Sun.-Sun., March 26-April 2, 2023
The days just seemingly continue to roll by faster and faster each week.
As I have mentioned before, Jacob is trying to earn one of the coveted "Iron Dude" awards given out by his Camarillo Cosmos track club for any 11-12 year old male athlete that competes in all 11 of the events over the course of the season.
Going into this week's track meet Jacob has competed in the 80 Meter Hurdles, 100 Meter Dash, 200 Meter Dash, 400 Meter Dash, 800 Meter Run, 4 x 100 Meter Relay, 4 x 400 Meter Relay and the Long Jump.
With only three more Meets remaining on the Cosmos schedule before the Ventura County Youth Track Club Finals, Jacob still needed to compete in the 1600 Meter Run, the 3200 Meter Run and the Shot Put. For some unknown reason, even though there is a 12th weekly event, the High Jump, one does not have to enter this event to earn "Iron Dude" status.
This week Jacob was going to compete in an unusual combination of events that would include his first ever attempts at the 3200 Meter Run and Shot Put.
I couldn't help Jacob with the 3200
but offered him a few tips on the Shot Put
Our back yard would suffice
as a Shot Put ring
On Saturday, Jacob would have to use a 6 lbs. shot. In this training session we used a softball of about the same size but not weight. Once his standing put technique looked solid, he graduated to a rock that Laurie found in the garden that weighed approximately the required 6 lbs.
Mary is also is of a competitive nature. Thus, she wants to earn an "Iron Chick" award for 7-8 year old girls who compete all eight of the events available to this age group.
Mary has to compete in the 100 Meter Dash, 200 Meter Dash, 400 Meter Dash, 800 Meter Run, 1600 Meter Run, 4 x 100 Meter Relay, 4 x 400 Meter Relay and Long Jump to become an "Iron Chick."
At this age, the girls are not allowed to compete in the 3200 Meter Run, the Shot Put or the High Jump.
Going into this week's track meet, Mary is only half way home, still needing to compete in the 200, the 800, the 1600 and 4 x 400 Meter Relay. She was scheduled to run in both the 800 and 1600 Meter runs in the Saturday meet.
Manee "Manee with Two E's" Valentine
On Wednesday, my Mother's skilled nursing facility in Pasadena hosted a special lunch to celebrate the start of Spring that included this famed Las Vegas lounge singer.
Mom and I would not be denied. We had great seats for the show!
Manee was actually quite entertaining in his Trini Lopez meets Rodney Dangerfield style. I must admit that his ballads in English were a tad hard to take but his songs in Spanish were excellent. Manee really did a nice job engaging with each and everyone in the room including my Mom and I through both his songs and storytelling.
He left Mom with a bright smile on her face the rest of the afternoon which was the point of the luncheon was it not?
On Saturday, Laurie and I left Casa Contreras in Camarillo bright and early for the 35 minute drive to Fillmore H.S. where the traveling Camarillo Cosmos were set to take on the Heritage Valley Blazers in another six hour track meet.
I asked a lady in full Heritage Valley gear about her club. As it turns out, the Blazers are made up of young athletes from both Fillmore and the nearby city of Santa Paula.
Santa Paula is also an agricultural city and is located about nine miles west of Fillmore along Route 126.
The two towns are long time athletic rivals with the Fillmore H.S. Flashes vs. Santa Paula H.S. Cardinals football series having had its 112th edition last October, a 35-28 win for Fillmore. This is the oldest series in Ventura County high school football history with the Cardinals leading the all-time series 62-43-7.
I asked the Heritage Valley lady about any strife between these two rival towns being asked to compete as one on the Blazers. She responded that "Oh, it's not a problem, we don't start hating each other until we get to high school."
There just isn't anything like good, clean old fashioned hate, is there?
Yep, we were indeed in Fillmore
Across the street from the FHS track
the Fillmore Little League baseball and
softball seasons would be in full swing today
Fillmore is a quaint agricultural
community in northeastern Ventura County
Fillmore H.S.'s nickname is the
Flashes
Even injured Flashes athletes need medical attention from time to time.
It was a BEAUTIFUL day for a track meet
We had no clouds, temperatures in the high 60s and light ocean breezes. What more could an avid track aficionado desire?
Mary with the pink headband was ready
Jacob with the red, white and blue
headband started the day with his
first ever 32oo Run
Again, with no knowledge at all of what he was going through, I kept my mouth shut as he came by us and took photos.
I still have trouble understanding not only how anyone can run around the track EIGHT times but how one keeps track of which lap they are running.
At these meets, to save time, all the athletes both male and female, who are going to run this truly long distance race are on the track at the same time. Thus the race had a mix of six groups of runners that included 11-12 year old Boys and Girls, 13-14 Boys and Girls and 15-18 year old Boys and Girls.
Jacob is hanging in there
Anybody have any idea what laps he is on?
Meanwhile, Mary was Long Jumping
She is getting good air time
on this fine day
Jacob coming around the
track again . . .
. . . and again . . .
. . . and yet again!
I really hoped that this was his final lap as he was really running fast.
Thank goodness, it was.
When the results were posted we were all shocked as he was the fastest of the five 11-12 year old boys in the race posting a winning time of 14:33.56!
Mary was still jumping
Her pig tails still look dangerous to me
Mary's best mark today was 7'-0 1/2". That placed her as the fourth best of the thirty 7-8 year old girls that competed in the Long Jump in the meet.
Jacob running the third leg of
the 4 x 100 Meter Relay
Trying to make up the stagger
He is running well
Striding into the last hand-off
Jacob's relay team finished third out of six teams in this race for 11-12 year old Boys with a time of 1:03.43.
Mary on the second leg of
her 4 x 100 Meter relay
CATCH HER, MARY!
In the 7-8 year old Girls category, her relay team finished third out of six teams with a time of 1:24.21.
Mary running her first ever 1600
She covered the four laps
in 7:55.60
She was the fourth fastest of the six 7-8 year old Girls in the race and running in this 1600 Meter Run put her one event closer to that coveted "Iron Chick" award.
What is this heavy ball
doing in my hands?
Jacob was about to cross off another event on his trek to the "Iron Dude" award.
Here we go
Getting his skinny body into his throw
He was OK with his 16'-1 3/4" toss that ranked 17th out of 23 11-12 year old Boys competing in Fillmore this morning.
Mary's final event of the day was
the 800 Meter Run
At first she was not happy to have to run this event today but she was reconciled to the race when she realized that it would be another step towards "Iron Chick" status.
There were ten 7-8 year old
Girls in the race
Mary finished third clocking the two laps in a blistering 3:37.04!
She now needs to squeeze in a 200 Meter Dash and a 4 x 400 Meter Relay over the next two meets to become an "Iron Chick."
Mike and Mary walking off
the field together after another
good day of Track and Field
Mary was HAPPY!
Mary with family friend Luke Borchart
Mary was done for the day but Jacob still had two more events to run.
Taking off on the 200 Meter Dash
Running the curve quite well
Sprinting towards the straight away
Trying to catch his Camarillo Stingers
football teammate Zyi Rigard
Jacob could not quite close the gap
finishing in second place at 32.80
Jacob running the opening leg of
the 4 x 400 Meter Relay
Tooling down the backstretch
Bring it home Jacob
His relay team came in second of the three teams in the race. They were timed in 5:42.62.
When Mary was done, she left town with her Mother, Vanessa, to go buy a nice outfit to wear for her upcoming First Communion. We had offer to help by driving Jacob and Michael home about an hour after they left us.
After Jacob's really good day, we let him pick a spot for a late lunch. He opted for Cronies Sports Grill in Camarillo. We told him that it was a long 35 minute drive for a hungry athlete like himself and that we knew of a similar spot in nearby Santa Paula only nine minutes away.
The Draft it was!
It is owned and managed by Greg who used to be the manager at Cronies in Camarillo before taking this big ownership step about five years ago.
The food was great, the beverages were cold and besides Greg we saw two servers who were long time workers at Camarillo Cronies as well.
It was like old home week for us.
A sheepish Jacob after consuming
every morsel of food in sight
He also contributed $5.00 worth of quarters to the Santa Paula rackets who run the arcade games that won Jacob about 65 cents worth of odd ball candies.
Still, it was a good time making a new family memory . . .
. . . as was this from Sunday's
L.A. Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks game
Vanessa and the grandkids surprised Michael with tickets to the game for his 47th birthday which is Monday.
The family got to the game early
go wrong?
Meanwhile, on the Continent . . .
It was time for another weekend of EuroBall action, Italian DI style.
The 1-1 Parma Panthers were hosting
our beloved 1-1 Varese Skorpions
During the week, the Skorpions
posted these four coaching staff
posts on Facebook
Video Analyst to the Stars
I worked with Christian "Bumba"
and "Mitico" Leo in 2018-20
Two great, hard working Italian coaches.
A solid Defensive Staff
Dani, Fabio and Pierangelo were part of our staff too and were also good coaches.
A full weekend of IFL games
Only the Emilia Stainless Steel Warriors had a Bye during Week #5 of Italian Division I games.
DAMN!
While my video analysis definitely did not see this coming, we still need to take a look at the current state of IFL football.
Italian Football League
Week #5 Results
Parma Panthers (2-1) 24 - Varese Skorpions (1-2) 0
Firenze Guelfi (4-0) 44 - Ancona Dolphins (2-1) 37
Legnano Frogs (1-2) 27 - Verona Mastini (0-3) 20
Milano Rhinos (3-0) 39 - Lazio Ducks (1-2) 34
BYE: Emilia Stainless Steel Warriors (0-3)
Italian Football League Standings
1. Firenze Guelfi 4-0
2. Milano Rhinos 3-0
3t. Ancona Dolphins 2-1
3t. Parma Panthers 2-1
5t. Lazio Ducks 1-2
5t. Legnano Frogs 1-2
5t. Varese Skorpions 1-2
8t. Emilia Stainless Steel Warriors 0-3
8t. Verona Mastini 0-3
No games are scheduled for Easter weekend
courtesy of FIDAF Gameday
Italian Football League Schedule
Week #6 Games
Saturday and Sunday, April 15-16, 2023
Stainless Steel Warriors (0-3) at Skorpions (1-2)
Mastini (0-3) at Dolphins (2-1)
Rhinos (3-0) at Frogs (1-2)
Guelfi (4-0) at Ducks (1-2)
BYE: Panthers (2-1)
I received two fun photos from Alejandro Altisent of Spain's Guadalajara Stings located a few miles north of Madrid.
This is the Stings women's team
wearing these gray jerseys that
were donated to them by Westlake H.S.
Notice the blue "STINGS" patch just above the numerals covering the word "WESTLAKE" that originally was displayed on that spot.
Lady Stings in action
The gray, blue, orange and white Westlake jerseys matched with the black and blue Westlake game pants are a perfect compliment to the Stings as an alternate uniform.
So long as you don't know that
their real colors are Purple and Yellow
The Stings happily accept any and all donations.
Reading Is FUNdamental!!!
WWII, Italian Partisans, Nazis. inheritance
money as well as second and near third
families that our heroine did not know
her Father was a part of before
and during the war
Just another good read, I'm on a great reading list roll!
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