FORE !

Thursday was the date for our annual Youth Football Golf Tournament. You might remember last year my team took home the prize for highest score and last place! Last year we had a packed tournament with lots of teams. And even though we came in last place, we all had great fun.

This year, perhaps a sign of the times and the economy, there were only 8 teams. The low turnout was certainly not because of the weather. It was a delightfully cool sunny morning and just about the time it was starting to get hot, a cool front started approaching from the west and kept the skys cloudy. We finished the tournament in 4th place and 2 hours ahead of the approaching rain.

Golf wise, it was a bit frustrating, we had a bunch of real birdie opportunities but did not make any until well into the back 9. If we had, we probably could have been contenders for the top one or two spots. But, we had fun; and like they say, a bad day golfing sure beats a good day at the office.

As it so happened, the low turnout increased our chances in the raffles. My buddy James got a new Nike adjustable 5 wood, Steve got a cap and t-shirt, and I got 4 free rounds at Stoneleigh Golf Course.

I’ve never been there and can’t wait to try it out. Steve says it is a great course, loads of hills, lots of fun, has more blind shots than any course he has ever been on and requires good shot placement. Great, guess I should order that extra-large bag of bright orange golf balls early . . .













Now all I have to do is decide on when to go and who to bring along? But I have plenty of time, the certificate does not expire until December 2011.

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1 - 0

Congratulations to the Junior Falcons!

We played a good game and started the season off on the right with a win!

The video below shows three plays.

The first is one we ran A LOT! from different formations - A misdirection run right.

Then we changed it up once in a while with a sweep left.

Then we totally fake them out with the Fumblerooski. Just like we planned it ;-)

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Scrimmage Time

Yesterday we had our first county youth football scrimmage. This is opening day for the league and every team from every division gathers at one of the local high school fields and we all do a round robin style 15 minute scrimmage against each team in the division. There are also loads of goodies for sale and games for the non-football inclined who happen to get dragged along by the parental units.




In a previous post I mentioned that this 10 - 12 year old division is probably to toughest one to coach and play in. That is because there is always a handful of 12 year olds that are HUGE!

This year each team seems to have at least one kid who fits this description.

You can get a good idea of this in the following video. Here he is the fullback and clears a nice path up the middle for the running back.




We also have a play when he gets the ball (equally successful) and an option play (which I tragically did not get because I was preoccupied by our youngest one - William - who wanted to go play on the big bouncy castle instead). The option play went 1 - 2. First attempt was incomplete, the second was for a TD - the receiver was all alone down field. :-)

Sorry for the poor video quality, but I had the old crappy does not focus camera. The good one was reserved by my better half to capture pictures of the new greyhound.

Yes, we have a new foster, so if you or someone you know would like to adopt a retired racer, let us know.

Until next time...

Be Good, Do Well, Have Fun !

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It's Back !

Monday night was our first football practice for Youth Football.

This year Mark is once again playing and he moves up to the 10 - 12 year old league.

This means he is the low man on the totem pole once again regarding size and strength. So far, he does not mind. But all we did was foot work, stances and drills. No contact yet.

I always think this is the most difficult age group sports wise. It seems you get the most variation in development and so as a result you have some really big strong kids mixed in with ones who are not quite that far along.

Some county leagues have weight limits to go along with the age categories. We do not. In fact we have at least one player on our team from a neighboring county for just this reason.

Of course, some moms think this is a bad idea because then little Jr has to get tackled or try and tackle Goliath. But on the other hand, think how Goliath would feel if he was told he was too fat to play ball. Or if Goliath tried to loose 10 - 15 pounds real quick with some stupid crazy diet which is not good for kids who are still growing.

This always brings me back to the fundamentals of football and team sports. Yes competition is fun but there are right ways to tackle and get tackled and there are wrong ways. There are good concepts of team activities which can be learned and there are bad. Plus, with any sport, the things one can learn on and off the field are equally important.

At this stage, it is more important to learn, participate and have fun; which is what youth sports is all about.

Yes folks, it is football season once again and we are in the full swing of it!

As always, Be Good, Do Well, Have Fun.

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