sports | matching tracksuits

Wednesday

Wednesday 26 October 2022 | 0 Comments

Students today began an incredibly short Halloween unit that will focus on irony, so we did a quick review of irony with a gallery walk. It's always a fun activity: the kids move around the room, looking at various images or texts and discuss them with a particular end in mind. Today, for example, they were to determine how each image was ironic.

"Don't just explain what's going on in the picture," I clarified after we'd done a quick review of what irony is. "If you don't explain the expectation and how that expectation was defied, you haven't explained irony."

In the evening, the Boy and I went out to find basketball shoes for him as he begins his basketball season.

At first, I was hesitant: "They're somewhat expensive," I texted K, "and I don't really know that he needs them."

"He only has one pair of shoes," she replied, "so he'll need another pair soon enough."

I looked at him: "Will you wear these to school after basketball season?"

"Of course!"

Forfeit

Thursday 13 October 2022 | 0 Comments

Does a win count as a win if an outside power forces a team to forfeit? Does the loss count as a loss? Do the standings afterward in any way reflect reality?

Return

Tuesday 13 September 2022 | 0 Comments

The Girl has been sidelined for three weeks with a badly-sprained ankle. She did physical therapy the entire time, and last week she was hoping to get the go-ahead to return to play. Instead, her therapist told her, "You can return to practice, but don't play."

She was heartbroken.

Tonight was her first night back. It was their first region game -- all the other teams they've been playing have been out of region. They won in three straight sets: 25-6; 25-15; 25-17. Or all-told, 75-38, just under a 2-1 scoring ratio.

The Girl got to play about 1.5 sets. She indicated she was pleased with how things went, but I know she wanted more, wanted to do better. Still, after three weeks of not playing, she did a fantastic job. And as always, hers were the loudest cheers on the team.

Our Games

Saturday 20 August 2022 | 0 Comments

The Boy's first games with his new soccer team took place today. It was a tough start to the season: 0-4 and 0-5 losses. I was expecting him to be terribly disappointed about it, but he was surprisingly stoic: "We have some things we need to fix, but we could be good."

The Girl's high school varsity team, for which L plays middle, won their first tournament today.

A day of contrasts.

Spartanburg Tournament Day 2

Sunday 15 May 2022 | 0 Comments

Yesterday was tough; today was a little better. At least they won a set. "Look at this way," said a friend, "it can only get better."

Losing builds character, but I think we've built enough character this week.

Evening Run

Wednesday 27 April 2022 | 0 Comments

It was the last soccer practice of the season, so I went for a final run (at least for now) around the soccer complex. During the season, I’ve been exploring further off-road, discovering a lake I never knew about, feeling a bit dodgey coming out of a wooded area to discover a “No Tresspassing” sign where I’d just run (“I swear, there was no such sign where I entered the woods!”)…

Eighth-Grade Night

Thursday 21 April 2022 | 0 Comments

Soccer and the Yard

Saturday 09 April 2022 | 0 Comments

E had two games today to make up for the game that got rained out some time ago. They won the second game 3-1, but the first game was tough: a 1-4 loss.

In the second half, E played goalie. It was 1-2 when the half started. On the opponents’ first possession, they scored.

I knew it would be tough on the Boy — he doesn’t like letting people down, whether or not that’s what actually happened. They scored one more on the Boy. I had the camera up, hoping to get a good action shot of E stopping the ball.

Not quite.

“I’m never playing goalie again,” he declared.

Early Spring Saturday

Saturday 02 April 2022 | 0 Comments

We started out with back-to-back games with the Boy. They won the first game 2-0 (I think -- maybe it was only 1), but lost the second game 1-2. They scored first, but on the very next possession, the opposing team equalized. They scored one more in the second half to pull ahead. We had one shot that hit the goal uprights but didn't go in, and we had about 4 more close shots on goal, but none of them went in.