What a Wonderful Event!
I can not even begin to describe Saturday, August 8,2009.
I have waited a few days to post about it because I really don't know that I can find the words to describe what I felt like when I left at 4pm.
So, Let me start from the very beginning- 1 month ago:
In July, Josh and I talked about having a mom's clinic, they had one last year, but it ended up as more of a parent informational session than a "clinic." After talking to a fellow Coaches wife, she mentioned that what they talked about last year was over HER head, so I knew that we needed to "dummy" it down a few notches:)
In July, I talked with Josh, who was planning to do this again, but I convinced him that we needed to do a mom's only day and that we needed to be taught like we were in Junior High. (no offense to anyone:) I mentioned that we could do this as a fundraiser.
We ask the community for a lot of things, so Josh wanted to give back a little.
The fundraiser turned into a charity event for Breast Cancer. That part was Josh's idea, which I thought was great and we knew that Mrs. Scott, our Principal would be on board as well.
From there on, things seemed to fall into place. It was a tough task, but we got it together and going in the best way that we knew how. The tough part was promoting it.
Now- fast forward 1 month and we are at August 7, 2009, the eve of the Lady Raider Football Camp.
Friday we decorated ALL day. Kristi Harrison, Julie Cooper, Taylor Elrod and I worked our tails off all day on Friday. WE ruled the school, going all over the athletic building and cafeteria and getting things situated.
Unfortunately we ran out of time to do somethings, but all in all we got everything just how we wanted it.
Saturday came quickly, but we all managed to get ourselves there and presentable. We were all dragging from the late night before, but once registration was over, we got ourselves in a suitable routine.
The event kicked off with the Coach's and the Team Leadership Committee taking us into the locker room for boot camp. We were shown how the athletes have to keep their lockers organized and what happens when they are doing something wrong. (up downs) and then how to get into "position"
The mom's got a kick out of this, and were interested to know that the boys have to keep their lockers absolutely perfect: Or Else. I know some of them wish they could use this method at home!
After getting into "Position" we headed onto the practice field to run some drills.
Yes- we were broken into groups and moved from station to station.
I really can't describe this- you have to view the pictures to see for yourselves.
Between me, Taylor and Chad Taylor, and Virginia Torres we have about 1000 pictures. I mean that literally. Chad alone has 675!
Chad Taylor emailed me the link to the flickr pictures, check it out!
www.flickr.com/chadtaylorpics
Anyhow, I learned a lot of good stuff at this.
1) It is OBVIOUS why these coaches are coaches.
I have always watched practice and have always been impressed with them because it really takes talent, patience and understanding to be an effective coach. Someone once told me that their son loved his position coach so much that if the coach had asked him to run through a brick wall- he would have done it with no questions asked.
I absolutely understand what that means now.
These coaches are great with your kids, and they were AMAZING with the women.
They were patient, loud, didn't treat us like idiots. They complimented us and really and truly didn't make us feel like girls!
Infact, when Kristi and I were in Coach Harrison's group, he was treating her like a player! She got told a few things by her own hubby! It was great!
2) The coach's were good, but what made it work so well, was the responses from the ladies. I have to say- I was blown away by how easy it was. You ladies just went right out and went with it. You weren't embarrassed, shy or wimpy! You all were wonderful and I guarantee that YOU made the difference in the day and in the way that the coach's treated you. You set the tone for the entire day and it was amazing.
We broke it down in "Raiders" and then headed inside to lift weights. We did some squats and hang-cling to some awesome music.
Next was the tour of the training room with Doc Ohnheiser. We were able to see what some of the machines were used for and also some of the equipment and what they use for rehab and how they do some treatments for certain injuries.
We were even allowed to dip our arms into the ice cold whirlpool and then over into the hot pool! It was awesome!
Next up... To feed the hungry players!!!
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Sorry this took so long- its been a busy week!
Ok- so on to lunch!
Chili's at Lakeline was so generous to donate yummy sandwiches for our event. Along with Chili's, Bush's Chicken donated their AMAZING ice tea- which happens to be the best tea that I have ever tasted!
Taylor Elrod, who is very creative, found some super cute plastic margarita glasses that we decided to use for the luncheon. They were definitely hard to drink out of, but they were so cute that we decided to use them anyway! I thought it made the tables look stylish.
Julie, and Taylor did an amazing job at making the cafeteria look so nice. I really appreciated them that day!
All the hungry players gathered in the cafeteria and made a line to get their food! I did remember to get bigger cups for the coaches. I felt pretty sure that they would have felt like sissy's drinking out of a pink margarita cup!
We ate, chatted and then our 2 guest speakers were to speak. Normally someone that hosts the event would say a few words, but I HATE speaking in front of people. I prefer to hide behind the computer, so I obviously passed the torch to Deborah McKenna, a friend/co-worker of Julie Cooper's. She is a Breast Cancer Survivor of 7 years! She was a wonderful speaker and I appreciated her telling her story so much. She came in on her free day and took time to speak to us and really- she was a GREAT speaker. She got a little personal, and said things that I didn't expect, but you know, I am glad she did. She put a different prospective on it that I wouldn't have considered had that of been myself in her situation.
Anyhow- thank you Ms.McKenna, you were funny, inspiring and emotional and it set a perfect tone for the rest of the day!
Next up was someone that I have to tell a little story on. I think she wouldn't mind because she said this to the entire room at our lunch.
The wife of our school's namesake, Mrs. Sandra Rouse was our second guest speaker.
I started promoting this event about 4 weeks before the actually date. I emailed friends, staff, booster club members, anyone that I could think of. Except that I left out the most important person of all! Mrs. Rouse. I didn't do it on purpose, I just kept putting it off for some reason. I would go to my computer to email her- then I would get distracted and do something else.
On the morning of July 30, I finally remembered to email her. This was about 10 days before the event took place. That evening I sat down to read my emails and I about fell out of my chair. Mrs. Rouse had emailed me back and she said that THAT day (July 30), 30 years prior, she had had a double mastectomy. She received my email 30 years TO THE DAY of her surgery. The email gave me chills and I was so moved by it that I asked her to be a guest speaker. I was praying that she didn't think I was being tacky, but she replied that she would love to do it.
Mrs. Rouse gave a wonderful heartfelt speech about her experience with breast cancer and how God was watching over her and her family. She talked a lot about Mr. Rouse's job and their life together. I don't tear up often- infact Josh calls me heartless- but she made me tear up.
I just love talking to her and Mr. Rouse. They are 2 really neat people and if you get the chance, I think it would be awesome for you to strike up a conversation with them. Then you might understand WHY the district chose to name Rouse High School after Charlie Rouse. I know that Mr.Rouse was the one that they named the school after, but I don't believe that they would have named it after him had they not have felt that Mrs. Rouse was just as great. I can't think of two more deserving people.
Thank you Mrs. Rouse for being so willing to speak and sharing your story. I hope you know how many people enjoyed it as much as I did.
Next up was lecture!
We met in the study hall and heard from our last guest speaker- Dr. John Duggan who is also our team Physician. He is wonderful! And he had a lot of great information to share with us. He also answered a lot of great questions.
Then the coaches taught us about football. I love these coaches, they are so football smart and they did a WONDERFUL job, but I have to say that parts of it were over my head!(and I understand football:) I guess when you do something for a living, you don't realize that you have to dummy it down a LOT. I mentioned to Josh that it was still over my head a bit and he said that they couldn't make it anymore simple than that!
I hope the coaches take this in a good way. They were SO amazing the entire day and I know that they all had fun and I appreciated them so much, but for next year I think I am going to have to Coach THEM on how to Teach US!
They are just so used to teaching routes and learning new scemes that they don't realize that we have to learn the bare minimum:)
After the football for "above average" dummies, we drew for doorprises!
Winners:
Liza Gonzales
Ginger Brittain
Debbie Harrison (saving it to give to Kristi)
Sandra Rouse (2)
Denise Cochran
Liesl Noble
Lisa Pelt
Rhea Unger
Terri Wilson
Mrs. Rouse won the pink jersey and I was so happy! I felt she was deserving of it!
The day ended with us asking the coaches a lot of random questions. And then we broke for the day!
I can't tell you how I felt when I left that day. I had so much fun and I just was SO thankful to the coaches. I don't even know how to begin to describe how much I appreciated what they did for me. I know that they weren't pumped about spending their Saturday with a bunch of women- but I couldn't have been more wrong. Sure they were tired, but they really had a good time too. That is the inside information that you get!
Thank you all for being a part of this major, 1st annual event. You made the event wonderful because of your attitudes!
I can't wait for next year!!!
Go Lady Raiders!!!
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Announcing our Guest Speaker!!
I am HONORED to announce that our guest speaker for the luncheon on Saturday will be our very own namesake Mrs. Sandra Rouse.
This is a luncheon you will not want to miss out on!
Mrs. Rouse- we are so very proud to have you as our speaker!!
*** $20 at the door payment for anyone that brings 1 gallon empty milk jug!
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We made the Hill Country News!
http://www.hillcountrynews.com/articles/2009/07/31/sports/sports60.txt
One MINOR correction: sandals ARE permitted, but you will be more comfortable in tennis shoes!
I hope you all can make it! We have SO many wonderful things that are going on at this event. I will be posting more on Sunday!!
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Another Guest Speaker!
I would like to introduce all of you ladies to one of our guest speakers. I am SO incredibly pleased to announce that Hunter Dixon, a 2007 Graduate of Cedar Park High School will be one of our guest speakers at the Lady Raider Football Camp.
Hunter was a running back (#24) on the Cedar Park Football team. He is an amazing young man, and I can't wait for you to hear what he has to talk about! No hints, but it will be great! Hunter attends Texas State University!
Our other guest speaker will be Dr. John Patrick Duggan, the Rouse Raider team physician!!
Dr. John P. Duggan, Jr. joined Round Rock Orthopaedic Group in August 2008 and is the team physician for the Rouse Raiders and assistant team physician for the Round Rock Express. During his sports medicine fellowship at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, he trained with Drs. David Lintner and Walter Lowe in the latest arthroscopic shoulder and knee surgical techniques with an emphasis on the throwing athlete and ACL reconstruction. His duties as a fellow included team coverage of the Houston Astros and Texans.
He graduated Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana with a B.S. in Cell and Structural Biology and received his M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, New York. Dr. Duggan completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
