Yea, we made it through the game!

Well, Chris survived his first game without an assistant coach and a helper (well, he had one, but it wasn't his "favorite" one)! It went really well, and I'll try to re-cap the events for you :~)

7:36, we were 6 minutes late to the field and Chris was all stressed out because there were so many cars already in the parking lot! Here the cars were for the softball games that were going on in the same area. We were the first football player/coach to arrive to the fields, which was good, otherwise that would have just been another thing for Chris to stress about. This is the unloading of the van:

My little football player carrying the empty buckets (notice he left the filled water cooler for his dad to carry LOL).

Chris had asked his players to all show up at 8 so there would be plenty of time to warm up and stretch before the game. I was impressed at all the players that did show up so early! They seemed to have the other team standing around, wondering who would show up. . . This is typical Coach Heinz talking to his players. The playbook is in his hand with little blue tabs marking the offense, defense, etc. plays. (Taite is on the bottom/right in this picture) A little side note ~ #20 (lower, left) is the 56 lb guy on Taite's team. He is a little firecracker! He has speed and NO FEAR! Chris LOVES coaching him! :~)

This is the ref talking to both teams before the game.

Some of the fans who came (some ducked out of the picture ~ Sonja)

Taite's team lost by 1 point (I wasn't keeping score and I don't think they had it on the scoreboard either), but they looked great out there! I received many compliments on Chris and his coaching (not to judge, but the other team didn't have a play book, nor did they "set the huddle" hehe) and the team played their hearts out ~ even after a short week of returning to school! Chris said on Thursday night, the kids were all glassy eyed and just stood there ~ LOL! He figured out that they were just getting "hit" with the new schedules of returning back to school and were tired. I hope I don't bore you with pictures and videos (I found it was much easier to record, than to snap a picture).

Here is the kick-off to start the game. Orange team won the toss (I think) and this looks pretty good until the white team had Michael kick-off for them (he's Taite's friend who is good at any sport he participates in). He kicked it almost into the end zone ~ it went WAYYYY over the heads of Taite's team.

Here was a fun play to watch!

Taite after the game ~ sweaty

Thoughts & Prayers

I would like it if you could say a prayer for Axel's friends and family as he passed away yesterday. He was the boy whose benefit we went to early in June. His cancer moved into his bones and organs and his death was a difficult one for those who knew him best because he had an amazing spirit and the world is missing a terrific 17 year old boy! God Bless!!