Knox Catholic wins TN State Soccer Championship A/AA

Knox Catholic won the Tennessee State Championship for soccer, beating CAK (5 time state champs) 3-0. Good coverage for the game at the following links:

WBIR Coverage.

Knoxnews.com article.

WVLT TV Sports Extra.

Knox Catholic heading to the State Soccer Playoffs

Knox Catholic is heading for the state soccer playoffs this week. Games Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday (as long as they keep winning). I believe that the most serious competition will be CAK out of the loser's bracket. We have to see about another split soccer weekend this weekend!

Good luck Catholic!

I love rain in the spring

I love the rain in the spring; it means that soccer and baseball are canceled for tomorrow. Sorry to be so happy when sports are canceled, but this will make two saturdays, back to back. It has been months since both my wife and I and all the kids are in town. Last weekend, we built one full rock wall for our landscaping and improved a second one. (pictures hopefully coming tomorrow). Same for this weekend. Only one activity, the district pinewood derby for Charlie!

The wall built (part of 3 tons of stone). The wall improved.

Catholic Soccer 1-0 win over Bearden

Just home from a great soccer game. Crisp spring evening. Knoxville Catholic v. Bearden. Both regional and state power teams. Well played by both teams, and physical. The field was miserable, though, after a long tough weekend of soccer in the Bearden Invitational.

Catholic scored in the 57th minute. Kosta Nassios passed ahead to Tyler Gibson. Gibson laid a perfect inside pass to Ricardo Martinez, who finished very strong in the back net. Both teams had opportunities to score. Catholic built more plays forward, but Bearden's strong and accurate North-South passing worked well to give them opportunities. A very close match and well played and well refereed.

The game was marked by the return of Joey Delarosa, goalkeeper for Catholic, who played very well, though not 100% back.

Life of a goal-keeper parent

The life of a parent of a goal-keeper is too stressful for me to keep up with. My son, Marty, got the nod for starting keeper for our team (Knoxville Catholic) in the local Bearden tournament this weekend, when our starting keeper was sidelined with a foot injury. While I am proud of my son's ability, but would like to have warning next time.

My wife texted me during the first game of the tournament and indicated that our son had started. I immediately blew out of work with a short word with my boss. After three games this weekend, I now have no fingernails left.

One of the other parents summed it up best with "Marty played well. No mistakes." The goal-keeper position is one of the positions where every mistake is clearly visible and usually results in very bad for the team. I need to check into fingernail implants, I guess....... Prayers to our starting keeper for a swift recovery.

Dallas Cup 2008 - Wrapup

Day four and five finally led to the recover of soccer. Novo Brazil lost to Guadalajara 0-3 in a good game, but the fast and slicing Mexican team had a good crossing game. On Day five, Novo Brazil won against FC Milwaukee 1-0, as the Texas wind returned to influence the game. Time to return to Memphis for Easter. A good week in Dallas for Novo Brazil. Two good games played and improved overall.

Dallas Cup 2008 - Day Three Update

The rain is coming down in buckets, as they say in Texas. Games and activities for today are canceled. More details to follow. Practice and the Mavericks game tonight.

Dallas Cup 2008 - Day One Update

Novo Brazil is in the Dallas Cup 2008 in the U14 bracket. We arrived in Dallas, TX today, after a two day transit via Jackson and Memphis with family visits. The drive from Knoxville to Jackson, then Memphis was full of rain. The drive from Memphis to Dallas was flat. Dallas Cup is one of the premier tournaments in the country and the team is happy to be here twice in the last three years. We have a tough pool play, with games against Texas Longhorns, FC Milwaukee, and CD Guadalajara. Early evaluation of the Longhorns team are that we can be competitive, but will have to play very well to win.

Day One was interesting. There were two supergroup games and the Opening Ceremonies for the teams playing in the tournament. Supergroup game 1 had San Paulo v Andromeda, TX, with Andromeda winning handily 5-2. Supergroup game 2 pitted Liverpool v Bosnia. Liverpool dominated with a 6-1 win. The opening ceremonies were also very interesting, with all the teams congregating on the Main Pizza Hut Stadium field, for a meet and greet.

More photos at flickr.

The Soccer Season, Anew

Time for another soccer season to begin. I was quickly reminded this past weekend of how quickly we forget the skills required to survive in the travel soccer quagmire. The rules and checklists are:

1. Plan most Friday nights for driving
2. Pack your cooler and groceries with beer (first and foremost), bagels, bananas, ham and cheese, snacks, gatorade
3. Always check voicemail, then check it again 10 minutes later for updates
4. Pray for rain, so you do not have to play the 7 am game.
5. Check into the hotel and pray more for something other than the Bates Motel
6. Check voicemail again
7. Pry your child out of bed
8. Show up for the game, on-time (bring a book, you are one hour early)
9. Cheer (positive only for the kids, no coaching from the sidelines)
10. Lunch at an acceptable deli sandwich place
11. Show up for the game, on-time (book or paper, again)
12. Cheer
13. Dinner at an acceptable restaurant (no fried foods)
14. Repeat once (miss church most times)
15. Drive home

Here we go again. Hope to see my wife in 7 or 8 weekends.

Marty makes Varsity Soccer Team

Good news for Marty. He made the varsity soccer team as a sophomore. His position is backup keeper. The current keeper is a Senior.

This was an interesting choice for him. He could play junior varsity and start or play varsity and ride the pine for the season. In the end, he chose to get the exposure to the higher level of play available at the varsity level (at least in practice). It is much better to be the small fish in the big pond.......

I am having interesting emotions as a parent. We have always supported our children and left the decisions like this to them. I am proud that he made the right choice. I am also happy that he has made the varsity, even though I would be perfectly happy supporting him in JV. We will see if there are opportunities for him to play.

Added material - Interesting Ritual for Knox Catholic Soccer. New members get their hair cut in weird ways, then have one day of practice and then buzzed. Marty looks really weird now.....

Soccer at Disney

Help!

We are stuck at Disney, with five children, for Thanksgiving. Thanks for Nickelodeon and ESPN.

At least the Thanksgiving Dinner was better then last year. Last year, at Disney, we had TGI Friday's for Dinner. No offense to the chain, but it sucked to have Thanksgiving there. This year, we at least had dinner with my parents, at a nice seafood place.

I at least understand the attractiveness of Florida. Most of our past visits were made in the Summer. Fun at the beach but very hot (July). Our trip was heaven. 65 degrees, ocean breeze, good books, sunny, Grandma with the kids.