The Great Tomale Sale of 2010

Make sure you check the list off upcoming fundraisers. There have been some changes and additions, so check it out.

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You will have to understand, up until a few weeks ago I did not know what a tomale was. I had heard the term. I knew it was food. But as a Scotch-Irish kid from New York, I thought Taco Bell was Mexican Food. So when one of the parents suggest a tomale sale for a fundraiser I didn't blink. The phrase "ignorance is bliss" seems to apply to this situation. Well, I learned. while the sale was a great success, we earned every penny. Though it was allot of work, the families of the players got to know each other allot better.

Making tomales is a large undertaking, really huge. Understand, we made over 6,000 tomales. Our tomales were made with pork. So our ordeal began with purchasing hogs and roasting them. One family took on this task. Old School's, one of our full backs (defense), mom, dad, and extended family spent days cooking hogs. Once the meat is cooked, then the you have to pull it off the bone. Another initial step is cutting and cleaning red peppers. Lets just say I came home one night from work to a kitchen full of people cutting and cleaning peppers. I joined in. The process is not difficult, the hard part is keeping the peppers and or the pepper juices out of your eyes. Cutting these peppers is like cutting unions. Make sure you do not rub your eyes, painful. Anything you eat for hours after cutting peppers is flavored with peppers. What fun.

Then we had to rely on the grandmothers of Old School and Dallas. These ladies have been making tomales for longer then I have been alive. Old School's grandmother seasoned the meat using the peppers and her secret recipe. When I say secret, I mean no one is allowed in her kitchen when she does it. Dallas's grandmother made the meseca. Meseca is a dough made with corn meal that forms the breading around the meat. At this point let me apologise. Again, I have no expereince with authentic mexican food. I am trying to explain this process despite my ignorance of the topic. So if anyone of hispanic discent reads this post, please forgive me. I am doing the best I can.

When making tomales, you also have to get and prepare corn husks. Once the corn husks have been washed and seperated, you spread the meseca onto the corn husks. Again, my ignornace will show. When you spread the meseca you have to totally cover the bottom two thirds of the husks. When spread, the meseca must not be too thin or too thick. Lets just say it is an art. I watched women spread meseca over the husk with a spoon in seconds. This is not a skill I was able to acquire. While I have never made tomales, I have spent years either putting up drywall and mudding the walls or fixing holes in walls. Meseca is about the same consistancy as drywall mud. So I got a plastic puddy knife (I used a new one) and made like I was working on walls. To my surprise, it worked really well. As it turns out, it works better if you break the handle off. By the end of the fundraiser, broken puddy knives out numbered spoons two to one.

Finally, you add the meat, fold the tomales, steam them in huge pots, and you have tomales. I finally tasted my first tomale. It was good. We sold over 6,000 tomales. This was by far our largest and most successful fundraiser to date.

This fundraiser also reminded me of the good in people. This is strange to say, I know. This fundraiser was so big that to pull it off we needed the help of people beyond the families of our players. Not only did extended family members help out, but friends of families and their families donated hours to make this fundraiser possible. People with no kids on the team, took off time from work to make our success possible. Simply put, without their generosity, we would have not succeeded. But succeed we did. We made over three thousand dollars in profit on this fundraiser. In so doing, we took our first big step in raising the money we need for the trip to Florida.

Thank you to all the people donated their time and effort. The following is a list of some of those people: Susan Runkel, Barb Smith, Santos and Jody Guerrero, Neal and Rae Schilling, Francisco Granados, Marisol Vasquez, Juan, Edna, and Clarissa Vaquez, Pat Nolan, Billie Sue, Caleb, and Marjorie Mae Jones, Kay Renelds, Kathy Homola, Jennifer Conklin, Marty Skidmore, Judy Chadwick, Tom and Pam Stermer, Estella Carrizales, Trisha Somerville, and Monica Wilson. Again to all who helped us, thank you.

Several businesses also helped the team with donations of money and the ingredients needed to make the tomales. It takes allot of stuff to make over 6,000 tomales. The donations from these businesses kept the costs of this fundraiser low. We would like to thank the following businesses:

The Acapulco Restaurant in Paw Paw, Supermercado Guanajuato in Wyoming, Bailey Terra Nova Farms in Schoolcraft, and Simply Meats in Schoolcraft.

That was the Great Tomale Sale of 2010. I had my first tomale ever. And after serving 6,ooo tomales to people, if I never see another tomale, it will not be too soon. The parents have formed a support group: the Chingalinga Tomaledoras (damn tomale makers). We are closer as a team. We raised approximately $3,000.00.

Please checkout out list of upcoming fundraisers. If you would like to send a donation to the team please send it to: AYSO Region 250, 315 North Street, Paw Paw, Michigan 49079. Please make check payable to AYSO Region 250. Also, indicate on the check the U-10 team so your donation goes to the correct account.

The Third Season of Indoor Soccer Begins

In my last post about the team I posed this question: will the Crushers be able to take the next step and compete with the travel teams? The question was answered this weekend!

When the last indoor season ended, the Crushers were beating house teams and other AYSO teams. However, they were losing rather convincingly to travel teams. After eight weeks of focusing on ball control, defense, and passing, the Crushers began their second indoor season with two games against travel teams. While they lost the first game 3 to 4, what impressed me is that they played with a new found confidence and determination.

We played the Hacksaws in the first game. The Hacksaws are a group of kids from Paw Paw, Michigan. Their team is comprised of several good soccer players and the rest of the kids are boys that excel in other sports like football, basketball, or baseball and who wanted to play soccer in the winter. They are a very aggressive team that plays a rough, but clean style of soccer. They are the team no one likes to play because, win or lose, they will give you a tough game. But they did give the Crushers some motivation when they started making fun of the fact that we have girls on our team. When the young ladies on the team heard this, they were fired up.

During our game, the Crushers gave up a quick goal early. I will have to admit I was worried that a rout might be on. But like I have said before, if nothing else these kids are fighters. The Crushers settled down and began to play hard. Our defense was outstanding. The boys who were laughing about playing girls, were not laughing when those girls put them into the wall or put them on the ground. The first half ended 1-0 Hacksaws. It was quite fitting that the Crushers first goal was scored by Dallas (read about Dallas in the Meet the Team section). Greta, another young lady on our team stole the ball along the boards and passed it to Sonic, who passed it to Dallas, who made a move and used some of her speed to get past the only defender. Ultimately, she beat the goal keeper with a low shot on the left side. The teams traded goals in the second half. Taz scored on a direct kick and off a steal that lead to a break away on the goal keeper. The keeper never had a chance.

Ultimatley, the game was decided on two plays. First, one perfect shot against our keeper, the Professor. The ball was kicked high and while on the way down, it crossed behind the cross bar of the goal. The Professor's hand missed the ball by less than an inch. It was a great shot. The second play was a shot taken by Taz that bounced over their keeper's head. Their keeper turned after the ball went over his head, and made a brillant diving save pushing the ball to the side. Again, a play decided by inches. All in all it was a great game, played by evenly matched teams. It was fun to be a part of.

In the second game we played a travel team from Marshall, Michigan. They were a GOOD team. As it turns out they tied with two other teams for second in their WYSMA outdoor travel team league. We had one thing we had going for us. The Marshall Team played a game right before our game. This game started with us scoring the first quick goal. Taz took the kick off, made a pass to Sonic who took a solid shot from the left wing, beating the keeper on the far side. It was a great soccer play to watch. The teams traded goals with the Crushers remaining tied or in the lead until midway through the second half. In the second half, Taz, one of our Captains, got leg cramps and had to sit out for a while. It was 4 to 3 advantage Crushers when he left the game. As I have mentioned before, Taz is the heart of this team. With Taz out, the Marshall team, to their credit, took advantage of his absence to take a 5 to 4 lead late in the second half.

In past games the Crushers would have accepted the loss, but not on this day. On this day the Crushers responded to the challenge. First, as soon as Marshall scored their 5th goal, Taz demanded he be put back into the game. When Marshall took the lead, their play grew rougher, again not dirty, but no one was getting any free run at their keeper. Taz was back in the game for only a few minutes, when he took possession of the ball. Three moves later, the ball was in the back of the net. Taz struck again. The score was 5 to 5.

The play intensified. With less then five minutes to play, Taz made a pass to Sonic. Taz was tripped, but no call was made. Sonic took the pass, and made his own pass to Izzy (another of our male players), Sonic was taken down. Just before Izzy took his shot, the whistle blew. Izzy ripped a beautiful shot past the keeper. BUT NO GOAL. The ref called the foul on Sonic. To all the coaches out there, let this be a lesson. As the game became more physical, I started to complain about the lack of calls to the ref. When Taz was fouled, I yelled again. When Sonic was fouled, well how does that old saying go . . . be careful what you wish for . . . . I finally got the call, but it nearly cost us the game.

One of the things I love about Taz is that he is a smart player, who knows the rules of the game, and keeps his head in the big moments. While people, including players and coaches, were yelling about the call and the no goal, Taz ran over picked up the ball. He asked the ref where to place it, waited for the whistle, and immediately took the shot. While so many of us were concentrating on the call, his head was in the game. He kept playing. He scored the winning goal before some players on the other team even knew what had happened.

A few tense moments later, and the game was over. The Crushers had won 6 to 5. I know I talked about Taz allot in this game. But make no mistake about it, this was a team win. Our keeper, the Professor, made several outstanding saves to preserve our lead or maintain the tie during the game. Some were one on one plays where he was the only player between Marshall and a goal. The full backs, our defense, played hard. Instead of the Professor saving the defense all the time, there were several times in this game where they saved him. It was a hard fought game and good win.

Have the Crushers taken the next step? Have they started competing with the Travel Teams? It seems the answer is YES. It is early in the season. We have four more games against four more tough teams. But I think the team as turned a corner.

GO CRUSHERS!

Running ...

As I explained in the in my first post, I am a runner. Better said, I was a runner. 2009 was not a good year for me. I became too involved in soccer and my running suffered. I was coaching three teams and helping with a fourth. One of the teams was the Crushers. I had practice every night of the week. I was the Assistant Commissioner of the the region, so I was heavily involved in the administration of the league. I stopped running, that lead to no cross training, which led to a poor diet . . . . Long story short, I gained back the 35 pounds I had lost over the previous two years. To make matters worse, I suffered a small tear to the meniscus in my right knee playing soccer, so I could not run at all.



Fast forward to this year, I am still coaching, but I stepped down as the Assistant Commissioner of the league. Once the spring season ends, I will be down to one soccer team. I will not coach more than two teams at one time again. So, my life is more balanced.



As far as my knee goes, I am extremely happy to say I ran one mile yesterday pain free. Yes, I am finally able to run again. I would like to thank Dan and Kerrie at Bronson Physical Therapy. Eight weeks of torture under their expert guidance has fixed the problem. In case they read this, I am still stretching every day and have incorporated their exercises into my strength training sessions. Its been a long road back. There was no running in December or January. I had to build from an eighth of a mile to three quarters of a mile in February. Finally, yesterday, I ran a full mile.



So, now I start training, ever so cautiously, for a 5k. If all goes well, I will run the 5k at the Borgess Run for the Health of It 5k and Half Marathon on April 24, 2010. I hope to run a marathon before the end of the year. But I have to go one step at a time and right now, the goal is 3.1 miles. So, wish me luck. Thanks again Dan and Kerrie.

Meet the Team

DALLAS

I should begin by explaining that some of the parents were leery about putting the pictures and names of their children on the internet. (No Aunt TeeTee, it was not me.) So it was agreed, we would use the players nicknames on the blog. The kids have all picked up nicknames over the last seven months. They become quite indignant when I call them by their given names. So, nicknames it is.



Meet Dallas. As I mentioned in a previous post, Dallas is fast, like Hussein Bolt fast. She is the fastest player on the team. Come to think of it, she is the fastest player I've seen on any U10 team. Not only is she fast, she is one tough player. Once she realized it was okay to hit the boys while playing, she has become a force to be reckoned with. Yes, there is hitting in soccer, but that is a story for another post.

Dallas is a quite player, she never says much. Dallas' mother promises me, Dallas is alot more vocal at home. Dallas got her nickname because of her love of the Dallas Cowboys. This is a point of contention between she and I because I am a lifelong Washington Redskins fan. Having lived a large part of my life in Buffalo, New York, I am also Buffalo Bills fan. So you can imagine how much I hate the Cowboys. While she does not say much, it is surprising how often she "happens" to wear her Cowboys gear to practice. Like I said, tough kid.

Dallas is one of our mid fielders. We put that speed to good use. During indoor season she has improved her ball handling and started scoring goals. I have great hopes for her at the tournament in Florida.

I should also mention that Dallas' mom is a proud member of the Chingalinga Tamaleros (damn tamale makers). Our most recent fundraiser was making and selling tamales. During this was an event, we made over 6,000 tamales. All of the families worked very hard to raise money for kids. Look for the next post on fundraising and read all about the Great Tamale Sale of 2010.

So, become a follower and keep up with Dallas and the rest of the team.

Go Crushers!

Katie's Post

Hello everyone! My name is Katie and my big brother, Taz, is on the team and my other big brother, Bulldozer, practices with them once a week. My daddy said that he wants me to write to all of you once in awhile and let you know how things are going. When they told us we would be going to a tournament in Florida, I thought, "Cool Dude! I can go to the beach. I hope I don't get eaten by an alligator". Then we started all the games and the practices and the indoor season and the fundraising and the fundraising and the fundraising....sorry about that :) It has been a lot of work for all the mommy's and daddy's and kids on the team, but it has been a lot of fun too. I get to play with their little brothers and sisters which is cool and I get to look for my brother on the field when he plays. I think it will all be worth it in the end, though.

Well, it is way past my bedtime as I am 2 1/2 years old so I have to go. Next time, this will be all about tamales, tamales, tamales, all 450 dozen of them! (If you are counting, that is 5400 tamales)

See ya!
Katie

Fundraising

Not only have the Crushers been practicing since September 2009, we have also been trying to raise money to pay for the trip to West Palm Beach, Florida. Since we are from Michigan, the trip is a major expese. As I said in a previous post, the Coed Crushers are representative of AYSO. Not only do we have kids with wildly different skill levels, we also have families from different socio-economic backgrounds. There are families with kids on the team that can afford to make the trip, between $1,200 and $1,500 per child. But, there are also families who will not be able to make the trip if we fail fundraise enough money. With the economy in Michigan being what it is, fundraising is going slowly.

The Crushers have held many fundraisers to date. The most successful fundraiser was leaf raking last fall. I have attached a few pictures of the kids hard at work. We also held a carnival last fall on the opening day of Region 250's soccer season . While it was fun, it did not raise the amount of money we hoped. We partnered with another team to seek contributions from local companies. The parents of the players ran a concession stand at the AYSO soccer fileds each weekend last fall, and will continue it in the Spring. Parents even showed up to sell hotdogs and other items at the AYSO picture night. The team hosted an afternoon of bowling at one of our local bowling alleys over Christmas Break. The kids and their families have been working hard to reach their goal. While we have come about half way there since beginning last August, we are not close to being halfway to our fundraising goal.

As I have said in the past, these kids are fighters. We have several fundraisers planned in the near future. We will be hosting a soccer tournament for our region in June. We are selling tamales. We will be having an enchilada dinner. We will have a spring flower sale and garage sale. How can we forget the car washes and bakes sales? If you would like to see a list of upcoming fundraisers please click on to the Fundraiser Section. As I wrote in the first post, one of the goals of this blog is to encourage people to help our team. If you would like to make a donation please send it to:

Coed Crushers

315 North Street

Paw Paw, Michigan 49079

Please makes checks payable to: AYSO Region 250. Please note on the check that the donation is for the U-10 National Team so it is deposited in the correct account. Anyone who makes a donation will be listed as one of our sponsors on this blog. Donations are tax deductible. On behalf of the kids and their families, I would like to thank anyone reading this for your time. And thank you to anyone generous enough to donate to our cause. If we are able to make this trip and compete in the tournament, I am sure it will be an experience the kids never forget.

Make sure your check the bottom of the blog page to see the people who have helped the Crushers.

As always, Go Crushers.

Catching up with the Crushers.

While the first picture of the team is nice, this picture more accurately represents our team.

For those of you who are detail oriented, this picture has 13 players while the team currentlyhas only 11 players. Unfortunately, we have lost 2 players along the way. One young lady decided to join a travel soccer team. When I last spoke with her parents she was doing very well. The second young lady decided the practice and fundrasing required more time then she was willing to give. We wish both players only the best.

Our team formed in August of 2009. When we gathered for our first practice I realized that the Coed Crushers were a true representation of all that AYSO stands for. AYSO is the American Youth Soccer Association. In a nut shell, ASYO is a group dedicated to creating an environment where all kids can play soccer. All kids includes those who are talented and those who have never played the sport before. The AYSO Philosophies include ideas like "everyone plays" and "balanced teams." When soccer is mocked as the sport where kids get snacks and everyone wins, they are talking about groups like AYSO. But when you see the joy in the eyes of a child that has scored her first goal and that player is a kid who would never see the field in a "competitive league," the value of groups like AYSO becomes self evident. If you are interested in learning more about the organization, there is a link to the AYSO National Website. This web page also has links to sites about the National Games.

This team is a representation of what AYSO strives to achieve. There are kids on this team that have the ability to play soccer in college and well beyond if they so choose. There are also kids who did not know how to properly kick a soccer ball when they came to our first practice. For these children, this could be their one opportunity to play a sport at the national level. Each child, regardless of ability, will play at least half of every game the Crushers play in Florida. Having said that, make no mistake, these kids are set on winning in Florida.

The kids come from various teams in AYSO Region 250 (there is also a link to our region's wed page.). We are a coed team playing in the U-10 boys division. While some may see our coed status as a disadvantage, they would be wrong. The toughest player on our team goes by the name "The Wall." She is a defensive player who takes particular joy in knocking down any boy that challenges her for the ball. Our fastest player is "Dallas." She earned her name because of her love of the Dallas Cowboys. I am a die hard Washington Redskins fan and also root for the Buffalo Bills. Anyone who follows the NFL will under stand how much I hate the Cowboys. Anyway, back to Dallas. When I say fast, I mean "runs like a deer" fast and Hussien Bolt has nothing on her fast. And one of the undeniable leaders of the team is "Pink." Pink earned her name because she died her hair pink last September. She is a vocal young lady that stands her ground. She is also one of the two captains of our team. While I do not mean to underplay the value of the young men on our team, the Crushers would not be the Crushers without its female players.

Last August we began practicing twice a week. When we started practicing, I will have to admit I was worried about our talent, or should I say lack there of. So, we start with the basics: passing, trapping, dribbling, and striking (or shooting) the ball. We spent the first two months learning proper technique and the fundamentals. We also focused on playing strong fundamental defense. We ran drill after drill. We focused on laying the foundation needed for the kids to become soccer players

When October arrived we began playing other teams. We played teams from the U-10 boys division in our region. We played four games. We lost three games and tied one. As is often the case, we learned the most about our team in the defeats. What did I learn? These kids are fighters. In our first game, they were losing 3-0 and came back in the second half to eventually lose 3-2. If the ball had bounced our way a few more times they would have won that game. When playing the best team in the division, we took an early 1-0 lead only to lose 4-2. What amazed me the most, is how much each player has improved and how far we had come as team.

Our next stop was the Allegan Soccer Tournament on Halloween. Again we played in the U-10 boys division. We won our first game at this tournament. Despite a cold and rainy first day, one of our players, "Taz," scored six goals in our first game, leading his team to victory. Taz is a gifted player and heart of the team. What I love the most about Taz is the tenacity with which he plays the game. The kid is literally all over the place causing havoc for the other team. During the tournament, we rented a community center for the kids to stay out of the rain and cold weather. Other than winning their first game, I believe the kids enjoyed the community center more than anything else. In the months since the tournament, they talk more about the fuseball games and table tennis then they do about the games they played. Kids? The Crushers won three games and lost one placing third in the tournament.

Next was indoor season. In our area, the indoor season is divided into three sessions. The Crushers played the first session. We also kept practicing. We practiced outdoors until the beginning of November when we moved inside. In practice we advanced from basic skills to game strategies. Players began to fall into their roles on the team. We practiced indoors thanks to the generosity of Soccerzone, the facililty where we played. In addition to games, they gave us practice time during the season so we could continue to improve. And improve they did. Playing in the U-10 boys division, the Crushers faced a mixture of teams. There were ASYO teams. There were house teams (teams made up of kids who signed up to play without being on a particular team). There were travel teams. The Crushers beat the AYSO teams convincingly . They beat all but one house team. And they lost, sometimes convincingly, to the travel teams. They even won two scrimages against a U-12 girls teams. In five short months, they went from a team that could not compete at any real level, to a team that won against all but the best travel teams in the area. Like I said, they are fighters.

Finally, the Crushers took the Second Session off. We all needed a break. We have been practicing in a school gym once a week to keep up our skills. The local Catholic Church and Elementary School, St. Mary's, donated the use of the gym to the team for the remainder of the winter. We have been working on ball control and defense. We just keep trying to get better.

That catches you up on the Crushers. They are a great group of boys and girls working hard toward their goal. Next up is Indoor Session Three. Can we take the next step and compete with the travel teams?

Go Crushers!