It has been too long.

Well it has been a while since my last post.  Between last minute fundraisers, tournaments, and my job (yes I actually have a job), there has been not time for blogging, running, or sleeping.  So where should I begin; fundraising.  I would like to thank those people I work with that donated and helped make the trip possible.  Their generousity is greatly appreciated.  We also would like to thank all those families that participated in the "It Ain't Over Yet Soccer Tournament."  It was a great weekend.  We had three groups with enough teams to have a tournament: U-10 girls, U-10 Boys, and U-14 coed.  A special thanks to those kids that stepped up from U-12 to play the U-14 teams and make that group possible.  Congratulations to those who won  and thank you to everyone who participated.  This event raised more money than any fundraiser other than the Great Tamale Sale.  I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.  Finally, I would like to thank the Kalamazoo Outrage.  They are a local club team.  They are for soccer what triple A leagues are for baseball.  We did a fundraiser with them.  They are a first rate club and offered us a great opportunity.  Kids from the region got to walk out with the players of both teams, played mini games at half time, and some were ball chasers during the game.  It was a great night.  Kids were introduced to high level soccer.  The Outrage gained some fans and the Crushers made some money.

The team played in two tournaments since my last post.  The first tournament was the KASI tournament in Kalamazoo.  We got off to a great start with two wins.  We played our best game ever scoring seven goals in a come from behind victory in our first game and won a good victory in our second.  In our next two games we lost one and tied one.  In our third game, we lost a hard fought game 1-0 to the eventual tournament champs.  While we played hard, the team from Allegan, the Orange Tigers, played a little harder and deserved the victory.  As a Brazil player, Kaka, said recently, it is not enough to be talented, you have to play hard too.  Our next tournament was a 3v3 tournament that the guys played in.  The girls decided not to enter the girls division.  We played against four travel teams.  We went 1-2-1.  We tied our last game.  It kept us out of the championship.  It was a game we could have won, but our head and our hearts just were not in the game.  We walked away with two valuable items.  First, we can compete against top level talent even when we don't play our best game.  Second, the guys got US world cup jerseys (white) for playing.  They are sweet.

Next is my running.  This is easy... what running?  I start taking my life back tomorrow.

Finally, the trip.  Lets just say it takes A LONG TIME to drive from Kalamazoo, Michigan to West Palm Beach, Florida.  I have flown here several times.  This was the first time I have ever driven.  The good Lord willing, it will be the last time.

All that is left now is the tournament.  Wish us luck.  In true Crusher form we will play hard, we will have fun, and it will be interesting. Log on and follow our tournament.  We sign in on Monday, Tuesday is Opening Ceremonies,  Wednesday is Soccerfest (more on that later), we play Thursday through Saturday, and awards on Saturday.  I can't wait, it is going to be fun!!!

GO CRUSHERS!