Okay, so what does this image have to do with what happned to me last Friday night at my son’s Football Booster club kick off? Well, let me tell you…my imagination on overdrive again.

It was a busy Friday about a week ago because I had to get Joaquin to school at 8am for football pictures, my haircut at 9am then pick up the boy at 10:30am. Emmy in tow we successfully accomplished our mission.

After all the running around, we got home and I worked while they watched TV for the day. It was their last week of summer vacation and we had an early day on Saturday since the Antonian Apaches had a football scrimmage in Burnet TX so he had to be at school early the next morning.

At 4pm, Liz came home to take Emmy to the open house at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School. I took Joaquin to the Football Booster “kick off” ice cream social at Antonian High school. I’m not much for crowds but since he was a freshman, I should go.

We arrived at 6pm and the head coach proceeded with the whole “Rah-Rah-Rah!” thing. He even did a “football clinic” for parents (mostly Moms) that didn’t understand the game. He enlisted the help of Fathers and used them as examples of what each player would do on the field. I was picked to demonstrate how a running back would hold the football, run, then stiff-arm a defensive player.

I think I did pretty well but noticed my young freshman son Joaquin, shrink into the crowd (he hung out with the other freshman players — too cool to sit with Dad) fearing I would do something embarrassing.

Ahh, teenagers…so nervous we will embarrass them…not yet my son…not yet…

Then the Auction started. They had to auction off to “boost” the money coming into the football squad. Seemed kind of fun. They even had the cheerleaders there to do the “Price Is Right” model thing.

1st up was a football signed by all of the Freshman football players with a sliver sharpie.

“What do we have for a starting bid!?” Screamed the over enthiusiatic Dad they had recruited to be the Auctioneer. “Bids start at $20! – do I hear $30?”

It sold for $300. What a great way to start the Auction. I wonder what they’d get for the next items?

Ooooo…that stadium package looks cool. An Antonian staduim chair, umbrellla, baseball hat, blanket and rain cover. What more would you want?

“Starting bid for this football stadium package …how about $100!”

I immediately tapped out — no thanks. It sold for $300. Good decision on my part.

Then the JV football was up next, presented by one of the Apache Cheerleaders. Same ball, same silver sharpie signatures from all the JV players…“Let’s start this one off at $200! Do I hear $250?”

“We have $250! Do I hear $300! How about $500! Do I hear $500!”

I almost choked when heard, “I’ve got $800! Now $1,000!”

Did I just hear, $1,000 dollars?!

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As you might have known, my son is a freshman at Antonian College Preparatory Catholic High school this year. He did well during the summer by attending the strength and conditioning camp and we got his football schedule.

So that means I have to distribute it to the familia but I can’t just copy it and forward right?

I have to be creative.

So I present to you the 2010 Apache Football Freshman schedule for my son.

We had fun with this shoot. He kept saying, “I wanna look mean Dad, like my other one — so no smiling.” I obliged much to the chagrin of his mother. I used the flash to help eliminate the shadows on him since his back was to the sun…and we all know how much I hate shadows.

But I like the photo. We took it in our back yard, me sprawled on my back with him “looming” over me. You can click on it for a larger view.

The PDF that I’m sending out even has hyperlinks to each of the locations. You click on the field and it will launch your browser to Google Maps for the location.

It’s not Geeky…it’s INTERACTIVE! :-)

I’ll upload the PDF later.

Thank you for letting me share.

Beto.

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Tomorrow the summer ride is over for my kids. They start back to school. My son starts high school, my daughter into 5th grade. They begin a week early since they go to Catholic School.

It just seemed like a short summer but who am I kidding?

We did a lot but now the fun begins for the Saldivar Clan. Academics are the important thing for our kids but they love sports as well. Joaquin is giving Freshman football at Antonian High school a try and Emmy is going out for the Volleyball team at Blessed Sacrament.

The good news is that “hopefully” both will be playing for the school teams. Actually, Joaquin is on the team but Emmy still has two more tryouts tomorrow and Tuesday.

This could mean our weekends will be free since CYO was mostly played on the weekends. Practices should also be held at the respective schools so that will help as well. I hope.

I’m strapping in — it’s gonna be a fast ride.

Oh and if you’re wondering about the cool school bus photos – it’s real. Found it on this webpage.

Jet-powered school bus reaches 350 mph, eliminates tardy slips — Autoblog

Beto

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Yesterday was Joaquin’s (Wack’s) 1st football practice at Antonian High School. He’d been preparing himself for these practices by attending the Strength and Conditioning camp during the summer at the high school. These were tough workouts that tested his capabilities and determination.

During the 1st week of the camp, we had some very strong conversations about commitment, perseverance and dedication. By the end of the second week, he was looking forward to the daily workouts and he made it through the 4 week camp. He said it helped that he knew most of the football drills – thanks to his football coaching staff at Blessed Sacrament Catholic school.

The practices for the Freshman football team were being held from 10:30am to noon so I took off from work to pick him up. I figured he might be sore plus I wanted to talk to him about his first day in such a large team sport. We hadn’t bought him football cleats so I thought we might do that during the afternoon.

Never mind that fact that my boy is starting High School, but add High School sports and you can count me as a bit apprehensive in my approach to this new venture. I sometimes think Wack is more relaxed than I am.

As I pulled up to the school, I parked up on the hill, turned off my truck and looked down at the practice field. I began to slowly scan the area of over 70 players to try and find my son in the sea of grey t-shirts, red shorts and red helmets.

Wack’s not a speedster but his size and quickness would make him an ideal candidate for the line, so I concentrated my search to that area. I soon spotted the familiar stance of my son as he was going through the drills. I could see him nodding to his lineman coach as he received direction and I am confident in saying that Wack ended his response to the coach with a, “Yes sir.”

At least from my untrained eyes he seemed to being doing well and holding his own. I had arrived a bit early so as I settled back into my seat to watch the drills – I noticed a figure walking around the football practice field. He was wearing black shorts, white baseball cap, a blue and white shirt with that familiar red Bulldog logo on the left side.

It was Wack’s middle school football coach, Andrew Torres. I recognized the confidence and authority of his stride as walked to different areas of the practice field — silently looking down to his clipboard through his dark sunglasses, taking notes.

All business that Torres…

Coach Torres stayed with the team all the way through practice and stood silently by the team when they all huddled and listened to their new coach offer words of encouragement. In an iconic ending, the team lifted their football helmets above their heads in tight circle, shouted something and then broke huddle. Practice was over and a sigh escaped me.

It brought me such a sense of relief knowing I was not the only one at the practice, to watch and encourage my son’s progress.

I started my truck and pulled around to the gymnasium to wait for Wack and in a few minutes, this large, sweaty, sunglass wearing young man rounded the corner in his Apache grey shirt and red shorts. I had to do a double take to make sure it was him. He seemed so much bigger than I remembered this morning. But his toothy smile betrayed the tough guy image. There was my growing young man — hidden behind those sunglasses.

He wasn’t even wearing a football uniform but my heart swelled with pride as he approached the truck.

I know he will do well.

As he opened the door and climbed in, I asked, “How was it Papa?”

“Pretty good. I liked. It.” He responded.

“Was it tough?”

“Not too bad Dad. I’m used to it.”

No doubt thanks to Coach Torres who had also prepared my son for this new chapter in his young life.

“Did you see Coach Torres Papa? I saw him walking around.”

“Yes sir, I saw him.”

“Did he tell you hello?”

“No sir, he was just there watching us.”

“Huh…why was he there?”

“Probably to see any new plays and to show support for HIS PLAYERS.“

Thank you Coach Torres for the continued support of my son. There are very few people who can make an impression on parents (and kids) and I am grateful that you are one of them.

For those of you who don’t know of Coach Torres, that’s him up in the picture (I took) during his 1st football season as head coach at Blessed Sacrament Catholic school. He is a dedicated family man, coach and teacher. You can see more of him by clicking on this link for the videos I produced of the 2010 and 2009 sports seasons.

Thank you for letting me share and I’ll have a football schedule posted soon.

Beto

Go Apaches!

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Last night was my son’s last baseball game and we were excited to see him play. I had an unpleasant dentist appointment but had picked up my Mom and her sister (my Aunt from Michigan) to come watch. As the proud Papa, I set up our chairs up in the concrete stands by home plate to watch my son play with his team.

It was a surprisingly cool night but the game was exciting. At the bottom of the 2nd inning Joaquin was on 2nd base with the bases loaded and two outs. We cheered him on from the top of the concrete stands and I could hear other parents encouraging the Team. There was so much activity during the game, school children running around the stands, people laughing, a player jumping the fence to retrieve a foul ball across the street – I even hear my Mom yell, “C’mon Wack! Go Wack!” Wack is Joaquin’s school nickname.

As I watched the opposing pitcher prepare his wind up, I heard the screech of rubber on asphalt followed by a loud thump. At the first sound, I immediately looked over to the street behind the backstop and saw the brake lights of a big gray truck screeching to a halt. As the truck’s inertia moved it forward, a white “V” was revealed as it traveled across the street in an unnatural slide next to the truck. In a span of a millisecond, my brain identified the white “V” as the white pants of our baseball uniform, then the red knee high socks attached to black baseball cleats. As he continued across the road, I noticed his light brown hair masking his young face. All sound ceased as he rolled to a stop, sitting up right in the street in his blue baseball jersey. It was one of our younger players who had gone to go retreive that foul ball.

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