doesn’t yell and belittle these young girls. 

How does one believe shouting negative comments, repeatedly, at the squad will produce results?  This type of action just shuts them down.  They turn off their brains and just go through the motions.

What makes a good coach?

When I think of the coaches I had, I see someone that told me what I was doing wrong.  They’d take the time to show me the correct way to do it. If they had to show me more than once, they did, with patience and kindness. I don’t remember any of the coaches berating any of the students the way this coach does.  If I did something wrong during a game, coach would tell me to shake it off and do it right the next time.  They did not yell at me and ask, loudly, why they were wasting their precious time when I am not doing what they want and the way they expect it. This woman is not coach material. I seriously think she has some issues. Seriously.

Coaches need to care, be respectful, motivate, and teach. They should now the sport and having played the sport is very helpful as well. 

On the flip side, how can a coach devote all her attention to the girls and training when parents are talking and making comments?  In addition to that distraction, siblings are running all over the gymnasium.  The coach doesn’t have a chance to have the girls’ full attention.  I think she yells so she can be heard over the noise. I think some of what she yells is not directed to the girls but to the parents.  She is frustrated and is taking it out on the girls.

I struggle with myself. Should I speak out?  Other parents have.  Some have pulled their daughters from the squad.  Is that the right thing to do?  It would not be fair to Olivia.  She has worked so hard learning her routines and she practices all the time. I hear her clapping after I tuck her in. Sometimes I open her door and ask her to go to bed.  You cannot tell this is her first year cheering. She has had a great season.  She looked so beautiful out on the track cheering for the football team. 

For a youth program, this needs to be addressed.  And at last nights practice, two of the youth association board members came to the school.  What parents were there, discussed the situation and we told to bring their concerns to the next youth association meeting.  I said what I had to last night. We also agreed to stick it out because there is one week of practice left and then competition. 

An experience like this, at any age, can effect whether our children participate in sports in the future. Most of the parents, teachers and community members are supportive and want the best for our youth.  One unqualified “coach” can do more damage than people believe.  We need to keep our youth active and involved.  They will want to return to a sport and try other sports, if they have a positive, encouraging season. Sports teach them teamwork, time management, commitment, and other life-long lessons. 

We’ll stick it out.  Olivia wants to go to competition. I don’t blame her. She has worked hard and deserves the chance to experience competition.  I want to see her compete.  I talk to her after each practice to tell her how well she is doing.  I tell her not to think about the comments yelled at her for two hours.  They are not true.  I know the joy and excitement of cheer has left. It has been gone for some time. This is a shame as I wanted Olivia’s first sport to be a gratifying experience.  It’ll be memorable but not in the way it should be.

Competition is less than two weeks away.  I am looking forward to the peacefulness. 

Dreams

I dreamed about cookies last night.

It wasn’t a sweet dream.  I was frantic.  I was making cookies but I wasn’t making or going to make enough.  What a nightmare!  Not a peaceful night for me and I woke tired and anxious. I am now starting to panic.

Panic.  I have too much to do and not enough time to do it all. 

Our son’s 7 & 8 year old youth football team has one last game this Sunday. This is a big game. They are playing in the Super Bowl!

I am busy planning for the big game. I am panicking because all I have done is plan. I have yet to do something.  So much to do and the time is slipping by.  I plan to make cookies again for the team.  Last year I made one cookie for each player. It was a jersey cookie and had their number on it and a note attached to the bag.  A “you’re a winner” note because they are winners.  Win or lose, they are winners to us!  And I want them to know that.  I want to make jersey cookies (and if that is not enough), I thought some football cookies and perhaps some circle cookies with a paw print for these mighty Panthers would be nice! Now that is a lot of decorating and I am not skilled at that. I need to practice.  I also do not like the frosting all the professional cookie decorators use but I will use it this year. It tastes better and if I can get the correct consistency, the cookies should look good.  Not great but hopefully good enough for me to give to the team.  I wasn’t happy with last years’ cookies but my family and the players thought they were great.  That is what drives me PLUS I want to see if I can frost them better this year.  After all, the cookie is delicious – I am confident about that.

Tonight Olivia has cheer practice so I will be there with her. I’ll knit then fret later.  We are making a huge banner with the players’ names and numbers as well as the coach’s names. I’m sure we’ll put GO PANTHERS and some paw prints on it as well. Just a gesture of support!  Families are gathering at the high school Sunday morning to paint their sons name and number on their windows and then we’ll all travel together for an hour to the stadium where the Panthers meet the Indians to play ball.  I am so excited!

So Friday night I’ll bake and bake and make some frosting. If I can get a color or two on the cookies, my Saturday might not be as long as I am anticipating.  Nothing like waiting for the last minute to do such a time-consuming project.  I always plan to do these projects ahead of time but time always comes out ahead. I need to get a good nights' sleep so I can cheer this team to victory. I probably won't be able to talk after this game.

Here’s to going crazy and attempting to make and decorate a gazillion cookies, cut and write out tags for each bag, write on the car windows (fun) and making the banner. Some people might ask: Is it all worth doing?  You bet it is. These boys have had a long season (practice started July 30), they have played hard, are good sports and they are such a talented team. Yes, it is worth it - they deserve it!

Go Panthers! You are all winners on and off the field. 

Love-Proud momma of #25.

Just living and a recipe…beet chips

I like routine because I like order.

I read that twice, and then I smiled.  It’s true – the statement is true. I smiled because life seems to be everything BUT order. I think maybe I need to throw out my to-do lists and just live.  Do what I want.  We’ll survive. It’s not like I’ll stop doing laundry, cleaning or preparing food. 

Recently I made some changes to routine. I turned in my bus pass for a parking pass.  This was not done on the spur of the moment.  Handing in my bus pass meant I was giving up the 80 to 90 minutes a day that I had to read or knit.  Now I am driving every day.  No more rushing out of the house to catch the bus. That is nice. Our mornings are calmer.  I am getting more exercise as the lot I park in is not on a bus route, so I walk to the building I work in.  I am putting miles on the car (but we buy cars to drive) and using more gas (major expense).  Why the change?  John is traveling and will be traveling and work doesn’t make it easy for those that need to park on campus. Parking passes are expensive so for now, I will drive, knowing I have the option (after the travel is over) to go back to riding the bus.

So being a single parent this week has been hectic, tiring and okay.  Yes I am tired and feel like I am running here, there and back again, but I am doing it and we are all well.  I worry that the kids are getting run down. They tell me they aren’t.  And the week is almost over. We have practice for both sports tonight and football practice tomorrow night. Saturday morning we will all sleep in. Elliott has a playoff game Saturday afternoon so rest he must. The week was calmer also since John took Ruddie on vacation with him – a hunting vacation.  We won’t be so lucky the next time he travels for two weeks.  Ruddie will be home with us. He’ll be a handful as he won’t get much running time and GSPs (German Short-haired Pointer) need exercise time.  Perhaps we’ll all grab a flashlight and go outside to run for a while.  We’ll have to come up with something, but not right now.

So earlier this week, I made beet chips.  I ran across the recipe while blog surfing and printed it.  Simple recipe – sweet, delicious results.  I think beets are a vegetable that people either like or dislike.  I happen to LOVE beets.  My mom canned them and I would eat the whole jar if she let me.  My nephew loves beets too.  I had some of his canned beets that he canned with my mom. We had dinner with them when we were in Florida a few years ago. Well, he wanted more beets but I had eaten them up on him.  He waited too long to want more.  Both Olivia and Elliott have tried beets.  Elliott thinks they are disgusting but he eats them so he likes them.  Olivia is like her daddy, they can pass on them.  That’s okay with me though, I don’t necessarily have to share. It just means I have more for me.  Yum.  So beet chips. Now these are easy to make but it does take time and monitoring.  However, the time you spend making these is well worth it.  Trust me on this. 

I used four pulled-fresh-from-the-garden beets. I peeled them then sliced them up using my mandoline. Rub olive oil on each one and place them flat on cookie sheets (the recipe suggests you use pans with sides, so I did.)  Here’s the recipe as it is easier to follow:

Beet Chips

2 medium beets

1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil (I used more)

Preheat oven to 350˚, with racks in upper and lower thirds.  Peel beets and slice 1/16-inch thick with a mandoline.  In a large bowl, toss beets with extra-virgin olive oil to coat.

On two rimmed baking sheets, arrange beets in a single layer. Stack another rimmed baking sheet on top of each.  Bake until edges of beets begin to dry out, about 20 minutes.  Uncover and rotate sheets. Bake 10-20 minutes, removing chips as they become lightened in color.  Transfer to a wire rack; chips will crisp up as they cool.

I got impatient and pulled out some of the chips before they got lighter in color. They did not crisp up like the lighter ones. So I had some chewy chips and some crisp.  All in all, they were delicious.  They were sweet.  A real treat and for those “I don’t like beets” people, you should try this recipe because the chips don’t taste like beets, just sweet goodness.  Make them, as you will be tastefully surprised. Get back to me on your rating? 

So from sweet beets to sweet cookie dough and friends.  This morning I drove to my previous place of employment.  I had to deliver some cookie dough orders that dear friends ordered from Olivia to support her cheerleading squad.  I really dislike all the fundraising we have between two sports and two schools but this fundraiser had a great outcome. I delivered the items ordered and took time to visit with friends.  Oh how I miss these ladies.  Work here is not like work was there.  We ate lunch together, chatted throughout the day and shared our lives.  Sure miss my family there. I even took a minute to quietly walk around the department I worked in but the people I wanted to surprise were out.  Maybe I’ll see them next time?  I didn’t even fret about being late to work.  I know I was disrupting there day but hey, it doesn’t happen often, and what little time we spent talking was a great boost to my day! 

So how has your day started? Same as always or a little out of routine?