Aubrey and the B volleyball team had an away game and the Kasallis family and Sam came to cheer them on. After the games, we got a picture of Sam with all the girls that knew him from the 7th and 8th grade teams. He was sporting his cross country medal that he had won that same day. It's fun to see friends all together.
Here's the entire 8th grade B team. They had fun working together and learning the game better. Aubrey enjoyed playing with her friends. And she loved that she got to be #10 - her favorite number.
Aubrey was one of the better players, but she usually just played the back row. She had one of the best serves, as long as she got it over the net. If she did get her serve in, the other team had a hard time returning it. Those were the best pictures I was able to get during their games since most of the games didn't have a lot of volleys. Sometimes serving was the only time they touched the ball.
They didn't get to play very many games, but they had fun with the ones they did play. They won most, if not all, of their games.
Abby's senior banner hung in the Franklin gym for the entire volleyball season. I loved seeing her up there.
Abby played the majority of their games as the second setter. She got along with the girls even if she got frustrated with the coaches. She was always a good team leader and support to all the girls.
Here are some more pictures from her senior season.
A few games, Abby was mentioned in their highlight reels. During this game against Montwood, they ended up losing the game in 5 sets, but Abby had a great game. She had 19 assists and 4 aces. They had a chance to win in the 5th set, but the other team came from behind to win 16-14. It was a crazy game and sad loss, but Abby did her best and looked great playing.
During most games, the players were announced one by one since it was the varsity team, so I loved to cheer loudly for Abby when they announced her name and number. She was always a light on the team, uplifting everyone and pumping the team up whether she was on the court or cheering from the bench.
One of their games this year was against El Dorado who got moved up to their division for the first time. They were a pretty easy win and Abby was happy to set during that game. She actually only played one set because that volleyball game was scheduled the same night as the homecoming football game and Abby was voted to be on the homecoming court, so we had to leave the game early to rush back to Franklin to make it in time for the half time show of the football game where she was being presented. Luckily the coaches were ok with her leaving and that it was an easy game, but it was a hard decision for Abby because she always worries about missing anything with volleyball because she never knew if she'd lose her spot if she missed anything.
When they played their rival, Coronado, later in the season, Abby was able to play this time. She was excited to be on the court even though they didn't win the game. She loved setting Bre on her team. They connected really well and they had some great kills working together.
I took a picture of Abby after a volleyball game one night because I loved her makeup job. She usually didn't have a lot of makeup on for her games, but for some reason this time she did and she looked so pretty. My favorite part about the picture is she has the same face as when she was a little girl, so now whenever I see this picture, I see a little Abby toddler and it makes me smile. Finally, I had to include a picture of Abby on the big screen at the Franklin/Coronado football game. As senior class president, Abby got to go out on the field to help present the Chick FilA award that the school won for their competition against Coronado. I was helping Tessa with her percussion equipment for their half time show, but I did see Abby up on the big screen and wanted her to know that I saw her.
Aubrey's dance team and band performed at an Hornedo football game, so she was able to play with the band in her dance outfit while waiting for half time to start. I was happy to get a picture of her while they played some stand tunes during timeouts.
The dance team performed one of their dance numbers at half time. I videoed the dance so it was hard to get pictures of Aubrey up close, but she's in the back of the group of four girls in this picture. I love getting to watch her do what she loves.
Tessa started out her marching band season by playing the tenors whenever she could. She worked so hard all summer building her muscles so she wouldn't struggle to carry the heaviest instrument. She and Gisele worked out together and they were both ready for all of the gigs and performances while carrying the tenors. They played at Chick FilA and I got to go see them perform.
Their drumline ended up being too small to support a drumline and frontline, so they ended up combining them all in a huge frontline. Tessa was able to still play tenors in the stands and at gigs (like the one at Chick FilA), but during their half time show, all of the percussionists were on the front line. Tessa was upset at first because she really wanted to play and march tenors.
But once she found out she was going to be one of the top marimba players, she decided it wasn't going to be too bad. It turned out even better when Mr. P let her play tenors on some of the parts as well, so she had the marimba in front of her and the tenors to her side. They all decided it was going to be okay and they worked really hard together to make it the best frontline.
The Franklin/Coronado game is always played at the UTEP stadium. Tyler and I were able to be there to watch and to help with their equipment during half time. With most of the percussion kids playing a board and a drum, there was a lot of equipment that had to be moved back and forth. I took some pictures of the percussion section in the stands. Tessa got to play tenors in the stands so that always made her happy.
I had Tessa take a selfie as we waited for our signal to move equipment at half time. I liked this picture because it showed all of the percussionists plus their parents. They get a lot of help from the parents and we all become pretty close throughout the marching band season.
It's fun watching them perform in such a huge stadium. UTEP is home of the Sun Bowl and their stadium is huge. After helping move the equipment, we always get to watch the performance from the front of the field. I liked being able to watch Tessa up close even though we don't get to really see what the band is doing.
During football games, the drumline would setup around the drum major stand and play from the track. Tessa loved being able to play the tenors for all of the stand tunes and cadences.
This game was during the day and it was so hot, so the kids did not have to wear their uniforms. They still performed their half time show and did a great job. Tessa and Gisele are the only girls in the percussion section, so naturally they were the best of friends. Gisele is a senior this year, but she loved taking Tessa under her wing and they did everything together.
During the homecoming game, Tyler and I were at the back of the field while we waited with Abby for the homecoming court presentation. It was the only time I didn't get to watch Tessa's half time show from the front. I took one picture from the back of the field to show her that I was still watching. When we came up to the front and after the homecoming court presentation, the drumline stayed to play longer and I made sure to get a picture of them.
I was also able to go to most of Tessa's Saturday marching competitions. I loved watching them warmup in the parking lots and following them around like a groupie. Again, they had so much equipment that they needed the help from the parents so we were always close by and ready to help move instruments or sound equipment. Tessa was in the front row of the frontline next to Ethan, Donny, and Sir Isaac.
The drumline always gets really close with how much time they have to spend together as they load and unload instruments. I love getting pictures of all of them together.
I always watched from the front, but loved to be close to Tessa so I could see her play her parts. They did well at their marching competitions and were always adding visuals and special effects to their show as they added the movements and learned their entire show.
Besides playing tenors on the track during the football games, the drumline still went over by the cheerleaders every game during the third quarter to play all of their cadences while the cheerleaders danced. They used to stand behind the cheerleaders and face the crowd, but for some reason this year, the drumline stood right next to the stands and faced the cheerleaders. I liked being closer to Tessa, but I didn't like not being able to see her face. The cheerleaders loved doing their dances to the cadences and they loved having the drumline close. Lots of times, Tessa would let them wear her tenors if they asked and she would get to hold their pom-poms and do some cheers.
Tessa and Gisele were the two tenors. Devin, JD, and Donny were on the snare, and the bass drums were Sir Isaac, Andrew, Andres, and Nicholas.
Tessa also continued running with her cross country team. One of their meets was across town early on a Saturday morning. I took a picture of all the Franklin girls before they started the race.
They all lined up waiting to start and it was funny to see them all get their watches ready to start at the same time as the race clock.
We watched Tessa as she raced around the park. We kept walking across the center of the park and seeing Tessa in multiple spots as she ran all the way around the park and parking lots. The top 10 girls of each race get medals. We got a picture of the majority of the girls with Coach Laspada after the race was over.
The girls like their coach even when he's tough on them, but they're probably the best cross country team in the city, so whatever he's doing, it seems to be working.
Another race during the season was at a golf course. They're used to running at this particular golf course, but it's not one of Tessa's favorites because of all the hills. She still did well and ended up with a medal. There are always so many girls running at the same time, but it's fun to watch Tessa stay with her teammates and race through the course and come out at the top.
The cross country kids are all very close and Tessa's closest friends from school are her cross country friends. Here are most of the girls on the Franklin cross country team. Tessa's having a great start to her season.
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