the boy | matching tracksuits

Friday Evening

Friday 26 March 2021 | 0 Comments

The Boy has decided he needs to do more conditioning to improve his soccer game. Tonight, he ran a series of interval training exercises that we kind of made up as we went along. Then he decided he wanted to make up his own.

He struggles a bit this year in soccer. He’s one of the youngest on the team, and as a result, he’s less aggressive/experienced than others and a bit slower than many of them. To his credit, he’s not giving up, though he wanted to at first. The thing is, he actually likes playing soccer, and that makes all the difference.

In the evening, I took the dog for a walk and discovered our neighbor had started his weekend backyard fires. Perhaps I’ll go over for a visit tomorrow night.

Games

Saturday 20 March 2021 | 0 Comments

The Boy had two soccer games today. His team won them both, but the second game was a real bruiser. The kids on the other team were much more aggressive than any other kids we’ve encountered. Fouls don’t occur in eight-year-old soccer, but these kids fouled. They pushed and shoved, getting very physical in almost all aspects of the game. Still, our boys managed to pull out a 3-1 win.

E didn’t play for most of the game, though. He went in for about the last three minutes of the second half. My understanding was that the coach let the bench decide: leave the kids in who were doing well or get subbed in. They decided to let the kids who were already doing so well continue doing so.

The Girl is with K outside of Atlanta for a volleyball tournament. Their team won the first two matches they played but lost the final match. They took one set, though, so that’s always some little bit of compensation.

Finally, the Boy played a little guitar tonight. He’s decided it’s time to get serious about his playing, so I printed him out a simple chord chart, and off we went.

Full Circle

Thursday 18 March 2021 | 0 Comments

A year after the first day of school in quarantine, I got my first dose of the vaccine. A local hospital and the county school system partnered in an impressively well-organized effort to get all teachers who wanted the vaccine vaccinated. The school system had a single-day e-learning break and transformed two high schools into mass-vaccination sites.

But the important part of the day was after everything was done, and the Boy and I headed out for some exploring.

First Spring Sunday 2021

Sunday 14 March 2021 | 0 Comments

We are creatures of habit and ritual, and I am a blogger of habit and ritual for constantly pointing that out. But sometimes rituals fall away, replaced by others as we outgrow them or simply lose interest in them.

Exploring up the creek, trying to catch minnows, talking about snakes and snapping turtles -- these used to be nearly daily events in the spring and summer. Last year, though, the Boy and I didn't go out to the creek all that often.

But once we establish rituals, they seem to bubble up again from seemingly nowhere. Today, with his friend N over for a visit, the Boy regained his interest in the creek.

They caught minnows and crawdads, talked about the possibility of seeing a snake, discussed where the snapping turtles might be.

And spent a lot of time looking into the net to see what they'd scooped up.

A lot of time looking into the net.

Playing with Time Lapse

Tuesday 09 March 2021 | 0 Comments

Monday Soccer and Hatchet Work

Monday 08 March 2021 | 0 Comments

Park and Shooting

Sunday 07 March 2021 | 0 Comments

Soccer

Saturday 06 March 2021 | 0 Comments

Today I got to watch E play soccer for CESA (Carolina Elite Soccer Academy) for the first time. His first game was a couple of weeks ago, but L and I were in Knoxville for a volleyball tournament. Last week's game got rained out, so this was the first time I got to watch him play.

In the first half, he played for about half the time as a defensive player. He was a little less aggressive than some of the other boys, but he soon gained some confidence and went after the ball.

In the second half, the coach put him in as an offensive player. He had one break and pulled back for some odd reason, turning to look (or so it seemed to me) to see if he had any backup. But he was alone, and ahead of all the defenders.