The Miedema Family - themiedemafamily

Josh and Noah are each starting, Josh on varsity and Noah on JV.  Both teams are struggling in a tough preseason schedule, but league play starts soon and they should do well. 

Josh's varsity team is now 4-1 with back to back 50 point wins the last two weeks.  Josh scored his first TD on a fumble recovery last Saturday.  Noah's team has not won a game and has struggled, although there has been some improvement lately.  Noah threw 4 TD passes in a scrimmage this week.  He is starting to play a little running back as well as QB.

Josh was recognized by the Modesto Bee for their Teen Hall of Fame.  Check out the link.

 

 

http://www.modbee.com/2010/09/01/1320050/teen-hall-of-fame-joshua-miedema.html

Football is in full swing for the boys.  Josh looks to be starting at WR and DB on Varsity and Noah at QB and DB on JV.  They have their first scrimmage on Saturday and we're excited to get some real action. 

Stayed a couple of days at the cabin last week and took a road trip over to Bodie CA which is about 2 hours away over the Sonora Pass.  Bodie is a ghost town that has dozens of buildings still standing that have been preserved.  Maci had fun looking at all of the old buildings and running around with Max.

Josh and Noah returned home tired but happy from their SF Mission Trip.  They taught basketball, provided ministry in the streets, worked at a shelter and participated in a 6 mile AIDS walk. 

Baseball and softball are officially over.  Noah finished his season batting over .600.  He was extremely consistent at the plate all year.  He played multiple positions and really flashed a great arm at times.  Josh and Noah are working out every day, sometimes twice, for basketball and football.  Josh looks to be a starting receiver/wing and cornerback for varsity again and Noah may end up our starting JV QB.  They are both heading to San Fran for a mission trip with their basketball team in two weeks and also just had their piano recital last week.  Needless to say, we are still busy.

Baseball and softball is winding up for the season.  Maci had her best game of the season tonight going 3-3 with 2 singles and a double and two hits against one of her classmates from school.  Noah's team continues to improve and played their best game on Saturday winning 18-0 against our other Modesto Christian Pony team.  Josh and Noah have started summer football and basketball workouts for Big Valley so they are busy every day.  Josh also just started preparing to be our church pianist for the summer.

Football has finished for the year.  Josh's team got knocked out in the first round of playoffs and he immediately moved on to basketball.  His team has started 3-1 with a second place finish in their own tournament.  He started 3 games in the tournament and brings tenacity and defensive intensity to the court.  Noah has his first basketball practice today.  His team doesn't start playing games until January.

Josh's Varsity team won again 27-14.  Josh made a number of nice defensive plays including knocking down both passes thrown his way and making 5 solo tackles, including 3 on one drive to stop potential big runs.  On offense, they didn't need to throw much so he had no balls thrown his way.

Noah's season finished up with a brutal 52-6 loss with our team suffering several more injuries, including Noah reinjuring his back and neck forcing him out for the fourth quarter.  We should have been much more competitive but just couldn't keep up with all of our injuries.  It was a tough way to finish what was otherwise a very nice season. 

This was an up and down weekend for us on the sports field.  Maci's soccer team lost 5-0 on Saturday morning.  They looked a little tired and just got outrun on the field.

 

Josh's football team won 34-0 on Saturday afternoon.  Josh caught two passes for about 40 yards.  Both were tough catches, one between two defenders on the sideline and the other a diving grab over the middle.  He also had a big tackle on a swing pass to his side.  He really played well.  Unfortunately, one of our QBs (Josh's friend who goes to passing camps with him and likes to throw the ball Josh's way) broke his collarbone during the game.  We are now down to one healthy QB.

 

Noah's football team lost 28-6 on Sunday.  Noah is still suffering with a sore back and was not going to play.  Unfortunately, his regular back-up broke his collarbone last week and his new back-up broke his wrist in the first quarter of this week's game so Noah had no choice but to go out and play.  Because he couldn't run very well, they put him at QB and he did his best, completing several balls.  With all our injuries, our defense was short handed and the other team was able to take advantage.  Noah even subbed himself in on the defensive line at one point, leaving all his coaches turning to each other and asking who sent our injured QB out on defense.  We pulled him right back out. 

Maci's soccer team won 3-1.  Maci played hard and was a key contributor throughout the match.

 

Josh's football team won 28-14. Josh was in on a couple of tackles but didn't have any balls thrown his way.

 

Noah's team lost 22-18.  Noah started at QB and completed several passes, recovered a fumble, ran hard when they moved him back to wing and threw a touchdown pass out of his wingback position.  The field we played on had no lines so we had one apparent td called short of the goal line so we didn't score.  On the last play before halftime our QB raced about 60 yards for an apparent td only to have it nullified because they said he stepped on the imaginary out of bounds line.  We also had a td interception called back on a very questionable roughing the passer call.  We still had the ball on their 20 yard line with 1 minute left and just couldn't pull it off.  Our kids played extremely hard on a 100 degree afternoon and we didn't lose, we just ran out of time.

It was a big weekend on the football field.  Big Valley Christian traveled to Sacramento where the varsity won 42-0.  Joshua scored his first varsity touchdown on a 15 yard reception.  Because it was on the same night as Noah's game, we weren't able to go so I am anxiously awaiting video of the game.

 

Noah's team took on a tough Ripon team.  Although we were definite underdogs, we put up a great fight.  We were behind 13-12 with less than a minute left when our quarterback scrambled almost 30 yards for the game winning score.  Noah added a 3 yard PAT run to make the final score 19-13 (you only get 1 point for running in the point after in our league).  Noah ran the ball about 10 times gaining about 45 tough yards and caught one pass for about 10 yards.  He also played a little bit of QB when our other QB was out for a couple of plays.  He played middle linebacker in the first half and defensive line in the second half and was a big part of a defense that did a great job coming up with plays when needed.

Maci had her first soccer game of the season.  Her team won 3-2.  She did a great job bringing the ball up and passing to teammates.  Joshua had his football season opener on Friday night under their new stadium lights.  He started at Wide Receiver and Cornerback for varsity.  They lost 33-12, mostly due to 6 turnovers (none by Josh).  He had one pass thrown his direction, but caught it coming down out of bounds.  He was in on a couple of tackles and was the victim of a couple of blocks in the back.  Our team is very young, with a lot of first time starters and we look forward to better things this week.  Noah's team lost 32-0 against one of the best teams in our league.  We didn't execute very well and just couldn't get anything going.  Noah had a couple of good runs, but more often got stuffed at the line.  Both Josh and Noah play in a fall basketball league on Saturday mornings.  Josh played on a team with twin sons of Bruce Goslinga against a team that had Bruce's older son and a son of Scott Rhoda.  I played basketball in high school with Bruce and Scott.  Small world.

We had a much tougher opponent this week, losing 20-0 although the game was closer than the score would indicate.  We had a couple of mistakes (including fumbling on the 2 yard line on our first possession) and got a couple of bad breaks and they took advantage.  Noah played wing in the first half and had a couple of decent runs.  He played QB in the second half, completing one pass and throwing an interception. He also had a great pitch on the run which led to a nice gain by our fullback.  Noah ran right into 3 defenders and at the last second jumped and pitched over them hitting the full back in stride for an extra 8 yards and a first down.  Our kids played with a lot of heart and, as coaches, we were very proud of them.

Noah had his first game of the season Saturday.  We won 42-0.  Noah carried the ball 3 times and scored a touchdown.  He also caught a couple of passes and made several tackles.  Starting next week, our competition gets a lot tougher so we'll see how we do.

Noah's team played in a series of scrimmages last Saturday.  Noah started at wing back and had several nice runs and then moved to quarterback where he completed a couple of passes, but also spent time running for his life.  On defense, he played linebacker and a little bit of defensive line when they wanted some quickness up front.  You can check out pictures on the picture page.  They have their first game in two weeks. 

Football season is here.  Noah had his conditioning week (No pads, just work).  His team has 19 kids and me as an assistant  coach.  He has also been working out with Josh's high school team all summer, so he is ready to go.  Josh went to a full contact camp two weeks ago against some much bigger schools and learned there is a difference between Div VII and Div I High School football in California.  He did catch a couple of TD passes in 7 -on-7 Scrimmages against a couple of smaller schools later.

Maci's softball team finished second in their tournament.  They won their first 4 games, then lost in the championship game to a team they had already defeated once.  Maci had 3 hits in three at bats in the final game.

Josh has been participating in a team football camp this week in full pads in 103 degree heat.  They had 10 kids from their team come to the camp.  The other three schools had between 25 and 100 players.  After the camp, the team heads back to their school to lift weights.  Last night, after the camp, they played a 7 on 7 scrimmage against two other teams.  He's caught two touchdown passes in scrimmages over the last two weeks, but finally dropped a tough TD catch last night (he says he should have caught it).

Maci's coach from last year asked if Maci would be interested in joining an All-Star team for a tournament this weekend.  They needed another catcher and he remembered her and had heard good things about her from an umpire.  They played yesterday, winning all 3 of their games by the mercy rule on a 105 degree day.  Maci caught about 1/2 of the innings and batted twice in each game.  She had at least one hit in each game.  They go in to today as the number one seed and need two wins to be tournament champs.

We adopted a mini schnauzzer from the pound last week.  We thought he would be a perfect companion for Harley, but it turns out he has become Maci's best friend.  Wherever she goes, he goes.  He has blended into our family seamlessly.  Check out the pictures in the picture section.

 

Josh had his last games of the season this week.  In his last game, we walked in all 3 at bats and stole second twice.  He started in centerfield, then pitched one inning giving up a cheap run and finished behind the plate.  He can now turn his full attention to summer basketball and football workouts.

Josh played with the varsity basketball team from Big Valley in a two day team event at the University of the Pacific.  Josh came off the bench in all 5 games, logging between 5 to 10 minutes per game.  His coach loved his intensity and hustle and commented to me on the way out that Josh is going to be the spark plug they use off the bench to get the team going. 

Noah's team finished in second place.  Noah made his last game a memorable one, injuring his back on his first swing and fighting through the pain to go 3-4 and beating out two infield singles.  He spent most of the time between innings lying down on the bench, only picking himself up to go hit.  He had a fantastic season from both a personal and team perspective.  He played almost every position in the field and batted lead-off all year and set the table for his team.

Maci's softball season has ended.  They finished the year tied for first in their division.  Maci came a long way swinging the bat.  By the end of the year, she was a very dependable hitter and also did a great job in the field.  She especially enjoyed catching.

Josh and  Noah each played in their annual piano recital and did well.  Videos of both performances are now on Youtube.  Search under Stanvis to find them.

Maci's team won 31-16 on Saturday.  They only had 7 players , but every girl hit the ball all game.  Maci had several nice hits and I posted one on youtube (search stanvis to find).  Josh played Friday night.  I had to coach since their other coaches were absent.  We played with only 8 guys and still won 6-3.  I'd like to say it was my brilliant coaching, but with 5 guys either thrown out or picked off, that can't be the case.  Josh went 1-3 with a hit by pitch and pitched a scoreless inning.  He also made a fantastic, shoe-top running catch in right center in the first inning to save several runs.

Josh's team won 7-1 last night.  He went 1-3, scored twice and threw out a runner at third from left field.  Noah's team won 9-8 in extra innings.  Noah went 2-3 with a double leading off the game and a two run single late in the game and made a nice catch in left field.  Maci's team lost handily but she did get a couple of hits and got two runners out at third base.

You can check out Josh's performances and a few other family videos on youtube.  Search for "stanvis" and you should be able to find all of our videos.

Josh performed at the Big Valley Christian High School Talent Show tonight.  First, he sang the lead vocals on the song Kryptonite for his group then he played a piano solo, 100 Years by Five for Fighting.  He did a great job.  We'll post video on youtube soon.

Josh was named Most Improved Player for the Big Valley High School Varsity Baseball Team for the 2009 season. 

Josh played his first summer league game last night.  His team has already been playing for a couple of weeks and had several games together.  Josh came up with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh with his team trailing by a run and got a base hit to drive in two runs.  They scored three more runs and ended up winning by 4.  It was a nice way to join the team.

Noah hit his first home run on Wednesday Night.  He hit a bullet between the right and center fielder on a field with no fence and circled the bases befor they could retrieve the ball.  Unfortunately they lost the game by one run.

Noah and Maci participated in a Lutheran School Track Meet.  Maci earned a red ribbon for softball throw, a white ribbon for standing long jump and green ribbons for 50 m and 75 m dash, 400 m run and shuttle relay.  Noah finished second in the 75m and 100 m dashes, shot put and running long jump, beaten by the same kid in all 4 events.  Noah finally beat him in the softball throw to earn a first place.  He then beat him again in the 400m, but finished second to another runner. 

Joshua's baseball season has ended and summer workouts for football and basketball have begun.  He played outfield and pitcher this year and finished the year with two wins on the mound, including a no-hitter.  Noah and Maci are in the middle of their baseball/softball seasons.  Maci plays catcher and third base (not easy for a lefty) and hits the ball with regularity.  Noah usually bats lead-off and has played almost every position on the field.  He is playing very well, despite having his dad as one of his coaches.