DS1 made the Varsity Basketball team for his senior year! I figured he'd be fine since he's been playing the entire HS career BUT we got a new head coach so part of me was worried. I just hope he gets playing time!!! And he doesn't end up with a resprained ankle.
DS1 stopped his karate training. I was very surprised when he said he needed a breakable wanted to focus on Indoor Track and hit the gym.
Well, I was even more surprised after the Thanksgiving football game when he said he'd wanted to try out for the Freshman basketball team.
I thought it was a bit of a long shot BUT he tried out since only 11 freshman showed up, there were no cuts. lol. So he's officially a member of the freshman school basketball team.
I have to have a hard conversation today to tell DD's travel softball team coach that she is switching back to her old league for the spring. DD has played for him for 3 years now on various teams. The main reason is lack of playing time. DD is solidly the middle of the pack on stats, puts in a lot of effort, is clearly part of the sort of social glue that holds the team together (I add these since I don't think this is a case of her getting less playing time due to attitude), but she has the fewest at bats and sat on the bench two of the four games this past weekend. Including one that ended at 11 pm Saturday night, and then we had to be back at the tournament at 7:30 am the next day for her to play for like 5 minutes. I think part of the dynamic is that coach thinks we won't leave since we know each other and she's very close with a few of the players, and he feels pressure to play the newer girls more so that their families keep them on his travel team.
DD and DH and I have been discussing for a while and DD and I made a decision after the end of her tournament yesterday. Part of my excuse so we don't burn bridges will be that the time commitment is a lot of our large family (since DD has 3 little brothers and one parent has to spend a lot of time every weekend away from them). But if DD was loving it and getting playing time, we'd make it work. Luckily she'll still see her friends on the travel softball team through basketball and flag football. And another one of the families still has their younger girls involved in the old softball league, so we'll still see them as well.
sdlaura, good luck. It sounds like it's the right decision for your DD and your family. I'd be prepared for the coach to push for your DD to stay on, all kinds of promises, etc.
mae0111 I think you're right - I expect that too. We do have one more tournament this weekend and I figure it can't hurt for her to get more playing time this weekend if he does try to show that he'll play her more. But we're still going to move.
The convo actually went way better than expected. He did share that one other girl is leaving and that would open up more opportunities for DD (since they play similar positions) but said he knows this is a hard decision for families and it sounds like we're doing what's best for us. He said she's eligible to "guest" for his team through March to not violate any spring all-star team rules and he'd let us know if they need her, to which I said great. More playing is good and we're not leaving for any team dynamic issues. I thanked him for being a huge part of DD's love for softball and playing sports in general. Phew! Off to sign her up for her old league's spring season - she'll play her last travel team tournament this weekend, try out for the old league's select team on 12/17, and then go to the holiday get together for travel team on 12/19
My kids are sports-free for a while!!! DD2 is doing "personal fitness" twice a week at school but it only goes to 3:45 and I am "coaching" it so I have to be there anyway. Her team hasn't said anything about winter soccer yet -- I hope they play. DD1's high school team is playing indoor...on Sunday mornings...40 minutes from my house. Not thrilled about that but she's a sloth otherwise so we'll trek out there.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
Meet season has officially started. DD didn't score as well as she hoped. Didn't qualify for state or to move up to level 5 which was her goal for the first meet. Actually, her scores looked very similar to last season, and she is super frustrated by it. Her coaches were super happy with how she did and said she made so many improvements from last year. I suggested she pick one thing on each event to work on before the next meet on the 15th. Vault is to not slow down her run when she approaches the vault, bars is to connect skills, beam is to not be so unsteady (nerves get her), and floor is to speed up her tumbling passes. Guess we will see how things go the next couple weeks.
DS is really enjoying chess club. It’s all boys, which I think he thinks is cool since his class has historically had very few boys. Now if I can just get him to stop calling it a “sausage fest”. (Thanks, DH, for joking about that when you didn’t know DS was listening…) And I have to stop laughing every time he says it.
We are still in between seasons for school sports. Both kids started rec basketball, and neither one likes it. So it should be a boring season. I wish I didn't sign them up, but they both asked me to and insisted that they wanted to play.
DD1 will try out for basketball at school. I don't think she will make the A team, but I'm really hoping she makes the B team. The other option is an intramural team that doesn't really play other schools. I think she'll be really upset if she doesn't make the B team.
DD2 is doing rock climbing for her winter sport. It's only twice a week, so I'm trying to figure out an indoor soccer league as well. I have a feeling that if I want her to play, I'm going to have to put a team together and coach it. I don't think her club coach is doing it this year.
Both kids are now working on their annual speeches for school. Each child has to choose a passage from a book, a speech, or a poem, and sort of act it out and memorize it. Choosing it will be extremely difficult. I'm not clear on the requirements, so I'm stumbling through helping DD2 choose. DD1 will probably choose a passage from Harry Potter. They need to choose before winter break, and they will have two solid months to practice.
Both will continue with piano. DD1 is participating in yearbook at school. They're both very interested in the spring play at school. DD1 wants to do stage crew and set design, which I think she will love. DD2 wants to try out for a part.
DS starts rec basketball tonight with the preferred coach.
Both are enjoying their indoor soccer season. Practices are less and closer by for DS's team, so overall better than fall/ spring season. Shorter games. Only con is that locker room smell.
DD, 6th grade, is starting club field hockey on Sunday (indoor season). Big win was I’ve been meaning to find her a field hockey club, but I forgot to look until today, and it just so happens the winter indoor season starts this Sunday.
Post by librarychica on Dec 5, 2023 20:41:51 GMT -5
I guess I started this earlier! After talking off and on with DD2 for a while, we will be ending her ukulele lessons. There has been a lot of inconsistencies and last-minute changes with her current teacher, she isn’t really enjoying it, and wants to try keyboard and playing with others, so we’re going to enroll her into a group music class that her friend takes after the holiday show.
DD has practice 2x a week with her travel volleyball team. She seems to be getting a lot out of playing with this team (and she loves the sport!), but 2 practices a week from 7-9 p.m. is kicking all of our butts. Ughhhh. I'm not sure if we will do this again next year, but we'll see. They haven't even started tournaments yet! Those start after the holidays & I'm looking forward to seeing how those go!
DS is going to try out for challenge soccer again...they are holding the supplemental tryouts this Saturday so please send good vibes for him! I think he would get so much more out of the challenge league, but there are so many kids in this area its really competitive.
DD is adding jogging/running into her gymnastics life. She is having issues having enough endurance to hit her last tumbling pass on floor. Her coaches say she needs more conditioning than what they can do at practice. Shift Movement had a series on Instagram saying that to get the dynamic tumbling and jumps gymnast need that coaches need to take a closer look at nutrition. DD is hardly eating during the school day and then eating a lot right before practice so I'm wondering if she needs something more dietary vs more conditioning.
DD1 is having an incredible HS swim season, she is so close to some Speedo Sectional cuts. By the time she is shaved, suited and tapered I would imagine she will be close, if not pick up, a Futures cut or two.
DD2 has no activities right now and it's glorious. She will have a diving camp for a few days during winter break.
DD3 is living that 8U swimmer life. She has a meet next weekend, and I bet we see some great time drops.
DD’s field hockey club is the only one in our area. So it’s basically girls from all the chi chi private middle schools on one team. There are 15 girls, grades 6-8 (including a few 5th graders who play and want to play up a level to improve, so more like 12ish girls). DD is the only one from her school, but the Upper School coach from her school is the club goalies coach, so at least DD will get to be known by her future coach if she sticks with it.
Also, because they are the only club, they don’t have anyone to play except each other. They fly to tournaments a few times a year on the East Coast. So that’ll be… interesting.
Dd2 got her travel soccer team assignment. It’s… quite a mix. The assistant coach from last year is her assistant coach again, but the head coach is the mom of a teammate from last year who used to just sit in the middle of the field and refuse to play, while declaring how much she hated soccer and that her mom made her play.
BUT… she has one good friend on her team, a few nice kids that she’s pretty friendly with (but doesn’t see enough to be “friends” if that makes sense). She also has the sister of one of her good friends on the team since they mixed the grades. She’s a great kid and I’m happy they’re together.
She has 2 bigger kids on the team - one is an awesome GK and the other is a tough forward. The rest are super fast really little kids. So I told DD2 that she needs to work on her corners and penalty shots since she will likely be the one to take all of them this year.
DD went to the first field hockey practice. During drills, she was really getting down on herself. She’s only played in PE, while some of the girls have already been playing for years. But she actually held her own. She mostly looked lost during the scrimmage but managed to be the only girl on her team to score, which gave her a ton of confidence. Plus on defense she blocked two shots that were hard enough that the coaches asked if she was okay, and both times she was like “Uh, yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” And while she was timid mixing it up with the other girls, she was really aggressive when challenging the coaches who were playing with them.
The person who runs the club sent me a text saying they were really impressed with her for it being her first practice and that they’re hoping she will go to Florida at the end of January for a tournament. Not every player gets to go, so it’s kind of a big deal to be asked.
mommyatty, tell me more about field hockey. DD says she wants to try it next year in middle school. Here, I don't think anyone has ever played before middle school. How have some girls played for years where you live? Are there rec field hockey teams that are not associated with schools where you live? I was kind of liking the idea that it seems like a level playing field (no pun intended) if no one has played before middle school.
DS has club soccer practice and rec basketball practice on the same day and time once a week (Tuesday). Then they both practice one other day per week that does not conflict.
1. Would you almost always choose club soccer over rec basketball because club soccer is higher tier than rec and costs more? 2. Would you alternate weeks? 3. Would your answer change if DH was informally helping with rec basketball? He did not register as assistant coach or get a discount. He just has an arrangement to help with the volunteer coach who is pretty laid back.
waverly, if DH is going already to basketball, then in most cases I would have your DS go to basketball. Maybe go to soccer if there's a major reason (tournament the following weekend or something). If DH were not helping, I would ask my kid which one they want to go to each week/do it case by case based on what they feel like doing.
sdlaura , I assumed that if DS wasn't going to basketball then DH wouldn't but I could be wrong because basketball ends at 8 and soccer ends at 9, so DH could theoretically have me drop off DS, go to basketball and still pick up DS. I will ask him if he plans to go to basketball if DS does not go.
I had asked DS and he liked the alternate idea. DH made noises during that conversation like he didn't necessarily agree with that, but then I think he got distracted and wandered off to do something, so I never asked him what he was thinking.
sdlaura- We literally have one field hockey club in our county. Generally, schools don’t start playing until 7th grade. DD can start playing for her school next year as a 7th grader. Her team is supposed to be 6th-8th graders, but they let a few younger girls (mostly 5th graders) play. They have one goalie, and she’s 8 years old, playing under 14. She’s this tiny munchkin but tough as nails.
So yeah, mostly kids don’t start until junior high here. That’s one reason I really liked it. In Texas, sports are insanely competitive, and my kids aren’t. I’m not. Like I love playing tennis but once someone starts keeping score, I lose all interest. DD isn’t quite as extreme as I am, but she’s not a “sweep the leg” kind of kid either, if you’ll pardon the Karate Kid reference. So something where everyone is learning together is really good for her.
I probably should be drinking something stronger than Pellegrino as I write this
We had our dates off for ski team. DD2 starts mid week practices this week, not the second week of January. She has all of her equipment. However, with H out of town this week and my work hours being what they are, I've had to coordinate carpool rides for her to and from practice. We don't have a whole lot of snow yet so she's not terribly excited. I think when she gets on the mountain with her friends and her coach, she will be more motivated.
Ski team goes until the end of March.
DD1 made her school's volleyball team which is a huge glow for her! However, this means volleyball games and practices four to five afternoons a week. She will have to go directly to gymnastics from these practices on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Seems like she's making volleyball more of a priority, which is totally fine with me. She said she doesn't mind being a few minutes late to her gymnastics practices.... Not sure what her coaches are going to say about this. The good thing is she will already be warmed up from nearly 2 hours of volleyball and they spend the first 30 minutes of gymnastics warming up.
I just really don't want her to get burnt out with all of this activity. Fortunately, weekends are pretty mellow until the end of January when gymnastics competition start. She is great about managing her homework and resting on the weekends. I'm still just really hoping that this all works out for the best.
dglvrk2 , I just tell DD to hang in there because there is a break soon. She likes band, but doesn't like staying after school for it. So I said well you have to finish out the year because I refurbished the flute (paid $$), but I tell her well you will have about a 4 week break during Christmas break because the concert is this week and then they have a while off. I said the same about fall break.
She fights me on going to Girl Scouts, so I said finish out the year and bridge and then you can quit. She likes it mostly when she goes.
So next year, she will only have soccer unless she decides to do something at the middle school. She has never played volleyball before, so I don't think she would make a team. She might decide to do track or student council.
dglvrk2, I would try and talk to both coaches and work on a compromise for leaving early or coming in late. Also wow on the volleyball schedule that is more than our high school team practiced in the fall. When is her first gymnastic meet? I would probably ty and prioritize gymnastics practices the week of the meet. My DD would need a good size snack to eat between practices too.
Wow! I just reread my original post and realized how many typos it had! I was voice to texting it and rushing. Not a good move.
Volleyball only goes through mid-February, so there is already an end in sight. Great idea, 186momx, about prioritizing practices on weeks of competitions. Her first one is January 19.
We will be giving her healthy snacks between practices as much as possible. Today it's grilled cheese and berries. Another positive is she has a 30 minute car ride between practices so she can chill/decompress a bit.
mommyatty , tell me more about field hockey. DD says she wants to try it next year in middle school. Here, I don't think anyone has ever played before middle school. How have some girls played for years where you live? Are there rec field hockey teams that are not associated with schools where you live? I was kind of liking the idea that it seems like a level playing field (no pun intended) if no one has played before middle school.
I don't know where you live but if it's anywhere but the Northeast, most kids won't have played before middle school. It's just not that popular outside this region. I played in college a million years ago, and there were a couple of kids from CA and TX who had to get on a plane to travel to every single game...there were no teams.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”