The GOOD...The BAD....and the SAD

Hello everyone.

I just happened to notice that I haven't updated in a few days. And believe me, quite a bit has happened. Let's get started, shall we?

The GOOD: The half-time "performance" by Jayla's soccer team at the college went great! The girls had an awesome time. And the few girls that got to the stadium early, even got to walk out, hand in hand, with the players of the college teams...just like in the pros. So needless to say, Jayla really enjoyed that!

Here are a few pictures from the evening. (Jayla has on the red headband)

You can't really see Jayla in the above photo. But this is when the players were walking out on the field before the game.
This shot was taken just before the players were introduced.

Here's a short video of the scrimmage game the Lil Stingrays played during half time. Again, Jayla has on the grey shirt and the red headband. She's the one kinda hanging out on the left side of the video running after the ball when it goes out and jumping around a lot :-). And that's Coach "Daddy" is in the jeans and black shirt :-).


The BAD: As mentioned in my last post our U14 and U16 teams had a tournament this past weekend. Although the boys played REALLY well, they only won a couple of their games. Tied one and lost a couple. But that wasn't what made this my "BAD" selection. The referees for this tournament were AWFUL!!! I mean, they SUCKED!!! One of them in particular. I won't even go into detail as to why I'm making such harsh comments. I'll just say that, even the coaching staff of the opposing teams as well as the parents of the other teams couldn't believe some of the RIDICULOUS calls that this ref made against our boys. It was UNbeliveable! To give you an idea of what I mean...in our last game on Sunday, a kid from the other team made a very dangerous slide for the ball and kicked our goalie square in the chest with his cleats. But the ref didn't call it as a penalty or a foul. He said our guys was "alright" and that's just what happens when you play goalie. Some of that may be so, but NOT when the goalie has a freaking cleat print in the middle of his bare chest! Our goalie even had on 2 or 3 shirts and you could clearly see the red bruising from the other kids cleat on his chest.

It was so bad that our coaches almost pulled our team off the field and forfited the game. Needless to say, we will NOT be participating this a tournament at this location again.

The SAD: It is with a heavy heart that I write this next part of my post. This past Monday, the PE teacher at Jayla's school, suddenly passed away. And I do mean SUDDENLY! Coach J worked in the afternoon carpool line, helping the kids get in their vehicles. And on Monday afternoon, just as he has all school year, he helped Jayla in the van and wished us a nice evening. Not 5 hours later, I get a phone call from one of the mothers, saying that Coach J died in the parking lot of his 5 year old twin daughters dance class. Fortunately, his wife, who is also a teacher at Jayla's school, was with him. They are thinking it was from a sudden heart attack.

I decided not to tell Jayla bout this until yesterday morning. As I didn't want her to be so upset Monday night and not get any sleep. So through my own tears, I told her yesterday morning before I took her to school. She was VERY upset! I wound up walking her to class yesterday as I knew the atmosphere at the school would be a bit much for her, as she'd be wondering why everyone was so sad. And sad it was! There were counselors there for the kids and teachers, as it was very somber. Jayla's teacher told me that Jayla had a few "breakdowns" during the day...as did most of the kids.

Coach J touched the lives of EVERY SINGLE child that walked the halls of that school. As they ALL had PE at some point during the week. Markell even had PE with Coach J when he attended that school from K - 6th grade.

I will be representing our family tonight at the visitation. I spent almost as much time with Mrs. J last year as I did with Jayla's teacher. Their Kindergarten classes are right next door to eachother. So I feel like I need to be there to show my support and sympathy.

WELL...sorry to end this post on a sad note. But I will ask for your thoughts and prayers for, not only the "J" family. But for the school and the students.

That's all I have for now. Enjoy the rest of your week and I'll talk to you in a few days. Toodles!!