It's been a while since I sat down and made an entry here. As a matter of fact March Madness was wrapping up and my son's two soccer seasons were getting up to full song. Since my last entry baseball season is in full swing. My Atlanta Braves are holding their own in the ultra-competitive National League East. But more on the Braves later...
First I want to get a few thoughts out there about the middle school and club soccer in my area. My son's two teams had good seasons. He was elected a team captain on his middle school team. A squad which was very young as middle school teams go and it showed in a couple of critical times that cost them the game. They finished in either second or third place. No one is quite sure about the standings as the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System's Athletic Department does not post standings. Justin is a goal keeper and in his middle school season posted a fairly minuscule 0.9 goals against average in 11 games that he played in goal. He also played in the field in several of the games that were well in hand and actually scored a goal. So his last middle school season was a good one.
His club year has been a real roller coaster affair as he and his teammates fashioned a 17-16-7 record, scoring 61 goals while allowing 58. Justin posted 15 clean sheets (shutouts) for the year while allowing a 1.48 goals per game average. His team started out the year last August by reaching the finals of the Dick's Invitational tournament here in Charlotte and followed that by making the semifinals of the Furniture City Classic in High Point, NC. Their regular season in the NCYSA Classic A West division saw them finish in the middle of the pack in a 10 team league. During the winter they managed a top 4 finish in their indoor soccer league and finished the indoor campaign as tournament finalists.
The Spring portion of their year began in early February with two tournament championships. The first was a Championship in the Adidas Classic in Charlotte, followed by a Championship in the Cobb Classic Soccer tournament in Atlanta, GA. The weather for the Cobb Classic in Atlanta felt more like we were playing north of the Arctic Circle than in the sunny south. We battled subfreezing temperatures all weekend including a Saturday where the temperature was well below freezing along with winds that were howling around 30 mph at times creating a wind chill factor which never climbed above 24 degrees. That alone made for a challenging tournament let alone the tough competition they had to face. Nonetheless the good guys prevailed and captured their second championship in as many tournaments. The Spring regular season in the NCYSA Classic A Western div had it's share of surprises as well. Some of which were the unpleasant type.
In the Spring season there was an unfortunate incident that was totally preventable where one player from the Porter Ridge Athletic Association committed a foul on a breakaway and instead of sending the offending player off as specified in the FIFA rules of soccer the referee called the foul awarded the penalty kick but allowed the player to stay in the game. The referee's failure to adhere to the rules of soccer led to the same player instigating a fight in the closing minutes of the match. The fight led to one of Justin's teammates who was defending another teammate in the melee getting a concussion and a red card. As if losing a key member of the team to a red card and very serious injury wasn't bad enough the team had to face a premier team that had been relegated to the Classic A division. This team had obviously reloaded with some of the better players in their club and were cruising through the Classic A division proving that they really didn't belong in the league...Once their leading scorer returned from the injury Justin's team regained some of the form that got them two championships earlier in the Spring and they managed a very respectable mid-pack finish in the standings. Their position in the standings gave them the 13th seed in the N.C. Kepner Presidents Cup tournament. They failed to make the quarterfinals by 1 point in the standings but finish the tournament with a 2-1-0 record. All-in-all a very respectable showing for a team who by all accounts had a difficult time putting together two or three passes the previous year.
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As of May 22, 2012 the Atlanta Braves have a record of 26-18 and stand one half a game out of first place behind of all teams the Washington Nationals. The Braves have been very good offensively this season they currently rank 2nd in the National League in Runs Scored and 7th in the Major leagues in batting average. Pitching has been a bit up and down this season but the return of Tim Hudson has helped. The youngsters in the rotation have pitched well but have had some rough outings. The Braves are on pace to win 96 game this year which should be good enough to make the playoffs barring a repeat of last September's collapse.
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One other soccer note. Justin is currently in the midst of the annual grind known as CSA soccer tryouts. For those who are not familiar with the club soccer scene every year player assessments are completed, tryouts are held and team rosters are formalized. This year Justin got the best evaluation he has ever gotten. The CSA Director of Coaching for Goalkeepers told us that out of 112 goalkeepers in CSA Justin was the most improved goalkeeper in the club! Needless to say right now I am one proud soccer Dad.
We will see how everything comes out as far as team placement in the next couple of days but either way, he is going to be playing at a high level in the coming season.
