Regional Champions

Although Evan’s travel soccer team completed its Mid South regional games in October, a couple of teams had to make up games in January and February. The hurricanes in early fall forced one team to postpone games and another team was not allowed to play in state due to state imposed Covid restrictions. Therefore, a champion was never named. We learned today all make up games were finally played and NUSA won first place in the Mid South Conference. 

This means we advance to the Southern Regional tournament in June as the Mid-South Champions instead of as the Tennessee State Champions. 

Unfortunately, we are scheduled to fly to Peru the week of this tourney. My life long dream to see Machu Picchu has alluded us thus far. Peru still has a mandatory 10 day quarantine, so I’ll be surprised if we get to make the trip this year, too. We may be in South Carolina for soccer after all.

U19 Division 1 State Champions

Today was Evan’s last dance with the state soccer tournament. It’s bittersweet to say goodbye to something that has consumed so many days in the last fourteen years. 

But we are so excited to celebrate his third state championship! We won this afternoon with a score of 6-0. The defense maintained a strong line and no goals were scored in three games. 

Tomorrow we are back on the pitch for a friendly, and in January we are headed with the team to a tournament in Florida. There are still so many unknowns with the spring and the pandemic, but I’m hoping we will transition from travel to school ball and back to travel in June with relative ease.

Soccer Highlights

For the last 13 years Evan has played organized sports. Thirteen years of countless games and tournaments, hours upon hours of commutes to practices, victories that gave us the greatest of joys, losses that brought heartache and disappointment, and injuries that taught us perseverance and hard work. I didn’t know one thing about soccer when I signed him up at the age of four. I didn’t even know how he was to wear his shin guards. 

But he loved the game and loved to compete, and we never looked back. Here we are in his senior year and I’m just comprehending this might be his last year to play organized soccer. It saddens me in ways that words can not accurately convey. I’m trying to soak up every highlight of this last travel season. Here are two of my favorites from Thursday night’s game. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=SgMiXOW-8wo

https://youtu.be/lFclMB3es-8

Weekend Travels

Evan’s soccer team played in Montgomery. Alabama this weekend. While there are no soccer highlights worth mentioning beyond the win, we spent Sunday morning on the Civil Rights Trail in the downtown area. 

I’m currently teaching a unit on Rosa Parks, and her famous bus scene is part of our discussion. I was super excited to be able to see her arrest site and museum - even if it was just concrete with a sign. Evan was not nearly as thrilled with this morning stop, but he did it with no complaints.

We also made a stop at the church MLK, Jr pastored.

Then we headed to the Civil Rights Museum. Of course nothing was open, but we got out of the hotel and got a chance to soak up the last of the summer sun.





Evan and I got home last night at 9:30. We are stumbling through the first day of a new week already looking forward to next weekend and sleep. 

Soccer Pics

This past weekend in pictures.

I love his short shorts and too small socks.

He’s still the big guy - the others never caught up to him.

He’s always liked a physical game. 

Look at those tree trunks we call thighs.

Stayin’ Alive

Our run for state stays alive after this weekend’s games. Saturday’s decisive win and Sunday’s tie earned us four more points. Saturday was Evan’s best game and gave us hope that he might be able to finally recover from his Achilles injury from 18 months ago. Sunday was the best soccer I’ve seen this team play. There was finally some cohesiveness on the field. 

My faith in this group of boys has been restored. 

Kickin’ It

Evan’s travel soccer season got started today with a friendly and a win of 10-0. He had two assists! Evan played CB, full back, left wing, and CDM. He was all over the place. 

I pray he stays healthy, finds joy in playing again, and  becomes friends with his teammates. (I’d like to win, too.) Here’s to a great season on the road to state!

Hard Work

High school soccer. When is it over? It can’t be soon enough. We entered the season with high hopes, and every game I still expect even better things to happen. But those hopes are shattered again and again every time we leave the field. 

When he’s not at soccer training or soccer games or footwork training, he’s reffing soccer games. He’s worked really hard this semester trying to balance school, sports, and work. He had a free afternoon last week and decided to play a pick up game with some friends. He came home holding his chest with bruised ribs. I swear he gets injured walking down the street. He’s recovered from every injury imaginable and still gives his all. I am so proud of him (and his hair). 

High school Soccer

We had an exciting week of soccer with three games this week. We won our district games and keep an undefeated district record. Evan sat out of Friday’s exciting rival game with a dislocated knee cap, but with lots of ice and rest, we are hopeful he will have a full recovery. He will have a week off for spring break and should be ready to play in April. Here are a few shots from Tuesday’s game.

School Soccer

 Here we are back at it with high-school soccer - all 43 boys. (It’s just slightly obnoxious that nobody got cut.) The first preseason game was an easy one. We were playing a team that rostered eighth graders; Evan scored a goal in the JV game playing attacking mid. I missed it, though, because the mudslide still has the interstate closed and you can’t drive any where quickly any more. The second preseason game was also a win - against the defending state champions. If it ever stops raining, we might get to play again. 

Shocker

Evan graduated from PT on Thursday and got to play in the weekend tournament. Not only did he get to play, but he was able to physically run in four games in two days! The last game he played all ninety minutes. If that wasn’t good enough news, we actually won a game on Saturday. I hope this means we are over the injury and he’s on the road to recovery becausing watching this season has been almost more than I can bear.

I don’t want to remember this season because there are very few highlights in a season we’re more time was spent in therapy than on the field,  but today’s finalist win is a true show of perseverance. Not only did we suffer with Evan’s injury, but we had two other players out this season. As state league comes to a close, I’m thankful Evan’s healthy and ready to play in showcases. 

Regionals Games 1, 2, and 3

Game 1: NFC vs SC -  MP

Final Score 1-2

We led 1-0 until the end of the second half.  With two corners, the opposing team scored two goals within five minutes. Evan went down in the second half with a sprained Achilles attempting to stop a goal. He stopped the goal scoring opportunity, but he also stopped himself from playing any more. The doctor told us he will be in recovery for 2-4 weeks. Nobody could have been more disappointed in this outcome than me. 

Game 2: NFC vs Ives Estates

Final Score: 0-2

This Argentinian team from Miami had a big, fast forward wearing the number 88. I would have loved to have seen my #88 play on this guy! Unfortunately, Evan sat on the bench. We gave up a super easy goal - a goal that will always be remembered as one of the worsts! In the last minute, we pulled our goalie up in an attempt to score on a corner. The ball got out of the box and back down the field before the goalie could recover. A cheap goal!

Game 3: NFC vs SCUFC

Final Score: 4-4

This second place team had to win by four goals to move to the knock out round, but we held them to a tie and kept them from advancing. Unfortunately, with two losses, we were also headed home. We showed grit coming back in the last 13 minutes to score two goals. In the final minute, we almost scored the winning goal. Oh, so close! 

This weekend was an eye opening experience. I hope Evan has the opportunity to play SRPL with these guys in the fall. I would love to see him play against these bigger and faster boys - especially since we didn’t get to see much of his playing this weekend. We are praying for complete healing and a great comeback!

High School Playoffs

This freshman got varsity minutes in our semi-final district championship game. I was working the gate the first half when another parent texted me that Evan was on the field. I jumped up and headed straight to the stands. It was not his best game; Evan says his skills have regressed. However, he has secured the varsity letter. 

The tongue. Always. ❤️

Monday night the team heads to Memphis for a district playoff game. 

Hawks Soccer

Highschool  soccer is considered, by travel soccer players anyway, to be sub-soccer (not real soccer). But our travel team decided every boy would play highschool ball this spring. Evan was not convinced this was a good decision; especially since we had heard freshmen at Rossview don’t play varsity. Evan did everything he could to dissuade his teammates from playing school ball. No one listened, and to our great disappointment, Evan was forced to try out for the highschool team.

The second day of tryouts, the boys played tag and Evan swore he wasn’t going back. I made him, though. In team practices, Coach had him playing JV. Evan was still not happy, and I tried to persuade him hard work and great effort can change a silly rule about no freshmen. When the roster was released and it did not delineate JV or Varsity, I again told Evan he could continue to prove himself.

However, in the first three scrimmages he played JV, and we acquiesced that Coach would hold true to his promise that “freshmen won’t play varsity.” 

Thursday night I rushed to Nashville to see the JV game. I knew I would miss kick-off but I did my best to get there in time to see most of the game. I got parked, settled in my seat, wrapped in my blankets just as the whistle blew for half. Then I noticed Evan putting on his winter gear. And I was MAD! You mean I rushed all the way to this God forsaken area of town to sit in the cold and watch someone else’s kids play! Fifteen minutes later Coach motioned to Varsity to begin warm-ups. Imagine my delight when I saw Evan jump up to join them! 

Evan started for Varsity tonight. He played the first half and went to the bench with a score of 3-0. We ended the game in a tie of 4-4. 

This season just got interesting!

State Champions

We defeated the reigning champions in overtime today  by the score of 2-1 to be the new U-16 D1 Tennessee State Champions.

This is what five months of training, four nights a week, and a good coach will get you! Evan and I have sacrificed so much for this to happen, and it’s so worth it! I don’t know that I’ve seen him any happier. I can’t wait to play SRPL this summer!