Easy Gingerbread "comfort food" without eggs or milk...most ingredients are in your kitchen, except maybe unsulphured molasses.
Ingredients
DRY INGREDIENTS
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½cup granulated sugar
1teaspoonbaking powder
¼teaspoon+ 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspooncinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
¼teaspoonground cloves
¼ teaspoonsalt
WET INGREDIENTS
¼ cupcanola oil (or vegetable oil)
1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1Tablespoonapple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
¼cupmolasses (unsulphured)
1 cupwater
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees f. Spray a 8×8 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, add the water and molasses – stir until completely blended, set aside.
In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients and mix well.
Make 3 depressions in the dry ingredients, 2 small, 1 large – add vanilla to a small depression, vinegar in the other small depression, then add the oil to the large depression.
Next, pour the water/molasses mixture over top and mix until well blended and the batter is smooth. Do not over mix.
Pour batter in prepared baking dish. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for approximately 35 minutes. Check with toothpick to makes sure it comes out clean. *Baking times will vary depending on oven.
All opinions expressed in this blog are solely my own. This blog is not an official publication of any City of Melrose organization.
Coaches serve multiple goals.
Advance the team's story.
Protect team culture.
Put the team in the best position to succeed.
Promote character development.
Serve individual players.
These responsibilities usually complement one another. Sometimes they collide.
Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort we experience when competing beliefs, values, or responsibilities come into conflict.
Senior Night presents one of those challenges. We want to celebrate every senior, recognizing years of commitment, sacrifice, growth, and contribution. We also honor the team's collective investment by competing to the best of our ability.
Both objectives matter. Neither should diminish the other.
As a society, we worship winning. Win and you're a hero; lose and you're a bum. Winning can distort our judgment.
Banners, championships, power rankings, and Halls of Fame celebrate achievement. Winning intoxicates; losing distresses.
But sport teaches lessons that extend far beyond the scoreboard. Senior Night is about recognizing people, not simply measuring performance.
Every senior has contributed to the team's story. Some contributions appear in statistics. Others emerge in practices, encouragement, leadership, resilience, and the willingness to put teammates first.
Playing time is not a measure of personal worth. A famous investor once said, "Never confuse net worth with self worth."
Athletes who receive fewer opportunities aren't necessarily lacking in skill, effort, commitment, or competitive spirit. Sometimes they occupy different roles on a team where opportunities are limited.
And those opportunities matter.
Volleyball depends upon rhythm, communication, and collaboration. Substitutions can affect those relationships. Less familiar combinations may struggle to reproduce the cohesion crafted through countless repetitions.
That doesn't indict anyone's ability. It's a reality of team sport.
We love the movie Rudy because it celebrates perseverance, belonging, and the human desire to contribute. But Rudy's opportunity doesn't come if Notre Dame is tied 10–10 with two minutes remaining.
Context matters.
Coaches balance individual recognition with responsibility to the entire team. That balancing act seldom produces perfect answers.
Every athlete wants to contribute. Every athlete wants to be seen, heard, and valued.
Families and friends naturally want those same things for someone they love. Their hopes deserve understanding and respect.
Ideally, Senior Night unfolds in circumstances where every senior can enjoy meaningful playing opportunities without creating a conflict between recognition and competitive responsibility. Schedules and opponents don't always cooperate.
And coaches cannot promise circumstances they do not control.
But we can control how we treat people. Communicate with compassion, recognize contributions, and make decisions guided by fairness, preparation, and responsibility to the team.
We can celebrate seniors without pretending that every contribution must appear in the box score. The challenge is not choosing between caring about players and caring about winning. It's demonstrating that we care about both.
Years from now, the seniors may not remember the score, the rotation, or how many points they played.
I hope they'll remember that they belonged, that their contributions mattered, and that they were appreciated.
The scoreboard tells us who won the match. It doesn't tell us who mattered through their daily presence.
"Don't win a championship; be a champion." Saban is, "Driven to make ordinary people do extraordinary things." He believes that, "It takes what it takes...and you make yourself do it."
The Process
Saban is polarizing; "I know you all think I'm crazy."
Commitment
Effort
Discipline
Motivation
Pride
"The shepherd has come to lead the flock..."
Saban was Coaching the Dolphins. Miss Terry (his wife) said, "You are better in college..." The interest goes beyond imagination. 95,000 people attended the Alabama Spring Game 2007.
It Is Never Easy
"What people didn't realize were the underlying issues..." - Saban (infrastructure rebuild)
"Are you always that intense?" Saban says, "I'm the same every day."
Saban expressed major concern over "lack of character" and "lack of discipline;" It took 26 tries to run "10 perfect 10s" (ten yard sprints).
"I don't think they knew what it needed to be good."
"This is the standard; buy in or to opt out." What it takes, "What do you have to do to get where you want to go?"
"It's about playing one play at a time...just play the next play."
"Difficult to get people to focus on the process..."
A Shift in Focus
"At Michigan State I was a transactional leader..." (outcome based)
"You want your team to play to its full potential...if...not...why is that?"
Don't make criticism personal...Saban fought to overcome his bias against sports psychology. "It's only gonna be terrible if you think about the score." He learned to embrace psychology.
Each play lasts about six seconds. Dr. Rosen (Sports Psychology at Michigan State) said, "Give them six seconds of hell."
Before the OSU game, he changed his attitude..."Don't be distracted by the scoreboard." MSU trailed Ohio State 24-3 and rallied to win 28-24...one play at a time.
"You don't focus on what you want to accomplish...focus on what you have to do; the process is focusing on the task at hand..."
Create Expectations
"Do you have the discipline to execute the right thing, the right time, the right way, all the time?"
"Being demanding is not necessarily being negative."
"What's the standard you want to be...I'm holding you to it."
"No blinking lights..." (No distractions)
Summary:
Do we know what it takes to be good?
Are we willing to meet that standard?
Are we willing to do what it takes every day?
Lagniappe. At every level, can we get players to sacrifice?
Every teammate should be able to answer 3 questions:
1. What does this team need from me?
2. Can my teammates count on me?
3. Am I making my teammates better?
Great teams are built by players who stop asking, “What’s in it for me?” and start asking, “How can I help us win?”
Melrose hosted Senior Night and Wakefield (#14, Division 2) and escaped with a 3-1 win, 24-26, 25-20, 26-24, and 25-14. Equally big was the return of coach Ryan Schmitt from extended deployment.
The win lifts Melrose to 13-3 and secures an ML12 in-season playoff matchup with Reading at Winchester (details when available).
Many "Freedom Division" games, like NFL division games, play "tight" as familiarity breeding contempt. Wakefield had proven their mettle earlier this season with a win against perennial D1 power Newton North.
Before the game, the program honored seniors Maggie Shoemaker, Kayla Ton, and Anna Burns. Two of the three (Maggie, Anna) are "Sister Acts" with older sisters having graduated the program.
Melrose got off to a quick 5-0 deficit and struggled to find a rhythm in the first set. The hosts couldn't find either consistency or aggression for much of the set. Melrose did have leads, including at 24-23 but couldn't finish. Melrose committed unforced errors over the next three points sandwiched around a Wakefield attack.
The second set went better as Melrose ramped to a 7-0 edge before a Kayla Wyland timeout for Wakefield. The Warriors crept back in to knot the score at 18 before a costly service error. Wakefield retied at 19. Then, a pivotal point ensued, as Sadie Smith got hands on an attack and Elise Marchais came up big with the "gotta have it" kill.
"Maverick" then posted a pair of aces to go up 22-19 and Wakefield took a timeout. Sabrina "Air" McArt followed with a kill...Wakefield scored to make it 23-20 before Alisa Dautovic struck back with a kill and the Amelie Johnson-Sabrina tandem finished with a block kill.
The third set evoked Dickensian misery with "A Tale of Two Cities" as it was the worst of times as Wakefield burst out 9-1, only to see the best of times as Melrose recovered to lead 13-11. Wakefield regained the lead at 16-13 but Melrose scrapped back. Leading 23-22, it was more Marchais mayhem delivering a winner.
Wakefield won the next hard-fought point to level at 24. Another Marchais dagger got Melrose the lead at 25-24. A Wakefield tip sailed wide and Melrose owned the set.
The final set was anticlimactic as Melrose momentum carried the day.
Melrose Notes:
Melrose again showed resilience, coming back from deficits. That's a recipe for disaster in the postseason.
A number of MVB stalwarts struggled at times, although they recovered as the match went on. Two who didn't were Elise and Adriana Santoriello who both delivered timely kills and service dominance.
The largest crowd of the season appeared, getting rewarded with a resilient if not esthetically pleasing win. Lots of legacy parents on hand including Niko Soukos, Paul and Kathy Johnson, and Gary and Nancy Fowke. Apologies to luminaries not seen and noted.
Former Melrose star Rachel Johnson now assists Kayla in Wakefield.
Melrose hosts Marblehead (#19 in Division 2) Friday.
MIAA seedings define both the ML12 playoffs next week and the postseason tournament.
Interim rankings are provisional only.
The current ML12 rankings...above
D2 rankings...
Strength of schedule weighed on the updated rankings. Melrose remained little changed with competition against Belmont and Duxbury. Barnstable fell back a bit with a win over lowly-ranked Falmouth. Thus, the 3-6 rankings remain in flux.
What moment captures the 'character' of the MVB 26 seniors? Last season, all three had to leave early one day. Destination? Each earned induction into National Honor Society. That distinction shouts, "This is who I am" as a person, as a student-athlete. "Bravo Zulu," congratulations in Navy terms.
"Mentoring is the only shortcut to success." Work with your coaches, showing your eagerness to improve and desire for success. Coaches take satisfaction in seeing players 'reap the fruits of their labors'.
Helping Yourself
Study your game. Watch your video with a keen eye for what happened, your decisions, and the outcome.
Study great teams and players. You might send an email to a great college player you admire (or their coach - info online) and ask about their player development. People like to be asked.
Work out with a teammate or as a group. Track progress, looking for "personal bests."
Find perspective...it's family, school, sports. Seek balance among your work-life-growth options.
Think
Take a few minutes a day to reflect on your growth 'arc'. For example, in Duxbury set 4, at 23-24, Sadie's dig kept the match alive, one of the epic plays in MVB history. In the State Finals of 2005, Melrose lost in five sets. But they trailed 0-2, 16-23 to rally with a 10-1 run to escape the sweep and fight on.
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” - Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories
A saying exists, "Network to get work." Effective coaching sets a higher standard.
Help others build character and competence.
"Mentoring is the only shortcut to excellence." Coaches matter because they model the behavior and actions needed for growth.
Put relationships first.
"How does it feel to be coached by me?" Do the work needed to help players "see the game" and excel in a team environment. Make gratitude to the players a priority.
Put the person above the player.
Add value to get buy-in.
Make the "player experience" meaningful. Provide an improvement structure:
Skill building - "Every day is player development day."
Strategy - Sport-specific IQ means "eyes open to possibility"
Psychology - Raise resilience and 'the mental game'
Seek contribution not validation.
Developing our process defines us as transformational not transactional. What coaches do becomes more than identity. "Leaders make leaders." The work must stand for more than wins and losses.
Find balance.
Changing lives includes our own. Pursuing victory and excellence can extract personal costs among family, physical, and mental health. Taking care of others requires that coaches take care of themselves.
Coaches change lives, both others' and their own. Craft a career to ensure that the change is for the better.
Winning is hard. That creates the desire and the value.
MVB 26 earns success with hard work, discipline, focus, and resilience. And there's a lot of tough volleyball to be played...starting with Wakefield today.
Ceremony 6:00 P.M. Game 6:30 P.M.
Honoring Seniors Anna Burns, Maggie Shoemaker, Kayla Ton
"Chop wood, carry water."
Talent and belief create possibilities
"Champions behave like they are champions, before they are champions." - Bill Walsh in The Score Takes Care of Itself
Rank your process, values, and standards ahead of goals.
Define your standards that apply at home, in school, and on the court.
1. Attitude - "Always do your best."
2. Choices - Make decisions in the best interest of your "team," that begins with your family. "The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior."
3. Effort - Focus, prepare, and execute. It has never been "Fire, ready, aim."
Lagniappe. Mystery Theater... A play worth watching...starts at 1:13:33. another Dani diving dig, kept alive impossibly by Sadie and Elise. Then a cut shot attack...out of bounds. I can only guess that the ruling was that it tipped off Gen. Not saying the call was wrong...
Winning comes with a price - sacrifice for the team and personally. Getting enough sleep means less socializing. Eating right means not eating some foods. Strength training and conditioning exact a price. Practicing hard every day without getting many minutes is hard.
Cecilia Kay shared that her closest teammate at American University played little and practiced hard. The woman said her job (as a scholarship player) was to give her best every day, regardless.
You may not know of Ernie Adams, the man called "Belichick's Belichick." Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett's partner, was "Buffett's Buffet."
Munger who recently passed at age 99, emphasized character and decision-making. Steve Burns wrote a lengthy piece on Munger which I've shortened.
Munger's principles work for volleyball and life.
1. You Focus on Deserving What You Want
Success is a choice and work is the entry fee on that path. You get what you earn.
2. You Are a “Learning Machine”
Become a lifelong learner. Munger says that he has never seen anyone succeed who doesn't read. Become a reader if you're not.
3. You Actively Try to Destroy Your Own Ideas
Why am I wrong? What am I missing? Self-assessment of both our creative and critical selves can only help.
4. You Prioritize “Not Being Stupid” Over Being Brilliant
“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.” — Charlie Munger.
5. You Know the Exact Edge of Your Competence
Know our "Circle of Competence." Increase it. Leverage it. And avoid straying from it. In life, we need a plumber, an electrician, a "car guy" and other specialists for projects outside our circle.
6. You Guard Your Integrity Above Everything Else
Buffett said that success intersects with energy, intelligence, and integrity. And without integrity, the other two are dangerous.
7. You Refuse to Work For or With People You Don’t Respect
Reputation is what people think we are. Character is who we are. If we work with people we don't respect, what could possibly go wrong?
8. You Have a Long Attention Span
Part of success is the ability to sit in a chair and do the work. Flitting from project to project never works well. Focus is a superpower.
9. You Actively Filter Out Intense Ideology
Think about "inversion," the opposite of an idea. Intense ideology limits flexibility, critical thinking, and active questioning of alternatives.
10. You Reject Envy, Self-Pity, and the Victim Mindset
If being a high value person is about what we bring to a team or a group, how could envy, victimhood, or feeling sorry for ourselves benefit others?
Coach Mike Krzyzewski said, "Basketball isn't about running plays; it's about making plays." Many plays shaped "got to have it" moments in 'available' video.
At 2:15:29, Duxbury serves 24-22 with double "match points."
First, Sabrina McArt supplies craft over power at the net.
Continuing the play, Sadie Smith makes the situational dig of the year, extending the match for Amelie Johnson to "rainbow" a kill over the Dragon defense.
Third, at 40:32 in the first set, Duxbury staged an early rally from a 7-2 deficit. Melrose leads 9-8. Adriana digs a tough serve, Sadie sets Alisa Dautovic, who delivers a kill off the block. "Stops make runs."
Fourth, at 47:30 Melrose exerts force with Dani DiGiorgio digging a near-certain point, allowing Sadie and Alisa to convert another lost point into a winner.
Fifth, set two, trailing 5-3 at 57:43, sport rewards extraordinary effort. Dani with another "dolphin dive" turns an ace into a Melrose point. Modern women's sport reveals skill and athleticism.
Sixth, set four, trailing 19-13 Melrose needs playmakers. At 2:04:19, Sabrina McArt and Amelie leverage timing, technique, and athleticism with a key block.
Seventh, trailing 23-21 at 2:14:36, Melrose works to avoid going to match point. Adriana with an excellent dig, Duxbury keeps the play alive, and Elise "hits through" and scores. The "will to hit" inhabits the hearts of competitors.
Many more plays showed the grit of both teams. Regrettably, the video ends at 7-8 of the fifth set.
Appreciate adversity. Failure shares feedback. "This is who we are" and "That is how we respond."
Volleyball informs a near-infinite set of variables. A ball ticks over the net, a block barely lands out, a float "knuckles" at the last minute and finds a point. You control none.
The Dodgers came off two consecutive World Titles with a massive payroll and hubris to match.
Three of the four MLB finalists appeared in the bottom 12 of payroll. The Dodgers had over twice the payroll of the Brewers. "Money can't play."
Consider great leaders like Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln. Mandela suffered 27 years of imprisonment and Lincoln lived crippling depression, "Lincoln's Melancholy," to become who most historians consider a nation's greatest president. You've heard about Wilma Rudolph, born prematurely, later with crippling polio, told she likely would never walk, and won three Olympic Golds in sprinting in 1960 at Rome. Maya Angelou recovered from childhood abuse and mutism to become one of America's great literary voices.
Hyperbole, thy name is blogging. Comparing a couple of volleyball wins under adversity to legendary historical figures ranges far over the top. A relevant quote, "Sports doesn't build character; it reveals it."
Rolling over opponent and opponent would be great. MVB doesn't bring that overwhelming size or talent to the court. At times, the lineup looks like 5'8" clones carved from the same marble. Often, that's enough with "No mind."
