March Soccer

As we move into the more hectic (yeah!!!) months of spring sports, I wanted to post a few photos of Emily's games from March.  Over four games, the girls had a nice win and tie, and two horrible losses.  Emily has been playing well, and had a tremendous game in one of the losses.  She continues to work hard in her spare time, trying to perfect the little things that come in handy on the field.  We are hoping for more wins than losses as the season goes on, and we also hope that the team continues to improve their play, regardless of the outcome.

Emily and Lee spent significant time over the winter working on her throw in and she's getting more and more confident with her range every game.  She's reaching the point where the girls finally know what to expect and the other team yells "long throw! long throw!".

Emily played a full game here - and she had the bruises and turf burn to prove it afterwards.  One of her best performances as a player, in my opinion.

Love these smiles.

            

These two have been combining for goals since U8 (Emily with the throw, Abby with the finish).

Winter Soccer

The Sporting girls had five outdoor friendlies scheduled for February and early March, and ended up playing only two of them.  The club opted out of indoor soccer this year because of the COVID restrictions and after the "pause" ended on January 19th, the weather stopped cooperating, with multiple snow events every week.  They were able to get in a scrimmage with another club team, but the conditions were brutal. They also played a couple of indoor games, but nothing consistent.  They were disappointed at the lack of games, but really gave it their all whenever they had a chance on the full field outside.

When the weather turned mild the second week of March, they were able to squeeze in two more games before the regular season started.  Overall, they are not playing well, but they have a few girls out with injuries and are struggling to get their rhythm.  We are hoping that things start clicking once the season starts, this coming weekend.

Emily primarily plays defense but had the chance to play attacking midfielder in this game and loved it (although she missed every shot she took).

The second of the two "mild temperature" games occurred on a Sunday night, and the weather turned brutally cold about two hours before the game started with high winds and plummeting temps.  Didn't seem to bother the girls at all.

These two will be teammates in the fall at NWC, but they've been playing against each other for years.

            

She finally scored (from defense) the goal she's been looking for all pre-season.

Her teammates have been waiting for this goal as well, encouraging her to shoot all the time.

COVID19 Diaries: Week 52

It was just over a year ago that my trial in New York City was shut down because someone, who was last in the building seven days earlier, had tested positive for COVID19.  Three days later, I picked up Elizabeth from school, after a two week pause was announced, and jokingly said, "I hope that this isn't the last day you go to school as a sophomore."  In the last year, our lives were turned upside down.  Emily finished out her 8th grade taking classes on her laptop.  I haven't been inside my office building since November 20th, and before thatI was only in for a few days.  I've learned that I hate working from home but I love spending time with my family (thank goodness); as a family, we've learned that we hate missing our sports and activities, but we were able to fill the time with 40 movies (between March and December), which is five times more than we ever watched in a single year.  We appreciate all of the small moments; we are grateful for our friends; and we miss our family.  We cannot wait to stop wearing masks.  And even Lee thinks that social distancing is for the birds.

When I got nervous in February 2020 and made Lee stock up, he thought that I was crazy.  Until this happened.  For months on end.  Now we have a six month supply of toilet paper and cleaning products at all time.

Grateful that my kids grew closer, rather than apart, during this forced time together.

So much lacrosse and soccer in our backyard.

And so much sunbathing.

Last normal interaction we had with my dad, and we all had to wear masks.

First day of school picture, with masks.

Lonely holiday dinners.

Still wearing masks for sports.