Finally - finally -and although I am again awake @ 0500h worrying about the team - finally it's all coming to-gether. The issues presently:
Paperwork
Gettin' there. We need a -excuse me, not a, but three - rosters by Friday. This is the day - the put up or shut up day where its gotta get done. And now, I'm sure - we've crested the hill. I DO NOT have all of my girls paperwork yet still - but I have enough to go to the AD and say "here we are for now" and we'll be able to add the next set of girls as the season goes on - they will just have to miss some games. I'm ok w/ that - again, one of my great achievements of my ENTIRE LIFE is that I got three games schedules before conference games start(think NCAA - say, Big Ten Football schedules - same idea), and the girls can watch their teammates play and get jealous and race to get their fucking shit to-gether and to me.
The AD
It just seemed that we were being picked on - it really did. Disabused. I had a sit down w/ her after another email that started off w/ her classic "Let me make this perfectly clear....". I quivered up to hr office, but when I left, it truly was as if I was once again Ney, clutching a musket, holding the Russians @ bay as the rear guard and letting the rest of Napoleons army escape (Yes, I incomparably love Waterloo imagery more, but they lot there, didn't they?). We covered a bunch of issues, and they were all good.
So- stunningly, money issues, so fucking pennypinching me and God Bless my Dad who TAUGHT ME - guess what, I can relax a bit. It seems that our tiny little kitty - raised by A. R. last year wonderfully - actually DOESN'T have to be quite so husbanded, since we DO NOT have to pay for buses or referees for our games. I was under the impression that for the non-conference games that I feel were so important for us to play - we had to pay for Referees and buses. And the answer? NO! The school will pay for all of that - and in doing so, totally expanded our budget. Stunningly - like the Pacific War during those 5m @ Midway - it's all changed. Suddenly I can start looking to but extra equipment for us - like little goals, conditioning equipment, gloves for the goalies, etc etc etc...maybe even prizes like t shirts, etc... for the end of the season.
So- I asked her - not 'off the record', but 'I do not know please tell me' - about visiting grammar schools and ... observing practices and games of the schools around here so that ... well, I can tell them the grammer school kids fantastic our school is - especially the athletic girls playing soccer. There are heavy recruitement rules that I will meticiously follow - but our school really is a special school, and I'm tryig to match the soccer program w/ this specialness. As the Technical Director of the team here - I have a heavy iterest in it's future, and its njoyable that I can be a little proactive for the team. It's a great thing.
Funny - I feel a trillion times better about the relationship between the AD and I. Like i'd suspected, it was my natural "I'm being persecuted" inclination - and I knew it, too, like Blackies knowing but still experiencing it. Things so much better.
Multiculturalism.
We have kids from all over. Not quite like the school, that Gallos bro works @ - there are no Indians in sari's or Jews w/ yamakas here - but we got Latinos, African Americans, whites and Polish (and yes, notice they are in a separate category), Arabs, and Chinese. It's my goal to have a team that represents the whole school. I absolutely love my Latinas - but I want everyone well represented. So, all year, I went after all girls who I thought would improve the team - black girls, Polish girls, attempted to work w/ one of the bilingual Chinese teachers who had tonnes of 14yo over from China freshman - but until today we were totally Latin.
But then - YES- two African American girls approached me and asked about the team. Sat them down immediately and got their names, and one showed up for practice the same day. She's gotta play a lot and get better - but I used my fiat and no matter how good she isn't - she's on our freshman team. To me, a team - or a program - doesn't necessarily have to have the best 'players' - in the long run, our Team will be made better and stronger - for the girls, the school, for America and the World - and for me - if we are more multilaterally represented. I'm not sure how you readers feel about this - you know, it's America, and it's Race, and those not American just don't know - but I do know. It's a beautiful day for us.
Paperwork
Gettin' there. We need a -excuse me, not a, but three - rosters by Friday. This is the day - the put up or shut up day where its gotta get done. And now, I'm sure - we've crested the hill. I DO NOT have all of my girls paperwork yet still - but I have enough to go to the AD and say "here we are for now" and we'll be able to add the next set of girls as the season goes on - they will just have to miss some games. I'm ok w/ that - again, one of my great achievements of my ENTIRE LIFE is that I got three games schedules before conference games start(think NCAA - say, Big Ten Football schedules - same idea), and the girls can watch their teammates play and get jealous and race to get their fucking shit to-gether and to me.
The AD
It just seemed that we were being picked on - it really did. Disabused. I had a sit down w/ her after another email that started off w/ her classic "Let me make this perfectly clear....". I quivered up to hr office, but when I left, it truly was as if I was once again Ney, clutching a musket, holding the Russians @ bay as the rear guard and letting the rest of Napoleons army escape (Yes, I incomparably love Waterloo imagery more, but they lot there, didn't they?). We covered a bunch of issues, and they were all good.
So- stunningly, money issues, so fucking pennypinching me and God Bless my Dad who TAUGHT ME - guess what, I can relax a bit. It seems that our tiny little kitty - raised by A. R. last year wonderfully - actually DOESN'T have to be quite so husbanded, since we DO NOT have to pay for buses or referees for our games. I was under the impression that for the non-conference games that I feel were so important for us to play - we had to pay for Referees and buses. And the answer? NO! The school will pay for all of that - and in doing so, totally expanded our budget. Stunningly - like the Pacific War during those 5m @ Midway - it's all changed. Suddenly I can start looking to but extra equipment for us - like little goals, conditioning equipment, gloves for the goalies, etc etc etc...maybe even prizes like t shirts, etc... for the end of the season.
So- I asked her - not 'off the record', but 'I do not know please tell me' - about visiting grammar schools and ... observing practices and games of the schools around here so that ... well, I can tell them the grammer school kids fantastic our school is - especially the athletic girls playing soccer. There are heavy recruitement rules that I will meticiously follow - but our school really is a special school, and I'm tryig to match the soccer program w/ this specialness. As the Technical Director of the team here - I have a heavy iterest in it's future, and its njoyable that I can be a little proactive for the team. It's a great thing.
Funny - I feel a trillion times better about the relationship between the AD and I. Like i'd suspected, it was my natural "I'm being persecuted" inclination - and I knew it, too, like Blackies knowing but still experiencing it. Things so much better.
Multiculturalism.
We have kids from all over. Not quite like the school, that Gallos bro works @ - there are no Indians in sari's or Jews w/ yamakas here - but we got Latinos, African Americans, whites and Polish (and yes, notice they are in a separate category), Arabs, and Chinese. It's my goal to have a team that represents the whole school. I absolutely love my Latinas - but I want everyone well represented. So, all year, I went after all girls who I thought would improve the team - black girls, Polish girls, attempted to work w/ one of the bilingual Chinese teachers who had tonnes of 14yo over from China freshman - but until today we were totally Latin.
But then - YES- two African American girls approached me and asked about the team. Sat them down immediately and got their names, and one showed up for practice the same day. She's gotta play a lot and get better - but I used my fiat and no matter how good she isn't - she's on our freshman team. To me, a team - or a program - doesn't necessarily have to have the best 'players' - in the long run, our Team will be made better and stronger - for the girls, the school, for America and the World - and for me - if we are more multilaterally represented. I'm not sure how you readers feel about this - you know, it's America, and it's Race, and those not American just don't know - but I do know. It's a beautiful day for us.
Tne assistants.div>
They are happy. I have three. The JV coach - a good man, but we have not seen eye to eye about all. This is ok - it's a work inprogress- b ut I know that as the days go by, we are working better and better everyday. Since yesterday was so outstanding. we parted ways w/ a handshake - we both know, finally, that it's getting close and we just about got it all down. This is imooratant. He's a soccer guy and good where I am weak - I need him. Bit by bit we 're meshing better. The freshman coach is a neophyte in soccer, but sh LOVES the fact that she's a coach, and just wants to learn. Her enthusiasm is great. Finally - R. - another coach who worked w/ us last year - is looking to fit in and wants direction from me. I have a place for her in the context of the team - she is needed. It's working -I think.
Champ de Bataille.
We are orphans, pitchwise. The fields outside of the school are totally used up by baseball. We have to walk almost a full mile to get to the place where we practice - and we don't even get to play there 'till 1 April because they do not want to mess up the field for baseball w/ all the spring rain showers. That's seven games into the season. We're treated like chumps.
But an idea. There is an old factory (out of business) near the park that is now out of busiess. In a meeting w/ the park manager last fall, he mentioned that they had been trying to get the park district to acquire the land. I immediately thought 'kool' and got my mind working. If somehow we could get some action on it, maybe we could actually get a field for the team to play on.
But more: the school has a social action group that trains the kids to be leaders in the community. They try to plan and enact social action (or whatever the term is) to try and better the community. It occured to me that this would be an excellent issue for the social action group to take on. I went to the teache in charge of the social action group, overviewed him what I overviewed y just now, acknowledged it would benefit th girls team @ my school the most, and then told him that I'd get him back to him next week w/ photos, ideas, maps, Ph #'s, etc etc etc...
It would be good. Years away, though.
Champ de Bataille.
We are orphans, pitchwise. The fields outside of the school are totally used up by baseball. We have to walk almost a full mile to get to the place where we practice - and we don't even get to play there 'till 1 April because they do not want to mess up the field for baseball w/ all the spring rain showers. That's seven games into the season. We're treated like chumps.
But an idea. There is an old factory (out of business) near the park that is now out of busiess. In a meeting w/ the park manager last fall, he mentioned that they had been trying to get the park district to acquire the land. I immediately thought 'kool' and got my mind working. If somehow we could get some action on it, maybe we could actually get a field for the team to play on.
But more: the school has a social action group that trains the kids to be leaders in the community. They try to plan and enact social action (or whatever the term is) to try and better the community. It occured to me that this would be an excellent issue for the social action group to take on. I went to the teache in charge of the social action group, overviewed him what I overviewed y just now, acknowledged it would benefit th girls team @ my school the most, and then told him that I'd get him back to him next week w/ photos, ideas, maps, Ph #'s, etc etc etc...
It would be good. Years away, though.
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