Saturday, October 31, 2015

Running and Kicking and....Resting!

The big story this week for Team WestEnders centered around at least some of the Fall sports wrapping up for the season.

The Chapel Hill High School JV soccer squad suffered a bit of a disappointing end to their campaign, thanks to the vagaries of Autumn weather. Their final game was supposed to be Wednesday, a hotly-contested rematch against a local rival, but due to a couple of days of persistent downpours, it was unceremoniously canceled. This late in the year, with playoffs poised to begin, there was no time for a make-up, so they opted just to have a couple more "fun practices" until Friday, then let that be the end of it. However, the rainout doesn't affect the fact that the team finished their schedule with an impressive record of 15-1-1. Even more astonishing, though, is the goal differential they racked up: they scored 64, while allowing...8. Now they can relax and cheer on the Varsity boys, who are headed back to the playoffs. Go, Tigers!

Of course, Derek actually has only a few weeks off until his club team will begin practicing...and the whole hamster wheel of shuttling him all over the place 2 or 3 evenings a week commences yet again. (Siiiigh...) But apparently, that's too long of a break for the crazy teenager, who said at dinner the other night, "Jeez, I don't want to go a month without playing soccer!" So Husband suggested that he come practice with the adult group that he himself plays with in the recreational league. Sounds like a terrific solution, right? Yeeeeeah....except that Husband recently came home after a workout session with painfully bruised ribs, presumably from some....over-enthusiastic opponent? Maybe Derek is young enough to, I don't know...outrun anyone who tries to elbow him? Here's hoping...

Meanwhile, Riley still has several weeks (and one tournament) to kick it around with his soccer buddies. But the Middle School cross-country season concluded today, with the County Meet, featuring his own team and the other 6 schools they ran against during the regular season. The way it works is: the top 7 runners from each school compete in separate Boys' and Girls' Championship Races. Well, guess where Riley ended up in the standings this year? Dah dah dah dah...8th. (Ooh, soooo close...)

But no worries, that just meant he ran in the Open Competition instead. Now, his coach (who is fabulous and we adore her) had kind of built up some...expectations...before the meet....by telling him he had a chance to win the darn thing. Gulp. I cringed when I heard that, because I couldn't stand the thought of him being crushed if he didn't have a great race for any reason. (Naturally, I seemed to be the only one concerned. He's my baaaaby, what can I say?)

Aaaannnnd....he ended up coming in 13th, overall. But it turned out that the more important thing to note was that he was the first runner from his school to cross the Finish Line. And he just so happened to PR by 5 seconds as well, which pleased him immensely. It took me a while to process it, but what that means is, remember those 7 fastest teammates? They're all 8th graders, moving on to join (and strengthen, no doubt!) the high school crew next year. So Riley just might be poised to lead his little pack of 7th graders into the front of the line. Like I told him afterwards, "You've gotta have goals, right?"

So, that's the last major update for the Fall Sports Report. Now...is it time for the highly-anticipated, well-deserved Lounge on the Sofa with the DVR and Hot Chocolate Season? Yessssss!!!!!

No comments: