competitive little kid sports

[michigancat]

This was a Dallas suburban school district pool I went to in January that wouldn't let you bring in a water bottle and all deep enough for water polo

[wetwillie]

What kind of athlete is good at water polo?  Like if you had to field a team of kids that had never played which sport are you raiding for players?

[pissclams]

What kind of athlete is good at water polo?  Like if you had to field a team of kids that had never played which sport are you raiding for players?

swimmers, then volleyball

[Stupid Fitz]

What kind of athlete is good at water polo?  Like if you had to field a team of kids that had never played which sport are you raiding for players?

Really tall people that can touch the bottom of the pool. 

[Stupid Fitz]

What's the consensus here on letting your kids play football? I started in 6th grade and played all through HS. I'm still on the fence with Lil SF. On one hand, I think its a great team sport, I like the conditioning/working out, and all the other things that go into being part of a team. On the other hand, brain damage..... I come at this from a different spot. Even though I played, I was from a small town where just about any kid could play any sport if they went out. I played them all from 6th grade on. That ain't happening for the little man in the SM school district obviously. I feel like football is a sport he could probably play throughout HS and at least be a part of the team. I mean, he isn't going to be as elite as his dad (2nd Team All State DB and multiple years all conference  ) but its something he can be a part of and maybe contribute. On the other hand.....brain damage.

[WildcatNkilt]

I will be letting my son play tackle starting in the fall...and he will be in 4th grade.  Wife and I were on the fence on this for quite some time for the obvious reasons.

Ultimately, we made our decision to let him play tackle due to the fact we are convinced he will get hurt playing flag.  He has played flag for KCFC for 4 years now.  Last year we played in the top division, and it was super competitive.  There were multiple moments I thought we were going to see a mid-air head bang as the kids were going after a pass. 

My son also plays RB...and he is very athletic at this point in his life.  There were times kids would attempt to tackle and would get more aggressive than they should because of the level of difficulty he presented when going after his flag.  Many of the injuries he sustained playing flag were due to collisions happening trying to bring him down.  He would get a knee to the hip or thigh for example. 

We are moving to tackle in hopes that the pads protect him a bit more.  At this age they at least don't hit each other hard. 

That being said, I don't think every kid is ready.  My son is big-boned.  Some of his friends are super tiny and I would not be comfortable letting them play tackle if they were my kids.

Also - KCFC has weight limits on ball carriers.  That also gives me comfort that these kids aren't trying to tackle a kid who hit a growth spurt at an early age.  If they are too heavy, they are required to be on the line. 

[Stupid Fitz]

I will be letting my son play tackle starting in the fall...and he will be in 4th grade.  Wife and I were on the fence on this for quite some time for the obvious reasons.

Ultimately, we made our decision to let him play tackle due to the fact we are convinced he will get hurt playing flag.  He has played flag for KCFC for 4 years now.  Last year we played in the top division, and it was super competitive.  There were multiple moments I thought we were going to see a mid-air head bang as the kids were going after a pass. 

My son also plays RB...and he is very athletic at this point in his life.  There were times kids would attempt to tackle and would get more aggressive than they should because of the level of difficulty he presented when going after his flag.  Many of the injuries he sustained playing flag were due to collisions happening trying to bring him down.  He would get a knee to the hip or thigh for example. 

We are moving to tackle in hopes that the pads protect him a bit more.  At this age they at least don't hit each other hard. 

That being said, I don't think every kid is ready.  My son is big-boned.  Some of his friends are super tiny and I would not be comfortable letting them play tackle if they were my kids.

Also - KCFC has weight limits on ball carriers.  That also gives me comfort that these kids aren't trying to tackle a kid who hit a growth spurt at an early age.  If they are too heavy, they are required to be on the line.

Thanks. Its one of those things where starting them early and teaching the fundamentals is good, but also opens them up to more head shots at an early age so I see both sides. I LOL at the weight limit thing. When I was a kid they had those too and it was very obvious that A)it was a self reported thing and B)if they did weigh the kids, one or two teams in my pee wee league starved the kids over the summer so they could hit weight at the beginning of the year. Every year it was terrifying playing them. This dude was a monster RB and just smoked us all.

[WildcatNkilt]

I will be letting my son play tackle starting in the fall...and he will be in 4th grade.  Wife and I were on the fence on this for quite some time for the obvious reasons.

Ultimately, we made our decision to let him play tackle due to the fact we are convinced he will get hurt playing flag.  He has played flag for KCFC for 4 years now.  Last year we played in the top division, and it was super competitive.  There were multiple moments I thought we were going to see a mid-air head bang as the kids were going after a pass. 

My son also plays RB...and he is very athletic at this point in his life.  There were times kids would attempt to tackle and would get more aggressive than they should because of the level of difficulty he presented when going after his flag.  Many of the injuries he sustained playing flag were due to collisions happening trying to bring him down.  He would get a knee to the hip or thigh for example. 

We are moving to tackle in hopes that the pads protect him a bit more.  At this age they at least don't hit each other hard. 

That being said, I don't think every kid is ready.  My son is big-boned.  Some of his friends are super tiny and I would not be comfortable letting them play tackle if they were my kids.

Also - KCFC has weight limits on ball carriers.  That also gives me comfort that these kids aren't trying to tackle a kid who hit a growth spurt at an early age.  If they are too heavy, they are required to be on the line.

Thanks. Its one of those things where starting them early and teaching the fundamentals is good, but also opens them up to more head shots at an early age so I see both sides. I LOL at the weight limit thing. When I was a kid they had those too and it was very obvious that A)it was a self reported thing and B)if they did weigh the kids, one or two teams in my pee wee league starved the kids over the summer so they could hit weight at the beginning of the year. Every year it was terrifying playing them. This dude was a monster RB and just smoked us all.

KCFC is pretty strict on weight limits.  Anthony Sherman took his kid's team to tackle starting last year, and decided not to do the KCFC league because of the weight limit.  I think they play on the Missouri side somewhere.  I've also heard he is running the Oklahoma drill with these kids....which is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. That is Sherman in a nutshell and his group of kids go all out for bball and baseball.  They are peaking early and will get burned out before high school. 

Our coaching staff is going to be extremely anal about fundamentals.  You would think every team would think this way...but I honestly have no idea and I don't trust most people who are so adamant about tackle at this age.   

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[steve dave]

I will be letting my son play tackle starting in the fall...and he will be in 4th grade.  Wife and I were on the fence on this for quite some time for the obvious reasons.

Ultimately, we made our decision to let him play tackle due to the fact we are convinced he will get hurt playing flag.  He has played flag for KCFC for 4 years now.  Last year we played in the top division, and it was super competitive.  There were multiple moments I thought we were going to see a mid-air head bang as the kids were going after a pass. 

My son also plays RB...and he is very athletic at this point in his life.  There were times kids would attempt to tackle and would get more aggressive than they should because of the level of difficulty he presented when going after his flag.  Many of the injuries he sustained playing flag were due to collisions happening trying to bring him down.  He would get a knee to the hip or thigh for example. 

We are moving to tackle in hopes that the pads protect him a bit more.  At this age they at least don't hit each other hard. 

That being said, I don't think every kid is ready.  My son is big-boned.  Some of his friends are super tiny and I would not be comfortable letting them play tackle if they were my kids.

Also - KCFC has weight limits on ball carriers.  That also gives me comfort that these kids aren't trying to tackle a kid who hit a growth spurt at an early age.  If they are too heavy, they are required to be on the line.

Thanks. Its one of those things where starting them early and teaching the fundamentals is good, but also opens them up to more head shots at an early age so I see both sides. I LOL at the weight limit thing. When I was a kid they had those too and it was very obvious that A)it was a self reported thing and B)if they did weigh the kids, one or two teams in my pee wee league starved the kids over the summer so they could hit weight at the beginning of the year. Every year it was terrifying playing them. This dude was a monster RB and just smoked us all.

KCFC is pretty strict on weight limits.  Anthony Sherman took his kid's team to tackle starting last year, and decided not to do the KCFC league because of the weight limit.  I think they play on the Missouri side somewhere.  I've also heard he is running the Oklahoma drill with these kids....which is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. That is Sherman in a nutshell and his group of kids go all out for bball and baseball.  They are peaking early and will get burned out before high school. 

Our coaching staff is going to be extremely anal about fundamentals.  You would think every team would think this way...but I honestly have no idea and I don't trust most people who are so adamant about tackle at this age.

We play through MYFL in Nebraska and it is very strict on weight as well. Definitely not self reported. We have a designated weigh in day and have to have the whole team show up and get in line for weight. Then "stripers" are assigned to kids over the weight and they can only play on the line of scrimmage and can't carry the ball. Called striper because there is a stripe around their helmet. Our team didn't have a single striper last year. Most teams had a handful. Gave us fits on the interior line but ultimately we kicked most of their asses anyway. I think striper weight in 5th grade was 130 lbs+.

[michigancat]

What kind of athlete is good at water polo?  Like if you had to field a team of kids that had never played which sport are you raiding for players?

Really tall people that can touch the bottom of the pool. 

obviously swimming is the biggest.


volleyball isn't the first sport I would think of but long limbs definitely help. Basketball, baseball, and even wrestling would all be good. So much is getting leverage and I think wrestling would help a ton. really any team sport with a spacing component would also be useful.

also it's illegal to touch the bottom! Most pools in California this isn't a problem but there's quite a few D1 programs with shallow/deep 25 yard pools in the Northeast. And the pool looks SMAAAALLLLLLL with a bunch of big dudes in a men's game. I go to games at LIU Brooklyn and they played Brown who has a bunch of like 6-5 dudes who kept turning it over because they touched the bottom (or the refs thought they touched the bottom). Also there is almost always a fight when I go to games at Brooklyn. One game the LIU men's volleyball came and was heckling like crazy and it was hilarious and kinda intense.

[michigancat]

Compare this Division 1 pool to that Texas pool

[wetwillie]

What's the appeal of water polo over swimming if they are already good at that? Or is it not the same season and they do it to stay in shape?

[Stupid Fitz]

Compare this Division 1 pool to that Texas pool

wow, I always assumed the pool was super deep so they couldn't touch. You can't even dive in this tiny pool. How the hell is a 6'5" dude supposed to not touch the bottom? Also, do they have cameras or sensors or something?

[michigancat]

Compare this Division 1 pool to that Texas pool

wow, I always assumed the pool was super deep so they couldn't touch. You can't even dive in this tiny pool. How the hell is a 6'5" dude supposed to not touch the bottom? Also, do they have cameras or sensors or something?

No the refs just stand on the edge of the pool. I think they can kind of tell based on the speed and angle of how someone comes out of the water. I also think you can touch as long as you don't have the ball or making a play for the ball or pushing someone on defense.

[michigancat]

Finally, we are in the home stretch for competitive little kid sports in my household. Going to California this weekend for a USA Water Polo event, Texas in April, then back to California in June and July.

Then maybe water polo in college? Depends on where she gets accepted but a couple schools have indicated spots on the varsity teams if admitted. Miserable stuff, just send your kids to KU or K-State and do not try to get recruited in an obscure sport or go to a school with competitive admissions.

[Stupid Fitz]

Finally, we are in the home stretch for competitive little kid sports in my household. Going to California this weekend for a USA Water Polo event, Texas in April, then back to California in June and July.

Then maybe water polo in college? Depends on where she gets accepted but a couple schools have indicated spots on the varsity teams if admitted. Miserable stuff, just send your kids to KU or K-State and do not try to get recruited in an obscure sport or go to a school with competitive admissions.

Ha, I know at least 3-4 dudes from college that played football right out of high school, but ended up at KSU after a year. Just couldn't give up the dream which I totally get, but they were apparently pretty jealous of their HS buds partying and hanging out while they were back to being a nobody on a college team.

[michigancat]

Finally, we are in the home stretch for competitive little kid sports in my household. Going to California this weekend for a USA Water Polo event, Texas in April, then back to California in June and July.

Then maybe water polo in college? Depends on where she gets accepted but a couple schools have indicated spots on the varsity teams if admitted. Miserable stuff, just send your kids to KU or K-State and do not try to get recruited in an obscure sport or go to a school with competitive admissions.

Ha, I know at least 3-4 dudes from college that played football right out of high school, but ended up at KSU after a year. Just couldn't give up the dream which I totally get, but they were apparently pretty jealous of their HS buds partying and hanging out while they were back to being a nobody on a college team.

my daughter only considered schools that she would consider w/o polo. Although some she eliminated when she realized there wouldn't be a spot for her on the team and/or they brought on girls she hated. (I mean these girls are awful)

[Stupid Fitz]

Finally, we are in the home stretch for competitive little kid sports in my household. Going to California this weekend for a USA Water Polo event, Texas in April, then back to California in June and July.

Then maybe water polo in college? Depends on where she gets accepted but a couple schools have indicated spots on the varsity teams if admitted. Miserable stuff, just send your kids to KU or K-State and do not try to get recruited in an obscure sport or go to a school with competitive admissions.

Ha, I know at least 3-4 dudes from college that played football right out of high school, but ended up at KSU after a year. Just couldn't give up the dream which I totally get, but they were apparently pretty jealous of their HS buds partying and hanging out while they were back to being a nobody on a college team.

my daughter only considered schools that she would consider w/o polo. Although some she eliminated when she realized there wouldn't be a spot for her on the team and/or they brought on girls she hated. (I mean these girls are awful)

I bet when you were at KSU, you never in a million years thought your future self would be dealing with kid water polo drama.

[michigancat]

Finally, we are in the home stretch for competitive little kid sports in my household. Going to California this weekend for a USA Water Polo event, Texas in April, then back to California in June and July.

Then maybe water polo in college? Depends on where she gets accepted but a couple schools have indicated spots on the varsity teams if admitted. Miserable stuff, just send your kids to KU or K-State and do not try to get recruited in an obscure sport or go to a school with competitive admissions.

Ha, I know at least 3-4 dudes from college that played football right out of high school, but ended up at KSU after a year. Just couldn't give up the dream which I totally get, but they were apparently pretty jealous of their HS buds partying and hanging out while they were back to being a nobody on a college team.

my daughter only considered schools that she would consider w/o polo. Although some she eliminated when she realized there wouldn't be a spot for her on the team and/or they brought on girls she hated. (I mean these girls are awful)

I bet when you were at KSU, you never in a million years thought your future self would be dealing with kid water polo drama.

I didn't think I would be dealing with it 3 years ago. Also the girls in question are her "opps" from another club. Like I wouldn't blame her for not wanting to go to a school where she might run into them.

[SleepFighter]

Finally, we are in the home stretch for competitive little kid sports in my household. Going to California this weekend for a USA Water Polo event, Texas in April, then back to California in June and July.

Then maybe water polo in college? Depends on where she gets accepted but a couple schools have indicated spots on the varsity teams if admitted. Miserable stuff, just send your kids to KU or K-State and do not try to get recruited in an obscure sport or go to a school with competitive admissions.

Ha, I know at least 3-4 dudes from college that played football right out of high school, but ended up at KSU after a year. Just couldn't give up the dream which I totally get, but they were apparently pretty jealous of their HS buds partying and hanging out while they were back to being a nobody on a college team.

my daughter only considered schools that she would consider w/o polo. Although some she eliminated when she realized there wouldn't be a spot for her on the team and/or they brought on girls she hated. (I mean these girls are awful)

My son was in a fairly similar position, but in men's soccer. There are clearly more men's soccer programs than women's water polo programs, but it's still pretty tough. 

For context, despite being an incredibly deep area for soccer talent, Texas has only four D1 men's soccer schools, and three of them are places most kids I know don't want to go (Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, and UT Rio Grande Valley, with SMU being the "good one"). The D2 and D3 options in Texas and the surrounding states are slim as well. The Venn diagram of schools with the right academics, geography, and athletics that fit your kid can be very small. Coaches that my kid was contacting were more or less not getting back to him, and schools that reached out to him were schools that he had no interest in for one reason or another.

As of 6 months ago, I thought my kid was going to end up at a big public school, as he had pretty much given up on the recruiting process. But before a a national showcase that he attended last October he contacted one school that he was interested in attending, just to see. They had a coach come out to watch him, and he liked what he saw, and things went really fast from there.

My kid got admitted, started talking to one of the assistants regularly, went on a visit where he stayed with some of the players and went to a camp, and then got an offer.

He knows a fair number of guys that have gone on to play college soccer, some have hated it, and some have loved it. I'm clearly hoping he falls into the latter category.

[michigancat]

Finally, we are in the home stretch for competitive little kid sports in my household. Going to California this weekend for a USA Water Polo event, Texas in April, then back to California in June and July.

Then maybe water polo in college? Depends on where she gets accepted but a couple schools have indicated spots on the varsity teams if admitted. Miserable stuff, just send your kids to KU or K-State and do not try to get recruited in an obscure sport or go to a school with competitive admissions.

Ha, I know at least 3-4 dudes from college that played football right out of high school, but ended up at KSU after a year. Just couldn't give up the dream which I totally get, but they were apparently pretty jealous of their HS buds partying and hanging out while they were back to being a nobody on a college team.

my daughter only considered schools that she would consider w/o polo. Although some she eliminated when she realized there wouldn't be a spot for her on the team and/or they brought on girls she hated. (I mean these girls are awful)

My son was in a fairly similar position, but in men's soccer. There are clearly more men's soccer programs than women's water polo programs, but it's still pretty tough. 

For context, despite being an incredibly deep area for soccer talent, Texas has only four D1 men's soccer schools, and three of them are places most kids I know don't want to go (Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, and UT Rio Grande Valley, with SMU being the "good one"). The D2 and D3 options in Texas and the surrounding states are slim as well. The Venn diagram of schools with the right academics, geography, and athletics that fit your kid can be very small. Coaches that my kid was contacting were more or less not getting back to him, and schools that reached out to him were schools that he had no interest in for one reason or another.

As of 6 months ago, I thought my kid was going to end up at a big public school, as he had pretty much given up on the recruiting process. But before a a national showcase that he attended last October he contacted one school that he was interested in attending, just to see. They had a coach come out to watch him, and he liked what he saw, and things went really fast from there.

My kid got admitted, started talking to one of the assistants regularly, went on a visit where he stayed with some of the players and went to a camp, and then got an offer.

He knows a fair number of guys that have gone on to play college soccer, some have hated it, and some have loved it. I'm clearly hoping he falls into the latter category.

contacting coaches is the worst. Like, you're a teenage girl emailing a middle aged guy who will either ignore you or tell you that you aren't good enough at the thing you love most. On top of other college rejections. She was in communication with coaches at her top choice academic school and they were very communicative and supportive but wouldn't commit to admission support and she ended up applying early and getting rejected, but one of her best friends in water polo got admitted. It really shitty! I will say though that one coach that reached out to her separately tried to recruit her but she wasn't interested and he offered to refer her to other coaches because he liked her and he was a nice guy! And he did! Still uncommitted and waiting on a few more admissions decisions.

[SleepFighter]

Finally, we are in the home stretch for competitive little kid sports in my household. Going to California this weekend for a USA Water Polo event, Texas in April, then back to California in June and July.

Then maybe water polo in college? Depends on where she gets accepted but a couple schools have indicated spots on the varsity teams if admitted. Miserable stuff, just send your kids to KU or K-State and do not try to get recruited in an obscure sport or go to a school with competitive admissions.

Ha, I know at least 3-4 dudes from college that played football right out of high school, but ended up at KSU after a year. Just couldn't give up the dream which I totally get, but they were apparently pretty jealous of their HS buds partying and hanging out while they were back to being a nobody on a college team.

my daughter only considered schools that she would consider w/o polo. Although some she eliminated when she realized there wouldn't be a spot for her on the team and/or they brought on girls she hated. (I mean these girls are awful)

My son was in a fairly similar position, but in men's soccer. There are clearly more men's soccer programs than women's water polo programs, but it's still pretty tough. 

For context, despite being an incredibly deep area for soccer talent, Texas has only four D1 men's soccer schools, and three of them are places most kids I know don't want to go (Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, and UT Rio Grande Valley, with SMU being the "good one"). The D2 and D3 options in Texas and the surrounding states are slim as well. The Venn diagram of schools with the right academics, geography, and athletics that fit your kid can be very small. Coaches that my kid was contacting were more or less not getting back to him, and schools that reached out to him were schools that he had no interest in for one reason or another.

As of 6 months ago, I thought my kid was going to end up at a big public school, as he had pretty much given up on the recruiting process. But before a a national showcase that he attended last October he contacted one school that he was interested in attending, just to see. They had a coach come out to watch him, and he liked what he saw, and things went really fast from there.

My kid got admitted, started talking to one of the assistants regularly, went on a visit where he stayed with some of the players and went to a camp, and then got an offer.

He knows a fair number of guys that have gone on to play college soccer, some have hated it, and some have loved it. I'm clearly hoping he falls into the latter category.

contacting coaches is the worst. Like, you're a teenage girl emailing a middle aged guy who will either ignore you or tell you that you aren't good enough at the thing you love most. On top of other college rejections. She was in communication with coaches at her top choice academic school and they were very communicative and supportive but wouldn't commit to admission support and she ended up applying early and getting rejected, but one of her best friends in water polo got admitted. It really shitty! I will say though that one coach that reached out to her separately tried to recruit her but she wasn't interested and he offered to refer her to other coaches because he liked her and he was a nice guy! And he did! Still uncommitted and waiting on a few more admissions decisions.

The weekend my son made his visit, he was one of 7 kids that got there a few days before a one day camp that had 30 kids show up. One of the other 7 kids was a friend of his from his club team. That kid was in the same spot as my son, either this situation was going to work out, or he wasn't going to play soccer in college. My son got the offer, but that kid didn't. So even getting the offer that he wanted wasn't without mixed emotions.

It is so incredibly tough, with so much heartache along the way. The good news is that it only takes one school for it to work out. I really hope it works out for your daughter.

[ben ji]

I will be letting my son play tackle starting in the fall...and he will be in 4th grade.  Wife and I were on the fence on this for quite some time for the obvious reasons.

Ultimately, we made our decision to let him play tackle due to the fact we are convinced he will get hurt playing flag.  He has played flag for KCFC for 4 years now.  Last year we played in the top division, and it was super competitive.  There were multiple moments I thought we were going to see a mid-air head bang as the kids were going after a pass. 

My son also plays RB...and he is very athletic at this point in his life.  There were times kids would attempt to tackle and would get more aggressive than they should because of the level of difficulty he presented when going after his flag.  Many of the injuries he sustained playing flag were due to collisions happening trying to bring him down.  He would get a knee to the hip or thigh for example. 

We are moving to tackle in hopes that the pads protect him a bit more.  At this age they at least don't hit each other hard. 

That being said, I don't think every kid is ready.  My son is big-boned.  Some of his friends are super tiny and I would not be comfortable letting them play tackle if they were my kids.

Also - KCFC has weight limits on ball carriers.  That also gives me comfort that these kids aren't trying to tackle a kid who hit a growth spurt at an early age.  If they are too heavy, they are required to be on the line.

Thanks. Its one of those things where starting them early and teaching the fundamentals is good, but also opens them up to more head shots at an early age so I see both sides. I LOL at the weight limit thing. When I was a kid they had those too and it was very obvious that A)it was a self reported thing and B)if they did weigh the kids, one or two teams in my pee wee league starved the kids over the summer so they could hit weight at the beginning of the year. Every year it was terrifying playing them. This dude was a monster RB and just smoked us all.

KCFC is pretty strict on weight limits.  Anthony Sherman took his kid's team to tackle starting last year, and decided not to do the KCFC league because of the weight limit.  I think they play on the Missouri side somewhere.  I've also heard he is running the Oklahoma drill with these kids....which is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. That is Sherman in a nutshell and his group of kids go all out for bball and baseball.  They are peaking early and will get burned out before high school. 

Our coaching staff is going to be extremely anal about fundamentals.  You would think every team would think this way...but I honestly have no idea and I don't trust most people who are so adamant about tackle at this age.

We play through MYFL in Nebraska and it is very strict on weight as well. Definitely not self reported. We have a designated weigh in day and have to have the whole team show up and get in line for weight. Then "stripers" are assigned to kids over the weight and they can only play on the line of scrimmage and can't carry the ball. Called striper because there is a stripe around their helmet. Our team didn't have a single striper last year. Most teams had a handful. Gave us fits on the interior line but ultimately we kicked most of their asses anyway. I think striper weight in 5th grade was 130 lbs+.

We used to call them fat patches when I played out at heritage park back in the day. Definitely needed though. You don't need the 5-9 160lb'er who has a beard running over some 5'0 100lb 7th grader whose balls have not dropped yet.

IIRC we also had a "Heavyweight" and "Lightweight" division in grades 5-7ish.

[steve dave]

have a scrimmage tonight and then a doubleheader saturday (high temp of 40, very "fun"). first tournament in 2 weeks. time to rearrange my "life" for 4 months.