Mr. Spartan and New Sporting Adventures

Golf season came to a close, and we put a stamp on the 2023-2024 season Monday night with our end of the year banquet.  It was a bit challenging finding a time to meet with all the school activities at South; otherwise, we would've done it a bit closer to the end of the season.  Miles was a wee bit irritated by the October 30th date, but I will get to that a little later.  

   This year we graduated one Senior and have a lot of rising younger players who are quite talented.  South hasn't had a strong golf program for some time.  By "strong," I mean we aren't posting any scores that are competitive with other teams in our area.  Beneath our Senior are five Juniors, including Miles, who will be big contributors next year.  Miles loves the sport of golf.  This season, more than others (and because he was able to drive), he spent lots and lots and lots of time practicing and playing.  This is what it takes to be good and compete at any sport.  However, you also need a good coach and consistent lessons.  Golf requires lots of science and precision.  You have to be ALL IN or you won’t see improvement.  At the banquet, our coach challenged the parents and team to be ALL IN and invest in their personal game next season.

    Miles received the Mr. Spartan award.  We are proud of his continued achievements with golf and are looking forward to his Senior year which will begin in the blink of an eye.  

 

Why was Miles irritated with a Monday night banquet?  After the close of golf, he wanted to get a part time job and make some money, like most teenagers do.  I'd seen a Facebook post from a friend where the "orange tent" Halloween Express was needing workers.  While I knew this would be temporary, I also thought it would be a great opportunity for him.  I reached out to my friend, and he started working there almost immediately. While he's mainly covered weekends in October, this Monday and Halloween night, they needed his help.  When I mentioned the banquet, he said "what, why are we having it on a Monday?"  I said well it's pretty important and you can't miss it.  Monday after school, which for him ends at 1PM, (also banquet night) he went to work until 5:15, came home, changed, went to the banquet for two hours, and then went back to work until almost 11PM.  He also worked until 10 PM Halloween night.  I wouldn't particularly want him working on weeknights that late with school, but this is a temporary gig.

For the workplace, he needed some Halloween shirts.  I found this Goosebumps Frankenslappy at Five Below.  The other two kids loved it so much, we had to go back and get two more.  I found a fanged/Vampire SpongeBob at Old Navy. My boss loaned me his Camp Crystal Lake Counselor shirt.  And, he has an orange Halloween Express STAFF work shirt as well.  

His favorite job perk: free bowling for him and his family. The orange tent is located in the parking lot of Southern Lanes Bowling Alley.  He also gets free drinks at the snack bar, 1/2 price concessions, and a nice discount in the Pro Shop.

Miles + Free Bowling = HEAVEN

Last night at 10:30PM when he hadn't made it back home yet, I texted to check on him and he told me he was bowling.  New sporting adventures begin for Miles today.  He has officially placed his golf clubs in storage and replaced them with some Strike Force shoes and a Storm bowling ball.  The team captain at South reached out to him last week and asked him to join the bowling team.  He texted me last Friday and asked about his physical.  I told him to text his dad, eh-hem the principal, to let our athletic director Ashby know it was on file with golf.  

That Friday night we'd thrown together a small celebration for Karson's 21st, and Matt made the grandest of announcements to our family.  He said I'm not sure there has ever been a prouder moment for me as a dad, not the birth of all three of my children or their many accomplishments, but it was when my youngest son sent me a text at school to ask the athletic director to put his physical on file because he was joining the bowling team.

  Made! His! Day!

He's so funny.  Some of Matt's best memories are from his start as the first bowling coach at South when he began teaching.

A few of his favorite bowlers, Bryce and Kaleb!

Let me go on the record with this one, bowling is WAY cheaper than golf, at least in regards to the equipment needed.  I might eat my words.  I also realize we aren't all in like some bowlers which I imagine have multiple balls, shoes - take lessons, bowl in leagues and tournaments, etc.  

I ordered Miles's golf shoes off Amazon for $40.  He did need a bag and a ball.  We ventured in to the pro shop at Southern Lanes on Saturday.  The gentleman in there, Alex, could not have been any more helpful.  We told him we were newbies and knew nothing.  Miles had no idea what kind of ball he needed or how fast he could throw it.  Alex closed up the shop and came out to watch him.  Eventually he settled on a 14 pound ball which we purchased that day with his discount along with a bag.  He is still needing a spare ball.  From what I gather, you need one of those to pick up pins that your regular bowling ball won't get.  It also has three holes in it generally while the ball we purchased on got two drilled in it. I'm assuming I will learn all of this at some point.  However, I could purchase ten bowling balls for the cost of one driver and golf lessons so that's a blessing.  

Fun fact: we'd planned to do some family bowling on Sunday, but when Matt went to look for his stuff, he couldn't find it.  The only thing we could figure is that he'd left it behind at some point at the bowling alley.  He wasn't so much concerned about the ball but really wanted his skull shoes.  I told him to check in the pro shop when we got there - odds not in his favor.  Alex to the rescue.  He found it stored in the old nursery with all his stuff still in there.  Hilarious!  Matt had to have the finger holes redone and glued but was pumped by the find.

 Matches begin next week, and his first team practice is today.