Monday, May 26, 2014

Count Down

No photos today, but in a week or two I will have lots to share.

One more day until Regular Grandma comes to spend two weeks with us.  Well, not with us but with Megan and Jason.

Because in 3 more days, Steve and I jet off to Alaska.  We will be meeting up with Steve's Mom, Sister and her husband and a bunch of other family members for a cruise.

Sooooooo looking forward to this.

My camera is cleaned, charged and loaded with extra memory cards.  I can't wait.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

From Soccer to Model

She is such a good sport.

I asked her to model a t-shirt that our church is selling for our Centennial Celebration.


I can't believe this kid is going to be a senior next year.

Thanks Megan for being a good sport and modeling for me.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Another Soccer Season Over

At least for now.

We headed off to Moscow ID., for Megan's last official soccer game for this season.  We are not sure where she will go with soccer after this.  I do know that she is coaching a rec. team this summer and a select team this fall.  And I know that she will not be playing her senior year on the high school team.



We expected this to happen.  Megan had a tough two years playing with the high school.  We couldn't be more proud of the way she handled the stress, pressure and disappointment.


We watched Megan's self confidence fall apart.  I have never seen her walk off the field in both games and practice in tears.  We all agree that if she wasn't good enough, she should have been told and not used to make the other goalie better.  She was never allowed to make a mistake.  If she did, her play time was taken away from her or demoted to the JV.  She has been slapped, scratched, pushed and sworn at by two fellow team mates.  The coach was aware and continued to look the other way. 


Her stress level reached an all time high and couldn't go to the team banquet because she felt physically ill.  Her coach stopped by our house and brought her the "Play to Win for Real" award.  Which is the award for the player with the best sportsmanship.  After handing it to her, told her the other goalie "earned her spot and we'll have to see if we can get you some play time, if you decide to play."  She felt punched in the stomach.


I didn't start this post just to rant.  But it does explain why it was so important for us to go out of town to play for another team.  Megan hated soccer.  Steve and I wanted to know, was it the game she hated or was it the ego of a coach that ruined the sport for her.


See that smile........she loves the sport.  I teared up when I saw her hug Mark and tell Tom that she would be back.  It made me smile when parents asked if she was coming back next year.  I laughed when one of the coaches told us that he told another team (who was asking about her) to "leave his goalie alone."  Megan is already working the coaches into playing some off season tournments.

This was not an easy season for her.  She had to rebuild her confidence and not focus on the negativity of the past.  She has never been afraid of hard work and it really showed.

It was a great season and we are glad we made the effort.


On a side note, this kid came with us to the game.  He hadn't had a chance to watch her play for about a year.  He was amazed at how Megan has developed as a player.  He was also amazed at how rough and aggressive girls soccer is.  We were so glad he came and spent the day with us.  He was even fun when we lock our keys in the car 2 hours from home. 


Saturday, May 03, 2014

A Week Off

Yep.....we have had a week off of soccer.  It's been nice.  My list of things to catch up on was long.  And still is, because I didn't do any of it. 

So, I will share a couple of pictures from a past game.

Megan has been told all of her soccer career that she is to short to be a goalie. 


Megan is behind the blond.  This girl is about 5'9.


Do you see her now?????  She was the one who stopped the goal.  Too short......I think not.