Who are we?

I am reposting our first entry for Running With The Crushers.  I am hoping that we will have some new people logging on.  So, I thought it would be a good idea to reintroduce ourselves.  Besides, it beats typing it over again.  I hope you enjoy reading about our team as much as I enjoy coaching them.

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We are the Coed Crushers. We are an AYSO soccer team from Southwest Michigan. In July we are going to the 2010 AYSO National Games in West Palm Beach, Florida. The kids on this team are eight and nine years old. Our team is made up of six girls and five boys. We will be playing in the U-10 boys division. We have been training and fundraising since August of 2009. We are half way through our journey, and the best is yet to come. So come along with us on the first big adventure of our lives.

I am the coach of the Crushers. I wear many hats in my life: father, husband, lawyer, coach, and runner. I am adding blogger to the list for several reasons. First, I want to create a diary or journal of this event in my family's life. When I recently looked back at all we have done since August, I realized I was going to forget the great details of this adventure and I needed to find a way to record them. Second, over the last year, Steve "the runner" has been losing out. When I was looking back at 2009, I realized that while I was coaching three soccer teams, I had not run one race in 2009. I had not run a marathon for the first time in years. I had not even run a 5k. I suffered an injury to my knee playing soccer last fall, so by the end of the year I was not running at all. This has to change. I named this blog "Running with the Crushers" because I hope the weekly post will coerce me to get out the door and run. Hopefully, this blog will encourage me to reclaim the one totally selfish activity in my life. Finally, I am creating this blog for fundraising. I want to create something for those who have generously donated money or other things to our cause. I want to introduce them to the players and their families. I want the donors to see what their generosity has made possible. I also hope this blog will encourage others to donate to our cause.

This blog will focus on the team and our journey. Weekly posts will introduce the players and coaches to our readers. You will also follow the progress of the team, our wins and losses. You will follow the team to tournaments and ultimately to Florida. We will acknowledge and thank those who so generously donate to the team. You will have a front row seat from which to view my attempt in the middle of this mayhem to reclaim the title of runner. Finally, there will be Katie's posts. These posts will view our adventure through the eyes of my two year old daughter. Actually, its my wife's telling of the our story through Katie's eyes. It is a segment I hope you will all enjoy.

So, join us on our journey. It promises to be hectic, chaotic, but thoroughly enjoyable. GO CRUSHERS!