Yesterday the girls had their goalball tournament. They have both been attending practices since January and have really been looking forward to this day. Megan practiced last year, but wasn't feeling quite ready for the tournament a year ago, but she was more than ready, and very excited for yesterday. Here she is in her first game. She started off at center (for the team of the left). Here she blocks a throw, then scores a goal. She scored three goals early against this team.
Here she is playing left wing and she sneaks a goal into the very corner across the court.
I like this video a lot because she is blocking one way, then changes direction as she hears where the ball is coming from.
One more goal from Megan!
It has been quite a difference for Liz this year as she has gone from playing with the younger kids to playing with the older junior high and high school kids. Practices have been longer and more intense. They actually measure the speed of their throws (with a a radar gun). Liz started off this season throwing at about 18 mph, and has improved over hte last couple of months to consistently throwing 20 mph. They also play with some additional time rules, which force them to keep the game moving really fast. She did great though. We are so proud of her for working so hard! Liz got off to a great start. She was the first from her team to throw the ball in their first game, and she snuck it in the corner of the goal. Then she blocked the ball when the other team threw it and she scored again in just the same way. This video shows the first goal.
She did really well blocking, even though it is a little scary to have that ball coming at her so fast. She sure is tough!
She is getting better nad better at knowing where she is on the court, and she did great with her teammates (they have practices together with lots of other kids, but were only divided into these particular teams for the tournament yesterday).
This is perhaps my favorite moment of the entire day for Liz. Her team had a penalty so the other team got to choose who had to defend for the shot. They chose Liz to defend the entire court for the pnealty shot. She has always been so nervous to do this even at practices, but she was awesome.
Megan's team took second out of three teams. She was so excited to get a trophy. There was a darling girl there, who, when it was announced that her team won third, cheered like she had won the Olympics. It was fun to celebrate all of these great kids.
The matches for the older kids went longer. There were five teams, and after round robin play, they had a mini play off. Liz's team lost their first play off game, but played in the "bronze medal" match. It was a close one, but they won (by one point I think). Liz and one of the girls on her team put their hands on each others' shoulders and jumped up and down cheering. It was so fun to see their excitement.
It was a long day, and the girls were both exhausted, but it was all worth it.
There was a great article in the Deseret News from Saturday, and Megan even had her picture in the paper. Here is a link to the web version. There is the same picture of Megan that was in the paper, but also one of Liz throwing the ball. We are sure proud of the girls.
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