August Extracurricular Activities

[mommyatty]

What’s everyone up to?

[mommyatty]

DD had her last summer indoor field hockey practice and she kicked butt. It was so fun to watch her and see her huge grin after practice. She HATES when they do shootouts because she’s a goalie. And it’s hard to save a shootout. But omg, you guys. Of about 25 shots tonight, I think they scored on her maybe 5 times. She just dominated! Her coaches were so complimentary, and one said, “She was just intimidating the crap out of everyone out there.” Another coach knocked on our window in the parking lot to tell DD how much she’s improved and what a great goalie she’s becoming.

It was a great way to end the summer season, and she’s pumped going into next week’s optional workouts at the middle school.

DS is doing XP Sports, and he’s on a Fortnite team. This group of boys seriously kicks butt. They played their first two scrimmage matches together and won both. The second one, they eliminated 30 other players, which I guess is just absolutely bananas. They were all pumping their fists, yelling “Thirty Bomb! Thirty Bomb!” Which I guess is an actual thing you shoot for. (I know nothing about video games. Nada.)

[sdlaura]

Funny timing because DH and I just had a minor argument about this. I just got all the info on middle school sports and DD is trying out for travel softball teams as I write this. It seems like suddenly he thinks she should just do rec softball if she’s going to play any other sports. But last week we spent 80% of our time talking about which travel softball teams she should try out for. And she may not make the middle school flag football team (there is just one team for both grades at an 800-kid school). He thinks we’ll be too busy but won’t tell me what he’d like to change, which is frustrating.

We’ll figure out the softball situation and then the two middle boys will start soccer practices this month. Flag football tryouts are early Sept for DD. This weekend is the last weekend of summer basketball for DD and DS1 - they both have double headers.

[librarychica]

It is been a few years since we spent our evenings at the ice rink but we are starting it up again. My little cubanita is taking up ice hockey after all. Did I try to talk her into swimming? Not gonna lie, I did. The pool is super close and I could exercise while she practiced. Plus I know how swimming works. I am not amazing but I swam in school and could at least give her a couple tips. We own swimsuits and swim does not require a bunch of padding. But ice hockey is her desire and so ice hockey it will be.

Technically she is supposed to have completed learn to skate beta before taking learn to ice hockey, but H talked to the coach and he said if she takes a refresher course of alpha (it’s been a couple years since she took lessons though she skates pretty regularly) than he thinks she’d be fine without beta to at least start. That starts this month and will end at the end of September, just in time her to sign up for learn to ice hockey. It’s just the backwards crossovers she’d be missing and they practice a lot of that. Plus DD1 can backwards crossover so can help her. The rink really wants an all-girls team so they've been having a lot of "try hockey" days, which is how this came about.

Why are my Florida kids so fond of ice skating? It’s hot out and weirdly affordable (unless you get into figure skating.)

DD1 is like “hey sign me up for a Beta refresh if you’re going to be there anyway.” She doesn’t want to join any teams or take figure skating classes, she just likes to skate.

[campermom]

I love August! The only thing I’ve got going on between my 3 kids is karate for the youngest and it’s located in my gym so I work out. It’s a little gem of time before the craziness begins with adding field hockey and fall ball for my oldest, around his work schedule.

[waverly]

Both kids are still in soccer. I’m not ready to start back up.

DS does horseback riding in the summer so he is ending that. I still need to text his tutor and set that back up for him. I’d like to end tutoring but it does help him and she comes to our house so it couldn’t be any easier. I just wish he could do it without the tutor and honestly he could but it means more work for us. So basically the tutor is parent support ha ha.

[mae0111]

Nothing has started up yet. But I made a deal with DD2: she needs to practice soccer/move for 30 mins every day, and I will put together an indoor team for first winter session. Her club coach usually just does 2nd session for her team (which stinks... because he does 2 sessions for his other teams because his kids are on those teams). She's been pretty sedentary for the past few weeks and is in her summer sloth era, so I needed to try to get her moving again.

I'm crazy and I tracked down her fall club soccer schedule earlier this week. After having all very local club games in the spring spoiling us... she's got one game that's out of state and 2 others that are about an hour away this fall. She is not in a real "travel" league - everything is driving distance... but the out of state game is like 90 mins away, so that eats up a good chunk of a day since the games are usually at like 2pm.

DD1 isn't in anything organized, but has a new hyperfixation: playing guitar, singing, writing music, recording, and mixing her recordings. It's pretty awesome to watch how much she's progressed in a really short period of time. She took some music classes at camp this year and now she won't go anywhere without DH's guitar. I'm waiting for class schedules to come out so that I can sign her up for private lessons during the school day. It's an extra charge, but really quite reasonable, especially to keep it during the school day and not require me to shuttle people to one more location. She told me she's not doing a competitive sport in the fall, but needs to do something per school rules, so she's planning to do pickleball. I hope she likes it!

[campermom]

mae0111 that’s really cool for your DD, the music interest! And my oldest son in high school plays pickleball as a club and he LOVES it. They have pickleball tournaments and he and his partner won.

[mustardseed2007]

Pickleball has come to our school also. You can sign up for after school pickleball once per week and you can take it as an elective. It totally makes sense because we don't really have a tennis court.

DS is signed up for some acting classes - improv/acting for film plus a theater skills class plus musical theater dance. DD is signed up for hip hop, theater and coding. It doesn't start for a couple weeks so I'm definitely enjoying not having much right now. 

[186momx]

We are still on summer schedule for gymnastics. The only nice part is I'm able to flex my hours on Wednesday so she can do her private lesson when no one else is in the gym which is helping her mentally.

librarychica, I think it is cool your Florida kids want to do ice skating. At least the rink is nice and cool, and you aren't sweltering outside in the humidity.

[sdlaura]

Pickleball is now an official winter sport for our middle schools. Tryouts and everything and then the 8 middle schools will play against each other like any other sport.

[librarychica]

Out YMCA is super into pickleball. H used to play racketball but his usual partner moved away. Maybe he should try pickleball instead. There’s a ball and a racket, right?

The only sports out middle school has is soccer, track, and volleyball. One sport per quarter and no sports for the first quarter.

[dglvrk2]

mommyatty, mae0111,I'm so stoked to hear how well your kids are enjoying and excelling at their activities.

Overall August seems like a good "enjoy your sport/activity" month, rather than a competitive one, which is great!

DD2 is not in any organized activity - except for camps - this month. She and H spend 2 weeks in Fiji with my BIL, SIL and niece. They return the day before school starts. She'll start voice lessons and soccer the same week school starts.

DD1 is playing club volleyball through the end of September. She would prefer staying on the rec teams, rather than go for travel teams, so it's two days/week + weekend tournaments. She'll continue sax lessons and may start bass lessons once school starts.

[erbear]

Soccer is starting for both kids this week. DD1's practices are Monday and Wednesday from 8:15-9:30, which means twice a week on school nights, she won't get home until 10.

[erbear]

I freaking love pickleball. DH and I play regularly at the pickup in our neighborhood but we (46 and 47, athletic, former D1 athletes) regularly get our asses kicked by 70+ year olds

[sdlaura]

Our middle school sports are all administered through the boys and girls club so about $300 per kid per season, so probably that helps with offering a lot. There are 4-5 sports for each of the fall, winter, and spring seasons, and both boys and girls teams in each. Fall is flag football, volleyball, golf, and cross country. Winter is boys basketball, track & field, pickleball, and field hockey. Spring is girls basketball, track & field, and soccer.

[186momx]

DD is really struggling with not being able to eat wheat and dairy before exercising. She just doesn't have any energy. Today I told her to make herself a giant bowl of pasta for breakfast. No wheat or dairy after 10:30am. She has been eating a lot of protein (chicken/Steak) with white rice and fruit at 2pm for her before practice lunch. By 5pm she is wiped and getting dizzy/lightheaded and looks super pale. Finally convinced both coaches that when she started feeling drained to let her eat a snack (fruit and nuts) to try and revive her energy. She has 3hr+ practices and going home after 90 minutes doesn't help her. Anyone have any ideas on foods she could eat that would give her more energy for longer? The protein is making her full but not giving her energy. Also candy/sugar doesn't make her bounce.

[sdlaura]

186momx I cut wheat and dairy while BFing all four kids because they were sensitive to it.

Probably my favorite hearty meal is a chipotle bowl or homemade version, including lots of guacamole. I think avocado and guac is a great creamy substitute for a lot of dairy like sour cream and cheese. If she wants tacos or burritos she could also just do corn tortillas.

I also find that there are now lots of yogurts and ice creams made with coconut milk or other milk substitutes, that are at places like target as well as trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. They still include a lot of fat which should be good for her. For snacks, I think there are also a lot of dairy and wheat free snack bar choices.

What did she used to eat before/during practice for energy?

[186momx]

sdlaura , her coaches are very anti-food during practice/meets which has been a battle on its own the last week.

Normal pre-practice dinner during the school year was: giant stuff peppers, spaghetti and meatballs, steak tips over a plate full of noodles, deconstructed tacos with a whole package of rice a Roni, boxed pasta mixes (pasta Roni or Annies), goulash. Other than the stuff peppers which she will only eat if it is cool out most meals she would eat a thank you bite of meat and call it good. Basically whatever we were going to have for dinner she would eat as dinner at 3:30 before her 4:30-7:30 practice and then eat fruit or something very small afterwards.
For summer she was eating 8 taquitos, 4 corn dogs, mac and cheese, leftovers from dinner at about 2 for her 3pm practice and then eating full dinner when we got home at 7.

She doesn't like avacados

[sdlaura]

186momx oh no, I couldn’t survive without avocados

Have you tried gluten free pastas? I bet it should be easy to find corn taquitos.

[186momx]

sdlaura, she tried pea, lentil, cauliflower flour pena pasta last Thursday and smothered it in spaghetti sauce and gave it a 1 out of 5 stars. She did have a good practice that night and seemed to have more energy though. I normally shop at Winco and Costco and our Winco has a horrible gluten free/alternative section. I should probably venture into our trader joes or whole foods that are located downtown.

[sdlaura]

186momx oh yes, definitely, Trader Joe’s and especially Whole Foods have tons of options!

[mommyatty]

DD has been in her optional field hockey practices for school the past two day. Yesterday was just a fundamentals workshop because some of the girls are new. Today she got to spend some time in goal and was so happy. Also, she had a bunch of saves against the high schoolers, so she was pretty pumped.

AND, she says she’s actually speaking to her teammates! So yay!

[librarychica]

186momx, would she try brown rice? It should give more sustained energy than white. Does she eat legumes? Brown rice + black beans or chickpeas, foods with complex carbs like sweet potatoes or oats?

[186momx]

librarychica, no beans, legumes but she loves sweet potatoes and yams. Brown rice is hit or miss due to the texture. She does like the Seeds of Change brown rice and red rice mix.

She just called me and told me Cherrios have no wheat so she is going to make Cherrios/cranberry/raison trail mix!

[k3am]

DD wants to quit sync. She's talked about wanting to quit after the season is over if she doesn't move up (December is their last show of the year), but wants to do it now. DH is adamantly against it, but I'm not.

Reason 1: They will start ramping up practices (2 weeknight practices + Saturday mornings at 6 or 7am in the past) in September for an early October "competition" (their teams rarely have a competitor), and then again in November for two shows in December, so the ENTIRE month of December will be dedicated to skating. (Like.. shows the weekend of 12/21, and they require you to be there ALL DAMNED DAY. Show up at 9am to skate at 1, and then skate again at 7pm, and that show lasts 3 hours type stuff). If she's not wanting to go, I'd rather just quit now.

Reason 2: They got through their big competition (MULTIPLE FULL DAYS), one girl moved, so the timing isn't terrible since they'll have to rework their routines anyways. The October competition wasn't even on the calendar until a week ago. (We were supposed to have a September competition, but our rink couldn't possibly submit the paperwork while they were gearing up for our July competition..)

Reason 3: Weeknight practices start at 4pm. Which was fine in elementary, but middle doesn't get out until 3:10 and we have a 20-25 minute drive.

Reason 4: Her costume doesn't fit. It was snug at the beginning of the season and she complained, but they told her as long as she can move her arms, it's fine. Well shocker, but 11 year olds grow sporadically. There's not enough length through the torso, the fabric is pulled taught, looks uncomfortable and one of the seams (not visible) has already burst.

I get DH's side though. She signed up for it knowing it's a one year commitment. I'd typically be on DH's side, but *I'm* over this team.

I had to point out to her that if she quits midseason, it won't be looked on favorably when/if she auditions to try to move to the harder team. Her closest friend is also on team with her, I'm not sure how that would be impacted.

She also seems to think that she's not progressing individually because so much of her time is dedicated to team practices that aren't about progressions (100% true!).. but her private lesson coach is on TWO of the sync teams AND coaches DD's team - so it's not like she'd be able to use that time for lessons.

I'm so torn. Right now we've left it at we'll see how it goes trying to make it to 4pm practice and juggle school work.

[waverly]

IDK k3am, but you have me convinced she should drop it.

[macmars45]

k3am if your DD doesn't want to participate then I'd let her quit. Sports should be fun. She's 11, not a professional athlete.

[k3am]

Aug 13, 2024 20:32:49 GMT -5 macmars45 said:

k3am if your DD doesn't want to participate then I'd let her quit. Sports should be fun. She's 11, not a professional athlete.

That’s where it get murky. She likes it. I’ve never had to fight to get her to practice, she has fun when she’s there. Even last month, she had no intention of quitting before the season ended. I’m not sure she’s really done, if it’s school related, if she’s heard me complaining or something else.

[sdlaura]

The latest softball drama is that DD got offered a spot on the 14U travel team she tried out for, but her good friend didn’t. Even though her friend is a better, more experienced player. The team needed DD’s position more and the friend I guess didn’t have a good tryout. Friend’s dad reached out to coach and he’s going to have friend come to practices to get to see more of her and decide if they want to add her as a 14th player on the team (which is a big team).

Last night they set up the team roster in the app and we weren’t expecting to know anyone else, but one of DD’s former teammates from a couple years ago who DD loved is on the team. So that’s great. And maybe will make DD more excited to stay even if her other friend doesn’t end up making it.

This will be a totally new experience for DD - she will be the youngest player on the team/playing up an age group, she only knows the one teammate, and we don’t know the coaching staff. But I’m excited because the two main coaches are female college players, one of whom is a catcher who picked DD because she wants to work with her as a catcher. DD loves playing catcher but hasn’t had much real instruction in it.

We’ll see how it goes - practices start tomorrow. I figure we’ll see how it goes for a few months, and if it doesn’t work out, she can go back to the town league for the spring all-star season like she did last year after playing on a travel team in the fall. But in a perfect world DD will end up liking this travel team and be on it for two years before trying out for a high school team. Assuming she still loves softball at that point.