I signed up for tryouts with Team A. There were no dates listed on their site, and the confirmation email simply stated that someone would be in touch with date and time info. I finally got an email last night at 5pm, indicating that tryouts were... at 6pm that night 30 mins away. Super.
Then I emailed Club B, knowing that I wasn't really interested because it's parent coached and I am not paying club soccer prices so some dad can force all the kids to funnel the ball to his kid. We get enough of that in town rec. I got a quick response saying, "Sorry, super busy, I will respond soon!" Ok... 1.5 weeks later, nothing. 2 friends just signed their kids up and asked me what I thought, so I told them that I wasn't impressed with the communication... boom, I get an immediate response... whatever...
Our club hasn't told anyone that the format of the league has changed - so now the kids will play 2 games every other weekend at a facility 45 mins away. I hate that format. Such a bummer. But the current club won't tell anyone that until they have alllll the deposits.
The club that I think will be best - nonprofit, super organized from what I've seen, I know the director and he genuinely cares about the kids - probably won't have enough kids to form a team DD2's age. The director has a day job outside of the club world, which gives him a different perspective - he's really doing it for the love of the game and youth sports. I hope it works out...
Post by librarychica on Jun 1, 2022 10:25:14 GMT -5
My oldest “really really really” wanted to keep up martial arts this summer. It was their aftercare during the school year. It costs $70 a week, a little high but it’s is for up to 4 classes and we can walk there. It will keep her active since she’s aged out of a few of her usual camps.
Class starts up today after a Memorial Day break. Last night she told me she had “made a mistake.” Kid! No, go put your uniform in the wash. You’re going.
So as I mentioned in another thread, DD made the team for the girls only club soccer. She is very excited, and I don't think much happens until August, so that is good.
We have another week of spring rec soccer which they will be missing most of it anyway, so I guess we are pretty much done. I feel bad, but it's kind of the rec leagues fault that they planned 3 games on the last week. 1 was a regular game, one is a rain make up, and the other game they moved from a Saturday to Thursday. So I guess we are only missing 1 game that was previously scheduled. If I had known there were going to be 3 games..... but oh well....
So we will have a nice sports break until mid August when flag football starts and club soccer starts. DS is doing flag football.
In terms of sports summer camps, DD is doing GS camp which will include some archery. DS is doing disc golf with his friends, and DD is doing basketball camp with her friends.
Girls on the Run is wrapping up in two weeks with the big 5k. Then we're joining swim team again for the summer. It was so nice to have the break during this last stressful stretch of the school year. The summer swim team schedule is actually really great. The practices are much earlier in the evening, so they'll be at the club for summer camp all day, then practice is there at the pool at 4 PM and I can pick them up at 5. They'll even already have all their swim gear with them every day anyway for camp free swim time. During the school year practices didn't even start until around 5:30, so it made for an awkward schedule in the evenings. This is going to work out really well.
DD's softball tournament game times for this weekend improved a lot - now 6:15 pm Friday instead of 4:45 (so we don't have to leave work as early) and 10:40 am instead of 8:40 am Saturday (so now we don't have to leave our house at 7 am on a Saturday). This tournament has the earliest times I've ever seen - games start at 7 am everyday, which would mean leaving our house at like 5:15 am to get there to warm up. That's nuts. We won't know about Sunday's game time till Saturday night.
Then she has another tournament next weekend, then the regional finals the following weekend. If they do well in the reginal tournament, then they would go to the state tournament the weekend before July 4th. I'm torn on that because it would be a really cool experience, but would also really complicate our vacation plans for that week. But no use worrying about a conflict yet.
We have our gymnastics banquet on the 12th. I know the time and that the girls get all dressed up. We've never gone before as they haven't had one since we've been on team and covid. This is stressing me out for two reasons. One I'm trying to schedule DD's family b-day dinner around this event and a graduation party, and two these kinds of things just fill me with dread. I hated season end parties as a kid where coaches give out awards to the best and greatest.
Both of my kids made the travel soccer teams. I am really not cut out to be a soccer mom (even though I played through high school and played a D1 sport in college). So much time. So much mingling.
"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.”
Post by librarychica on Jun 1, 2022 18:12:02 GMT -5
Yeah she went, she was all anxious because new routine, but then she got there and it was fine. She was happy when I picked her up. I have to say if all the sports/activists she has tried taekwondo is my favorite to deal with.
DD2's soccer club has 4 teams at her age group, all leveled. So top is 1, bottom is 4. DD2 is currently playing on 3 and doing well. She had tryouts this week and did extremely well.
I just got her team assignment - the bumped down her to level 4. That team was terrible this year in that the the coach is a horrible human being who openly talked about how much the team sucked. So the kids never showed up to practices or games, and games were cancelled several weeks in a row. Most of the team from the fall quit. I have a feeling that several families that remained refused to play unless their kids were moved up. DD2's team played against that team last weekend, and there was maybe one kid that was better than her. So, no real grounds to move her.
I also found out that a kid that didn't go to tryouts and doesn't plan to return was offered a spot on the level 3 team. So WTF???
DD2 specifically told me that she really worked as hard as she could in tryouts so that she wouldn't get put on the level 4 team. If I had to tell her that she was bumped, it would have crushed her.
So I reached out to her coach and the head of the age group and told them that if she wasn't put back where she belonged, she would not be playing next season. The coach is honest but political... he indicated that he didn't have a hand in picking the team because he's not coaching either one (he got moved up to coach the level 2 team). But he seemed a little surprised about where she wound up. But I don't believe he didn't know. The head of the division responded quickly and demanded to know the names of the kids that didn't try out and were offered spots. I refused to name names. I told him that it wasn't my responsibility to straighten out his administrative mess. But that I knew what went on with the level 4 team over the course of the season, and that I would absolutely not put DD2 in a situation like that.
I reached out at 2:00. By 2:15, the had moved her back to the level 3 team. The said that she was the "top-ranked player on the level 4 team", and there was just enough space to move her to the level 3 team.
Which is all bull. But I don't care.
So she's going to attend tryouts with her old coach next week. He's not confident he can field a team. So I have to keep this offer around until then.
DD2's soccer club has 4 teams at her age group, all leveled. So top is 1, bottom is 4. DD2 is currently playing on 3 and doing well. She had tryouts this week and did extremely well.
I just got her team assignment - the bumped down her to level 4. That team was terrible this year in that the the coach is a horrible human being who openly talked about how much the team sucked. So the kids never showed up to practices or games, and games were cancelled several weeks in a row. Most of the team from the fall quit. I have a feeling that several families that remained refused to play unless their kids were moved up. DD2's team played against that team last weekend, and there was maybe one kid that was better than her. So, no real grounds to move her.
I also found out that a kid that didn't go to tryouts and doesn't plan to return was offered a spot on the level 3 team. So WTF???
DD2 specifically told me that she really worked as hard as she could in tryouts so that she wouldn't get put on the level 4 team. If I had to tell her that she was bumped, it would have crushed her.
So I reached out to her coach and the head of the age group and told them that if she wasn't put back where she belonged, she would not be playing next season. The coach is honest but political... he indicated that he didn't have a hand in picking the team because he's not coaching either one (he got moved up to coach the level 2 team). But he seemed a little surprised about where she wound up. But I don't believe he didn't know. The head of the division responded quickly and demanded to know the names of the kids that didn't try out and were offered spots. I refused to name names. I told him that it wasn't my responsibility to straighten out his administrative mess. But that I knew what went on with the level 4 team over the course of the season, and that I would absolutely not put DD2 in a situation like that.
I reached out at 2:00. By 2:15, the had moved her back to the level 3 team. The said that she was the "top-ranked player on the level 4 team", and there was just enough space to move her to the level 3 team.
Which is all bull. But I don't care.
So she's going to attend tryouts with her old coach next week. He's not confident he can field a team. So I have to keep this offer around until then.
I hate this.
I am so sorry you are having this experience. Both of mine have been in club soccer for 8 years, and the amount of politics is outrageous. DD’s coach is incredible, his actual career is not as a soccer coach, but we all love him dearly. He fights for our kids, and club admin likes to make his coach life hell for it.
I hope you are happy with where she ends up this year. Either her old team or the team she is still trying out for. And mostly I hope she has a positive experience. The adults involved don’t always seem to remember the kids are the most important part of it all.
DD2 had her last soccer game with her current club team yesterday. Lots of conversations happening because the team has been completely blown apart and moved around. 12 players - 2 aren't coming back at all, one moved to level 1, 3 moved to level 2, 4 remaining on level 3, 3 bumped to level 4, and one is remaining in the age group because she was playing up. Several people are pretty unhappy.
I ended up telling DD2 what happened. She asked to go to another tryout this week. So we're hitting the best club in the area tomorrow. I'd discounted it because it's pretty intense, but she wants to try it. And then trying out with her old coach later in the week.
At the same time, DD1 had her last club basketball game. She sat for most of it. This time I understood - it was a very close game and she's not the top player. But it was eating at me that she's been benched for the past few games. I reached out to the coach yesterday because he's also her coach through the fall and winter for a travel league. I was very deferential - I am not trying to tell you how to coach, but noticed she was benched, if there's a problem (attitude, no hustle) I would like to know about it. He said he's going to call me later today, so now I have a million things swirling in my head.
I'm worried that he's going to tell me that she won't make the team in the fall. Her learning differences affect her performance on the court. Focus is so important, and if the meds have worn off slightly, she's a little behind. She is also extremely slow and not very strong, which I have come to find out could be related to her NVLD. She's short. Her ball-handling skills are awesome, but slow hands make it tough. She's mastered her outside shot because she knows she can't shoot under the hoop with kids that are 6-8 inches taller. She can anticipate a pass with great skill, but can only move herself to steal about 60% of the time. She will never be a star, and that's a-ok - I just want her to be able to participate because she loves it so much.
My conversion to sports parents is complete - we had the most exciting and fun softball night on Saturday. For DD's all-star tournament this past weekend, DD's team lost their Friday night game (no one could hit off the other team's pitcher - she only allowed 2 runs all weekend), then our team won their Saturday morning game by a lot. By too much, since that meant the team was put in the harder of the two brackets, where we knew they probably wouldn't go far (if they had won by a couple less runs, they would have ended up in the easier bracket where they maybe could have gone all the way).
Their Saturday night game did not start off well. DD's team was down 4-0 in the third inning. Then DD got a hit and narrowly made it to first. Then on the next pitch, she stole second, and the other team threw to try to get her out. But it ended up as an overthrow and DD was able to make it all the way home (she is like sitting on second base because she had to slide to steal it, and we're all like "get up! run!"). That started a lot of momentum for our team and then the score was 7-6 with our team winning. At that point it had gotten too dark to play anymore (our game had started late because the opponent had to come straight from their prior game - we didn't know who we'd be playing till the last minute). So the umpire and coaches and tournament organizer talk and decide we should stop the game and head over to the one field with lights.
We all pile into our cars - DD in her full catcher gear - and drive to the other field. Our league's 12U team just happens to be finishing a game on that field, so we wait for them, then have a super exciting 1.5 innings left but end up losing. The game ended as our weakest batter struck out with the Sea World fireworks going off in the background. Meanwhile, our league's 10U gold team (DD is on 10U silver) also had the same issue with their game going long and their field getting too dark. So they all come over to the one field with lights and then take the field after us, and their game is tied. We all stayed to cheer them on and they ultimately end up winning. They turn on music on their sound system and all the girls from both teams and the parents are dancing and singing and celebrating at 9:45 pm. The parents were joking that the celebration seemed like they won the championship rather than just their first game of bracket play It was so fun, and I'm so happy for DD to get to have this experience, since she doesn't have a sister. Another mom took her and two teammates back down to the tournament yesterday to watch the 10U gold team play again.
sdlaura, I love your update. So exciting!! I loved the tournament weekend on Memorial day. It was a logistical nightmare since we had no refs and no functioning bathrooms, but I loved watching the kids have fun.
I spoke to DD1's basketball coach, and it was fine. He explained his reasoning, says she's a great kid, he's looking forward to the fall season. He gave me specific things for DD1 to work on. I agreed with his reasoning and I explained what I was seeing re: other players kind of causing issues on the court for DD1. I didn't name names - he did - immediately. So he understood and said he tried everything with her. I could see the issues he was having - several kids simply did not want to be coached. He's a good person and I've coached with him before so I'm glad we cleared the air.
DD2 - omg... her current club just set another round of tryouts for her age group. WTF. Just leave it alone. The damage is done. And we can't go to those callbacks because she's trying out for another club at the exact same time. Since club soccerland around here is incredibly incestuous, I can't help but think that the timing of the callback was not an accident.
Girls on the Run is wrapping up in two weeks with the big 5k. Then we're joining swim team again for the summer. It was so nice to have the break during this last stressful stretch of the school year. The summer swim team schedule is actually really great. The practices are much earlier in the evening, so they'll be at the club for summer camp all day, then practice is there at the pool at 4 PM and I can pick them up at 5. They'll even already have all their swim gear with them every day anyway for camp free swim time. During the school year practices didn't even start until around 5:30, so it made for an awkward schedule in the evenings. This is going to work out really well.
They just sent out an email that swim team time has changed. So now camp runs til 4, then swim starts at the same place at 4:45. We're back to the awkward gap in the day and not getting out of practice until late in the evening. Ugh. Such a bummer.
twinmomma, ugh that's the worst. And there's no opportunity for after care until the swim team? That's so stupid. I wonder why.
I have found over the past few days that a lot of noisy parents can make stuff happen with clubs/teams like this. So maybe if you or others push back, they'll put it back?
DD had her first private lesson with "Mandy" Friday night. We did an hour and the time flew. It was them getting to know each other and where DD is at and what she needs help on. They tried to do some high bar stuff and DD was like they don't let me work skills up here yet and Mandy was like well that isn't okay and you need to tell them you need to do all skills. She is meeting her again on Wednesday afternoon.
DD1 sawm her Open Water Zones meet on Friday and crushed it! So stinking proud of her! Came in way under her goal time, fished the ace with her friend, and placed 34th out of 60. She is happy as a clam.
DD2 has her second (but first real) diving meet next week. She is the only elementary kid on her team, so we are hoping the other team has some so she has an actual competitor. At their intramural meet she got 1st by default, lol.
DD3 has no more swim meets for the rest of the season. She's only 6 and they are all long course. No thanks. But she still has a month of practices left.
The kids are all done with sports for the summer! Every time I get a text about the summer basketball league, I pat myself on the back for saying no.
It was a crazy end to the softball season. They had a 14 year old girl that didn't understand the rules assigned to ump DD1's playoff game. Crazy calls like not understanding the difference between a force and non force. Or calling strikes well over the kids' heads. It ended up with the ump's dad and the head of the umps on the field screaming at DD1's coach, another director trying to break it up saying that he agreed that the ump was wrong, I was in the middle of it pointing out that while they were sticking up for an ump that has no business being at the game, the entire dugout was sobbing because they actually knew the rules and knew they weren't being treated fairly.
DD1's team ended up winning that game and losing an amazing game in the championship (and the league hired a professional ump). The team that won had already beaten DD1's team by over 20 runs each time they met, and they only won by 8 this time. DD1's team had one bad inning where the other team scored a ton of runs, and otherwise held their own.