An art, not a science

There are countless ways to pass time on the bus, most of them involve trying to find a way to sleep.

Unless you're a secret genius. In which case, there is no time for sleep--there are problems to solve and songs to whistle.

A little about growth, part 2

Double rainbow over Iowa

I don't think coaches are born nervous and superstitious, I think that happens after years of pinning your hopes and dreams to teenagers. Sometimes they surprise us in a good way, sometimes it's not so good--we just put on our lucky socks and hope for the best.

Going into the Monmouth game, lucky socks on, we knew all we had to do was play our brand of soccer and we'd come out with a win and the right to host the Tournament, something we hadn't done since 2004. But the lucky socks were powerless against the Monmouth Scots. They played hard and well, we played sorta a little bit hard and poorly. It was one of those "perfect storm" games when everything seems to go exactly wrong. I attributed it to nerves which lead to over-thinking which lead to brain cramps, but whatever it was we played badly. We had a few kids who had their worst game of the year, a few who just seemed listless and uninterested, and a few who clawed their way through the game but it just wasn't their day. Monmouth ran over us like we were squirrels and they were a Mack truck. The final score was 0-3 but it could easily have been 4 or 5.

Somehow we mentally recovered in the hotel that night and scraped together some second half goals to beat Illinois College the next day. For ten minutes following our Sunday win we stood around with cell phones in our hands waiting to hear who won the Grinnell/St. Norbert game. If it was GC, we'd most likely have to travel there for the Tournament, if it was SNC then we would host. It was an insane nail-biter with two PKs, but the Green Knights pulled out the win, meaning we were Midwest Conference Champions. It was the most anti-climactic way to win I could have imagined.

For the next two weeks I went had trouble sleeping. I would lie awake and wonder if we were going to display the same brain cramps we had against Monmouth in our semi-final game. Were we going to let team that wasn't as talented as us beat us at home? Were we going to have to sit around the rest of the weekend watching teams we had beaten in the regular season play for OUR trophy? What could the coaches do to snap the team out of it? It was maddening. Mostly because I never came up with an answer.

But after the first five minutes of the Grinnell game I knew I wasn't the one who had to come up with an answer. The players, these kids, had to do it themselves, and they had. They had figured out what happened against Monmouth and made sure it wasn't going to happen again. My nerves disappeared and didn't reappear for the rest of the season. Against St. Norbert the next day I was anxious to get started, anxious to finish once we got a lead, but I was never nervous about our kids and their ability to play well. All season TR and I knew that if we played hard, we'd play well, and if we played well, we were going to win. And at the most important, most pressure filled point in the season, our kids grew up. They weren't the nervous kids who had barely played the Monmouth game. They were the women who won the regular season trophy and the NCAA bid in the same season. The first group to do that in the long history of Lake Forest Women's Soccer.

They showed that same spirit, that same growth, against Concordia-Moorhead in Iowa. Playing a good team, with one of our forwards injured on the bench, we scored first to go up 1-0. That's growth. That's what sports are all about.

Someday, when this season is long in the rearview mirror, these kids are going to understand what they learned on the soccer field. And it certainly will have nothing to do with a ball.

A little about growth, part I

Forester Kryptonite stored here

At the beginning of the season, within a day or two really, the coaches saw something special in this group. We had some kids who could score, some who would never stop working, some who showed good skills and coachability, some excellent on-the-ball defenders, some athletes, some speed, some upperclassmen with experience, some rookies with swagger. All of this was spread out over 25 players, which also meant that we had more depth than we'd had in a while. After a few days hashing things out in the office after practices we decided to gamble and try something (part formation, part concept) that we had never done before. It did not work out. In fact it crashed and burned pretty gloriously in our first game when we gave up 5 goals to a team that was in no danger of competing for a National Championship. Needless to say the experiment was quickly abandoned.

A return to a more common formation followed  and we spent the next couple games trying rookies and veterans alike in different positions, trying to find a mix that worked. Two solid performances in Kenosha, WI seemed to point to the fact that we were on the right track. And then we travelled to Madison, WI for a midweek tilt and churned out one of the most listless performances in recent Forester history. It was awful. I was disgusted, discouraged, and completely pissed off. In my mind, we were far too skilled, too fast, too experienced, too energetic, too talented, and too deep to play like we absolutely hated soccer but loved standing around a grass field in the all-black outfits TR handed out. Look, they even have numbers on them!

As usual though , a night of tossing and turning lead the coaches to calm down regarding the loss and come up with a small, but ultimately important line-up change. We moved one of our best scorers from the central midfield to sweeper. Suddenly everything seemed to click. It's actually a great coaching lesson-- sometimes the easiest solution to a horrible game is extremely simple. Or as my AP History teacher used to say, "don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

We never looked back. We went the next 10 games without losing. We scored goals, we played defense, we made big saves, we laughed, we had fun, we yelled at each other, and we won and won and won and won. In fact, our third game following the final formation change was one of the best games I have seen from Lake Forest athletes in my eight years with the program. We beat Lawrence at their place by playing some of the most dynamic soccer I've ever seen at this level.

That game seemed to propel us forward into the rest of the season. We had suddenly understood the kind of soccer we were capable of playing, and the intensity and effort we could show in practice,  and over the next few weeks we tried gamely to get there again and again and again. We weren't always totally successful, but our efforts were always enough to get us a victory (and one hard fought tie). That is, of course, until the last weekend of the regular season when we travelled to a teeny little town in downstate Illinois and came face to face with our biggest enemy: ourselves.

TBC.

Trying to gain perspective

The soccer blog has been silent through the end of our season. Obviously. I accept full responsibility. The last week of practice I mentioned that I hadn't updated it for a while and the team was all fired up: "But you have TONS of stuff to post! We won the Conference Tournament!!"
But the thing about it was I really couldn't sift through our success and find anything to write about. Yes we won, but that information was already available as a well-written press release on the Athletic Department page. What did I have to add other than I was really super pumped about going to the NCAA Tournament? (And I was. And am)

T.R. tried to provide some facts to inspire me:
 
--as of last week we were one of the remaining 64 DIII Women's Soccer teams still playing. There are a total of 424 DIII W. Soccer programs, which is the most in any sport, any division. (There are 338 Women's Bball teams for example.)

--The reason California Lutheran University was playing in Iowa with us is that Wartburg College was the westernmost competition site in the Tournament. Most Divison III soccer teams are in the East and Midwest.

Nice facts T.R., and I appreciate the help, but there was no saving my writer's block. As a coach I was excited, nervous, and trying to focus on what we needed to do against Concordia-Moorhead. There was no space in my brain for eloquence.

Anyway, maybe in a couple weeks I will be more prepared to reflect on this season and how our kids managed to get themselves from an embarrassing 0-5 opening loss to having one of the most successful seasons in program history. Because THAT is quite a story.

But until then, check the the Athletics website for updates and nostalgic reflection. Our all-conference selections have been announced. Our awards ceremony is coming up relatively soon. And every soccer players favorite holiday (Thanksgiving--we love to eat) is right around the corner.

All Hallows' Eve

The Halloween practice is a Forester tradition and is almost always both fun and funny. This year we had great participation from the whole team and an interesting array of costumes. One trio dressed as their coaches, another as babies. We had some duos go as Christmas elves and fairies and then individuals as Minnie Mouse, Steamboat Garth, the Periodic Table, Superman, Spongebob, a soccer nerd, a hippie, a girl scout, a devil (complete with tail that made me laugh every time she turned around), a robber/bandit of some sort with a bag of money tied around her waist, a penguin, a "cereal killer," and a Forester ballerina. Our coaches went as a taco and the grim reaper. Our torn-ACL teammate went as an oddly creepy ghost with a limp.

This ghost was creepiest when the sheet was waving in the wind. Shivers.

The best thing to say about this is "no comment"

Santa only wishes these elves were his

By the end of practice I needed Mickey to stop hanging out in that awful diaper

Even when dressed in completely different costumes they manage to wear the same thing

Of course the nerd hangs out with the periodic table of elements

A penguin protects her baby

Napoleon says '"good luck on Friday!"

 

Don't miss a second!

Our game begins at 11am on Friday. Obviously, with our kids having families all over the country and the timing of this one (a weekday morning is not the most convenient time for those of us with real jobs to hang out a soccer game), there are going to be some of our fans who can't be there in person.

A few ways to follow: most of you have discovered the streaming available on the website. Just go here and click on the link when it's close to kick off. Live stats will also be available for those who can't follow the video or can't get the video to load. I will also be tweeting at halftime and just after the final whistle. You have to join Twitter to follow me but you don't ever ever have to post anything if you don't wish. Our handle is @LFCfutbol.

Of course, you can also just do the (perhaps) more sane thing and try to forget we're playing until it's all over and you can check the score online. I think I would have fewer gray hairs if I took my own advice.

Never too busy to give back

Good work Foresters!

Last Thursday, with a weekend off approaching, members of the team piled onto a school bus at the start of practice, and drove up to North Chicago to help out some kids and families. They spent an hour or so working individually with kids on homework and reading assignments and then another hour or so helping to stock the on-site food pantry. With Thanksgiving coming up quickly it seemed like a great way to spend an afternoon.

Who's hosting the Tournament?

 

 

 

This guy

More to come on Coach K (above) and the Foresters' plans for next weekend. Games will be Fri/Sat but because of the need to get in four games Friday with the Men hosting as well, game times are still TBD.

A "borrowed" blog post from Ciara McCormack

As a buttress to my argument about winning vs. losing: a rather long essay by a former Ivy League bench-warmer. I think there are lessons here for all of us, old or young, athlete or not. Whether we are on the field all game, every game, or rarely see the pitch; whether our team wins the national championship or fails to break .500; whether we love the game or are just there because our friends are--participation, working hard, and learning to control yourself and your attitude are the things that  make a difference in our lives.

How Being A Benchwarmer Taught Me Everything I Need to Know in Life

Posted on 9/14/2012 by Ciara McCormack, via girlscansocceradventures

 

Ok maybe not everything. But it’s taught me a lot.

It is college season again, that time of the year where for approximately 2.5 months, all the work that players have put in all year will be on display, for better or for worse. I have a lot of friends and a lot of friends who are parents, whose daughters have gotten in touch over the last few weeks with frustrations of the college season.

I’m now on the inside, helping out at a school myself, and so I too, have had a chance to see the inner workings on how coaches think and how starting line-ups are determined. It’s bringing me back to my college career, and everything I learned. And I learned a lot.

I started one game in my college career.

I remember it clearly. It was against Colgate on a Sunday in October my sophomore year, in upstate New York with the kind of autumn scenery that has made the fall in New England famous.

We had played Columbia on the Friday and I had subbed in and played well. After the game I had been invited to the Deke fraternity formal by one of my friends on the football team. To this point in my college career, despite never starting, I had been religious about preparing for practices as well as games. While the campus would be buzzing, I would be heading to bed every night in season before 11pm, guzzling water, probably the most hydrated, well-prepared benchwarmer in the country.

I had spent my freshman year working and saving every penny that I made to be able to pay the $2700 to go to the Tahuichi Academy in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, the summer before my sophomore year. One of my fellow die-hard teammates had attended it the year before and recommended it to me, her little die-hard soccer protégé teammate. It was probably the favorite month of my life, where I ate, slept and breathed soccer for the month of July, coming back into pre-season my sophomore year, in the shape of my life.

Juxtaposed with some of my teammates that did start, who announced proudly that they hadn’t touched a ball in months, I thought that I would finally get a chance to break into the lineup.
But it didn’t matter.

I hadn’t had the greatest season my freshman year, and that seemed to be an impression I couldn’t shake no matter how much I had improved since the year before. If anything, my playing time went down from what it had been the year before, as sometimes I wasn’t even getting any minutes in games, despite feeling like I had improved immensely.

So here I was at the Deke formal, in October my sophomore year, thinking “no matter what I do I’m not going to get a chance”, clear in my mind.

So, I made the decision to knock back beers and mixed drinks with abandon that night, breaking the 48 hour rule for the only time in my career rendering myself hungover and tired for the long 8 hour bus ride to Colgate the next day. Although I was wracked with guilt, I told myself I probably would only get my usual sparse minutes on Sunday, and to hell with it, I had had a fun night.

Which of course, by virtue of the karmatic soccer gods, led to my coach calling me over while we were in warm up for the Colgate to give me some version of this inspiring pep talk, “Dani is sick, and basically I have no choice but to start you. This is a huge game, don’t screw this up for us.” My first thought was a) thanks for the faith in me (sarcasm dripping heavily) and b) oh my god, of course of all the times that I get a chance to start, this happens the one time that I break the 48 hour rule.

I wish I could say that I went out there, and scored two goals while motioning some sort of “in your face” gesture to my coach, but I didn’t. I played scared of screwing up, and I played badly. And that was the first and last time I started in my Yale career.

So I know what you are thinking.

The moral of the story is that I should have just broken the rules more often and let the karmatic soccer gods continue to punish me/give me opportunities.

Not quite, but I did learn some very valuable lessons that I want to share with all those players out there that aren’t starting or that are not getting the playing time they feel like they want or deserve. Because I can truly say that despite my frustration in not getting extrinsically rewarded in something I cared so much about, and put so much of myself and my heart into, by choosing a positive attitude, I learned some incredible life lessons that I will always carry with me. These lessons made me a better player, and more importantly made me a better person.

1. Accept that life is not fair:
I feel the starting point for most frustrated players is that they believe that they are getting screwed by their coach or getting a raw deal in some way. To this I say, maybe you are, but this is life. And life is not fair.

As human beings, we seem to have an impression that we will get what we deserve. Perhaps in this realm, I was lucky that my Mom, the most wonderful person this planet has seen, has unfairly had a crappy disease (MS) since I was 6 years old, and has had pieces of her health and her independence taken slowly since that time.

This is not fair or just, but allowed me to realize early in my life that people don’t always get the hand of cards they deserve. Through her actions, my Mom has taught me that the best and most enjoyable way to deal with it, is to play whatever hand of cards you are given with a positive attitude and the best effort that you’ve got.

So I say if you can start from the point of accepting that life is not fair, it allows you to focus on the next lesson a little easier, which is:

2. Control What You Can Control:
The more you are focusing on what you do have control over, which is your effort, your attitude, the way you choose to look at the situation, the more you will enjoy your situation and put yourself in a situation that if you do get an opportunity you will be ready.

And chances are that if someone has been busting their ass with a great attitude that if an inevitable injury occurs or things need changing up, a coach will look towards someone that has put in a hard effort day in and day out, as opposed to someone that has been sulking on the bench (And if they don’t, revert back to lesson 1).

Once I figured out that the only thing the coach had control over was if I stepped on the field or not, and realized I had big dreams to chase, I controlled everything that I could. I ran, I got extra touches on the ball, I read books about the mental side of the game, I watched a lot of soccer on TV. I wanted to be a top player, and I didn’t let not stepping on the field affect my motivation in terms of giving everything I had to be the player that I wanted to be.

Which leads me to my next point:

3. A Coach is Just One Person’s Opinion:
This was another huge lesson for me to realize. Even more so now, as one person on a coaching staff, I can see that we all watch the same game, yet at times can have completely different opinions on players.

Soccer is a subjective game. It’s not a running race where times are clear. Different coaches appreciate different qualities in players, and ultimately what one coach may see as a rock with nothing on the inside, another may see a diamond underneath an object that needs some polishing.
This again relates to controlling what you can control and not letting one person affect your motivation to reach your potential.

In my case, after not starting for 3 years on an average team at Yale, and getting injured and not playing my senior year, I received a full ride scholarship to go to grad school after getting my degree from Yale to play my fifth year at UConn, a school ranked top ten at the time (the coach had seen me play a game the summer after my junior year on a team with some of his players and thought I stood out- that team won the US U20 National Championship).

After I finished my NCAA career at UConn (I tore my MCL at practice, the night before we left for our first game, we’ll save that blog for another day), the following summer I signed my first pro contract in Europe (for Fortuna Hjorring of Denmark) and was often starting on a team that made it to the final of the Champions League that year (2003) filled with World Cup and Olympic veterans from multiple countries. I wasn’t a different player, but just had coaches that appreciated qualities in my play that one coach hadn’t.

But had I believed that first coach to be right, and let it affect my motivation or my goals, I never would have been in a position to be ready for the opportunities that I had later on. Which leads me to my next lesson:

4.    Be Clearly Better:
My friend Aimee-Noel was always someone that I would go to when I was struggling with something soccer related. While we were in college she won the NCAA title for downhill skiing twice at the University of Colorado, and came from a family that her father and sister were Olympians and her two brothers were top college football players. Aimee understood sports, and understood attitude, and was a wonderful person to have on speed dial to give me advice to the numerous struggles I have had through my career.

After one particularly frustrating game my junior year at Yale, I called Aimee, bitching about how unfair it all was, how I was getting screwed, and really all I wanted was her to concur and pat me, the victim, on my back, and join the pity party that I was in the middle of.

Yet she did what the best of friends do, and gave me not an inch of sympathy and turned it back on me.

She told me, “Ciara, a couple of years ago there was a National Team ski event that the top 6 were getting picked for, and I was clearly in the top six, probably fifth. And I didn’t get picked. I called my Mom, like you are calling me now, looking for sympathy and she told me that it was my own fault for not getting picked. She said to me ‘Aimee, if you were the first, second or third best skier, clearly above the rest, you would not be in this position.’ So instead of saying how unfair it is, I think you’d be better off making sure you put your energy into becoming clearly one of the best, so you are not in a position where politics, or taste or anything else can leave you out of getting what you want.”

This leads me to my final point. If you’ve given everything you’ve got and still find yourself in a position that you’re not getting exactly what you want:

5.    Take Pride in Being the Best at Whatever Role You Are Put In
This goes back to doing things for instrinsic not extrinsic motivation. Do everything to the best of your ability because that’s the kind of person you want to be, not because you are eagerly looking for a reward for doing it.

I hated not playing in games, but I was a part of a lot of teams that won big championships. Some I was an important 90-minute player in, but many others I was a bench player that played sparse minutes. But I was re-signed or asked back every year, because I had value as someone that would add depth, a positive influence and an awesome work ethic despite where I stood in the line-up. I took pride in embodying that effort and attitude despite anything that was going on that I had no control over.

I remember clearly in Boston in 2001, I played on a very good team. I was frustrated not getting to play much, but that summer I decided that I would make myself be a player that worked so hard in practice and made it so difficult for the starters every day in practice that they would have to work harder against me than they would against any opponent.

I took pride in the effort I put in, feeling like I was preparing the starters to be successful in games. Because of that thought process, I felt just as much a part of winning the W League in 2001 had I been on the field for 90 minutes, and felt like I had played an important role in our win.\\

Furthermore, a friend of mine who was a national team legend and a World Cup coach cemented that idea, in saying that in order to win championships you need to have everyone be top at their role, from the star player, to the coach, to the video person, to the equipment manager. To win, and to be the best, is truly is a team effort.

As I’ve gotten older, I have learned that the joy of anything comes from giving 100% to the process and 100% to doing whatever it takes to help your team be successful. Joy comes from taking pride in doing everything to the best of your ability, whatever role it is that is asked of you.

Everyone can have a good attitude when things are going their way. Ultimately how you act and react when things aren’t going your way is what truly defines you and will determine how far you will go.

And by choosing a good attitude and investing in the process of continuing to do your best when things aren’t going your way, life is far more enjoyable and most importantly, anything truly is possible.

Winning doesn't matter, but playing hard does

Most of the team in the Illinois College stands after learning we were Conference Champions

Outside of being far more fun, and allowing us to continue our season into the conference tournament, I'm still not convinced that we have to win to make our season relevant. Playing sports, being a part of a team, working hard, making goals and working to meet them, all of these things are worthwhile. And winning brings smiles and cheers and recognition, but I don't think it means that losing teams aren't worth being a part of. I think the problem with losing is that it tends to lead to other problems: anger, frustration, blaming others for the team's losing record, and a feeling on the field that it doesn't matter if you play hard because you're going to lose anyway.

Anyway, I had mentioned all of this in a previous post. And I suppose, it's easier for me to make that argument when we are winning and I'm enjoying all the perks that come along with that, instead of slogging through a losing season and all of the issues that come along with that. I would like to add an asterisk to that previous post however. I think losing is ultimately okay if you put your heart and soul, blood and tears into the game, and simply get beat. I think losing is ultimately okay if you play hard and get beat by an obviously better team. I think losing is okay if you overcame obstacles or bested expectations to get to a certain point in the season and circumstances simply overwhelm your team. It is not okay to get beat because you don't play hard, you don't support your teammates, you assume a win is yours before the game begins simply because you've played well in the past, or you are dreaming about the consequences of winning before the game is finished.

Both teams meet on the field to celebrate after the Men beat the Blueboys to capture the Conference title

I don't think we were guilty of all of those sins on Saturday but certainly some of them, at least to a certain extent. Obviously Monmouth, on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs, had some motivation and absolutely nothing to lose. It seemed as though we played not to lose rather than our usual tough, high pressure game. The Scots knocked enough doubt into us that I felt like it crept into the first half of the Illinois College game on Saturday before we remembered who we were and what we were capable of. In the end, because we beat IC and St. Norbert beat Grinnell in a back-and-forth 4-3 game, we retained at least a piece of the Conference Championship. Hopefully we can prove that we deserved it. That we can show in the tournament that we deserve to be judged by our eight wins and not by our single loss.

Celebrating with the Conference Champion Men's Team at Illinois College

We have ten days to get healthy and whole. Between now and then we'll figure out where we are going to play and who we are going to play. Until then, we're just gonna work at being the best Foresters we can be.

And a huge congratulations to the boys who won the Conference outright and will be hosting the Conference Tournament next weekend. 

Playing with passion

Yesterday I posted a short video about playing because you love it, because you couldn't  imagine NOT playing.  A few hours later I got to practice and Coach Bell, who had not seen the blog,  was all pumped to show the team a video about playing with passion.  (You know what they say about great minds.)

Now it's true, we have been coaching together for a while, but I don't think we are experiencing mind meld just yet. I think it has more to do with two facts:

1) We have two road games this weekend. The last games of the regular season. And as Sports Information Director Mike Wajerski said on the website: Victories in both contests would clinch the Foresters' fourth conference title in team history and their right to host the four-team 2012 MWC Tournament November 2-3

2) This team, unlike almost any I've coached, seems to gain momentum from emotional, passionate, tough play. There is no question we have had some rotten games this year. But when this group is all on the same page, playing hard, playing with energy, playing with heart, the feeling on the sideline is that we can't lose. If we play our game, we will win. If we don't, then we have a long weekend ahead.

I will say this though. As a coach, when this team is playing well, it is really fun to be along for the ride. It's an infectious feeling. Come experience it with us. 11am Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois.

If you don't have passion then you'll never improve

A legacy of which to be proud

Old Main, Knox College

Knox College, whom we play tomorrow at 1pm, is a small little school in a small little town. But both the school and the town have an outsize importance in our state's and ultimately the nation's, history. 

Knox was established by religious evangelists/social reformers, lead by George Washington Gale, in 1837. Many of the founders were active in the Underground Railroad and all of them believed that access to education should not be restricted by financial means, sex, or race. So from the beginning Knox was open to both women and students of color, which is pretty progressive thinking 25 years before the Civil War.

Galesburg, IL, which was established at the same time as the college by G.W. Gale, is nestled in northwestern Illinois near Iowa. It was home to the first anti-slavery society in the state and was a stop on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves.

 In 1858, a previously little-known circuit lawyer named Abraham Lincoln was running for the United States Senate against the incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas. Douglas was a Democrat who had earned the nickname "Little Giant"* because although he was quite short, he was a forceful speaker and a dominant figure in politics. Lincoln was running as a Republican, a party that had just recently been established in Ripon, WI, a primary plank of their platform being that slavery should not spread beyond its current borders.**

The man who stole Holly's nickname

*Is it me, or is the Little Giant not a PERFECT nickname for our own Holly Lesperance? 

**For more detail on this please see this post from our trip to Ripon College last season.

Two years before the Civil War these two candidates met seven times all over the state in a series of intense debates, now known as the Lincoln-Douglas debates. One candidate would speak for 60 minutes, then the other for 90 minutes, and then the first would have 30 minutes to reply. On October 7, 1858, they met at Knox College, on a temporary stage outside their Old Main classroom building*, where Douglas publicly stated that the Declaration of Independence was not meant to apply to non-whites. "The Government was made by our fathers on the white basis...made by white men for the benefit of white men and their prosperity forever." Lincoln, on the other hand, perhaps comforted by the abolitionist spirit of Knox College and Galesburg, took the opportunity to announce for the first time, his moral opposition to the institution of slavery.

*I have heard a story that while Lincoln was preparing himself in the basement of Old Main just prior to the debate he was accidentally locked in and the 6' 4" future president had to crawl out a small basement window before taking the stage. I couldn't find any evidence online that this actually happened.

Lincoln lost that election to the Senate. But of course, in 1860, his election to another, higher office would change the course of the nation.

Two years after the debates, during that Presidential campaign, Lincoln was awarded the first honorary doctorate ever conferred by Knox College, a Doctor of Laws degree, that was announced at the July 5, 1860 commencement exercises. 145 years later, almost to the day, an African-American Illinois State Senator gave a commencement address at Knox College. Three years after that address, that man, Barack Obama, would be elected President of the United States. I wonder what Stephen Douglas would think about that.

Taking Our Act On The Road

Playing soon in a finished basement near you: Mickey and LA with snap artist TR Bell.

(The camera person has been let go. The next video will not be sideways.)

Ties and Tacos

Friday afternoon was the first day that had a real chill in the air. It was sunny, it was gorgeous, but it felt like summer was over and winter was going to be fast upon us. That feeling was exacerbated by our freezing cold bus. The A/C was blasting and the heat didn't work, so as we drove north we huddled under blankets and put on stocking caps. As we approached the Wisconsin border we pulled over to meet a mechanic on the side of the road who quickly flipped us over to "heat." It was a much welcome change.

St. Norbert has a brand new turf field and stadium, complete with warm visitor locker rooms right next to the field. We warmed up well and had a great start to the game, scoring two goals in the first 15 minutes. The Green Knights scored one soon after to make the game 2-1 and there is stayed for a LONG time. The game went back-and-forth, both teams trading momentum and shots back and forth. After a scramble in the box that lead to us clearing the ball into one of our defenders, the Green Knights got the ball and put it into our net to tie the game 2-2, with four minutes remaining.

That lead us to two 10:00 overtime periods. Our kids greatly surprised their coaches by digging deep and finding reserves of energy we were pretty convinced they didn't have. In a way, it was the most impressive 20 minutes we've played all year. In the end though, we were not able to score, and the game finished in a tie.

That result left both teams undefeated. We have three conference games remaining on our schedule, the Green Knights have six. This result helped us greatly improve our chances of making the four-team conference tournament, but the question of who will host it is yet to be answered.

An incredible post-game feast at the Keast house helped wash down any disappointment we may have felt regarding the tie. We sat in front of the fireplace, ate many tacos and cookies and cupcakes, met many of Ellie Keast's dolls (our favorite was the glow worm), petted the dogs, thanked the grandparents for being such stalwart fans, and played a little piano.

A 3-0 victory by the men meant a good, if late, bus ride back to Lake Forest.

Our next game is Thursday at home against non-conference opponent Milwaukee School of Engineering. Our next conference game is at home versus Knox College on Saturday at 1pm.

Saint Who?

St. Norbert (center) is flanked by St. Wenceslas (left) and St. Sigismund on the Charles Bridge, Prague

After two tough games against Midwest Conference opponents Ripon College and Carroll University the Foresters have a couple days of practice ahead. We need to reset a little, remember how it is we want to play, and rest our weary legs a bit while tuning up our soccer minds.

Friday though will be another trip to Wisconsin and perhaps our toughest opponent in the conference this year: the Green Knights of St. Norbert College. We will once again travel to the Fox River Valley, home of the paper mill stench (see blogpost on Appleton) and the Keast family. One is clearly far more pleasant than the other.

St. Norbert is located in De Pere, WI, just south of Green Bay, and as such is home to a great number of Catholics and Packer fans. Conveniently, for fans of both the Packers and the Green Knights, their colors are the same--green and gold.

So while the Packer contingent may be responsible for the colors, it is the Catholics who are responsible for the school and its affiliation. Founded in October 1898 by Abbot Bernard Pennings, a Norbertine priest and educator, the school was named after Saint Norbert of Xanten. In 1962, the college became co-ed. 

Norbert of Xanten was born around 1080, near what is now Cologne Germany but was then a part of the Holy Roman Empire. (It has been said that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire, but that's a topic for another time.) Norbert was relatively educated but not particularly religious until he was almost killed while riding a horse. (I think there is another discussion to be had here regarding the decision to make a mounted knight the mascot of a school whose namesake was almost killed being thrown from a horse, but again, I digress.)

After recovering from the horse riding accident, Norbert's faith deepened and he renounced his place at court to be ordained into the priesthood. Relatively quickly Norbert began preaching austerity and asceticism to his fellow priests, all of whom had also taken a vow of poverty, but his message wasn't always well received.  In frustration, he sold his few remaining belongings and spent some time as an itinerant preacher in what is now northern France. It was there that he was credited with performing the various miracles that are necessary to being granted sainthood.

Eventually the Pope asked Norbert to create his own religious order and he chose a site in the Premontre valley of France. Members of his order lived a life of preaching and living in austerity. They are known as the Premonstratensians, or Norbertines. 800 years after Norbert lived, one of his followers founded a college in northeastern Wisconsin that he would name after the founder of his order. St Norbert College is the first and only institute of higher learning sponsored by the Premonstratensian order. 

The Green Knights are also the only other undefeated team in our conference. Hopefully we can shock them the same way that horse shocked the pre-religious Norbert. I certainly think our bear (Boomer) could defeat that sickly looking horse. 

Kicking In A Different Contest

Last Sunday, many of our team members participated in an IM Kickball tournament of sorts. They split themselves up into two teams, each coached by an injured member of the team, and had varying levels of success. Turns out we need to bone up on various rules of baseball like "tagging up" and not running through second base on a double. Also, we can't catch.

Team O'Connor, coached by Megan, had Lisa Sorensen, Mickey Greeneway, Ellen Rogers, Courtenay Raymond, Libby Lakeman, Fiona Jessup, and Katie Koenig.

Team Garth, coached by Courtney, was composed of Holly Lesperance, Maeve Connolly, Audra Donnelly, Blake Davies, Anya Moran, Sam Hillis, Kim Grover, Emily Keast, Becky Esrock, Nicole Ostro, And Rachel Laznowski.

Team Garth was slightly more successful than Team O'Connor but fun was had by all.

Another Fact About Appleton:

Victory Coffee in appropriate mug

We dominated the place.

Wow.

What a fun performance. It was fun to watch, fun to participate in, and fun to recount after the game.

A cursory glance at the box score tells the tale. We took 27 shots, the Vikings 6. We scored in the first 3 minutes of each half. We had six different players pick up points from a goal or assist and and four of those players had two or more points (two points are awarded for a goal, one for an assist). We took ten corner kicks to the Vikings one. Vikings goalkeeper Cassie Burke had quite a performance of her own and made some excellent saves on many sure goals. And we even beat the Vikings in fouls committed: eleven to eight. Some coaches might not think that was much of an accomplishment, but to us it signals that our Foresters displayed the aggressiveness that we can oftentimes lack.

 Of course, the celebration of a big win can't last too long. Today the Foresters are enjoying their victory coffee and competing in the campus Intramural kickball tournament (photos and story to come). Tomorrow we go back to work on the practice field to prepare to meet the Beloit College Buccaneers on Wednesday.

Appleton post-game chat hosted by TR Bell