TheCalabrias.com

I hope all other fathers in this world are as proud as I am of their families.

I got an early Father’s Day / 45th Birthday yesterday. The Royal Peasant FC qualified to the 35yr+ playoffs with a resounding 7×1 win.   Cheers!!

The prize (or “price”): a grade 2+ ankle sprain. Or as the Dr. put it: the good news is no fracture; the bad news is that you did a number on it; grade 3 is as bad as it gets. Out for the rest of the season; recovery time, ~6 weeks. Ouch!

Guess I’m starting to show my age.

As much as we have tried to avoid it, Paolo will have another surgery next Thursday to remove his tonsils. Surgery #1 was semi-successful. The ear tube implants have worked extremely well, and he hasn’t had a single ear infection since.  However, the adenoidectomy has not stopped his chronic sleep epnea. His tonsils are so enlarged he is just having a very difficult time breathing a night. It is quite frighting, really!

As you might imagine, Ashley and I are very nervous about another surgery. But after living with his sleep epnea these past few months, we can’t wait to see him breathing normally.

Please keep him on your thoughts.

Back at home. No trophies this time, but the kids certainly showed they can play with nationally and regionally ranked teams and hold their ground. I’m very proud of the AUSA Wizards and especially proud of Lorenzo – in my very bias opinion, the best player in the team in this tournament!

In the first game, the Wizards played the Pinecrest Premier Blue (PPB) team, currently ranked #1 U10 team in the nation. Now, for the record, the Wizards are officially a U11 team. However, to be fair, our team is really composed of both 10 and 11 year olds. I’m not sure if the team was nervous, tired, or what, but the Wizards did not start the tournament running on all cylinders. They were making silly mistakes, and not passing the ball as well as they usually do. Yet, they were up 1 x 0 at half time; and they kept the score tied at 1 a piece by mid second half. However, they lost their concentration, were a bit unlucky on a couple of plays, and let Pinecrest pulled way in the last 15 minutes of the game. Final score AUSA 1 x 4 WPU.

Despite the score, Lorenzo played the best match of his life. He was 110% focused; he was ready; and not once was the Pinecrest striker able to get around him or even take a shot at goal from within our box. Brilliant! He was, without a doubt, the player of the match. And the sad truth is that I know the Wizards could have beaten this team if everyone else had played their usual game.

The second match was, in my opinion, an even tougher match. They played the Wesley Chapel Flames – another top ranked U11 team with huge kids. Let me say that again, HUGE KIDS! (I don’t know what they put in the water in S. Florida, but it certainly made me want to discover the magic recipe or start asking for some notarized birth certificates.) The Wizards did play better; but again, they did not play to their potential. Case in point, we started the match by letting them score right at kick off – a very painful wakeup call. After surviving the first few minutes, the team started to loosen up; they pressured WCF; and they created some really good changes. Unfortunately, our shots were just a bit off the mark.

In Brazil, we are all very familiar with the expression: “Quem nao faz, leva.” Loose translation: if you can’t score, they will. We certainly had our changes, but precisely because we couldn’t find the net, we were down 2 x 0 at half-time. We played much better on the second half and created even more changes. But just to prove its point, the old soccer expression held true, and we lost by 3 x 0. WCF did deserve to win; but it was again very frustrating to know we could have beaten them.

Lorenzo had another stellar match!

Another parenthesis…And for those who are not soccer aficionados, I apologize in advance for maybe losing you here. But this is an important point. The U11 age group plays an 8v8 format – or 8 vs. 8. The Wizards usually plays a 2-3-2 formation – which really means: 1 keeper, 2 defenders, 3 mid fielders, and 2 forwards. That also means that when the opposite team is coming at us — say from the left side, the two defenders will slide to the left side of the field to cover the play, leaving a pocket at the right side of the defense. This space is supposed to be covered by the right mid-fielder, who will drop to cover our “back side” and essentially become the “missing” right defender. Unfortunately, our back side was exposed throughout the first two matches, and our opponents took full advantage of it.

The third match was against the Brazilian Twisters. As the name suggests, it was composed of a full squad of Brazilian kids (all from the Miami area) + 1 African kid (another giant). BT had tied with WCF and lost to PPB on the dying minutes of the second half. So we knew we had yet another tough match to play.

But with two losses, the Wizards were out of the semifinals, and the kids were now playing for pride.

To take care of the back side issue, the coaches changed the team formation to 3-3-1; thus making the team a bit more compact and making sure there would always be a defender on the back side. It worked!

The Wizards controlled the mid-field and the tempo of the game; they had a much easier time transitioning from defense to mid-field to offense; and they finally started to play the football we know they are capable of. We were up 4 x 0 by the end of the first half, and BT didn’t even know what hit them. We played just as well on the second half and the Wizards won the match with ease. Final score AUSA 7 x 1 BT. Best player of the match? The entire Wizards squad – the team finally played to their potential as a team. But if I had to pick an individual player, I would have to choose William, who scored a gorgeous, curving direct-kick from way outside the area in the first half AND defended a penalty kick on the second.

A bitter-sweet victory, which left everyone wondering “what could have been” if they had played this well on the first two matches…

All in all, it was a fantastic experience for the kids, and I cannot wait for the U12 season.

Forza Enzo!!!

Back in Orlando for the Memorial Day weekend, this time for a soccer tournament. Lorenzo is playing in the “Memorial Day Soccer Shootout” being held in the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. The Athens United U11 team is quite good, but I really have no idea about what to expect here. Hopefully they will play hard, have some fun, avoid injury, and who knows, maybe bring some hardware home.

FORZA ENZO!

Parabens pra voce,
Nesta data querida,
Muitas felicidades,
Muitos anos de vida….

Paolo turned 2 years old today!

We did not experience much of the “terrible two’s” with either Lorenzo or Chloe. Paolo is certainly more active, and he does have his moments, but he really is a very happy and nice kid. And, at two now, he’s just beginning to blossom, show his personality, and really interact. It’s awesome!

He’s absolutely adorable, and he knows it too. I’m afraid it doesn’t take much for Dad to give in.

We celebrated his birthday this past Saturday with just the immediate family: his brother, sister, and cousins. He had a blast! He loved to be right “in the middle” of things and play with the “big kids”. Fun!!

We are so blessed to have him!

Feliz Aniversario, Paolo!!!!

Paolo had his ear tube implants and adenoidectomy procedures done yesterday.

I must say, it wasn’t easy for me to go ahead with the surgery. I knew they were simple, outpatient procedures; but they have also been, in many cases, over prescribed for this very reason. So, not feeling 100% at ease with our initial decision, I asked the ENT doctor to postpone it for a couple of weeks to give us time to re-evaluate all the options and make sure he *really* needed them.

After much reading and conferencing, I felt comfortable enough to go ahead with it. It all went very well! And I can now breathe a sigh of relief; and hopefully Paolo will breath a bit easier, sleep better, and have less frequent ear infections.

Time will tell.

I watched the documentary “FOOD, INC.” the other day. Twice. First during lunch break — which made me lose my appetite, and later that evening with Ashley — which kept my mind completely restless and prevented me from ever getting any “deep sleep”.

No, I’m NOT trying to stop you from watching it. Quite the contrary. I highly recommend that you do.

It simply confirmed how much of a “visual” person I am…You read about GMOs (genetically modified organisms); it is no secrete that most live stock are raised with much steroids and antibiotics; and reports of animal mistreatment in the food industry is certainly not uncommon. So, you are aware of it all…but, man, what a difference it makes to see live footage of how the “guts of the food industry beast” really works.

Can we possibly be a little less greedy, please?  Can we throw away the profit myopic lenses and stop masquerading “efficiency and productivity” to justify (and  hide) the blatant disrespect for it all?  Quite amazing, and yet so not surprising! It really did upset me!

In case you are wondering, NO, we are not becoming vegetarian.  But we will certainly be taking a larger dosage of vitamin O. We will expand our “organic grocery list” from just fruits, vegetables and dairy projects to “as-much-as-possible”; we will especially include meats to the list. And we will do our part to support our local “O” farmers.

Bon Appetit!

Our thoughts and prayers go to Haiti! It is no secret they needed much help prior to the recent earthquake. I cannot even image the anguish they are living at the moment.

Here is one of many ways to help them:

https://donate.wfp.org/supporter/donatenow.do?n=gbss&dfdbid=1044253

(Chose Haiti on the “Would you like this gift to be earmarked for a specific use?” pull-down menu)

Happy New Year! Feliz Ano Novo!!

Great expectations and plans for 2010…On top of the list is to bring the family down to the “deep south” for a much needed extended Brazilian vacation. No firmed itinerary yet, but I would love to bring the kids to Manus and visit the Amazon Forest; stop in Recife for a relaxing stay at Porto de Galinhas; and visit Ana & family & friends in Minas. I also would love to go to Fernando de Noronha, but I’m afraid we will run out of time (and certainly $$$ by then).

As for the new year resolution, in addition to the usual “lose weight” and “get more active”, I will put some real effort into “reactivating” some old friendships.

Cheers!!