Class of 2021 - Centennial Champaign Boys Soccer

Normally played in the fall, high school boys soccer, like all fall sports in Illinois, got pushed out due to pandemic. Practice starts this week and I had the pleasure of photographing the senior members of our local team. The Soccer Boosters feature the seniors at home games with poster sized marquees. Most seniors have played all four years so it’s a nice way of acknowledging their hard work through the years. And here are the Class of 2021 Varsity Boys Soccer team members.

 

 
Henry - the son of my good friend, Jill. Jill asked me to take the photos.

 

 
Keeper Tyson shows off his cat-like reflexes:

 

 

 
Emphraim was featured in the local paper today

 

 

 

 
Jeremiah:

 

 

 
Noah:

 

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To the Class of 2020 - Luke

I'm continuing my Class of 2020 recognition. This week is Luke, the son of a good running friend. Luke loves soccer and plans to attend Eastern Illinois University in the fall. Luke's family lives across the street from a beautiful forest preserve that I like to explore by running or hiking. Luke's mother, Michele introduced me to the trails out there and through our weekly summer runs, I no longer get lost in the woods. These photos were taken in the forest preserve.







These soccer photos were taken at the local pitch.




Congratulations to you, Luke!

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Hello Monday | End of Spring Sports Season

A Mosaic Featuring the Senior Soccer Players

Hello Senior Soccer Players | I've trying to get a group photo of these young ladies - this afternoon is my last chance as the photo is needed for Senior Night on Wednesday.

Hello Last Soccer Game | It feels like the season just started! The JV team's last game is on Wednesday.

Hello Iron Man 3D at the new IMAX theatre | the inaugural show for the first IMAX theatre in town. There are only two multiplexes in our little college town. Both have been renovating / constructing IMAX screens, but the theatre on the north side of town decided to handle their renovation by completely demolishing their existing building and has been closed since March. That leaves one movie theatre in town, one new IMAX debuting the Iron Man 3 movie. Can you say massive crowds? We are hoping to avoid the crowds by going on Thursday....

Hello Pool | I've decided to take a week off from running - my right ankle hurts and probably needs some time to heal. I'm going to swim instead.

Hello Girls Only Weekend | The Boys of the house are going to St. Louis this weekend - they are going to see the Cardinals play the Rockies. Who knows what we'll do.... pedicures? Shopping? Catching up on Downton Abby? Whatever it is, I'm sure we won't be watching ESPN.

hello monday | looking forward to what the week has in store for us.

Inspired by my friend, Lee at Embrace Life, Hello Monday provides a peek into the coming week - in all its glory. Join us and Lisa for the Hello Monday fun

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Soccer Days

After a slow start, spring soccer season kicked into high gear last week with three games and (unfortunately) three losses.

Our girls don't let those losses bring them down, though. They head back to practice, working harder than ever.


From Saturday's game - the wind was blowing hard from the south. It was exhausting just to watch the game and I know it was harder to play, especially into the wind.

This attempt at goal didn't make it in, unfortunately.


I've been using my new 70-200mm f/4 lens and I've been very pleased by the number of "keepers". My camera also has a User Defined mode and I've configured it with the following settings: Continuous Auto focus with 3-D tracking, Auto ISO with a minimum shutter speed of 1/500 seconds (to freeze the action), center weighted exposure metering and an aperture of f/4. So I switch the dial over to the User Defined Mode and I'm all set to capture the action on the pitch - no fumbling with menus or dials.



There's another game tonight - here's to hoping they end their losing streak.

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Hello Monday | Snowmageddon

Winter Can't Seem to Let Go

hello snow, snow and more snow | over eight inches as of Sunday at 9pm and the snow is expected to continue until early Monday.

hello snow day | the first snow day of the year extends the kids' spring break an extra day. I guess I'm not ready for the morning chaos to start again, because I'm kind of glad.

hello ankle sprain | my daughter sprained her ankle during the opening soccer game on Saturday. I've learned that an ankle sprain is an injury to the ligaments around the ankle and if things don't improve, we'll need to see an athletic trainer for further action. Another reason why school being cancelled tomorrow is a good thing - it's another day she can keep off her ankle.

hello new bible study | I fell behind in the last one, and I am committed to keeping up for the next eight weeks.

hello soccer photos | I've made a start to Saturday's collection, but need to stay on top of things.

hello good friday | I need to reflect more on the significance of this day.

hello easter sunday | celebrating the resurrection - awesomeness all around.

hello monday | looking forward to what the week has in store for us.

Edited to add - snowfall totals for our area - just at a foot of snow. And here's a photo of our snowy house this morning.


Inspired by my friend, Lee at Embrace Life, Hello Monday provides a peek into the coming week - in all its glory. Join us and Lisa for the Hello Monday fun

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P365+1 Week 14 - Soccer and Horses

I didn't mean to, but I took a lot of soccer and horse photos this week.

Saturday - Home soccer game and it was our turn to work the concession stand. You can watch the game even while on duty.


Scott and I also attended a co-worker's wedding that evening and we had a very nice time. Erica attended the Switch Up dance with friends. So it was another busy Saturday.

Sunday - We moved Caesar and Cody to a new stable. This is just before we loaded them up into the trailer.

I posted more photos at this blog post.

Monday - After soccer practice and a quick dinner, Erica and I headed out to the new stable. She wanted to make sure Caesar was doing OK. She walked him around the grounds and all the riding arena areas. This is necessary before riding to ensure the horse is comfortable with all the new sights and smells.




Tuesday - I had some extra time before my violin lesson and drove to a nearby forest preserve. These umbrella like ground covers are called may apples.

What else happened on Tuesday? I had PT and the kids both had soccer and baseball practices.

Wednesday - I'm wearing some new shoes.

With my knee injury, I can't wear my preferred 2-3" heels (I'm short, so I like a bit of heel). I'm tired of wearing my slip on clogs that look like slippers, so I purchased some "sensible shoes with good arch support" (this is another sign that I'm getting old). Even though they are more "sensible" than "edgy", I think they go well with the new work trousers I purchased. Yes, they are comfy too.

Thursday - Another Soccer picture - the home team shows their appreciation:

At the end of each game, after the teams have congratulated each other with the "good game" line up ritual, the girls cross over the field to greet the spectators. This allows the spectators to voice their encouragement and allows the team to acknowledge the fans in the stands who are cheering them on. I think it's a nice end of game ritual.

Friday - It's Good Friday and we have the day off. I went to PT in the morning, then hit the Asian and Meat markets in preparation for Easter dinner. We ate lunch at KoFusion, a local sushi restaurant, and enjoyed their wonderful lunch buffet. Later in the afternoon, Erica and I went to see Caesar. This time, Erica rode him.

Can't you tell it was a great day? The weather has been perfect, although we do need some rain.

And another week has passed. I hope yours was as nice as ours was.

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Start of Soccer Season

Saturday marked the official start of the soccer season for Erica and her high school team. I've learned that high school sports are quite intense - two hour practices each day after school and on Saturdays. She even had practice each day during Spring Break. [Imagine if students spent a minimum of two hours every day on homework - they would complain incessantly, but somehow it's OK with sports? While I do recognize the importance of physical fitness and the benefits of playing on a team, I wish this country would emphasize science and technology as much as they emphasize sports. But I digress]

In middle school, she played locally with the Park District and the games were always local. But in high school, many of the match ups are far away - we drove an hour to the inaugural JV tournament, through miles of prairie, to a town I had never been to before. I expect we'll broaden our horizons over the next several months.

The girls played three games, all back to back. By the third game, even I was feeling exhausted just by watching. They were clearly tired by that game.

A small smattering of photos I took:








Out of the three games, they tied one, won one and lost one (they lost the third game to a team with twice as many players and fresh legs). We think it was a successful day!

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Final Soccer Games

Two soccer games this week - Tuesday night, in the blistering heat and today, in the cold and misty drizzle. [As a runner, I prefer the cooler temperatures. Add in some cooling drizzle and it's ideal for a great run. Erica agreed that she enjoyed playing today's game more than Tuesday night's.]

The green team won both games, ending a no-goal drought that plagued them the previous two weeks.

Even though in this shot, Erica wasn't able to capitalize on the goal opportunity.


That was Tuesday's game - no scores for Erica. However, she did score today [insert proud mom smile].

Today's game marked the official end of the season. There will be a couple scrimmages and an end of the season celebration, but this may have been the last time for this group of girls to play as a team. Next year, the 8th graders separate to different high schools and may face each other as the opposition. I hope they take with them the spirit of sportsmanship that their coach has modeled throughout their tenure with Team Arsenal.

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A Tie

The last two soccer games were played in the sun and wind.

Wind so strong, when the ball was kicked high in the air, the wind carried it back.

The girls' team played with the wind during the first half. If they didn't capitalize and score, we knew at best, they would end up with a tie.

Two windy games, two ties.

At least they didn't lose.



She loves to play, and works hard. I love that her ponytail is flying behind her. She's looking down field to see who is available to pass to. Her coach would praise her for that.

Have you ever noticed - there's always a dog at the game.
Here doggie, doggie:


Now I'm going to have to search for them and take their picture. That will give me something else to do during the game! Of course, I do watch the action on the field, but sometimes you want a break from it all.....

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A Win in the Wind and Rain

There's at least one game each soccer season that takes place under less than ideal conditions. Last October, it was the game where the girls played in the cold and wind.

I hope today was the inclement weather game for this spring. Not only did we have cold and wind, but rain, too. Driving to the field at 8:00 this morning, with the rain pelting the car, I just "knew" we would arrive to find the games cancelled. Nope - Game On!

One small problem - our team was short players. Not an unusual problem, as our opponent was short, too. I guess many of the players decided to stay at home because the weather was so bad . Really, the prospect of running around in the cold, wind and rain at 8 am on a Saturday is not very appealing to anyone, especially the teenage female set. I admit that if I wasn't at this game, I wouldn't be out taking my normal Saturday run.

So we played the game with 8 players per team, short 3 players. The lack of players meant Erica played forward for the entire game - a great opportunity for her. She ended up scoring during the first half - her first goal of the season. We were so excited for her.

The team was down 2-1 at the half, and in the second half, they managed to score twice to win the game. Their team is used to leading the entire game, so coming from behind to win is a bit of a mental accomplishment.





Coming off the field with the win:

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The Loss

“That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning.”
-- Richard Bach

My daughter started playing soccer in the Fall of 2009, on a 6th-8th grade team. In the league, they maintain the teams with the coaches, so she's basically had the same teammates and coach for the past two years. And in the 20 or so games played, her team has never lost a game. Until today.

It was the first game of the spring season, and maybe the girls were just a little rusty. They looked a little lethargic during the first 5 minutes of the game, and suffered a penalty that resulted in the other team scoring early.

I know they will recover and go on to win future games. After all, winning isn't everything, and what you take away from the loss is what's important.

Some of my favorite shots from the game:


In the picture below, #12 had just scored the team's only goal, right before end of the first half.


For my daughter, it's all about the socks! She collects them (or rather, she picks them out and I pay for them).


One of Erica's attempts on goal:


Next week's game starts really early and I hope the girls rest up for a return to the winner's circle.

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301/365 - The Last Soccer Game

Erica's soccer team played their last game of the fall season. Erica had a shot on goal, but it was a little off to the left. The team won again in windy conditions.



Erica playing left wing, running into some opposition from the other team.

The girls will start back up in the Spring and hopefully continue their success.

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287/365 - Kicked In

Soccer bright and early today - an 8:30 game! Fortunately, the sun was shining and the winds weren't blowing like their last 8:30 game.



And another win for the green team!

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278/365 - Thursday Night Soccer

A special Thursday edition of soccer. A perfect evening to watch the Green Team play the Red Team. It's like Christmas on the field.

The coaches confer with the girls before the game. What perfect lighting for today's pictures.



I'm taking photos for the entire team and trying to focus less on Erica, like this photo of the goalie kicking away the ball.


And like week 1, the green team won over the red team, 3-0.

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273/365 - Rain, Wind, Soccer and a Rainbow

The day started with rain and wind, then just wind, then some sun and wind and finally clouds and wind.



The wind made today's soccer game very chilly and challenging for the girls, but they still managed a 4-1 win.


This is my official P365 picture - I love the group cheer just before the 2nd half.

A big surprise towards the end of the day - a rainbow! With the wind blowing the clouds around, it only lasted about 10 minutes.


Did I mention it was windy today? Oh yeah, that's standard for around here.....

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Day 266 - Soccer, More Legos and Fall Festival Recap

It's Saturday, which means soccer. This morning's game was scheduled for 8:30, so I didn't get my long run in this morning. The weather was perfect - a crisp 50 degF and sunny.

I positioned myself along the Teams' side of the field, which is the east side. So much better for taking pictures of the action.


The green team won again, 4-0. Erica had a couple of opportunities to score on goal, but it didn't happen - she played the wing position towards the end of the game.

After the game, Brian set out to complete the Medieval Market Hotel. Once he finished, he set up market square scene and we took a picture of it. Oh, I stand corrected - Brian took the picture. We set the camera on the tripod and he clicked the remote control.


Last night, Brian's school held its Fall Festival Fundraiser. Games, dunk booth, inflatables, silent auction, raffles and lots of goodies. Erica served as a Middle School National Honor Society volunteer all night, working several of the games, and the Face Painting Area.

And she coerced Brian into her Face Painting area so she could paint a skull on his cheek. I was amazed by their cooperation!

And the finished product -

It was a great event and lots of fun!

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