Falling

  This past week my observations were quite astonishing compared to many of my previews ones. Or at least I thought so. Several of the features in my previews blog posts are still present and remain in obscurity. The owner or owners of the small white feathers that appeared on the field about a week ago, for instance, are a complete mystery. I have tried doing some research on any white birds that may roam through Nevada but have had no success in the process.  Not one new feather has appeared since and I've sighted no such creature that could have possibly left this sort of mark on the field. I sincerely do hope that by the time I have completed this project the creature behind the small white "pillow" feathers comes forward and allows me to admire as well as witness it's activity on the field.

  Now this week (on Friday) a not so large group of dead orange-ish, brown leaves joined the white feathers on our mud puddle. You might think "Well the season's are changing and that is what happens during fall." but the problem with this is that there are absolutely no trees anywhere near the field. This puzzled me and made be very curious. Although that day I had no clue where these leaves could have possibly come from, that night a numerous amount of explanations came to mind. I've decided that the most reasonable one is that the wind has blown then in from it's nearest leaf supplier, which are the four to five (not sure what sort of trees they are) trees that are across the street in La Quinta's parking lot. I came to this conclusion after having noted that the wind this week was fairly present and was very strong. One thing I will try to do in order to confirm this is to check out the leaves (if any) around the trees in their parking lot as well as the ones on the field and compare the two. Hopefully this will be the the answer to yet another unanswered visitant on our mud puddle. 

  To my surprise the mud puddle itself (sadly what I have chosen to refer to the field as) had a very drastic and strange modification over night or day (since were not there on Wednesday due to an away game). Monday and Tuesday afternoons the field was very wet and slippery. Grass (root and all) ripped off the ground very easily. Could be speaking for all fall student athletes that an end of season vibe is sprouting while their field is dying. But on Thursday it seemed as is if the field had been sucked dry. So badly, that the mud was drying and smelt horribly. Friday and Saturday were no different, the field was still very dry. This, I really don't have any explanations to other than the cold and windy days that came with the week. I will not be able to find an answer to this until Tuesday but will definitely be looking forward to gaining some answer about these observations. 

Half Time

   Not many drastic changes occur to the soccer field from day to day but on Monday October 6th, 2014 there was one change that definitely stood out from the rest. A very large quantity of white almost fake looking white feathers was present all over our practice half of the field. Looked as if someone had a huge pillow fight the night before. They stuck around for about four to five days and finally somehow disappeared. During the past few days I have noticed some of those white feathers still present. 

  On another note: now that we are half way through the season it'd be too much to ask for if the field was intact and as beautiful as it was at the beginning of it all. Sadly its change of appearance also is not good at all. Thanks to our cleats the left most near to the R.O building half of the field is completely torn apart. You should actually call it a mud puddle with a scattered amount of weeds peeking out like a clan of prairie dogs. I believe the cause of all of this was the way the custodial management watered the grass although it never looked wet and very dry. 
   
   This brings me to my next observation: during the last week and a half or so the grass has felt very damp as if water was leaving the soil in the field causing it to feel mushy as we run or simply step. Oddly, it feels like quick sand and is extremely easy to slip on. It's not the first time this happens but it's rather strange because it is not as wet as before (if that makes any sense). One thing that is definitely unarguable is that she needs a break. Although that break will most likely not help, I'm sure she is desperately waiting for it. 

Kick Off

  Throughout these next few weeks I will closely observe how well treated and mistreated our field is for the duration of the season. I've made a total of ten observations thus far that were somewhat interesting as well as not surprising. Thanks to these observations I have already gained some knowledge on the fields maintenance schedule, for example: the outline of the field is always painted a day before game day as well as cleared of any litter on the same day. Next, I noticed that the grass is is normally cut on Wednesdays during lunch but is rarely cut. I've noticed one thing out of the ordinary about three weeks ago. There seemed to be a leak coming from one of the sprinklers which caused there to be many puddles all over the field due to this in my opinion, an entire colony of mosquitoes was attracted. Although the mosquitoes only survived one day thanks to the smoke it was very strange to have puddles and such large quantity of insects at the field. As the seasons change the grass has become somewhat dry and yellow (our cleats also have a huge impact on this) so I will look out for any physical as well as surrounding changes in the field for these next couple of weeks.

  One thing many athletes experience during their season, is the enjoyment of their field/practice area. Creating memories and growing some sort of soft hate for the coach as he yells at you or makes you run for something completely absurd. So I have decided to focus my observation on the one thing that I have yet to closely admire. For past two, almost three years of my life I've dedicated two and a half months of my first semester time: each year, to the school soccer team. Practicing everyday and attending a scattered amount of home games on Wednesday and Saturdays I had yet to notice something so valuable and fundamental to my student athlete career. Our second home for two and a half months known as the "half softball, half soccer field" as well as our training and game field; is always there for us when we need it most. In hardship, whether it be personal or as a team as well as in triumph being on that field we always find a way to feel like nothing ever happened. Getting back on our feet from a loss and tearing the roots as we run our English miles or six to six, she never gives up on us. So thanks to this observation project I'd like to pay tribute to the one place where everything always feels right even when things aren't. 
First game of the season