Last Eagle of the Summer

Written on 8-11-12

    I wrote as much as I could last night.  I stayed home to just stretch out and relax while Belinda went over to the Edgerton’s to hang out with Eric and Amanda down by the river.
    As I write this, it’s Saturday morning, and I am watching the bronze medal match for women’s indoor volleyball.  It’s Korea vs. Japan.  Japan has a 5’3” setter who is phenomenal, and I can’t help but think about Becca and Danielle.  Becca will be having ACL surgery this Thursday.  She will be out for her entire junior year season.  She and I hugged each other and cried when she told me at open gym one day last week.
    The ball has literally and figuratively been passed to...

Danielle (and one other player) now.  She doesn’t like it, but she has accepted it.  Anna gave her the “Setter Ball” yesterday, a heavier volleyball to increase strength and confidence in setting, so Belinda and I worked with her out on the back deck after dinner with it.  Her hands are beautiful.  Before Becca was injured, I had said we needed a back-up setter.  Danielle was the logical choice, but resistance was immense...at first.  Now, she is working on her setting; she wants to do well.  She even went to the gym with another player this morning to work on setting her outside.  In my opinion, Danielle could be phenomenal.  It’s going to be an interesting volleyball season, and I can’t wait.

Hidden Valley Golf Course-Hole #14-Eagle #3 of 2012

    I played on Sunday last week all by myself.  I wanted to break 80 again.  I played the bogey man, and I said to myself that if I give him only four strokes on the front and three on the back, I would win.  Well, I sort of did that.  This eagle really helped, of course.
    Japan just won the bronze.  They are all on the floor in a collapsed huddle crying.  That little setter kept putting perfect bump sets to the outside, sometimes two in a row, and it was a set like that that helped win the match.
    My drive went to the left again.  It was headed into the middle of the trees over there.  When I found it, it was in the rough with trees in the way, and I was forced to hit a fade.  I was still close to 200 yards away, so the 5-iron got the call.  It was a beautiful approach; it faded around the trees, and it was high, and I had no idea where it would end up.
    To my delight, it ended up on the green only twelve feet from the pin.  The ball would move to the left, so I aimed for a long piece of grass that was just above the hole.  I had to step away from the putt once to refocus my attention.  It was a great putt!  Too far, and it would have gone four feet past.  Too short, and it would have fallen below the hole, and I would have settled for a birdie.  I didn’t want a birdie; I wanted an eagle. 

    Okay, I need to go to my school.  More later...