The boys and I just finished our kick back wall in the back yard. We built it for a couple reasons, 1) to provide Ben and Brad and neighborhood soccer players someplace to develop their skills, and 2) to protect the side of my garage from a barrage of soccer balls and keep my tools from jumping off the wall on the inside.
Initially, I was just going to leave it plain green-treat wood. But then we got to thinking about turning it into a tribute to the Rochelle High School soccer program. So I made a transparency of our window decal, borrowed an overhead projector from church, traced the design onto the wall, then went after it with paint. It seemed to turn out very nice. We sent the picture below to the local paper to see if he would run it on the sports page. We’ll see.
Ben’s in the back right in black and Brad’s in the front middle in blue. The rest of the kids are local area players. The boy in front in yellow is currently on the Illinois state team, something that Ben and Brad are trying out for now.
By the way, six out of the eight of them ride unicycles.
nice man… ive got a regualation goal made out of pvc in my yard… if you tools keep falling off you wall… that might be a good plan, the net costs more than the pvc… so its pretty damn cheap enjoy your new walll
Thanks, Dave. The kick back wall is actually set out from the garage wall about an inch so there’s no contact between the two. My tools are safe and happy once again.
No, wasn’t trying to replicate a goal in any way. Just a wall to bounce a ball. The wall is conveniently constucted of 4x4 posts and three 4x8 sheets of 3/4" ply with some back framing thrown in for good measure.
Ben made the papers once again. It was an article on the high school’s season wrap-up. This was our first year in a new conference involving more schools toward the Chicago suburbs. Most of the school teams in the 'burbs are populated with club players so the competition is pretty stiff. Hopefully, we’ll be a little more settled next season and come out with a better record.
Ben’s sporting his new $190 kangaroo leather soccer boots in the photo. He’s a junior this year and started at sweeper all season. If he happens to make the team next year :), he will be the only four-year varsity player on the squad. Congrats, Bennie!
Spanish for “they shall not pass”.
Originated as an anti-fascist slogan in the Spanish Civil War, it’s been adopted as a cry to rally the defence during periods of great pressure in a football match.
It’s also a kewl thing to shout at UniHoki matches as nobody has an idea what you’re on about, unless you tell your teammates first.
Yippee! Spectre Soccer Club tryouts for spring outdoor season start tonight. Can’t wait for the season to get here. I suppose we need to finish up the indoor seasons first.
Euro Soccer today on ABC, quarterfinals Russia vs Netherlands. Wahoo! I get to watch a soccer game! We don’t have cable or satellite or other TV services so it’s rare that we ever have soccer on the telly. It’s a treat! I can’t sit still long enough to watch most television but I’ll do it for a soccer game.
In the fall, we transition into a new club (of course now that Brad is in high school, he’ll only play with the club in the spring). We’re combining with the Sycamore United club (DeKalb and Sycamore are twin cities) after several years of negotiations. We will be known as the Northern Illinois Football Club or NIFC.
The club has been growing and has caught the eye of the Northern Illinois University (site of the NIU shooting and my alma mater) soccer program. The NIU assistant soccer coach, Chris Brown, is now our club’s director of coaching and the head coach, Steve Simmons, has been attending our Spectre Soccer Club board meetings. It’s gonna be great to have NIU on board with us. NIU recognizes that there is a lot of local talent and if they can efficiently spend time grooming some local players, it will grow the NIU program.
Yoopers, be careful what balls you use with that kickback wall. Solid walls are really hard on soccer balls and can ruin their roundness. I’d only use old practice balls with it, and certainly not your good game balls.
Just a heads up. That wall looks perfect for a round of butt’s up!
That wall looks perfect for a round of butt’s up!