Have you made partner?

So the callous dad was standing with another callous dad during practice last night, and I walked in just as one of them laughed as my daughter made a particularly lame attempt during a drill that required the girls shoot with their left hand.  Later, the losing squad had to run "suicides" and one of the dad's yelled out (to his daughter, I hope) "Don't let **** beat you!"

So them I asked my daughter about those dads and commented on what I had heard and how I thought it was inappropriate and not in keeping with the coaches philosophy.  Her response was, "that's weird, because that dad's daughter is the nicest girl in the whole school.  Oh, by the way Dad, tomorrow night's game is supposed to be against a really good team." 

Me: So, was the team you played two weeks ago one of the really bad ones?

Her: I don't know.  We don't really talk about who's bad, just about who's good.

Take home message: kids these days have a much healthier attitude of mutual support in competition than kids did when and where I was growing up.

Good point.  It's probably a gender thing.

Another thing I have noticed the girls do, is when they run their relays, if a girl is having trouble making her layup, the girls on BOTH squads start cheering for the struggling girl by name.

artie_fufkin wrote:

Max wrote:

Good point.  It's probably a gender thing.

Another thing I have noticed the girls do, is when they run their relays, if a girl is having trouble making her layup, the girls on BOTH squads start cheering for the struggling girl by name.

Whereas when I let my boys play knockout, the kid under the hoop will use his ball to knock the rebound away from the kid at the free throw line.

Most of the girls politely wait and let the other take her shot when they meet at the same hoop during relays.

Ya know, I like girls better than boys.

Last edited by Max (3/02/2011 6:23 pm)

For some reason, this 6th grade team has 19 girls.  So, practicing in one gym creates limitations in the drills the coach I can run, I suppose.  Tonight was the second game.  The other team didn't show up.  Never seen that before.

The coach splits the team into two 'teams' of 10 and 9, that always stay together for relays, scrimmages, etc.  For the first game he played one team in the first half, and the second team played the second half.

Yesterday's game was supposed to be just my daughter's squad of 10, but there is a children's theater group working at the school this week and 3 of the 10 girls didn't show up, probably in the play. 

FWIW, the team that was due to play last night was talked about as being "really good".  So I think it was miscommunication.  But I also think that the coaches should share each other's cell phone numbers, not just email addresses, so that when situations arise they can get in touch with each other.

Last night was registration for football.  Bobby will be playing for a school program for the first time (program starts in 6th grade).  During registration, the mom of one of his basketball teammates asked how we worked the practice schedule around PSR classes (PSR stands for public school religion--it's for the Catholic kids who attend public school).  She seems a bit appalled when I told her that Bobby simply skipped PSR until football season was over.

We don't normally run into a lot of issues in the spring, because baseball is on Saturday and lacrosse is on Sunday, but a couple of days of rain can create some chaos with makeups. Last year, Zach was on a lacrosse team with about a half-dozen kids who happened to play on the same baseball team. There was a lax game at 2 p.m. in a town about a half-hour north of here, and those kids who are all on the same baseball team had a makeup baseball game at 4 p.m.
A youth lax game takes about 90 minutes of real time, so as soon as the final whistle blew, it looked like a jailbreak. The kids who had to play baseball and their parents sprinted to parking lot. About 30 seconds later, the exit from the parking lot to the main road looked like the end of pit road as soon as the green flag comes out at Talladega.

forsberg_us wrote:

Max wrote:

Jesus ain't goin' anywhere.  He'll be back in PSR after football.  She has no grounds for complaints.

(cry) Max agrees with me. (cry)

(sorry Max, we don't have an emoticon for happy tears)

Oh c'mon.  The only one on this board who I disagree with as a matter of principle is TK . . . or so I am told.

Last edited by Max (3/03/2011 8:11 pm)

artie_fufkin wrote:

I'm going to have a drink. Maybe two.

i was just about to head out to that store that sells the 750 mL single serving bottles of red wine (good for the heart, you know).

Max wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

I'm going to have a drink. Maybe two.

i was just about to head out to that store that sells the 750 mL single serving bottles of red wine (good for the heart, you know).

Turned out to be five. One of the good things about being a kid is you get over things quickly. The last thing Zach said to me before he went to bed tonight was "Lacrosse starts Sunday. I can't wait ..."

750 mL merlot, $3.99

ah . .  .

artie_fufkin wrote:

Max wrote:

Good point.  It's probably a gender thing.

Another thing I have noticed the girls do, is when they run their relays, if a girl is having trouble making her layup, the girls on BOTH squads start cheering for the struggling girl by name.

Whereas when I let my boys play knockout, the kid under the hoop will use his ball to knock the rebound away from the kid at the free throw line.

When we played Knockout in high school, I'd grab someone's ball and toss it to the other end of the court. That was always a lot of fun.