Sock Her? Oh - Soccer.

This weekend was the last weekend for soccer. Unfortunately, it rained all night on Friday and the weather forecast for Saturday was more of the same along with heavy wind. I called the weatherline and all games were cancelled with no scheduled make-ups. Boooo!!! My daughter's team was scheduled to play a crappy team and I was looking forward to the win.

So here is wrap-up for the season. I think my son's team won all but 1 game. And we pretty much destroyed everyone we played. I had one player that we'd let get 3 goals in the first 25 seconds of the game and then I'd have to stick him in goal and as a fullback for the rest of the game. This kid was so good that he could score from behind the mid-field line. I'm sure he'll be on the travel team next year. And I think we got really lucky. We had 15 really good boys on the team that played hard and were talented. Every team that I've coached before had at least one slug and one La Idiota. Though I must say that I did have a couple of block heads, but they were still decent kids.

My girls' team was a lot of fun. The girls are older (age 8-10), so unlike the boys, they have personalities and you can have conversations with them. And when you talk to them and try to teach them a new skill, you can tell when they understand. The only thing that drove me a little bit nuts was that out of 13 girls, 11 of them are Type A and loud and wanting to be the center of attention. If you were on the soccer field and ever heard, "GIRLS - EYES AND EARS!!!!" then you know you were near my team. But all-in-all they were a great bunch of kids.

Our record was not that impressive. We were 2-4-4, 2 wins, 4 losses, and 4 ties. But had we played the sucky team 2 more times like we were supposed to, we would have ended the season 4-4-4, a much more respectable record. Now that I have a year as a head coach under my belt, I think I am better able to run a team. It's really not as easy as I thought it would be.

I got a lot of positive feedback from the kids, too. I had one girl tell me that I was a lot cooler than her father. Not exactly the kind of thing you want a kid saying about their parent, but I appreciated the sentiment. And this morning I got the following email from one of the parents:

Coach Eludius,

I am sure you hear it all the time; you have an amazing coaching style.
You did such a great job motivating the girls without being too firm.
The girls responded well to this style. My daughter had even mentioned
that she thought you were "very cool". Too many times coaches forget
that the whole point of the game is for the kids to have fun, and they
get way too much into the game. But you found a nice balance on trying
to get them to do what they needed and gently getting that point across.

So, thank you so much for making this season so enjoyable for both my
daughter and her parents. I hope we get you again for next year if you
decide to coach again.

Sincerely,

A Parent

It really makes you feel good when you get positive response like this. And at the Soccer Party yesterday, I was awarded with 3 $25 gift certificates - one to the Noodle Company and one to Famous Dave's and one to Chili's, three of my favorite fine dining places. Yes, I don't get out much.

So if you have kids or when you have kids, don't be afraid to get out there and be a coach. You don't have to know what you're doing. Do like I did and just fake it! (which makes me wonder why more women don't coach - I'm kidding!!!)

Softball or Walkball?

On Saturday my daughter played what could be her last softball game of the year. We've had several rain-out's, so I'm not sure if we will be making up these games or not.

Saturday was a bit warm. The temperature at 10:30 am was about 94 degrees. Daytime high was expected to be near 100 with a heat index of 104, but factor in the windchill, and maybe it's back to 100??? (Why does windchill only factor into the winter weather?)

Our umpire for the game appeared to be a young girl that just finished the 7th grade. How we end up with umpires that a 2 years older than the young girls I coach is a bit perplexing. Nonetheless, we were in the field first. And we knew it was going to be a long day when the first 10 strikes were all called balls. Apparently her strike zone was the size of a golf ball. And the location of that golf ball was up to her discretion. It wasn't necessarily over the plate or between shoulder and knees. Sometimes it was about shin-high.

After 13 walks in the inning, the other team had expended their lineup, so by league rules their at-bat ends. It's our turn. Now the difference between our team and the opposing team is that we came there to play softball, not walkball. Our girls got up and were swinging at strikes (by what most umpires would call strikes). The opposing team had some decent fielders, so we would get through 5-6 hitters and they would get their 3 outs.

Back on the field. This time, I hear their coach. "Don't swing unless you know it's a strike." And they listened to their coach. Those players on his team didn't swing at a pitch. Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk. Girl - it's 100 degrees out here and you're calling every pitch a ball?!!! Don't you want to get out of this oppressive heat? Call some damn strikes!!! And to make matters worse, anytime one of those girls got a walk (because the coach told her not to swing) he would cheer as if she just had a great hit. "Yeah!!!! Way to go!!''

"Yeah, way to go"???? She got walked! What kind of accomplishment is that?

So I'm taking this umpire to Vegas. What are the odds that there could be 12 walks per inning and no strikes? If she can beat those odds, then she's a sandbagger for Texas Hold-em. Here's a little hint to those young people aspiring umpires - when you are umping little league, make the strike zone bigger. It makes the game go by a lot faster and it makes it a lot more exciting. If you call a lot of balls, then jackass coaches like the one we played will tell their players not to swing at anything.

So the final score was 27-6. I think they had 50 walks total. And I'm not exaggerating. And to make matters worse, since we were the home team, we bat last, right? No. After the top of the 5th inning, the other coach yells, "Okay, line 'em up." What? I ask the umpire what's going on. She says the game is over. "Hello - we're the home team. We get the last at-bat." Confusion sets in. The umpire is struggling to come up with an answer. At this point she yells out, "Ball 4!" Then the JA coach chimes in, "Guys, our girls are hot and not feeling well. Let's just call it a game."

Not feeling well. Awe!!!! Too many walks made your girls tired? Image how tired they'd be if they swung the bat and had to run to first base. Ugh.

So on the bright side of the story, my daughter got 2 at-bats and connected with the ball twice. One time grounding out to first (but it was a good hit) and getting on base a second time with a ground ball to short, but but it was a fielder's choice - the shortstop forced out the runner going to third.

Girls' Softball

My 8 year old daughter decided that she wanted to play softball this year. She has never played on an organized team. She's not very athletic, but I would support any legal activity that she wants to pursue.

I have coached boys and girls soccer for several years now. I played baseball from age 7 through 15. I played in a couple of adult softball leagues since then. I figured it would not be too difficult to coach 8 & 9 year old girls.

Now, I'm not officially the head coach. I am the assistant coach. However, yesterday I was the head coach at practice. The real head coach was not able to make it.

Our team is mostly 4th graders with about 3-4 third graders. Most have played before and mostly since they were 6.

I had helpful parent pitch while I worked with the girls with their hitting. If I was assisting boys, I would have thought nothing about getting behind them, holding their hands on the bat, and helping them feel the motion of a good bat swing. However, with the hot-topic fear of inappropriate touching of kids, I felt really awkward trying to help these girls. I mostly stood next to them and tried to have them imitate my actions. It was tougher than I expected.

All was not lost. We have several really good hitters. Catching and throwing are different stories. One girl, who has never played a game in her life, smacked the first 4 pitches over shortstop. I'm not talking grounders or 2-hoppers. They were line drives. I asked her if she could hit it over first base. On the next pitch - she hit it over first base. I asked her to do the same with 3rd and 2nd. She did it. I then asked her to hit the ball high in the air. She did it. This 8 year old girl can hit the ball with the accuracy and intention of a high school player. I was amazed.

I look forward to the rest of the season and it sure feels good to put on a glove and walk on the diamond.