Falcon Football is starting!

This year we have switched from JCYA to Rockwood Falcons Junior Football.  If you've never seen 5-12 year old boys play tackle football, it is definitely intense.  Out of all of the sports my children have played, this has been the most physically demanding by far.  Not only demanding for them, but as far as time goes, demanding for parents.  (I hear hockey is pretty demanding as well)  We start practice in July...even though the season doesn't start until September..and will have a camp as well that they are required to attend around the end of July. 

The practices are very intense.  The first hour being exercising..hard ones such as laying on your back and holding your feet off the ground for as long as they can hold it.  As a mom, it's sometimes hard to watch :(.  But,  at the end of practice I always feel as if the boys grew from the experience.  Football truly separates the ones who can persevere from the one's who can't. 

I do love that they have weight limits for the positions.  You won't see a 125lb running back going up again your little 76lb son.  I do still worry though...worry that my child hasn't grown into his body enough to take hits. 

Overall, I LOVE to watch them play tackle football!  This sport really brings a group of kids together and makes them learn to be a team.  I love the team aspect of this game!  I look forward to watching them play this for years to come, just hope they will want to. :)

As I said before, this is our first year at Rockwood, but JCYA was a great program to be in!  If you're looking to get your child involved in the future, I can't speak for Rockwood but I know JCYA rocked!  It's pricey....all football is...around $300 per player.  Other than the cost, everything about it has been beneficial to my boys and their attitudes.

We will see...Go Falcons!!!!

Face Masks on Helmets for Baseball or No?

This past weekend, my sons played in a baseball tournament.  Because of the age group, they are no longer required to wear face masks across their helmet.  (the cage part that goes across their nose and mouth) So, of course they wanted to take the mask off so they can see better when they bat.  Everyone else also took their mask off so I didn't see a reason why they shouldn't.  Of course throughout the season I've been watching many games and have seen a lot of balls to the mouth, nose and eyes injuries.  However, I never put two and two together to come to the conclusion that maybe the face mask was a much better idea since it was protecting their FACE from fast pitches!

Until this game......my youngest son who plays up an age group was up to bat.  The pitcher throwing to him was a very hard and fast pitcher but not as accurate as some.  If you can envision the batting stance, his head is turned and bat is raised, completely making his face visible with no protection.  (Oh, how the face mask is becoming more my friend...)  The pitch came in about 40mph and rocked him in his eye.  My son dropped the bat and immediately placed his hands to his face in pain.  I was crazy scared and ran to the field.  Having a medical background, I knew many things could happen from this and some if not treated quickly could be very bad.  I was afraid his orbital bone, the bone surrounding the eye ball had been broken.  (If this happens, you will see a clear liquid flowing out the nose which means that could be brain fluid leaking....not good)  However, nothing like that had happened....in fact, after all was said and done, he barely had a black eye.  How this happened, I have no idea...it was hard and fast and perfectly positioned into his eye. 

Looking back, wish I would have never agreed to take the mask off.  I don't think it will be hard to convince him to let me put the mask back on considering the pain he felt, however convincing my oldest son who has never had a face injury,  to put his back on will be a challenge.  You rarely want to be the only person who has something different when you're a child and I can empathize with that, but I also don't care about the social status of protective gear and may just MAKE them play with it on.  What to do, what to do.....to be determined at a later date. :)

Protect Your Children In Sports~ Now That We Know!

As a mom, the last thing you worry about during a baseball game is your child dying while up to bat.  It broke my heart to hear the story of the 13 year old child, Hayden Walton, dying while attempting to bunt during his baseball game.  The article I read on http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/04/arizona-13-year-old-dies-in-freak-baseball-accident/, stated that Hayden took an inside hit to the chest while attempting to bunt, walked 2 steps and collapsed.  The next morning, Hayden passed away.

It's something I can not comprehend.  Something I am deeply saddened by.  I have two little boys, very aggressive sport's playing boys.  I can not imagine the pain another mother who has lost a child must feel. 

The one thing I do plan to do-----purchase a heart shield compression shirt, you know the ones that you see in the stores with the foamy patches on them?  I never knew why those were on there, just figured they were made to look fancy for the "real" athletes.  I never knew they were used to SAVE my child. 

With everything so much more advanced in the world now, research being done on everything then we turn around and try to guard against it, protect our families, and it seems never ending of something new we have to buy to try and save the world, our families and ourselves.  But, when it comes to my children, it becomes very hard for me to read such a freak accident that happened from such a common baseball move could end their lives, not only that but I could have prevented it. :(

So....for all you over protective mother's (and father's) out there, I will list below links of some that offer these wonderful life saving shields!!! Now that you know what could happen, I hope you will try to prevent it happening!
Our prayers go out to Hayden's family...

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10868427&cid=CSE:GoogleProductSearch

http://www.onlinesports.com/p/heart-gardreg-protective-body-shirt-teen-size--I,MW-SMHG3TNGY.html?srcid=frglcb&utm_source=frooglecb&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=MW-SMHG3TNGY&cm_mmc=Frooglecb-_-Products-_-PPC-_-MW-SMHG3TNGY

http://www.sportsauthority.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4253117&cp=2344524&sr=1&origkw=heart+protector&parentPage=family

Swim America Swim Classes

We just completed our session at Swim America!  The girls are 4 and 6 and the 4 year old feels safer in the water but still not swimming.  This may be due to her apprehension of water touching her face :).  The 6 year old can now swim under water!!! This is her 2nd year in swim lessons, this being the most time spent on lessons. The one thing I really liked about Swim America is that they taught our children on their ability not as a group, meaning that if my 6 year old could breath under water and the others couldn't, they would continue to teach her from that point regardless of where the others were at in their swimming abilities.

As far as cost is concerned, these classes are definitely costly, $60 per session,  for the amount of time a session is (4days).  Also considering we have taken lessons at the YMCA for 1 night per week for 10 weeks, costing $65 for that session.  Taking into the account that they received one-on-one instructions at Swim America and based solely on their ability not the group, I would give it an A-, with cost being the minus on the A.

All in all, we are truly happy our 6 year old is swimming now and our 4 year old is becoming more comfortable in the water. Thanks Swim America!!!

CYC Pre-K and K baseball/softball

So far our experience has been great with CYC baseball/softball.  They receive t-shirts, are not required to wear cleats at this age (although some do), and around 10 players per team.  While up to bat, they are pitched to (by the coach) 6 pitches and if they don't hit, they get to hit of the tee.  If they choose, they can for-go the pitching and go straight to the tee. They do not play outs or keep score.  This is typical for most associations across the board. 

The coaches are very kind and work with your children.  At this age with CYC, they do not hold practices, only games on Saturdays.  They do not make-up rain outs (and in my opinion is not a good thing due to the rainy season we have had and already out of the 3 games that were to be played, there is already one rain out)  However, for the price you pay compared to other associations, a few rain outs are no big deal.  Parents do have to participate in concessions 1 time for the season but are not required to buy/sell any raffles, etc. (as they are required to do so with other associations)

Our girls play for Assumption Parish! We give this program 2 thumbs up!!! Go CYC!

Kirkwood Athletic Association Baseball vs. Fenton Athletic Association Baseball

My boys have been playing baseball since they were 3 at Fenton Athletic Association.  (They are 9 and 10 now) We have always enjoyed the fields there.  The games were always on the weekend, which was good for us since the work week was so hectic.  They were very affordable, I believe around $100 per player. (then the cost of the uniform~roughly $80)  The ball field is spread out and clean.  One of the things I did not like at Fenton was the raffle ticket buying was a must and concession stand duty a must.  (Concessions are usually a must but sometimes there are alternatives such as a buyout or having one of their "students" work it for you~as Kirkwood does)  I also did not like the "make-up game" process as when it rained, the game would be canceled but the likely hood of it being made up was 50/50.  Considering the amount of children who play baseball, Fenton did not seem to have as many teams and of those teams, the competition was slightly lower than other areas.  The coaches were decent and the families were nice as far as "sportsmanship" goes.  Overall, we truly enjoyed the fields, atmosphere and the teams we were apart of.  Compared to Kirkwood, Fenton's field are much nicer though!

Kirkwood thus far has been a nice place to play as well.  Their pitching mounds are 47 feet vs. Fenton's pitching mounds at 42 feet.  (Makes pitching for a 9 year old a little more difficult)  As I said before the teams are more competitive at Kirkwood vs. Fenton and the game is definitely more fast paced.  The fields are close together, making it easy to watch multiple games for those of you who have more than one child playing on different teams at the same time (as I do).  The league is a little more expensive, roughly $225 (some include uniforms and practices at various fields that have to be rented).  There are no raffles to be bought and no concessions....let me repeat....NO concessions! :)  Rainouts are always made up and very quickly scheduled during the season..not at the end, as Fenton sometimes does.

For those of you who enjoy an adult beverage now and again or a good ol' hot dog, Kirkwood has Shock-Top on draft (32 oz for $5.50) ...not to disregard Fenton in anyway, as they have all your AB beers available.  Both concessions are abundant with food, however I would have to give Kirkwood props on the different types of food sold there ranging from chicken fingers to Brats! 

Last but not least, I would recommend both fields but for the better competition, Kirkwood would be the place based on that info alone!

CYC Soccer (pre-k and k)

We are excited to be back with CYC this year for soccer!  When this age..4 and 6, CYC offers such a great and inexpensive program.  Amazingly enough, it only cost us $25 per child WOW! MAJOR WOW!  That alone is reason enough for us to participate :) 
Their are around 10 girls/boys on each team.  They play 5 on 5 and no goalies.  Makes scoring pretty easy but you  would be suprised at how much "back and forth" play happens before a goal is scored.  The games are 1 hour and everyone plays.  There are no positions and the kids tend to swarm the ball.  I didn't mind that considering when they were at Vetta, there were 20 on a team and 10 of them played the whole time. 
The field is much smaller and we love that!  They get to the goals a lot quicker and usually a high scoring game! :) Makes watching 4 and 6 year old play soccer, exciting!
We highly recommend CYC Soccer!