Fall colors Emi

At the Chickasaw National Wildlife Refuge in Sulphur, where we stopped for a hike on our drive back from Fort Worth.

The post-prandial Thanksgiving nap

Emi's watching rookies Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott lead the 'Boys to a 31-26 victory over Washington. Olivia, for the moment, is not.

Emi balls: Season One, Game Four

Before the game started, Coach Marr told Emilio he could do more driving this game. He did.

We won this one: 20-10. Next up: a doubleheader on Saturday, December 3rd.

Emi's side, from left to right: Belen, Warrick, Luke, Kendon, Emi. Assistant coach: Adrie Marr.

Emi y abuela

End of Season Portrait

A Loan

As Emi's U-14 team game was wrapping up, we learned that Ada's second U-12 team wasn't sure they had enough players for their upcoming game, and they wanted to know if Emi could join them.

Emi started at forward and enjoyed strategizing plays with the other forwards.

Patience preceeds a well-placed crosser.

For the second time this weekend, Emi scores his team's only goal. That's thirty-one on the season.

Off the post! 5:50

Late into the game, his fifth sporting event of the weekend, Emilio was hustling into the corner to run down the ball. I think he likes nutmegging defenders almost as much as he likes scoring.

Another call up

On Sunday, we drove back from Shawnee so that Emi could participate in another U-14 game. Lots of players who hadn't indicated whether they could attend or not did, in fact, show up, so the roster was deep.

Emi was the first player Coach Rhynes brought in from the bench.



Coach Rhynes had some good advice for Emilio on this throw-in and Emilio listened well.

Season Ten, U-12 Game Ten, Goal Thirty

After finishing a morning basketball game, after a morning U-14 soccer game, we headed to Shawnee for the final game of the season. Our opponent is an undefeated juggernaut that has not been scored on all season. Before the game, I asked the head referee how long the halves were. He told me (35 minutes). He also added that we were going to have a tough time against this team, which won every game it had played by at least 7 goals and won one of them 17-0.
Emi played well and got loose a couple of times.
Seven minutes in, Emi got fouled in the box and took a penalty kick that he delivered with force off the top cross bar. After the game, Emilio pointed out that the top bar on the Shawnee goals are a little lower than the top bar on the goals in Ada. He's right. In Ada, that penalty kick would have been indefensible.

Six minutes later, we are down 1-0 when Emi gets loose on a breakaway. Teammates and Coach Brock start yelling at Emilio to shoot, but Emi has his own plans. He crosses over one defender, and then crosses over another, while the yelling gets more insistent:  "Shoot!  Shoot!"  Emi is calm under pressure, turns the corner one more time, lines up his shot and delivers a stunner: the first goal Shawnee has allowed this season. The score is now tied 1-1, and we immediately hear Luke, the Shawnee goalkeeper, tell his dad, the coach, that he needs a sub.  Those who were yelling at Emilio to shoot before he was ready are silent. That's Emilio's 30th goal of the ten-game season, and probably my favorite of them all.

Though this was his third sporting event of the day and we fell behind the strongest team in the league, Emi played as hard as I've seen him play, as evident in this charge on the goalkeeper.
After the game, Coach Underwood gave Blake some much deserved praise for the energy that he gave the team throughout the season playing box to box from his position at center mid. He also singled out Gage for some stellar work as goalkeeper. Finally, he praised the team for scoring the only goal that the Shawnee Juggernaut had allowed all season. All season, Coach Brock has been urging the team to pass the ball. He is not a fan of dribbling and every game he repeatedly yells "Get it off your foot!" He thanked the team for trusting his advice and improving so much over the course of the season.

After winning our first four, we lost out last four to finish with a 4-4 record. We allowed 34 goals and scored 45. Emi scored 30 and though I don't think Emi's coaches cared much for his game, Emi felt appreciated by his teammates, enjoyed playing with Blake especially, and I am well pleased that we decided to play him in his assigned age group instead of playing with older kids all season.

Emi balls: Season One, Game Three--Uno para la abuela

The minute Emi's morning soccer game was over, we rushed to the junior high for a basketball game. Emi's team has two shifts of players who split their playing time 50/50. Emi plays point guard on one of those shifts. Our coach installed a set offense this week that asks the point guard to bring the ball to the top of the key and pass the ball to teammates who are (in theory) setting screens and breaking to get open. One of Emi's strengths is crossing over his defender and driving into the lane, but he didn't get any chances to do that in this offense.
When he did get a breakaway layup opportunity, he was cool under pressure, and scored a basket para la abuela.

The Call-Up

Coach Rhoades asked me this week if Emilio could play up with the U-14s on Saturday and Sunday because he wasn't sure he was going to have enough players. Emilio already had a basketball game scheduled at 11:30 on Saturday and a U-12 soccer game at 4 pm in Shawnee, but the fifth grader didn't hesitate to say "yes" to this opportunity to test his skills against some sixth and seventh graders.
Emi got his first action at left midfield.
Though we didn't win, Emi played with energy and confidence and improved the team's overall level of play when he was on the pitch.
Emilio artfully split this double team.

Emilio also got some time at right defensive back and made some of his best plays there against Real Madill's strongest player.
Our defense gave up a lot of goals in the first half, so Coach Rhynes gave Emi more time on the defensive end in the second half.
At the end of this game, Emi got some play at left forward and got off this shot on goal just before the final whistle.

Eleven today

La abuela treated the family to lunch at the Asian Buffet (Emi digs the fried rice) and dinner at Delicia's (Emi and Nina dig the beans). In between, Emi and I played an Xbox Super Bowl match up between Dallas and Pittsburgh in anticipation of this Sunday's regular season matchup between the rookie Dak Prescott-led 7-1 'Boys and Ben Roethlisberger's Steelers. With Emi at the controls, the 'Boys won a close one.

This summer, for my birthday, Mom and Dad gave me tickets to take Emilio to see the Cowboys play against the Buccaneers (Dec. 26). For Emi's birthday, they bought him a Kindle that we plan to take with us when we go to Europe next summer. We bought him Kindle versions of Iron by Iron by Ryan Graudin and Gemina (from The Illuminae Files) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

Birthday Festivities Begin

On the eve of Emi's 11th birthday, we said we could get him the newest version of the Xbox One sports games he likes to play, or he could go with me to see the Thunder play against Toronto.
On the drive down, we listened to an audio book recording of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" read by Nick Offerman. Before the game, Emi said he wasn't sure which team he'd be rooting for, but I told him we had to root for the home team. After we parked, we bought tickets on the lower level from a guy standing outside the gate. He offered them to us for $65 each, but we got them for $40.

During the game, we ate popcorn and nachos. The Thunder scored the first 12 points in the game but ended up losing 102-112. Russell Westbrook scored 36 for the Thunder; DeMar DeRozan scored 37 for the Raptors.

On the drive home, we got vanilla Frosties at Wendy's, and listened to some more Tom until one of us fell asleep. Fortunately, it wasn't me.

How many hats can Emi wear?

The Spartans are playing this game without Blake, who usually plays center mid and is the heart of the defense. Before the game, Coach Underwood tells Emilio he will be playing him some at center mid, which means more distributing, more defense, and fewer shots on goal. It also means he'll make the throw-ins and kick the corners and, therefore, won't get to wait in the box for the corners to come to him).
Emi did a great job on the corners.
The first scoring opportunity in the game comes when Emilio gets fouled in the box. His penalty kick bounces off somebody's butt and comes back to him. His second kick almost gets in. Three minutes later, Emilio's corner kick comes back out to him, and he delivers a bending strike into a narrow gap between the keeper and the post to put us up, 1-0. Seventeen minutes later, we're down 2-4 (!), when Emilio makes a run that produces another strike between the goalkeeper and the near post, and we're within one at halftime. Emilio starts the second half at his usual position--forward--and it doesn't take long for him to get this one off. And that's the hat trick.
Three minutes later he makes a great crossing pass with the left to Bentley. Three minutes after that, he makes a great pass to Gareth. Eight minutes later, we are losing 4-8 (!), and another team is walking behind me, when Emilio hustles into the corner to steal the ball and nutmeg the defender. You can hear their admiring "ooooooo." You can also hear Emi's mama shouting encouragement. The play ends with Emi winning a corner.
For the first time in this game, someone other than Emilio makes the corner kick. Emilio assumes his place on the edge of the box and with perfect economy delivers a strike to the near post. That's #4 on the game. According to my good friends on the internet, that's called a "haul." And we're down 5-8. One minute later, Emilio steals the ball and delivers a great pass to Gareth. His first shot is blocked, but his second is clean, and we're down 6-8. Gareth dabs afterward, to the displeasure of his vocal dad/coach. Two minutes later, Emilio backs off to avoid an offsides call. Shortly afterwards, Gareth scores, but the point is nullified because Gareth is ruled offsides. Video replay suggests that he was not offsides at all. Two minutes later, Emilio gets loose on another run, and his kick is true. That's #5 on the day--a "glut"?--and we're down 7-8. Two minutes later, Emilio steals the ball and pops in his sixth goal of the day. That's a double hat-trick, and the score is tied 8-8.

Unfortunately, CNP Sting sneak in their ninth goal of the game just before the final whistle. If we'd had Blake in midfield, I think we would have won this one.

Emi's six goals (how many hats can Emi wear? Today, the answers is: two) give him twenty-nine goals in nine U-12 games this season. Our division record is 4-2; our tournament record is 1-2.