8th and 10th

This week, the girls started 8th and 10th grade.  It is hard to believe that this is Emily's last year at JPII and that she will be off to high school next year.  We were all definitely ready for school to start - it was a long summer, especially for Elizabeth who was stuck between being too old for camp and too young to work. Thankfully, she was able to complete her sophomore service project, volunteering twice a week at a farm that helps to feed the working poor. We are already back into sports, with a tournament this weekend and our first cross country race next week.  The days are long, but the years are short.

Shaun Bailey Memorial Friendlies

On Sunday, Emily and her team played against two Developmental Academy teams in friendly games at a memorial fundraiser tournament.  They did very well in the first game - although they lost 4-2, it easily could have been a 2-2 game and the girls felt pretty good.  They had a 1/2 hour between games and went completely flat and played a disastrous second game, albeit against a better team than the first.  Emily played pretty well overall and where she made mistakes, she understood what they were and how to fix them, which is the most important thing.

She played pretty well defensively and really ran her butt off, as she played against some very fast right midfielders.  She was particularly proud of her play against one girl, who has a strong social media presence in soccer, exclaiming proudly that she "stuffed her" twice when she tried to make a cross.

Emily and one of her best buddies going in at the same time, mouth guards in hand...

Pre-Season Work

Over a period of eights weeks, Emily and a few of her teammates did the soccer of equivalent of "dry land training."  We met two or three nights a week and sometimes 4 girls showed up, sometimes as many as 8 girls showed up (depending on vacations, camp schedules, etc.).  These girls put in some serious work.  Last summer, I focused on getting them ready to run on the large field for 80 minutes; this summer, we started with the assumption that they had a good foundation, and instead focused on strength, agility and speed work.  Over the last few weeks, the workouts have started with a mile run, so they are still getting their conditioning.  But we did short sprints, agility ladders, medicine ball work, parachute work and ended each and every session with the dreaded 400.  Almost every night, as they groan about the 400 (always a relay, to make it interesting), I tell them that the dreaded 400 is what is going to get them through the final two minutes of a tied or 1-0 game - that they will find something deep inside of them to push through, because that's what you do when you run a 400.  I saw a little bit of in them last week at the Twist Tournament and it made me so happy inside.  These kids make me so proud - I am just so impressed that they put in so much work, without a soccer ball, to improve not only themselves, but also their team.

The do their cool down in socks - claiming that the brand new track massages their feet...

Cookies?  My middle school track coach used to make us hold cookies in our hands while we sprinted (at practice) - if the cookies broke, you were clenching your fists when you ran.  I've been talking to the girls about form the last few weeks and they were intrigued by the idea of running with cookies so they did their last sprint of the summer wearing the parachute and holding cookies! :-)

The final week of the summer, Emily's coach asked me to hold optional conditioning practices for the entire team.  The first night, 14 girls showed; the second night, only 10 girls showed.  It ended up pouring for about 15 minutes, but once everyone was wet, we just kept going (taking a few parents by surprise, I'm sure!).  I think the girls had a good time and they definitely thought that it was funny that the football players and coaches at the field took cover during the rain while they pushed through their workout.

Khalid

Elizabeth's favorite singer is Khalid and she was just dying to go to his concert in Hartford.  Lee and I decided to get her tickets for her birthday and so the girls and I went to the show in early August.  He's a pretty good singer and they really loved going to their first concert together.

These two are dressed like nuns compared to every other teenage girl at the concert..... 

Videoing her favorite song. 

TWIST

Emily and her summer team played in the TWIST Tournament over the weekend.  They had mixed results, losing two and tying two.  To say they were disappointed would be an understatement - but they could not put it together and so, hopefully, learned a valuable lesson.  Emily played okay on Saturday morning, was atrocious on Saturday afternoon and then redeemed herself by playing very well on Sunday, getting better as the day went on, despite the heat and humidity.  This summer, she has certainly learned that good conditioning pays off, especially when it is brutally hot and you are playing your fourth game in 30 hours.  I think that she will build off of this weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing what she and her teammates can accomplish this fall.

Thrilled to be captain on Saturday morning. 

She played striker for a bit on Sunday afternoon and we got a chance to see the results of all of the hard work she put in on the track this summer.

The Girls

I love that they still love spending time together (most of the time) and keep each other entertained.