PETOSKEY 1 - FOREST HILLS NORTHERN 0
HUSKIES STRUGGLE AGAINST PETOSKEY, LOSE AGAINST THE BUS
The Forest Hills Northern girl’s soccer team chartered a bus headed north for a non conference clash with the Petoskey Northman. The game however turned out to be just the side show, in a trip that turned into an adventure. It’s an adventure that the Husky soccer players will not forget anytime soon. As for the parents and coaches the only memory they will take from this trip is that of the smiles on each of the player’s faces. “You know, if we are going to be on the road for that long, it would be great that when we got off the bus, that we would be in a lot warmer place (Such as Florida) than that of Rainy Grand Rapids” explained a tired Jamie Bogart of their close to 16 hour trip.
The day started out well when all the Husky players (including the Rammals), were on time and ahead of the bus. The Bus, from a local company here in Grand Rapids, was supposed to LEAVE the Forest Hills Northern parking lot at 9:00am. As the clock turned to 9:00am (when the team was supposed to be on the road) there was no sign of the bus. A quick phone call by a team parent, led to the discovery of a grumpy and somewhat rude bus driver. “Without a “Hello” given when he (The driver) answered the call, he just stated, “I am on the Beltline, I will be there soon”” stated Bogart. “I was shocked when I heard the response”. The Bus arrived shortly after 9:10am and the players, parents and coaches all loaded their bags and boarded the bus. The Bus pulled out of the Northern campus around 9:25am, a 25 minute late start to the day. “The late start wouldn’t be a huge problem, however with construction on 131 we were already going to be delayed”. Bogart said of the late start.
The problems with the bus continued. Once on the way, sophomore defender Danielle Harrison attempted to use the DVD player so everyone could enjoy the 3 and a half hour trip a little more with a movie. However, it’s hard to watch a movie when the DVD player does not work. “That goodness it didn’t work, the movie picked out by Harrison, “How to lose a guy in 10 days”, would have made the trip longer for us coaches and parents on the bus” Bogart stated of Harrison’s movie choice. The trip is off to a GREAT start, Late bus, non working DVD player/tvs, oh and a driver who was driving us on less than 5 hours of sleep (So he says).
After close to 2 hours of painful driving, the driver took a random stop at a rest area (We were scheduled to take on at some point). The drive was painful, not just because of the non working DVD, the cranky bus driver or the late start; it was the addition of loud and annoying sound of the windshield wipers. “Think of a toddler taking a wooden spoon to a pan, this sound ranked right up there” Bogart continued “The sound could be described as air brakes on a rollercoaster, only instead of breaking it was every time the wipers moved.” “It was raining hard”. The stop, which should have been a quick stop, turned into about half hour to 45 minute stop. Again, all players, parents and coaches were ready to go but no sign of the driver.
Once back on the road, a short drive north to where a detour was needed to get around the construction and closed section of US 131. This detour added another 10 to 15 minutes to the trip. While on the detour, the road rage of the driver became evident as the bus was caught behind a relatively slow driver. The driver was observed to not only tailgate the car in front, but also to honk at the car letting them know his displeasure of their speed at which they were driving. The “Road rage” continued as the bus approached a traffic light where not only did the driver lay on the horn at a van slow to getting into the turn lane, but also inched closer and closer to the first car. The act of inching closer and closer (With hopes to make a point to the car) lead to stop and go jerking of the bus. “It was not a fun experience, and rather embarrassing” Bogart continued “The jerking of the bus was enough to give everyone a headache and anyone with neck problems a lot more pain”.
After the already rocky start to the day, we finally got to the field with just under an hour until game time. The team was given very little time to work off their bus legs before they had to really start warming up before the game. “I would have liked to have had about 45 minutes to an hour for the girls to just relax and try and get their legs back after the long trip before we got into our warm up” Bogart said. “The late start and delays were the cause of losing that “relaxation” time for the players”.
Following the game, the team, parents and coaches loaded up and boarded the hot and stuffy bus once again headed back onto the road. Before heading out of town a stop for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings in Petoskey was in order. Following a fun dinner the team, parents and coaches all headed out to board the bus. Just one issue with that; the bus was locked and no sign of the driver. The driver, who called up a friend who lives in the Petoskey area, was approached by a team parent to let him know we were ready to go. His response “I’ll be out there in a few minutes”. After 5 minutes of waiting for the driver, everyone was able to board the bus. With the bus sitting in the sun, you can simply imagine how hot the bus was. A parent said it best “It feels like a sauna in there”. A sauna is exactly what it felt like as coaches and parents waited outside the bus. The driver, getting the bus started stated “We have to wait for the air to fill up”. Whatever the driver meant by that is something to be discovered, or was just a short cover up for the fact that the air conditioning went out and the 3 and a half hour ride home was going to be a warm one?
Once moving, the only air flow the bus had, was the small side window next to the driver that was opened. The bus did start to cool down, but there was a HUGE temperature change from where the players were in the back to where the parents were up front. Coach Bogart who made a small move on the bus said, “There was a 5 to 10 degree change in temp from where I was sitting originally to moving up 3 rows”. There was no relief in sight as far as the A/C and temp on the bus.
But the good fortunes of the day didn’t end there. While driving down US 131 through Kalkaska the bus started to struggle in a manner of which anyone who wasn’t paying attention would have just though the bus was stopping for a red traffic light. However everyone became concerned and worried when the two Kalkaska police cruisers and two rescue fire trucks showed up. The emergency response showed up due to a driver following the bus called 911 due to the thick black smoke coming out of the engine in the back of the bus. So after a good 10 minutes on the bus, Kalkaska’s finest helped us off the bus (Stranded in the middle turn lane of US 131) and across the busy street and into the parking lot Whitetail lounge. While in the Whitetail parking lot the girls took time to have photo opportunities with each other, as well as pictures of the bus stranded in the middle of the road and lastly pictures with one of the Kalkaska police officers. After a short while, it was communicated to the coaching staff and parents that there was a second bus on the way. The second bus, coming from Grand Rapids was about scheduled to arrive around 9:30pm. The 9:30pm arrive time is 30 minutes past the time the team was scheduled to return home.
The team’s bad fortune turned to Gold with the finding out that the city of Kalkaska was having their annual “Trout festival”. At this time the players were put in groups of three and headed down to the festival, where they were able to ride carnival rides, enjoy Elephant ears and just kill time while waiting on the secondary bus. The fun for parents and coaches were watching the smiles and enjoyment of the players who were having a ball on the carnival rides.
While watching some of the girls on the “Himalaya” coach Bogart reported that junior Middy Sophie Rammal and junior goalkeeper Krisitana Griffith looked like they were going to “lose” their Buffalo Wild Wings. “Their faces told the story. They were certainly on the verge of closing the ride down with their dinner coming up” Bogart continued “It would have made for a GREAT picture, but unfortunately it didn’t happen”.
After about 2 hours at the carnival; the girls, parents and coaches headed back to the Whitetail lounge where they hung out and waited for the secondary bus. The Whitetail was setting up for live music; however it was the Huskies who provided much of the entertainment. While waiting for the live band to start several Kalkaska residents were treated to the Grand Rapids dance sensations known as the Forest Hills Northern Soccer Team. The soccer team put on two or three line dances as the parents, coaches and residents of Kalkaska looked on.
Not wanting to leave and to the excitement of the parents and coaches, the girls “Dance party” was broken up by arrival of the secondary bus. The arrival of the new bus meant all the team bags, parents’ chairs and all other items needed to be transferred over from the broken down bus. While loading the new bus, the Trout festival fireworks started and the players were treated to a somewhat early Fourth of July.
The new bus was smaller; however it would move and get us back to Grand Rapids as well the Air Conditioning worked. Sophomore Danielle Harrison once again tried the DVD player and TV’s, this time everything looked like it would work. “I think everyone was excited that we could watch a movie” Bogart stated. But Harrison once again tried to put in “How to lose a guy in 10 days”; however once the movie was put in the screens went black and white as well as looked like the movie was on a trampoline. At this point, Coach Bogart and a couple of parents got Harrison to “Believe” that it was the movie that was making the TV’s act the way they were. Thus, coach Bogart’s choice of “The Guardian” won over and although the screens were still jumpy and black and white, the choice coach Bogart made lasted the rest of the trip and even had the full attention of most the entire bus.
The bus pulled into the parking lot of FHN just shy of 12:15am Sunday morning, as the movie credits started to scroll allowing for the players, parents and coaches to unload the bus to a soundtrack that rivals all soundtracks. “The end song was perfect for what we dealt with today” Coach Bogart continued “A two hour soccer game turned into a 15 hour trip to the middle of nowhere with a detour through Narnia where the girls experienced a scene out of the book Tuck Everlasting and back to Grand Rapids via a time machine made out of a DeLorean”.
As for the soccer game, well….we won’t talk much about it, but the Huskies gave up a goal within 2 minutes until half-time and couldn’t quite get the goal back for the 1-0 loss to a very game Petoskey team.
“The smiles, and fun that the girls experienced was something that they will always be able to take with them” Coach Bogart continued once again by saying “It was a little bit frustrating but this season has been nothing but memorable, filled with new challenges and adventures”
With the loss to Petoskey, the Huskies fall to 5 and 3 on the year and return home this week for two conference games against Sparta (Monday) and Grand Rapids Central (Wednesday). Both games are scheduled to start at 6:40pm with the JV starting at 5pm
The day started out well when all the Husky players (including the Rammals), were on time and ahead of the bus. The Bus, from a local company here in Grand Rapids, was supposed to LEAVE the Forest Hills Northern parking lot at 9:00am. As the clock turned to 9:00am (when the team was supposed to be on the road) there was no sign of the bus. A quick phone call by a team parent, led to the discovery of a grumpy and somewhat rude bus driver. “Without a “Hello” given when he (The driver) answered the call, he just stated, “I am on the Beltline, I will be there soon”” stated Bogart. “I was shocked when I heard the response”. The Bus arrived shortly after 9:10am and the players, parents and coaches all loaded their bags and boarded the bus. The Bus pulled out of the Northern campus around 9:25am, a 25 minute late start to the day. “The late start wouldn’t be a huge problem, however with construction on 131 we were already going to be delayed”. Bogart said of the late start.
The problems with the bus continued. Once on the way, sophomore defender Danielle Harrison attempted to use the DVD player so everyone could enjoy the 3 and a half hour trip a little more with a movie. However, it’s hard to watch a movie when the DVD player does not work. “That goodness it didn’t work, the movie picked out by Harrison, “How to lose a guy in 10 days”, would have made the trip longer for us coaches and parents on the bus” Bogart stated of Harrison’s movie choice. The trip is off to a GREAT start, Late bus, non working DVD player/tvs, oh and a driver who was driving us on less than 5 hours of sleep (So he says).
After close to 2 hours of painful driving, the driver took a random stop at a rest area (We were scheduled to take on at some point). The drive was painful, not just because of the non working DVD, the cranky bus driver or the late start; it was the addition of loud and annoying sound of the windshield wipers. “Think of a toddler taking a wooden spoon to a pan, this sound ranked right up there” Bogart continued “The sound could be described as air brakes on a rollercoaster, only instead of breaking it was every time the wipers moved.” “It was raining hard”. The stop, which should have been a quick stop, turned into about half hour to 45 minute stop. Again, all players, parents and coaches were ready to go but no sign of the driver.
Once back on the road, a short drive north to where a detour was needed to get around the construction and closed section of US 131. This detour added another 10 to 15 minutes to the trip. While on the detour, the road rage of the driver became evident as the bus was caught behind a relatively slow driver. The driver was observed to not only tailgate the car in front, but also to honk at the car letting them know his displeasure of their speed at which they were driving. The “Road rage” continued as the bus approached a traffic light where not only did the driver lay on the horn at a van slow to getting into the turn lane, but also inched closer and closer to the first car. The act of inching closer and closer (With hopes to make a point to the car) lead to stop and go jerking of the bus. “It was not a fun experience, and rather embarrassing” Bogart continued “The jerking of the bus was enough to give everyone a headache and anyone with neck problems a lot more pain”.
After the already rocky start to the day, we finally got to the field with just under an hour until game time. The team was given very little time to work off their bus legs before they had to really start warming up before the game. “I would have liked to have had about 45 minutes to an hour for the girls to just relax and try and get their legs back after the long trip before we got into our warm up” Bogart said. “The late start and delays were the cause of losing that “relaxation” time for the players”.
Following the game, the team, parents and coaches loaded up and boarded the hot and stuffy bus once again headed back onto the road. Before heading out of town a stop for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings in Petoskey was in order. Following a fun dinner the team, parents and coaches all headed out to board the bus. Just one issue with that; the bus was locked and no sign of the driver. The driver, who called up a friend who lives in the Petoskey area, was approached by a team parent to let him know we were ready to go. His response “I’ll be out there in a few minutes”. After 5 minutes of waiting for the driver, everyone was able to board the bus. With the bus sitting in the sun, you can simply imagine how hot the bus was. A parent said it best “It feels like a sauna in there”. A sauna is exactly what it felt like as coaches and parents waited outside the bus. The driver, getting the bus started stated “We have to wait for the air to fill up”. Whatever the driver meant by that is something to be discovered, or was just a short cover up for the fact that the air conditioning went out and the 3 and a half hour ride home was going to be a warm one?
Once moving, the only air flow the bus had, was the small side window next to the driver that was opened. The bus did start to cool down, but there was a HUGE temperature change from where the players were in the back to where the parents were up front. Coach Bogart who made a small move on the bus said, “There was a 5 to 10 degree change in temp from where I was sitting originally to moving up 3 rows”. There was no relief in sight as far as the A/C and temp on the bus.
But the good fortunes of the day didn’t end there. While driving down US 131 through Kalkaska the bus started to struggle in a manner of which anyone who wasn’t paying attention would have just though the bus was stopping for a red traffic light. However everyone became concerned and worried when the two Kalkaska police cruisers and two rescue fire trucks showed up. The emergency response showed up due to a driver following the bus called 911 due to the thick black smoke coming out of the engine in the back of the bus. So after a good 10 minutes on the bus, Kalkaska’s finest helped us off the bus (Stranded in the middle turn lane of US 131) and across the busy street and into the parking lot Whitetail lounge. While in the Whitetail parking lot the girls took time to have photo opportunities with each other, as well as pictures of the bus stranded in the middle of the road and lastly pictures with one of the Kalkaska police officers. After a short while, it was communicated to the coaching staff and parents that there was a second bus on the way. The second bus, coming from Grand Rapids was about scheduled to arrive around 9:30pm. The 9:30pm arrive time is 30 minutes past the time the team was scheduled to return home.
The team’s bad fortune turned to Gold with the finding out that the city of Kalkaska was having their annual “Trout festival”. At this time the players were put in groups of three and headed down to the festival, where they were able to ride carnival rides, enjoy Elephant ears and just kill time while waiting on the secondary bus. The fun for parents and coaches were watching the smiles and enjoyment of the players who were having a ball on the carnival rides.
While watching some of the girls on the “Himalaya” coach Bogart reported that junior Middy Sophie Rammal and junior goalkeeper Krisitana Griffith looked like they were going to “lose” their Buffalo Wild Wings. “Their faces told the story. They were certainly on the verge of closing the ride down with their dinner coming up” Bogart continued “It would have made for a GREAT picture, but unfortunately it didn’t happen”.
After about 2 hours at the carnival; the girls, parents and coaches headed back to the Whitetail lounge where they hung out and waited for the secondary bus. The Whitetail was setting up for live music; however it was the Huskies who provided much of the entertainment. While waiting for the live band to start several Kalkaska residents were treated to the Grand Rapids dance sensations known as the Forest Hills Northern Soccer Team. The soccer team put on two or three line dances as the parents, coaches and residents of Kalkaska looked on.
Not wanting to leave and to the excitement of the parents and coaches, the girls “Dance party” was broken up by arrival of the secondary bus. The arrival of the new bus meant all the team bags, parents’ chairs and all other items needed to be transferred over from the broken down bus. While loading the new bus, the Trout festival fireworks started and the players were treated to a somewhat early Fourth of July.
The new bus was smaller; however it would move and get us back to Grand Rapids as well the Air Conditioning worked. Sophomore Danielle Harrison once again tried the DVD player and TV’s, this time everything looked like it would work. “I think everyone was excited that we could watch a movie” Bogart stated. But Harrison once again tried to put in “How to lose a guy in 10 days”; however once the movie was put in the screens went black and white as well as looked like the movie was on a trampoline. At this point, Coach Bogart and a couple of parents got Harrison to “Believe” that it was the movie that was making the TV’s act the way they were. Thus, coach Bogart’s choice of “The Guardian” won over and although the screens were still jumpy and black and white, the choice coach Bogart made lasted the rest of the trip and even had the full attention of most the entire bus.
The bus pulled into the parking lot of FHN just shy of 12:15am Sunday morning, as the movie credits started to scroll allowing for the players, parents and coaches to unload the bus to a soundtrack that rivals all soundtracks. “The end song was perfect for what we dealt with today” Coach Bogart continued “A two hour soccer game turned into a 15 hour trip to the middle of nowhere with a detour through Narnia where the girls experienced a scene out of the book Tuck Everlasting and back to Grand Rapids via a time machine made out of a DeLorean”.
As for the soccer game, well….we won’t talk much about it, but the Huskies gave up a goal within 2 minutes until half-time and couldn’t quite get the goal back for the 1-0 loss to a very game Petoskey team.
“The smiles, and fun that the girls experienced was something that they will always be able to take with them” Coach Bogart continued once again by saying “It was a little bit frustrating but this season has been nothing but memorable, filled with new challenges and adventures”
With the loss to Petoskey, the Huskies fall to 5 and 3 on the year and return home this week for two conference games against Sparta (Monday) and Grand Rapids Central (Wednesday). Both games are scheduled to start at 6:40pm with the JV starting at 5pm