Soccer JV/Varsity

 

Today also turned out to be an interesting soccer day.  The first fun part was getting to play at Boulder High School (my alma mater) and the second was Gage once again got called up to play with the JV team.  At least with JV and above, you get to play on nice fields.  This is a beautiful field in the middle of Boulder at Boulder High School.

JV team ended up losing a close game 3-1, but both Gage and Gavin played well.  Here is Gavin after the game talking to some of the lady team managers.

After the JV game, Gage was asked to stay as a backup for the Varsity game as well due to an injury of the backup keeper.  This was definitely a first for him, but he jumped right in... despite having almost never practicing or playing with the team.  What's funny is that he's still the tallest person out there even just being a freshman.  This is the team circle up before the game.

Gage has also never done the lineup before and didn't know where to go so he actually lined up at the wrong side (over on the right) and we got a good chuckle out of it when we talked to him later.  He was supposed to be lined up next to the starting keeper (Noah) who is in the teal goalie kit.

Welp, this game went downhill pretty quick.  Boulder was absolutely stacked this year and was led by a D1 Clemson commit up top as a forward.  They looked better than us at almost every position on the field, though.  They scored a couple quick goals on Noah early in the first half and then just kept on pounding away.  By the end of the first half Legacy was down something like 0-6.  I've almost never seen anything like it.  The second half started just as bad and after one more goal against us, we saw some quick commotion on the bench that made my stomach drop.  They started to warm up Gage...but there was like 35 minutes left in the game.  I was thinking to myself, "Are they really going to put him in to get shelled in this blood bath?"  Apparently, they were.  A few more minutes later and Gage was taking over for the final 30 minutes of the game.  Here he is, a young 14-year-old playing against full grown men with some of them being 18+ in a game they are already down 0-7.  I guess that's the way it goes.  I was so nervous for him, and you could tell he was a bit intimidated as well.

I am so proud of him, though!  Here he is coming out through a ball and a defender on a 1v1 with one of the Boulder strikers.  He made a big early save here to get some confidence.  They did get two goals on him, though. But that was quite a good outcome considering the rest of the game.  He had one that got through on a corner kick from a back post shot that he couldn't really do much about.  The second was kind of a weird one where the referee said a redirection back to him was actually a "pass back" that he picked up so they awarded a free kick right outside the box.  He made an initial save on the free kick, but they got a rebound shot that went in.  All in all, it was pretty crazy to watch, and he stepped up big time.  Tough night, though, as the team lost 0-9.  Awesome individual job by Gage, though!

JV Soccer at the Stadium?

 

Week two of high school soccer featured something a bit different.  Here we have Gavin (number 2) getting ready to play his game and really taking a lead role in the JV team on defense this year by setting the "strong physical presence who arrives with a bad attitude" kind of role.  This actually seems to be what the heart and soul of high school soccer is all about...so it's a good fit.  

What you also see is Gage here in his pink long sleeve jersey.  Apparently, the JV keeper was nowhere to be found so while was warming up at the high school for his "C" team game, they called him to get a ride up to the big stadium (a few miles away) to jump on the field for JV.  Playing with the team is no problem, but it kind of created a frantic stir and makes it hard to figure out what he is doing.  He played great, though, and they won their game easily.  

It was also so fun to see both our boys on the field at the same time.  With Gage being a goalie and Gavin playing the center back, they actually get to play the ball to each other quite a bit.  We are so excited they get to experience this!

Soccer C Team

 

This is Gage's first true game playing for Legacy as all of the pre-season scrimmages are done.  Though I would argue that the skills level/quality of play of high school soccer isn't as good as club soccer, there is definitely something special about playing for your school and also having school mates come out and watch your games and cheer for the school.  It just feels...different, more exciting because there are such cross-school rivalries.  It is also fun to play against some of the guys you have played on the same club team with for years.  Gage's jersey is a nice long-sleeved pink Legacy jersey to help protect him from this fairly weedy grass.

Bee Strings & Sunshine

 

I do love getting out for a nice bike ride, but sometimes there is a little extra pain that finds you along the way.  The highlight of today's ride was a bee hitting me almost right between the eyes (just above my sunglasses) and then it proceeding to sting me...probably from the sheer shock of hitting my face.  Either way, it was quite an unpleasant experience on the ride home.  After a bit of recovery time, I finished my ride home and all was well.  I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened more often.  I have had a bee fly down my jersey and sting me before, but I don't think I have ever been stung on my face...

Horse Pasture Soccer

 

After a bit of a surprise, Gage was placed on the "C" team for Legacy soccer this year as a freshman.  On the side, the coach told him he was likely better than the JV keeper but since the other guy was an upper classman, they were placing him on the higher team and keeping Gage on the "C" team.  This is painful for a number of different reasons, the first being that Gage and Gavin were looking forward to playing together this year as we were anticipating them both being on JV.  The second reason is that the "C" teams in high school soccer leagues generally get to play on fields like the one shown above.  If you can't tell, the players are in about shin deep grass that in places is so long the ball somewhat disappears and reappears as it emerges from the growth on this horse pasture.  You are also lucky if the goals are generally straight (not bent) and the field is somewhat flat without lumps and holes covering it.  It's cruel to make kids play on fields this bad...can't we do better??

Haircut Please

 

Gage has continued his part time profession as Gavin's weekly barber.  At least this time they are doing the haircut in the yard where we don't really have to worry about cleaning up much hair.  Truth be told, though, Gavin never gets more than like a millimeter or two trimmed off so it's quite funny that they go through this whole ritual to basically leave things as they are.  We will see how long this partnership lasts...

Deviant Critters

 We recently put in a bird feeder that hangs from our Cherry tree in the back.  This deviant little guy keeps trying to hang from his toes and shake the feeder so that it drops the birdseed down below where he can get to it.  Judging by the amount of bird seed currently sitting on our deck seat cushion, I guess he has been quite successful at it.  We might have to rethink something here or get better at counter measures. 

Come Steal Me...

Well, Gavin is driving Tara's old minivan (we call him "Van-Dingo") these days as we purchased my mom's Honda Pilot from her more recently.  Apparently, this is how much Gavin is currently valuing the ride.  I came home to this and just had to take a picture.  We find the van parked in front of our house, front driver's door wide open, garage door wide open, and no child to be found.  I think the only real thing missing is a sign posted to the side of the window saying "Please steal me, right now".  Sometimes, I just have to wonder what goes through these guys' heads.  Needless to say, we had an open and transparent conversation about the state of things that I came home to.  We will hope to not have a repeat performance of this one...

1st Day of School

First day of school for Freshman and Junior years!  It's wild to think we have two high schoolers now (at least for a bit longer).  Both of these young gentlemen are feeling confident and excited for the first day.  We are fortunate to have two guys that are social and enjoy their friends at school but are also very good students.  I know everyone has their own unique struggles with their kids, but at least this is one battle we don't really have to fight too much.  I hope they have an awesome year!

New Bike Glow Up

I previously wrote about Tara's new bike day, and while the ride and fit were amazing, she was hopeful that we could do a bit more to make it feel more "lady-like".  I worked with James at Tribellas a bit more to see what we could do and we came up with this amazing pink and black floral handlebar tape, matching shiny pink water bottle cages, and a couple of white and pink Tribellas water bottles.

It wasn't a drastic change but paired with her nice Aloha Zoot cycling kit that is heavy on pink and black, it really came together, I think!

Here is a nice view from the ride of all the colors working together.  I am glad that Tara has come to really enjoy riding, as this is something I can see us doing together for a long time.  Now, she has a nice bike to make it all a bit more fun, as well! 

PT For Gavin

Gavin had been having some back pain playing soccer, so we decided to get him checked out with Larry at BUILD in Louisville.  He is our go-to PT in the area and always love to hear the stories my guys come to him with (both related to their injuries and unrelated as well).  We checked some balance items with him to assess supporting muscle control and stability.

Another activity to see how he supports different movements with his body.

We also took a big look at his hamstring flexibility, which was a major issue that probably contributes to general tightness and some muscles pulling in different ways on his spine.  Not surprising, Larry was quite shocked at his lack of flexibility.  After a thorough evaluation, we had some good marching order on how to loosen him up and try to get back to playing pain free.  Thanks again to Larry at BUILD for all of the help.

Yellow Jacket Invasion

It seems like every few years we have a need to call our "Bee guy" to come help us with something.  Such are the joys of owning a house, I guess.  Well, this August, we had noticed a decent amount of traffic coming to and from one of the awnings above our garage and upon closer inspection, this is what we found. 

These guys apparently found some seam just below the shingles to try to make a hive/nest and were just going about their merry little business.  Unfortunately, we don't exactly share the same beliefs about what qualifies as a suitable home, so we had to help them find somewhere else to go.  It costs a bit of money, but I always feel better about letting someone who actually knows what they are doing deal with them rather than me hanging off some ladder 20 feet up trying to spray these guys.  In the end, we reached a nice agreement that they couldn't stay and the problem was solved...until the next time I guess.

New Bike Day for Tara

After quite the wait, it was finally new bike day for Tara!  This is her new Specialized Road bike that we just picked up from Tribellas for her.  She had been measured a month or two back and they had everything ordered and put together for her.

There are a couple new things with this bike for us: disk brakes rather than rim breaks, electronic shifting rather than manual shifting, and it's a double rather than a triple up front for Tara.  I do know it should be a pretty big step up in quality and comfort from her last bike!

New School Schedules

Every year we eagerly await the school schedules.  Most of the classes are known, with the exception of a few electives.  However, the teachers for each class that they have and which off periods they have are always a big source of anticipation and subsequent discussion amongst their friends.  This year for his freshman year, Gage has CP Biology, L2K, AP Human Geography, Spanish III, Integrated Math II/III, and English Lit.

Gavin, now going into his junior year, has quite the aggressive lineup, AP Calc, L2K, AP Physics, AP US History, AP Lang, and Weightlifting/Drawing.  He had a few friends that took one more AP class, but we thought this was already crazy enough.  He will have his hands full for sure, but he is a pretty good student.  I know I didn't take anything close to this for a class schedule when I was in high school.