So here we are back in Chevak (che-vack). The girls were the number 9 seed (out of 10). We faced our rival Emmonak again. I told the girls that Emo would be gunning for them because we'd beat them twice and all that jazz.
The game started out close, within a basket or two either way. However, by the end of the first quarter we had built a solid 10 point lead. The girls were playing well, not fully to their potential but they were starting to find a rhythm.
Long story short... We won 43-33. Tomorrow we play number one seed Scammon Bay. We are guaranteed 2 more games because it is a double elimination tournament, but if we lose one game we won't be getting the berth for the state tournament.
For a little inspiration and Cinderella story we're watching Hoosiers as we wind down tonight... :)
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Basketball.... Snow.... Wind....
Wow, with that title its almost as if I'm back in Lake County again. :) Haha. We're headed into our last weekend of basketball, most likely. Tomorrow around noon we'll leave for Chevak for the regional basketball tournament. The wind has been crazy here though, so I don't know if we'll get out.
Basketball has been very frustrating for me. I have a hard time understanding how many kids here aren't completely dedicated and focused on something they supposedly love so much. Its been a struggle getting girls to come to practice or at least call before practice to let me know if they'll be missing practice. We started in November with 16 girls. Now we're down to 7 girls and at one point we were at 3. The other super frustrating part is that my assistant coach Jana and I have tried to set guidelines for the girls regarding missing practices and being respectful letting one of us know if they'll miss practice. After many signed a contract and failed to live up to their part of the deal I was forced to "give them one more chance"... Its frustrating because 1. I was completely undermined in my position as a coach. My boss completely went over my head to the girls and told them "I'll beg for her to give you one more chance." and 2. thats only teaching the girls that they can do whatever they want and still get another chance.
Oh well, off my soap box. We've got a team and we're off to do the best we can! :)
It hasn't snowed a ton since Christmas break. We've had a bit here and there, but nothing outrageous. This weekend, particularly yesterday and today the wind has been awesome. Yesterday I came to school for a few hours. Sarah had left the house about 11 she said. When I went home at 3 I couldn't tell if she'd been out the front door or not... The wind whips the snow into a nice peak right at my front door. I spent about an hour shoveling mostly just the steps and also stomping back and forth to pack down the snow a bit. I was expecting to have the same peak to shovel this morning on my way to school but was pleasantly surprised that my steps still looked good. :)
Last week I also was without my other half, Jana Mae. She had the awesome opportunity to go to Juneau for a week for Alaska Close-Up with a group of high school students. She got to work with lots of kids and with state government officials in our state capital. Needless to say, she had an awesome time. I was bored for the majority of the week, but I was able to get plenty of sleep and get all rested up from our ridiculous idea last friday... I'll post another blog about that later. Ha!
I was invited to go moose hunting with Paul last monday after inservice. We took off and planned to be gone not terribly long because we had school the next day. We headed out toward Lamont Slough and Sunshine Bay. It was a beautiful day for riding. We didn't see any moose but we did get Paul stuck and unstuck in some pretty deep powder. I didn't get any pictures of being stuck, but I do have a few I'll throw in here showing the beauty of this place I live... And the beauty that Sammy Jo is too. Ha!
I'll try to post this week while at Chevak and keep you updated on our games. Looking forward to catching up with many of you this summer!!!
Basketball has been very frustrating for me. I have a hard time understanding how many kids here aren't completely dedicated and focused on something they supposedly love so much. Its been a struggle getting girls to come to practice or at least call before practice to let me know if they'll be missing practice. We started in November with 16 girls. Now we're down to 7 girls and at one point we were at 3. The other super frustrating part is that my assistant coach Jana and I have tried to set guidelines for the girls regarding missing practices and being respectful letting one of us know if they'll miss practice. After many signed a contract and failed to live up to their part of the deal I was forced to "give them one more chance"... Its frustrating because 1. I was completely undermined in my position as a coach. My boss completely went over my head to the girls and told them "I'll beg for her to give you one more chance." and 2. thats only teaching the girls that they can do whatever they want and still get another chance.
Oh well, off my soap box. We've got a team and we're off to do the best we can! :)
Last week I also was without my other half, Jana Mae. She had the awesome opportunity to go to Juneau for a week for Alaska Close-Up with a group of high school students. She got to work with lots of kids and with state government officials in our state capital. Needless to say, she had an awesome time. I was bored for the majority of the week, but I was able to get plenty of sleep and get all rested up from our ridiculous idea last friday... I'll post another blog about that later. Ha!
I'll try to post this week while at Chevak and keep you updated on our games. Looking forward to catching up with many of you this summer!!!
What is love?
Love is...
Snow machines!!
Finding snow tunnels and carving our own cups.
Marinating steaks with your friend who left you for a week.
Full circle farm radishes...
Delicious salads...
Snow machines!!
Finding snow tunnels and carving our own cups.
Marinating steaks with your friend who left you for a week.
Full circle farm radishes...
Delicious salads...
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Happy Birthday to Sarah Bear!!!-and an update for the last 2 months...
Happy 28th birthday to my sweet sweet cousin Sarah Beth!!! I love you, Sar-Bear!! :) I hope you're having a fantastic time at Disneyland!!!
Its been 2 months since I've posted.... Phew!!! I'm not so good at this whole blogging thing. January seemed to whiz by. I stayed plenty busy between coaching and teaching first grade and after school program. It was the first of February before I knew it.
In January we traveled first to Kotlik for a weekend of games. We only had 6 eligible players, but they worked hard and won one out of three games against Kotlik and Scammon.
Emo is the rival here, much like North Lake and Paisley are rivals. There are many people who are good friends, even some family (up here EVERYONE is related), but when it come to basketball they're serious. The first night in Chevak we played Emo and lost by 3 points. The girls weren't used to Emo's aggressive playing. As they were settling down for the evening I heard talk of revenge and working harder to beat them in the morning. We played them again and the girls were awesome. We beat Emo by 7 in overtime.
The first weekend in February we held home basketball games. We hosted Mountain Village, Kotlik and Emmonak. The girls had an awesome time playing their hearts out in front of their friends and family. I never realized how important those home crowds were when I was playing ball, but the girls sure played at a different level for their home crowd.
After the home games, I got really frustrated. Of the 11 girls on my team prior to home games, only 2 or 3 came to practice the week after those games. Holy moly, Batman! At the end of that week we had a conversation and 6 girls signed a contract saying they wouldn't miss any more practices unexcused.
That weekend we went to Emo for a visit to Marta and Cody and to watch Emo's potlach. The following Monday I was back down to 4 girls at practice. Holy anger happening. So we're at 5 or maybe 6 because a few were gone for being sick and not coming to school.
This weekend was our home Potlach. Friday was a vacation day for our school because of Potlach. So Jana and I took off toward Emo to play a little bit and meet up with Sam and Joshua and Marta and Cody for dinner. ON the way back to AUK for Potlach we stopped along the bank of the river and shot the 44 mag. So fun... Videos will be posted when Jana gets home and I steal them from her. :) We made it home about 9 and headed to Potlach. We watched many friends do their first dance and laughed with some natives until 2:30 in the morning. By that time we were STARVING!!! So we came home and made tacos. Then it was time for Jana to start packing--she had to leave at 9 in the morning, so packing began about 3:30. I helped her iron and pack and the joint effort stopped around 5. At that point we had a short discussion on the perks of whether to sleep or just stay up for the remaining 3 hours until we'd be getting up anyway... We stayed up.
That night was complete and total ridiculousness. The 4 hours between finishing packing and her leaving for the plane we got lots done... By lots I mean lots of laughing and ridiculousness... We had a nerf gun war, taught ourselves how to juggle with a youtube video, talk and laughed at the dumb things we were saying because we were so delirious. At 7:30 we might have been having second thoughts about not going to sleep, but we survived the ordeal. And I'm currently working on a video of my life in Alaska, so more clips from the ridiculousness of Friday night will be added.
Yesterday, the day I started this post, I went to Nunam to pick up a friend, Brittnay. Prior to leaving I really thought "maybe I should find someone who knows how to get there to show me the way." But then I figured, "I have my GPS and it can't be that hard... There is a trail and lots of people came over for Potlach last night, it'll be okay." So off I went... And boy oh boy was I lost....
On the picture--The light blue line is where I drove... You can see the beginning and end- its pretty much a straight shot on a trail that I just missed the whole time... Ooopsie. :) Good thing I'm adventuresome and stubborn as heck.
But since I had my GPS and my brain turned on, I was able to find my way to Nunam okay. :) Picked Britt up, headed to AUK to get gas then off to Emo to say hi to Sam and Joshua and Marta and Cody. Seems like there was a bit of a trend this week. haha!! We came back to AUK and surprised Michael and Sarah with Brittnay's presence... Had an eventful night of karaoke and playing cards. It was a great little break.
Today is a lazy day... Laundry, taking my friend's dog for a walk, making sure I am ready for work to start again tomorrow. :) Haha.
Now that I'm caught up to date I will put it on my weekly to do list so I remember to post occassionally. :) Hope you are all well.
XOXO
Sammy Jo
Its been 2 months since I've posted.... Phew!!! I'm not so good at this whole blogging thing. January seemed to whiz by. I stayed plenty busy between coaching and teaching first grade and after school program. It was the first of February before I knew it.
In January we traveled first to Kotlik for a weekend of games. We only had 6 eligible players, but they worked hard and won one out of three games against Kotlik and Scammon.
Emo is the rival here, much like North Lake and Paisley are rivals. There are many people who are good friends, even some family (up here EVERYONE is related), but when it come to basketball they're serious. The first night in Chevak we played Emo and lost by 3 points. The girls weren't used to Emo's aggressive playing. As they were settling down for the evening I heard talk of revenge and working harder to beat them in the morning. We played them again and the girls were awesome. We beat Emo by 7 in overtime.
The first weekend in February we held home basketball games. We hosted Mountain Village, Kotlik and Emmonak. The girls had an awesome time playing their hearts out in front of their friends and family. I never realized how important those home crowds were when I was playing ball, but the girls sure played at a different level for their home crowd.
After the home games, I got really frustrated. Of the 11 girls on my team prior to home games, only 2 or 3 came to practice the week after those games. Holy moly, Batman! At the end of that week we had a conversation and 6 girls signed a contract saying they wouldn't miss any more practices unexcused.
That weekend we went to Emo for a visit to Marta and Cody and to watch Emo's potlach. The following Monday I was back down to 4 girls at practice. Holy anger happening. So we're at 5 or maybe 6 because a few were gone for being sick and not coming to school.
This weekend was our home Potlach. Friday was a vacation day for our school because of Potlach. So Jana and I took off toward Emo to play a little bit and meet up with Sam and Joshua and Marta and Cody for dinner. ON the way back to AUK for Potlach we stopped along the bank of the river and shot the 44 mag. So fun... Videos will be posted when Jana gets home and I steal them from her. :) We made it home about 9 and headed to Potlach. We watched many friends do their first dance and laughed with some natives until 2:30 in the morning. By that time we were STARVING!!! So we came home and made tacos. Then it was time for Jana to start packing--she had to leave at 9 in the morning, so packing began about 3:30. I helped her iron and pack and the joint effort stopped around 5. At that point we had a short discussion on the perks of whether to sleep or just stay up for the remaining 3 hours until we'd be getting up anyway... We stayed up.
That night was complete and total ridiculousness. The 4 hours between finishing packing and her leaving for the plane we got lots done... By lots I mean lots of laughing and ridiculousness... We had a nerf gun war, taught ourselves how to juggle with a youtube video, talk and laughed at the dumb things we were saying because we were so delirious. At 7:30 we might have been having second thoughts about not going to sleep, but we survived the ordeal. And I'm currently working on a video of my life in Alaska, so more clips from the ridiculousness of Friday night will be added.
Yesterday, the day I started this post, I went to Nunam to pick up a friend, Brittnay. Prior to leaving I really thought "maybe I should find someone who knows how to get there to show me the way." But then I figured, "I have my GPS and it can't be that hard... There is a trail and lots of people came over for Potlach last night, it'll be okay." So off I went... And boy oh boy was I lost....
But since I had my GPS and my brain turned on, I was able to find my way to Nunam okay. :) Picked Britt up, headed to AUK to get gas then off to Emo to say hi to Sam and Joshua and Marta and Cody. Seems like there was a bit of a trend this week. haha!! We came back to AUK and surprised Michael and Sarah with Brittnay's presence... Had an eventful night of karaoke and playing cards. It was a great little break.
Today is a lazy day... Laundry, taking my friend's dog for a walk, making sure I am ready for work to start again tomorrow. :) Haha.
Now that I'm caught up to date I will put it on my weekly to do list so I remember to post occassionally. :) Hope you are all well.
XOXO
Sammy Jo
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