Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

The end of the first week. WOW. That is all I have to say. WOW.

Crazy. I am enjoying so far the stuff I have been doing in the J-O-B. I am basically just learning the lay of the land, figuring out the language, etc. Pretty exciting stuff.

I am looking forward to the weekend- a three day weekend at that (Whoot!!). I am going to try Nic’s suggestion of getting Nico’s stuff ready for the week on Monday (MLK Day- Double Whoot!) Should cut down on some of the nonsense that I deal with in the morning… of course, it would be easier if the weather would warm up a bit. This cold snap has made me realize that we really have nothing in the way of warms for this kid… a ton of short sleeved onesies doesn’t go far to keeping this kid warm. They do work well for layering…

So I picked Nico yesterday from FSU. It was the first time I had gotten him so late (420) and I encountered many of the other parents who were also picking up their kids… let me tell you, it was pretty much amazing. I heard 3 different conversations in foreign languages (2 chinese and one Japanese-I think). Man!! I wish Nico were talking already so he could learn some language from them.

We had senior night last night. Its so weird- because I remember the conversation that Dave and I had about our Freshmen our first year. We had been getting KILLED by the likes of Lincoln and Bay (to the point of being mercy ruled). One of the few consolation points we took away was that in four years when our huge freshman class would be seniors that they’d be really good. And we said our goodbyes to them last night. Have we really been there for 4 years? It’s hard to believe. It’s even harder to imagine a team without these kids… Shay Given in goal is just the way it’s been for so long, Rambo being the muscle, Mandy’s ridiculous speed and flexibility and those slides that keep a ball in play, Lil Carter’s intensity- so hard core, its kind of scary, and B-Rod’s soft touch- I am pretty sure she could juggle raw eggs. It will be weird without this kids.

So we did our little ceremony. I made voice recordings on my iphone of me talking about each senior… how awesome they are, how much we would miss them, etc. I also made a recording of underclassmen doing the same for each senior. My booster president burned them to cd and we played it over the PA as they walked onto the field with their parents. The underclassmen gave them flowers. In turn, each of them gave me a rose and a little note. It was pretty amazing. The only thing that kind of bummed me out is that a couple of the underclassmen said I sounded creepy. I think I just sounded monotone and quiet.

We’re really a good team… It’s really kind of tragic that our record doesn’t show it… we’re 4-10-4 (but 6 of losses were by 1 goal). We have sound fundamentals- we pass well, in general, we move without the ball. We just can’t score… and unfortunately, that is half the game. The game plan to not give up any goals will, at best get you bunch of ties. Which was the case last night. JP2 has this player who we didn’t have an answer for last time- she literally was the undoing of us last time. So I put one of our strong, physical seniors on her to man-mark and shut down. And that was the last anyone heard of her. So we were strong and smart in the back (even given the fact that two of our main guns back there have been hurt and haven’t played much as of late). Our scrappy little forward who is probably the smallest person on the field (but doesn’t realize it) hurt their GK. TWICE. Both legitimate tackles. The first resulted in a cleat to the face for the GK… and the second (2 minutes later) our little forward probably should have backed off… but it was legit. It was a pretty hard fought battle resulting in a 0-0 tie.

You can definitely tell it’s the end of the season though. Everyone has those nagging little injuries that refuse to go away… knocked and turned ankles, sore knees, bruises, raspberries, scrapes, strange ailments (“Coach B- how do you stretch THIS?” (accompanied by player pointing to random part of the body- the side of the lower leg). I guess it’s good that my girls play so hard. But it does make me uneasy knowing that some of them could really stand to have a break and we just can’t sit them. What’s worse is that some of the ones who are a bit banged up are going to go straight into softball, track and tennis. It’s even more of a drag when you get to the end of the season battle weary like we are… but I guess that is the trick in sports- that it’s not just enough to make it through the season, but to make it through the season with the least amount of injuries and banged up players, and to do the best you can in the post-season.