Youth Soccer: Horrible Egotistical Ref

It is so unfortunate when the outcome of a game is determined by questionable refs. It happened 3 times this weekend for my daughter's team. The refereeing in each game got progressively worse.

I am not one to complain about the refs, but I could not contain myself yesterday. I know that they are not professionals. I know that it is not easy to ref a game. I know that they take unnecessary abuse. Still, I needed to say something about the terrible refereeing at a tournament in Dayton, Ohio.

Game One:

Game one featured a disabled young man at center ref. I was happy to see this guy putting himself out there when some in his situation would shelter themselves away. I thought to myself, that no one was going to ridicule this young man. I was wrong. The head coach from the other team was riding him all game long. On one play, the right halfback from the opposing team kicked a long pass to a wide open right winger. The ball was kicked too hard and went out of bounds. The line judge and the ref called for our team to throw it in. The head coach of the other team screamed at the ref. He was explaining that it was their ball. I was shocked, as I was trying to figure out how he could think that at all. None of our players were near the passer nor near the winger to cause a deflection.  The ref made the mistake of approaching the opposing coach. They had a conversation and somehow the coach convinced the ref that it was their ball. The ref changed his call deep in our zone. This particular play did not impact the game, but other wishy washy no calls may have.

Game Two:

The line judge on the coaching side had a spring loaded arm. His flag kept going up non-stop. He called our team off sides 6 times in the first half. Three of the plays were legitimate offside, but three were not even close. An offensive player can move beyond the last defender after the ball is kicked. Our forwards know this and aggressively time their runs to get behind the defender when the ball is kicked. The line judge clearly did not know the rules because he called our girls off as soon as they gained position even though the ball was already in the air. The most painful offsides call came late in a 0-0 game. Our right halfback made a great run with the ball and connected on a hard shot. The goalie made a good save, but deflected it to our striker who buried it into then back of the net. The line judge called the striker offsides. She was not offsides at any point as she tailed the play and she was not involved in the play until the deflection. A player is only offsides if they are a material part of the play. We should have won 1-0.

Game Three:

I had to step in a coach because the head coach was as sick as can be the entire night before the game. As the girls were warming up the game, the ref approached me and introduced himself with a slight Irish accent. I was thrilled to hear the accent thinking that we finally have a ref who knows the game. He was fairly short man had a red beard and a reddish-greyish hair pulled back in a small ponytail. I thought to myself that he looked a bit like a leprechaun. This is going to be good luck.

The game started and within the first two minutes, the ref called a foul on our team, then another and another. In a closely contended game of two very equal teams who have played each other many, many time, we had 5 fouls and the opposing team had none. I yelled out to the ref that the fouls were 5-0 to give him a gentle reminder that he needed to call the game evenly. There were no fouls for 10 minutes. Then foul number 6 came right outside the box. When the whistle was blown, I thanked God, that he finally called one against the girl who was manhandling our player. I was wrong, he called the foul against our player. Our team formed a wall about 10 yards away, but the ref moved them back another 5 yards. He did not walk off the distance. He quickly blew the whistle and the ringer guest player from the other team buried the ball into the corner. It was 1-0. The ref was deciding the game.

Two minutes later, foul number 7 happened in the center of the field about 40 yards away. Again it was a questionable foul. We moved the defense up which forced the offense to move with us. The ringer guest player served up a high looping ball over the players and toward CC. CC had to made a quick decision. Run up and catch the ball in traffic before it bounced or wait on the line in front of a full size goal. She decided to run up a fraction too late. The ball bounced right in front of her and over her head. The score was 2-0. CC should have saved it, but again the ref was deciding the game.

Our girls did not give up. Our smallest player made a nice run into the box. She was met by the guest player, who throw her down like a rag doll. No foul. Our top scorer made a run 1v1 with the goalie, but before she could get a shot off she was tackled from behind. No yellow card, no foul, no penalty kick. "Play on" the ref said.

I was standing far from the girls on the bench talking with the other assistant coach when I made the comment that I think that the refs ponytail is a bit too tight. I only said that comment loud enough for my assistant to hear. I did not realize the line judge was listening in. He turned to me and said, "I think that your hat is too tight you f-ing prick." And he said it loud enough for the girls to hear it. The other assistant want crazy and yelled to the center ref to throw this bum out. He almost got a yellow card as I was trying to calm him down.

The final tally on fouls was 10-0. The final score was 3-0. The opposing team scored all three goals on penalty kick plays. This ref decided the game.

Two other things this egotistical ref did.

1) His whistle broke. So he stopped play and walked over to the side judge to get a replacement. Our assistant coach asked if he was going to add game time. The ref did not reply in words, but his actions said it all. He walked back into position at a snails pace. When he got to his position he waited a few seconds for dramatic effect then blew his new whistle.

2) At the end of the game, he gave a yellow card out to one of our players on a very questionable foul. He took about 2 minutes to book the player. He told the player that she was stupid for causing her team 2 minutes of time. He did not add any time onto the game.

The Main Point

I can deal with bad calls. I can deal with bad refs. I cannot deal with the inflated ego of a bias ref. It is a shame when the ref decides the outcome of a game played by teams that have worked so hard to prepare for a game.

We had 2 ties and a loss and did not advance. We would have advanced to the semi-finals even with the loss in the last game if the offsides goal counted in the second game.

Youth Soccer: Fighting for a Position

My daughter, CC, is in a fight for a starting position for the first time in her soccer career. She has been a standout soccer player since she was 6 years old. Recently, she was selected to the Ohio State Pool ODP team as a goalie after making it through 3 tryout phases. That does not seem to matter as the club season comes to an end.

During her 12 years, she has made every team she has ever tried out for and she always seems to be selected to play key positions. Outside of sports, she has been a star too. Life has been very easy for my little girl.

Has life been too easy? Would CC fold under pressure and quit or fight to overcome adversity when she needs to. I really had no idea, but I am in the process of finding out.

CC has been the starting goalie of her select team for 2 full years now. CC is very small compared to other players who have already matured. She is the smallest goalie in the top regional league in which she competes. The ODP trainers were not concerned about her size when they selected her for the state pool team, but I know that the coach of our team would like CC to play bigger. I read that as code for she would prefer a bigger goalie.

4 weeks ago, CC injured her shoulder in a game. CC thought it was a bruise. She complained about it hurting all week, but continued to practice and play. The pain did not subside, so we decided make an appointment to see an orthopedic doctor. CC did not want to go because she thought that they would shut her down for the last three weeks of the season. We did not want to risk a serious injury so we insisted.

CC was diagnosed with a slight shoulder separation and severe tendonitis. Surprisingly, the doctor told CC that she could continue to play out the remainder of the season if she could take the pain. He said there is no structural damage so the condition will not get any worse. He then told her that it won't get any better either until she rests it for 3 weeks and completes some physical therapy.

The following weekend, CC decided to rest for 2 games so that she could be ready for an important big game against the best team in the city the following Monday. Nothing was going to keep her out of that game, except rain which postponed the contest.

The coach called up the B team goalie, who is a big strong and athletic girl. The new goalie played well in the two games CC rested. After those games, the coach asked the B team goalie to join the team for the rest of the season. The coach wanted a backup just in case CC's shoulder acted up and she admitted to me that she wanted to test the new option out for next year and perhaps carry two goalies. CC was in a battle.

The Main Point

I talked to CC about the situation. I told her that it was actually a good situation. After I said that, she looked at me with a confused look. I told her that life has been too easy so far and it unrealistic to think that you will go through life without challenges. I told her that she had two choices, quit or fight for your position. I know that she has been considering concentrating on Volleyball, so I did not know what she would do. I was not going to force her to play if she did not have the heart for it. She sat in silence for a few minutes and then I asked her what she wanted to do. She said she is not giving up. We talked about what she needed to do to earn the respect of the coach again.

CC started an important game last Sunday. She played very well in the first half and made several key saves. She got some ice for her shoulder and prepared to sit on the bench for the last half, however, the coach sent CC out to start the second half. CC made this key save late in a 0-0 game on Sunday. The coach was pleased with CC. She came up big, she played big.

Kids learn more through adversity then they do through triumph.

Youth Hockey: Unbelievable Fight

You just have to watch it. You will not believe it. The fight between two Russian youth hockey teams (U12) was so big that the two refs could not do anything about it. Where were the coaches during this? The parents behind the glass just watched. No one in the stands seems overly concerned. Perhaps they were as stunned as I was just watching the video. I find this video a bit hard to believe.




The Main Point

How can you blame these kids when their adult role models do this all the time.

Youth Track: Religious Gesture Disqualifies Winning Team

A religious gesture to "God" disqualified a winning relay track team at a Texas high school recently. The track team from Columbus High School (the Mighty Cardinals) won the 4 X 100m relay by 7 meters. The anchor leg runner, Derrick Hayes, made a simple "finger point to the sky". It was an impulsive action from a kid who was raised to thank God. The God gesture was not excessive in any way, yet it disqualified the team. The track officials deemed the gesture as an example of “excessive celebration.” which are against the rules. The track team will now miss out on the chance to compete at State level.



The Main Point

The official would not admit that the religious aspect of the gesture is what caused the disqualification. From all of the accounts I read, the gesture was not excessive at all, so it begs the question of whether the religious aspect was the reason. Who knows what he or she was thinking.

If the religious aspect was the reason than this is just another example of the progressive movement away from God and religion. Ok all you God hating Atheists - make your vacuous comments.

Youth Sports: Hanging up the Spikes to Spike a Volleyball

My son, Nic, was born to play baseball. Or so I thought. He excelled at baseball at a young age.  Age 10 he played on a super elite team. That team went on to be finalist in the CABA World Series and Nic was named to the All Tournament Team. He could hit and he had a great arm. He set his dreams on playing in college and perhaps beyond.

I was amazed at how hard he could throw a baseball at that young age. It seemed unnatural. I guess it was because he broke his elbow at age 11 and his arm was never the same again.

At the end of the U15 season last year, his baseball team broke up. Tryouts for the 2013 season were held immediately after the 2012 season. Nic tried out for several elite teams, teams that were looking for 1 or 2 players to round out their rosters. I talked with many of the coaches. They loved Nic's speed, hitting mechanics, hustle and attitude, but they were concerned about his arm strength. Nic's arm was about dead after the long season and during tryouts. He did not make any elite teams. He was offered spots on lower level teams, but he did not want to do that. He knew his arm was always going to limit him. He decided to hang up the spikes. He felt like a dream died to him.

I convinced Nic to play volleyball, instead of baseball, in high school. I thought that volleyball would be the perfect game for his athletic ability. He will likely be tall, he can jump through the roof and he is very quick and athletic. It is also the perfect game for his temperament. It is sport where mistakes are not recorded. It is also a sport where the fans so close to the action and loud and he loves playing to a crowd.

The Main Point

When one door closes another one always opens. And you can walk through that opened door if you keep your head up.

Nic made his high school freshman team. He sat on the bench for the first 9 games. He was frustrated, but I told him to be patient. I reminded him that he is just learning the game. I told him to work hard in practice and before long he would be starting.

He got his chance in the 10th game. He has not sat out many points since. He loves his new sport.

Youth Basketball: Feel Good Story

My last post was about some poor sportsmanship from a dad. This story about good sportsmanship more than makes up for the poor actions of a mis-guided dad.

In this story, a high school senior with some developmental issues scores a basket at the buzzer and the assist came from an unlikely player.




The Main Point

This blog is about the good, the bad and the ugly. This is the good side of youth sports.

Youth Sports: Stupid Immature Parent

Crazy Youth Sports Parent Alert. You are not going to believe this one.

What do you think about the ACE cheer in girls volleyball?

If you have ever watched girls volleyball you know that, the players on the court form a circle and on girls on the bench stand up in a line and they all do a coordinated cheer after each service ACE. My daughter's team stomps their feet right, left, right three times while they spell out A-C-E. Then they lift their right leg, clap their hands under their leg and then immediately raise their hands upward while pointing their index finger.

I have to admit. The first time I witnessed the ACE cheer, I thought it was unsportsmanlike. I know that if a HS pitcher did a strike out cheer after each strike out, he would get a ball in the earhole during his next at bat. But after, seeing the cheer from almost every team, in every tournament, I now accept it as part of the game. I came to realize that the girls are celebrating an accomplishment, they are not celebrating the other team's failure.

Volleyball ACE Cheer

Last night, my daughter's CYO volleyball team was matched up against an inferior team who had a tremendous amount of trouble digging and passing serves. Our team is loaded with really strong servers who happen to hit the ball very hard and make the ball move side to side unexpectedly, much like a knuckleball in baseball.

In the first game, our girls recorded 13 aces and 13 cheers in a 15-2 rout. The line judge on our team's side of the court was the dad of one of the girls on the opposing team. His blood boiled with each cheer. After about 10 cheers, he had had enough and did his own cheer. He yelled out, "S-T-U-P-I-D Stupid."

What?!? That did not really just happen. What kind of example does that set for his girl, for any of the girls?

My wife, the assistant coach, confronted him immediately. She asked. "You didn't just call 6th grade girls stupid did you?" He gave her a mischievous smirk and said yeah. The head coach jumped up and had a few private words with this jerk. She let him know that they were not happy. My wife and the head coach decided against a request for a new judge because the game was so lopsided.

Later in the night, this jerk was watching one of our games against another team. He sat in the front row just a few feet from our servers. He was cheered several times M-I-S-S Miss. Unbelieveable.

The last game of the night, our team won 15-0 with 14 aces from our first server. The 7th ace, was a rocket that just cleared the net, then dove downward. The serve caught a girl right in the face and bloodied her nose. Our team did not cheer on that serve or any other one after that. There is a time to celebrate and a time to win quietly.

The Main Point

Don't be a jerk, especially at a Christian athletic event, because the dads in the stands who are far away from your antics might not be all knowing, but God is.

Youth Volleyball: 23 Things I learned at my First JO Tournament

My daughter recently gave up AAU basketball to concentrate on soccer and volleyball. So I went to our first Junior Olympic Volleyball Tournament this weekend. This is what I observed.

1. JO Volleyball tournaments may only be one day events, but they are long and grueling - we arrived at 7am and left at 6pm. 
2. Teams in a 12 team event are guaranteed 4 matches.
3. Each game lasted about 20-30 minutes. (Blowout matches might last 40. Closely contested back and forth matches can last 90+ minutes)
4. The teams warm up for about 30 minutes prior to each match - even if the team is competing in the 5th match of the day. This makes no sense to me. The 11 hour event could have been cut down considerably.
5. Unlike, basketball or soccer, there is only one set game time. The first game of the day on each court is established then the preceding matches follow immediately after the match prior concludes. Some matches last 40 min and others last 90, so games times cannot be set. 
6. Girls volleyball uniforms are ridiculously tight.
7. Sadly, there are a lot of overweight 12 and 13 year old girls.
8. The players are assigned to officiate the games they are not playing in. (They line judge, keep score and they work as the down ref.)
9. The up ref (the one on the ladder) is a paid experienced ref.
10. Considering that most of the officiating is done by the players, I am not sure why volleyball is so much more expensive than basketball and soccer.
11. The young refs and line judges made a few mistakes, but all in all they did well for 12 year old kids. 
12. Thankfully, the fans went easy on the young judges. Our parents were warned prior to the season.
13. The first two games of a three game match are rally scored to 25.
14. The third game of a three game match is played with standard scoring to 15. (Only the serving team can score.)
15. You can missed the excitement of a nail biter third game if you think that it goes to 25. In the first match that went to three games, our team came back from a 11-14 deficit to win 16-14. I watched calmly thinking that we needed 9 more points.
16. Playing time is not distributed equally. My daughter played in about 10.5 of the 12 games. One girl, who really struggles, only played in 5 games. Her parents were pissed.
17. Volleyball parents are just like soccer, football, softball, baseball and basketball parents. They too complain about the coaches, the refs, the facilities, the length of the events, the playing time, etc.
18. Spikes are exciting, but I think that back row digs are awesome and seem to get the loudest fan reaction.
19. Some kids can pay attention on each and every play and some kids are in la la land on most plays. (The rule that a player must hit the ball before it hits the ground is lost on a quite a few of the girls.)
20. Girls develop at different ages. Some of the 11-12 year old girls looked like they could be in 4th grade (my daughter) and others looked like they were juniors in high school.
21. Youth sports facility food is terrible. (NO OUTSIDE FOOD PERMITTED)
22. All the players of a team must stay even after the team is eliminated if a few of the girls are assigned to ref a later game. Our team made it to the final four this weekend. We met a strong team in the semi finals. We, of course, wanted to win, but if we had to lose, then we wanted to lose before the other semi-final loser lost. The last semi-final team to lose had to ref the finals.  Thankfully, we lost 2 minutes before the other semi-final team, so I was able to get home just in time for the kickoff of the Superbowl. The dads from the other losing team and the 2 finalist teams were not as lucky.
23. The ball always finds the weakest player on the court.

The Main Point

Volleyball is fun to watch if the teams are good and the rallies are long. Volleyball is pure torture if a team is struggling. Our team did pretty well, but 12 games of volleyball over 11 hours is not for the weak.

 

Youth Soccer: How to Make an ODP team (Part 2)

If you do not think that your kid made a team after tryouts, do you prepare them for it? I did.

My daughter, CC, started the tryout process for the Ohio ODP team (Olympic Development Program) in November.

The process started with fall training / tryouts for the District 1 team. Ohio has three Districts. The initial District tryouts / training took place over two weekends in November (outdoors) and one weekend in December or January (indoors). 

The District 1, November tryouts were held from 9 to 11:45 am, in a town about 30 minutes from our house. 

My daughter, CC, and I showed up about 30 minutes early to sign in and get warmed up. I waited in a long line registration line while CC put her cleats and shin pads on. When I got to the front of the line, the admin volunteer told me that the player needs to sign in herself. She told me that they want self-sufficient, independent players. I retreated to my daughter's location and explained the situation. I was happy that overbearing parents would not be tolerated. It was a signal to me that talent would be the driver of the roster selections and perhaps politics would not be a factor.

CC eventually signed up and received a number to pin to her shirt. I helped her affixed the #161 to the back of her tee-shirt before she ran over to the goalie training / tryout field. 

She approached 24 goalies by my count. I was quickly assessed the competition and quickly noticed that every single one was bigger than CC. CC looked tiny but she has always been the smallest player her teams so it was not a surprise. Still, I began to get a bit concerned because some of the girls were considerably bigger. I turned to another dad and asked if all of these girls were 12 years old. He comforted me when he mentioned that there were 5 groups of girls vying to make 5 teams (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002). I quickly did the math and assumed that about 5 or 6 were in CC's 2000 age grop. CC told me later that, there were 11 goalies in the 2000 class hoping to make the district team and might be more because some teams had club matches that day.

There were 5 goalie trainers to manage the tryout. Each one carried a clipboard to collect notes on a player information chart. The trainers ran drills after drill and did so with intensity and purpose. They evaluated and taught at the same time. The girls worked hard for well over an hour. CC had experience with all of the drills, so she had no problems. I noticed that a few of the girls struggled with the fast pace of the drills. From a technical standpoint, I thought that CC did very well.

The field players went through similar paces on separate fields near by. From time to time, I roamed around to see CC's teammates.  Eventually, the goalies were told to join the field players for their age groups to tend goal for some shooting drills and small sided games. The goalies stood behind the goal and rotated in while the trainers with the clipboards kept watch.

The training schedule was repeated Saturday and Sunday for two weeks in November. During the last 5 minutes of the last November tryout, CC suffered a very severe ankle sprain. It happened so late, that she did not notify the trainers. I wrote about that story in an earlier post. As luck would have it, the next tryout was weeks away. CC wore a boot and was cleared to play again the week of the next tryout in December.

In December, the training / tryout moved indoors to a facility in Columbus, Ohio about 2 hours north from our home town. Both the Saturday and Sunday sessions were a bit shorter than the November sessions, but they were organized and conducted in a similar manner. CC and I drove up and back each day. I enjoyed the time in the car with my girl. CC's ankle was sore, but she hid it well from the trainer / evaluators.

After the final session in December, the coaching staff announced that the roster for the district teams would be selected on January 18th.

On the way home, I ask CC if she thought she did ok. She responded with a confident yes. I thought that she did well, but I was convinced that the coaching staff would overlook a goalie who was so small. I began to prepare CC for the inevitable. She has made every team that she has ever tried out for, so I wanted to prepare her.

The festival team was posted on the Ohio South Soccer website on Friday night at 9pm. On Saturday morning, I opened the website and looked for CC's name. As I expected it was not there. I looked for the names of other players that I knew. To my surprised, I did not recognize a single name. 

Then I realized I was looking at the wrong age group. I clicked on the 2000 team roster and started to see the names that I expected. Then I saw a name I did not expect to see. CC was listed. She had made it past the first phase. She will compete against the other two districts in what Ohio ODP calls the Festival Weekend. 

The Main Point

Do not prepare your kids for the worst before a tryout because that would introduce self-doubt. You can, however, prepare them for the disappointment after the tryout is complete, but expect the best to keep their confidence up. I did all of this except, I did not expect the best. CC surprised me yet again.

Youth Sports: Winning at all Costs

If the win at all costs, Lance Armstrong, is the most despicable athlete on earth right now, then Basque runner Ivan Fernandez Anaya is the most admirable.

During a cross country race in Burlanda, Navarre, Ivan was outpaced by Abel Mutai, the London Olympic Bronze Medalist in the 3000M. Ivan ran a good race, but trailed Abel by a wide margin entering the final stretch. Abel, who had an unsurmountable lead, pulled up 10 meters short of the finish line thinking that he had won. Ivan caught up and could have easily passed Abel, but he didn't. Instead he used gestures to communicate to the Kenyan and pushed him ahead and across the line to win the race.

 The Main Point

Ivan said that even if winning meant earning a spot on the Spanish team for the European Championships, he still would have pushed Abel ahead. Ivan has character, the cold and calculating Lance Armstrong does not, not even a little.

This event happened in December. Unfortunately, these types of stories are overshadowed by Lance Armstrong admitting to taking performance enhancing drugs and lying about it. This story is also obscured by Manti T'eo imaginary girlfriend hoax.

I have talked to my kids about all of these stories. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Growing Up and Away From Sports

There comes a time when one realizes his or her sports career is coming to an end. It is a depressing time. It was for me.

My youth sports career was limited by my lack of focus. I played soccer and basketball and baseball and tennis and golf. I did not play any of these sports at a high level. I didn't even know that there were higher levels above town leagues. And I guess my parents were not too eager to find out about them either.

In 9th grade, my best days of baseball were behind me and I had fallen behind in soccer to players who knew that there was another level. Additionally, I was not tall enough for basketball and did not have the great ball handling skills to make it as a guard. At the time, there were no HS golf teams, so playing competitively did not cross my mind. That left tennis. I was really good at tennis, but it was not my passion. I decided to tryout for the tennis team. My high school was highly ranked, so I knew that it was not going to be an easy team to make. My dad belonged to a tennis club, so we played a couple of times a week in the mornings to prepare. He also invested in some lessons for me. When tryouts came around, I thought that I was ready. Unfortunately, the coaching staff did not. Very few freshman made the team and I was not one of the chosen few.

I immediately called the baseball coach and asked if it was to late to tryout for the baseball team. He allowed me to join in the later rounds of the tryouts, but I realized he was not paying any attention to me. When he posted the cut list, I saw my name. I wallowed in self-pity for the entire season. It was the first season that I did not have a sport to play. I didn't even pick up a racquet that season to play for fun. In fact, I never picked up a racquet to play competitively ever again.

Luckily, there was a new sport emerging, lacrosse. Few kids had played the sport growing up so I was not too far behind. My lax friends encouraged me to play. I picked up the game very quickly and found my passion. I made the JV team and eventually played on the varsity team. The game made me much much tougher. The game made me much more fit. And most importantly, the game gave me confidence and not just on the lax field. If I had all of these qualities before, I could have made the squads in any of the other sports I had played previously.

My son is going through a similar cycle and this fall is the first fall that he did not have fall ball baseball or golf or basketball. He was the last freshman cut from the golf team despite playing well. His baseball team broke up so he tried out for 4 club teams. He did not make any of the teams, his lingering arm problems finally caught up to him.

He felt the same way I did when I was in 9th grade.

The Main Point

I gave up on tennis after my setback, I will not let Nic give up on golf. Looking back, he wished that he had dropped baseball before last year to concentrate on golf. His friends that made their teams had played all spring and summer long to prepare for golf, Nic only played the three weeks between the end of baseball and the golf tryouts.

Then this fall he did what I did. He found a new sport. He found boys volleyball. He joined a pre-season club team and learned the game. He fell in love with it. He signed up for tryouts for the club season, but a stress fracture in his back have derailed those plans for now. Hopefully he can get back to playing so he can prepare for the HS season.

Regardless, there comes a time when competitive sports stop and real life begins. Luckily, real life includes intramural sports and co-ed adult leagues.

I swear I didn't make my daughter play injured.

I do not miss many games at all. I am lucky to have a job that I can manage my own schedule fairly easily.

I do not miss my kid's games because I do not want to miss the action. I want to be there when my daughter sinks a three at the buzzer or when my son makes a birdie on 18 to win a tournament. I want to see their faces when it happens. I want them to see my proud reactions too. I also want to be there just in case something happens. If they get injured, I want to be there to help comfort them. We all know that injuries are a part of youth sports. It is just a question of when, where and how bad.

I missed a game on Sunday.

I dropped CC off at soccer tryouts for the Ohio South Olympic Development Program. I normally stay to watch, but I had to leave to get to the Cincinnati Bengals / NY Giants game. 

I'm a huge Giants fan, so my wife bought me the NFL tickets for my birthday. What she did not know when she made the purchase in September was that my daughter would be competing in the finals of the 6th grade CYO Girl's Basketball Cincinnati Division I Championship. When I realized the conflict, I did not want go to the football game. I would much rather watch my daughter play. I contemplated not going to the NFL game, but the tickets were very expensive. I could have sold the tickets on StubHub, but it was going to be my wife's and son's first NFL game. They were very excited to go. I was torn, but had to go to the Giants game.

During soccer tryouts, CC got hurt in a freak accident. She was on the sidelines next to the goal awaiting her chance to get into the game. The coaching staff was rotating three goalies in each goal. CC was stretching and talking to the other goalie while the other girls on the field were showcasing their skills for the evaluators. CC was not really paying attention to the game. 

A striker in the game took aim at the goal and fired a really hard shot. The ball missed the goal and hit the very top of CC's foot. She was relaxed and not expecting the impact, so her  ankle snapped back. It hurt a lot, but CC did not want anyone to know. ODP Goalies need to be tough. 

She hopped up to walk it off and get the ball that ended up 20 yards behind her. She was trying desperately not limp. Just as she retrieved the ball, the tryout ended. Luckily, she did have to get back in the goal with a bum ankle. 

After the training session was complete, she found her club teammates and her ride home.  She arrived home to an empty house. She iced her ankle which was now really swollen. She then found an ankle brace, tied it on tight and awaited her ride to basketball. She was not going to miss the Championship basketball game. 

A basketball teammate picked her up and took her to the game. She participated in warm ups trying not to limp. She did not want the coaches to bench her. She ended up playing the entire first quarter and the first half of the second quarter before she got a break. During her down time at he end of the second quarter and half time, the ankle swelled more. She tried to play in the third quarter, but could not play at her normal frenzied pace. She sat out the rest of the game unable to take another step. 

CC's team went on to win the Cincinnati City Championship and ended the season undefeated with a 26-0 record.

We arrived after the game. As soon as she saw us, she started to cry. We knew she was hurt because we got a text telling us that she sprained her ankle. We were not expecting it to be too bad. We took her sock and shoe off. It did not look very good at all. 

This morning, she could not walk. We took her for an X-ray. The X-ray was negative. The doctor was concerned about the ligaments on the top of her foot, so he gave her a boot to wear for a week. We will go for a follow-up next week.

The Main Point

Some parents push their kids to play even when they are hurting. Some kids push themselves.

Youth Soccer: How to Make an ODP Team

I'm back after a short vacation from blogging. Work has been very busy so I needed to take a hiatus.

Last year, my daughter, CC, was planning on participating in ODP (Olympic Development Program). I described the ODP program and process in a detailed post at that time. When sign ups came around last year, however, CC decided to pass. She who was burned out from all the sports she was playing and wanted a break.

One of her goalie friends did not skip the program, made the district team and got to go a regional overnight camp. My daughter was very happy for her friend and secretly wished that she had gone on the journey with her. When sign ups came around this year she did not hesitate to signup.

The process started with fall training / tryouts. The tryouts / training take place over two weekends in November (outdoors) and two weekends in December (indoors). The first weekend is complete. Prior to the first session, CC was a bit nervous. I reminded her that the trainer she loves would be there and that her friend would be there to. She was not nervous about trying out, she just wanted a friend to be there.

When she showed up there were 24 goalies vying to make 5 teams (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002). My daughter is a 2000. By the way, ODP in Ohio goes by calendar year, not school year to determine the rosters. Unfortunately, there were 11 girls in the 2000 class vying for the district team and CC was by far the smallest.

CC has come to expect being the smallest player, so she did not hesitate at all. Luckily, she was very comfortable and familiar with the drills because her club trainer was also the ODP trainer too.

The sessions consisted of 1 hour of training / instruction and 45 minutes of scrimmages with the other 2000 team players who are competing to be field players.

CC is number 161 to the far right

The Main Point

CC is small (11 percentile of weight and 40% percentile), but she is in the upper percentile for confidence and guts per pound. I am very proud of her. CC is not expecting to make the team this year, she is participating in the tryouts / training to get experience and get some additional training.

Youth Sports: How to Get Great Action Photos

Do you want clean, crisp action shots with little or no blur in both indoor and outdoor settings like the images below?

First of all great shots start with the right equipment. Here is the camera that we use and I recommend.

Get a Nikon D7000 camera. It has a terrific processor, an expanded ISO range and shoots 6 images per second. You will pay a bit more for the 6 shots per second, but it is well worth it. The rapid shooting is important because it increases the chances of stopping the action at the right exact moment. My old camera, the Nikon D70s, only did 3 shots per second. I rarely got the exact moment that I wanted like the ball jumping off the bat or the soccer ball suspended right in front of the goalies awaiting hands. Bonus: The camera also takes great HD movies, so there is no need to carry a separate movie camera.

Here is the lens we use for indoor low light action shots to prevent motion blur. 

If your kid plays indoor sports like volleyball, basketball or hockey, and you want great picture you will need to invest in a good lens. I recommend the Tamron AF 70-200mm f/2.8 lens for indoor lower light action shots. You need an low f/stop (2.8 or lower) to eliminate the blur. Be prepared, to get a low f/stop you need to pay some money. This lens is $670. Tamron is a lower cost option than the Nikon lens which costs almost 2X. It was a smart buy and a great value. This lens works great outdoors too.

Here is the lens we use for well lit outdoor action shots

The Nikon 70-300 f/4 - 5.6 is ideal for action shots in higher light situations. We use this lens for our outdoor shots during soccer and baseball games. We like the added zoom that a 300mm lens gives. Soccer, lacrosse and football fields are long, so you will want the extra zoom that a 300mm lens gives. On bright days we do not need the f/2.8 lens, so we opt for longer lens with the higher f/4. By the way, a 300mm lens with a f/2.8 would be $5,000 (see link below). It is much cheaper to get the two lenses I recommend here than to invest in one $5000 lens, but knock yourself out if you do not want to deal with two lenses.

Here is the lens I use for close up shots.

We also use the f/3.5 18-105mm lens that came with the camera. We use the shorter lens to get close up shots. NOTE: It is tough to get the end of tournament team trophy shot with a telephoto lens because all of the other parents with point and shoot cameras get up close. You will not be able to get close with the longer lens, so you will have to wait until everyone is done and hope that the team stays still while the parents clear the way for your shot. As soon as the game is over, we switch to the shorter lens.

The Main Point

The money I spent on a great camera was worth every dollar. You cannot put a price tag on memories we captured. Buy the camera and the best lens or lenses to fit your needs and you will not regret it. I promise.

Nike FuelBand is perfect for inactive kids and parents

My kids gave me a Nike Fuel Band for my birthday. Well, that is not completely true.

My cash-strapped kids recommended it. My wife actually gave me a Nike FuelBand, but she put the kid's name on the box.

When I opened the gift, there were two Nike FuelBands in it. A M/L for me and a S for my wife. His and hers matching Nike FuelBands.

So if you think about it, I technically, I gave myself two Nike FuelBands for my birthday. It was a great birthday....for my wife.

Actually, it was a great deal for me, a dad who works on a computer for hours and hours a day, then goes home to write, read and explore on the computer at night. I was getting lazy. Days would go by that I did basically nothing active. Now I have a device that keeps me aware of my laziness or lack there of.

CLICK IMAGE TO BUY ON AMAZON

I am a stats guy. I love numbers. I love goals. So this was the perfect present for me. The wristband uses accelerometers to calculate my activity in 3 ways; 1) steps taken, 2) calories burned through activities, and 3) Nike Fuel points. Nike Fuel is a universal number that takes into account the steps and calories burned with the gender, age, weight and height of the Nike Fuelband wearer. Nike Fuel points are suppose to be an apples to apples number that people of all ages and shapes can compare. All of this data is easily attained with a few pushes of a rubber button on the band.

Gadgetreview.com did a nice job of reviewing the Nike Fuel Band in March 2012. The reviewer was not overly impressed with the accuracy of the device, but applauded the utility and cool factor. I really don't care if the number of steps I take in a day are off or the calories burned are inaccurate, but I thrilled to know how active I am.

Check out the two charts below.

Sept 14, I played golf with my bother-in-law. Lots of walking and moving. I burned over 5000 Nike Fuel points.

Sept 25, I had a very busy day at work (on a computer) and then had to meet my wife at my son's high school for an event. Lots of sitting.

At 9pm, neither my wife nor I had reached our set goals, so we went for a fast-paced walk in the neighborhood to get into the green (the goal area).

The Main Point

A recent study indicates that the young people of today may be the first generation NOT to live as many years as their parents.

Technology, mainly computers and video games, is the culprit for the inactivity. The inactivity is causing the life-shortening health problems. Well, technology can also be the solution. Get your inactive, technology loving kids a Nike FuelBand.

If your kids are watching too much TV and playing video games all day long, then strap a Nike FuelBand around their pudgy wrist and give them a goal.

If they make their goal, the following day they can watch TV and play Mortal Kombat or Club Penguin. If they do not reach their daily goal, then they can't. It's a pretty simple concept.

My kids are very active, so they do not need a Nike Fuelband, but I can attest that it is working for me and my wife.