Logistics

Y'all already know that the scrimmage is now Wednesday at 7:30.

College Station next weekend. No hotels needed.

Plano, Aug 22-23. We are staying at:

The Westin Stonebriar Hotel & Golf Club
1549 Legacy Drive
Frisco TX 75034 United States
Phone:(1)(972) 668-8000

The link to book your room is here. The rooms are held for us until August 7, so don't procrastinate as much as I normally do.

Little Rock, September 5-7. We can stay at the Capital Hotel for $159 a night. I realize that is a little more expensive than what we usually shoot for, but it is Labor Day weekend, and it is a nice hotel (#1 in LR according to Trip Advisor). They have set aside the rooms for us, but I'm not sure it's in the system yet to book them that at that price. Hopefully on Monday we'll be able to do that. I'll let you know and pass along the link or phone number.

Also, tentatively put the ESPN/Disney tournament on your schedule. It's December 31 - January 3. There's another tournament December 4-6 we are considering as well. Try to keep those dates open for now. I will coordinate a team meeting soon to go over all this stuff.

On a personal note: If you have time  Make time to watch the movie Whiplash. Watch it with your daughters. I will go on record as saying it might be my favorite movie. It's rated "R", and there is some brutally harsh language and adult situations, but no sex or nudity. The movie is about jazz drumming, but it could just as easily be about soccer players. It's actually not about jazz drumming. It's about being the best, pushing yourself, being pushed, success, failure, relationships, balancing priorities, family...I could go on and on. Just go watch it. It's not on Netflix, but it is on other on-demand services if you look around. 

Enjoy the weekend off. It may be the last one for a while.

Travel, and more!

A couple of updates to share…Please respond to the things in RED.

• We have a friendly against the ‘01 girls this Saturday (August  1) at 9:30am at McGovern. I know a few of you will be out. If you can’t make it and haven’t let me know yet, please do so ASAP. It’s going to be tight and we may have to borrow a few players.
• I’m working on getting our new uniforms ASAP. I’m not 100% sure we will have them by our August 8-9 games. Stay tuned. For our two new players, fear not! I’m working on getting something for you in case.
• Speaking of our new kits, if you haven’t seen them, check them out here.  I think we should get the alternate kit as well.  As much as we play and travel, having a long sleeve option is nice, and they look great too. We will need to order them as a team. It’s an extra $100. I’ll assume that silence = consent, so if you object, let me know.

Travel

• Our August 8-9 games are in College Station. I’m going to assume that we are all driving up and back for both games and that I don’t need to coordinate a hotel. I hope that’s ok. The games are at 1:45pm on Saturday and 9:45am on Sunday.
• August 22-23 we will be playing in Plano. Obviously, we will need a hotel for this one. The Saturday game is at 3:30pm, which means that driving up on Saturday morning is a reasonable option. Sunday’s game is at 9:45am. I’ve got us some rooms set aside at the Westin Stonebriar. It’s very close to Sunday’s fields. It’s right next to the place we stayed last time. There’s plenty of good restaurant options nearby, and the pool is very nice, golf course too. I got a block of rooms at $119/night, which is a heck of a deal for such a nice hotel. That price includes free breakfast for two people. If you register extra people in your room, it’s an additional $5 per person, but that gets them the breakfast too (which is a full buffet and omelet station and all the goodies). I need a head count for rooms. Please let me know if you need a room, and how many. The rooms will also be available at the same rate on Friday night too, for those of you that don’t want the stress of driving up Saturday morning. If you need someone to host your daughter, let me know.
• Labor Day Weekend. We have the unique pleasure of going to Little Rock, Arkansas for Labor Day. We will have games all three days – Saturday at 3:30pm, Sunday at 10:45am, and Monday at 9:45am. In case you don’t know, Mark lived in Little Rock for a while, so he’s looking forward to this trip. I have a Little Rock connection as well. My boss owns a great hotel downtown, walking distance from the riverwalk, and only about 10-15 minute from the fields. I’m working to get us the friends and family rate now.
  With an afternoon game on Saturday, one could conceivably fly up Saturday morning (United has a 7:15 flight that gets in at 8:38 and Southwest has a 7:00am that gets in at 10:20am after stopping in Dallas). Once again, I will need to know ASAP if you will need a room, which nights, and how many people. I will let you know on rates as soon as I hear something.  
  If you need someone to host your daughter, let me know.

That’s all I can think of for now. I’m sure there’s more.

Let me know if I can help with anything.

-Ryan

A healthy start...

It seems like at the beginning of each season we see an increase in the number of stress related injuries - pulled hamstrings, strained quads, tender hip flexors and so on. As we are getting this season kicked off, I thought it might be helpful to pass this along. Please have your daughters look at this.

I came across this recently, and I've found it to be a robust routine to warm-up or cool-down or to work on flexibility. All you need is a foam roller and a lacrosse ball (or alpha ball) and about 15 minutes. 

Here's a youtube video that walks you through the whole routine. It's called the "Limber 11."

If you don't feel like sitting through the whole youtube video (it's 20 minutes), then here's a page that shows all 11 movements in .gifs. 

While we are ramping up the work load over the next few weeks, try to work in the Limber 11 before or after training. There's no reason why you can't do this every day. 

Pre season training

Tonight  23rd on L2 8pm 

Sunday 26th on L2 3pm 

Monday 27th on L2 8pm 

Thurs 30th on Futsal 8pm

Sat August 1st - 9:30am at McGovern vs 01G Navy

Back to reality...

I hope you've been enjoying your summer. Mine has been flying by.

Schedule
Believe it or not, we will get back to training this week. Our participation in Premier League means an earlier start and a different schedule. We begin the weekend of August 8-9 in College Station. We will be traveling for all of our games. We will play every other weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. Take a look at the schedule here. Note that Labor Day weekend we will be in Little Rock for all three days.

I'm assuming the College Station is not an overnight trip for us, but everything else will be. I'll be back in touch with y'all about hotels and travel arrangements.

Training
Our normal training sessions will be Tuesday and Thursday at South Campus (1S) from 8:10-9:30pm. Our 3rd session will be at the futsal courts on Wednesday at the same time, 8:10-9:30pm.

As you know, HESC is implementing TRX training as well. We will be working that into the mix. We are still undecided on whether or not we'll add some extra time with Roz this season. Stay tuned.

Mark gets back into town this week and would like to start training this Wednesday! 

Tournaments
This is an important year for the girls in terms of getting in front of college coaches, so we'll definitely be looking into some big tournaments this season. We are still researching this, but the easiest option at this point looks like returning to Disney. Stay tuned for more on this. And a big thanks to Rick Schachter for looking into all of our options here.

Other
I'm sure there's more to this season, but I don't have all the details yet. There are some new acronyms floating around that I don't fully understand. Don't assume that this is all there is for the fall season. We should know more this week.



If you can't make our first games (or any of our games for that matter), let me know ASAP.

Uniforms should be here fairly soon, I think.


And last, but not least, is our roster. As you may have noticed there are a couple of changes to the team this fall. We want to welcome Hannah and Amber to the team. You parents may not know them, but your daughters surely will. This is quite an impressive lineup in my humble opinion.

For the 2015 Fall season, the 00G Navy team looks like this:

Madeline Beavers
Makenzie Bell
Hannah Bodron
McKenzie Borchers
Lauren Cerda
Katerina Coggeshall
Claire Crane
Mary Dade
Natalie Festa
Trinity Hernandez
Eleanor Hewell
Mackenzie Johnson
Emma Kallmeyer
Julia Roberts
Amber Ruiz
Paola Sagel
Allison Schachter
Norma Trejo

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Call me or email me! I probably won't know the answer, but I'm happy to talk!

Ryan

State Finals, take two.

As you know, we are finishing up the State Finals tournament this weekend. We are in first place, but it is very close, and not every team has played two games yet. So...we must win both days. It's just that simple. 

Saturday we play Classics Elite at 10:00 am on field 8-Sailor. Wear all NAVY. (Bring white too).

Sunday we play Lone Star Red at 2:00 pm on field 2-Navy. Wear all WHITE. (Bring navy).

The fields are in College Station at Veterans Park.

3101 Harvey Road

College Station, TX 77845

Google maps says it's about 1.5 hours with no traffic from my house. So plan accordingly. Please be there at least 45 minutes before kick off. 

Here is a link to the field map.

http://www.challengesoccer.com/docs/Tournaments/Aggieland/Veteran%27s%20Park%20Map.pdf

It will be hot! It should be 90 both days. I'll bring the tent of course. Make sure you have plenty of water, that you and eat and hydrate properly before and after the games.

This weekend, next weekend, and your weekends in the Fall...

This weekend: We are officially on for a game this Saturday morning against the Dynamos at 10:00 at the St. Thomas' Episcopal's field on Willowbend (where we played Eclipse a couple weeks ago). Let's wear white-white-navy. This is an NPL game. Please be there by 9:15.

Next week: I'm sorry I haven't mentioned this earlier. We have evaluations for the Fall season. They are Monday and Wednesday June 1st and 3rd from 7:30-9:30 at South Campus #4. Mark would like for all the girls to attend both sessions. Please try to make these!

Next weekend: Our rained out flooded out games from last weekend will be June 6-7 in College Station. Here is the schedule. 10:00 am on Saturday and 2:00 pm on Sunday. If we win those games, there is a very good chance we will be in Little Rock for the Region III Championships.

If you can, keep that week of June 18-25 open for the Region III Championships.

Many of you have asked about the Surf Cup tournament we mentioned. I think we are waiting to see what happens next weekend to make a call on that.

Your weekends in the Fall: Or maybe I should say, every other weekend next Fall...we will be traveling. Here is our Premier League West schedule.

Last thing. The summer training program at HESC is filling up! Don't forget to sign up, if you're interested.

May 9-10

This weekend we have our last two state cup games. Tomorrow we play Albion at Zube Park #5 at noon. Remember that Zube is way the heck out 290, so please allow enough time to get there for warm up. Tomorrow we will wear white/white/navy. But bring it all. 

17400 Roberts Road

Hockley, TX 77447

Sunday we are playing Challenge at 2:00 at Lyndsay Lyons #26. Wear navy/white/white. 

For those keeping score at home, we are in first place so far. The top two teams from State Cup will advance to the finals. The finals are in San Marcos on May 23-24. At the finals, the top two teams from the eastern district (that's us) play the top two from the western district (Austin and San Antonio). The winner of that advances to the Region III championships, which is in Little Rock on June 18-25. 

Better late than never

State Cup is finally kicking off. We will end up playing all 5 games in the course of 9 days!

Have a look at the schedule. 

http://events.gotsport.com/events/schedule.aspx?eventid=43471&FieldID=0&applicationID=2719354&action=Go

This Saturday is at 2:00 at Lyndsay Lyons #25 against SCFC again. Wear Navy, bring white. 

Sunday is at 10:00 at Burroughs #4 against Rush. Wear white, bring navy. 

Thursday is at 7:30pm against Eclipse. We will play at St Thomas Episcopal's Willowbend facility. It's at 4113 Willowbend. Just go down Stella Link (like you're going to South Campus), go through the light at Belfort, then right at Willowbend. Wear Navy, bring white. 

Let's keep the girls rested, recovered, and healthy. This is an important week!

Games!

Tuesday (4/28) evening we have a NPL game against Space City at Dad's Club at 6:30. Wear navy, but bring white. 

Dad's Club is at:

14500 Village Evergreen Trail

Houston, TX 77062

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dad's+Club+Sports+Park,+14500+Village+Evergreen+Trail,+Houston,+TX+77062,+United+States/@29.575287,-95.1507,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x86409bf2e5291ca5:0x483424abb3faa8e2

Also, we are planning on making up our state cup game against Eclipse next Thursday (5/7) at 7:45 at St. Thomas Episcopal.  Stay tuned. 

This weekend we have two games. Saturday against Space City again. At Lyndsay Lyons #25 at 2:00. Let's go navy again (bring white). 

Sunday we play Texas Rush at Burroughs #4 at 10:00 am. Wear white, bring navy.