Dad,
Yep, the trip was a lot of fun for all of us. For kids, imagine getting to play in the pool on vacation with over twenty friends on vacation!
Robby fits in with the group like a glove, too.
Ryan’s first game was a night game in the fog and cold on that incredible field New Year’s Eve. It started to rain right at kickoff -- that really got the boys pumped up and excited.
The team they were playing was a lot taller and heavier than our boys. It was a defensive battle the whole game.
Ryan had a real breakout game with tons of great plays at cornerback. They won 9-7.
They were all like rock stars when they came over and slapped hands with the parents in the stands after the game!
As it turned out, our first opponent in Myrtle Beach
was the only other team that actually showed up in the 10 and under division. So, we only had to play one game for the “championship”.
With the 9-7 victory, they were awarded the trophy.
They added a second game for them vs one of the all star teams with kids from around the country.
They played the East youth all stars in the 10-11-12 division, so they were a little bit older and bigger, but they still held their own playing to an 8-13 loss.
It was a lot colder and they didn’t do any special teams play since the all stars didn’t practice any of that in the week that they were there. They simulated kickoffs and punts by just moving the ball forward before the change of possession.
Ryan’s team excelled in special teams with a great kicker and lots of speed to generate turnovers, so that gave the opponent a big advantage.
Ryan was injured late in the 2nd quarter of the first game and sat the rest of the game, but he is doing fine – just a hip pointer and he was moving around fine on it after the game.
Found out afterwards that the quarterback for the other team in Ryan’s game was Michael Vick’s nephew.
Because the tournament was a bit of a bust in Ryan’s division, they gave all the kids a free 4-day camp next summer.
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