Hand Gestures of the Week: Bad Behavior Fouls

Let's start with defining the word respect. Merriam-Webster defines it as, "an act of giving particular attention; high or special regard; or the quality or state of being esteemed." Why am I starting with this? Because the two fouls we'll be discussing here today stem from lack of respect for the referee, coaching staff and / or other players on the field. Simply put, they are fouls for bad behavior.

I understand that you can get riled up during a game, the adrenaline is flowing, the testosterone is raging, you get caught up in the heat of the moment. But is any of that really an excuse for treating a human being like crap? What kind of example does a coach or parent set for players when they're calling the ref names or dropping the f-bomb every other word? The players will then think they can disrespect the ref, their opponent and eventually that turns into disrespecting their coaches and parents. They think that if I can talk this way to one adult, I can talk this way to all adults. Besides, if the roles were reversed do you really want anyone up-in-your-face, spitting out words like Gary Oldman's character on friends? I wouldn't. 

So, let's get down to it shall we? First up is a personal foul, UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT. There are two categories of UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT, non-releasable & releasable. The referee will make the same hand gesture for both. Non-releasable: arguing with an official, using threatening or obscene gestures, bating or taunting, or any other act officials deem unsportsmanlike. Releasable: repeatedly committing the same technical foul, not returning to the field immediately and a substitute deliberately not complying with rules for entering a game. To the right is a quick video that shows the official motion for the foul. It's pretty simple...arms extended on the sides and raised. At the end of the video he does reference football, but the motion made is the same for lacrosse. 

The other bad behavior foul I'd like to discuss is a technical foul, called CONDUCT FOUL. This is when someone aggressively argues or makes gestures about a decision by an official or commits other acts considered misconduct by the official. To the left is a video that demonstrates the arm motion by the official to call this foul.

So, what's the difference between UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT & CONDUCT FOUL? From what I understand, it comes down to the type of foul it is (technical foul usually involves a moving or time violation. They usually result in a 30 second penalty if the fouling team doesn't have the ball at the time of the foul or personal foul involves an infraction that has malicious intent. These penalties are punished by one to three minutes in the penalty box depending on the severity.), whether there's contact or not and the official's judgement. This can be a challenging situation for an observer, coach, player or referee since there are similar types of behavior demonstrated for each type of foul. Respect the decision.

IMHO these are some of the easiest penalties to avoid. When a ref makes a call you don't agree...keep your mouth shut. If someone starts smack-talking and callin' yo' mamma' names...keep your hands to yourself and walk away. Someone flips you off, drops the f-bomb, realize they're trying to provoke you, if you let them, more than likely you're the one who will get the penalty. Walk away and get back to playing lacrosse. Most of all, respect the officials, the coaches, the players and most importantly, yourself. Set a good example and you'll never have to worry about these penalties. Yes, it's that easy.

Hand Gesture of the Week: Warding Off

It's been a couple weeks since I posted anything...I'm thinking of changing this series to "Hand Gesture of the Month" - let's see if I can get back into the swing of things after vacation & a job change.

Ok...so let's talk about the technical foul called WARDING OFF or WARDING for short. When I first heard this foul, I thought I heard "awarding" and I'm like "Wow, they stop the game and give awards to the players?" Alright, totally kidding there, but I really wasn't sure what it was. All I could tell was one player was invading another player's personal space and the invadee got in trouble for pushing the invader away. I just imagine him saying, "Get outta my face dude" but with much more color. Believe it or not my son taught me about WARDING a couple years ago when we were playing in the yard. He would get so mad at me when I had the ball and he'd try and poke me in the ribs under my arm. So I would drop my arm and trap his stick under it and pull it out of his hands. I found great humor in doing this but he'd always yell, "Mom! You're warding, you can't do that!" I'm like, "But it's funny." Him, with all his pre-teen-I'm-practicing-my-sarcasm charm would reply, "No Mom, it's really not." Finally he took the time to explain what it was. Even after all that and still to this day, if he pokes me and I can stick his crosse under my arm and pull it out I will. It's getting harder as his pokes are getting stronger and he knows my trick.

So what the heck is WARDING OFF officially? Per US Lacrosse, it's "a player in possession of the ball shall not use his free hand, arm or any other part of his body to hold, push or control the direction of the movement of the crosse or body of the player applying the check." Other words, in most cases the invadee has to suck it up. There are a few exceptions: 

• If the player who has the ball keeps both hands on his stick / crosse
• Keeps his head up and doesn't make contact with the other player
• Administers a proper bull dodge

This video from US Lacrosse does a great job of taking you through WARDING OFF.

Here's a very short video of the gesture the referee makes for the WARDING foul.

Hope you've learned a bit more about lacrosse. If there's any signal / foul you'd like to know more about, let me know. Until next time, keep your head up and your hands on the stick.

References

• US Lacrosse Boys Rules

Hand Gesture of the Week: Slashing

Ok, those that know me are probably scratching their heads, wondering where I'm going with this. Right or wrong, I've been known to flip someone off. Usually it's in jest with a friend who's being a jerk or that dork driver who has no idea what a turn signal is. But in this case, you're safe! While maybe not as fun, we'll be discussing referee hand signals for lacrosse.

So, I'm three years into this game and while I'm getting better at interpreting the wild and crazy gestures made by the ref, there are still many that are as mysterious as the lost continent of Atlantis or the Bermuda Triangle. I've decided to really try and learn the signals and in the process, want to share that with you. Each week I'll be discussing one referee signal, what it means and when possible, posting with a video of the offense and gesture itself. But before we get into the actual signals, you should know the difference between a personal foul and a technical foul. A personal foul involves an infraction that has malicious intent. These penalties are punished by one to three minutes in the penalty box depending on the severity. A technical foul usually involves a moving or time violation. They usually result in a 30 second penalty if the fouling team doesn't have the ball at the time of the foul. If the fouling team had the ball at the time of the foul, the ball is awarded to the team that was fouled. Ok, now we have that down-pat, let's get to the hand gesture of the week...SLASHING (and not the kind Freddy Krueger is so fond of).

SLASHING is a poke in the ribs, chest, neck or back. It's a vicious, uncontrolled swinging of the stick, whether contact is made or not. This is considered a personal foul. Below is a video that reviews the rule and the gesture made by the ref.

Here are some videos of actual slashes during a game:

Well, that's it for our first installment of "Hand Gesture of the Week." I hope it was beneficial and watch for my next blog.

References:

• Lacrosse Rules & Regulations
• Laxtown
• US Lacrosse

U This & That, What It Really Means in Lacrosse

Are you and your child new to lacrosse? Or, like me, have a couple years under your belt, but still aren't 100% positive what it means when a program lists something like "14U" or "2023." I did a little research and found a couple articles on the US Lacrosse site that explains the breakdown and the logic behind it. I'm going to share that with you below in the hopes it'll help everyone.

The break-down of lacrosse groups by age is called player segmentation. Knowing which group your child should play in can be confusing at times, especially when programs combine age levels on one team or list one age level, but include multiple grades in that group. For most programs you will see something like "14U" - the 14 is the maximum age for that group, the U meaning under that maximum age. As we all know your child may be a young 7th grader or an olders 1st grader. In that situation, look to the year your child was born as the determining factor in conjunction with how US Lacrosse defines a playing year (September 1 - August 31). 

Now...many areas don't have enough players to field one team at each level. I know the Erie, PA area is like this. So levels are combined on one team. You may see a grouping like 13U / 14U or 11U / 12U. In those situations look to the highest number, that is the maximum age that can be on the team. Some teams may not list out 13U / 14U but are a combined age range. Same rule applies regarding maximum age allowed on the team. If you aren't sure, simply contact the program administrator for details. US Lacrosse typically doesn't like age groups spanning greater than 24 months due to a variety of reasons.

Next question you may ask is, "Why do I see graduation year listed for some programs?" Great question and can lead to some confusion when looking a programs. Graduation year is the year your child will graduate from high school. Typically you see this listed when looking at programs for high school aged players. You will also see graduation year listed for many lacrosse camps, tournaments & recruiting events, even for ages younger than high school. You can use the chart below as a loose reference and when in doubt, check with your program administrator for clarification. 

Max Age / Grade / Graduation Year
7U / 1st grade / 2029	13U / 7th grade / 2023
8U / 2nd grade / 2028	14U / 8th grade / 2022
9U / 3rd grade / 2027	15U / 9th grade / 2021
10U / 4th grade / 2026	16U / 10th grade / 2020
11U / 5th grade / 2025	17U / 11th grade / 2019
12U / 6th grade / 2024	18U / 12th grade / 2018

I hope this helps clarify program ages & guidelines. If you would like additional information, please check out:

• US Lacrosse
• US Lacrosse Player Segmentation
• Detailed Player Segmentation Information
• US Lacrosse Player Segmentation Policy and FAQ

Thank you and enjoy your time on the field.

Sun Basket - Is It Worth It?

"Summer's here and the time is right for dancing in street..." I'm sitting watching David Bowie and Mick Jagger frolic around (yes, I would consider it frolicing) in typical 80s garb. I'm not sure which I'm chuckling at more, the dancing or the clothes. Now, if I had time to dance in the street I just may if only to bug my son who thinks my dancing is embarrassing. Trust me I know I ain't got rhythm, but sometimes it's just fun to dance. What would make me more happy than dancing? Finding easy, quick and healthy meals to serve up. In this installment of "Glutton for Punishment" we'll see if Sun Basket is all it's cracked up to be and will get me dancing in the streets.

Of course I found a coupon for the Sun Basket meal service, I'm too cheap to try things like this without one. Ok maybe cheap isn't the right word, let's go with frugal. Nope, still blah...let's try smart. Yup, I'm too smart to try things like this without a coupon. I signed up at their site which was easy.

I selected the Paleo plan. They also have Chef's Choice, Lean & Clean, Gluten-free, Vegetarian, Mediterranean, Vegan, Pescatarian, Diabetes-friendly and Quick & Easy.  Reviewed my recipes and swapped out the ones that didn't sound good or I know my son would complain about. I know I should just make him eat it and for the most part I do, but when you're a single mom, sometimes you just don't have the energy to argue. A couple weeks later my first box arrived. Outside looked great, inside was well packed, there was nothing leaking or mushed. Each meal came in its own brown paper bag. And what I really liked, everything is recyclable. Yup, even the ice packs. Halle-freakin-lujah!

That's one thing that bothered me about the other services, I mean you can only have so many ice packs in your freezer. It also comes with a recipe book that not only gives you the recipes, but helpful cooking tips, ideas on how to get your kids involved with cooking and easy substitutions or additions. Not a bad start.

The recipe I decided to try first was Spicy Yuba Noodle Stir-fry with Citrus Miso Dressing and Mango. Long recipe name and hopefully you can get past the fact that yuba noodles are made from the skin that forms on the surface when soy milk cooks and the proteins and fats rise to the top. Yeah, totally don't think about it. I prepped the ingredients.

 I'll have to admit on this recipe some of the prep work was a pain in the a$$. They asked you to cut thin strips of pea pods for garnish. A bit intensive for a quick, weekday meal. I ended up only doing a couple and saved the rest to slap on a salad. One thing I did like is the directions told you what to prep, cook, etc in the order that made the overall cooking efficient. Cooked everything up, plated, sprinkled black sesame seeds on top (which, by the way, I think look like roasted ticks and they taste like dirt, imho) and took a bit. The spicy noodles combined with the mango was a nice combination. I enjoyed the dish and the leftovers tasted great too. I went with the vegetarian version, but you could easily add shrimp or another protein in the dish. Sun Basket gives you that option as well as an option to select organic meat. It's an upcharge but many folks think if everything else you're eating in the meal is organic why mess it up with non-organic meat. But the option is yours.

Later in the week I went onto cook the Greek Orzo Salad with White Beans Tomatoes and Feta, another veggie options which was very tasty both warm and made a great cold salad. The last recipe in the box was Lettuce-wrapped Turkey Burgers with Basil Mayo and Warm Peach Salad. This last recipe was a fail for multiple reasons. One, the ground turkey came out of the container the consistency of toothpaste. It was impossible to form into burgers and I decided to grill. The patty-like things seeped down between the grill bars. Two, when I pulled the turkey "burgers" off the grill with my tomatoes and peaches, I managed to dump everything on the deck. I set Gizmo (my dog) to work cleaning up what I couldn't pick up. Three, the mayo that was going to be infused with basil was just nasty. Too much tang or something, blah. I can't actually tell you how any of it tasted, but my son was thrilled when we ordered out that night and I found that the majority of you are NOT turkey burger fans. Who knew?

I've decided to keep the subscription for a couple more weeks to try a few more recipes. I've also changed the plan to "Clean & Lean" and will check out different recipe options. I'd like to see if the consistency of quality products on delivery remain. I may also try some of the "add-ons" they have like hummus and red pepper dip, healthy snacking options at your fingertips. So far it's been a positive experience. Pros: Easy to sign-up and make adjustments. The food that I actually got to eat was flavorful and all containers / shipping packages, including the ice packs, are recyclable. Cons: Some of the prep-work was a bit detailed for a week-day dinner and the one recipe was questionable. At the moment the pros outweigh the cons.

Why don't you give it a try for yourself, here's a quick link to get you started: Sun Basket. As always, let me know what you think and what you want me to try out next.

Review: Go ReadyMade - Skip It

As you know, I'm always on the lookout for a quick, easy way to feed the kiddo. Between working more and running from practice to practice, it's challenging. Fast food, while convenient, is not that healthy and won't help me or my child health-wise. So when I run across a coupon to try a new meal service and it's reasonably priced, I give it a shot. Today's review is for Go ReadyMade. This service is a little bit different where you just have to stick it in the oven, microwave, grill it and eat. I was thinking, "Awesome! It's a healthy Hungry Man TV dinner." (Do they even still make those anymore?) Let's just say Hungry Man was a lot tastier.

What they claim is no prep required, heat and eat meals, delicious meals with no hassle. The box arrived, it was well packed and had the requisite ice packs.

Took everything out and there were four containers with the meals. The meat was in a air sealed package so not to contaminate anything else (that's good right?). The sauces were in little baggies and the directions were on the back of the package cover. The font for the directions is on the small side, which meant I had to pull out my cheaters to make dinner. Keep in mind, I hate wearing my cheaters (like I am right now typing this), it's a reminder that I'm getting old, lol. Which I am, but I don't want reminded of this fact 😒 First up was the Cauliflower Mac and Cheese. I popped it in the over for 25 min. My son and I tried it and it was actually tasty. I'm thinking we're off to a good start. A couple days later we tried the Steak with Cauliflower Mac and Cheese (my son had this one) and the Smoky Chicken Fajitas (I gave this one a whirl). The steak had to be opened up, which was no small feat, and cooked, I chose the grill. Decided to microwave the Cauliflower Mac and Cheese this time so I wouldn't also have to turn on the oven. At the same time I microwaved the fajita meat. Verdict...while the Cauliflower Mac & Cheese was still tasty, the chicken and the steak itself left a lot to be desired. The steak, while not fatty, was not tender. You also need to make sure that you season it well or it'll be bland.

The chicken was tough but edible due to the fajita fixin's. Not the most enjoyable meals we've had.

I decided to let the subscription continue. A couple more steak meals arrived, a couple pork and a couple pasta. One of the meals had arugula on the side, just arugula, nothing else to put in the salad and you had to provide your own dressing. To cook the meat, you had to remove the arugula and put it in a bowl or something...it just wasn't an efficient process. The meat, in each instance, you had to season the heck out of it and they still weren't that tasty plus the sauces they provided, didn't make it much better. I cancelled the subscription after a couple weeks. As with most of these meal services, the signup / cancellation process is easy. In addition, you can swap out your meals for what looks more appetizing to you. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this service to you based on the flavor of the meals / quality of meat we had. There was just something missing.

As always, let me know your thoughts on meal services / subscriptions. Next up for review: Sun Basket

Review: Greenblender - Outstanding Smoothies

I won't lie, 2017 was a difficult year for so many reasons. For years I've been plagued with weird stomach issues as well as other aches and pains. Last year it felt like my body was falling apart in front of my eyes, the daily pain affected me mentally and physically so I decided to try and dig into what was going on. One of the biggest challenges I faced was chronic heartburn and constant bloating and pain in the top part of my abdomen. I started to see a gastroenterologist to get to the bottom of my stomach issues. After eating radioactive eggs one morning (I'm so not kidding and they weren't even Gordon Ramsay's). The diagnosis was I'm suffering from Gastroparesis without a root cause. Long story short, my stomach isn't contracting enough to digest the food and then empty the stomach. A normal meal would remain in my stomach for over 12 hours. Without knowing I would then eat another meal which literally just piled on top of the one before and my stomach would distend and I ended up looking like I'm 6 months pregnant, not to mention just feeling all-around crappy. The doctor gave me recommendations on how to eat, super small, more frequent meals, stay away from a lot of fiber and fatty foods. Which I interpreted as mushy, bland, easy to digest food...not far from the truth. I won't lie, I was totally bummed.

As I struggled with the diagnosis, my weight, my overall aches and pains and my mental well-being, I began to notice ads for a service called Greenblender which sends you the organic ingredients for smoothies right to your door. I ignored the ads for a while, then broke down and clicked on one, then closed the browser window. I was in a bit of denial that I'd have to make changes. As the weeks progressed, even with beginning to change my eating habits, my stomach was still a mess. Low and behold, the ads kept popping up, so I took it as a sign to try it and chose to ignore the fact that it was because I clicked on the ad once so now all the companies that mine data knew that I might be interested. I signed on the proverbial "dotted line" and a week later my first shipment arrived. 

What I noticed first was a well-packed, insulated box.

There wasn't anything leaking and it didn't smell, which happened with other food services I've tried. They provided a nice looking pamphlet on how to make the smoothies correctly (yes, there's an order to layering your smoothies for optimal smoothiness) some ads for other stuff (like a wine service which I found odd in an organic smoothie box) and a recipe card with all the smoothies for that week. The material was pleasing to look at and was easy to understand. I knew right away this wasn't going to be complicated, I mean after all you're throwing stuff into a blender and turning it on right? I opened up the bubble wrap insulation and found they supplied sturdy plastic, reusable, fun colored straws to sip your smoothies with. Woohoo! It's the little things.

Under that were neatly packed bags containing the contents for each smoothie and under that were industrial ice packs. The ice packs will come in handy during the summer months, but right now in Erie, we've been below freezing for weeks now. No chance in any of the contents heating up into a messy goo. I was ready to get started.

There were five smoothie packs in the box that contained all of your organic smoothie contents with the exception of your liquid base and ice cubes. The amount of the ingredients in each pack are enough for two smoothies. Now, Greenblender recommends using almond milk, coconut water or just plain water for their smoothies, the choice is yours. I prefer mine with almond milk. Here's a list of smoothies for my first box with a link to the recipes:

• Warming Apple
• Hydrating Maple Protein
• Lucuma Coconut
• Wheatgrass Elixir
• Kiwi Apple Detox

I decided to be daring and try the Wheatgrass Elixir first.

I layered the ingredients as they recommended, fired up the blender and watched the ingredients swirl. As a note you don't need a fancy blender, Magic Bullet or food processor to make these smoothies, just one that can handle ice cubes. I have a super cheap blender which is working awesome. I just have to remember to unplug it after use...it tends to mysteriously turn on by itself. I know, pretty creepy right? After blending I ceremoniously removed the lid and the first whiff I got was that of fresh cut grass on a summer day. I erroneously thought it's going to taste better than it smells. Bwahahahhaha....nope. It overwhelming tasted like grass. Keep in mind I'm not a cow that loves to eat grass and I hate mowing it because I seem to get stung by bees when I do. Don't ask, I don't know why. Now I know some folks swear by wheatgrass and if you're one of them, then this smoothie is for you...and only you. On a positive note, the consistency was good, the color looked pretty, the green straw I put in it accented the green of the smoothie, but is still smelled AND tasted like grass.

Recommendation...unless you're familiar and like wheatgrass, don't use it. Luckily Greenblender allows you to go on and swap out your smoothies each week. I've been checking mine just incase this little "gem" of an ingredient pops up again. Also, they tell you if you aren't sure about an ingredient or know you don't like it, don't add it. It's a wonderful flexibility to have.

Next up was the Hydrating Maple Protein. Not my favorite because, well, I made it wrong. I forgot the coconut water and banana. I'd have to try this one again. I will say out of all the recipes listed above, Warming Apple was my favorite. It tasted just like fresh-baked apple pie a-la-mode (but without all the guilt). The other two were tasty as well. My week one was complete. I realized I had used up all my packs before the next delivery was scheduled, which was a total bummer. Since these are so easy and quick to make, I'd been making them for my breakfast and lunch. To make each smoothie a balanced meal, I added protein powder. I use Wegmans brand protein powder, but any unflavored or vanilla protein powder would work. I like Wegmans because they use stevia instead of artificial sweeteners and the cost is excellent. Voila, meal in a to-go-cup. I drink my breakfast on the way to work, it keeps me filled up until lunch and then I have another for lunch. You can't beat the cost per serving, depending on your plan it's $3.90 - $4.90 per serving, that's cheaper than most meals and it's all organic, non-GMO products.

Honestly I was skeptical at first. I was worried that the smoothies would taste like garbage and I wouldn't drink them. Worried that they wouldn't fill me up for breakfast and lunch. Worried that it wasn't going to help my stomach issues. After three weeks, I'm happy to report that the other smoothies I've had taste awesome. I don't feel hungry after breakfast and lunch and best of all, my stomach is feeling better. My heartburn is being reduced, the bloating and pain I've been experiencing is decreasing and I feel good about what I'm putting in my body. I totally miss my smoothies on the weekends, so much in fact that I'll probably begin making them with my own ingredients. I've also got my kid trying each one with me. He's found a couple he likes that I can replicate easily. As a pre-teen getting ready for those wonderful teenage years, nutrition is going to play a key part in his development. He's starting to worry about his looks and getting acne, also he wants to begin working out. Totally understand where he's coming from and I keep telling him nutrition is going to play a big part in the next few years and hopefully for the rest of his life. I'm hoping to get him started down the right path.

So now you're wondering about cost. Below are the three cost plans. I chose Fresh Start which is a week by week plan. I didn't know if I was going to like it / keep it so I selected it. I've now moved to the Healthy Habit plan because I do plan on keeping it for a while. I completed the switch via email, it was quick and no hassle. You get a 20% savings with this plan as well. All plans are automatically renewed each week, month or quarter - depending on what you selected. In addition you can postpone a shipment, great for when you're heading off to vacation and you can cancel anytime, they will refund the unused amount. Basically with all of these plans, the cost per serving is cheaper than a trip to Starbucks and you're getting an entire meal.

The other thing you may be wondering about is their customer service. You can call them, you can email them, they have a great FAQ page, their web-site is easy to navigate...I know, all good things...but what if I have a problem? Well, I did. Last week I opened up my box and one of the packs was wet and kinda slimy. I found the culprit, it was a pear. Now let me tell you, this was no longer an ordinary pear, it was a black, mangled, hot mess of a pear. It was so messy you'd scratch your head and go, "WTF?" I snapped a couple picks of the pear-that-was-no-longer-a-pear and emailed them on a weekend. In less than 24 hours Greenblender responded with an apology and a $5 credit towards my next shipment. Now that's customer service I can get behind. No questions, no accusations that I did something wrong, just a simple, "That's not acceptable." and a credit. I wish all customer service worked like this. In the few weeks I've been using this service and the fact there has only been one bad piece of fruit, you've gotta admit, that's good quality. Another thing other companies should learn about.

Overall, I'm very pleased with Greenblender and would recommend this service to anyone who likes a good smoothie, is looking to make a healthy change in their eating habits or who likes quick, simple meals. This is the service for you. If you've had similar experiences with Greenblender, I'd love to hear from you.