Finding our inner Katniss at Arrowland

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be Robin Hood, Merida, or Katniss?  Archery isn't the kind of sport that you can just do in your back yard or street corner (unless you live on acres of land). I've always wanted to try it, but never really got the chance until our recent trip to Manila. Archery and the Philippines aren't really two words that I associate with each other, but since discovering Arrowland, we've decided that every trip to Manila is going to include a visit to Arrowland for the chance to live out our Hunger Games dreams (just the archery part, not the killing tribunes part)!

A letter to the parents of the losing soccer team

To the parents of the opposing team,

My sons' soccer team played your sons' soccer team today. It's a game that you might not want to remember, because the score was 12-0.  The gap would have been wider, but our team's coach instructed our players to stop scoring. Possession was 90%-10% in our favor, and 90% of the match was played in your half of the pitch. To put it bluntly, it was a thrashing.

Levi's Stadium: The good, the bad, the ugly.

This weekend Alfie is watching Manchester United play FC Barcelona in the International Champions Cup. I'm green with envy! These are two of the biggest football clubs in the world, and even if only a portion of their first team plays, it's going to be an amazing match. Hopefully he'll get to see the (un)holy trinity of strikers -- Messi, Suarez, and Neymar -- match skills against Van Persie, Rooney, Mata, and more. What's more, they'll be playing in one of the best new stadiums around: Levi's Stadium.

Practice makes Perfect: Introducing the Skills Bros Jr

Ball control is one of the most basic soccer skills, and my boys have been practicing keepy-ups (kicking the ball up with one or both feet without letting the ball touch the ground) since they were in first grade.  I remember when doing 5 keepy-ups was a challenge. They were so frustrated and impatient to do more, but Alfie and I reminded them of their experiences with the Shred Sled -- that they would only improve with practice.

So they practiced.

It ain't over till it's over (plus extra time...)

If there's one thing I've learned from watching soccer, it's that the game isn't over until the final whistle blows.  One of Alfie's and my pet peeves when watching soccer games is seeing fans leave the stadium before the game ends.  Usually that happens when one team is down by a few goals and there doesn't seem to be much hope of them catching up.  No doubt they can't stand to see their team lose, and they want to get a head start on the outbound crowd.

I'm a fair weather Forty-Niner. And that's okay.

When I first came to the US, I knew nothing about American football.  Almost twenty years later, I've improved a lot.  I know how the game works.  I know what fumbles and spot kickers are.  I   understand phrases like "second and five" and "two point conversion" and "Gatorade shower".  I know the difference between a pass play and a running play.  I even know there's such a thing as a dive running play and a draw running play!

Air Manny?

What does Manny Pacquiao have in common with Michael Jordan, Michael Johnson, Charles Barkley, Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams?  Yes, they're all top athletes and they are (or were) the best at what they do, but they are (or in Lance Armstrong's case, used to be) Nike endorsers. Nike signed Pacquiao back in 2006, but I had never actually seen Manny Pacquiao apparel in stores until today.

London 2012: Olympic Football

When we purchased our tickets to Olympic football (soccer) a year ago, we had no idea which teams would be playing.  We made our choice based on the stadium (we wanted to spend some time in Wales to see Cardiff and the Millenium Stadium) and the price (the quarterfinal match was within our family-of-5 budget, and we figured that the crappy teams would have been weeded out by the quarterfinals, so we'd get a decent match).  So it was a delighful surprise to find out that Team GB had been placed into Group A, and that we would be watching the winner of group A play in our semifinal.  And when Team GB actually did win the lottery, we felt like we had won the gold medal already.  We'd only be watching one match -- and it would be Team GB!  We were already looking forward to the event, but now our excitement had reached fever pitch.

California Classico 2012: SJ Earthquakes vs. LA Galaxy

City derby matches always produce the most intense and exciting soccer matches.  The most famous ones even have their own name:  think Manchester City vs. Manchester United (Manchester Derby), Liverpool vs. Everton (Merseyside Derby), Bayern Munich vs. Borussia Dortmund (Deutschland National Derby) and Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona (El Clasico).

Soccer, Don't Stop!

3Po's and Jammy's soccer league season ended last weekend, and there's more than a vacancy in our Monday, Wednesday and Saturday schedules -- there's a a hole in our heart. Okay, that's overdramatizing, but 3Po and Jammy are really are going to miss those practices and games. The soccer bug has bitten them hard, and they're really sad about not being part of a team any more. Getting a shiny trophy and a snazzy pin at the last game (which, to add insult to injury, was canceled due to the rain) was small consolation for the prospect of being deprived of soccer games throughout the winter.

The Winter Olympics: Who's on Top?

The 2010 Winter Olympics are over, and now that my family is no longer obsessing about whether Canada wins another gold medal or whether Apolo Ohno makes it through another race without getting shoved or disqualified, it seemed like a good act of closure to visit the Winter Olympics site to check out the medal standings. I've been quite impressed with the Canadians' amazing performance at these games (they won more gold medals at these winter Olympics than any other nation has ever won in a winter Olympics), so I have to say I was surprised to see the US at the top of the table:



Official Vancouver Olympics website

I've always thought these medal tables ought to go by the number of gold medals, not the number of medals overall. After all, you're ranking the countries by the number of winners, right? Besides, the US is always on top of the table. As a world citizen who's used to America running around thumping their chest and declaring, "We're Number One", it would be nice to see another country there for a change, and I'm all for giving props to the underdogs.

But then I suppose each country who medaled in these Olympics is going to want to present the results to make themselves appear in the best possible light. To test this theory, I went on a virtual round-the-world trip to the websites of leading newspapers in countries that medaled in these Olympic games. I managed (and believe me, it's not easy to figure out how to surf a Russian or Korean or Chinese website when you have absolutely no idea how to read their language) to get some screen shots of the medal counts (I've shown only the top five countries for brevity's sake), and the results speak for themselves:


NBC Olympics page, US
Most Americans who care about the Olympics would go to the NBC Olympics page, so I'm not surprised that they chose the method that puts the US on top (had they ordered the countries by the number of gold medals, the US would be #3). That's pretty much the case in all the American newspapers:



New York Times, US

South Korea, on the other hand, chose to order the countries by number of gold medals. They're ranked #5 in terms of gold medals, and #7 in terms of overall medals. Again, not surprising. If I were Korean, I'd want to see my country in the top 5 too.


Chosun Ilbo, South Korea

But how does the rest of the world do it? I decided to go to the BBC, since their newscasts always seem to have such an unbiased, authoritative vibe, what with their posh British accents and all (besides, I'm married to an Englishman and he'd be quite offended if I suggested that the BBC was anything less than 100% neutral). They use the Gold Standard too:

BBC, Great Britain

But hang on, I thought. Canada used to be part of The Empire, and even now, for some reason, they call Elizabeth II their queen, so it's possible the Brits might be leaning towards putting their former colony on top of the medal heap. So I looked for a country that would have no reason to care which way the medals are tallied. Germany ends up second in the total medal count and gold medal count, so I figured they're as neutral as any country. Also -- since I'm flaming the fans of nationalism here -- Germany was beaten by both the US and Great Britain in World War II, so I figure they'd hate both countries equally. If you think it's silly to be bringing that kind of ancient history into sports, just ask Alfie about how his father and grandfather felt when England beat Germany to win the World Cup in 1966).

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany

Germany's newspapers use the gold medal tally. Another "neutral" country, Norway (who stands at #4 in both gold medal tally and overall medal tally) also used the number of gold medals to report medal counts in their newspapers -- although I noticed that the Norwegians couldn't resist reminding their countrymen that they are Number One in gold medal and medal standings for the All-Time Winter Olympic medal count.


Aftenposten, Norway

For a true lack of bias, check out this Austrian newspaper. They stuck to the gold medal tally even though it meant Austria would be ranked #9 instead of #5:


Die Presse, Austria



And what of the Canadians? Surprise, surprise, they used the overall medal tally and ranked themselves third!

Toronto Star, Canada

I actually checked a couple of Canadian sites to make sure this one wasn't a fluke (as if the most popular news site in Canada would be a "fluke"), and they all ranked the countries by overall medals. Good for the Canadians. I guess when you do something completely awesome, you don't need to brag about it, you just let your achievement speak for itself. They make me feel silly about caring who's on top. Alright, US and South Korea, you can keep your medal standings. Countries have enough to fight over without adding medal count methods to it. Besides, either way is perfectly valid. At least no one's tallying fictitious platinum medals!

Worshipping the god Apolo

This weekend I took The Pea to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and I have to agree with everyone who thinks the book is far superior to the movie. But I enjoyed it anyway, mostly because I have a soft spot for Pierce Brosnan, Kevin McKidd, and Greek mythology. The stories of Zeus and Poseidon, Jason and the Argonauts, Perseus and Medusa were very real to me when I was The Pea's age, and I would have embraced the notion that the ancient gods are alive and well today. Besides, with modern-day Olympians breaking speed records, defying gravity and generally doing things mere mortals would be crazy to try, it's not hard to believe there are demigods running around Vancouver right this very minute!

Take, for example, the god of speed. I'm not talking about Hermes, or even Nike; as far as I'm concerned, that honor belongs to Apollo -- Apolo Anton Ohno, that is. World-class speed skater, World Champion, Olympic Champion and Dancing with the Stars Champion? You bet he's a god! With the Winter Olympic games just about halfway through, Ohno has become my family's undisputed Favorite Hero of Vancouver XXI (or Vancouver κα´, since we're talking Ancient Greek, not Ancient Roman). Apolo Ohno now has seven medals over three Olympic games, making him the most decorated US Winter Olympian ever -- and for all you party-poopers who say only two of those are gold, I say, Watch short track skating and you'll see what it took to get those medals . It's so volatile, a gold-medal position can turn into a last-place finish in seconds (and vice versa). We've been Tivo'ing every single minute of NBC's Olympics coverage, and somehow we always find ourselves fast-forwarding to short track skating. It's easily the most exciting winter sport, and it's all because of Apolo Ohno and his edge-of-your-seat-pee-in-your-pants performances.

Part of Apolo's appeal is that he doesn't look like your typical speed skater. His red bandana and goatee give him a laid back look, more like a skateboarder or a member of a garage band. But an athlete who wears those skintight superhero suits? Nah. Seeing him warm up before a race, you wouldn't think he was a serious threat at all. While the other skaters seem full of nervous energy, Apolo looks detached, calm to the point of boredom. For God's sake, all he does is yawn!

Even when the race has started, he hangs back, content to stay in 3rd or 4th place for an agonizingly long time. Does he know how tense he's making his audience? Does he know that everyone watching is muttering, "Pass, pass, pass! Do it now or you'll be too late!"? Then, just as I'm about to draw blood from my nails digging into Alfie's arm, the thought seems to occur to him that the race is about to end, and he'd better get going -- and in a matter of seconds, you see him scuttle to the front, like it took no effort whatsoever. You feel stupid for even doubting that he could do it. Then, with 2 or 3 laps to go (and me already emotionally drained), the real excitement begins. People start bumping into each other and taking each other down (That's when I start the screaming and Alfie begs me to shut up before the neighbors call the cops). But somehow Apolo Ohno manages to find a way to hang in there. When he slipped in the 1,000 meter final and fell into last place, I thought he was done for -- I honestly don't even know how he stayed up -- then with less than a lap to go, he skated the sprint of his life, passing two Canadians to get the bronze. The buildup of tension, the release... if my kids weren't watching the race with me I'd say it was almost orgasmic.

The only part of Apolo that isn't godlike? He doesn't seem proud at all. He seems like a genuine nice guy who's delighted to get a medal, whatever the color. When it comes to heroes, you don't get more inspiring than Apolo Anton Ohno, and when he skates in the 500 meters and the 5,000 meter relay we'll be cheering him on and praying to the gods for his victory.

What we learned from the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies

Here are some interesting things we learned at last Friday's Winter Olypmics Opening Ceremonies in Vancouver:

* India, a country with 1.1 billion people, only sent three athletes to the winter games. What's up with that? It's no use saying that India doesn't have any snow; neither do Ethiopia or Senegal, and they still managed to come up with one athlete each to compete in these games. What, don't they have ice rinks in New Delhi? Or aren't there any rich Indian kids who go to boarding school in Switzerland and ski?

* I was planning to include Iran (with 4 athletes) in the list of countries with no snow and more athletes than Inda, but I found out it does actually snow in Iran; some of their mountains have snow all year round!

* Hong Kong is one of the most densely-populated areas in the entire planet, with almost 16,000 people per square mile (compare that with Canada's 10 people per square mile). One square mile is like, nothing! I'd say Palo Alto's downtown area is about one square mile, and the thought of having 16,000 warm bodies squished there makes me want to run away and join Cirque du Soleil (which is based in Canada).

And here are some interesting "facts" we noticed all on our own:

* Team USA had the best headgear-- love thoseNordic-inspired knit caps! -- although Mongolia's lone athlete comes a close second, with her bongga, silvery fur hat.

* Speaking of bongga, that's exactly how I would describe the opening ceremonies. I was impressed by how they incorporated technology to come up with such creative and entertaining production numbers. Our favorite section, hands down, was the part where they made the entire stage look like a bunch of whales swimming across the ocean. Magnificent! I have to commend the organizers of the event for not even trying to compete with the human-body extravaganza of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies; instead, they dared to be different and did their own thing.

* Winter Olympians are extraordinarily good-looking! Seriously, the women look like models (check out Lindsey Vonn, Gretchen Bleiler, Lindsey Jacobellis, and the entire Swedish female delegation) and the men are all total hunks (except maybe Shaun White, but I suspect a lot of girls find his goofy dude appeal much sexier than the typical male model hunky type) . Alfie thinks it's because winter sports have a high financial barrier to entry, so for the most part it's the richer kids who get into these sports -- and the gene pool tends to be decidedly better-looking vwhen you have more money. I think he has a point, although I'd say the cameras also focus more on the better-looking athletes.

* Somebody is going to get fired for that Olympic torch malfunction!

Getting serious about ice skating

My daughter first stepped onto an ice rink at a birthday party 2 years ago; she couldn't stand for more than 5 seconds, but she enjoyed it so much that we signed her up for lessons not long after. Since then it has become clear that my daughter's interest in skating isn't limited to gliding around an ice rink with her friends. She has moved past struggling to stay upright, and onto spins, spirals and salchows. Now she's at the stage where rented ice skates don't cut it anymore. When many of her classmates drop out and the class size shrinks from twelve to three. And everyone seems to have a private coach. I've been talking with a few of the other moms with daughters in more advanced levels, and I've only found one girl who does not take private lessons. The consensus seems to be, if your daughter is serious, if she wants to enter competitions, even small ones, she'll need a coach.

I'm no dummy. I know that skating is an expensive sport -- private ice skating coaches charge $35 to $45 for a 30-minute lesson, not including ice time, and don't get me started on the expensive ice skates and costumes -- and it requires a lot of dedication from a very young age. I've read Little Girls in Pretty Boxes and I know it's a high-pressure sport. Even though I know skating is a serious sport that requires athleticism and grace, the competition aspect of skating, with the very young kids in glittery costumes and makeup, reminds me a bit too much of the beauty queen scene, of the Toddlers and Tiaras set with their pageant coaches and pushy parents. I knew all this when The Pea started -- I just didn't want to go that route, and I didn't think we'd ever have to.

Fortunately, The Pea is easygoing and so far only mildly affected by peer pressure, so she accepted our "Sorry, honey, we can't afford private lessons" with good grace. A couple of weeks ago she entered her first competition at the local rink with -- gasp! -- no coach and a recycled old ballet costume. None of the other skating people I spoke with had ever heard of such a notion, but luckily the rink director was fine with it. She walked us through all the rules and techincal details that parents usually leave to the coaches (which, I'll admit, is one good reason to hire a coach for competitions!). With my dance background and The Pea's skating knowledge, we pieced together a simple routine. I hired a coach for a one-off session to check the routine over and give her some tips. She performed beautifully at the competition, had fun, won second place, and everyone was happy.

Until the coach approached me after the competition with a can't-refuse offer: he wants to coach her regularly, and he's willing to halve his coaching fee. She's good, he said. She has the drive and dedication. And most important, she really, really loves skating. He doesn't do this solely for the money and he loves working with kids like her. How old is she? Eight? Ok, she's young enough... but she needs to start soon, before she gets too old....

Oh shit. Now what I do? Now that cost has become less of an issue, we really had a decision to make. I'll love him forever for his generous offer, we couldn't accept such a big discount and not get serious about skating. He wants weekly sessions in addition to group lessons, practice, and gymnastics lessons to improve her flexibility. There would be the unspoken agreement that she's in it to win it, or at least to see if she's good enough to enter serious competitions before she gets too old. Skating would no longer be something she can blow off because she's been invited to a birthday party. My husband cynically pointed out that he's probably just doing what he has to do to get additional clients in this recession, and privately I don't think she's thaaat good (am I a bad mother for saying that?), but maternal ego forced me to take his feedback at face value. Maybe The Pea does have talent -- but is it worth the financial and time commitment? My mind screams No, but it makes me miserable to think that we might be depriving her of the chance to realize her fullest potential.

In the end, I turned to The Pea and had a very honest conversation with her. I told her that an opportunity had opened up for her and she could have private coaching if she really wanted it, but the coach would expect her to work very hard and spend most of her time with skating. Something in her schedule would have to give. And The Pea made the decision herself. Yes, she really, really loves skating, but it's not her life. One competition a year is enough for her because she loves other things too. She wasn't willing to give up her jazz lessons or playdates. She even said she'd prefer to take karate lessons or one of the special-skills group skating lessons rather than spend the money on private lessons. Dear Lord, thank you for giving us such a sensible girl and making this so much easier.

So we told the coach, very nicely, Thanks, but no thanks. The Pea is sticking to group lessons, for now at least. I still feel traces of guilt when I think she might not be progressing as quickly as some of the other kids, or whether she has really learned all she can from group lessons. If it looks like she needs a coach in order to pass her tests and move on to higher levels, we can always reconsider. But now that I know she's just in it to have fun, there's no hurry to land a lutz or an axel before she hits puberty. Which means I may have killed my daughter's chances of ever winning an Olympic ice skating medal. But it also means she can still dream of winning a medal in the Math Olympics. And that she can still be a Girl Scout and try out karate if she wants to and do absolutely nothing on a hot summer afternoon. And I'm okay with that. And, I think, so is she.

Original SV Moms Post April 24, 2009. Bonggamom often finds herself skating on thin ice as she juggles her 3 kids' schedules and feeds her blogging addiction. Read all about her attempts to find her inner diva and win the gold medal for motherhood at Finding Bonggamom.