Where Travel Soccer Takes Over Our Lives: Fall Season

I mentioned that our son had tried out for and made a travel soccer team. Well, we looked forward all-summer to the season kicking off with a week long soccer camp. Camp did not disappoint.

The price of camp was included in our club fees. Junior went Monday-Friday from 9am-11:30am. He got to work with coaches from his local club and coaches from the main International Academy that came over from England for the week.

Camp was awesome! It was a great way for him to get to know some of the kids from the new club, though he didn't work only with kids from his own team. It was a great introduction to the Club's philosophy and coaching style. They made it such fun that I don't even think Junior realized he was learning anything at all.

As an aside: I was extremely concerned about the cleanliness of the facility. Each day my son was covered in what seemed to be a fine, black powder, sweat dripping down his face. Each night I was using copious amounts of OxyC.lean to get the black powder mixed with sweat out of his white (why, in the name of all that is holy, did they choose WHITE?!?!) training jersey. Because in travel soccer the kids wear uniforms to trainings & games. My girls were filthy by the end of practice as well from playing on the bleachers. I was told they deep clean the facility top to bottom once a month, but I have not seen any evidence of such a cleaning ever taking place except for once in a while it seems extra humid in there. It's so gross.

Practices started the next week (end of August) twice a week on Mondays & Wednesdays from 6-7:30pm. We had our first tournament on the weekend after the first week of practice. It was an absolute disaster. The boys played really badly; it was embarrassing...but we were assured that it is like this every year. This first tournament is always terrible.

A couple weekends later we had a second tournament. We did much better and if it hadn't been for some atrocious calls by the refs, we would've gone to the finals. The boys, more than likely, would've won since they had beat the team they would've faced in regular season play a couple times.

cleat marks & a huge bruise from getting stomped on by another player

Games averaged 1-2 per weekend. Luckily, though this is a travel league, the farthest away we had to travel was less than an hour. I'm certainly not complaining about the "travel" just yet. Games changed at the last minute with regularity. There was a game a 45 minute drive away from our home at 7am on a Saturday morning; and we needed to arrive 30 minutes early to warm up. I haven't been up that early on purpose in more than 5 years.

Our boys won their division in the Fall league. We were very proud of them, but a little disappointed there wasn't even a trophy or certificate for them. The boys didn't care though, so whatever, less junk collecting dust on his dresser.

Mr. Amen and I in the cheering section

Junior also "played up" several times with older teams and/or more experienced teams. He held his own quite well and even scored goals for those other teams. His own coach sees him as a primarily defensive player, sometimes he is put as a midfielder. Regardless of where he is, his coaches consider him a "wrecking ball" for his ability to break up a play and for the physicality of his play. He's like running into a brick wall. Though he is the youngest player on his team, he is 80 pounds of solid muscle. They've suggested we consider letting him play rugby in a few years as well as soccer.

1 week of camp
19 team training sessions
4 training sessions with private technical coach
17 games

The Good
*Progress, progress, progress in all areas of play
*New friends
*Winning games
*Fun at Tournaments
*Family time spent in the car and at games
*Playing up with older/more experienced teams

The Bad
*Dirty, grimy grossness
*So much laundry (seriously, I went through so much OxyC.lean and had to add a daily reminder to my phone to wash uniforms so I didn't forget before going to bed)
*Last minute game schedule & location changes
*Schedule conflicts with other activities (Friday night prayer group conflicts with Friday night dance classes and Friday night games; Saturday morning work conflicts with gymnastics & Saturday morning games)
*So much money (a monthly payment plan helps, but wow! At least the price we were told was all inclusive except for travel costs & uniform)

The Ugly
*Politics & bickering among the parents/coaches (ummm, I had no idea people could be this intense about 8 & 9yos playing soccer, but well, they are) 
*Divide and conquer (DH & I have to go in different directions more often than we'd like to get everyone everywhere they belong)


The Other
*Soccer experience for our daughter
We let our 5yo play with their mini program since we were already in the building at the same time, so she got some soccer experience. She liked it and was invited to move up to the next level. But ya'll...the cost!!

*Catechism
We were very lucky that our Pastor is also a soccer player because the training schedule conflicted with Catechism. Catechism is only offered at our Parish on Wednesdays from 6:15-7:30pm. We talked with Father about how we could make this work because his RE is very important to us. I can teach him Catechism, but I can't teach him soccer. Father knows we are a committed family, so he allowed us to homeschool Junior for Catechism and if his training schedule changed, we could just start bringing him to class.

*My Hair
I dyed my hair with red peek-a-boo highlights to support our team :-) Over the summer I had dyed purple peek-a-boo highlights for the local semi-pro team we support, so once their season was over and Junior's started up, he wanted to know if I would dye my hair for his team. So I did. It didn't last long; the red faded out much faster than the purple, but he thought it was pretty cool to have his mom's hair match his uniform.

So that was the Fall season of Year 1 of Travel Soccer.

Meatless Friday Ideas: Burgers

Here come meatless Fridays, folks!

I struggled for ages coming up with meatless meals on the Fridays of Lent...but now we eat a mostly vegetarian diet, so I have TONS of ideas.

We are a burger loving people in our house, so here's 5 meatless burger recipes to choose from when you just can't do fish sticks and macaroni and cheese one more time.

Roasted Zucchini & Quinoa Burgers with Garlic Whipped Feta
My tips on these: Make your quinoa ahead of time using veggie broth instead of water (extra flavor!!) Use 1 3/4 - 2cups of panko. If you don't have fresh basil on hand (and I never do) use 1/2 tsp dried basil. Be generous with the salt & pepper.

I form the patties by scooping 1/2 cup of the mixture into a measuring cup and emptying it onto silpat on a baking sheet, pressing it down and shaping it with my hands. Don't skip the fridge chill out session! Bake these in the oven instead of frying them; I do about 15-20 minutes per side at 400°F.

For the Garlic Whipped Feta: use 1 Tbsp fresh dill and 1 tsp lemon juice. Unless you like big lemon flavor and lots of dill...then just use her quantities. I found the dill & lemon to overpower the garlic & feta, and I reallllllllly like the garlic & feta.

So. Delicious. I love them with some raw purple onion and iceberg lettuce (soak the onion slices in ice water for 5 minutes to help take the "bite" out of them).

Smoky Sweet Potato Burgers with Roasted Garlic Cream
My kids loved these! The first time I served these, Miss A was not sure she wanted to eat them. She had recently declared herself a vegetarian (thank you Kindergarten lesson plans personifying turkeys in November) and also that she didn't like vegetables. I explained that this is the kind of food vegetarians eat, so if she was going to be a vegetarian, she'd have to eat this. She did and she loved it!

Epic Crispy Quinoa Burgers
Make the fries to go on top. And the egg. Oh, yes, the egg
                                                                                           gg
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See that runny yolk pooling on your plate just waiting to be sopped up with this epic burger??!!


Zucchini Parmesan Sliders
Oh my. I can't adequately express how amazing these are. I might have made a second batch after people went to bed just so I could eat more without sharing. Ah, who am I kidding?! I did.

Sloppy Lentils
This one was really easy to throw together on a weeknight. The kids gobbled it up and said these were the best Sloppy Joes I've ever made.  They didn't even notice it wasn't made of meat.

1 1/2 c dried lentils (green)

3 c veggie broth

1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 sweet onion, chopped

1 can tomato soup (10 3/4 oz)

3/4 c ketchup

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1/4 c dark brown sugar

2 T Worchestershire Sauce

1 1/2 tsp yellow mustard

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Buns

Rinse lentils well under running water (pick our any rocks or deformed lentils). Add lentils & veggie broth to a medium saucepan. Bring to a rapid simmer, then lower heat to a slow simmer (few bubbles, a little bit of movement). Cook uncovered for 20-30 minutes (older lentils take longer to cook). As soon as they are tender, remove from heat and strain. Set aside.

Heat EVOO over medium heat, add onion. Saute until translucent (you can saute them until they begin to turn brown & caramelize a bit if you prefer). Add strained lentils and all remaining ingredients and combine well. Simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and serve on buns!

You can also add grated carrot and/or chopped peppers if you like that sort of thing!

Well, wishing you your BEST LENT EVER! And with these burgers, it will be.

Egg Cups

My Health Coach suggested that I start eating breakfast as a way to jump start my metabolism and (hopefully) lose weight.

I've gotten into a bad habit of not eating breakfast, rarely eating lunch, eating a regular dinner, and having some ice cream before bed (not every day, but many days). I've found that if I eat breakfast, I'm not hungry the rest of the day.

I've been not eating breakfast for more than 25 years, so that's a big change.

Big. HUGE. GIGANTIC.

Our plan was to eat something small, almost like a snack instead of a whole breakfast. She asked what sorts of breakfast foods I like and I answered that I like omelets.

It's not realistic for me to make an omelet for myself every day. Or most days. Or even any days. I just don't have that kind of time in my schedule.

Enter the make ahead Egg Cups. I spent a half an hour making a batch of these (including bake time) after getting home from dropping off my kiddos at school this morning and now I have breakfast for the whole week, except Sunday when I make pancakes.

Egg Cups
Servings: 6
Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25-30 minutes

6 large eggs, beaten
2 cups fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
9 tsp crumbled feta cheese (more or less, depending on your preference)
fresh cracked pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 6 wells of a muffin tin with non-stick spray. Set aside.

Divide chopped spinach between the 6 prepared muffin wells. Sprinkle 1 1/2 tsp feta cheese over the spinach in each well. Add pepper to taste (I used one turn of my pepper mill in each well). Pour the beaten eggs over the spinach & feta to fill each well, stopping about 1/4" from the top.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, use a knife to loosen Egg Cups from the muffin tin. Cool completely on wire rack. Store covered in the refrigerator; heat in the microwave for 30-40 seconds before eating.

Variations: Add some chopped onion or mushrooms. Instead of spinach & feta, try broccoli & cheddar, asparagus & parmesan, bell peppers & ham or choose your own combination.