Four Years?

According to Blogger, I haven't blogged in four years.  FOUR YEARS!  If you knew me, you would find that hard to believe, since I usually have quite a lot to say. 


A lot has happened in the past four years, but in a lot of ways, a lot hasn't changed.  The Little One and The Big One are both still playing travel hockey, and the drama just.doesn't.quit.  The drama in the past several months with our hockey organization was over the top, with a brief time when the organization considered shutting down entirely.  Through some retooling, the organization (and our teams) were spared, thankfully.  But once again, it appeared from the outside that it was some grown men (everyone involved were men) who couldn't work together for the sake of a bunch of kids.  The former hockey director has moved on, and a lot of the blame was placed on him, but watching how the organization has moved forward, it has proven that a lot of the blame was misplaced.  I hope the board is taking some classes in board composition, organization, and development, but I just don't know.  There are lots of people who want to see this organization improve and grow, but some board members don't seem to want to powershare, or to ask for help, or to accept help when it is offered!


The Little One played another season of travel baseball this summer.  The excitement of my blog post from four years ago when he made the travel team was turned to sadness when he was cut at the end of the season.  AFTER the team dinner where the coaches paid a lot of lip service about how the team was a family, how we were all in this together to grow, and that they had picked this team for the long haul.  Then just a few days later, we get the phone call that he and one other child had been cut because the coaches did not have time to "develop" them.  Obviously, that left a bad taste in our mouths (and it still hurts me to think about it these years later), but The Little One rebounded and decided he still wanted to play baseball.  Since then, we have only played "rec-league" baseball, but he was invited to play on the All-Star Team this summer.  In the interest of boosting his self-confidence, we allowed him to play.  It wasn't all that much fun, so I think next year we'll stick to rec ball and then the swimming pool!


The Big One is now playing for his high school hockey team, in addition to his travel team.  He made the highest level team he has ever made, so that was quite an honor for him, although also an adjustment, as he went from being "the big dog" on his previous team to having to prove himself on the new team.  It is all working out, and he gets more and more confident that he is in the right place with every game.


We head to Chicago later this week for the Bauer World Invitational with both boys, Big and Little!


So, I'm Baaa-aaack!  Stay tuned!