Playing for ALHS soccer team

 This past year was my third year of playing soccer for the shoregals. I can't believe that next fall will be my last and final season at ALHS:( I've made so many memories throughout it all. There's been ups and downs but I still love it.
 My first year it was pretty nerve racking at tryouts. I was going out for the position as a right outside midfielder. This is probably the worst (but best for me) position to have because the whole time you're constantly running up and down the field. I made the team and actually started the whole year! We actually won our first ever girls soccer SWC title. It was really cool being a part of that! Since then I'd say we have had success, just not as much as we've wanted.
 Sophomore year was okay and we had a pretty good-average season with about the same number of wins as losses. I really enjoyed sophomore year because I was just beginning to be pulled up onto varsity to get some playing time. It was pretty intimidating but it definitely prepared me for this year.


Sophomore year JV team.

 This past summer there was more drama going down then I'd ever expect. Between our coach Kiko stepping down, tryouts, and just stupid talking, I didn't know how we would do this year. Stepping on the field for our first game I felt confident and just knew we were going to have a great season, despite our whole summer drama crap.

In a huddle as we get ready for our first home game.

 Yeah so our season didn't really turn out how we all hoped it would. Our record ended up being 2-10-5....yeah not so good. I think that it was really because we lost 12 seniors the year before and had to rebuild it. We had a lot of underclassmen trying to fill the shoes of the previous seniors. Even though our record wasn't too good I still did have fun! Between team dinners, team bonding, and team sleepovers, it made up for the crap season!

Me rocking that outside mid.

At our super horribly muddy game.

           First half of Avon Lake shoregals varsity vs. Sylvania Northview

 I'm really looking forward to next year, even though it will sadly be my last:( I hope we have a much improved winning season with positive outlooks! .....and no drama...but that would never happen.

Team Bonding

 Every year, us shoregals pack up our tees, shorts, and tennis shoes and travel to our Team Bonding camp. I look forward to this every summer. During late August we take off a weekend and go to a camp sight called Pilgrim Hills. We do fun activities while talking and bonding with our new teammates. It's the one time during the summer where we aren't competing against each other and can just have fun. I've made some pretty good memories from these camps.



Team Bonding 2K12



 Before we leave we get a schedule of events that will take place at the camp. The first day we usually arrive around 4 in the afternoon and the leaders tell us our cabin numbers and our roommates. Then we go out into this big open grass area and play a few ice breaker games. These are pretty fun because you can just mess around. Next we go and have a late snack in the cafeteria and play a few board games. After our first day of being there we hang out with each other in the cabins and go to bed.

The "Lets Get Weird" Gang.



 You think we get to sleep in the next morning? Yeah I wish. Wake up call is at 7 where we have to be at breakfast by 7:45. It's pretty rough if I must say myself. There's no time to sleep in when we have a full day of activities planned. We usually hang around in the main hall for a while just playing games and talking about our goals as a team before we head out to canoeing. It literally takes 3 hours to canoe down the river. Lets just say all we wanted to do was sleep when we got back. After that we hang around until dinner. Right after dinner we play a game called predator vs. pray. It's probably one of the funnest games ever. It's pretty much a huge game of man hunt. Before the bonfire, we have a talent show for anyone to do anything. This year, a group of girls including myself made up a dance to a mash up of different songs. It made everyone laugh...and of course someone took a video of it. Then  when it gets dark out we go down to a little lake and start the bonfire. This is my favorite part because we play a game called Mafia. Then we head back to our cabins just to hang out and have "girl" talk before we finally call it a night.



More of the LGW gang.

 On the last day there we have to get up, eat breakfast, and head out. Before we go the whole team stops at the entrance sign and takes pictures. I'm going to miss going there every summer even though it's just for a weekend. When we get home everyone seems so much closer since before we left. We become closer with new people and our team becomes stronger because of it. I just recently found out that this year we aren't going back there for my senior year:( Instead we're just going to some church and doing who knows what. I'm kind of super upset because it will be my last year and now we don't have an official team bonding. Karen Krause and I had an idea of doing a ropes course or going to Kalahari instead. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens! Overall, I think that team bonding retreats are great for every team. I know I love them just cause we're pretty much go crazy!!



Got to love us dysfunctional juniors.



Team Dinners

 Food, food, food, and more food. When you're an athlete all we want to do is eat. We are hungry before games, after games, even in between games. Usually, every team has organized dinners together. Every season we have about six team dinners hosted either at a teammates house or in the high school commons. They range from Mexican tacos to breakfast for dinner. Breakfast for dinner by far is the favorite amongst the team. It first started when I was a freshman. My mom, Karen's mom, and Molly's mom all decided we should do a breakfast dinner. Since then we have done three and we hope the tradition will continue.

 The dinner includes a wide variety of foods. The best are the pancakes prepared every year by my dad. Did I mention these pancakes are chocolate chip? I must say they're pretty tasty. There are also plain pancakes, but those are for the squares. Of course we have tons of sides as well. We have blueberry, chocolate chip, and cinnamon muffins. There's also sausage and bacon. For drinks we have CHOCOLATE MILK, and orange juice. Chocolate milk is the most commonly chosen just cause it's so good.

 

 Overall team dinners are fun because we eat delicious food, and get to mess around with each other. At our first team dinner we had someone pierce some other girls ear. Everyone was crowded around watching. It was pretty interesting to say the least. Besides that we all just like to talk as a team since we normally don't get to do that when we are on the field. We are all just our crazy selves when we hang out together.
 Team dinners are a great way to bring everyone together after a hard workout on the field. Whenever we have one scheduled, it just makes me work harder as practice knowing we get to eat right after. I think we can all agree team dinners are fantastic for many different, but all good, reason!!



Just looking at these makes me want some.

Soccer Clothing Is Where It's At

 Shoes, shin pads, socks, shorts, shirts, pre wrap, and a lot of hair ties. If you go in a soccer bag these are just a few of the items you'll find. During the summer I live in soccer clothes. I don't even want to begin to list the amount of shorts/t-shirts I have. Alright so I'm going to start off with shorts. Let's see there's running shorts and soccer shorts. These are two completely different types so don't get them confused. I wear running shorts a lot for conditioning sessions we have in the morning. As for the open plays, I will wear soccer shorts. I would say I have an equal amount of both of these two types. I personally like running shorts because they have so many different colors!



Soccer Shorts.




Running shorts.

 Since I've already talked about shoes in my last blog, we can move on to shirts. I don't think I've ever actually gone out to the store to buy a t-shirt. You just don't do that. I have accumulated so many t-shirts over the years from different camps, games, and races. I honestly think if I counted all of them up I would have over 50. They're all different and I can remember when I first got all of them. I just keep adding to my collection each year.



Soccer Girl Problems t-shirt. I really want one.





 



 I would show a picture of all the shirts I have but I really don't want to take them all out and have to put them back. So next are socks. As a team we have uniform socks we wear. They are white Adidas. Boring right. I mean why not pick a super fun color sock and have everyone wear that?



You have to admit these are sweet. 

 Oh and to go under these socks, we have to wear shin guards. Yep they're pretty annoying. They just get all sweaty and gross. Anyways, they really are not fun or cool or anything. I hope you've enjoyed reading about soccer clothing and all the great necessities we have. One last pic of pre wrap just for fun. I mean there's so many different colors you can wear it with anything!!



Best headband ever.