OT: Really, really good family news

[MilfordHusky]

My 15-year-old granddaughter Caitie, whose other grandfather was born in Manila, just made the final roster of 20 for the Philippines U-16 national soccer team. She had scored a goal in 4 of the 5 scrimmages. The team plays in an Asian tourney in Weifang, China, in a couple of weeks. Half of the 20-player roster is from North America.

Congratulations to Caitie! Kia Nurse's father's description of Kia applies here: "She's a nasty piece of business." All 5'0' and 98 pounds of her is full of attitude. She has an excellent left foot. We're all encouraging her to work on the right foot.

 

[EricLA]

That's awesome! Congrats to your "nasty piece of business"! LOL. I see where she got it from!!!

 

[warbler1055]

Congrats!!! Hope she will do well. It's great to be 15 and play BB!

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Half of the 20-player roster is from North America.

Congrats. You have another rooting interest. Anything particular accounting for the 50%?

 

[calpedaler]

Congrats!!! Hope she will do well. It's great to be 15 and play BB!

Or soccer

 

[MilfordHusky]

Congrats. You have another rooting interest. Anything particular accounting for the 50%?

Not sure. Most of the more talented players are from N.A. We wonder if they had a quota of no more than 50% from outside the Philippines. Or maybe it was based purely on talent, positions, and need.

I don't recall the exact numbers, but I think 70% of the North Americans made the team and roughly 10% of the locals.

 

[Beemer]

Woooooooooooooooo!!!!

 

[bags27]

Awesome. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics?

 

[MilfordHusky]

Awesome. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics?

Nah! She's only 15 now, and I doubt that the Philippines could qualify, though their North American players are pretty good. But, who knows?! Maybe 2024. Her dad says she has improved considerably in the past 2 months.

The 98-pound nasty piece of business got another goal and assist in the latest scrimmage, a 5-0 win against a local college team (women ages 18-22). They have been playing teams of 15-17 year-old boys and 18-22 year-old women and generally winning.

The team heads to China for an Asian FIFA tourney at the end of the week. My guess is that China is the powerhouse, but the other Asian teams are not nearly as strong.

Cait will miss the first 2 weeks of school in California, but her principal and teachers are on board. She'll get caught up. She has drawn some recruiting interest; I think her success in Manila will cause that to increase. Last year's high school team lost in the So. Cal. Finals. They were led by 6 Division I recruits, including players who went to highly ranked Auburn (a top 75 player nationally) and Rutgers. This year's team will be young, so there will be more opportunity. Cait made the varsity as a frosh, but played little in the post-season. She's an interesting kid with phenomenal determination when she sets her mind to something. She can definitely be a badass.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Cait, her teammates and coaches, and several parents are in Hong Kong on their way to the tourney in Weifang. Weifang does not appear to be very expensive, as a nice room can be had for $27 per night. The opponents include India, Korea, the Northern Marianas, and Malaysia.

Cait will miss about 2 weeks of school, but the administrators are on board. I guess the Huskies have to deal with this type of thing regularly.

 

[Kaizen]

My 15-year-old granddaughter Caitie, whose other grandfather was born in Manila, just made the final roster of 20 for the Philippines U-16 national soccer team. She had scored a goal in 4 of the 5 scrimmages. The team plays in an Asian tourney in Weifang, China, in a couple of weeks. Half of the 20-player roster is from North America.

Congratulations to Caitie! Kia Nurse's father's description of Kia applies here: "She's a nasty piece of business." All 5'0' and 98 pounds of her is full of attitude. She has an excellent left foot. We're all encouraging her to work on the right foot.

Congrats you.
Does Caitie play basketball? That will be even nice ....LOL

 

[MilfordHusky]

Congrats you.
Does Caitie play basketball? That will be even nice ....LOL

Cait is only 5'0" and projects to about 5'3". Her dad is 5'11" and mom is 4'11". She does not play hoops. The family is all about soccer/football.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Cait, her teammates and coaches, and several parents are in Hong Kong on their way to the tourney in Weifang. Weifang does not appear to be very expensive, as a nice room can be had for $27 per night. The opponents include India, Korea, the Northern Marianas, and Malaysia.

Cait will miss about 2 weeks of school, but the administrators are on board. I guess the Huskies have to deal with this type of thing regularly.

Ok, now I know a little more. The PI plays only those 4 teams. If they win their bracket, they get to the finals in Thailand next year. Grandpa Milford would love a trip to Thailand next year.

Word on the street is that the Asian competition is concerned about the Americans on the PI team. They are more skilled and taller than most of the Asians. As noted earlier, 10 of the 20 players on the PI roster are from North America. Cait's buddies in Manila included 3 girls from So. Cal., within 25 miles of her home. She did not know any of them until she arrived in Manila.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Philippines wins, 2-0. Cait got an assist on the second goal. The first goal came in the first 5 minutes or so. The second came with maybe 15 minutes left in the game. Cait played 3 positions over 88 minutes in heat and air pollution.

The next game is at 4 AM ET in 2 days. Do I get up early or stay up late?

 

[MilfordHusky]

In their second game, the PI routed the Northern Marianas, 13-0. It was like UConn v. Mississippi State. South Korea had routed Malaysia, also 13-0, earlier, so the PI needed to keep up the goal differential. Cait played all 90 minutes, despite being injured, and recorded a goal and another assist. One of the girls who is actually from the PI had a hat trick.

 

[cbraarj]

Cait is only 5'0" and projects to about 5'3". Her dad is 5'11" and mom is 4'11". She does not play hoops. The family is all about soccer/football.

Great things come in little packages! Right GPA?

 

[cbraarj]

I had 2 aunts that were nuns. One stayed in Canada and Aunt Cecile was a missionary in the Phillipines for 30 years. She just loved the people and was a role model for me! Only saw her about 7 times and only once as an adult but I could sit wth her for hours and listen about her wonderful life there as she would say. Aunt Cecile would talk to me in French and I would answer in English. Understood it couldnt speak it,lol. Hope to keep hearing about your ball of dynamite! Thank You for bringing my great Aunt Cecile back also!

 

[cabbie191]

This has been a fun thread. Congrats Milford - what a wonderful opportunity for Cait to travel. I hope you get to Thailand. One of the youngsters from our church spent time on an American team that played in Europe last summer.

Looking at some of the scores, I guess there is no mercy rule in these tournaments. Gotta be tough for the kids on the short end of the shellacking.

 

[cohenzone]

Nice. Congrats to her and your family.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Great things come in little packages! Right GPA?

I know Kia's dad said it first, but Cait really is a nasty piece of business. If facial expressions could draw a yellow card ....

Conflicting info: the tourney next year is in either China or Thailand. I'm hoping for the latter.

I'm also hoping that the PI has a chance to advance even if they don't win their bracket. The game against Korea will be like a heavyweight fight. The P.I. should have no trouble with Malaysia. We'll see if India can give South Korea a challenge. After 2 games, the P.I. is 2-0 and goal differential is 15-0.

Cait is being recruited some and should get more attention after this. She has been in touch with the folks at U. of San Francisco and observed by the staff at Southern California. Her high school team will be very young--they lost 6 Division I players--so she'll get lots of PT as a sophomore. I don't know if she's a Division I prospect or not, but she's still improving and growing. Meghan Klingenberg is only 5'2", so lack of height is not an absolute limitation.

The team has 3 days off. They will rest and practice. Meanwhile, the parents are heading off to the Great Wall.

 

[Big Mick]

This is not a good thing. Athletes with no identity for a Country taking a spot that rightfully belongs to a native born. Your granddaughter would be best served by encouraging her to tryout for local, regional and select teams within the United States. If she is good enough she will progress, if not she can try something else.

When they arrive in their "new" country for the first time, everything is totally different and the home crowd can be quite hostile since the recruited player is taking up a slot on a roster that they rightfully think should go to one of their children.

Not meaning to be cruel here - but, I've had some involvement in this space and those are simply the bare facts.

Be prepared...

 

[MilfordHusky]

This is not a good thing. Athletes with no identity for a Country taking a spot that rightfully belongs to a native born. Your granddaughter would be best served by encouraging her to tryout for local, regional and select teams within the United States. If she is good enough she will progress, if not she can try something else.

When they arrive in their "new" country for the first time, everything is totally different and the home crowd can be quite hostile since the recruited player is taking up a slot on a roster that they rightfully think should go to one of their children.

Not meaning to be cruel here - but, I've had some involvement in this space and those are simply the bare facts.

Be prepared...

We've discussed this in terms of basketball, for Becky Hammon, Tiffany Hayes, et al.

At least for the Philippines, what is required is citizenship, not being native born. Some of the best U.S. distance runners of the past decade have been foreign born, such as Meb Keflezighi and Khalid Khannouchi. All of the North Americans on the P.I. soccer team have either a parent or grandparent who was born in the Philippines, and they now have dual citizenship. Though those kids mostly have not lived in the Philippines, they do have the identity and culture. I know that my granddaughters have it. I have not heard that there has been much resentment, though 10 of the 20 slots would have gone to residents of the P.I. if not for the North American kids. The team would not have been nearly as good, however.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Ok, for those who are interested ...

The PI's hopes were dashed by a strong Korea team earlier today. As the defending champions, Korea came in as the favorite. They are big (several players are over 5'6" at age 15), fast, physical, and well coached. The PI started well and were buzzing around the Korean net, but weren't able to score. At the 11 minute mark, a defensive lapse contributed to a goal for Korea, the first goal given up by the PI in 2+ games. The PI team, which had been playing very hard, looked deflated. A second goal came on a penalty kick after a flop by a Korean player. A third goal resulted from an offsides that wasn't called. By halftime, the deficit was 4-0. The PI played good defense in the second half, and the keeper made some nice saves. For the first 44 minutes, they gave up only 1 goal. But a long shot at the 89 minute mark and a goal at the 92 minute mark as the last play of the game pushed the score to 7-0. This was the first game in which Korea scored fewer than 11 goals.

The PI plays Malaysia in their final game. They should be able to win handily if they can regroup. If the players can finish with a win and a strong showing, the flight back to the PI will be much happier. As I understand it, the 4 bracket winners advance to next year's U-17 tourney. Those are automatic berths. I'm not sure if the PI gets another chance or not.

Cait played 87 minutes and got flattened literally three times. Only one of them was called by the ref. She has been playing with a misaligned hip and sore calf/ankle. I'm sure she's quite bruised by now too. The team flies back to the PI after the Malaysia game. Cait will be back in California and in class sometime next week. Her high school season starts in the very late fall.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Ok, last game. The PI coach started some kids who has not gotten much playing time in the first 3 games. As a result, the first half was a close 1-0 game. Cait subbed in after 30 minutes, and some other first-stringers subbed in a little after that. She played 60 minutes and got 1 goal. The final was 5-0 in favor of the PI. The backup goal keeper did a nice job.

Korea beat India to win the bracket at 4-0. Their aggregate score was 38-0. The PI won 2-0, 13-0, and 5-0, but lost to Korea 7-0. The scores show a lack of parity. In another bracket, the Aussies went 5-0, with a combined 65-1 score.

Despite getting banged up and playing injured, Cait had a great experience. She had 2 goals and 2 assists and played 87, 90, 87, and 60 minutes. She and her dad fly to Manila on Tuesday and home to L.A. on Friday. Everyone, parents included, are eager to find some clean air.