Tryouts and Stuff

(Sorry CB, lots of text and no pictures this time, more pictures later, I promise)
Well, DS#2 is going through his first tryouts to make a competitive team for next year. Monday night he played very well and looked very, very good. There were a lot of boys there with very high skill levels, but he was playing at least even with most of them and had a very good night. What was most important to me was the fact that he "had a blast" at tryouts that night. At the end of those tryouts I was pretty certain he was going to be on the "B" team with a slight chance at the "A" team.

I was a little surprised by the skill level presented by some of the boys at the tryouts. There were a number of boys who "played up" last year that had to tryout again at this level. The club allows a boy to "play up" one year at the U11 (under 11) level of play, but they have to stay U11 the next year.

Last night was a bit different, DS#2 looked pretty sluggish most of the time, with some bursts of energy here and there. Unfortunately, he was grouped with kids that were not some of the best players so he wasn't really pushing himself the way he would against better players. He said he still had a blast last night so that was good. All the same, my assessment now is that he is down to the "C" team or possibly even the "D" team--there are enough boys at tryouts to make 4 teams. Realistically, I would say DS#2 plays at the "Super II" level but I don't know what team or division he'll play with.

The good thing so far is that he is still having fun and, possibly more important, the better boys in his group last night included two of his former teammates that he likes and gets along with. It is hard to know what to say to DS#2 sometimes. I always try to stay positive or say nothing. I encouraged him to play hard no matter what group he is with, etc. We'll see how tonight goes. I know he wants to make the top level team but I think that is pretty unlikely at this point. I am sure he CAN play at the level of the "B" team but I don't know what the coaches will decide. While he has the ability, he often isn't aggressive enough on the ball which is definitely one of the things the coaches look at.

In other news ...
DS#1 had an induction ceremony into the Junior National Honor Society. I missed it due to the tryouts. I felt that missing the tryouts would have really hurt DS#2's confidence and I know that DS#1 understands this. I guess my lovely wife saw the girl that takes up a majority of DS#1's text messages --I had to up his plan recently, he now has to pay $10 a month for his extra messaging. She said that DS#1 has "good taste" so I guess she is a good looking girl. Being the vice president of the JNHS chapter at the school probably didn't hurt my wife's opinion either.

DS#1's soccer season is now officially over. The Western District called off his game in Austin this weekend. It wouldn't have changed the standings and I am under the impression they couldn't find a field/time acceptable to everyone. This is probably due to all of the other make-up games being scheduled. He now has three practices left before his tryouts in two weeks.

In still more news ...
DD has a National Piano Guild audition tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. I will actually have to pull her out of school early for it.

Okay, I have to go now, DS#3 desperately wants apple sauce and his actually saying please --okay, now he is just fussing...