Hey Mom I MADE THE TEAM!

So If I keep putting an “!” at the end of my posts title does it lose its power? Well Im sorry but this one definitely deserves an “!” , maybe even 3!!! So after I got out from practice last night I came out of the locker room and was pulled aside by the team president. I got the same feeling as when the teacher used to call your name as you were leaving and ask if you could talk with them for a minute. You always expect the worst. He opened his briefcase and handed me an envelope and told me to read its contents. At first it looked like a copy of the same contract that I had already signed but he pointed for me to scroll down to the bottom where it said, “After a meeting with the team President and Technical Head Coach, the team have confirmed Mr. Russell Simpkins as a player for the season 2009-2010”. They offered me the full contract! The previous one stated that both sides could opt out after a two month trial period, but now they said that they were sure that even after a week they wanted to sign me for the full season! Because that league rules restrict that a team is only allowed to sign 1 foreign player I have been nervous this whole time that they were still shopping behind my back. You know how embarrassing that would have been if I got sent home in January and had to tell all of you that I got cut. Of course I would probably just have lied and told you that I decided to opt out to save the humility, but now I don’t have to. Let’s be honest, that would not have made a cool bar story, “So I played Pro polo in Italy for two months but then I got axed”. I don’t know how far that would have gone with the ladies. And plus how depressing would it be if POLOandPASTA only lasted 2 months? I would probably sense the end was coming soon and the posts would get progressively more whiny and depressing. No one wants to read that…most of you probably don’t even want to read this but some of you are family and you have to, It’s the rules.

I also want to give a huge shout-out to the Soquel Boys Vrsty who lost from what I hear a very tight and solid game to an extremely talented Menlo team in the semi-finals of CIF 7 to 6. Im sorry I couldn’t be there to help coach u guys till the end but I had an amazing season working with all of you and I am very proud of your dedication and improvement. Great job boys!