Soccer Weekend: Cheering On, Running Lines

I was at World Wide Technology Soccer Park (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/SOCCERPARK) last Saturday night (14 April) to join the St. Louligans (http://stlouligans.com/) at their pre-match tailgate. I enjoyed a nice dinner before matching into Toyota Stadium for the match between Saint Louis FC (https://www.saintlouisfc.com/) and LA Galaxy II.

A header just after halftime was the difference as Saint Louis FC ran out 1-nil winners. We St. Louligans were in fine form cheering on the home side. After the match, the players came over to sing to us--as Saint Louis FC does after they win. It is something we always look forward to seeing and hearing.

Saint Louis FC is on the road for the next two matches. Hopefully, the good form will continue.

The next morning, I headed to Sportport International (http://www.sportportintl.com/) to run lines on two St. Louis Youth Soccer Association (http://www.slysa.org/) matches. (I first headed to the Soccer Park, until I was notified I was as the wrong facility.) The matches were rather interesting, to say the least. I won't go into the details here, but my crew did well in their assignments.

After the matches, I had lunch at Hooters (https://www.hooters.com/) in Maryland Heights, where I enjoyed their smoked wings. (Good work by server Portia.)

Later.

Recognition for My Volunteer PR and Blogging

Last Saturday (14 April), I was at Mike Duffy's Pub & Grill in Kirkwood (http://mikeduffys.com/kirkwood/) for the annual spring luncheon of the Missouri Professional Communicators (http://www.mpc-nfpw.org/cpsiteframepage.lasso?-token.lpuserref=113815.113118). About 12 of us members and guests attended. After a nice lunch--in my case, the Reuben--the awards for MPC's annual Communications Contest were announced. Several members were honored for their work, including yours truly.

Two press releases I wrote and disseminated for IPMS/Gateway (http://www.ipms-gateway.com/) (https://www.facebook.com/IPMSGateway/) took first and second places in the category of news or feature release--single release. The winner was for the club's donation to Toys for Tots (https://bridgeton-mo.toysfortots.org/local-coordinator-sites/lco-sites/Default.aspx) in Metro St. Louis last December. The judges noted how much respect I showed for a volunteer assignment and for the release's multiple placements.

Taking second place was the release for IPMS/Gateway's Contest in September. The judges' comments also applied for this release.

My work editing IPMS/Gateway's newsletter, The Arch Scaler News, earned second place in print publications regularly edited by entrant--magazine, newsletter or other non-newspaper publication. The judges noted the good placement of the headline and logo, and being very clean. They thought I should use italics to break up the heavy font, and to try another font for headlines for variety. I believe I will try those suggestions in future issues.

Finally, this blog received honorable mention in Blogs, personal. It was a very thorough chronicle of one person's life, the judges noted. They also liked the blog title. A suggestion by the judges, which I am going to try here now, is to go towards briefer entries focusing only on highlights. Let's see how this goes.

It was a great afternoon that I finished with a personal celebration at the Kirkwood Starbucks (https://www.starbucks.com/), where I enjoyed a coffee beverage and coffee cake.

Later.