More Soccer, Less Blogging

So yesterday I drove up to Murrieta to attend day one of my daughter's end-of-year soccer tournament. There, I learned two crucial facts.

First, girls will only play for their coach. Ours was at a different tournament near the Mexican border with his other team. His dual commitments placed our team in the hands of our soccer club's very capable head coach, but he wasn't the one the girls had played for all year and the connection just wasn't there.

Second, the middle of our defense has always been weak. They're uncertain when they play and neither of them have big legs - that is, even if they get a clear shot, they can't boom it out of our end of the field. As often as not, they misfire and the ball goes out of bounds for a throw-in for the other team. Without our regular coach present, one of them emotionally threw in the towel and the other isn't good enough to make up for that.

End result: two blowout losses. We haven't had a good season, but when our coach is present, we don't lose by more than one or two. The games are almost always within reach. Not so yesterday.

On a positive note, my girl hasn't had a bad game in about two months. She loves the sport, we practice together on the side (at her request!) and she's steadily gotten better and now she plays a respectable outside midfield. Lots of happiness for her and pride for me. Yay!

I've got to hop in the car and drive up there again, so the blog will lie dormant for the rest of today.