Going to Kansas

        From previous posts, you probably know that my North National Girls 06 team has won the past 2 tournaments that we have participated in. First, there was a Thanksgiving tournament at the end of November, and there was a Futsal tournament a couple weeks ago. Girls on my team had been telling us that if we won the Futsal tournament, we would go to Kansas to compete in the Nationals, but I never really knew if that was true or not. My family didn't think we were going because it would be such short notice. Turns out though...... It was true after all! When girls on my team would ask the coach "If we win this, do we go to Kansas?" But he would reply back "We need to focus on the game we are playing now." After the tournament had happened, everyone on the team was dreading the wait of the email that we either say "We're off to Kansas!" Or, "No, we are unable to play." Finally, my mom got the email saying we were going to Kansas! I remember that I was in my room, and my mom called me downstairs and said: I have some very serious news, WE'RE GOING TO KANSAS! It was awesome. We are leaving Thursday very early in the morning and hopping on a plane.
                                                                                ~
                                                I'll blog more in Kansas at nationals!

MA Youth Futsal Tournament

 

    Over the extra long weekend, I participated in a Massachusetts Youth Futsal tournament. In case you don't know, Futsal is indoor soccer, with a smaller court than outside, and you can't kick the ball off the walls. The ball is also a little bit smaller, and it doesn't really bounce.There were 2 tryouts that the team had to go to so that my coach could pick certain people. Since Futsal has a smaller court, there can only be 5 people on the court at once, including the goalie. So because of that, my coach picked 9 players to participate in this tournament. Out of the 9 players he picked, fortunately one of them was me!
       There were 2 games on Saturday, 1 game on Sunday, and 2 games on Monday. I was very proud of how we played on Saturday. The first game was at 8:00am, and we played Kings FC. For most of the game it was tied, and at almost the end it was 3-3, and then one of the girls on my team immediately scored twice, and then the other teams goalie was going far up because she wanted to try to steal the ball and get goals, but then my teams goalie threw it about 3 feet over the halfway line, and one of the forwards was there, and I forget if it bounced once or not, but the goalie was not at the net, so it was wide open, and one of my teammates just kicked it right in the net. The final score was 6-3 my team.
       The second game that day was against Cape Cod Futsal Club. The first half my teams goalie didn't get 1 shot on net, and we scored 10 goals. I scored 3 goals (hat trick technically) The first 2 were just simple on the ground shots in the corners, but the 3rd one was even better. One of my teamates (or me) shot the ball, and the goalie saved it and it was moving very fast about to go out of bounds, but I stopped it, pulled it back behind a defender, and then no one was in front of me, so I held onto the left post (to get my balance) and shot it fast and high to the left. In the second half, we switched our goalkeeper who had a couple of great saves, and my team continued to try to win the ball as much as we could. We got up to 16-0, and then my couch called a timeout, and he told us that we needed 5 passes before we could shoot unless we had a wide open net. And then, he switched it to
3 passes, and THEN he finally told us that we should just try to keep possession of the ball and pass it around. Everyone wanted to try to keep scoring, but we just passed it around. The final score of that game was 16-0 my team.
     And then on Sunday, the stakes were high because whoever won that game would be in 1st place In bracket A, and would have to play the 2nd place team in bracket B (there are 2 brackets for U10. A
and B.) We played a very aggressive and competitive team called DV Academy from Long Island,
New York. The game ended up in a tie 3-3. My GPS North National 06 girls team only plays together once or twice a month, and people think we have very good chemistry together even though we don't practice often. A lot of the teams we played (including DV Academy) practice together all the time. But since coming into the game on Sunday we were already 1st place, we stayed first place, and then on Monday played the second place team in bracket B, and DV played the first place team in bracket B.
     On Monday morning, we ended up playing the Bayside Bolts FC. I thought something that was critical that my team did that morning and afternoon was high pressure, and making good decisions. We made sure that we tried to take as many shots as we could. At first, we were shooting the ball a lot , but they were just a little off target. Soon though, we turned it around, and the final score was 4-1 my team. They scored in the last 10 seconds, and I take the blame because I got the ball and tried to kick it away because there were a lot of people around me, and the girl in front of me stopped the pass, and shot it up high and fast into the left corner, and the goalie had no chance of saving it. Everyone thought in their head after the game was over "We won the semifinals, now all we gotta do is win the finals, and it's all ours!" After our game was over, we went on the next court to watch DV Academy play Futnado FC, and they had tied, so they had to go into penalty kicks, and even as the number one team in bracket B, they still lost to DV. So, later on in the day, we had a rematch with DV Academy in the finals.
    The game started out scoreless, and then a girl on my team scored, and not soon after, I scored! I was on defense, and the ball got kicked away on the ground, and I one touch smashed the ball high into the middle of the net, and the goalie tried to jump, but it was to fast to stop. After my goal, we were up 2-0. Later, DV scored, and then at the last 10 minutes, me and another girl were talking on the bench about how much it would mean to win this. We kept saying 9:30 to go, 8:30 to go, 7:30 to go, and on and on, until about the last 3 minutes because I subbed in for left forward, and played the hardest I could. I distinctly remember the last 10 seconds of the game because we were on the verge of winning, and finally I heard the BIG LOUD buzzer and I ran over to the bench and I just hugged the other girl named Avery who scored the first goal so tight. Everyone was so happy and excited! My coach came over and told us to go to court 8 because that's where we got our medals and pictures taken. After that, we went into a room off to the side of the courts because one girls family on my team had brought cupcakes to celebrate, and we just had tons of fun, and took lots of pictures. EVERYONE ON THE TEAM WAS SO HAPPY WITH THE OUTCOME!!
    Throughout the  tournaments and the practices, we have really grown big friendships with one another, and we really bond together. At the start, no one really knew each other, and now, whenever you see us, we are Moses likely laughing. We earned the outcome we were looking for, and we played our hearts out his Futsal tournament. Oh yeah, I forgot, one last word: YESSSSSS!!!!!!!

Upcoming Patriots schedule and plans

    As you probably know, the Patriots have not done the best the last few games... Luckily, they made it  into the playoffs ending with a 12-4 record in the regular season. On Sunday and Saturady there were NFC and AFC wild card games that determine who plays who, and who's out and who made it. On Saturday, the Kansas City Cheifs beat the Houston Texans, and on Sunday the Seattle Seahawks beat the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers beat the Washington Redskins. Since the Patriots are in the AFC and since the Cheifs won to the Texans and they are in the AFC, the patriots are playing the Cheifs next Saturday in New England (it is VERY good that the pats have home field advantage). Also the Steelers are playing the Broncos next weekend. And on the NFC side, the Seahawks are going to play the Panthers, and the Cardinals are going to play the Packers.
    The Patriots are really going to have to step it up this next playoff game against the Cheifs because the Cheifs have become very good as their season has progressed. Something that is good for the Pats is that they have players coming back to play for this game that have been injured like Julian Edelman, Sebastian Vollmer (hopefully, questionable), Donta Hightower, and I think a couple more players but I just listed the players who are always playing. I feel that the Patriots really need to focus on their running game and practice running the ball. They also have to have consistent, accurate passes and try to prevent sneaky interceptions. But I hope that the players that are going to be back from their injury do good because that would help a lot.
    GO PATRIOTS! DO YOUR JOB! Just 2 more wins, and we are 1 of the 2 teams that play in Super  Bowl 50!

Should I be a Youtuber?

Recently I have been thinking about starting a YouTube channel. I wanted to get your thoughts on if I should be one or if I shouldn't. I'm still thinking about it and how I would make it good. I'm kind of inspired by my brother because he has a gaming channel (The Gaming Solution) and has been doing for a year +. I probably wouldn't game, but I would do challenges and maybe cover songs. On my channel I would vlog sometimes if I wasn't doing something else. If I had a channel I would kind of do all around things, and be open to any suggestions!
Please comment or email me your thoughts on my idea!

Movie Review: Star Wars The Force Awakens

        I haven't done many movie reviews in a while and I just saw Star Wars, so I'd thought I'd tell you a little bit about the movie.

        First of all, so many people were excited for this movie because the last Star Wars movie that was made came out over 10 years ago, so this was the first one in a LONG time. The Force Awakens is episode VII. The Star Wars films can be confusing because they didn't produce the movies in order so it doesn't just go 1,2,3... They are all pretty much scattered around. 

        I would recommend watching this movie in 3D because Star Wars movies have tons of action, so if you feel like you are involved in the intensity and action it is amazing. Also, my dad bought my family's tickets in advance because he knew that because it is so popular, if we just showed up, it would most likely be sold out. We saw the movie at the amc IMAX in Somerville, MA because we just couldn't wait to see it, and we just knew it would be worth it if we went to IMAX. Imax has red coushney seats, it has a big screen, and it has high quality. My experience there was awesome. Literally, in two words I would describe The Force Awakens as outrageously awesome! 

       Before I saw The Force Awakens, I had really watched many of the Star Wars movies, but since everybody was fired up for this new movie, I decided to give it a try, and it changed the way I interpret Star Wars and I'll watch every movie they come out with after this and previous ones too. I felt that everyone who pitched in to help make this movie did a great job picking the plot, and making sure that they could actually make a good film out of the plot. I also enjoyed how they added in some new characters, so it wouldn't just keep being the old ones that have been there from the start. Some new characters are named: Rae, Finn, Kai Lo Ren, BB8.

                                                  Spoilers                                                           

The whole movie Chewbacca, Han Solo, BB8, Finn, and Rae are on a search for Luke Skywalker  
 because Luke put himself  into exile on an island where nobody could get him and where he was       hiding because of a deep disappointment. BB8 had the map to find Luke, but the Dark Side was trying to capture BB8 (droid thing that rolls around), because they wanted the map. BB8 was missing 1 piece to the map.R2D2    
wasn't in the movie until the last 45 min about, but a cloth was draped over his body, and BB8 pulled   it off and it turned out that once R2D2 turned on, R2D2 had the missing piece that fit in perfectly to   the map. Finn was an undercover storm trooper that was actually trying to help people escape that    were captured by the dark side. BB8 had a guy that took care of him named Po, and stormtrooper him  into a room where he was laying down, and couldn't move a muscle. Kai Lo Ren (leader of dark side)              
 was trying to make Po die, and suck the map information out of his head, but  finn helped Po escape
but while they were escaping they crashed in a ship on the desert, and Po was believed to be dead, but
 Finn was still alive. Po actually was alive, but he only came back later in the movie. A few scenes
later, Rae, Finn, BB8 become friends, and they fly on the Millenium Falcon (which hasn't been flown in years, but they couldn't find anything else to fly in) later, they find Han Solo and Chewbacca, Rae and Finn end up have a light saber battle with Kai Lo Ren, and Han Solo's son is Kai Lo Ren but Kai Lo Ren switched to the dark side. Kai Lo Ren ends up knocking his father off a narrow walkway, and Han Solo dies. At the end of the movie Rae finds Luke and hands him the light saber.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas! (if you celebrate it) Christmas eve night my family and I went to church and then went back to my house and had some appetizers and desserts with my grandparents.  My brother and I  decorated sugar cookies for Santa and made a small display that included many carrots, a few cookies, and a cup of milk. Later that night, it was very tough to go to sleep because I couldn't get my mind to stop thinking about opening presents early the next morning. I finally fell asleep at about 9:30,and then woke up at 3:00, again at 5:00, and again at 6:15. I kept checking the time on my I-pad because I thought the time was going by MUCH faster than it actually was. Once it was 6:15am, I had to basically force myself back to sleep because my parents told me that we weren't going open anything until 7:00am or later, so I had to keep that restriction in my head. Luckily I slept until 7:00, but to hear my brother's voice awaken me loudly whispering "Nuala, Nuala, Nuala, wake up its 7:00!" I was very happy and excited to hear that, and then we had that joyous moment of walking down the stairs and seeing mounds of presents.
 My brother and I first dug deep down into our stockings. Truly, my grandma made my stocking, and it has material that every year allows the stocking to stretch and get longer. (which is a GOOD thing because that just means I get more stuff) I got: LOTS of candy, a magic 8 ball, a travel size wet brush, a card game called "Anomia", fuzzy Life is Good cabin socks, scented magnetic bookmarks that have fruits on them, different flavored chapsticks, a Gear Beast running belt to hold small things while you run, and more Hershey Kisses!
Next, my family just KNEW it was time to open presents. We opened them mostly one at a time so everyone could see what you got. I recieved: a tabletop fooseball setup, a life-size Alex Morgan (USWNT soccer player)poster, Justin Bieber's new album "Purpose", the world's cutest dog (literally, he's famous!) named Boo soft stuffed animal, a navy blue sleeping bag, a waterproof lightup "Night Ball" soccer ball, a Garmin Vivofit, which does the same thing as a fitbit, a Fugi Dynamite purple bike, Timmy Failure Sanitized for your Protection (book), Drama (book),and #2 of The Babysitters Club book, but a newer graphic novel by Raina Telgemeier, a Memorex "Stand and Sing" Which is a thing that has a round bottom, and then has a pole that goes up to a place to put the microphone that below it has at thing that you can put any device on it so you can read lyrics to a song and then you sing, a plasma car, and I got a small New England Revolution poster, some clothes, a cajon (prononced CA-HOAN) which is a drum that you sit on, and lean forward and drum with you hands, I also got some dog slippers, and last but not least, I got a card that had money inside it.
                                               Hope you had an awesome Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

          I cannot believe Christmas is only 5 days away! I have waited a whole 365 days for this wonderful holiday! At the start of  December I bought an advent calendar fill with small square milk chocolates in each "door", and I have noticed that for me, December has been going by pretty slowly...On the other hand, I have been able to wait, because I know that Christmas IS worth the wait. Also, my elf on the shelf Jolly, has been hiding in different places since the very start of December! Jolly leaves on the night before Christmas, and then he comes back the following year. Today Jolly is sitting in a bag that has a present inside it under the tree. I feel that Jolly is very cheerful and that all elves add to the amount of happiness and cheer each and every winter. Another tradition in my family is baking sugar cookies on Christmas Eve after church, and creating a nice layout that includes carrots, cookies, and a cup of milk.
         In addition to that, who's ready to chill out for a week and a half and enjoy the nice part of not having to go to school or work?! Well, I don't know if you are, (I'm sure you are) but I am! There are only a couple of long-er vacations in the school year so it is crucial that you appreciate yourselves and relax. I'm sure everybody wishes that vacations could gradually go by, but unfortunately that is never the case because your usually too busy having fun! Also,winter vacation is a time when you can have a wonderful moments spending time with family/relatives, playing with presents from Christmas, and most of all, sitting on the couch watching T.V. munching on a bag of chips.

Happy Holidays! And I'll post after Christmas!