What a weekend for Sports!  The Blizzard soccer team dominated on Saturday with an 8-0 win, while the Wildcats pulled out a thrilling, come-from-behind 14-6 win in Flag Football.  In the Tuesday night flag football game the Wildcats, trailing 6-0 at halftime once again, came from behind to coast to a 13-6 victory. 

 

Beginning with the round futbol, I wish I could tell you how the Blizzard were able to pull out this dominating victory.  I'd love to say it was the stellar goalkeeping of young son Tommy, but as you can see, he had moments of, well, shall we say, less than perfect footwork. 

 

Even so, he returned to form and displayed the fierce attitude that stones the opposing shooters.

 

And I have to love his attitude - talk about having a game face!  Tommy came to play on this day! Somehow this team manages to knock in eight goals without giving up one, leading to an amazingly lopsided game. 

I haven't seen on of our soccer teams win like this since my older son's team of second-graders beat a team of mostly first graders 10-0.  The first grade team only got the ball over midfield two times and did not have a single shot on goal.  I'm not proud of that, but the league has first and second graders play in the same league.  The blizzard is mostly first-graders, and to be 2-0 at this point is unusual.  No doubt things will change when we run into a team made up of mostly second graders. 

For now, the Blizzard will enjoy their victory.The Wildcats flag football team, well, that is another story entirely.

 

After winning the first game 20-0 against a team that looked like they had not had a single practice prior to game day, the Wildcats lined up against a team that was clearly their equal.  Going thee-and-out on the opening drive, the Wildcats punted and the other team methodically marched down the field, chewing up clock time, and punched the ball in the end zone.  The Wildcats buckled down on the extra point try and held them out of the end zone, down now 6-0.

With my son Chris at quarterback, the Wildcats went to a hurry-up offense  They drove quickly down the field until an incomplete pass stopped the clock with about 30 seconds to go.  We called a pass play that fooled no one on the defense, so Tommy scrambled and dove into the end zone just ahead of the defender, who actually did pull the flag after the ball had crossed the goal line.  We lined up for the extra point try and Chris found his receiver in the back right corner of the end zone.  At the half the Wildcats were up 7-6. 

The other team came out strong in the second half, but the Wildcats held them and used up some clock before scoring a second touchdown.  The point after was successful and the Wildcats led 14-6.  Their celebration was put in jeopardy when their opponent broke off a long run, getting to the five yard line before a desperate lunge to grab the flag saved a touchdown.  With time running down their opponent ran two quick pass plays, both of which fell incomplete.  On the last play of the game the Wildcat cornerback made an interception at the goal line to seal the win for the Wildcats. 

 

Tuesday evening the Wildcats lined up once again.  Held scoreless in the first half, the Wildcats trailed 6-0 as they kicked off to open the second half.  They held their opponent to a three-and out, then ripped off a long run on their first offensive play of the second half to tie the score at 6-6.  A nice bootleg by the quarterback scored the point after and the Wildcats led 7-6. 

The rest of the second half was back and forth, with neither team able to move the ball very well.  With time running out the Wildcats called for a center dump pass.  All players in this league are eligible receivers, and the center had not played much of an offensive role for the Wildcats in this game.  Chris shifted to center for this series of plays, and when the play was called he was ready.  The quarterback sold the fake handoff, Chris shed his block and drifted to the right, caught the pass and took it to the house.  Wildcats were now up 13-6.  The point after attempt failed, and the clock soon ran out, leaving the Wildcats victorious once again. 

Sitting 3-0 after the first three games, the Wildcats are looking forward to continuing their success this Saturday. While there is still room for improvement, both the Wildcats and the Blizzard are playing well and giving a strong effort. 

With practice for the Blizzard this Thursday and this Friday for the Wildcats, it will be another busy few days.But the opportunity to coach my son's sports teams and spend this time with them while they are young is not to be missed.   Go Blizzard!  Go Wildcats!

Last Saturday the Blizzard, soccer team featuring my son Tommy, won their opening game 2-0.  Tuesday evening the Wildcats, flag football team featuring my son Chris, won their opening game 20-0.  As coach of both teams, at this point in both young seasons, Team Camping Machine is undefeated.  Two and 'O.'

In future posts during the next few weeks I'll talk about the stress of juggling two teams, a job with unpredictable hours, two sets of youth sports parents (and the differences between soccer parents and football parents), and the thrill of coaching your children and the agony of coaching your children.

But not today.  Today is the day to bask in the glow of an undefeated season.  As they say, if the season ended today, we'd be champs! 

We'll see what this Saturday brings....

 This is going to be a very busy seven weeks for The Camping Machine Guy.  In addition to being very busy at work, I am coaching two youth sports teams - Chris' Flag Football team, and Tommys' Soccer team.

Yesterday morning we had football practice from 9Am - 10AM, then had a soccer game at 11:30 AM.  Not so bad, really, except it was also Team Picture Day, so we had to be at the soccer field early and round up all the kids for the team and individual photos.  By the time that was done, planning for the game should have been a piece of cake.

 

If you've never been involved in a youth soccer game played by first-graders, well, you're missing out.  The kids are great, they have lots of enthusiasm, and what they may lack in focus they more than make up for in energy.  Still, to go through a line-up and expect they will remember their positions five minutes later may be asking too much. 

 

This being the first game and only having had two practices due to all the snow we've had lately, I really didn't know what to expect from our team, which with our white uniforms, the kids had voted to name The Blizzard.  But they came our firing and had a strong first quarter against the team in red, which somehow came to the field with the name Black Widows.

 

 My son Tommy is a very intense young boy, and he loves to play soccer.  While not the most athletically gifted player, he goes hard all the time and does his best.  Today he came out strong and got right in the thick of the action.  The Blizzard scored a goal in the second quarter (okay, this is youth soccer for first graders - we play four 12 minute quarters.  The kids get treats at halftime and at the end of the game.  Don't give me grief about two 45 minute halves plus 'extra time'). 

 

Going into the half the Blizzard was up 1-0.  Tommy was set to be goalie for the third quarter.  This makes me nervous because I would hate to see him give up a goal and lose the lead.

 

But my fears were for naught as Tommy was a rock in the goal, making several good saves and quickly getting the ball downfield with some very strong kicks.

 

Time after time he would dive on the ball, protect it, get up and move to the front of the box and launch a kick to midfield.The third quarter ended with the Blizzard still up 1-0. 

 

The fourth quarter saw the ball go back and forth down the field, but in the last 5 minutes the Blizzard got an insurance goal to go up 2-0.  With Tommy back at midfield the Blizzard ran out the clock and took Game 1 of their season into the win column.  The kids enjoyed their victory, but the coach is already thinking ahead to Tuesday night when the flag football team known as the Wildcats will take the field, with Chris starting at quarterback.  Let the wild spring rec sports season begin!

Our church held their annual Easter Egg Hunt today.  It happens on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, rain or shine.  Today, we didn't have rain, and we didn't have shine. 

 

We had SNOW.  I've never seen an Easter Egg hunt in the snow before. 

 

It was a unique experience. I was a bit surprised at the turnout.  For some reason I thought people would not want to come out in the snow to dig up buried Easter Eggs.  I was wrong.

 

My son Tommy had a blast.  He loves to play in the snow anyway - add an Easter Egg hunt, and the kid was in heaven.

 

But as parent knows, while hunting for eggs is fun, finding them is more fun.  And how about this for a basket full of booty!