Neilburg baby!

Well, the weekend was full of surprises. First, the other Coach Nickell (my wife) spent the weekend in the hospital. As a result, I was not able to head off to Neilburg with the boys (thanks to Wanda and anyone else who helped out!). The second surprise, the boys won the tournament. I felt that they were a bit uncertain about their chances as I think they are still dwelling a bit on last year's team. However, all doubt should hopefully be erased now that they can and will be a competitive team this year.

I'm glad to see that our reputation as a classy team is also something the boys are still holding as highly important. I phoned the Hillmond coach today to inquire about their home tournament. He and his team were at the Neilburg tournament. He wanted me to pass on his compliments to our team: "Your boys played very well….they played with discipline. It's nice to see a team there without their coach and still play and act with that much discipline so compliments to them." Right on, this is what I love to hear! Sure, I want to win - who doesn't, but if you can't do it with class and sportsmanship then it's really not that impressive. Good work boys. Looking forward to Maidstone this weekend. Returning champions baby!