Oh hey

This scar is all that remains of the ridiculous hand breaking shenanigan that I last blogged about. I got a cast pretty quickly and within a few days took it off because it was so uncomfortable. After (painfully) wiggling out of it, I had a moment of '....uhoh..' similar to a toddler when they get caught red handed doing something they know they shouldn't, so I (even more painfully) wiggled back into it. After a couple weeks in the cast, the hand MD was (not surprisingly) unimpressed with the healing progress that should've come with the assumed 'immobility' a cast should bring, so they decided to screw the bones into place. Healing was quick from there, and after some awkward hand-massaging PT, I was back in action. There were strange looking casts and splints, really awkward tan lines, and serious boredom as I spent THREE months not working. I decided to make the most of that time and started coaching with a competitive soccer club, went camping (heh), and got Lasik.

Anyway-- it's over a year later and I stumbled upon this blog and thought why not update?

Not exactly sure what to say to be truthful.

As I mentioned I'm coaching again. I'm in my second year with this club, and this year I am coaching the girls' B team (aka Tango) of our U9 Premier Development Academy. When people ask the age of the girls I coach, the most common reaction I get is in a disgusted tone: "Really, 8 and 9 year olds are playing competitively-- premier???" Yes, really. We do emphasize player development over winning-- very sincerely. I think all of my players have an older sibling playing on a premier team in the club, so they just ...get it. There are three teams in the U9 program, and a majority of the girls have an older sibling playing competitively. They're a very unique group as they have seen how to approach the game competitively and with intensity. Believe it or not, they're good for their age. If they could match in attention span what they can offer in talent-- I'd be in high heaven. They're very different from the regional (less competitive/good) U13 team I had last year, but it has honestly been a great learning opportunity and a great way to practice exercising patience.

There's a new (and exponentially better for me) Mr. Wonderful in town. It's only been a few months, so I remain cautiously optimistic, but so far very good. :)

I'd like to get back in the habit of updating slightly more regularly... Heaven knows that there is no shortage on 'are you kidding me?!' moments in my day to day life.