"We need to get serious about winning some games, to get headed where we need to go" - Coach Meechin, Nov 2009 One TEAM, One GOAL, One STORM

"One TEAM, One GOAL, One STORM" ........!!!!!! Storm's second game went well, we beat Liberty High school 7-1. Our first game we lost 1-0 getting beat by a very aggressive George W Jenkins High School, they caught us sleeping in the first few minutes of the game and we never found our groove after that, they kept us on the defense for the whole game. Liberty was a different story we played well we attacked the ball and we passed and moved the ball around very well. We are now looking forward to Tuesday nights blackout, the whole crowd will wear black and we play Winter Park Wildcats at home. We beat this team 5-1 in the pre season friendly. Lets hope we play the way we did last week against them....!!!!

Pre-Season Soccer Friendly - Varsity

Have I mentioned before John made Varsity........LOL Anyway we played two Pre Season soccer games this week, the first game we played against Eagle Ridge we won 7-0 it was an easy game as this school are only brand new so didnt have a full soccer program in place. The second team we played were our rivals Winter Park they beat us last year in the District Championship, although John was not in this team we still felt we needed to prove a point. We beat them 5-1, they scored the 1 goal in the first few minutes as they caught us sleeping. After that it was Celebration all the way. It was a nice to see a few FC America kids in the crowd, that supported John although they were on the Winter Park JV team. John made an amazing save and they shouted out "that kids on my team....." it was very cool..... I asked Coach at the beginning of the season if John would be ok playing this high up as this is his first High School Season, I made it clear I am placing my son 14 year old son in his hands....., he told me not to worry John can hold his own, nevertheless I was still worried. Last night after his amazing save Coach shouted to me in the stands "see I told you he can hold his own".....

VARSITY babe.......!!!!!!!

Meet the new Celebration High School "VARSITY" GOALKEEPER....... Yes, John made the Varsity team. We are so happy for him, it was a nailbiter as 5 other keepers tried out too, I think John felt a bit of pressure, but he pulled it off. A note for my Dad:- Dad, Varsity is like the A team, and Junior Varsity is like the B team in our schools. Its quite an achievement for a 1st year student in High School to make the Varsity team. Playing on FC America really helped John to shine, he was fit, and he was confident. Bearing in mind he will be playing with 18 year old boys we are a looking forward to see how he will do. Training starts Monday and our first game is 11th November.....!

John finally gets his day..............!!!!!

Every dog has his day right......LOL So after watching Sam win tournaments in Baseball and Soccer. It was Johns turn yesterday, Omni U15 made it to the final, if we won we were promoted to Division 1. It was always going to be a tough game this was the team that beat us 4-0 in the Disney tournament a few weeks back. We played them at their field 2 weeks ago and we drew 2-2. Today was the day that we had to make it happen. The boys played out their skin and we won 3-0, John made a few impressive saves and then our strikers played their part. Connor scored an amazing goal that was goal of the season for me, he defo bent it like Beckham, even John ran up out of the goal for a celebration with him......!!!! Soccer High School tryouts are this week we are excited for that, I will keep you posted......

U2

We set off last Friday for the long awaited U2 concert that I had booked tickets for last April. The concert was AWESOME! We had fantastic seats and the concert really was worth the wait.......!!!! It was a hot and humid night, but so much fun. The Concert was in the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa it held 82000 people, thats a lot of people........!!!! Bono was on fantastic form he sang all the favorites, Sunday Bloody Sunday, With or Without you, Where the Streets have no name, they played Vertigo and the whole stadium erupted it was a fantastic night.......

Central Florida Crush - Runners Up

After Central Florida Crush playing 2 tournaments and not winning a game, Crush really came together in the "War on I4" tournament last weekend. We won both our games on Friday night winning the second game in a Texas tiebreaker, it was a nailbiter and the boys really deserved that win. We were still on the field at 11.15pm and Sam was on a high when the game ended. It really was like an All Star final, the parents were all into it and got the team buzzing with confidence. With winning on Friday night we had the priviledge of playing the 3pm game which we won, so we were in the Final at 7pm. We lost this game to the team we beat in the Texas Tiebreaker they got a few key hits at the just the right time in the game. We really have a great group of kids and parents on Crush and I am happy Coach Jose got it together for our AAU Travel team. Our friend Steve from London came to watch Sam play on Sunday, so that made Sam happy win or lose.....!!!! No sport for the next few days for the kids we are going to have a lazy few days to try to gain our strength back, John is flagging, early mornings and late nights are starting to take its toll.....

Home and Away......

We had a great result yesterday against a very good Belleview team, we played them away and drew 2-2, this was the team that beat us 4-0 in the Disney Tournament so to come away with a draw was a massive boost, and confidence builder,our team was on Facebook doubting themselves. We scored very early in the game in the 3rd minute and then again in the 20th minute, they scored in the 70th minute and then we gave away a penalty in the last 30 seconds of the game. John tried to do a "Jersey Dudek" but the kid was just too good a shot. Its all good we have 2 away goals we just have to keep it tight when we play them at home on the 17th October. John got wiped out on one of the plays and you can see Ryan in the picture calling to the Ref, John got the free kick and put the ball in play. We are playing these playoff games to see who will earn a spot in the first division. These Omni U15 boys are so good they will, without a doubt earn that spot......!!!!

2nd Round of the Soccer Playoffs

FC America Omni U15 just keep on winning, we are through to the 2nd round this week of the playoffs. We have done so well to get this far the boys have played some pretty tough and big kids, but we held our own and are now moving on. Its a lot of travel and this Saturday we are playing up in Ocala, about 1hr 30 mins from Celebration. This may be our toughest game yet.....!!!!

FC America - Final League Games

FC America Omni U14 win the League, we had a great weekend up in Jacksonville and played 2 great games. We had some of our best players sick or injured but it didnt stop the boys taking charge and winning our first game 1-0 and we tied the second game 1-1 which helped us to take first place in our league. As you can see in these pictures this is our second game this shot actually went into the net but the Ref didnt call it, it went straight out of the hole in the side of the goal, lady luck was on our side in this game .........! We took first place which means we now travel to Gainsville next weekend for the playoffs, there is going to be some tough competition up there but we can handle it.............!!!!!

Sam- Middle School Soccer

So the tables have turned, and now we are all watching Sam play Middle School Soccer, he has made the team and he is so happy, he played the whole game and did an amazing job playing left back........... Sam battled away with the bigger kids and scored a PEACH of a goal......!!!! We always had our suspicion of standing by the corner flag last season but this season we are standing in the middle of the field. It seemed to have worked we won 4-0. It turned into real English football weather and it started to rain, the rain came at the right time too cool down the kids and we pulled off a victory......!!!! We have to travel to Jacksonville again on Saturday for two games for Johns FC America team.

High School American Football

So, now we are playing American Football, John is number 4 and he is the kicker for his School football team. We played our first game on Thursday and didn't do too good we lost 40-0. The kids didnt seem too bothered and said overall they played a good game. Again, I know nothing about American Football so I have no clue if we are good or not. John seemed to enjoy himself and did a few good kicks up the field. We had a good time in the stands its like a big party and we had fun. We dont have any photographs of John looking at us, Keith was shouting out to him, "Hey Birchall" all the time really loud so he would look at us, but one of the dads said that the Coach had said to the players "if anyone turns around to look at their parents, becareful, cos you will be sitting with them.....LOL" So John ignored us all game.......

Disney Soccer Tournament

The Disney Soccer Tournament was this weekend. We had a few good games but we lost against some very good teams. We were on the fields for 7am and in the mildew on the ground we spelt out LFC. The next morning we got there someone had spelt out NFFC, hahahahaha. It is the great the banter we have on our team, we have West Ham fans, Nottingham Forest fans, Chelsea fans, its all good fun. The weather was way too hot and the kids were exhausted by it. John made some good saves and kept us in the games. Sadly we are out the tournament now so time for some r&r, being up at 6am everyday certainly takes it toll and John is so busy with school stuff now it wont do him any harm to rest up today. Holiday weekend this weekend so we are looking forward to a day off.....!!!!!

F.C. America.........

So here it is, Johns Football team, F C America Omni U15. We are an awesome team, finally we found it. Its hard to find a team where you fit in, John slotted right into place with this team, he ofcourse is goalkeeper and is doing a fantastic job. We are top position in our league having won all games we played and right now we are playing in the Disney Tournament for Soccer we are doing great we lost our first game 4-0 but we were playing kids in their early 20's......!!!!! The second game we won 1-0 which was more our age group. We have one game tomorrow which we have to win to stay in the tournament, I am pretty confident we will be ok. John is mega happy to be playing good football again......!!!!!!!

Princeton, New Jersey..........

Princeton New Jersey, we went to the University on the look out for Harry Potter, this is where Daniel Radcliffe is studying. A lovely student town, we had a nice time here just wandering around the campus and relaxing.

Philadelphia..........

So ever since hearing "Yo, Adrian", it was always a big thing of mine to run up the Rocky steps......!!!! I wanted to do it ever since I can remember, our friends are from Philly, so said they would take us while on our trip. We drove from Washington D.C. to Philadelphia, and as the boys are big Phillies fans we also wanted to go to the stadium, which we didnt get to do but will next time. We got to the Museum and looking up the steps I thought I can run up them no problem. There were so many steps it was so deceiving, I was exhausted when reaching the top. It was fantastic, I got a big lump in my throat I was finally there. The kids were loving it, although Sam didnt really know who Rocky was, what an impact that film had on Philadelphia the tour buses were rolling up and people were running up the steps, it was a lot of fun.........!!!! When we came home we watched all the movies, Rocky is still my favourite, it was awesome to watch the movie actually having been there.....

Washington D.C.

We went on holiday this year to Washington D.C. went to see Arlington Cemetery, where the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is guarded 24hrs a day. We saw the changing of the guard which was an impressive sight. It was like watching the Terminator, very weird but really good. When we were on the tour of the cemetary we saw JFK's memorial, and the memorial for one of the pilots of 9/11 that flew into the Twin Towers. We also went into the Capitol Building, and stood in the rotunda, an amazing place to be in. We went to see White House and saw Obama's dog out on a walk. We saw all the usual tourist sights the only complain was that it was a lot, a lot of walking........!!!! We went with our friends "The Harveys" and had a blast. We ended up getting on a tour bus as there was too much walking and the kids were flagging towards the end of the 3 days we were there. We went in all the Smithsonian Museums, found a couple of Irish bars which were so not Irish..........LOL

Bitter Sweet................

So, after Sams 9/10 year old All Stars won the District Championship, we had to tell the boys that Maggie was ill.... Instead of spending the night celebrating, Sam spent the night crying. Maggie went to doggie heaven on July 18th, we miss her so much, and I cant type about that anymore........!!!!

A lot of blogging...........

I have been neglecting my blogging duties lately, (sorry Dad, Auntie M). I promise I will do better. We have had a very busy summer and a lot has happened. I will start from where we left off...........

9-10yr olds win District Championship 2009

Top picture:- I wondered why Sam wanted to be 99, when he grows up he wants to be just like Matt...... Well we did it, we are District 3 Champions for the 2nd year in a row, what a great game. We played South Orange in the final, Sam was starting pitcher, and did a fantastic job. We played well to get 2-1 us in the first inning. In the second inning we ran amock and scored 13 runs, the other team lost the battle right there and then, although they did score another 4 runs to make it 15-5. We needed one run to end the game in the 4th inning, and its Wyatt upto bat, we have a runner on 3rd, you just know Wyatt is going to hit the ball, and there it is, a nice hit and we get the winning run. It was not as tense as last year as we had such a huge lead still it was very cool to see the kids win it again. They played really well, we are the smallest team, but the biggest hitters. We had a great turn out from the Celebration crowd, people came to support us and they didn't even have kids in the game, thank you. Johnny Boy plays tonight in the Semi Final.......GO CELEBRATION

Celebration beat BVL.......!!!!!!

Celebration Juniors put on an amazing display of team work today. We played BVL, a team we have never ever beaten, ever. Any time we play them we get scared of the words "BVL". We were awesome, John played centre field, 1st base then ended the game as catcher for Matt. We were winning 8-0 in the first inning got a bit nervous and ended up letting them back in the game, we got to the 6th inning and we found ourselves 8-11 down due to a grand slam and a home run. Big Ray steps up to bat and puts the ball in play gets us the runs needed to put us ahead in the game 12-11. They were last at bat so we needed to hold them in order to win. Matt steps up and throws a great inning and strikes out the last batter. Let me tell you, that was the most amazing peice of team work, ever. We didnt let them get the better of us. If we never ever ever ever ever win a game of baseball again that win was the icing on the cake for us........ GO CELEBRATION!!!!!! (Dad, John is on the right of the picture in the Red Catchers Gear)

9-10yr olds reach the Final

Sam pitched in todays game to reach the Final again. We played a fantastic game against Kissimmee All Stars, they were the team we kept in the tournament by winning on Wednesday. Sam got a great hit that almost hit the fence he was happy as could be about it. We are just gonna stay relaxed now and chill out till Monday when we play the final. GO CELEBRATION.......!!!!!!

Junior All Stars 09

Celebration Junior All Star Team 09, what a great group of kids we have this year. Over the past 3 years we have had some massive egos on our All Star Team that probably cost us a few wins, this year we have had the best group of kids I have seen in a long time, they have bonded well together they play awesome together and all have a blast. John has been playing centre field and 1st base. We are all hitting the ball well and making very few errors, we are the first Junior team to ever win a game in All Stars, that in its self is a great achievement. I am praying so hard that these boys do something amazing and make it to the final, maybe even win this tournament because I know they have the ability to do so. I also want them to do it as this is Johns last few games playing for CLL. GO CELEBRATION JUNIORS.......!!!!!

9-10yr olds Defending Champions

Last night was complete "de ja vu" 9-10 yr olds were defending their championship from last year. We were playing St Cloud, (the team we beat to win the championship) the game was tied all the way, we had to play 2 extra innings to finally clinch it. Sam played 1st base and did a great job. Our pitcher Joesph played so well under extreme pressure. We had bases loaded with one out and he struck the 3rd batter out with his very last pitch......... Extremely stressful for the parents but such a great feeling to see our kids win. Again we were the smallest team out there with the biggest hearts....... Pray for good things to happen.

High School Summer Baseball

John has been playing on the High School Summer baseball team and has been having a great time. He has been catching and playing centre field, we played a tournament in Disney Wide World of Sports this week and played at the U18 level, most of our kids are 14, 15 year olds, we got smoked every game but the other coaches made nice comments that we were a good team and when we "grow up" we will be great. The opposing teams were truly fully grown men we were playing, and some were even on the professional level. We did good hung in there every game, John played great and every time he got up to bat he hit the ball and made every play that came to him. Well done Johnny boy.........!!!!!

Coolin off........

I cant believe how hot it is already Its hot hot hot...... its going to be 100 degrees today. Way to hot for us......!!!!! Yesterday we went to a friends house for dinner and cooled off on the water slide. Sam loved it and had great fun playing out till late, the dogs had fun too. There are no baseball/Footie practices today so we are staying in doors and having a Tiger Woods Golf tournament on the XBox.

Sam Graduation

Sam Graduated into Middle School last week, he dressed up smart, which was so unusual for Sam who now likes to dress sloppy, whatever happened to my smart well groomed kid I used to have in Liverpool........ This was Sam's teacher for the 5th grade Mr Melrose, he and Sam got along like a house on fire and had a great year. Sam will miss him when he goes into 6th grade. Sam does not go anywhere now without his cube as you can see he also has it here, he loves that cube and has the "shakes" when he leaves it at home........

Land of the Giants

Are we really that small......? We were host family this week to some soccer coaches from England. Last night was our last night with them and we had some fun. I didn't realise how tall they were both of them well over 6ft, and Daniel (our friend) was as tall as them. The tape measure came out and we measured Owen he was the tallest at over 6ft4in he said everyone thinks he plays Basketball for Miami Heat LOL. The kids had a great time at camp and played some great soccer, but it was very hot, and needed some down time in the afternoons before evening camp. Sam got the soccer bug again and is playing in a tournament this weekend.

Rubik's madness.....

After a long awaited year of Rubiks madness Sam has finally completed the Rubiks cube. His goal was to complete it in this school year. Today is the last day of school and he can complete it fully in under 3mins. We had him complete it yesterday for the camera he did it in 1.54 seconds but Mum forgot to press the record button. So every time he completes it quicker we will post on here for you all to see. GO SAM.....!!!!!!

Graduation 2009

It was Grad Night tonight, John got all dressed up looking good for the dance. It was so weird dressing him up to go out, made me remember when he was just a little boy and I look at him now and he is so grown up. The party was at the clubhouse in Celebration and all his friends were there, when we got there, we took some photos and then they all went in to party the night away. I cannot believe he is going to the High School this year.........

Baseball Weekend

We played a baseball tournament this weekend that meant we had to be up at 5.45am both Saturday and Sunday, I am exhausted.....!!!! We played AAA and we did quite well, we are a AA team and played up for this tournament. We won 2 games and lost 2 games, but we got to play in the stadium that the Houston Astro's train in so the kids were happy about that. John is number 8 and here he is with his pal Noah observing the field, they said it was awesome playing on a real field LOL. John and Sam have driven to St Petes to watch the Tampa Bay Rays v the Cleveland Indians.

Guitar Lesson

So Sam has now mastered the Rubiks cube his next mission is the Guitar. Keith John and Sam have wanted to learn to play the guitar for years now, luckily enough we persuaded our Barber Neil to come and give the boys lessons on a Tuesday and we will make him his tea, luckily for us he agreed. Neil is awesome on the guitar and so good with these Birchalls, he is also from Liverpool County Road. Neil is making it look so easy I think I can play too.......!!!!! The kids want to learn to play "Wonderwall" first and "Ring of Fire"............LOL It didn't take long before our John dropped his plectrum in the guitar hole, Sam started complaining his fingers hurt and Keith could play all night.

UB40

Not a very good picture but they would not allow cameras into the House of Blues, UB40 last night were brilliant. We saw them back in 91 in Manchester and to see them again 18 years later was fantastic. I was a bit worried as I didn't know Ali Campbell had left the band, no one told me over here......!!!! Duncan his brother stepped in and was every bit as good as his older brother he had all the moves and sounded exactly the same. They sang the old fav's 1 in 10, Tyler, of course Red Red Wine. We had a great night with a couple of good friends and came home and put every UB40 cd I have on my iphone. They are on tonight in St Pete's and if I didn't have plans I would of drove down there and saw them again they were that good.