"i hope you had the time of your life"
-- greenday

Depending on how well you know me, or how long you have followed my blog, you will know that I love sports. At eight years old I joined my first soccer team, but only because my friend, Danielle, was playing. I loved it and for 13 seasons after, my life was filled with practices, games, tournaments, banners, wins, losses, successes, failures and everything in-between.

Last year I took my place as coach - my new role in sports. I assisted "the-little-team-that-could" who were outscored 47-2 in the season (you may remember them from here and here). No, they weren't the best soccer players around, but oh my, did they try hard, and play with character. I was so proud to be their coach. I loved the girls, I loved watching them play, I loved talking with them and I loved coaching.

Therefore, may I present Kristen Leigh, head coach, and her marvelous assistant, Lydia Jane (former starter for the Varsity Lady Cougars ;D)!

Three afternoons a week, you will find me on a field with these 21 beautiful, wonderful girls!

Don't be fooled by the smiles and pretty colors and "Dumb-blonde-joke" girl they have as a coach. This season hasn't been just peaches and cream. Oh no. When it comes to sports, I am quite tough. Many a tear have been shed at a "Kristen" practice. These girls have been worked hard. Very, very hard. But isn't it all about fun?!? Answer me this: is it fun to be gasping in the middle of a game, as your opponent sprints past you and scores? Nope.

{pc: lydia)
And that is why we are the most in-shape, most aggressive, most hard-working team in the league! Right Girls!!! ;) In all seriousness, the girls on this team are such hard-workers. And I think their 5-3 record is proof of that. As well as out-scoring our opponents 23-21.
But our goal as a team isn't a nice record. 1 Corinthians 9 spells it out nicely:

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly."

After a full season of "purposeful" rather then "aimless" running, we are headed into play-offs. After two weeks of practices, I knew I wanted to surprise the girls with a "fun, easy" practice. They warmed up (in our really awesome warm-up, I must add), we had a little pep talk, and they began to scrimmage. Little did they know that we had bag's of McDonald's and an afternoon of fun waiting for them :) heheh

During the scrimmage I fake got mad at them for not being "mentally tough." Which was hard since they were actually playing great. I frustratedly sent them all off the field to do sprints. Then they had to do the infamous "plank" drill for a whole minute. I told them to close their eyes and count down from 60. Any girl who opened their eyes, stopped counting or dropped their belly would run. They, in their middle-school energy, started screaming and pupping each other up. As they counted, Lyd and I ran around tossing nuggets and hamburgers in front of them. It was so much fun hahah

{pc: lydia)
I was getting such a kick out of it. When they got to "...two... one... zero..." they all opened their eyes. It was an awkward two seconds as they tried to figure out what was going on, but then it kinda clicked and they were SO cute and excited. Lydia took those pictures, so I'll let her blog about that more ;D