The red cloak of guardianship

I felt like a cheerleader today. High fives all around.

Soccer season started today for my daughter's soccer team. As we come out of our collective "winter" slumber, the lethargic commencement of the Takoma Park youth soccer league overcomes its bloated inertia and begins the 2 month spring season, only to meld into late spring/early summer as many of the same kids hit the baseball diamonds of TPSS Babe Ruth Baseball.

No one consulted my daughter's schedule. What nerve.

She had a birthday party to attend, see. Nothing stands in the way of one of her best friend's 10th birthday celebration. As the coach of this team, the famous and vaunted Blue Bombers (sky blue, actually), I dutifully met my charges at the field, and despite their rustiness they were able to gracefully lose 1 nil due to a flukey goal by the opposing squad early in the first half.

Guarding the goal, as viewed by ten year olds, is not a glamorous position. As their skills develop, however, a good stopper is as valuable as gold. Rather than forcing kids to play a position they don't want, I usually let them pick their positions based on natural talent and go with the flow. We discovered that one of our strikers was quick as a cat, and he has enjoyed spending half the game in goal.

So as to maintain variety, as goaltending can be boring, I rotate 2 keepers a game. Because today's game was sparsely attended (it WAS the first game), I forced my most winded player to play goalie in the second half, since we had no subs. Not only is Ike one of the faster kids, he happens to be an incredible rhetorician who, in his irritating manner, needs to be told what to do lest he become the next dictator of Pinecrest Elementary School.

Anyway, he began constructing elaborate arguments against guarding the pipes, even claiming that he wouldn't play. I had to resort to the standard hyberbolic devices to convince, nay REQUIRE that he play the position for the good of the team. As a good kid with conscience, he relented when I presented him with the Red Cloak of Guardianship, which was the red t-shirt that my goalies wear to differentiate themselves from their teammates as is customary in the Beautiful Game. I think that finally convinced him.

He played a stellar game, and even though he denied it at the end, I can tell that he secretly enjoyed it. I foresee continuous negotiations with him as I have the past 4 seasons. I also foresee him negotiating (often successfully) as he makes his way through life. The team played well, and they were tired. High fives all around.

So after a successful (though not in the win/loss column) soccer game, I went to College Park to cheer my teammates in the other Beautiful Game race through a technical course at the University of Maryland's annual President's Cup Race. I raced here two years ago and was way out of my league, and even with my best training to date I don't think I would have done much better today. It was a good day for the Bicycle Place as my friend Ray won his race. I've been rooting for him to do well--he's been training hard all winter and it's paying off. I posted to our listserve thusly:

Ray held off almost the entire Rte1 Velo Cat 4 team (those that were left) to win the President's Cup Cat 4 race today. In a sea of red, he rode smartly and eked out the sprint win to start out the season on a high note. James was there too but didn't have the legs today, but as we have seen before, there will be many days when that will not be the case.

Miguel and I were there to see it. Congrats all around.

John(ny)

The congratulation emails to him are flowing.

I hung with Miguel and saw my friend Steve as he was prepping for his race. I met Mr. GamJams in the flesh and we had a nice time chatting. It was a mellow scene for a crit, despite a few aggros angrily stalking around complaining about how poorly their teams were riding. Chillax, dudes. It's amateur racing. High fives all around.

Got home, and saw that my son and his friend were back from the Montgomery County National History Day Competition, in which their project competed against 21 other projects from other schools in the County (they were selected with a few others from their own school) to move on to the State competition. They both had medals. Holy Cow. We're going to Baltimore! If they win the state competition they go to Nationals! And the National History Day National Finals happen to be in College Park this year.

HIGH FIVES ALL AROUND.