Thursday, November 17, 2016

Peyton's Last Soccer Tournament

Peyton played her last SLSG soccer tournament the weekend we got back from our trip.  They played a great tournament, but came up just shy of the championship game.  She had a fun season with her new teammates and new coaches....they will be back at it in the spring.  Here are some pictures I snapped at her last tournament game.












Disney Cruise

We surprised the kids with a Disney Cruise a couple weeks ago.  They were surprised and had a blast.  Jack claims it's his favorite vacation of all times, and Maddie just this morning asked when we can go on another Disney Cruise.  I told her she'd have to talk to her dad about that.....

I will make a separate book for this, so I'm not gonna blog much more, but I'll add a few pictures.


















Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Jack's First USTA Tournament

Jack played in his first USTA tournament a couple weeks ago.  He did a great job, despite some things he isn't used to.  They use orange compression balls and smaller courts.  Took him just a few minutes and then he got the hang of it.  He won all of his games on his side of the bracket and made it to the championship game.
For his level (orange ball), it's for kids 8-11.  They can level up once they have enough points and they get points for playing in tournaments and even more points if they place in tournaments.  Jack was facing a much older, much stronger, and better tennis player for the championship.  Jack played him extremely tough, beating him in the first set.  The kid and his parents were frustrated that Jack was playing him so well.  They went back and forth, back and forth and finally had to end with a tie breaker.  The tie breaker went on and on as well, as you have to win by two points and he and Jack kept going back and forth.
At one point during the tie breaker, Jack made a bad line call that would have allowed the kid to win. The kids call their own games, which is kind of nerve racking, as they are gonna make bad calls every once in a while.  Once Jack made that bad call the parents started getting fidgety and the kid did too.....and I did too.....that's a ton of pressure on a kid to play tennis intensely but also watch the lines and Jack was a rookie at it (not a cheater).  So once the kid finally won, I was relieved that Jack's bad call wasn't gonna take the tournament title away from that kid.  The parents were happy too, they were all smiles once their kid finally beat Jack.
Jack had a great time, and I'm sure has the tennis fever now!