Monday, November 18th - 14 hours

I took today off work to try to get in a good chunk of hours. Mission accomplished - got in 14 hours between catching up on paperwork, listening and helping mitigate chaos going on with team managers and coaches, and preparing for Timbers Town Hall in a couple days. As I've mentioned before, replying to emails or putting together emails for the director's takes so much longer than I ever expected. I try to be grateful that they trust me to turn soccer expert thoughts into every day mom and dad communication when they're sending out bulk emails or newsletters. To pat myself on the back about that, one of the directors was told by a parent about how much better their newsletters had been lately. That was me, I'm the better part of the newsletters!

With just a few days until the Timbers coaches getting here, things are a little tense around the office. They are mostly excited about it since they have known these coaches for a while, but it's still like having over your cool friends when you're little - you want to make a good impression and don't want anyone to embarrass you so they'll come back soon. The guys aren't so much worried about the training sessions, but they're very nervous that people won't show up to the Timbers Town Hall to hear what the coaches have to say about the program and alliance as a whole. We've been promoting it on many different angles, but the go-to style of parents for some reason is to not come to things like this assuming it won't be beneficial, but then ask questions later or complain about what they don't understand. I'm hoping that the event works out for their sake. They've put in a lot of work into this club and I hope that the community comes to see that.