NSCAA National Coaching School Course

This past week, I went to Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg PA for the NSCAA National Coaching course.  It was an intense and difficult experience but one of the best things I've ever done.  These coaching course are difficult because you have to coach your peers and prove that you know what your doing in the technical as well as tactical aspects of the game.  There were hardly any women there and we got split up into groups and I was the only woman in mine.  It was very scary but as I got to know the guys in my group, I was so glad that I was paired up with them.

The course consists of a lot of lectures and field time.  When you not in lecture, your on the field learning and then coaching while your team mates become your players and you coach them.  You are then graded on your ability to coach while using the NSCAA methods of coaching.  It's a very intimidating process as your coaching and correcting your  peers.  Some of these guys are incredible players and coaches and so I was anxiety ridden as you can imagine.

As my turn for my first coaching session came, I was pacing the sidelines and thought I was going to puke.  Once I got going though, I did pretty well and felt good about it.  It's just very intimidating to be judged on your knowledge of the game, your ability to coach and teach it while being watched by everyone, including the course evaluators from the coaching staff.

I know I passed and I'm pretty sure I got a good pass which means I can take the Advanced course next year.   I should find out next week how well I did.   I have the equivalent of a USSF National C license now.   Pretty awesome to have it under my belt!

I loved the guys in my group.  They treated me so great and we all grew close as the week went by.  I loved playing with these guys.  When it was not my turn to coach, I had to become a player while the others took their turns.  I trained for quite a few months to be sure I'd be in shape and my body held up!   They were gentlemen and genuine great guys and I can't wait to go back and see them all next summer at the Advanced.  

Missing Jordan

I know, it's been seven months since I've done a blog post.   I only have one child at home tonight and found myself in the mood to do some blogging. Jordan is gone for a month,  Britton is in Portland with his soccer team and Maddy is on a sleep over at her cousin's so it's just Cameron home tonight with us.  It's strange to have the house so quiet.

Jordan is in Minnesota at the Jay Robb 28 day wrestling camp.  I stopped in to see him on my way home from Pennsylvania and made my lay over two days long.  It was great to see him as he'd been gone almost two weeks.  I think he was pretty glad to see his mommy too.  The camp is very intensive and he looked a little homesick, not that he would have admitted it but a mom knows these things.  I cried when I left him to come home as I knew he still have 2+ weeks to go and the camp is so hard that many quit and come home.   He's one tough kid and I know he wished I could have stayed longer but said he knew I needed to get home to see the other kids.  

The one thing I know about this kid is that he's not a quitter.  He's an incredibly determined kid and does not quit no matter how hard something is.  He's doing great at the camp and has high hopes of going far in the next few years in wrestling. I'm so proud of him and how hard he works at everything he does.  I miss him a lot though and so I posted some photos of him when he was little. I can't believe he's 15 now.  Where has the time gone.  

Age Two, Portland

Two days old, all 4 pounds 15 ounces of him.

One year old, Durango, Colorado

Age Four, Hawaii

Age Four, First day of Preschool, Portland

Age 3, Portland

Busy December!

Britton snowboarding in our field on Christmas Day.  Nut case.

We'd gotten 17 inches of snow by the time Christmas day rolled around.  First white Christmas I can remember.  It made the day even better.  

Cameron said goodbye to his best friend Calvin.  They moved to Utah and Cameron is still sad about it.  We miss you Gappmayers!

Aunt Iva came to town and the boys talked her into giving them their wrestling season haircuts.  Of course, I had to be in on the decision making of what could be done and Jordan ended up with some type of mohawk thing.  They went from the mullets to the mohawks or fohawks or whatever they are called these days.  I made Jordan shave it off this past week though as I couldn't let him go to church like that!  He was not real pleased about it but oh well!

Cameron celebrated his 10th birthday with his friends.  We had a football party, cake and opened presents. 

Patriots game with Dad and Uncle Hans who just happened to come to town for the game as well and found out we had tickets.    The boys are big Patriot fans and were excited they got to go see their first NFL game and their favorite team.  

Maple Valley Rapids U10 Developmental Team Champs!

This past year I decided to coach Cameron's select team.  This was the first ever U10 Developmental team to be formed within the Rapids FC.  This was one of the most fun coaching experiences I've ever had.  These kids have some serious heart and are an absolute joy to coach.  Cameron was on the team of course and I really enjoyed watching him play and develop under my watch.    The kids were so coachable and at this age, it's like starting with a blank canvas.  I'm extremely passionate about the game and my coaching.  I spend hours learning more and more about the game, how I can be a better coach, analyzing the games and implementing training sessions to better the team.  

I selected the team in March and we started training in May.  We played in two tournaments over the summer and did pretty well considering these were our first games ever played together on a bigger field.  We started our regular season in September and played 14 games.  Cameron had a great season and even got a Hat Trick in the second to last game.  He also scored the only goal in one of the last games that kept us in first place.  Our team was playing up a year and we won our division.  We only lost one game the entire season and managed to squeeze out the win by one point!  Pretty exciting considering the kids we were playing were much bigger boys than my little guys.

It was so fun to watch these kids develop thru the season and to see the results of my hard work coaching them.  I love the game and coaching but there are some days when I'd rather be just a normal soccer mom and be huddled up in a blanket with my hot cocoa like the rest of the moms.  Most of the time though I'm happy to be out in the cold, rain, sleet, snow, sun, roughing it with the boys.  Who would have ever known I was called a barbie doll in my past?? Seriously....those folks who called me that wouldn't know me now!  HA!

Love these boys!  Well done champs!

Britton wins Special Team's Player of the Year 2008

Special Teams Player of the Year 2008 Tahoma High School Bears.  

Britton Jolley  #4

Britton was the kicker for the Tahoma High School varsity football team.  At the banquet the other night he was awarded the Special Teams Player of the Year and was also honorable mention in the SPSL North for Special Teams.   He lettered and now has two letters as a sophomore.  He lettered last year as the only freshman to make the varsity soccer team.  We are so proud of him!  He works really hard and has a pretty tough schedule.  He's even got good grades so far this year! 

Longest FG was 38 Yrds.  He was 10/12 on FG's and 9/9 on PAT's.  He made 45 yarders in practice all the time but he never got to do those in the game.  The coaches said next year they want to see a 50 yarder in a game!  Can't wait to see what he does next year.  He scored 39 total points for the team.  His kicking helped the team to get into the playoffs.   

WARNING:  TURN YOUR VOLUME DOWN BEFORE PLAYING THE VIDEO!

  

Here he is kicking off in the first playoff game against Jackson. 

Here is a 21 Yrd FG.  Look how far that ball goes!  

My Little Irish Twins/Flashback Friday

My Little Irish Twins.  Cameron's 1st birthday and Maddy is 3 1/2 weeks old!

Right now, Cameron and Maddy are both nine!  They are 11 months and 3 days apart.   I remember crying the day I found out I was pregnant with Maddy.  Cameron was 5 months old and I was already about 11 weeks along before I knew.  I couldn't fathom having TWO babies!   I called my Mom and cried my eyes out to her about how overwhelmed I was!  

At the time, Craig was in his last year of dental school, we were living in Portland.   We were managing 55 apartments (one of the worst jobs on earth!) and I was also managing the collections and A/R for the company I continue to work for now.  We were crammed into a 3 bedroom apartment and one of the bedrooms was the office with an outer door.  

I was so embarrassed to tell anyone I was pregnant again but I couldn't hide it for long with this pregnancy.  I had to go to Craig's dental school graduation and see everyone's reaction to my pregnancy.  "Didn't you just HAVE a BABY?" ..............  What do you say when people say that.   We left the apartments in the middle of June and Craig left for San Antonio for Officer Basic Training School with the Army.   There was no way I was staying in Portland alone with the three boys (6, 5, 6mos), pregnant and managing the apartments with a pool that had to be cleaned 2 times a day.   I didn't have anywhere to live so I ended up driving to Idaho and staying with Craig's mom for a month and then I came up to Washington and stayed with my parents for the rest of the summer.  It was the longest summer of my life.  I cried EVERY day!  Cameron would wake up 10 times a night and Brit and Jordan were a handful.  

When Craig came home finally after 11 weeks, I literally wept tears of relief when he came off the plane!  I was so exhausted and pregnant!  By that time we had found out that surprise baby #4 was going to be a girl.  I call her my "reward"!   We moved into a rental house in Lacey while Craig was stationed at Ft. Lewis for a year while he did his AEGD residency.  Maddy decided to come about 3 weeks early and thus, the 11 month apart deal.  I was sooooo happy to not be pregnant anymore!

These two have been inseparable from the day Maddy was born.  They still sleep together in the same bed.  They've moved to Cameron's room now but last year, they slept in Maddy's room.  One under the covers on one end and the other on top of the covers at the other end.  It's so funny.  Cameron is sorta like Maddy's security blanket.  She never wants to go anywhere unless Cameron comes along.   He pretends that it annoys him now but I think he really likes it.  They have their moments these days but I think they will always be close!  If I get something for one of them, each one always asks "What about Maddy or what about Cameron"?  They always look out for each other.  Now that the baby day's are over, it's pretty fun!  I still don't know how I survived!

Forgotten Carols Choir

Tyler Castleton with me before the show.

This past week, I had the wonderful opportunity to perform with Michael McLain in the Forgotten Carols.  I had waited for 3 years to get this chance to sing in the choir.  It was a wonderful experience and I can't wait to do it again next year if they come back to Seattle.

We had three rehearsals in Bothell over a 3 week period and then one before the show.  The show is produced by Deseret Book and Tyler Castleton.  He was there and we got to work with him and meet him.    His name is on just about every other piece of music I've ever sung over the years.  His arrangements are amazing!  It was so cool to meet this person who is so talented and has done so much for LDS music.

I also had a vignette part.  It was a little scary as I didn't know what I was supposed to do on stage until a couple hours before the show.  My part was to be a "person who was cold and in a serious hurry".  I had to walk around the stage a few times and then give Uncle John (Michaell) some money as he was playing his flute.  I was really scared I was going to slip and fall as the stage was a little slippery and so were my shoes!  Luckily, I didn't fall and embarrass myself.  You see, back in 1991, I had the main part in a musical at the college I was attending.  Well, a week into the rehearsals, I ended up having to have an emergency tonsillectomy and so I was unable to sing.  I had to take a chorus/dancing part and it was a serious disappointment but at least I still got to do the show.  Then, on opening night, I was dancing on stage during one of the acts and fell during one of the dance moves and broke my foot.  There were 500 or so people in the audience!  What luck huh!  I don't think I was meant to be in that musical!  Luckily when I fell, I was towards the back and just slid off the stage behind the curtain.  When the number was over, I was able to get backstage and get a look at it.  I left for the ER and sure enough, sprained and broken and casted for 2 months!  Soo.......when someone says, "Break a Leg" I say, noooooo, don't say that to me....or I just might!

Micheal McLain in the "green room" before the show, expressing his love and gratitude for us and the gifts he is able to share.

Michael was so warm and gracious.  When we were in the green room, he came back before the show and spoke with us.  When we were rehearsing earlier, he came and taught us a song he had written and asked us to learn it right then and sing it that night!  No pressure or anything!!  It was so fun to meet him and hang out with him. I've always loved his music and to have this opportunity was a dream come true!!  He is truly a blessed, brilliant, inspired man. I sat 3 feet away from him during most of the show.  It was so amazing to me how he plays the piano and sings, never missing a note, beat, or line.  All that kept running thru my mind was how brilliant and special he is.  There is no one else like him.  What it must be like to have that talent and the ability to share it with the world.  

Here I am with Christian Molnard and Kathy Gappmayer from Lake Wilderness along with Grant Erickson from Eunmclaw Second.  When I found out that we needed another alto, I asked Kathy to join us and she was able to do so.  When we got the first rehearsal, we discovered that Christian and Grant were involved too and didn't even know it.  We had a wonderful time together and are working on some things to sing together at our home ward before Kathy moves to Utah next month!