Dillon's Championship Soccer Event

 Dillon't team came in first in their league.  The were offered the opportunity to be recognized at a major league indoor soccer league game.  So we bought tickets (Kayda and I) and went to watch the game.  Indoor soccer is VERY different than outdoor.  It feels a lot more like a subdued hockey game.  Carson and Daddy enjoyed watching it.  Dillon not so much.  They were supposed to be announced during half time.  Sounds really cool right?  Unfortunately the facility didn't do it well.  Their team was announced as the winners as the second team was walking on the field, which happened to be a girls team.  By the time his team walked out the announcer was done even reading the teams.  They were out there for a couple minutes as the last few teams walked out.  Then they left.  Neat to see them out on the field, disappointing that they weren't announced when they could actually be seen.  

Dillon's middle school soccer season

This year was the first year our middle school offered boys' soccer!  Dillon was really excited to play.  He very easily made varsity and we heard a lot of positive things about him when we picked him up from practices.  He was definitely a favorite. There were a lot of kids that had never played soccer or had minimal exposure, especially because it was a brand new program.  He really liked his coach (my coworker).  He did get frustrated with his inability to play the entire field.  His coach kind of restricted him.  Dillon still had his usual patience and played his hardest.  He had to miss three games because he wasn't feeling well.  Unfortunately, two of those were the last two games of the season.  We have very athletically gifted children and Dillon was definitely the best on the team.  His good friend CJ came up second.  They did a good job given such an unskilled team.  Given the time of year the weather was nasty almost every game.  

At the end of year banquet, coach had some really great things to say about Dillon. 

The coach called him the energizer bunny.  Paraphrasing here, I couldn't keep up with the speed he was talking at. 

Dillon never wanted to come off the field, even when he was hurt or sick, he wanted to keep going.   One game I had to tell him "sit down, you're sick".  I asked a lot of Dillon.  I promised him no subs.  Work as hard as you can, do what you can, stay positive.  It's hard to push yourself hard and stay positive when you're losing lots of games.  Still, he gave 120-130% all the time.  Losing that much, it's hard to stay positive and keep working hard but he did it anyway.  Great captain of the team.  

Later he was given the only "Falcon Award"

He said that Dillon exemplified hard work, dedication and character.  It didn't matter what happened he was always level headed.  I don't think anyone could ever have anything bad to say about him as a teammate. 

Dillon's 2021 soccer season

Dillon's team took FIRST place!  They worked hard with 8 returning players (of 18 one-half  were a year younger but the teams were combined.  4 of them had never played soccer before).  Many of these boys have been playing together for 4 years.  It' been really fun watching them develop.  Watching them on the full size fields was my favorite.  Soccer can look like a dance.  It has a certain gracefulness to it.  That really showed with this team on big fields.  Dillon was captain again with CJ and Zach.  Dillon is EASILY the fastest on the team.  The second Dillon started getting his offensive game going the team stepped up their game.  Of the teams that reported specific athletes' goals, Dillon was the leading scorer in the league.  Considering the goal differential, our team had considerably more goals.  It's probably safe to say he was the leading scorer period. He had at three straight games of "hat tricks" (three goals in a game).  He ended the season with 15 goals. 

Another parent told me that he was super impressed with Dillon.  He talked about how Dillon is so polite, considerate and gracious.  He makes an effort to make sure everyone is calm and enjoying the game.  At one point a kid on the opposing team had a throw in on a particularly wet day.  The ball went nowhere, it slipped right out of his hands.  Dillon was quick to tell him that the ball was really slick and it was happening to everyone.  He also had the strength of character to tell a parent to "calm down".  

If you look close at the back of the net, you can see Dillon just scored a goal.  The game was tied with about 1 minute left.  The coaches told Zach to send a high corner to the middle.  It was a perfect corner and Dillon read it perfectly and headed it in for the game winning goal.  Even the other coach was applauding the goal because of how perfect it was.  

It has been an absolute pleasure watching the way these boys have bonded.  They spent a lot of extra time together this season and it shows on the field.  They actually had a lot of "bro hugs" and pats on the back whenever the other did awesome.  Even when they didn't. 

Kayda's first high school volleyball season

Kayda started the season playing JV.  They had her playing as an outside hitter.  She played all the way around the court.  With a small school comes a relatively small program.  We had just enough girls for Varsity, JV and C team.  

This year ended up being a hot mess of injuries, particularly for Varsity.  Two girls had to take a time out for injuries shortly into the season.  They pulled Kayda up to Varsity as a defensive specialist.  She was assigned to Sam as her back court player.  She did well.  She loves the speed of the varsity games vs the JV games.  She was probably their second best defensive player.  She was playing back court full time for a few games.  Then we played the hardest team in our league (who ended up taking third in state) and the team was not doing well.  Part way through the match, Kayda's front court player landed on someone's foot after jumping for a block.  We found out later that she fractured her ankle.  Coach had Kayda play all the way around the court.  I thought it was hilarious.  Our little 5'4" girl playing varsity front court.  When she jumps she can get her fingers about an inch (2 on a good day) above the net.  After that, for whatever reason, Kayda got pulled.  From there on out she didn't get much play time on varsity.  The coach started doing some things that really confused me (and were unsuccessful).  Things like keeping some front court players on the court for the full rotation, despite the fact that they were slow and unsuccessful in the back court.  It became a very frustrating season.  I want my kid to play because I KNOW she's good.  If she wasn't going to get to play on varsity, then put her back on JV!  I don't care what team.  Just let her play!  The problem was a player is limited to how much they can play per week.  So she would get one game with JV to preserve the rest of time for Varsity, in case she was needed.

"Tiny" in the front court. 

The team went to Spokane to play.  Kayda didn't get much court time but she had a blast anyway. 

At the end of the season we ended up being a "wild card" at districts.  We won the first match.  The second was a disaster.  Kayda got in for a very brief time window.  The girls that were playing had been played almost the entire match before and played the entire match despite being visibly exhausted and quickly getting worse.  You could literally see all the energy go out of them.  Despite this, no changes were made.  Like I said, a very frustrating season to watch. Even if it's not my kid, be responsive to what is happening on the court!  Be flexible and ready to make changes as needed. 

Overall, Kayda was great and grew a lot.  She was getting better and better in the back court and has decided that's what she enjoys most.  She is really interested in the libero position.  This position is an entirely defensive position.  They play back court for two different people, though they can only serve one rotation.  This means, if used to their maximum capacity, they are actively playing all but one serving rotation the entire set.  

The booster club paid for the team to go watch a Huskies game.  The girls had a great time and it was really cool to watch that level of play in person. 

Carson's 2021 soccer season

Carson loves this game....and he's good at it.  Carson's team, once again, was flooded with newbies.  Daddy and Coach Austin are able to do a really good job of "hiding" them (as they like to call it) and coaching them up to being able to play soccer.  They are able to use the more skilled players to offset the struggling players and once again, were able to pull off third place in the league despite the overwhelming number of inexperienced players.  This was the first year EVER that their team was actually the correct age with the exception of the three the coaches chose to pull up (Carson, Ty, and Maddox).  Carson was captain with Tucker and Ty.  Carson was excellent with assists.  This team had beautiful passing skills and worked really well as a TEAM.  Coach Austin constantly said you would never see a team with more perfect crosses and corners.  They are the ONLY team that had to play all of the top teams.  Others only played at most two of them so this team's "line up" was more difficult than any of the other teams.  Carson is so fun to watch of the field!  When Carson was playing well, the team played well.  He was the biggest "motor" this year.  He took playing the entire field to a new level from attacking to goal defense.   He often was able to run back and stop goal after goal, after goal.  He had seven goals over the course of the season and over double that in assists.  

He and Tucker spent a lot of time together at their brothers' soccer games.  

Being goofy at Dillon's game.  

Kayda's Vegas Tournament

Kayda's team signed up as a "national" team which gave them the opportunity to go to Las Vegas for the national championship.  Kayda, Carson, Dad, and I flew down (Dillon went to South Dakota with Grandma and Papa G).  Grandma and Papa H actually met us there!  

She had 4 games each day between 3 and 9 Friday-Monday.  Then she went to the am wave the last day.  Her team won one set of one match ... It was rough.  However, Kayda was on the court the entire set of all but two sets (there are 2-3 sets in a match).  One of those she was put back in shortly to replace someone that was struggling. Another she was pulled out briefly.  She was quickly sent back in though because she was AMAZING.  She was everywhere she needed to be.  Passing well, serving well, hitting well.  She was the best player on the court (no this was not just our opinion).  She absolutely rocked it.  She had the 4 day clinic just before the tournament so she also had all that growth.  If we had more of her they would have won MANY more games.

We spent off time playing at the arcade, riding the rollercoaster, swimming, and trying to rest because of the late evenings and long stretches of time at the court.

Papa rode the rollercoaster with Carson and Daddy.  

Papa and Grandma got us tickets to see the blue man group.  It. Was. Amazing.   We had fun at the beginning under the blue lights, we all looked like part of the group until it started.  It was funny and loud!  There was one point Kayda and Grandma counted 35 marshmallows (only dropping one), caught in the mouth of ONE guy without obviously spitting them out.  Kayda thought maybe it was an illusion.  I personally think he swallowed some until he needed them to make "art" later.  They had a lot of really cool effects.  So glad we went!

Left to right, back: Lucy, Kaelyn, Reese, Kennedy, Emily, Kiera, Kaitlyn, Kayda

Left to right, front: Reba, Lauren, Sabrina

One of the moms has "tiny hands" she keeps in her purse, she let Carson borrow them.  It kept him very entertained.  He'd give high fives, cheer, wave, played catch with a mini-volleyball and managed to open a sucker... It was pretty entertaining to watch.

Kayda and Lauren

Daddy decided to use a buck in the slot machines... He managed to get 12 cents back... Not extra... Back.

Dinner at the Irish restaurant (do not recommend by the way).  

Side note: Vegas is NOT my bag of beans.  Smoke everywhere, casino lights, loud music and lots of people.  I kept getting lost in the casinos despite the signs (they suck) and it's just stressful watching the kids to and from the venue in that environment.   The only reason I'll go back is for kids sports or to visit Kayda's best friend that moved there... But we'd stay at their house and not go to the strip.