Soccer Lady Adventures

Last weekend was full of soccer lady adventures.

On Friday, Lauren, Jenn and I ran the Cooper-Young 4 Miler in our jerseys before joining the rest of the team for a ride on the Sprock-n-Roll.



Considering it was 900 degrees when we started, I was happy to have finished.

The Sprock-n-Roll was a great follow up adventure. Lots of people were out and about and we felt like celebrities rolling down Cooper.



Joanna served as bartender/DJ. I can't express how much freaking fun we had.



On Sunday, Lauren, Jiro and I drove to Birmingham to see the USWNT play a friendly against Haiti on their Victory tour. Paula, the boss lady of the Thursday night league, organized group tickets for about 20? 30? 40? of us, so it was super fun.

We had a quick bite at Flip Burger before going to the stadium.



There was a shuttle service to the stadium, and we had the best driver ever.



I think they said there were 35,000 people in attendance.



Look! The USWNT is right there! Abby and all! And my favorite, Julie Johnston, scored the first goal right in front of us.



It quickly became apparent that Haiti didn't stand a chance, so the game wasn't that exciting after the first 15 minutes. But it was still awesome. I mean, come on.



It was fun to sit with all of our buddies.




When it was all over, Jiro desperately tried to get an autograph from Abby, but was mistakenly directed to the Haiti side. He took it in stride.

Then we did a little tailgating before hitting the road back to Memphis.



Special thanks to Paula for making this happen. We all had a great time.

All Day I Dream About Soccer

Last weekend was the Soccer Elite Tournament at Mike Rose. Liberty sent two teams, including Jiro's and Satchel debuted as a ref. (He took the three day course back in August.)

On Saturday, Jiro played two games and Satchel reffed 4. Four!




On Sunday, Jiro played in one and Satchel reffed two.

Then I had a game.

That was a lot of soccer! I loved it!

Satchel made lots of money, and Jiro got his first win of the season.



The weather was awesome.

The only other thing of note was that my own mother mistook me for Julie Cloar. We have the same hairstylist!



It's not Brantley. (This is us belatedly celebrating Julie's birthday after the Highballs' game. Her three boys played six games over the weekend!)



I can't wait for the next tournament!!

p.s. Here's a picture of Jiro from one of his first games that Chip just sent me. Beast!

Foot Golf

On Saturday the boys and I decided to check out Memphis Athletic Ministries' foot golf course at the Defense Depot. What is foot golf? It's golf with a soccer ball! Fun, right?



It's actually quite challenging. Look at that hill!



Satchel easily won the first hole.



Hole #2 was 200 yards further!



Thankfully #3 had a water station!



By hole #5, I was kind of kicking ass and the teenager was grumpy about it. "I'm not mad that I'm not winning," he explained. "I'm mad that I'm losing!" We let him sit out for a minute.



#6 had water to drink, and to traverse.



By #7 the heat was getting to everyone, but we persevered.



We eventually lost track of who was winning and just tried to do our best (and not melt). I loved it. I want to go back! And I want to check out the Riverside course.

The beauty of the MAM course is that it is only $5 each in the form of a donation. And it's about 5 minutes from Midtown.



Since it is affiliated with the church (a church?) it is not open on Sundays.

Let me know when you want to go!

Liberty Soccer

So, the summer session of the fledgling Midtown Soccer Academy kicked off Tuesday at a little place you may of heard of called the Liberty Bowl. Yep!

The kids (and parents) were all "OOOOOOOOH!" and "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" It was awesome.



The Academy was started by our buddy Seamus, with the help of former Man U superstar, Tony Posner. (I serve as the club's secretary.)

We are working with about 40 kids this summer on skill building. Seamus wants to get the players up to the ranks of the competitive kids out east ASAP. He focuses on the youngers (7-10).



Tony is working with the older boys (11-14).



I didn't get any good action shots, but you can see that the boys get a good work out! (Girls are welcome too, we just don't have but a few right now.)



Please note Satchel's perfectly coordinated outfit and gear.



And here is the beast looking quite angelic.



I'm really excited about this, and hope the monkeys are too! Midtown moms and dads rejoice--we won't have to drive out east to partake in the City's competitive soccer ranks!

Baseball

So a few weeks ago, I picked up Jiro from a sleepover at Evergreen Presbyterian. His friend had baseball practice and I was a few minutes late and before I knew it, I had a baseball player.



The baseball coach is a friend, and just happened to be Jiro's first ever soccer coach. He did a flinch test with the kids to determine who would play catcher, and guess who passed with flying colors?



Guess who also had a home run his first time at bat?



Yup, Jiro. The coach is very much, "This kid's got natural talent!" Well, duh. Jiro is definitely my athlete.

It's been a pretty rainy season, so there have only been three games. Jiro hasn't single-handedly won them for his team, but he's held his own.

There's nothing cuter than him in his catcher's get up.

I've only managed one full game and part of another due to having my own soccer games scheduled at nearly the exact time each week. But, I am learning the lingo, and my short term memory is getting strengthened as I attempt to keep track of strikes and balls and outs.

Warren, who has always wanted a ball player, is thrilled. Now he just has to figure out how to get Satchel interested!

Update!

Six out of ten games were rained out, so baseball was a bit anti-climactic. Jiro had fun and they did manage to win their last game.

Highballs Win!

It took three seasons, but we finally made it all the way to the top! The Highballs were undefeated all season long, but finished second due to goal differential. So making it to the tournament and facing off against the Lunachicks, who we tied in the first round, was BIG. It was a great game--very competitive--but we pulled through and won 5-3.

We did a lot of practicing this season and finally started looking like a team. Everyone improved!

And we still know how to have the most fun too!

O35 Men's League

I guess it was inevitable...with all the kids and moms playing soccer at Greenfield, the dudes needed to get in on the action. The husbands and brothers and friends of the O35 ladies, including our very own Warren, kicked off their season last Friday night at Greenfield.

Warren plays for the Widowmakers Futball Club, but hasn't gotten an official jersey yet. He made his own at home with duct tape!



His teammates include a few other Highball significant others, which is nice.



He was pretty excited, but not nearly as excited as me and the other O35 women! It was so much fun to watch for a change! We may have gotten a little carried away.

Sylamore 25K

I am usually the person convincing other people to do crazy things. So, it was refreshing when my friend, Shannon, talked me into registering for the Sylamore 25K. Honestly, I thought that since registration usually fills up in 20 minutes, I'd be safe (as in out of luck!), but no, I got a spot. Registration is at the end of October. The race is in February. That gave me about three and a half months to completely freak out.

But why? Well, I've never done a 25K. Technically 25K = 15.5 miles, but for whatever reason, 25K races vary. In this case, the race was 16.7 miles.

Also, I don't really run trails. I love trails! I just don't run them that often.

Among my other concerns--I've been battling some pretty pesky injuries since last soccer season. But I dutifully went to the doctor and physical therapy and followed (most of) their directions. I definitely wasn't feeling 100%, but I was at least 85%.

Oh, and I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but the weather has been the suck. I have been less than diligent about getting up at 5:30am to run in sub 20 degree temps.

So, yes, panic has been my best friend. I mostly tried to avoid thinking/talking about the race until the last minute. Shannon and I did two long trail runs, tested out some gear, and even purposely stood in a lake to see what running with wet feet feels like.

I spent most of last week behaving--eating well, not drinking, and getting lots of sleep.

On Friday, I picked Shannon up and we headed to Mountain View, Arkansas. I felt as prepared as I could be given the excuses listed above, and decided to enjoy the race and just focus on finishing and not getting hurt.

Saturday morning, race day, we confidently headed to the start. The race director told us the 25K race had been postponed for about 30 minutes to give the 50Kers a little extra time. Why would they need more time? Well, we found out that the first mile or so of the course was covered in ice!

So that creek crossing we'd worried so much about? Butter!



The first mile of the course? Not so much! We saw a woman nearly slip to her death here. It was scary.



I mean, really.



BUT! Everyone was being extremely careful and it did NOT feel like a race at all, at least in the beginning. It was like being on a really fun group hike.

There were parts that eventually were runnable, and on the way back the ice had turned to slushy mud, which was a lot better than straight up ice. But Sylamore alums all agreed that these were the worst race conditions ever.

So a really hard course was that much harder. But you know what? We did it! And it was actually really, really fun! I didn't fall or get hurt and at the end of 16.7, which took me about 5 and a half hours to run/hike thanks to the ice & snow, I was still smiling!



I've got some super grody blisters and some pretty uncomfortable chaffing, but otherwise I feel great.

Thank you, Shannon, for talking me into this!



I told her that I didn't think I needed to ever do it again, but now I'm not so sure.

U14 Soccer, Mid-Season Report

Last year I started an indoor team for the U13 boys, which eventually led to the creation of the O35 Women's league when all of the moms wanted to play as well. (Not surprisingly, now the dads want to play too! More on that later.)

Now that the boys are a little older, it's officially a U14 league. We have six teams instead of the original four, so it is even more exciting. We've been playing for four weeks and so far my Ninjas are undefeated. However so are the Beavers, who we face tomorrow!

Jiro is very focused on playing defense indoors, because he is a little shy around the older kids. But he is still fierce. This is a great group of boys who practically coach themselves. I'm really just there to make sure everyone gets a chance to play and to ensure that they are good sports.

Fun fact: the moms of these boys all play O35 soccer on my team! Jiro, on behalf of the Ninjas, has challenged the Highballs to a game. It could happen!

Satchel is playing with Bigfoot, under Coach McAfee, who was Satchel and Jiro's first ever coach. Bigfoot has yet to win a game, but they look better and better each week, so I don't expect it to last. Satchel scored a goal last week, which was awesome. He's working on his confidence and some weeks are better than others. Overall he says it is fun.

Last week his cleat came flying off several times and he played on, which was funny and a little nerve wracking! Warren went and got him a fancy new pair to start wearing this week. (And a headband! Not sure Satchel is going to go for that though.)

Here's a peek at our other teams. The Rats with Coach Kirsty.

The Beavers with Coach Jason.

Rogues with Coach Bailey.

And Cobras with Coach Whitt.

Thanks to Chip Chockley for the great photos!