Boys v Girls in the middle of Tasmania

It was a perfect day up at Campbell Town today. Marcus and the Central u11s played the State Girls u13s and sneaked home 4-2 in the end. It was a huge field and an 80 minute match (the boys are used to 50) so they did well. Look at the size difference when Marcus was marking his "man".

Meanwhile on the sidelines

Michael is always terrific at soccer events. He mildly wishes Marcus well, and will sometimes politely ask the score, or “who won?”. While the game goes on, he finds things to do. Often this has involved mud, puddles, sticks, bits of scavenged metal and a lot of quiet muttering. I am sure some of the other parents think he's been raised by wolves.

Up in Devonport, he spent a lot of his time sitting on a soccer ball, drawing and calculating on a pad. He spent most of day 1 drawing an intricate map of a made-up continent. Judging by the arrows one country was invading another one. I used to do the very same thing - I have NOT taught him how to do this but he does read a lot of the same books I did as a kid - 1950s and 60s geography textbooks that my dad once taught from. They are full of pincer-movements on the Western Front and waves of Norsemen assailing the coasts of Britain, etc.

For day 2, he covered a few pages with numbers, attempting work out what a completely impossible fraction-of-a-fraction-of-a-fraction (that he made up) would equal as a decimal. This is NOT something I would have ever done as a kid, but he will regularly do this, while whistling, singing or just beatboxing. I think he enjoys the feeling of having his brain fully engaged in something. People going past admired and said "Wow, he's a bit of a genius isn't he?" One said "Goodness, is he .. doing homework???"

Leaving aside the fact that our other son, the strapping right-fullback, is also a mental wunderkind, the fact is Michael's numbers actually made no real sense, but he was as happy as a trout. For us the big thing is we can take him off to something like the soccer carnival, and he keeps himself occupied one way or another, despite his zero interest in soccer.

There has been a bit of a sportfest at home lately with footy and soccer on TV every other day. While Marcus and I are absorbed in that stuff, Michael is on the floor between us and the TV, with anything from 3 to 10 books open all over the place. Library books and my books, his books, old books that i can't remember where they come from. And he takes a bit from here and a bit from there and makes something new. These below all come from a 4-5 day period, except the map of France at the end. That was a sustained effort over about 4 days, drawn on an x-ray envelope.

Soccer names

I passed a lazy half hour this morning (a public holiday) slurping tea and looking over the program for the weekend's soccer carnival, primarily at the kids' names. I am of course not wanting to make fun of names which are part of other cultures. Just names from the stranger aspects of my own culture.

I see these names as a desperate stab at creativity by some parent or parents who possibly have very limited outlets for their poetic hearts. I imagine these are people who put a high premium on things that are NEW and DIFFERENT and UNIQUE. How about naming your daughter Angel? Wait. POWER MOVE. How about going one better and naming her Aingel? Really get the Ain in there so people don't think of Angle.

One girls team has a very tempestuous backline Imagine the drama and recriminations when Storm is picking the ball out of the net and pointing the finger at Skye and Angel (without an i).

One team has two Zoes and a Zara. Zzzzzzzzz!! One team has two Raphaelas and a Gabriella but they are all beyond reproach judging by the surnames. There are Pipers and Ethans absolutely everywhere. It's times like this that I appreciate my ignorance of the old testament - it must be quite unsettling to have grandchildren named Noah and Caleb and Aaron and Zachariah when those names create vivid images in your mind of first-borns being slain and calves being fatted etc.

Did Brumby Smalley and Luke Klug's parents ever say those names out loud? I'm sure they are great kids by the way and I wish all of them, the Chloes and Zoes and Kades and Jades and my favourite - plain old Erin Fudge - all the best with their soccer careers.

Central Region win on the road again

We just spent the weekend with Marcus up north for the Devonport Soccer Carnival. His team Central Region (representing the main metro area of Hobart) won their four games and took out the tournament again. Last year they won Devonport and Launceston and lost at home in Hobart (to Northern Tasmania). Again this year they have lost in Hobart (to Northern Tasmania) and won in Devonport - we travel to Launceston in about 5 weeks. We have just heard there is going to be a fourth tournament, in Burnie in September.

The first game on Saturday against Eastern (representing the eastern shore of Hobart) was a tight tussle. Central were 3-0 up early in the 2nd half when they started to get complacent. Some snoozy defending let Eastern in for an excellent goal, and then it looked like a matter of time before they scored again as panic set in.Central's travelling supporters started praying for the whistle and the ref obliged, final score 3-1.

In the afternoon was the game we all were hanging on, against the main threat, Northern Tasmania (who represent the whole North and North East but are generally just called "Launceston"). They were very unlucky to have a probable goal ignored by the ref, who thought it didn't cross the line. Our keeper Ethan scooped it out, and play continued. It was extremely tense for the whole first half, which finished 0-0. After the break Central scored from a goalmouth scramble. Again there was debate whether it had gone over the line but the referee was very decisive and firm in all four games. I was still worrying that we had been very lucky to be 1-0 when a 2nd went in. The Launceston boys dropped their heads then and it became a rout, finishing 5-0. Our boys were terrific in their behaviour - no over-the-top goal celebrations. Although they knew they had made a huge step towards winning the comp, they were respectful of their opponents and didn't go crazy at the end.

The next morning we played one of the traditionally weaker teams, WSSA based in Burnie. They gave us a very tough match - WSSA scored after only a minute. Again there was some dozy boys in the backline, WSSA won a corner which popped out to one of their midfielders who crashed it in just under the crossbar. Within 3 minutes Central equalised then added another. WSSA were moving the ball around really nicely while Central were rushing everything, but it was still 2-1 at half time. Central settled in the 2nd half and got out to a comfortable 4-1 lead. WSSA pulled a well-deserved goal back before the end. Coach Atef addressed the boys at the end, (in gentle-chiding mode rather than hairdryer mode) and said that apart from Marcus who was man-of-the-match, everyone else forgot to do the jobs assigned to them.

Our last game was against the hosts, Devonport. The word was out that our boys needed only to draw to take first place, but Devonport had also looked like an improved team. They took it right up to Central, and had us under a lot of pressure at times. Our defence in this match was a lot better, and our forwards made the most of their chances. Central won 5-1 although on the balance of play the teams seemed much closer.

The team has changed a bit from last year. Sam, Antonio and Gus have left either for AFL or to play exclusively for Ken Morton's soccer school. Sam was our best defender but I think Marcus has taken that mantle now. He always gives 100% and I get the impression the coaches really trust him. He is happy playing at right fullback where his primary job is marking. But he plays more like a centre-back, and I think with his height there is a good chance he'll be given that responsibility sooner or later.

New website n stuff

I have got my own domain name now, www.reesdesign.com.au. This is part of a major push to garner more work, since my only dependable cash-cow client has just cut me back to irregular projects rather than a weekly day in the studio.

There is a just a place holder on the site for now but coming soon will be this;

Of course if you have any work in the field of graphic design, interactive design (Flash etc), animation, illustration, typography and the like - please get in touch!