September 2015

Middleton’s girls tennis team improved to 7-0 and remained atop the Big Eight Conference after a pair of wins last week.

The Cardinals defeated Madison West, 5-2, last Thursday. Middleton also upended Madison Memorial, 5-2, last Tuesday.

In Middleton’s win over West, all three of its doubles teams won their matches.

“Our doubles teams all played well,” Cardinals senior Kaisey Skibba said.

Skibba teamed with fellow senior Abbey Webber for a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles. Middleton senior Lauren Coons and freshman Maddie Clark notched a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles. And at No. 3 doubles, junior Jessica Wang and senior Amanda Huff posted a 6-3, 6-1 win.

Middleton’s Kai Heineman earned a hard fought 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles. And Ally Hujanen rallied for a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles.

Middleton also notched wins at all three doubles flights against Madison Memorial.

Ben White likes to remind people that no one reaches a state tournament in September.

But White, Middleton’s boys volleyball coach, also knows his team has miles to travel if it hopes to qualify for state in November.

The Cardinals traveled to the Racine Park Invite last Saturday and had an up and down day. Middleton went 2-1 in pool play, but then fell in the first round of the playoffs to Milwaukee Pius.

Admittedly, White was hoping Middleton’s day would last a little longer.

“Well if you are going to make mistakes, better to make them early in the year rather than late in the year,” White said. “And we made plenty. 

“Not to take anything away from the teams that beat us, but we did a great job of helping them out along the way. All the mistakes we made are correctable, but we know we are still looking for one more hitter or someone to take more control of the team.”

A normal coach might have worried.

An ordinary coach would have lost hour after hour of sleep.

But there isn’t a whole lot that’s commonplace about Middleton defensive coordinator Tom Cabalka. And there’s very little that’s routine about the defenses he fields.

In a Big Eight Conference showdown Friday night, Cabalka and Middleton’s defense came up huge again. The Cardinals sacked Madison La Follette quarterbacks Julian Patton and Frankie Arriola 10 times, held the Lancers to 193 total yards and rolled to a 24-13 win.

Middleton improved to 4-0 and now has sole possession of first place in the Big Eight Conference, while the Lancers fell to 3-1.

“We’ve played three really good games in a row defensively,” Cabalka said. “The kids were very prepared. They were very focused all week long.

“They’re still young and they’re still green. But I’m very happy. Very happy. Very excited about the fact they’re coming together.”

I used to have a Darwinian view on parenting. Like all uninformed opinions, it was elegant in its simplicity.

“Kids have survived for thousands of generations without car seats, helmets, vaccines or organic, lavender-scented diaper cream,” I said. “I’m pretty sure the survival of our species proves we don’t need to go out of our way to keep them alive.”

What I immediately realized the first time I looked at my daughter was the fundamental difference between the species as a whole - which includes billions of people, many of whom are murdering, stealing and singing karaoke at this very moment – and my little girl, who is currently gnawing on my leg and saying “meow” while pointing at a picture of a pig.

It’s not that I don’t care about the whole of humanity. It’s that I care about it far less than I care about the little girl whose health, safety and ultimate happiness are my responsibility.