Logo work

Recently a friend came to me and asked if I could help her do her daughter's ASA team logo and banner for the website. She told me the colors and the text that had to be on it and let me decide on the rest. The top were the finals. I have to say I whipped them out and there are a few things I would clean up, but overall they look so great on the uniforms. This one was a freebie, I just have a soft spot in my heart for this team. We went to ASA Nationals last year with many of them.

This one is a version that I really liked, adding some girly fluff to the tribalish throwing star, but they went with the edgy one above. Hopefully the team and the coach like it.

Back in Action

mimosa

Ovington
{images from Falmouth MA}

A little weekend at Cape Cod before heading off to ASA Nationals in MD, where the heat was unbelievable. The girls worked hard and had a lot of fun competing against some serious players. Inspiration came moment to moment in every game. To sit back and see the life lessons being put forth in the "softball" interpretation is pretty interesting. The girls have constant situational experiences on every play and in every inning, facing each other, themselves and their coaches. So proud of the girls!

{images: having fun with our game 1 opponent NJ Mystics during a rain delay, Elle scoring against the Ohio Dragons, Elle throwing, and the Danger Dugout}
{For many more images click on the flickr set to the right.}

All wet

{a week off from softball to volunteer at Camp Sunshine in Casco Maine with friends.
Elle is the third one in from left}

I must be mad. Really mad in the head. I leave work to run home. Dash in the house and grab the girls, jump in the car and head out for Ellie's practice in the pouring rain. Once again, it is pouring in Central Mass. The summer is a wash altogether, unless August has power packed weekends full of sunshine, this summer was officially bad as far as the weather goes. How many rainy, freezing practices and games do you think a parent/child can take? Tonight we made the best of it. Soleil (2 almost) and I went puddle stomping, eating blueberry bagels with cream cheese. I could have used a stiff martini in the rain looking like a drowned rat, wishing for it to come to a glorious end. Two hours of this.

Ellie and her team are preparing for the Eastern National Softball Tournament in Salisbury, MD. They have been working so hard, practicing and driving from over an hour away to get to practice in some cases. (Thank you Amy for coming tonight and revving the girls up.) Kids and parents giving up their summer (ha) for softball. I am so proud of my daughter for her dedication. At times it's a lot for a 16 year old to muster it up to go to practice instead of visiting with say two friends who just spent 3 weeks in Europe while she sucked up dust off a field in the middle of some town she slept all the way to at 5 in the morning. How many girls can do this? She is on 3 teams. High school, local league and ASA.

This was a tough ASA year, transitional and hard to refocus on a new team, wanting to spend time with friends and getting her license. All understandable. She is facing struggles of balance here and working hard towards a goal...one that she can't really see as yet. The 16 year old blinders are long and narrowed. Yes, college is right around the corner. This teenage parenting is hard as hell. Give me the two year old biting me or ripping my hair out. Really. Elle works so hard, I just want to sleep for her. I am looking forward to a few days on the Cape to regroup before heading south on Monday. So proud, this mama is so proud.

Did I say it was raining? It's funny I think, to imagine the lives of some people outside of work. You never know what someone does when they leave the office. Tonight a colleague went full tilt on how I spend my time. She came out to help the girls focus on warm ups as a technique to gain mental strength and determination before a game. Maybe I should do this before heading to work? I wonder if neighbor Dave would mind me screaming out counts of 20 in my driveway?? I hope it helps, she was pruney when she left to head back to Brighton from Whitinsville. See the dedication is in the blood.

MMM, Sauza Hornitos and Ginger...make my damp bottom jeans bearable. Too lazy to change just yet. Off to bed, thinking of warm sunshine on my face, dreams of bliss, and walking with the one you love.....without an umbrella.

It's the season

{ MA DIST 4 2008 SENIOR CHAMPS
Players: Megan Kasala-Hallinan, Kara Finlay, Kristin Poti, Toni Scola, Caitlin Brosnihan, Catherine Lucy-Meagher, Lauren Kiritsy, Liz Griffin, Kelley Fluet, Colleen Olen, Kristina Latino, Ellie Higgins (first row-left), Laura Madaio, Deanne Jacobson }

Every spring and summer we gear up for outdoor softball and baseball. That means several practices and games per child (2) per week. When your daughter plays on 3 teams, and your son another, that makes for alot of action. We live in the Tatnuck area of Worcester, Massachusetts, which means they have grown up with Jesse Burkett Little League. This league has brought so much to our family and the community here in Worcester.

On any given day of the week, you can head down to Rockwood Field or the A field and find families and friends having fun, playing ball, munching on Burkett fries and watching their kids learn to play ball, never giving up, coming back from major defecits to win big games. As pitchers, my kids were also lucky enough to have learned to work hard under pressure, in front of alot of people, especially at States, when Elle threw the winning game bringing in the winning run on a bunt with two outs! As this public pressure thing puts the fear of God in me, I am full of gratitude for this bonus!

They enrich the kids with a love of the games, the teammates and give them an amazing spirit of the game itself. My children have been coached by some of the most creative and dedicated coaches out there, so I just wanted to post a little cheers to JBLL and thank them for over 10 years of incredible memories. From Ellie's first day of T-Ball to regionals at the senior level, your dedication and commitment have given all of our families the best springs a softball/baseball community has to offer!

JBLL also created a strong base for so many to play highly competitve ASA and AAU, and giving them the skills and foresight to prepare for college ball, while maintaining a commitment to learning and fun. From sending the boys to Willamsport, Pennsylvania for the Little League World Series, and the girls to Albany and Maryland for Junior and Senior Regionals and now hosting Senior Regionals in what will soon be a great new complex here in Worcester, Burkett and the coaches and friends always show them the way. It's not a league, it's a family.