Final Post - Thanks to All

Some final comments, thoughts and thank yous ...

From Nigel ... 
I just wanted to let all of you know that I am very proud of you!! The soccer was fantastic and the activities away from the field were full of laughs.


Robyn, your job was never ending and you did it with a smile...thank you.
Brad, wow, I can't say enough about your contribution to the success of this trip. You are an amazing coach and a good friend to all.
Lee, the pictures,video, rides, support and many laughs, thank you so much for all of your help.
Mike and Annelise, everytime we asked for help you were there without question, thanks for that and for your friendship.
Girls, you will forever hold a special place in my heart, it was the trip of a lifetime.

From Robyn (Mama Robsey) ...
Hey Gang,
I too want to say - what a great bunch of girls. You were all so much fun - I'd hang out with you again in an instant! THANK YOU! so much for the card - it was sweet & funny & it goes in my "treasure box"!
Parents, I'd like to tell you how great your girls were! They were ALL very polite, helpful and kind to me, to each other, and to those we encountered along our trip. I really enjoyed my time with them. I'm sure you are proud of them. I am!
Cheers,
Robyn

Some final thoughts and thank you's from yours truly ...
I have so many thank yous and thoughts while writing this last post and I will mention a few of them, but will save the most importnat two for last ...
- Robyn (Mama Robsey) for her tireless work, organizing, seeing to the needs of each girl and having to deal with the changes and special requests of the coaching staff.  Her tiredless efforts behind the scenes, behind the soccer, to make everyone comfortable ... coaches included.  We are truly thankful!!!!
- To the parents who came down and helped ...
* Lee ... photographer. videographer,driver, "lackey", etc.  Plus he bought us a beer once in a while :-)
* Annelise & Michael ...there when you need them & not there when you didn't :-)
* Colin/Stu/Shelly/Jim/ ... helping with driving when required but most of all cheering on our girls at their games
- Kristyn Large ... for helping with the coaching, watching the girls at the hotel/mall/Busch Gardens ... being that extra set of eys and ears when required.  She helped being a big sister to many of the girls.
- To our parents/relatives ... thanks for all your support throughout the season both on & off the field.  You have entrusted us with your most valuable "possessions" - your children - and I feel priveldged.
- To our sponsors/donators/supportting clubs ... a huge thank you for making this a "dream come true" for the players.
- To our employers, who value the fact that the extra stuff we do outside of work matters and they support that.
- To Sue for helping keep us financially organized - this is a fairly large undertaking for the past 3-4 months and is done so all behind the scenes.  Thanks for keeping me personally organized.  It has been a long haul and I am thankful for your contribution and support (thanks to Lauren and Dana too).

Second to last thank you to the players / ladies / girls ...
- I am thankful and proud!!!! 
- Thankful to have been a part of this chapter of your life. 
- Proud of you as young women representing Vancouver Island and making your parents, friends, supporters, and community proud. 
- Proud of you as soccer players and playing soccer against teams that we are not supposed to be able to compete against. 
- Proud of your personal sacrifices to the team. 
- Girls ... You belonged at the championships and proved it.

My last thank you is to the person that I believe made this all possible ... Nigel.
- Coach. Mentor. Fundraiser. Friend. Planner. Financier. Supporter. Cheerleader. Counselor. Protector. Babysitter.  Leader
- The vast amount of work that Nigel did for pre-season, season play, post-season, game planning, post-game analysis, Florida trip planning, etc. is not comprehensible by many. It was huge! 
- Everything he did was was with the teams/girls best interest in mind!
- Nigel took this group of girls and made them into a true team.
- I have personally learned a lot from his coaching and approach to coaching ... for this I am indebted.

I think the experience for the girls has great ... the only thing that would top it would be to have come with the Championship.  But that will have to wait for another year or two :-).  I believe the staff put together an agenda that kept the girls busy/happy/interested/educated and in the end, maybe made this trip a fantastic memeory for their life.

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
Sun Tzu

Our GiGi Makes the All-Tournament Team !!

Congratulations to Georgia who was named an MVP defender for the Girls U14 All-Tournament Team.  The team is named by the opposition coaches during the tournaments games.

As the article states ...
Five players were tied for the most votes received during the North American Finals with three each. Those players included: Sweatman from the Freedom, Andresen from Parsippany, Gonzalez from Kalamazoo, Olivia Kappeli from Coastal WFC, Georgia Grzybowski of the West Coast Capitals and Meghan Cox from the Northern Virginia Majestics.

Congrats GiGi!

See article here ... Girls U14 All-Tournament Team

Day#8 - Going Crazy at Busch Gardens

I am writing this at the airport waiting for flights back home, so I will write some notes and clean it up later and add all the photos we took at Busch Gardens.  The girls final day was spent at Busch Gardens for a day of fun.  What does Busch Gardens have?  What doesn't it have ... rides; zoo/animals; shows (musical & animal shows); well deserved greasy food and pop; shops; games; and people watching.

Some quick points/notes of things I noticed/enjoyed...

- groups of girls bonding and having fun

- Kristen L ... so pumped/excited to be there

- GiGi & Brittany ... newbies on roller coasters --> they are now converted
- Bub & Erin on the Shekrai ride closing their eyes at the top

- Erin has gotten over her fear of coasters ---> gone from crying on the first ride (wooden roller coaster called Gwazi) to riding the scary SheiKra (vertical "death drop") over and over again.  Erin always used to stay behind and watch our bags and take photos ... now what do we do?  She is always such good fun to make fun of and listen to her scream (and scream, and scream, and ...)

- Speaking of screaming ... Ms Hackett has a nice set of lungs

- Garnet appears the most unafraid of the "big" rides (as opposed to Moira) ... see pictures below

- the effects on the Kumba ride slowed down many of our intrepid travellers

- the smells of number of smoke houses in the park (mmmmm)
- a couple of us got stuck on the sky gondola ride for 10 minutes due to a malfunction
- the day ended on a bit of a downer when the skys opened up and rain /thunder/lightening closed the rides ... no need to go on the Congo River Ride to get wet
- the Gorilla and chimp enclosures are awesome
- many of us saw the cute baby white rhino
- we also saw our U15 and U16 "at the park

Given everyones energy level we headed back to the hotel for some order-in pizzas. We have to keep a bit of energy for our trip back to the "wet" coast for tomorrow ... this will be tough.

Day#7 - Burned Out In More Ways Than One

The fact that the day very hot and humid (95% humidity) did not help with the fact that our Capitals were very tired and beat up.  The girls were very tired and some of the players were nursing injuries today (toes, calves, quads, stomachs, backs and heads).  I think everything has caught up with them (i.e. travel, time zones, food, previous match play and the excitment of the whole trip).  That said, we were not going to sit down and play without a fight. 
- Northern Viginia club is a good club (ranked 3rd) with a number of teams in the tournament
- they have a very fast and skilled team ... which we would soon learn
- play from the beginning was somewhat equal with the Majestics using their fast skillful midfielder to control the game and try to get balls to a couple of very fast players (a striker and outside right mid)
- we decided to play a high pressure game and go after them with a 3-4-3 (or more like a 3-4-1-2)
- the Majestics caught us twice not playing our usual solid positional soccer and placed a couple of long balls between & behind our defenders for their fast strikers and mids to run onto
- we did have chances by applying pressure to their defence who coughed up balls to us but for the most part we were not effective at capitalizing on the mistakes and getting a qualit shot on goal
- going into the halftime the score was 2-0 --> again the score was not fully indictive of the play ... they just capitalized on their chances better
- the second half was a little better for us, but again we could not finish

So our soccer is over for the trip and we have a day and a half to recover and do somehting fun with the girls.  Group decisions are getting harder as the girls get tired so we will probably make their minds up for them :-)

The weather has turned a bit sour (overcast, rain) so our trip to the beach was cancelled and it might be a free night to do what they want ... mall, hotel/swimming, movie, etc.

See pictures here ...

Meet Our Opponents - Game#4 - N.Virginia Majestics

Northern Virginia Majestics
“This is a team of players who have competitive spirit, dedication and team unity,” said Northern Virginia Majestics Coach Marie Schweitzer.
“While I am pleased with the 45 goals we scored during the regular season, I am more impressed we only allowed seven goals against in ten games played. This season, our goal was to qualify for the SYL North American Finals. Now that we have reached our goal, we are looking forward to playing competitive teams from the United States and Canada.”

Day#6 - Washington Freedom Show The Caps How Soccer is Played

We came up gainst the Washington Freedom today ... the most difficult team in our division.  They have a very well structured accademy-type program with a draw area from the Washington DC area and also Virginia, Delaware & Maryland (big).   So we knew it would be tough. 

- it was quite hot/humid today but a very strong wind/breeze helped cool things off at times.
- the girls are starting to feel the affects of the trip (excitement, food, etc) and are a bit "battle weary"
- the first half we had the wind and sun against us and we had trouble getting the ball dee into the Freedoms half of the field
- the Freedom scored a very nice goal from outside the 18 yard box when we allowed their player to get within striking range and shoot (a lovely hard shot in the upper corner that V could not reach)
- the highlight of the second half was a great diving save that V pulled out of the air.  She put on a good show in front of Freedom's Nikki Wright (Canada's ex-keeper and Freedon keeper coach)
- we bascially played a defensive game in the first half
- in the second half with the wind aiding us, our deep attacks were more prevalent
- however the Freedom are an excellent counter-attacking team and many of our deep attacks were turned around into deep thrusts by the Freedom
- we gave them one too many corners and they scored on a lovely corner kick / header combination
- the Freedom are a very skilled (1st touch on the ball was great); very fast passing; long passing team - this combined with a lot of movement off of the ball created a very tough team to play
In the end, the girls worked very hard (especially the centre backs) and although never satisfied with a loss, we were somewhat content with the game as we respected the Freedom's skill, speed, pattern of play, etc.

The weather turned a bit sour at the end of the game so we packed up and went back to the hotel to clean up and the girls went and relaxzed at a movie (Twilight - New Moon).

More pictures available here ...
Video available here ...

Meet Our Opponents - Game#3 - Washington Freedom

Washington Freedom
The Washington Freedom championed the 12-team Mid Atlantic Division with a record of 9-2-0. This team tied Qucikstrike SC for the most goals scored during their 11-game season with 34, an average of 3.09 per match. The Freedom’s defense was their façade, they allowed just five goals all season. Coached by Jamil Fayadi and Ellis Pierre, the team’s top-scorer was Marlo Sweatman, who netted eight goals and added an assist.

Day#5 - A Great Game To Watch & Be Part Of

Today's game vs the Chicago Magic was played under hot humid conditions - definitely the hottest day of the trip thus far.  Here are my thoughts/comments ...
- the Chicago Magic are a good team (see previous write up)
- first half the girls seemed a bit tired and not their aggressive selves
- the Magic were winning most 50/50 balls and getting to the ball first ... especially getting through our midfield
- it was not all bad ... just not their usual self
- unfortnately we played against a 12th player today (i.e. the Canadian ref we had) and he made some very "unusual" calls
* awarded a PK against us for a great diving save that "V" came out for.  I think he said that V lifted her legs too high / aggressively vs the attacking player
* the Magic coach also shook his head on that call (and many others).  I think he went so far as to say that he hoped his girls miss the PK.
* fortunately "V" made a very good save and our definders helped out by attacking the rebound and pressuring their kicker to make the 2nd shot wide --> KARMA :-)
- the second half saw Nigel switch things around a bit positioninally to utilize more of the midfield
- this resulted in the first 10 minutes of play the ball did not enter our half of the field
- we started getting more chances and deeper penetrations into the magic end
- we unfortunately didn't capitalize on a couple of good chances and the game ended in a 0-0 tie

The linesman came up to me in the final minute of play and said "Your girls played a hellofa game".

After the game we ran off to the local Publix market to get a late lunch and then go back to the field for the players evening of festivities
- free time in the player village / hospitality tent to collect some free swag
- watching some 5 v 5 soccer matches
- wating the GU15 girls play vs Richmond Kickers in one of the highlight matches of the evening (our Caps they lost 2-1)
- get in on a USL-supplied dinner

After that, more relaxation and pool time for the girls before hitting the sack to recharge their batteries for another game tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be a tough game and will test the girls.

Pictures from the day can be found at ... FloridaDay5Nov2109Game2VsChicagoMagic#
Video of the day can be found at ... http://gallery.me.com/torosashimi#100043

Meet Our Opponents - Game#2 - Chicago Magic

Chicago Magic
Coached by Karl Smith, Angel Garcia and Steve Sobey this team completed a 5-2-0 season in the Midwest Division of the Super Y-League. The side was very balanced, averaging 1.85 goals per game while allowing only 0.85. The team’s top scorers were Meghan Mannix, who had three goals and an assist, and Taylor Markanich, who also scored three goals on the year.

Day#4 - Nerve-cited ... Then ... Frustrated

Today the girls showed all that they deserve to be at this tournament.  As they had most of the game in my opinion and due to a coupl eof losses of our concentration we ended up dropping the game to MPS.

I liked Nigel's summary to the girls "Minor let downs in a major effort".

A summary of the game and day ...
- before the game Nigel asked the girls what they were feeling in one word.  For the most part the girls were nervous and excited - or nerv-cited (coined by Soraya)
- we created more chances than the Renegades
- We went into half 0-0
- Renegades scored 2 quick goals ... perhaps a loss of focus or pressure by the girls caused these lapses
- the Caps pushed hard for goals and they were rewards fairly quickly
- we also had numerous other opportunites and chances to ties it up
- in the end we were ahead on everything except the goals :-(
- Brad overheard the other coach say to his team "You girls were lucky today"

In the end we left the field sad, dejected, mad, frustrated and grrrrrr (one word phrases the girls used to summarize the day later).  There are always those games we wish we could take back because we know the outcome should have been different.

So what does this mean for the standings and chances??  It means our chances our somewhat out of our hands - we are not fully in control of our own destiny.  We will probably have to win both remaining games to go clear through ... or at least get 4 points to have a shot at a wildcard position.

See standings at ... USL Y-League GU14 Standings
See the days pictures at ... Florida Day#4 Pictures
See video at ... http://gallery.me.com/torosashimi#100000