Actually the title is misleading....don't expect a 1st place from me in cross!
Starting with the latter - My daughters had a 3v3 soccer tournament on Sunday with the Hockessin Soccer Club. I was asked to coach my older daughters team and then try to watch my younger daughters games in between - so I though this would be a excellent day to leave the camera at home and just focus on watching my kids play.
Maeve (older daughter) had an unfortunate day and went 0-4 in U12. The kids played great - better than I think they had all year, the unfortunate part was they were short a player at the start (up to 6 players on a team) and a week prior to the tournament - lost another player to injury - so they would have to play with 4 players (only 1 sub) vs other teams with 2-3 subs. Big difference especially since they had back to back games twice. The one sub we did have I tried to rotate in every minute so at most they would play 3 minutes with a 1 minute rest - still they were very tied but played their hearts out! I'll take some of the blame as well as I have no experience with 3v3 play and did not really know how to coach this game - I played soccer in high school, college and many years after that, but 3v3 play is very different. We also did not have any practices prior to help the kids with 3v3. I now kind of understand the principles and keys of a 3v3 game so if I get roped into coacing again, I'll have a better understanding.
Maeve (older daughter) had an unfortunate day and went 0-4 in U12. The kids played great - better than I think they had all year, the unfortunate part was they were short a player at the start (up to 6 players on a team) and a week prior to the tournament - lost another player to injury - so they would have to play with 4 players (only 1 sub) vs other teams with 2-3 subs. Big difference especially since they had back to back games twice. The one sub we did have I tried to rotate in every minute so at most they would play 3 minutes with a 1 minute rest - still they were very tied but played their hearts out! I'll take some of the blame as well as I have no experience with 3v3 play and did not really know how to coach this game - I played soccer in high school, college and many years after that, but 3v3 play is very different. We also did not have any practices prior to help the kids with 3v3. I now kind of understand the principles and keys of a 3v3 game so if I get roped into coacing again, I'll have a better understanding.
My younger daughter had an opposite day and went undefeted in the U8 age group - I think it was 5-0. Coach was realistic advising most parents prior to the tournament that there was a team of older girls that would be near impossible to beat - they were that good. We beat then twice!! The kids played great and in the semi final game it actually ended in a shoot-out (after overtime) with Ella's team winning the shootout - off to the finals. There was an A and B group in the division which was supposed to be A=your stronger team B=...your "B" team. Rumor had it that "One" coach switch his teams putting his A team in the B division so he will make it to the finals. Ella's team put the underdog hurting on this team with a pretty decisive win - I think the final score was around 6-3.
Both kids (and us parents) were proud of how well they played. Maeve has come along way and improves each week. Smart player who understands the play of soccer and will improve each season. Ella is fearless and will play against anyone, anysize. Once she learns a bot more control will develop into a strong player as well.
Both are already talking about playing indoor this winter.
GRANOGUE CYCLOCROSS
Raced on Saturday at Granogue - MAC Series race - UCI-C1 which is the best of the best in sanction cross races. Arived at the Granogue Estate at 6am to help with parking and decided to get kited up around 8:30 to get a pre ride in before the start of my 10am Master B race. Looking through the trunk I noticed I left my shoes at home, Damn! Raced home to get my shoes and was back in enough time to check out a bit of the C race and a very minimal warm-up. Got a great position in the line up - 2nd row - which is unusual for me..I tend to fnd myself lined up in the back. Course was in excellent shape and this was the first race for me with my new wheels and tubie. I picked up a set of Token C50 carbon tubluars. Wheels and Grifo tires where excellent and the traction was better than my prior setup.
Race startd with a short prolog and my strategy was to just maintain a decent position on the long road stretch and try and save something for the climb where hopefully some would be instantly blow up. Did just the same - Probably held a position during the prollog around 15th and going into the climb. Start of the 1st real lap I was struggling with dead legs - just did not have anything there and was getting passed my a number of racers. My legs would never really come around - just seemd to be sore and offering now power. I road the course technically sound without any incidents - no crashes, bobbles, miss turns, etc. 3rd lap heading down the last hill section to Fatmarcs section I had a rider try to pas me on the inside at a left hand corner - where there was no rome for him to fit. I held my position and was not going to give any ground. he still tried to squeeze thru and we ended up locking bars heading straight thru the tape. I was not backing off - so a quick and strong elbow knocked him off! Gotta LOVE Cross!
Last 2 laps I was right behind the top 10 group - I could hear Rick yelling it out thru my dazzed thoughts, but I still just did not have the legs to accelerate. just held my ground and ended up 13th out of probably 60 racers. Not that bad considering how I felt, plus I know my riding time is getting less and less (I'm at about 3 maybe 4 hours a week including race time now). Fitness is dwlindling, but the fun level is still p there.Complete race photos for Granogue can be found here:
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