Jacksonville, IL Tournaments on the Turf

Tournaments on the Turf!  Wow, what a field....for those of you who have never been, this field is in a small town...Jacksonville, IL.  Your luck of getting a hotel is not likely although promised by the Lenz Field's director.  So, Springfield, IL is close by...about a 27 mile drive from the fields.  I do recommend the Comfort Inn in Springfield, IL as it is very accommodating to families.  Has a pool and free breakfast in the mornings.  It is centrally located and has a Mexican restaurant within walking distances for those of you letting loose after the games.  Starbucks is a hop, skip and jump so we loved that. 

Very nice fields!  No need to clean uniforms here so no worries about tournaments and how to clean their uniforms. :)   Umpires are not as easy going here...very tight calls.  Honestly seemed all over the place with calls.  We were disappointed in that but we were also on the losing end so seems to be easier to be disappointed with calls vs disappointed with playing badly.

For all of those who enjoy a day at the ballpark with alcoholic beverages...that is a no go here!  There is no beer served at concession.  Speaking of, the concession stand only takes cash as well.  Not very impressed with the choices here either...no sunflower seeds because of turf, no fountain sodas because of cleanliness,  no alcohol! :(

Overall good experience to see the boys play on turf but glad we don't have another tourney there this year!

Affton Baseball

So far...Affton has been a great experience.  I still seem to tilt towards Kirkwood's fields as to location and distance apart.  Parking is not truly convenient at Affton or Kirkwood for that matter. 

Tournaments are ran well at Affton and the teams/coaches seem to be positive and well managed. 

The umpires seem to be fair and we haven't experienced any bad situations.

The concession stand is reasonable with many choices, my favorites being the pretzel bites and flavored sun flower seeds.  For convenience, they have two concession stands located in front and back of field....much nicer than one location at most fields.

The league fees at Affton are reasonable, $125 per player.  We are part of a select league that has other expenses incurred however not part of Affton's fees.

We DO recommend Affton Athletic Association if you are looking for leagues that play throughout week, nice fields, decent umpires, and respectable coaching.  (you know what I'm talking about parents~ none of the cursing, degrading players, etc)

TWO THUMBS UP AFFTON!

CYC basketball vs. YMCA For Toddlers

We have had experience now with both of these organizations.  I can honestly say that YMCA is far better as far as instructional basketball goes.  CYC does not have practices (required practices) in their toddler program where YMCA does.  I think practice tends to be one of the more important requirements due to the fact that they can't play a game if they don't know the rules.  Clearly, at this age, they are not going to abide by the rules but they can definitely be instructed to do so. 

The games are 45 minutes at CYC and YMCA.  The cost for CYC is much less than YMCA...$25 for CYC, $54 at YMCA.  Although I do believe in this case, you get what you paid for.  But....I do love the parent camaraderie that comes along with CYC events!

Overall, if you're looking to have some socialization with other adults and just want your kid to have fun and be active, CYC toddler basketball is the way to go.  If you're looking for instruction, for your child to learn the game basics, then YMCA is definitely the place to go.

Personalizing Sports Bags, Headbands, Etc.~~~ Yeah!

I love the accessories you can buy for your children now for sports!  Especially girls headbands for soccer, volleyball, baseball and basketball!  I just recently had headbands embroidered with the girls' names on them! So cute, one with their name on them and the other with I Love Soccer!  They are sooooo cheap and great to be able to pin point where your child is on the field!  I had my son's baseball bags personalized since so many of them have the same bags...they love them!  You can add their number or whatever you would like them to say! 

Occassionally, I'll buy a jacket for me them have it personalized with my children's numbers or team name on them (roughly $10)! 

Here's a great website to take a look at for personalizing your children's or your sports wear!
http://www.embroidery4ustl.com/wp/

Sports Photography~ Love it!

If you love to take pictures of your children or even if you are a bad picture taker....everyone loves to see the pictures of your children playing sports!  When I take the pictures, it's usually from afar and can barely see faces.  But the past couple of years, many photographers have came to games and taken close-ups of all the kids playing.  It's awesome!  I love the action shots, seeing the sweat drop down their faces or their faces during a "glory moment"! 

I decided to look a few photographers up that do this type of work along with those who take snap shots or produce a "story" for your child of their big day! 

This past summer, while at one of children's baseball tournament, St. Louis Digital was there!  They were awesome...had a tent set up with computers to scroll through all the pic's of the weekend.  Their prices were pretty expensive but they offered so many products with your child in action!  One of my favorites was an action poster....it looked like a pro athlete's poster you would purchase in a store.  (but again...pricey!)
Here's a link to their site..... http://www.stldigital.com/stldigital/Action_Event_Photos.html
Studio Altius is a lot like them...they are the official CYC sports photographers.  Take a look at their work and compare prices, very similar. http://www.athletephotography.com/
Kowal Photography is a much smaller company but offers still photos and action photos as well.  A la carte, their prices are good! http://www.kowalphotography.com/
St. Louis Sports Photo is also a smaller company but offers still photos and action photos too.  He's pretty awesome, doesn't charge to photograph games etc...no obligation to purchase...just inform him of game time and he will be there! Wow!!! http://stlsportsphoto.com/index.html
If you're looking for an awesome high school sports photographer, look no further than Nordmann's...since 1993! Amazing pictures!  Follow their facebook page also!  http://www.nordmannsports.com/

There are a few photographers who do still photos only...for teams and individuals...fairly priced.
Gold's Photo http://www.goldsphoto.com/

The one I really like...but does not have her photos up as of yet due to construction on her site...is Jessica Ebeler Photography.  She has attended many of my children's sporting events and produced pictures for me that tell a story of my child's day from beginning to end!  She focused only on them and captured facial expressions that told me what they were thinking.  She froze time for me and when I look back at those pictures, I can see my child's character within...his determination, his perseverance, his doubt, his glory!  She's down to earth and extremely well priced!  Just take a minute to call her...you'll see why I feel this way!  Not only did she photograph our children in sports but later led to family pictures, etc...lol. :)  Check her out....http://www.jessicaebeler.com/  (Her site in under construction right now but take a look at her facebook page in the mean time)  http://www.facebook.com/playkidsports#!/jessicaebelerphotography

Hope you enjoyed my sports photography run-down! :)  I just love seeing the sports pics!!! Hope you do too!

CYC Soccer

We are into CYC soccer now with the girls!  

I was surprised at how many programs there were for toddler girls soccer.   We tried a couple different programs such as YMCA and Riverchase but have always reverted back to CYC.  Their programs is much less competitive.  Not that we don't love competition but our girls aren't quite as competitive when it comes to the actual game of soccer.  CYC offers smaller numbers per team and a much smaller field to play on, especially at age 3-5.  Now that our oldest is in CYC league soccer, the field is regular size and more members per team.  Which is nice because she is a little more competitive this year.

We also love how cheap the CYC leagues are as well!  $25 for Pre-K and $50 for K and up! Wow!!!

Overall, I highly recommend CYC soccer leagues for non-competitive play levels!   The girls enjoy it and we love watching them!!!

To Have Your Child Play Mulitple Sports or Not?

As you may have guessed, my children all play multiple sports and at one time some times...very hard on scheduling but it does happen!  I always wondered if it was too much?  If we are wearing ourselves thin or perhaps is it a bad choice to play so many different sports and not hone in on just one!  Of course I see skills already that may signal that they are better in one sport or the other but does that mean they should only play that one sport?  I decided to do a little reading on this to make sure it wasn't hindering them to play multiple sports.

I came across this article, http://www.mnyouthsoccer.org/membership/rents/multiple_sports.pdf, which was very insightful and thought other parents may want to read it!

Currently, I think we will continue to play multiple sports and hopefully it will be beneficial for our children in the end.  I do honestly believe they learn a variety of skills and disciplines by playing different sports.  This rings true when I think of football~ it is very disciplined and time consuming.  It's gut wrenching at times, teaches true team work and teaches them to persevere through it!  I love watching them play, cheering their teammates on and working through the hard parts! 

As a parent, we want to teach our children everything...but sometimes, coaches among other leaders in our communities have a large part to do with our children learning life skills they will need in the future!