Soccer Update

I weighed myself yesterday.

I weigh 174 lbs. This means that I'm continuing to lose weight, and I think it is because of soccer. However, my body fat percentage went up about 1%. I believe this happened because I haven't been able to play soccer in a week, so I haven't really been getting any exercise. So while I'm continuing to lose weight, I may have burned some muscle this week along with some fat, because of the lack of exercise.

Our game against New Testament was postponed, at their request today, so the team will practice. Coach has been having the girls practice shooting on the goal, and the goalies practice saving the goals, as well as spacing between our players and playing into traffic (aka if there are a lot of players, from both teams playing in the same general area).

Student Council Update

Ms. Yalden told me today that I am officially the 2009-2010 Student Coucil Secretary! That's one goal achieved. I'm happy that I am, but I'm also sort of disappointed. It doesn't really feel like I had to fight to get the position, but I suppose that it really isn't a bad thing, that I won, especially because Ms. Yalden seems relieved (see Picture A).

Now, I need to talk to Ms. Yalden about who will be the back-up secretary. If someone else had run, and I still won, they could have done the job if I had to miss. I won't be able to go to this Friday's meeting because all the seniors will be at Town Neck Beach, in Sandwich, MA, for our group

4 project. Therefore, whomever Ms. Yalden (and I, possibly) decide, will have to be a junior or underclass

men, and I will have to make sure that their notes get posted on the blog.

On another note, I promised Ms. Yalden, and those present at last Friday's (9.24.09) meeting that I will create a poster for the stairwell that has all the running candidates names, and what position they are running for. I did that tonight (

See Pictures B, C, D). I decided to leave Ted Jameson's name off the poster, as well as the blog.

Ted is an alleged freshman, but as almost everyone in the school, accepting some freshmen, Ted Jameson is a fictional character, made up by a senior, who graduated last year. Mr. Andre

does not seem to find the idea of Ted funny, even though it does not seem that there is any malicious intent. I was friends with the graduated senior, and Mr. Andre told me that "Ted graduated," and believes that

I know who is behind Ted this year.

I do not wish to get in any trouble, or jeopardize my position of secretary, so I asked Ms. Yalden, in an email, if I should add Ted Jameson's name to the poster. I left room to add it, but I'm not sure we should, even though at the last Student Council meeting, those present decided that he should be allowed to run. However, I'm not sure that this decision rests in the hands of the students anymore.

I will ask Ms. Yalden about this again, tomorrow or by Thursday, in person, when we discuss the aforement

ioned issues.

Picture A:

Pictures B, C, D:

Soccer Update

I know one of my goals for this activity, was to lose approximately a pound a week, in hopes of being 166lbs, by the time the season is over. I haven't been documenting my weight progress each week, but it has been pretty consistent. Last week I weighed 175lbs. This would mean that I'm behind my schedule. What I have noticed though is that my Body Fat Index percentage is decreasing, at a rate of about 0.5% per week. What this means is that, while I'm not really losing much weight, I'm gaining muscle. So if I see a slight increase in my weight, it isn't necessarily a bad thing, because muscle weighs more than fat. I will post a weight/Body Fat percentage update on Wednesdays, from now on.

Student Council Updates 9.26.09

www.scpssc0910.blogspot.com

I created a blog for students and teachers at Sturgis to see. Each entry on that blog will be part of my CAS journal because that blog contains the notes from each meeting.

Student Council (STUCO) meeting have generally been productive, but almost with a competitive atmosphere. With each meeting we've had, the size of attendance grows, by a few people, which is a good sign. I hope that after the elections are over, people will still attend, even if they weren't elected.

This year, there is race for every position, except Secretary. I don't know if that is because no one is really interested in the job or if people seem to think I'm the right person for the job. Either way, this is good news for me, because I'm currently the only candidate running for Secretary, and if no one else runs, then I am automatically the Secretary.

When votes have been taken by those present at STUCO meeting, it has been really interesting the way each issue is described before the vote. Ms. Yalden announces what those present at the meeting are voting ons, and then a few people make statements in favor of the two sides of the vote. Usually what they say is very true, and often, what has been said is something about the issue I hadn't thought about before, which helps me feel like I'm making a more informed decision. I hope that after elections, these kinds of discussions can continue.

Soccer Update-Game 9.25.09

I sprained my ankle, on Monday, September 21st, 2009, and I am not allowed to play soccer for ten days. However, I still have been going to each practice, to understand what we're doing.

We had a game yesterday, against South Shore Christian Academy (SSCA). We lost 0-4. It was a tough team to play against. Last year we tied them 1-1, to go on and play in the State Tournament.

Coach had the team play a very defensive position. We only played with one forward, 5 mid-field players, and 4 defenders.

Early on in the game, we played very strongly, often playing the ball into their half of the field.

Unfortunately we ended up giving up 3 goals in the first half. On of them way really tough for Rachel, our goalie, to get, because it rebounded on one of the posts, in the top corner, and even Rachel isn't that tall. Angela, who normally plays on the wings, as a forward, played the far right wing midfielder in the first half, and stepped up and headed a high ball. It was a really awesome moment, because our team seems to have a tendency to shy away from heading and chest-trapping the balls.

In the second half, we changed up our playing positions, using three forwards, three mid-fielders, and the same four defenders. This worked well for the most part, although they did manage to score one goal in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

I thought our team played pretty strongly against SSCA, but one of are biggest weaknesses, it seems, is that we just kick the ball deep into their side of the field, but it ends up going straight to the goalie, or it's so far back that the goalie can just come out of the net to pick it up. It happened a lot in the game, so I bet that on Monday or Tuesday in practice, we'll spend some more time practicing shooting.

STAGE Update-9.21.09

There was a meeting on Friday for anyone who wanted to do technical work on the play "Dino." I originally wanted to audition for Dino, but because soccer practice is every day, I would not be able to make the rehearsals. I had a student council meeting at lunch on Friday and was unable to attend the tech meeting for STAGE. However, I talked to Mrs. Botsford today, and told her that I wanted to be involved with the production, as soon as soccer is over. She agreed, and asked me what I wanted to do. I offered to be a sound person again, so as improve my skill in that backstage area. If it's not possible for me to do sound, though, I will be happy to improve any other backstage area.

Soccer Update-Game 9.18.09

On Friday, September 18, the Sturgis Girls' Soccer team had a game against Provincetown. It was in Yarmouth, at Old Townhouse field, "Under the Lights," which just means it was a night game that we played with the stadium lights on, because the game started at 7pm.

It was a really good game. We beat P-town, 5-0, with four of the five goals coming in the second half. I didn't get to play until later in the second half, which tells me that my skills are improving because I got to play for a longer portion of the game, but it also tells me that my skills haven't improved enough, to be one of the better players on the team. However, I think that the portion of the game I played in went really well, because 3 of the five goals were scored while I played. I also know that my skills are improving because I was able to contain an offensive P-town player and keep her from advancing farther down the field.

However, not everything went perfectly during the game. Because I don't wear my glasses when I play, my depth perception is a bit messed up. I went to head an incoming ball, and it ended up at my feet, and so passed through my legs because I went forward and the ball went in the other direction. I'm going to try to judge the ball better in practice, without my glasses on so I can win the ball better in the games.

I'm really excited again, because we have two upcoming JV games, on Monday, and Tuesday. Coach posted a list of those who would be going to those two JV games, and I'm not on the list. I'm really happy about this because not only does it mean that I'm a core member of the Varsity team, it means that on Monday and Tuesday we'll have a more condensed practice and I think that Coach will talk to us and have us work on more individualized skills.

Soccer Update-Scrimmage 9.14.09

Today we had a scrimmage against Falmouth Academy. We lost 6-2, but like the Nantucket game, it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

Falmouth Academy is a better team than Nantucket is, and we actually managed to score two goals against them. We were doing really well in the first half, which I got to play in. By halftime, the score was 2-1, Falmouth Academy. We did manage to score another goal early in the second half, but then, FA was able to score two more goals.

I played in both the first and second half, which shows me that my skill is improving, because Coach let me play earlier, and for longer than he did in the Nantucket game. I know that this was just a scrimmage, but it still felt really good to play against a tough team. I headed the ball several times, and I hope that I was able to set an example for some of my teammates who are not quite as enthusiastic about heading the ball as I am. Hopefully, Coach will put me into the game a bit sooner than he did for the Nantucket game, for our game on Friday.

Soccer Update-Game 9.10.09

Today we had our first game against Nantucket, at our home field in Yarmouth, Sandy Pond Recreational Park. We lost 0-3, but that's a vast improvement over past years scores, which have included a 0-6 loss. We were better at containing and defending then we were in the scrimmage against PJP2. The first two goals were throwaway goals that our goalie should have gotten--I'm not sure what went wrong. Those first two goals came in the first 25 minutes, and if we could have those first 25 minutes back, we might have only lost 0-1, or even had a better chance at scoring a goal or two. The last goal was over our goalie's head, and there was virtually no way she could have saved it.

I didn't get to play much in this game, although I did for the very end of the second half. This tells me that Coach didn't want to put me in the game earlier because I'm not good enough at this point in the season to contribute as much to the team. Although I'm not particularly happy about this, I understand it. This first game was a tough one, and I haven't improved enough to be a strong player in a game against a tough team. I hope that by the next time we play Nantucket, I will have improved enough, maybe not to start, but to play a bit more in the game.

Soccer Update-Sports Meeting 9.8.09

So today we had the annual fall sports meeting. Coach announced to the seniors before practice, that Nikki and Kate would be our Captains. Like I said in my last entry, I wasn't really expecting to be a Captain, but I was still a little sad that I wasn't picked. Just because I wasn't picked, doesn't mean that I won't continue to be a team leader. Coach has always talked to us about showing Senior leadership, and I will continue to be a leader for the younger players, by helping them improve their skills with suggestions, and to continuing work on and improve my own skills.

On the brightside, I made the varsity team! I'm really excited about this because I wasn't sure if I had improved enough to make Varsity. We will have some JV games, and I don't yet know if Coach will have me play in those, but for right now, I'm just really glad to have improved enough to get to have a Varsity uniform.

Soccer Update-Scrimmage 9.3.09

On Thursday, September 9, 2009, we had a scrimmage against Pope John Paul II. They only had 10 players, so we played with the normal 11, at first, and then quickly subbed in players, and only played with 10. I played in both halves, but I didn't start, which tells me that although I have improved from last year, I'm still not one of the best players on the team, although I'm hoping to have improved enough to start at least one game by the end of the season. We haven't gotten our uniforms yet, and Coach hasn't announced who is on Varsity yet, or even who our Captains are.

Even though I'm a senior, there are seven seniors this year, and I am definitely not the most skilled player on the team, so I don't think I'll get to be a captain. I'm still sort of hoping that I might get to be one, but I don't want to get my hopes up.

The scrimmage was really one-sided. I'm not sure what the final score was, but I don't think that PJP2 got much beyond the mid-field line at any point in the game. It was interesting watching our team play the scrimmage, because it seemed like most of the players weren't doing anything, like containing the ball instead of just running at the opposing player, that we had been doing in practice.

As the scrimmage went on though we seemed to get better, and Coach got every player present in the game for some length of time. I thought that the scrimmage was a really good way to have the team play against someone other than our own players. We have our first game next Thursday, and it's against Nantucket, which is a pretty skilled team. I think that Coach will have us work on our technical skill in the next week, in preparation for a tough first game.