Some Catch-Up

Both Madeline & Meredith made the Dean's list last semester, during their soccer season which made Debra and I very proud.  I know it is more difficult in season to get good grades with the daily practices and travel for games and they had to really work hard to accomplish that. 

Madeline's team received a couple of post season honors that are notable.  One being The NSCAA Ethics Award and the other for Iowa Central to be named to the Academic All- Region Team. 

Meredith has made a move on campus and is now in the Honors Dorm and has a very nice spacious room (almost bigger than our first apartment).  She has 3 other suite mates, 2 which play soccer. 

Both girls are busy with their off season workouts with conditioning, speed and agility, weights and Futsal.  Each occurs at a different day and time and it is difficult to keep straight along with their academic schedule.  They both have clinical times, Madeline's is usually on Thursday and Friday's and sometimes on the weekend and is a 8 hour shift each day.  Meredith's clinical assignment is with Women's Varsity Basketball, and she attends practices and games as scheduled.

Both are also in a work study program and may work other college athletic events throughout the season.  They work directly under the Athletic Director or Assistant who schedules them and works around their school schedule. 

This weekend Debra and I are going to Columbia, MO to watch Meredith participate in a "Polar Plunge" for the Special Olympics.  This will be the third year that she has plunged.

Just around the Corner

Today may be the day that my soccer field shows itself after being under its blanket of snow most of the winter.  Currently it is about 46 degrees and may make it to 50 this afternoon and is forecasted to be in the mid 60's by Thursday.    I have a lot of spring maintenance work to do on the field and hope to get started on some of it this week.

I missed the weather window of opportunity last fall to over seed, so that has to be done early this spring, along with aerating and fertilization.  I need to remove the nets and repaint the goals and will have to remark and paint the lines on the field.  I plan to replace the corner flags and possibly the goal nets.

I also will need to make arrangements for some referees, extra parking, and portable toilets because in about two months (April 16) I have scheduled a scrimmage between Madeline's team, Iowa Central and Meredith's team, Central Methodist University.  Both coaches were glad to get a spring scrimmage against a team they had not played before and this worked out well for both.

I have also invited officials from North Central Missouri College in Trenton to come and watch.  I have planted a seed there in hope that they might start a soccer program.  Just as the local high school program has enhanced the recreational program,  a college soccer program at NCMC could really help  the CHS soccer program and could possibly kick start other high school programs in the area.

Debra and I will be hosting a post game meal for both teams, their coaches, and any parents who have traveled to watch the game. Central Methodist is only about 2 hours from Chillicothe and will be arriving Saturday morning and returning to Fayette after the game.  Iowa Central will also be arriving on Saturday morning but will be spending the night and has scheduled a scrimmage with Graceland University on Sunday on their way back to Ft. Dodge.

The game time is scheduled for 1:00 and we hope to have a large crowd here to see a good college match.  I have contacted the local high school coach and the CHS girls team will participate in some form, perhaps with a practice or just to watch to see what soccer is like at the next level.

I plan to have several press releases in local media and to invite everyone out to watch the match.  I know my excitement is building and will have to work like crazy to get everything done.  I will post again tomorrow to bring everyone up to date with Madeline and Meredith's soccer programs.

A Christmas Wish

What any soccer fan would want for Christmas.

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

    The quote by Winston Churchill seems appropriate for today's blog.  Meredith's last game for the season was Wednesday afternoon and it ended with a 1-1 tie after double overtime.  Here is the recap and the box score of that game.  It has been a season of ups and downs with more downs than ups.  This team never did reach it's potential considering the talent that was on the roster.  It seemed to me that the coaching staff and the team were satisfied with mediocrity in their performance and nothing was done to change that.  The most used phrase in sports "There's always next year" is appropriate to close the CMU season.  Hopefully there will be a lot of off season work on skills and attitudes with both the coaches and players.  Time will tell.

      Iowa Central's season ended last Saturday and although it was with a loss, it still ended on a high note with one of the best games that I had watched them play.  The post season all region awards were posted yesterday and can be viewed here.  I am certain that the players will be working on their game in the off season and the coaches will be out recruiting new players to replace the graduating sophomores so that Iowa Central can make a run for the top spot next season.
     I may periodically post to this blog to keep everyone up to date with everyone's activities but will not maintain any sort of regular schedule of posting.   I certainly have enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you and I think that it may have been the therapy that I needed to transition from coach to spectator with the girls.

It is Almost Over for This Season

   The official recap has been posted on Iowa Central's site about their final match in Des Moines last weekend.  You can read the pain between the lines as the coach wrote the article.  I filmed the game and have watched it to compile stats.  Iowa Central in the first half had 13 shots with 6 on frame to DCTC's 5 shots with 3 on frame.  The second half IC had 9 shots with 4 on frame to DCTC's 7 shots with 3 on frame.  What the stats don't show is that Iowa Central bounced 4 of those shots off the woodwork.  I had hoped to put a clip of the game in this article but the quality of the film does not allow this.  I had zoomed out so that I could catch more of the action around the ball and the bright sunshine made the picture very dark.   Here is the Recap.

    Meredith's last game of the season is today against Culver-Stockton in Canton, MO.  It has a very early start time because they do not have lights on the field so Debra and I have decided not to go.  Meredith is traveling with the team but may not play.  This is one game that may be possible for CMU to win but they will have to step their game up a couple of notches to do so.   Here is the statistical match-up from DakStats.