Basketball Game
sports
Games
During lunch today, one of the teachers arranged (i.e., asked the principal) to have the World Cup shown in the cafeteria while everyone ate.
Poland versus Mexico. Everyone in the cafeteria was rooting for Mexico — except for one teacher.
In the evening, the Boy’s basketball practice. He hasn’t played basketball in several years: in fact, when he last played, he was young enough that double-dribbling was not an issue, and the basket was much lower. Now, just like off-sides is a thing in soccer, double-dribbling is a threat in basketball.
Having little experience puts him at a disadvantage with some of the boys who clearly have had much more time on the court. Still, his teammates are supportive as, naturally, is his coach.
Upper-State Championship
Only one thing stood between our girls and their first appearance in the state volleyball finals: Dorman High School. They’ve beaten our girls a number of times, but we’ve taken them once or twice as well. However, there was a special reason to win tonight (beyond just advancing, of course): last year, in the quarter-finals, they beat us. So it was time for some revenge.
Our girls didn’t quite beat them 3-0: they lost the second set, but came back to take the next two for a 3-1 win. The State newspaper already had a story about it less than an hour after:
For the third time in program history, the Lexington High School volleyball team will play for a state championship. The Wildcats defeated powerhouse Wando 3-1 (25-21, 25-21, 18-25, 25-17) on the road Tuesday to win the Class 5A Lower State championship. Lexington will face Mauldin for the state title Saturday at Dreher High School.
Mauldin defeated Dorman, 3-1, in the Upper State championship. It is the Mavericks’ first championship appearance.
The State
Next opponent, last opponent: Lexington.
Throw In
It’s heartbreaking to watch the Boy’s team, who has won only one game this year, take a 1-0 lead in the first half only to lose 1-2. But the Boy had a great game.
“I’d say we should move him up to attack,” said one of the parents, “but he’s our best defender, too.”
Wednesday
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
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
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
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
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
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
Soccer and the Yard
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
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.
In the afternoon, it was yardwork.
Successful Saturday
The Boy’s soccer team won 2-1 with a literal last-minute goal.
The Girl’s volleyball team won all three of their games in straight sets.
A good day in sports for our family.
Atlanta 2022
We spent the weekend in Atlanta — it was, in short, an emotional roller coaster for the girls on L’s volleyball team.
The first day was excruciatingly tough. They lost their first game in straight sets, but it was even more discouraging because they were winning set 2 by 9 (14-5) before ending up losing 19-25. That means the opponents outscored them 20-5 at that point.
The second game didn’t start any better: they lost the first set 13-25. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a tough loss. It prepared them mentally for the loss in the second set 14-25.
By then, they were wasted — done. The third game went down just like the second game: 12-25 and 14-25.
Today, we parents all wondered how things would pan out. I was worried that they might not win a set the whole weekend. The teams at Atlanta were just much stronger, as a whole, than what they were used to. In addition, they were broken mentally. How would it go?
The first game started out just as we feared: they held it together but at 19-19, it seemed like they were falling apart. They pulled it back together, though, and took it into extra points, but they ended up losing 26-24. So close. Set two — would it continue? At one point, they were down 10-16, and I thought, “Well, there’s another one. And if they lose this set, I’m afraid the day is done.” But they kept fighting and ended up taking the set 25-22. They cheered like they’d won a medal.
In the third set, they were tied at 14 and L made a huge hit to put them within one point of winning their first game. But it wasn’t to be: the opponents tied it up. The next play, L made another monster kill and they had another game point. Again, they lost the next point. It kept going like this, but the finally managed to convert a set point, winning 21-19. It was as if they’d won gold in the Olympics.
The final game of the day followed the same pattern. They lost the first set 20-25 but tied it the second set after almost letting a 23-19 lead slip through their fingers: they won 25-24. And finally, in the third set, they dominated: 15-6.
Spring 2022 Season Opener
We’re on a new team this year.
We were hoping for a change for how things went last season (i.e., not winning a single game and drawing only once).
Sadly, it was more of the same: 0-2.
New Soccer Season
The sprint soccer season has begun — first practice was tonight. E is with a new team and a new coach. We’re playing on fields only 5 minutes away from our house rather than 20 minutes away.
E’s first impression: “The coach is good. And the kids are nice to me.”
I also had a good impression from what one of the parents said. Here’s hoping this season will be better than the last, which was not terrible, but certainly had some drawbacks.
Sevierville Volleyball
The girls spent the day in Tennessee playing volleyball — well, one playing, one watching.
The boys woke to the promised dusting of snow,
and ended the day with a dinner of chili, corn chips, and ice cream.
“That was a pretty good day,” the Boy concluded.
Charleston 2022 — Day 1
L’s New Team
