Idalou Golf Tour.

The wind blew like crazy all day Monday but they had to play there was no time to reschedule it was now or never so every one got in groups of three or four and teed off. Let's see Shallowater was there Idalou of course Denver City, Roosevelt, and Abernathy Slaton was suppose to show up but they canceled. Anyway
it was just like last year a terrible day to play golf so the director of  the tournament moved all the tee boxes up. He did not know he was setting the course up to fit Summer's game that is right Summer drives the ball long and straight and then she has a great short game around the greens so this was tailor made for her. So it was know surprise to me anyway for her to shot a 43. She boogied Holes 12569 and double 4 and pared the other holes for a seven over. Bailey shot a 55 Carly shot 59 I think Sherrie 60 Lynsey around 60 and Bailey made it in as a alternate Bottom line is Shallowater won the team competition first place and Summer won the first place medallist. Was a great tournament for Shallowater as the boys won first place also as a team .           

All stars Who's who

I am going to take a little time here and kind of review the player on the Shallowater all stars Seniors The  Mayors and the minors I have not watched them play enough to know who are the best and who are getting better so I'll leave them for another time. And focus this article on the fore mentioned team. Now the Seniors a bunch of player I know a lot about because my youngest daughter Summer is on this team. Now I may be a little biased but for my money Summer is the best player on this team because she is the only complete player She can handle the ball she plays great defense she has size and strength she is not a noodle she can score points tremendous Basketball IQ she passes the ball to you and not at you. She is the number one player. Now next is Kelsey She is a great shooter be it around the basket or from the three point line she is by for the best. And she is tall at 5 10 in the 8th grade she tower over the other teams and has good ball handling skills strength and defence are the two things she needs to work on. Number three is Morgan she is the point guard and is a really good one great IQ see the whole court passes the ball to you not at you a real drummer she controls the timing and tempo of the game better than girls two or three years older needs to be a better shooter and work on her spot. Number four is Shelby she is a true post player she is not as tall as Kelsey but she has so much more power and her drop step to the basket is becoming automatic and when she gets on a roll and they feed her the ball she can put up some numbers and rebounds put backs block shots She has no ball handling skills and is not a good passer when you shoot the ball all of the time you never get a chance to be a good passer that is just the way it is. Number five Hannah she is tall and young and plays pretty much that way she is a good player but does not do anything great but does not do anything bad either she just needs to grow up to get better get bigger stronger calmer patience these are the skills she could use.Six it's Carly she is a ball of fire great ball handler good shooter an all round good player knows how to drive and dish and can finish needs to learn how to slow down and be more patience is a out standing over all athlete fast good jumper aggressive.Seven Kellian she was a post player who is getting passed by other players height wise she needs to get a ball and dribble it for two hours a day and get her ball handling skills up to play guard she is a very good player she just needs to change positions.she is already a great outside shooter she never misses a free throw.  Eight is Kandice she is a good guard she is fast can shot it and makes good passes she just needs to learn to drive and dish more and not to shoot every time she will mature and get this she is only a seventh grader. Nine is Kaylie  she is another fine post player unlike some of the other post players she is fast real fast a all around athlete a good shooter and will play defence is thin but is not a noodle not going to let players come inside and push her around..          

Leveland Tour.

The girl played a tune-up tour. at Leveland Sat. The minor majors and new division seniors Summers on the seniors and it is basicly the same girls that won the national tour. two years ago as 6th graders. Their were only six teams from around here playing just a practice thing really. Let's see there was of course Leveland then Monahans and Lamesa and Denver City , Idalou Whitharral,and Shallowater. The minors are 3rd and 4th graders then the Majors are 5th and 6th graders and the seniors are 7th and 8th and given the fact that for the last two years Shallowater has won the National little Dribblers back to back the minors and the majors this year is a pretty big challenge to three peat and adding the seniors on to the ballot to boot but everything went as planed Sat. with a sweep for all three teams All three won first place so when the regional tour. is played in Monahans later this month now the teams we played will know what to work on and how to prepare and so will we having played most of the teams in our region. and beating them That is a big psychological advantage and should pay dividends at the regional and national tour. It is hard to lose once you get used to winning it feeds on it's self somehow. As is evident by our record over the last two years. No one had ever won both the minors and majors the same year until we did 2009 then we did it again in 2010 so Shallowater is in uncharted territory here and now we have the seniors so it would be a true three peat with three different teams. This is going to be hard to do but nothing worth wild is easy. So go girls have fun and play hard......................




     

Idalou Golf Tour.

Lorenzo yes that's the location of the Idalou Invitational Golf Tour. this year. For some reason we don't have enough schools with golf teams in the 3-A ranks so our middle school team will not get to play in a district tour. But they are going to go and play at our old district tour Idalou. And the bad part about that is Idalou closed there golf course. My friend Jimmy Senz went broke over there and the city repossessed the course and sold it to some one who has not open it back up to the public. I think it is going to go private not sure.
Anyway so the Idalou tour. now is played at Lorenzo and it is a nice little track small tiny greens with a lot of slope and crown not long but OK. There are some elm trees and the fairway are hard and dry I don't think they have water for the fairways so if it does not rain well, you get the picture. The greens do have at lest 8 to 10 feet of elevation not like Abernathy the greens are right on the ground  maybe 12"inches of elevation. The tee boxes are slightly elevated to. Everything considered it is a course well worth the 10 dollars to walk 18 holes and 5 dollars for students. It is not comparable to say Reese and Reese is not comparable to the Rawls Course. As you spend more money you play better harder courses. That's just the way of the world. But for my money the course at Idalou was the best one for these school tour. Because it is long and it was built by the city for there waste water treatment with a substantial grant it was pretty much done right. It is a nice little 9 hole track. It is to bad the city did not reopen it. And sold it to someone
who just took it off the market. It was an inside deal because it was never advertised it just sold and for less than 1/2 of what the city sold it to Jimmy for. That don't sound right but a small town. Nepotism Cronyism and corruption go hand and hand. Sounds like a brother in-law deal to me. That is the only reason they took it from him was someone in that town wanted it. So they all stopped going to play golf out there and would not support it anymore that is when he could not make the money to keep the course in shape and the greens he was losing them and that was one of the stipulation of his contract. He had to maintain the greens.  Which is hard to do with on money. You have to baby that bent grass. That is enough of that. Now only 5 boys and 5 girls get to play Monday in the tour. but everyone gets to go I think that is great even if your skills are not quite there yet you still get to participate by going and help find balls or keep score or something that is great .So everyone have a good tour Monday and remember you play because it's fun and you are good at it........




                    

Little Dribblers

For some reason  my daughter is playing in the Little Dribbler League again. Well really not the league just the championship tournament. Our program over here in Shallowater is from the 1st grade to the 6th grade it always has been now our 8th grade girls and a few 7th graders are going to play in the senior division. Even though most of these girls are on AAU teams and have been for many years. Why they are going back down in competition level to the Little Dribblers is beyond me unless it is just an attempt to win the title again. Now I am not saying there is anything wrong with that. My thought has been for the last two years is let's make a run at the AAU national tournament. I know that is a big nut to crack but you have to dream big and set your  goals high just to hit the board if you don't you will fall way short I know this... That being said I know a bunch of skinny girls from a small town in West Texas are not  your number one pick for winning in AAU tournament but these girls have played two tour. this year and won both easily they are all exceptional basketball players and the grade behind them have not lost a game in two years so there is a lot of talent here and should be taken as far as they can go. There is a lot to be said for the fact that our Little Dribbler Program contends if not wins the National Tour. every year and the exposure our kids get to a big event helps them when school ball starts they are not as nerves as the average kid.Who do not have the experience of playing on a bigger stage the traveling  the motel rooms and the fact you are there because of them this is a real ego boost and will stay with them for the rest of there life. So it is hard to vote against playing in the tour. over in Leveland it is not in Houston there won't be a lot of travel cost. Thank God  Well after looking at it from as many angles as my little mind can. I say just remember why you play basketball #1 it's fun and #2 you are good at it. Now just have fun. Just my opinion

             

School Golf

Monday Summer played in the golf tournament at her Middle School it is a real casual thing with parents helping keep score and walking and talking and helping the kids play their best. It is played at a little rural course that is not much more than a field with flat greens and rock hard dirt fairways no ruff so you can't lose your ball when you hit it. It just goes forever. Anyway we caught a beautiful day nice and cool no wind that is so unusual for this time of year in Texas most of the time the wind blows bad. And it has been but not that day. Now you have to understand most of these kid don't play golf they come out in the spring and think they are going to learn at school there are to many and to little time for that. We are a small school with a small budget and you have to know how to play to make the team. That is the reality of it so out of the 35or40 kids
5 girls and 5 boys are all that make it. I know it's not fair but it is just economics.
 Summer was pared with two other girls one was Carly a girl who also is on her AAU basketball team and the other was Bailey  both are really nice girls. But their are not golfers they didn't look like they had played very much. If any. Summer was a little nervous and shot a 51 for 9 holes and the other girls shot 62 not that bad being there experience level. And the best boy was 46 so she wasn't far off the pace. She was the best girl. So I was happy for her and glad to see all the hard work paying off a bit. She just needs to take her time and stay in the moment and give her self a chance. .         

Blues

I have been playing the blues for a long time for some reason the 1 5 7 is a standard and everybody plays it. From  lead zeppelins whole Lotta love to the milk cow blues by George Strait. Every singer and band at one time or the other does some rendition of the blues Muddy Waters Jimi Hendricks Steve Ray Vaughn . So what is the deal is it the simplicity of it the three chords or is it that the lead does not have to follow the melody. So the guitar or what ever lead you have is free to just soar with out regard for the Vocal melody or structure of the song.As long as it stays with in the three chords and turn around. So it has a wide open door as far as being able to express ones self and put your style and personality on a song with out having to come up with a chord arrangement that is your own. It is build in  of course there are no new chord arrangements any more every combination has been played and put in to thousands of songs. But the blues is special in that you can play it real slow to real fast and it still holds up and  can become a great song a hundred years ago and people are wighting great songs even today. So what is it. Does it come from the slaves of the last century  in the American south or is it of Celtic origins from Ireland and the blacks just  heard there masters playing this style on there stringed instruments and slow bluegrass is just the blues that high lonesome sound from the mountains of the south. So to say the blues and jazz are American music styles is a little misleading because most of it comes from France in New Orleans and folk music from Ireland and England and Germany yes the immigrants brought this music with them and when you mix it all together Jazz Blues Country Western and Rock and Roll and even Hip Hop and Rap is what it has turned in to. And I believe these melody's are as old as the plains of Africa and the Ice Age in Europe. And that my friend is why this music hits people so deep. Just my opinion.......Enjoy the music.....