Pages on
Soccer
Hts and wts of players on Brazil, Germany
national soccer teams, and goalkeeping rules notes:
table log of soccer air-dribbling flight
drill workouts
Dimensions of soccer field, goalie habitats,
jpeg marked scale map of soccer field, notes on dimensions of field...
https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/airattack.htm
jpeg marked scale map of soccer field, notes on dimensions of field...
https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/airattack.htm
DATE |
RESULT/ACTIVITY |
COMMENTS |
BALL USED-ball
inflation
SHOES USED |
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|
Tuesday
5/15/07
Outdoors
4 AM - 6 AM
Oak Sq YMCA
730-1030 PM
|
120 minutes jogging running 45 minutes indoor game on basketball
court |
The six mile
jog
Ran the outdoors circuit twice around the block (0.84 miles) counted as a mile, alternating between mile walked, mile jogged, mile walked, mile jogged, mile walked, mile jogged for a total of six miles. Did not keep time for how long the miles took. Today I did not stretch before running the
first mile. Seemed that the first mile was significantly more painful in
the calves and in the feet today, than it was previous days on the around
the block course when I stretched prior to starting the run. Seems that
stretching the calves, makes a positive difference on the flat rubber
outdoors track, and makes even more of a positive difference on the around
the block circuit.
The game
A size 3 lo-bounce futsal, forget to check
its level of inflation was used in the game today.
Notably today before the game I had gotten
only about 3.5 hours of sleep, plus I did the six miles jog/walk same day
in the morning and also six such miles yesterday.
Ate pancakes a fried egg and sausage and
various health-oils brewers yeast tangerine juice mineral pill 10 hours
before game, and green tea one cup double-strength before
game.
I got very winded in the game, it was full
court 3 on 3 with no substitutions. Tiring and scary for me as
goalie/sweeper/defender. There is little rest for, and lots of
responsibility on the no-hands-allowed sweeper/goalie in 3 on 3
Futsal. Now I can run the mile in approx 12 minutes, but still
playing sweeper in 3 on 3 Futsal full court was very tiring for
me, I sweated alot, my sleeveless t-shirt ended up soaked--the
gym at the Oak Sq Y is hot and humid. I do not play just goalie, it is
also playing defense, and helping out on offense. Even if your position of
goalie/sweeper, you will most likely find 3 on 3 full court to be more
tiring than 4 on 4. Alot of the movements involved in playing
goalie/sweeper are not practiced by just jogging in a straight
line.
We won today 18-11. It was
me, 'Herod', and Andrew vs Tall Moroccan, Short Moroccan, and Pink-cheeks.
Me calling 'Herod' is not intended as insult, he looks kind of royal and
ancient-mid-eastern but not quite Jewish. I did not even think
of the Massacre of the Innocents allegedly perpetrated by the Biblical
Herod when the name Herod came up in my mind for him.
I was so tired out from the 40 minutes 3 on 3
full court game today, that I did not play in the 15 minute game they
played afterwards, same teams against each other but with someone who
showed up late who is not officially on the team, replacing me. In this
game the first 11 minutes my team fell behind 5-0. Then I came in for 4
minutes during which the score was 1-0 in our favor. Watching the goings
on in the second 15 minute game in which the score became 5-0 their favor
without me in there, I realized how a good goalie/sweeper in these
kind of games (such as IMHO myself) can through good defense indirectly
produce goals for his own team even if he is not officially credited with
assists. A good save, a good tackle, catch the other team's
offense off-balance, going the wrong way. One thing jogging does not
prepare the body for is the exhaustion and shock of a sudden change of
direction you have to make so often in situations such as when suddenly
being on offense turns into being on defense because the defender has
knocked away the ball or something.
My usually good passing and shooting was way
off all evening. It was as if the passing/shooting part of my mind had
been turned off, as I concentrated on defense/goalie and avoiding the
humiliation of the previous week. I did not practice passing/shooting all
week. Seems that you can go without practicing passing/shooting
for a certain number of days and still be a good passer/shooter, but if
you go too many days without practicing passing/shooting, you begin to
lose your skill. Also seems that during a game, concentrating on one
aspect of the game can impair performance in another aspect of the
game.
Today I played
goalie/sweeper/defender IMHO very well, much better than last
time, despite the fact they scored eleven goals compared to thirteen
last time. My defense was part of the reason we scored 18 goals, plus I
myself scored one goal and had a couple of what could officially be called
"assists". I made lots of saves receding back into the goal, and
often broke up the attack with successful tackles, on the charge out
of the goal.
The way I count it, if I am the only person
on my team between the attacking players on the other team and the goal,
and there is one guy from the other team attacking me alone and I have no
help, that is a 1 on 0 situation, and if there are two of them, it is a 2
on 0, and if two of them are attacking and there is one defender on my
team between me and them that is a 2 on 1.
Today I succesfully dealt with lots
of 1 on 0, 2 on 0, and 2 on 1 situations by charging and stopping the ball
so to speak, knocking the ball away from the attacker or blocking his
shot. The number of goals scored stat tells only part of the story--
it does not tell how many saves were made, it does not tell how many
times the attackers were succesfully charged, tackled and disposessed of
the ball, it does not tell how difficult the situations faced by the
goalie/defender were.
One of their goals was scored when
Tall-Moroccan, and Short-Moroccan, attacked with me the only thing between
the both of them and the goal, with about 30 seconds left. Time after time
I knocked the ball away from one of them or made a save, they kept
bombarding me for 25 seconds, me alone defending the goal, they scored
with 4 seconds left. At this time my team which today improved its defense
dramatically compared to last time, was I suppose relaxing celebrating the
inevitable victory.
On one occasion, 'Herod' told me to
leave the goal and attack the attacking player, but Herod did not get into
the goal to cover for me on time and they scored. Another time I was
forced to charge the attacker, broke the play up, but nobody covered for
me in goal and they scored (I was succeeding without anyone dropping back
to cover for me, but especially in certain situations, such coverage can
be helpful or even an absolute necessity). They scored at least a
couple of times by lurking right in front of the goal and tipping in a
pass (there is no offsides rule) on the first touch. When they do
this well they are practically impossible to stop. They also scored a
few times with perfectly placed shots impossible for a no-hands goalie to
stop, I remember Short-Moroccan did this once, he hit the ball at the
height of my hip to the side of my hip, there was a space about the width
of a ball between the left side of my hip and the goal-post and he shot
the ball through this space. When they shoot this well--which they are
capable of--they are impossible for all practical purposes to stop.
Almost all of their goals today were scored in situations where
the odds were heavily stacked against me and/or they made an excellent
almost unstoppable shot.
Today I scored a goal by dribbling by the two
Moroccans, and then dribbling at Pink-Cheeks in the goal, and shooting
through the legs of Pink-Cheeks. When I scored this goal I felt
how when you are in shape (I am beginning to get in shape), the combo of
being in shape, with being tired from the exertion of the game, can relax
you so you do not think too much and things work out right because though
tired, you are not so tired that you cannot function. I would
dribble out of the goal more often instead of meekly passing off, except I
still get very winded, and I do not feel confident that my team-mates
despite the great offense they play, and
despite their improvement on defense, will dutifully fall back to
cover the goal when I go on a roll. After the goal I felt like I myself
can do as I get in better and better shape, what I have
been admiring my team-mates doing. You get out there after the game has
been going on a while, and you find that the defender's ability to stop
you is impaired by his fatigue, his exhaustion.
After the game I talked to Mr. S.P.
boss of such leagues at Oak Sq Y. He smiled and shook my hand and gave me
my official green Oak Square Y Soccer shirt. I asked him re the link
to this blog which you are reading, that I sent him, asked him if he
found any fault with it. He told me that I should not say that I can do
something with the ball that the other guys in the Oak Sq soccer cannot do
with the ball, even if it is true. I told him that but I talk about things
they can do that I cannot also. He compared the situation to how if he
pays his wife ten compliments, but says one critical thing about her, such
messes everything up between him and his wife.
I was thinking to myself how a cop
from the Boston area once said to me, if something you say
offends even one person, you should not say it, which I find to be overly
strict and censorious. I was thinking how campus and public cops in the
area have to me seemed to have been overly strict re objecting to things I
have written. I was thinking, that a blog like this is a kind
of literature (it can also be refined through removal of relatively
boring content), and you do not get good literature, by as a writer so to
speak walking on eggs and trying really hard to be hyper-polite
with everyone all the time.
Mr. SP seemed surprised that my soccer blog
had so much content in it. I was thinking that gentlemen in the
Boston area such as cops seems to be surprised by the length of my emails
or letters, as if such indicated obsessions on my part. Seems to me it has
to do with the fact that they do not realize how fast I can type and how
fast I can write and proof-read. For me sitting down and blogging can be
relaxing, like drinking or smoking is for some people. Two of the
ways I have improved myself is that I have improved my typing speed and my
writing ability.
I was telling Mr. SP that despite running 3
miles a day,
and improving in my mile time, I am still
getting very winded playing this indoor soccer on a basketball court
thing. He suggested to me that instead of running a mile, I sprint 100
yds, jog 100 yds, alternating, or spring 30, jog 60 alternating. I told
him that such seemed like the kind of training they do for American style
tackle-football.
I did some dancing around in front of
the goal today at the beginning of the game, and tried to stay on the
balls of my feet (on the internet I read about being on the balls of the
feet). The other team did not explode and score tons of goals in the first
few minutes as they have been doing in the past.
Often I have been finding myself awkwardly
hemmed in with my back to the player on the other team, and the ball
between me and the side-wall or end wall (we play with side-walls
and end-walls the ball can be bounced off which makes it even
tougher on goalie and defense). What worked today was sort of moving
against the opponent with my back to him, sole of foot dribble, feint on
direction spin go the other direction.
Today I showed good judgement re charging at
certain times and laying back at other times. Generally I charged when I
felt the disadvantage was acute enough to justify the charge, in terms of
attacking players outnumbering defenders such as myself. Still often when
making a save I felt that if I had charged instead of laying back the
other team would have scored.
Before the game I had basically decided to
charge the attackers and tackle them more often. I had done alot of
thinking about the matter but that is all I had decided, yet there was
significant improvement in the game. It was as if, even spending
time (when not practicing or playing) in indecisive musings re the
subject of when to charge and when to lay back, improved my mind in terms
of making split second decisions during a game re when to charge and when
to lay back.
Today I was sleep-deprived, and had been
doing alot of running the day of the game and the day before.
Seems judging from today that sleep-deprivation and long
distance jogging type work the day of the game/day-before-the-game,
produces good dribbling and defense, while messing up passing and shooting
skills. Then again it could be that simply too many days have now passed
witho4ut me practicing passing and shooting. The guys who play
offense get more practice shooting and passing in games than I do playing
while defense in games.
Andrew and 'Herod' are skillful at the kind
of dribbling and shooting these kinds of games require, but that is
not the point for me today. For me the point is that the offensive
skills of all the players on the team we played against today are in my
eyes quite respectable, but still I was able to make lots of saves and
lots of succesful charging tackles. Then relatedly you have the
point that good as all three players on the other team were, they gave up
18 goals to us...and they were not being lazy about defense.
Lesson--don't decide someone like me is a chump simply because on
a given day we give up 13 goals while playing goalie/sweeper.
Reading up on Futsal goalie work on the
internet one of the few things I discovered applicable to the kind of game
we have been playing at Oak Sq Y, was that the Futsal goalie
should coach his team. I coached my team and they responded producing
results today, I would alert them with phrases such as "2
on 1" meaning, we have a two on one situation, and they would respond. I
kept telling them that if we could stay tied or ahead in the first half we
would win and that is how things worked out. They got the message and put
an unusual level of energy into defense in the first half.
I was talking to a guy who showed up after
the first official game who wore a T-shirt with the word "Brazil" or
"Brazilian" on it. He told me he was from Brazil. He thought I was
Brazilian or Spanish. He talked about how his brother at the
'junior 'level in soccer, played with Brazilian Falcao, the
world's greatest Futsal player, when Falcao condescended to play with
these "juniors". He said he had seen Falcao play, that Falcao sort of
effortlessly swished by everyone and scored all the time.
I was thinking to myself, today on
defense plenty of times I shut down American or Moroccan offensive players
who IMHO are not worse at offense than the Brazilian/Latin types who
show up to play after our official game is over.
Today Andrew who does a good rainbow kick was
telling me about his method. He rolls the ball up rear-side of his
ankle, not up the rear of his ankle as I do, and then he hits it sort of
sideways with his heel-but it looks like he is placing the ball above his
heel and then sort of throwing it. Since his body angles before
he knocks the ball sideways he hits up to in front of himself. But he does
not regularly knock the ball eight yards in front of him as I do on the RB
kicks. At the most he seems to get the ball two yards in front of
himself.
Looking at how I could flip passes
rolled to me up during the warmups, gave me new ideas re flipping the ball
up off the ground while dribbling it sideways or forwards, reminiscent of
what I saw Christiano Ronaldo do in an internet video (I could not figure
out exactly how he did it).
|
Adidas Powerline
crosstrainers
Size 3 lobounce Futsal |
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|
Thursday
5/17/07 |
Written commentary
Conditioning for Futsal
|
What kind of exercises exactly should be done
to get in shape to play Futsal? I begin to answer that question now here.
Previously I had detected a general trend in
the world of sports, away from long distance running of the aerobic type
and in the direction of anaerobic sprints-at- intervals type conditioning.
Apparently this trend has become established in the world of soccer and
Futsal, in that performance on tests in which short sprints are run at
intervals, have become the standard for measuring the fitness of soccer or
Futsal players.
At the same time, coaches counsel that one
should have attained to a reasonable level of aerobic conditioning through
long distance running before plunging into the interval-sprints type
training. Apparently the consensus in the soccer world re the
'old-fashioned' aerobic long-distance-type capacity a soccer player should
possess, is that soccer players should be able to run two miles in twelve
minutes.
The newest test for measuring dutsal-specific
physical fitness is called the 'Futsal Intermittent Endurance Test'
(FIET). The current consensus is that the better you do on this test, the
better prepared you are endurance-wise to play Futsal. Thus naturally the
implicit hypothesis is that doing the same thing that you do when you take
the FIET test is the best endurance training for Futsal. Thus I conclude
that the best training for Futsal is training that resembles the FIET
test. This training IMHO as of now would be:
Set up two markers marker A and
marker B approx 16 yards apart. Sprint from marker A to B, from B to A,
and from A back to B without stopping. Rest for 30 seconds and mark down
your time for the sprint. Jog from B to A, and from A back to to B. Repeat
the cycle with the sprint the rest and the jogging 24 times (you will end
up alternating between starting at B and starting at A). Rest for 10
minutes. Then do the cycle another 24 times.
NOTES: Barbaro-Alvarez, U of Granada
FIET: The FIET (Futsal intermittent endurance
test) consisted of 45 m shuttle runs (3 x 15 m) with a progressive
increased speed through recorded beeps. Between each running bout, the
participants have a 10 s active rest based on jogging after 30 s period of
passive recovery (Figure 1).
Barbaro-Alvarez compares how pro Futsal
players scored on the Repeated Sprint Ability (RSA) test to how they
scored on the Futsal Intermittent Endurance Test (FIET).
Jaime Sampaio
University of Extremadura High level Futsal is an intermittent team
sport that requires a well developed ability to repeatedly perform intense
exercise. the repeated-sprint ability (RSA) is one of the most important
fitness components of this activity (Barbaro-Alvarez et al.,
2006)
Sampaio examines how the RSA of Futsal
players changes depending upon the season of the year.
Barbero-Álvarez, José Carlos
(note sometimes this man's name is spelled Barbero, sometimes Barbaro) Universidad de Granada Physical capacity in multiple-sprint athletes
is often evaluated using sport-specific field tests. Actually, the most
used common test for assessing aerobic fitness is the multistage 20 meter
shuttle run test (Léger and Lambert 1982, Ahmaidi et al. 1992).
Recently, a new developed futsal intermittent endurance test (FIET) was
developed to simulate the exercise and rest rates observed during a futsal
match-play (Barbero et al. 2005).
The SRT was performed according to Léger and
Lambert (1982) and Ahmaidi et al. (1992) studies. The FIET
consisted of 45 m shuttle runs (3 x 15 m) with a progressive increased
speed through recorded beeps. Between each running bout, the participants
have a 10 s active rest based on jogging after 30 s period of passive
recovery. For both tests, when the subjects have failed twice to
reach the finishing line in time with respect to the beeps, the distance
covered (m) and final speed (Km/h) are recorded representing the tests
results.
It is concluded that FIET, which is
more specific to the activity carried out by the futsal players, is able
to assess satisfactorily aerobic fitness in futsal athletes.
In this study Barbero/Barbaro-Alvarez
compares the performance of Futsal players on the SRT and FIET tests
before and after a pre-season training period.
Other links re the FIET
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-12187205_ITM
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a727420918~db=all You would be surprised at how difficult the
info I present here was for me to find. Sure you can quickly find pages
that have DVDs or videos or manuals to sell for money, that supposedly
explain how to get in shape to play Futsal--no doubt about it, the people
of the world are interested in getting paid for the teachings that they
dish out; and the people of the world, like to keep ahead of the
competition by hiding the secretes of their success. If you want to
start out by getting some info without paying anything, you could end up
flailing about with various search engine searches and finding
nothing re how to train for Futsal and giving up. Apparently you can
finally find actual info instead of mere sales pitches re how to get in
shape for a sport like Futsal, when you in your search engine input
combine the name of the sport--in this case futsal--with specific
activities or pieces of equipment that you have learned can be suspected
to be involved in training for the given sport.
My search history with regards to getting
info on how to train for Futsal was as follows:
Relatively fruitless searches:
futsal conditioning ( http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-43,GGLD:en&q=futsal+conditioning
), futsal training ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=futsal++training
), 'conditioning for Futsal' ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=%22conditioning+for+futsal%22
) conditioning futsal miles ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=conditioning+futsal+miles
), conditioning futsal meters ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=conditioning+futsal+meters
), conditioning futsal yards ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=conditioning+futsal+yards
), conditioning futsal yard ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=conditioning+futsal+yard
), conditioning futsal meter ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=conditioning+futsal+meter
), conditioning futsal dash ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=conditioning+futsal+dash
), conditioning futsal sprint ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=conditioning+futsal+sprint
), futsal fartlek ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=futsal+fartlek
), 'training for futsal' ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=%22training+for+futsal%22
), fitness futsal ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=fitness+futsal
),
Relatively fruitful
searches:
training sprints cones futsal ( http://www.google.com/search?q=training+sprints+cones+futsal&hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-43,GGLD:en&start=10&sa=N
),
'shuttle runs' futsal ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=%22shuttle+runs%22++futsal
)
'beep test' futsal ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=%22beep+test%22++futsal
)
'beep test' ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=%22beep+test%22+
)
'beep test' level levels ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-43%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=%22beep+test%22+level+levels+
) |
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|
May 18 07
Friday |
Analysis
|
Logical Implementation of Unproven
Technical Innovations Suspected of Causing
Improvement
The practical problem that I have been encountering, is that I suspect that A and or B may be involved in causing C, but I am not sure if A is causing C or if B is causing C or if a combination of A and B is causing C. For example, based on the game of May 15, I
suspect that dancing around imitating shot-blocking movements , and/or
being thoughtful about defense prior to a game, improve defensive
performance during a game. But at this point in time, I am not sure if it
is the dancing or the thinking or a combo of the two that improves the
performance.
So what should I do? In my judgement as of
now, until my level of understanding improves to the point where I know
for a fact that thinking before the game does not improves things but
dancing around in the first few minutes of a game does improve things, or
until I know for a fact that thinking improves things but dancing does
not, or until I know for a fact that both thinking and dancing improve
things or that both thinking and dancing actually have no effect--until my
level of understanding is more perfect, I should do some thinking about
defense before a game, and also dance around in the first few minutes of
the game.
This kind of logic is simplified if
you verbally transform, Doing X causes a decline in type A performance, to
its conceptual equivalent, Doing the opposite of X causes an improvement
in type A performance.
When some technique is suspected of being a
source of improvement in some way and not suspected of being a source of
decline in some other way, you could say that in a sense, implementation
of the given technique will at least not cause any harm.
But things get more complex when
you have an issue like the
sleep-deprivation issue--the suspicion that sleep-deprivation improves
defense is balanced by the suspicion that it causes a decline in passing
and shooting. Perhaps when your state of thinking as at
this kind of point, you could somewhat reasonably institute the
policy that if defense is a big priority in the coming game, a certain
level of sleep deprivation is called for. Better yet, you could search for techniques
similar to sleep-deprivation that do not carry the negative effects of
sleep deprivation. The problem has been being too sluggish and sleepy on
defense in the first few minutes of the game. Judging from my
experience of daily life, I understand how partial sleep deprivation can
make you more awake (there are different phases in sleep), how lots of
sleep can result in sleepiness upon waking. Thus the hypothesis is developed from, partial-sleep-deprivation is
good for defense, to, putting more hours between the time you wake up and
the time you start the game improves defense.
RE what kind of game to play during
the game
I suspect that: if the first one or two times
you dribble the ball things go badly, you are not going to dribble the
ball well later in the game; if the first three of four times you are
involved in a defensive play things go badly you are not going to have a
good defensive day for the rest of the game; if things go badly on
shooting on the first couple of shots you are not going to be a good
shooter for the rest of the game; and same for
passing/chipping.
Thus my plan as of now, is to at the start of
the game, try to test out my shooting, passing, dribbling, and defense,
and to then concentrate on implementing the aspect of my game that
performs well during this initial testing.
So rules that I implement for myself
as of now are:
1 Increase time interval between
waking up and playing in game
2 When not practicing or playing do
some mental thinking re dribbling, passing, shooting, and defense,
concentrating on what has been weak or on what is
important
3 During week before game, practice
dribbling with ball behind body and back/side facing
defender
4 During week before game,
practice all aspects of the game (dribbling, passing, shooting, defense)
for a significant amount of time
5 During week/days before game, do
not neglect to practice aspects of games one is strong
in.
6 During week before game,
implement a balanced variety of conditioning techniques: swimming,
jog/walk, shuttle runs, imaginary game. By imaginary game, I mean, when
alone and with or without ball, perform the bodily movements that one
expects oneself to be performing in the coming game, at the speed and at
the intervals that one expects for the coming game.
7 Before the game starts and in
the first few minutes of the game, dance around imitating the movements
you make when blocking shots or tackling a defender
8 During game think about, get
inspired about, all aspects of game (dribbling, defense, shooting,
passing) but especially the currently important
aspect
9 During game try to emphasize
what goes well for you at the beginning of the
game
My idea is that if a variety of
thoughts/actions are implemented before and during a game, one will be in
a better position to sort out which kinds of thoughts/actions should be
emphasized, compared to the situation reigning when only a few as opposed
to a variety of thoughts/actions are implemented before and during a game.
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5/20/07
Sunday
Waltham Y
600-720 PM |
45 meter shuttle runs, timed,
indoors
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Woke up approx 630 AM. started runs approx 610 PM. Had medium coffee with cream and sugar from Dunkin Donuts immediately before running. Just snack for lunch and light breakfast. Stretched before starting the shuttle run/sprints, did not do any jogging loosening up before starting. Runs involved, from one free throw line to
opposite free throw line, back to first free throw line, then to opposite
free throw line. I estimated using a string measured with a yardstick,
that from free throw line to free throw line is 4.5 inches less than 15
meters, meaning total run is 13.5 inches less than 15 meters. This plus or
minus a foot because of the way string/twine can stretch. I should
probably stop being so cheap and buy a tape measure to measure such things
exactly. Method was to do a 45 meter shuttle run, rest for 30 seconds, jog
slowly for 15 meters, REPEAT. Runs were from a stationary standing start,
end lines were touched with the foot not the hand (in the NFL on the
shuttle runs the end line is touched with the hand).
Seems for various reasons the rest between
runs ended up being 35 seconds instead of 30 seconds on more than half the
runs. Results were as follows (times for each shuttle run, stopwatch
started at exact same time that I started run, reaction time delay
vis-a-vis starter's gun can be factored in--however, NFL measures 40 yd
dash starting from the first movement of the player, unlike track
meets):
First 24 runs
10.16,
10.20, 10.95, 11.23, 11.33, 11.15, 10.91, 12.27, 11.80,
12.17, 12.02, 12.59, 12.92, 13.24, 12.29, 13.12, 12.80, 12.86, 13.05,
13.02, 13.03, 12.66, 13.27, 12.81; AVG 12.16
13 minute break
Second 24 runs
11.74, 11.38, 12.28, 11.94, 11.70, 12.01,
11.93, 12.63, 12.37, 12.81, ---(time not recorded, run interfered
with), 12.43, 13.38, 12.91, 12.82, 13.02, 12.63, 13.02, 12.95, 12.98,
13.72, 12.91, 13.05, 12.89; AVG
12.59
OVERALL AVG
12.37
The fastest run of the day was the first run,
but I ran it flat-footed, forgetting to get up on the balls of my feet.
After the first run I got up on the balls of my feet and though my time
did not as a result get faster due to fatigue, I could feel how accounting
for fatigue and in relation to the effort I was putting in, I was going
faster on the balls of my feet; seemed that I got more speed per ounce of
effort on the balls of my feet. My estimate is that if I had run
the first run on the balls of my feet like I did the runs that came after
the first run my time on the first run would have been significantly
faster.
On every run I used my my left foot to touch
the end line. Moving the arm(s) sort of like a windmill seems to help on
the 180 degree turns. A little skipping--one foot hitting the ground twice
before the other foot hits the ground, might possibly enhance speed on the
turns also.
After the end of the first 24 runs I was
soaked in sweat and panting like anything; during the break I was spitting
up and coughing up mucus and even vomited a couple of ounces of vomit.
Thus the break was 13 minutes instead of the intended 10 minutes, I did
not want to prematurely start the second 24 runs, and end up having to
interrupt them due to nausea. This first day I need to get accurate times
for the first 24 and also the second 24 runs so these times can be
compared with subsequent days times.
The new idea is that the old idea that you
cannot improve your sprinting speed (as we were taught in high school) is
false. Fact is I have never been coached in sprinting technique, or done
any work dedicated to improving my sprinting speed. There are alot of
gadgets you can buy to improve your sprinting speed but I do not have any
of these. I feel that in this kind of shuttle run, technique on the 180
degree turns can mean alot.
Come to think of it, my fastest time today
10.16 does not seem that bad to me. 45 meters is about 50 yards. The
shuttle run involves slowing down as you reach a 180 degree turn, a
complete stop in the middle of the 180 degree turn, and then having to
accelerate from a complete stop after the 180 degree turn; it involves two
such 180 degree turns.
Last time I did shuttle runs was in grade
school. These shuttle runs of mine today are in sneakers on a
wood-floored basketball court, they are not done using sprinting shoes
with little spikes embedded in the soles, on a track designed to
maximize sprinting speed.
The kind of shuttle run I am doing is not
directly comparable to the NFL type shuttle runs used to test people like
drafted rookies. In the NFL, the 20 yard shuttle runs involves running 5
yds to your left from your starting point, then turning around 180
degrees and running 10 yards to your right, and then turning
around 180 degrees and running 5 yards back to your left. In the NFL,
the 60 yard shuttle run involves running 5 yds, turning around (180 degree
turns) and running another 5, turning around and running 10, turning
around and running 10, turning around and running 15, and turning around
and running another 15 (seems strange that for a game like tackle football
they should use shuttle runs that involve so much 180 degree
turning).
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Adidas Powerline crosstrainers |
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Tuesday
5/22/07
Oak Sq Y
730-1030 PM
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Indoor games on basketball court |
Yesterday I was enjoying how this
British-American guy said, "You're England", and how this
Latin guy said, "You're Brazil"--I knew what they meant
was that they think of me as a national-team-level player for Brazil or
England--has in part to do with the notoriety of my fast times my
first day doing the 45 meter shuttle run. Plus many think I look Brazilian
and I have an English name.
Last night I pigged out on six pieces of
fried chicken, and 36 oz Coors beer plus 5 mg
melatonin pill right before going to sleep. Then I got
only about four hours sleep, fitful sleep. During the day today I did not
feel hungry, basically ate nothing, sort of forgot to
eat. About five hours before the game started had the tangerine juice,
plus the healthy oils, mineral pill, vit E pill, Brewers Yeast.
During the day had 12 oz double-strength coffee w cream sugar. I
had been awake for about 13 hours by the time it was game time.
Some or all of these factors affected my mood during the game. I
felt apathetic, I lacked zeal for the game.
My state of mind during the entire day
and also right before the game started was basically that I
could not imagine myself doing anything that I could take pride in, during
the coming game, because I felt apathetic and
unzealous.
During the first official
game:
My team won the official game,
7-6. They scored only six goals, but it was a four on four not a
three on three, seems there is less pressure on the goalie/sweeper in a 4
on 4 compared to a 3 on 3. I would say I have played better as a
goalie/sweeper in games in which I have allowed more goals such as 3 on 3
games. The goals-allowed stat does not reveal the number of
saves/interceptions/strips-of-ball, or the difficulty of such.
Most of their goals they made very good
shots. Today it seemed that due to my apathetic unzealous mental
state, a few times when I should have charged I did not. Still
there were lots of saves mainly due to a combination of clever positioning
combined with quickness on my part. A few times I charged the attacker to
strip the ball from him. On one of these charges the result was that Short
Moroccan, who I stripped of the ball was slightly crippled and frowning
for approx five minutes.
Even though it was a four on four, today I
often found myself alone facing two of them attacking me, or even three of
them attacking me. It was as if my team would periodically go completely
on vacation. On at least two of these occasions I managed to prevent them
from scoring.
We used Andrew's size 5 ball, I
forgot to check the psi but it was the bounciest ball we have ever used
must have been closer to proper psi than any ball we have used.
This was new and kind of a shock. Going up on a solo run I dribbled by 3
defenders--I sort of muddled through, losing the ball to one of the
defenders but then getting it back from him.
In front of the enemy goal with my back to
the enemy goal, a line drive pass came my way in the air from approx 20
yds away. I trapped it with my chest, it fell at my feet, at the exact
time it hit the ground I swiveled and fired an appropriately low shot at
the goalie approx 2 yds away from me. The ball would have nutmegged the
goalie as I had intended, gone through his legs, but Tall Moroccan
who was in the goal for them at the time, made a great save--he brought
his knee quickly inwards and downwards preventing the ball from going
through his legs.
I made a very
accurate right-footed 20 yard one touch pass to a team-mate
(Andrew), ball traveled on a line drive in the air to him exact hit on
target chest high. With one kick I stripped the ball from an onrushing
dribbler and simultaneously made this pass, it was an intentional pass
deliberately sent to the intended target.
I did some shuttle-run style defense. I
feinted that I was going to rush attacker 1, so when attacker 1 passed to
attacker 2, I was right on top of attacker 2. This forced attacker 2 to
make an awkward pass to attacker 1, I was quickly on attacker 1 and kicked
the ball away from attacker 1. One of me vs two of them but I got
the ball away from them.
Having dribbled by one of their defenders, I
muddled through a second defender--we both got our foots on the ball at
the same time, but my foot was dominant so the ball advantageously
went to a team-mate who was to my side and slightly in front of
me.
Caught in a corner with my back to the
court/pitch/field, my back between the players on the other team and the
ball, I back-pedaled dribbling with the sole of the foot first
spiing left and then spinning right and completely lost the guy marking
me. Then I dribble up the middle drew a defender and passed off a
good pass, I would say it was not my fault the pass did not result in a
fruitful play.
Another time caught in a corner, I showed
more poise than previously in such situations, backpedaled left with ball,
backpedaled right with ball, stepped back to place ball between myself and
the guy on the other team, then stepped over ball to put back to defender
and backpedal in defender's direction again--showed a snazziness with
backpedal-spin-sole-of-foot dribbling that I thought was not in
me. But the unfortunate ending was that I tried to heel the ball to the
middle and heeled it to the wrong team-mate (Tim), who was in an awkward
position in front of the goal.
Generally my positive characteristic
today in both games was that on the dribble, I used fast acceleration
and fast changes-of-direction combined with close tight control of the
ball to blow by people.
During the second game after the
first official game:
Second game ball used was size 3
Futsal, underinflated at 5.0 psi.
I hit a 'team-mate' eight yards away
from me with a perfectly targetted chip pass, that sailed over
the head of the guy marking me and went straight to my team-mate's head
as I had intended. Only it turned out that the guy I hit with the
perfect chip pass (it is tough to chip it over a nearby opponent to a
team-mate only eight yards away) was not actually a team-mate, I had
mistakenly thought he was a team-mate (neither team wore uniforms).
In this regard, before the first game started
today, Tariq told me not to do "that trick", and made a gesture with his
foot. I did not understand what he was trying to say. Tariq said,
"you have played soccer have'nt you?", as if only
people who had not played soccer would not understand. It was as if he was
sardonically stating that he doubted that I had ever played soccer before
these games at the Oak Sq Y, because I did not understand his body
language with his foot. Then I guessed that he was talking about
chip passes. He did not know that the term used for what he wanted
me to stop doing was "chip pass", "chipping" the ball. A chip
pass is a sort of lob pass. Tariq said that the other team was catching on
to my chip pass, anticipating it. So during the first
official game I did not chip the ball but kept my passes low. My
objection is that such is misdiagnosis. Sure in the game
previous to this one May 15 my chip pass was off. But in the other
games my chip passing has been excellent. Often the chip-passes I
have made have ended up fruitless because of mistakes by the pass
recipient--but at the same time such chip passes have given the
pass recipients a chance to learn and practice the art of receiving chip
passes. Furthermore the entire evening, Tariq after telling my not
to chip-pass, was himself attempting chip-pass after chip-pass he
attempted tons of chip-passes many of which failed.
Twice I dribbled by one or two of the guys on
the other team. I ended up in what to me was the very strange situation of
facing the enemy goalie while having the ball right in front of the enemy
goal. It was so new and strange that I shot wide or just passed
off. I suppose this would improve if I put some thought into what to do in
such situations.
Again as in the first game, there was
with me in dribbling, the tight ball control, fast acceleration, fast
sharp changes of direction.
I hounded this snazzy-dribbler Brazilian,
maintaining via quickness of body, close proximity to him as he went left
and right and left and right, using the sole of his foot on the ball,
shielding the ball with his body, doing the stop-and-go, touching the ball
with the sole of his right foot extended forward and outwards at a 45
degree angle being his favorite repose. I ended up knocking the ball away
from him.
Seemed the big deal today was, that
accounting for factors that degraded me physically and mentally today,
it seemed that the shuttle runs of a couple of days ago improved
my play and were superior prep compared to the run a mile walk a mile
alternating for a total of six miles thing. I did not get
as winded as on other days today. At various times my passing
dribbling shooting and defense outside the goal were all good. All
such aspects of the game involve quick movements of the body such as the
movements of the body in shuttle run sprints. It reminds me of how some
track coaches are apparently of the opinion that slow jogging can even
result in a slowing down of maximum sprint speed.
Today, I suspect due to the shuttle runs, I
did some things that reminded me of the way I played freshman year on the
freshman team at Harvard when in some scrimmages I dominated while playing
defense.
Alot of the guys who play in the games after
the first official game are Brazilians. Short Moroccan who I
temporarily injured in the first game, dominated against these
Brazilians. But he tends to be shut down by me playing defense
against him.
Night before this game I dreamt that
I fired an accurate line drive 30 yard shot (I actually did this
in a previous game), and also while not thinking too much due to fatigue
but at the same time having enough energy to carry on, dribbled through
lots of defenders, using spin moves, the sole of my foot, the Ronaldinho
move where the sole of the foot moves the ball in and then out or out and
then in, and the left and right stepover. So prior to the game I
practiced: Ronaldinho moves, 20 yd shots, spin moves on the dribble, left
and right stepovers. Looks like what actually worked in reality in
the game that was also anticipated in the dream, was the spin-move. And I
hit alot of hard accurate shots while practicing 20 yd shots before the
game started which reflects the good 30 yd shot in the dream, but I did
not get a chance to take long hard shots in the
game.
I am beginning to notice that though I score
few goals, there is one offensive stat I seem to excel in: yards
penetrated on the dribble per minute spent playing offense. I do
not spend that many minutes playing offense but I seem to dribble the ball
a long ways into enemy territory past defenders alot relative to the
amount of time I spend on offense. |
Adidas Bracara indoors shoes |
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Sunday
May 27
Outdoor track
706 PM - approx 830 PM |
45 meter shuttle runs, timed,
indoors
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RE the previous shuttle runs of May 20, from
the middle of the free throw line to the middle of the other free throw
line is actually 97.4% of 15 meters slightly less than 15 meters.
Thus to be exact, for example, 10.19 seconds time on the free
throw line to free throw line course should by multiplied by 1.027 to get
the figure for what this time would be if the distance was exactly 15
meters per length and 45 meters total--10.47 seconds.
Woke up approx 830 AM. started runs
approx 706 PM. Had medium coffee with cream and sugar
from Exxon Tigermart immediately before running. Had two or
three slices pizza before running.
Before running I did not do the kind of
stretching that I have been doing for a long time now before every
practice. The kind of stretching I have been doing in the past is
called "active static" stretching. This stretching routine of
mine has been as follows: touch toes while standing; touch toes
with legs spread while standing; keep one leg straight and to one side and
other leg bent and to other side, push hands against knee of bent leg; lie
down on ground and hold one ankle near buttock while pushing knee of same
leg downwards; sit on ground with soles of feet touching, holding toes,
wobble knees; stand and while leaning against wall stretch calves by
moving foot backwards and pushing heel towards ground, with heel pointed
in, pointed out, and straight. And I have not been doing any
jogging as a warmup before starting practices.
According to Fletcher and Jones
(2004) ( http://www.rfu.com/pdfs/technical_journal/sprintperformance.pdf
) the kind of stretching I have been doing has probably been actually
slowing me down by approx 1.5% compared to what my speed would have been
had I not done any stretching at all. They recommended as a superior
alternative, "active dynamic" stretching. I did not understand
exactly what these "active dynamic" stretching exercises are but I did my
best to understand them. My interpretation of the Fletcher/Jones active
dynamic stretch/warm-up before sprints is as follows:
Jog 10 minutes or 2000 yards (today I
did 200 yds at approx 3.5 mph)
(high knees--High knees: upright body
position, good running form, emphasis on exaggerated knee lift at least
parallel to the ground)
1 high knees 20 reps left leg while jogging, walk back recovery 2 high knees 20 reps right leg while jogging, walk back recovery ('flick backs' -- unknown to most of the world yet unexplained by fletcher and jones. Apparently same thing as "butt kicks" or "bum kicks", the heel is kicked exaggeratedly towards the buttock. 1 Flick backs, 20 reps left leg while jogging, walk back recovery 2 Flick backs, 20 reps right leg while jogging, walk back recovery ('hip rolls' -- again unkown to the world for
track yet unexplained. So my guess is...the left or the right hip is
rolled forward while jogging)
1 Hip roll, 20 reps left hip while jogging, walk back recovery 2 Hip roll, 20 reps right hip while jogging walk back recovery ('running cycles' --again unknown to the
world yet unexplained, I cannot guess what they are)
(straight leg skipping some call this the
soldier skip...not sure what it is yet unexplained..my guess, skip while
keeping the leg straight)
1 straight leg skip, 20 reps left leg while jogging, walk back recovery 2 straight leg skip, 20 reps right leg while jogging, walk back recovery I did all the above except for the hip rolls
which I forgot to do and do not really understand how to do, and the
'running cycles' re which I do not understand how they are
done.
Runs involved, from one white-tape line
to opposite white-tape line, 180 degree turn back to
first white-tape line, then another 180 degree turn to opposite
white-tape line. This on the pebbly rubber track approach to the long-jump
sandbox on the inside of the track. Method was to do a 45 meter shuttle
run, mark the time on card (this marking took 25 seconds), rest for 30
seconds, jog slowly for 15 meters, REPEAT. Thus the total rest
between the jog/sprints was 55 seconds each time. Runs were from a stationary standing start, end lines
were touched with the foot not the hand. But on the first six runs
of the day the rest was approx 35 seconds between
jog/sprints.
Results were as follows (times for each
shuttle run, stopwatch started at exact same time that I started
run)
Note: the exact distance of the 15 meters
course run today, the long jump track inside the perimeter of the oval
running track, is 99.4% of 15 meters. To be exact times on this
course should be multiplied by 1.006 to extrapolate what the time would be
on a course that is exactly 15 meters. Thus the 9.77 seconds, the best
time today, extrapolates to 9.83 seconds.
First 24 runs start 706 PM end 739
PM
9.88, 9.77, 10.16, 11.20,
12.92, 12.00, (from here on rest between jog sprints rises from 35 seconds
to 55 seconds) 12.29, 12.84, 12.37, 11.71, 11.90, 11.57, 11.43, 12.31,
10.95, 11.16, 10.90, 11.49, 11.60, 11.41,
10.96, 11.52, 11.49, 11.74
AVG 11.48
13 minute break
Second 24 runs start 752 PM forgot to note
end time
11.85, 11.31, 11.27, 11.87, 11.53, 11.10,
10.81, 10.72, 10.99, 11.56, 11.06, 11.43,
11.49, 11.56, 11.59, 11.45, 11.34, 10.93,
11.20, 11.43, 11.36, 11.20, 11.39,
11.28
AVG 11.32
OVERALL AVG
11.40
The two fastest runs at the
beginning, I think I did them starting with my right foot
forward; but afterwards I did almost all of them with my left
foot forward.
I think that on every run I used my my left
foot to touch the end line. After the first two runs, I found that
I was able to push up the speed without exhausting myself too much by
maximizing the length of the strides. All the runs were on the
balls of the feet.
Once I extended the rests between jog/sprints
from 35 seconds to 55 seconds I stopped hyperventilating between shuttle
runs. I ended up sweating, the sweating and the hyperventilating
were not nearly as bad as last time May 20 when the rest intervals were
approx 35 seconds instead of 55 seconds.
I noticed that in the second half,
from run 1 to run 8 I got faster and faster this has to do with the fact
that I became stiff during the 13 minute rest.
Up till today I have been using the
old-fashioned stuff I was taught back in high school, no jogging
before starting the sprints, and active-static stretching. Today I changed
to jogging and active-dynamic stretching, seems there was an improvement
in speed.
While I was running, about eight high school
footbal type young men, blacks and browns and whites were watching. After
a few runs I heard deep voices saying, "he's fast". Then I saw some of the
blacks watching wave their arms around and laugh as if the sight of
someone doing a shuttle run of the type I am doing is very funny. I must
admit it is kind of funny, the frantic 180 degree turns must be funny
looking. Hearing the collegial good-natured sounds these guys made when
they played touch football I was thinking to myself that the poetic
prayers I have been emailing to local youth coaches must be having a
positive effect.
CONCLUSION
The best time of May 20 indoors on the
indoor basketball court for a shuttle run of approx 45
meters, on an approx 15 meter course involving two 180 degree turns,
extrapolates to 10.47 seconds on a course that is exactly
15 meters in length for a total of exactly 45 meters after the two turns.
The best time today May 20 outdoors on the
pebbly rubber track extrapolates to 9.83 seconds on an exactly 15 meter
course run for exactly 45 meters after the two turns. This is an
improvement of 0.64 seconds, a BIG improvement. How much
of this improvement has to do with the difference between a
basketball court and a pebbly rubber track, how much of it has to
do with getting better with practice, how much of it has
to do with the change in the warmup instituted
today--these are questions I do not know the exact answer to.
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Adidas Powerline crosstrainers |
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Tuesday
5/29/07
Oak Sq Y
730-1030 PM
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Indoor games on basketball court |
About four hours before game had a banana, the tangerine juice brewers yeast all the healthy oils etc., three pieces chicken, had one cup coffee earlier, one cup green tea. Before the game I jogged 3 laps
slowly around the basketball court. My calves hurt. I stretched them
and ran 6 more slowly, the calves still hurt. Looks like a layoff from the
jogging/walking does not get rid of the calf pain. But my calves did not
hurt during the game.
Then in the warmup, I did "active/dynamic"
stretching exercises while jogging, imitating the kind of movements I make
when I make saves while playing no-hands-goalie. Basically this evening I
did the new warmup for the 45 meter shuttle with some modification.
While kicking the ball around before the game I concentrated on one-touch
side-of-foot roller passes (by one touch I mean I did not stop the ball
before passing it).
We won the first official game
10-6. Even though they had one substitute to rotate in and out
and we had none.
Official Game First
Half
Defense
They scored twice. Pink-Cheeks got the ball
unmolested in front of the goal I was guarding, about two yards in front
of me, I was about a yard in front of the goal. He shot the ball to the
side of my left hip and scored. This was a great shot by Pink-Cheeks,
cleverly and accurately placed, very difficult to defend against. But
Pink-Cheeks is very humble. When I talked with him re his offensive
ability in this kind of soccer that I told him I admired, he said that he
thought I must be talking about somebody else. He is from Moses
Brown High School in Rhode Island. He sounds as if he has not played alot
of competitive high-level soccer. Then again Falcao who is supposed to be
the world's best Futsal player, according to what I read, first played
soccer when he was 22 years old, despite being a Brazilian (everyone
thinks Brazilians learn to play soccer before they can walk).
On their second goal Tall-Moroccan got the
ball alone about ten yards in front of the goal that I was defending
and about a yard in front of. I feinted that I was going to charge
him and stopped, he shot the ball at the space between my legs, my
right knee closed inwards and my right heel deflected the ball into
my goal, I felt he was kind of lucky. Both of their goals were produced by
very good shots on their part, with them close to the goal and facing me
alone.
Offense
I dribbled past 2 defenders up the middle;
before I went past the first one I had already planned the zig zag
route I would take to beat both of them--and I adhered to this pre-planned
zig-sag route to get past both of them. I ended the dribble by
passing off to a team-mate on the side near the enemy goal. The team-mate
passed the ball back to me but I was not alert to receive the pass the
other team got it. This was because I had begun to panic that
there was nobody guarding my goal since I had left it to go on
the attack. I looked back at my goal instead of keeping my eye on
the play and guess what--it was indeed totally undefended the other
team could have easily scored. This is an example of what I go
through trying to go on the offense, there is the constant worry that
nobody has stepped back to replace me as the sweeper/no-hands goalie,
and indeed often the reality is that the goal is left wide open
nobody has dropped back.
On another play I stopped the ball with my
chest, the ball bounced in front of me, on one bounce I sent a
perfect very high, at least 30 feet high at-apex 20 yards in length chip
pass to Tariq with my left foot. I sent the ball where I wanted
to the way I wanted to. The ball was perfectly placed, not close enough to
the defender 25 yds in front of me so as to allow him to get it; at the
same time it was perfectly hanged in the air (tackle
football punters try to 'hang' their punts) so as to
allow Tariq to have time to get to it. I think I have this talent, even
when I do not practice with a ball duting the week, for getting just the
right 'hang' into chip passes. Ironically Tariq
last week ordered me not to chip-pass and I had obeyed him. Tariq
had difficulty handling this chip pass I sent him--which just goes to show
what a rarity this kind of pass is in the soccer-world of Tariq and people
like him. You could say I am boastful to talk about this
chip pass, but the fact is I have come to realize that (part of)
wisdom consists of doing the things you are good at, and practicing the
things you are good at, which has to do with knowing what you are good at.
Official game 2nd
Half
Defense
They scored four weird goals. The first one,
after going up to about half court, as I was running back to guard the
goal when they got the ball, for just an instant I took my eye off the
game--I did not think they would shoot so quickly--and in that exact same
instant, they got the ball just past me on a line drive and into the
goal--it made them seem like the height of cunning.
The second one, Herod had dropped back to
goal for just a couple of minutes as I had gone up and they scored on him.
It was sort of like for two minutes they put pressure on someone other
than me and in those two minutes they scored. I realize that there were
other minutes when I was not in goal and they did not score but in those
other minutes, there was little if any pressure on the goalie/sweeper.
The third goal, the shot was a hard roller, I
got my foot on it, and to my surprise it just went over my foot and into
the goal--I could not believe it. I guess that hard roller shots do not
interact with the foot the same way roller passes in warmup do and we
should be aware of this.
The fourth goal, Coach-woman (the name I give
to this white woman with straight black hair who is a track coach and who
sometimes plays on the other team) scored on me; I blocked her shot she
got the rebound and scored. I was very surprised, and my surprise was
justified because the goal behind me, which is not fastened to the floor,
had swiveled almost 90 degrees towards my right as a result of which
Coachwoman was able to score by shooting the ball at a point which would
have gone outside the right goalpost had the goal been in position. After
this goal Tariq told me that I should charge Coachwoman when she has the
ball near me like that, while I protested to him that the problem was that
the goal had swiveled. Tariq seemed oblivious to the fact that the goal
had swiveled.
Offense
I dribbled past two of the other team and
passed off; this dribble-charge was like the first one, I
pre-planned my route past the two defenders before charging past the first
defender. This did not immediately lead to a goal but before the
ball left the other team's half, I was in the left corner, I got a roller
pass, and I sent a perfectly led side-of-right-foot (I am left-footed)
roller pass to Tariq in front of the goal who scored--so this was an
official assist for me. It was a smart pass because it caught the other
team's goalie out of position. Notably before the game in
warmup as we kicked the ball around I had decided that I was going to be
humble, master something basic, I had felt that mastering
something basic and humble would relax me for the more advanced things,
and was appropriate to my level of conditioning and my accustomed humble
style of play. So before the game in warmup every time
the ball was kicked to me my response was to hit a one touch roller pass
to someone. By one touch I mean, the ball was not stopped before
being passed, it was ricocheted, deflected with one touch.
Game after First Official
Game
Offense
On one run I dribbled past a couple of the
defenders, this run was like the two runs on which I
dribbled past a couple of the defenders earlier in the evening, the
premeditated and adhered to zig-zag, quick acceleration and changes of
direction with ball tightly controlled.
On another play I intercepted a
pass, dribbled forward, shot on an empty net from 20 yards
hard, missed slightly but scored on the rebound.
On a third play I had the ball 30 yards from
the other team's goal. There was a defender about ten yards in front of
the enemy goal. I chipped the ball from 30 yards over the
defender's head, it bounced once before going into the little 3.7 feet by
4.7 feet goal, I accomplished what I had intended to accomplish
score a goal by chipping. It reminded me of how in previous of these
games, I had taken long chip-shots or long line-drive shots that
had just missed by a little--I was thinking, I tried again to do
what I had almost succeeded in doing previously, and this time I
succeeded. It reminded me of of how Tariq, who had left the gym
when I did this, had told me last week not to chip-pass the ball because
"they are catching on to it".
Defense
A guy to my right dribbled forward, I lunged
to my right in a good-faith attempt to reach the ball, I missed the ball,
but the area of my thigh immediately above my right knee hit the vertical
middle of his right thigh. He went sprawling, he really took a hard
forward dive, like a baseball player sliding head first into a base. They
called a foul on me, the first foul that I can remember that has ever been
called on me in these games. But I felt
innocent, I felt I had tried to reach the ball and missed and he had run
right into my leg.
Afterwards, though I had not intended to foul
the guy, I felt kind of proud, I felt something noteworthy had happened.
The guy who I sent sprawling is my height, about five feet ten
inches, but he is very stocky and muscular, I would estimate that he
weighs 225 pounds--yet the collision with him produced zero pain or injury
in me, and his attempted dribble was completely disrupted. This
guy who went sprawling is the same guy who had earlier encouraged us to
play 3 on 3 full court (which I felt is too tiring and de-emphasizes skill
development too much) because he wanted to "work his tummy off". But
nowadays as I get less tired and as I realize my proficiency in long-range
chip and line-drive passes and shots I appreciate the fun of playing full
court.
General
Notes
Today I found that in scrapping for a loose
ball with Coachwoman (the only woman who ever plays with us) or
with other opposing players who tend to be lighter and shorter than
me, I would sort of let up, sort of trying to be polite and not be frowned
at or hated. But I found that Coachwoman and these slightly small guys
were being extremely physical and aggressive with their bodies, their
arms, their hands, in scrapping for the ball. IMHO as of now,
this calls for me taking the gloves off as they were a few weeks ago when
it comes to scrapping for the ball.
NOTE: My team beat the other team worse when
Coachwoman did not show up for the evening, than it did when Coachwoman
played on the other team. It had seemed to me that Coachwoman was
physically fit, played intelligently, tried hard to bring victory to her
team on both offense and defense, had been well-coached, was strong,
a serious female-soccer-player not to be underestimated. She said "nice
game" or something to me after the game, and I told her that she
seemed to be a well-coached player. Then she told me what
I had not known which was that she was an assistant coach on the Tufts
track team--I thought it was funny, showed prescience on my part.
Plus she had played on the Wheaton soccer team, she had played university
level soccer as I had thought.
Today I always was able to
succesfully penetrate the defense on the dribble when I was able to get up at least a little head of steam
before meeting the first defender, three times I dribbled past two
defenders, penetrating deep into enemy territory, using fast acceleration
and quick cuts combined with tight control of the ball--similarly last
week there were similar dribbling exploits.
But a few times when I did not have a chance
to get up a head of steam before meeting the defender on the
dribble, I lost the ball. In this context the important thing
to remember is that what is being revealed is what I am good at when the
only work I do all week with the ball is play in games once a week which
is the way things have been now for a couple of weeks. I
think I can see how the kind of dribbling that is done without building up
a head of steam before reaching the defender(s) suffers when it is not
practiced.
Conditioning-wise, I did not get winded as I
used to before I started the once a week shuttle run sessions, I noticed
improvement, yet I was still not where I want to be fitness wise.
I was thinking, I can run all those 45 meter shuttle runs so fast with
such short intervals between runs, but this game is still tiring me out
even though it is less physically demanding than the shuttle runs.
Hypothesis: maybe shuttle runs should be done featuring 90 degree turns,
sideways skipping, running backwards etc. as such are all part of real
games.
I have not pushed myself to the level of
exhaustion I got to when I was less fit, but I suppose I should try to to
find out what my new exertion-tolerance is, and to take advantage of my
improving fitness. Seems I've gotten used to a style of play
appropriate for someone less fit than I am as of today because in the past
I have been less fit.
Defensively, I realized that I had made some
good plays that I could forget about because they did not involve me
touching the ball. For example I charged onrushing attackers and forced
them to fire a wild shot or an errant pass; I hounded opposing players
passing the ball back and forth until I forced them into making a bad
pass. Such plays are good defensive plays, but I fear they all too
often go unnoticed because they lack the element of that satisfying
dramatic thump of the ball hitting the foot. I had several
saves today but they were mostly a matter of me carefully and
intelligently and cautiously positioning myself.
Today there was a guy on my team, Gabriel,
who played hard on defense. I could do an excellent job as
no-hands-goalie/sweeper when nobody on my team puts any effort into
defense, and allow more goals than I allow when doing a merely humdrum job
as no-hands-goalie/sweeper but enjoying the advantage of having on my team
someone who plays zealous defense. Gabriel told me that running
miles is not as good for conditioning for Futsal as shuttle runs, but I
should still run miles because running miles is "really good" for
me.
|
Adidas Bracara indoors shoes |
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|
6/1/07
|
Conditioning Exercise Development |
In the last game, I found myself confronted
with the problem, that I was more tired than I expected to be, given
my ability to run 45 meter shuttle run after 45 meter shuttle run for a
total of 48 such shuttle runs approx a shuttle run once every 1.0-1.5
minute, each shuttle run involving two 180 degree turns.
I could not understand how I could be able to
run a fairly quick 45 meter shuttle run about once a minute, but still
feel too tired during a game to do things that involved less energy than a
45 meter shuttle run once a minute. I concluded that the problem was that
in the games I was moving my body in ways that differ from the movements
found in a 45 meter shuttle run, and thus I was getting fatigued to a
point that surprised me.
I concluded that I would have to develop new
anaerobic-endurance-developing exercises that mimicked body movements used
in games but not used in the total of 45 meters run shuttle run with
two 180 degree turns. After a fair amount of deep thought, I came up with
the following supplemental anaerobic-endurance development drills (by
supplemental I mean above and beyond the fundamental 45 meter shuttle
run involving two 180 degree turns and a total of 45 meters run). The
following drills are intended to supplement not replace the 45 meter
shuttle runs.
Supplemental Anaerobic-Endurance
Development Drills
A
Sideways two-pace Squares 3X
40-65 second rest between
runs
6 clockwise, 6
counter-clockwise
B
Sideways 3 pace 45 degree
diagonals
Each run involves five on-the-run 45
degree turns
30-55 seconds rest and then jog back
to starting point between each run
6 with clockwise turns, 6 with
counter-clockwise turns
13 minute rest
C
8 Pace Square 1X
40-65 second rest between
reps
6 clockwise, 6
counter-clockwise
D
8 Pace 45 Degree Diagonals
Each run involves 2 on-the-run 45
degree turns
30-55 seconds rest and then jog back
to starting point between each run
6 runs clockwise turns, 6 runs
counterclockwise turns
How to do the above
exercises:
A: Run sideways, with torso and face facing
perpendicular to the direction of movement. Run two paces, make a 90
degree turn, run two paces, make a 90 degree turn, run two paces, make a
90 degree turn, and run two more paces. This forms one square. Do the
square three times non-stop before pausing for the 40-65 second
break.
B: Run sideways, with
torso and face facing perpendicular to the direction of movement.
Run three paces, make a 45 degree turn; run three paces, make
a 45 degree turn; run three paces, make a 45 degree turn;
run three paces, make a 45 degree turn; run three paces, make a 45
degree turn; run three more paces. After each run rest for 30-55 seconds,
jog back to the starting point and repeat.
C: Run in the normal fashion. Run eight
paces, make a 90 degree turn; run eight paces, make a 90 degree turn; run
eight paces, make a 90 degree turn; run eight more paces. This constitutes
one run. Between each run rest for 40-65 seconds.
D: Run in the normal fashion. Run eight
paces, make a 45 degree turn; run eight paces, make a 45
degree turn; run eight more paces. After each run rest for 30-55
seconds, jog back to the starting point and repeat.
|
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|
6/2/07
Outdoors
511-626 PM
on rubber track |
Anaerobic Conditioning Drills |
Supplemental Anaerobic-Endurance
Development Drills Implemented
Results:
A 6 clockwise 45 sec rest between
runs
A 6 counterclockwise 45 sec rest between
runs
B 6 clockwise 40 sec rest + 10 sec jog
between runs
B 6 counter-clockwise 35 sec rest + 10 sec
jog between runs
C 6 clockwise 40 sec rest between runs 9-11
secs per run
C 6 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs
D 6 clockwise 50 sec rest between runs 5-8
seconds per run
D 6 counter-clockwise 60 sec rest between
runs
A and B were not exhausting at all. C and D
were exhausting to the point of producing hyper-ventilation. The workout
became a sweaty workout in the second half of the workout. Thus after deep
thought, my recommendation for Supplemental Anaerobic-Endurance
Development Drills Phase II is:
Supplemental Anaerobic-Endurance
Workout II
A 6 clockwise 30 sec rest between runs
A 6 counter-clockwise 30 sec rest between
runs
B 6 clockwise 30 sec rest between
runs
B 6 counter-clockwise 30 sec rest between
runs
C 6 clockwise 50 sec rest between runs
(forget the jog)
10 minute break
C 6 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs (forget the jog)
D 6 clockwise 50 sec rest between runs
(forget the jog)
D 6 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs (forget the jog)
E 6 clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs
E 6 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs
The new exercise E
is:
E
6 Pace 135 Degree
Diagonals
Each run involves 3 on-the-run
135 degree turns
50 seconds rest between each
run
6 runs clockwise turns, 6 runs
counterclockwise turns
How to do E:
E: Run in the normal fashion. Run six
paces, make a 135 degree turn; run six paces, make a 135
degree turn; run six paces, make a 135 degree turn; run six more
paces. After each run rest for 50 seconds.
Of note is that this week I recovered from
the workout on Sunday and the game on Tuesday by Saturday and worked out
on Saturday. In previous weeks I recovered from the workout on Sunday and
the game on Tuesday, only by the next Sunday. Such is an improvement.
IMHO, quality and quantity of food effects the workout recovery time, how
long it takes before you have recovered from the game so you can practice,
workout. I have not been paying enough attention to quality and quantity
of food.
|
Adidas Powerpoint Crosstrainers |
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|
6/3/07
outdoors
on rubber track
626-730 PM |
Anaerobic Conditioning Drills |
Did the "Supplemental
Anaerobic-Endurance Workout II" described in the above
entry. The 30 second rests between runs on A and B were more than
adequate. The 50 second rests between runs on C-E were just about
right for me given the shape that I am in now. The break after half
of C came too early as a result of which more than half of the
workout was done after the 10 minute break. My plan
now is to next time out do "Supplemental Anaerobic-Endurance Workout II-B"
which is as follows:
Supplemental Anaerobic-Endurance
Workout II-B
A 6 clockwise 20 sec rest between runs
A 6 counter-clockwise 20 sec rest between
runs
B 6 clockwise 20 sec rest between
runs
B 6 counter-clockwise 20 sec rest between
runs
C 6 clockwise 50 sec rest between runs
C 6 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs
10 minute break
D 6 clockwise 50 sec rest between runs
D 6 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs
E 6 clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs
E 6 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs I would not be surprised if I have stumbled
on to something in terms of running a certain number of paces as opposed
to a certain number of yards. Stopping and making a turn after going a
certain number of paces as opposed to after going to a certain marker
point, could have subtle positive effects in terms of learning to improve
technique on turns.
I am getting over this mental problem thing
of skipping the wind sprints for the day if I do not feel like I can give
a 110 percent effort on them. I have to come to realize that a
wind sprint session could be helpful, even if I can only produce an effort
that is say 80% of maximum effort. I think it was the Olympic track star
Edwin Moses who said he never goes all out in practice. In weightlifting
weightlifters often do reps and sets at 80% max, 90% max etc.
Looks like now I am finally able to
go out and do these wind-sprints on an almost daily basis,
they are now not so tiring that I need one or two days off between
wind-sprints days.
|
Adidas Powerpoint cross-trainers |
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| 6/5/07 |
Notes on Creatine
Wind-Sprints Workout Revision
|
Here re Creatine I present
my current opinions and my sense of what the Internet web pages are saying
re Creatine
I researched the physiological attributes of ten second type wind-sprints interspersed with rests of around 50 seconds. Several web pages declared that such wind sprints are "anaerobic". This I could not believe. I felt certain that such wind sprints are both aerobic and anaerobic also. I looked at some more pages and concluded that actually according to Japanese scientific research as opposed to according to conjecture, such wind sprints do indeed combine aerobic and anaerobic body functions. I figure that when some people say sprints-at-intervals are "anaerobic" they mean that unlike purely aerobic exercises they have amongst other things an anaerobic element to them. The anaerobic exercises strengthen the large
chamber of the heart while the aerobic exercises strengthen the small
chamber. Thus a combo of aerobic and anaerobic is good the the heart.
What is primarily utilized in sprinting for
ten seconds, is ATP for the first 5 seconds and ATP plus
Creatine-Phosphate which kicks in for seconds 5-30 while
sprinting.
The word 'creatine' set off alarm bells in my
head. I remembered how a few years ago, some Olympics-level sprinters got
into trouble for enhancing their performance with Creatine. I looked into
Creatine. Creatine is not frowned upon any more by the sports
authorities...the majority of the top athletes in certain sports use
Creatine.
There are various types of Creatine and
various levels of evidence available to show that this or that type is
efficacious in enhancing performance.
Some types of Creatine can do things like
increase the size of muscle cells or increase the number of muscle cells
(I do not remember exactly which) that other types of Creatine cannot do.
Some types of Creatine are counteracted in their functioning by substances
such as caffeine while other types of Creatine are not. There are various
tricks that can be used to increase the amount of Creatine that is
usefully absorbed by the muscles, some tricks work with this kind of
Creatine other tricks work with that kind of Creatine.
At first glance, the Malate form of Creatine
is the newest thing, the Hydrochloride is the second-newest thing thus
ranked below the Malate, and the Monohydrate forM of Creatine is older
than these two, ranked below them in the caste system.
I went to Arsenal Mall in Watertown MA, to
inspect the Creatines available at Vitamin World and GNC. Vitamin World
had only Monohydrate Creatine sold under various names. GNC had a few
different types of Creatine. GNC had Anavol (impervious to
caffeine) for $42 180 capsules 4 capsules per dose 45 doses; 'CE2'
Ethyl Ester HcL type; Creatine-D2T for $60 containing Creatine Ethyl
Ester, AKG, and Decanoate.
And GNC had 'Anabolic Switch', for $40
containing (creatines) Creatine Monohydrate, 2CM Dicreatine Malate,
Magnesium Creatine, Creatine Alpha-Ketoglutarate, Creatine Ethyl Ester
HCL, Creatine HCL, Creatine Anhydrous; (amino acids) Threonine Valine
Methionine Leucine Isoleucine Phenylalanine Histidine Lycine; (other)
sodium potassium protein-4-gms, sugars,Taurine, Beta Alanine, Arginine
Alpha-Ketoglutarate, Calcium, Phosphorus, Chromium, Iron, Magnesium. $40
gets you 20 doses or 'servings' of 'Anabolic Switch', $2 per dose.
The salesman thought I should get the Anavol
at $1 per dose, I got the 'Anabolic Switch' which seemed worth the extra
money at $2 per dose. Then I found out that you are supposed to take the
'Anabolic Switch' twice a day on both training and non-training days, and
that you are supposed to cycle 4 weeks taking 'Anabolic Switch' and 2
weeks off not taking 'Anabolic Switch'. Thus the cost of 'Anabolic Switch'
comes taking into account cycling on and off to $2.70 per day, but it
still seems worth it to me compared to Anavol which at first glance was $1
per dose but could also once you read the fine print involve more than one
dose per day, I am not sure.
The 'Anabolic Switch' contains seven
different types of Creatine which puts you on the safe side, seeing that
there is little scientific evidence documenting the efficacy of the newer
types of Creatine, different Creatines have different effects, Creatines
react with different invidivuals in different ways, different Creatines
are inhibited by different substances, and one would expect that the body
naturally uses different types of Creatine. Plus the 'Anabolic Switch'
contains all these amino acids. If I am going to experiment with Creatine,
might as well go all the way and cough up the extra $1.70 per day for the
'Anabolic Switch' and scrimp/save the $1.70 per day some place else.
Took first dose of 'Anabolic Switch',
3 cupfuls using the cup that comes with the 'Anabolic Switch' with 8 oz
spring water, approx 1030 PM Monday June 4.
New Workout
Looking at the most recent form of the
'supplemental anaerobic-endurance workout' I came up with a couple of new
ideas, leading to the following:
Supplemental Anaerobic-Endurance
Workout II-C
A 4 clockwise 20 sec rest between runs
A 4 counter-clockwise 20 sec rest
between runs
B 4 clockwise 20 sec rest between
runs
B 4 counter-clockwise 20 sec rest
between runs
C 4 clockwise 50 sec rest between runs
C 4 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest
between runs
D 4 clockwise 50 sec rest between runs
D 4 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest
between runs
10 minute break
E 4 clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs
E 4 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest
between runs
F 8 50 sec rest between
runs
G 8 50 sec rest between
runs
How to do the
new F and G:
F:
Run in the normal fashion. Run four paces, after making the fourth
step bring the other foot up even with the forward foot and come to a
complete (but minimal in terms of time) halt; repeat this eight times to
complete a run; rest for 50 seconds.
G: Run in the normal
fashion. Run nine paces, make a 180 degree turn; run nine paces, make
a 180 degree turn; run nine more paces. Rest for 50 seconds.
Review of How Wind-sprints A-G are
done:
A: Run sideways, with
torso and face facing perpendicular to the direction of movement. Run two
paces, make a 90 degree turn, run two paces, make a 90 degree turn, run
two paces, make a 90 degree turn, and run two more paces. This forms one
square. Do the square three times non-stop before pausing for the
40-65 second break.
B: Run sideways, with torso and face facing perpendicular to the
direction of movement. Run three paces, make a 45 degree turn;
run three paces, make a 45 degree turn; run three paces, make
a 45 degree turn; run three paces, make a 45 degree turn;
run three paces, make a 45 degree turn; run three more paces. After
each run rest for 30-55 seconds, jog back to the starting point and
repeat.
C: Run in the normal
fashion. Run eight paces, make a 90 degree turn; run eight paces,
make a 90 degree turn; run eight paces, make a 90 degree turn; run eight
more paces. This constitutes one run. Between each run rest for 40-65
seconds.
D: Run in the normal fashion. Run eight
paces, make a 45 degree turn; run eight paces, make a 45
degree turn; run eight more paces. After each run rest for 30-55
seconds, jog back to the starting point and repeat.
E: Run in the normal
fashion. Run six paces, make a 135 degree turn; run six
paces, make a 135 degree turn; run six paces, make a 135 degree
turn; run six more paces. After each run rest for 50
seconds. F: Run in the normal
fashion. Run four paces, after making the fourth step bring the other
foot up even with the forward foot and come to a complete (but minimal in
terms of time) halt; repeat this eight times to complete a run; rest for
50 seconds.
G: Run in the normal fashion. Run nine
paces, make a 180 degree turn; run nine paces, make a 180 degree turn; run
nine more paces. Rest for 50 seconds. |
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| 6/6/07 |
Notes on Relevance of Swimming,
'Swind-sprints' workout
|
Looks like wind-sprints are of necessity an
important part of conditioning for soccer. This fact leads to the point,
that activities that runners find to be helpful with regards to their
running, are of relevance to soccer by way of being of relevance to
conditioning for soccer. Runners have reported that integrating swimming
into their workout schedule has produced good results.
I am much closer to the world record pace
when swimming approx a mile, than I am when running approx a mile. Seems
that for various reasons I am able to push my body harder endurance-wise
in the water. In the water I do not run into the problem of pain in the
calves and the soles of the feet that I experience when running on land. I
can tell that water facilitates easy deep breathing from the fact that
after a hard swim while I am still immersed in the water I do not breathe
hard, but as soon as I get out of the water I find myself breathing hard.
It seems swimming by working every part of
the body strengthens the body for certain aspects of soccer such as scraps
for a lose ball.
On the internet I did some Google searching
related to conditioning via running. I ran into a web-page where the guy
was enthusing about cross-training, substituting a run with a swim once in
a while. I think he was also into running underwater using some special
equipment you buy. He felt that: swimming etc. is good for the
joints/muscles that get stiff and sore from running; swimming builds up
endurance; swimming is good for the health; he made some other points I
can't remember.
Thus I got to thinking that just as I have
transitioned from alternating a mile run and a mile walked for
a total of six miles, to 45-60 minutes of one wind-sprint on land per
minute, so also I can transition from swimming approx 1500 yards slowly
non-stop, to swimming wind-sprints, featuring me doing an approx 15 second
swim-sprint, combined with 45 second breaks between sprints.
Just as typical swimming, involving fairly
long distances swum at an averagish speed can produce good results for
runners and for the general health, so also, my conjecture is that
swimming wind-sprints (which I have not read anything about or seen
practiced) can produce a good impact on running and the general
health; and by way of the positive impact on running, positively impact
soccer performance. If wind-sprints running on land help with a type of
endurance important in soccer, so also wind-sprints swimming in water can
be expected to help with this kind of endurance.
The past has shown that I am better at
sprints both on land and in water than I am at the long distance type
stuff on land or in water. By not neglecting an occasional wind-sprint
swimming session I might be able to produce some times that impress
people, especially when combined with my sprint times on land.
The shortest swimming races are 50 yards,
completed by the fastest swimmers when they are not fatigued, in about 20
seconds. By way of contrast my hypothesis based on the available
evidence is that for indoor soccer of the Futsal type, conditioning
should involve sprints of approx 10 seconds combined with a rest of approx
40 seconds. My resolution of this conflict for now, is that my
swimming wind-sprints will involve starting a 25 yard sprint with the
second hand at zero, and at the end of the sprint waiting until the second
hand returns to zero before starting the next 25 yard sprint.
So the swimming wind-sprints workout I came
up with is as follows:
Swimming Wind-sprints Workout
I
Swim 25 yds at brisk pace, 24 times,
approximately one 25 yd swim per minute.
Rest 10 minutes
Swim 25 yds at brisk pace, 24 times,
approximately one 25 yd swim per minute.
|
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Thursday
6/7/07 Outdoors
655-805 PM |
Wind sprints conditioning
|
Creatine consumption (brand
is 'Anabolic Switch' unless noted): Drank 8 oz water + 3
measuring spoon (spoon that came with purchased creatine unless
noted) of creatine powder 1250 AM June 7 today. 636 PM today
immediately before workout, I consumed 1 spoon
creatine powder + 8 oz water. 815 PM today immediately after
workout, I consumed 3 spoon creatine powder + 12 oz
water.
Walked a quarter mile as warmup and stretch.
Then did 'Supplemental Anaerobic-Endurance
Workout II-C' described June 5.
Seemed that the creatine made me feel
less tired before and after the workout, resulted in my legs feeling
stronger and quicker during the workout, and resulted in feeling
less sore and stiff after the workout. Not sure effect
re speed of runs I timed only a couple of the runs, using an everyday
watch accurate only to the second (this kind of everyday watch not
accurate to tenths or even halves of seconds was also used June 3).
I seemed to get as winded between sprints today, my
first workout after beginning to consume creatine, as I did the last
day I did wind-sprints June 3--June 3 I did the 'Supplemental
Anaerobic-Endurance Workout II'. Maybe this has to do with the
fact that creatine is related to the anaerobic aspect of the workout
effort, while the recovery between sprints is to a large extent aerobic.
Based on my experience today I have come up
with a new workout which is the II-C I did today altered
slightly:
Supplemental Anaerobic-Endurance
Workout II-D
A 4 clockwise 15 sec rest between
runs
A 4 counter-clockwise 15 sec rest
between runs
B 4 clockwise 15 sec rest between
runs
B 4 counter-clockwise 15 sec rest
between runs
C 4 clockwise 50 sec rest between runs
C 4 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest
between runs
D 4 clockwise 50 sec rest between runs
D 4 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest
between runs
10 minute break
E 4 clockwise 35 sec rest between
runs
E 4 counter-clockwise 35 sec rest
between runs
F 4 left foot forward
starts segments 45 sec rest between runs
F 4 right foot forward
starts segments 45 sec rest between runs G 4 clockwise turns left foot starts
segments* 50 sec rest between runs
G 4 counter-clockwise turns right foot starts
segments* 50 sec rest between runs
* NOTE: by right/left foot forward starts segments, this does not
count the foot (a half step is taken with) that is the rear foot
but becomes the front foot on a
turn. Seems on one of the E runs I ran it in about
6.5 secs which surprised me in terms of the speed.
I thought I heard (I wear ear-plugs, he was
about 25 yards away) this balding white guy with glasses and a mustache
say to these approx 9 year old white kids he was teaching track to, "he's
the guy that wrote us". Actually a day or two ago I did write an
email to the coach of this track team that works out on the same
track I work out on. And I was thinking, my mother said I was good
with kids, kids used to love being around me, this coach seems to think
I'd be good with kids or he would not mention my letter to them, I think
I'd be good with kids, people should be able to tell right off the bat
that I'd be good with kids...but what with (a tiny minority) of women
complaining to authorities re emails or letters I write, there has
developed this (ignored) problem in terms of me being able to work with
youth. Is not this problem of cranky women getting in the way of me
working with youth, also important? We are supposed to live in a country
where there is a reasonable level of free speech, but certain campus and
public authorities are in the habit of persecuting people simply for what
they put in an email or a letter. They seem to be making mountains out of
mole-hills, while at the same time they make mole-hills out of mountains.
When you over-emphasize one criteria you automatically end up
de-emphasizing some other criteria.
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Adidas powerpoint crosstrainers |
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Friday
June 8 07
530-645 PM
934-1031 PM
outdoors |
75 minutes: Studied number of paces, yards in segments of windsprints E, G and new H. Produced new wind-sprint workout 'SAEW II-E'. 57 minutes: SAEW II-E run for first
time
And then there were all the minutes sitting
at my desk and computer figuring stuff out and typing it up.
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Creatine: 958 PM June 7 full
dose 3 spoons + 12 oz water; 624 AM June 8 1/3 dose 1 spoon + 8 oz
water;
I went out on the outdoors track about 545 PM
and measured the number of paces, and number of yards in the various
segments of the various wind-sprints A-G and in a new windsprint H.
Wind-sprint G is designed to simulate a 3
segment 45 meter shuttle run with two 180 degree turns, each segment being
15 meters, which is as of now the "official" Futsal
conditioning-measurement run. Thus special attention was paid to getting G
to more closely resemble the actual 45 meter shuttle run. The new shuttle
run H was studied, H features a 22.5 meter dash, a 180 degree turn, and
another 22.5 meter dash. The number of yards covered in a segment in E was
studied as E seemed to be too short in terms of total number
yards.
Regarding G, I concluded that typically, in
the three 15 meter segments 45 meter shuttle run, the first 15 meter
segment involves 11 paces to the point a foot touches the end-line; the
second 15 meter segment involves 12 paces to the point a foot touches the
end-line, counting the half-step with the foot that on the turn changes
from a trailing foot to a lead foot as a pace; and the third 15 meter
segment involves 10 paces, again counting the half-step as a pace. These
discoveries are reflected in the G section of the new workout
description.
Regarding H--the new shuttle run
H involves running approx 22.5 meters, making a 180 degree turn,
and then running another 22.5 meters. I concluded that this involves 15
paces on the first segment and 14 paces on the second
segment.
Regarding E, I concluded that a typical
middle segment in E using six paces covers 8.25 yards. Coincidentally the
new H wind-sprint in one segment covers 15 meters + 7.5 meters and 7.5
meters is almost exactly 8.25 yds. Since I want each windsprint to cover approx 45 meters, this means
that E has to be changed from 4 six-pace segments to 6
six-pace segments.
Thus the new workout is as
follows:
Supplemental Anaerobic-Endurance
Workout (SAEW) II-E
number in secs is estimated approx time
required for one run+rest
A 3 clockwise 15 sec rest between
runs 26 secs
A 3 counter-clockwise 15 sec rest
between runs 26 secs
B 3 clockwise 15 sec rest between
runs 26 secs
B 3 counter-clockwise 15 sec rest
between runs 26 secs
C 3 clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs 60 secs
C 3 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest
between runs 60 secs
D 3 clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs 60 secs
D 3 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest
between runs 60 secs
E 3 clockwise 50 sec rest between
runs 60 secs
10 minute break
E 3 counter-clockwise 50 sec rest
between runs 60 secs
F 3 left foot
starts segments 50 sec rest between runs 60
secs
F 3 right foot
starts segments 50 sec rest between runs 60
secs G 3 Left foot
starts segments 50 sec rest between runs 60
secs
G 3 Right foot starts segments 50
sec rest between runs 60 secs
H 3 Left foot starts segments 50 sec
rest between runs 60 secs
H 3 Right foot starts segments 50 sec
rest between runs 60 secs
New How Wind-sprints A-H are done
directions for SAEW II-E:
(major changes in
boldface)
A: Sideways
two-pace squares. Total 3 squares on each run. Run sideways, with
torso and face facing perpendicular to the direction of movement. Run two
paces, make a 90 degree turn, run two paces, make a 90 degree turn, run
two paces, make a 90 degree turn, and run two more paces. This forms one
square. Do the square three times non-stop before pausing for the
break.
B: Three pace sideways diagonals. Total six
segments. Run sideways, with torso and face facing perpendicular to
the direction of movement. Run three paces, make a 45 degree
turn; run three paces, make a 45 degree turn; run three paces,
make a 45 degree turn; run three paces, make a 45 degree turn;
run three paces, make a 45 degree turn; run three more paces. After
each run rest for specified number of seconds, repeat. Rest includes walk
back to starting point.
C: Eight pace squares, total one square each run. Run in the
normal fashion. Run eight paces, make a 90 degree turn; run eight
paces, make a 90 degree turn; run eight paces, make a 90 degree turn; run
eight more paces. This constitutes one run, one square. Between each run
rest for specced number seconds.
D: Eight pace diagonals. Total 3
segments. Run in the normal fashion. Run eight paces, make
a 45 degree turn; run eight paces, make a 45 degree turn;
run eight more paces. After each run rest for specced seconds, and
repeat. Rest includes walk back to starting
point. E: Six pace 135 degree turns. Total 6
segments. Run in the normal fashion. Run six paces,
make a 135 degree turn; run six paces, make a 135 degree
turn; run six paces, make a 135 degree turn; run six paces, make a
135 degree turn; run six paces, make a 135 degree turn; run six more
paces. After each run rest for specced
number seconds. F: Four pace stops. Total 8 segments. Run in the normal
fashion. Run four paces, after making the fourth step bring the other
foot up even with the forward foot and come to a complete (but minimal in
terms of time) halt; repeat this eight times to complete a run; rest
for specced number seconds.
G: 11/12/10 pace with two 180 degree
turns. Run in the normal fashion. Run 11 paces, make a 180
degree turn; run 12 paces, make a 180 degree turn; run 10 more
paces. Rest for specced number seconds.
H: 15/14 pace
with one 180 degree turn. Run in the normal fashion. Run 15 paces, make a
180 degree turn, and run 14 more paces. Rest for specced number seconds.
Note: the steps taken
with the trailing foot that becomes the front foot on certain turns is
counted as a pace.
The actual
workout doing SAEW II-E
Creatine: 920 PM 3 spoons + 12 oz
water
Did Workout SAEW II-E
934 PM - 1031 PM in the cool of the night outdoors. Too little light
to see second hand on clock, counted off seconds between runs in my head.
All I demanded from myself this time was good form on every run. The
effort must have been around 85% of max. Still most of the workout I was
sweaty and winded, hyper-ventilated. Just goes to show that such a workout
in which all I demand from myself is good sprinting form on the
straightaways and good form on the turns, at approx 85% effort, can be a
hard workout that must be producing some improvement seeing all the
sweating getting winded and getting hyper-ventilated.
SAEW II-E as a
routine looks just about perfect for me in the state I am now.
There is a problem
with G and H with regards to determining at which pace a slow-down has to
begin; a few times I simply was unable to stop within the prescribed
number of paces as I began to slow down or get ready to slow down too
late.
Seems I will have to
devote some time to figuring out at which number pace the
slow-down/preparations-for-the-turn should begin. This in itself should be
about a half a workout effort as I experiment with
starting to slow down on different number paces. Earlier today the
researching out the facts on E G and H was like a half of a
workout as I had to run all these segments just to figure out
what was going on.
While I was doing
windsprint F (the four-pace stops), this clean-shaven white guy with brown
hair who was walking around the track said to me, "looks like you're
getting ready for football". I told him no I was getting ready for soccer.
He said, "that's football"--he meant he thinks of soccer and American
tackle football both as forms of football.
Creatine: After the workout at 1056 PM, I consumed
3 spoon creatine + 12 oz water.
As of 1043 PM
the lights were still on at the field. Do not know exactly when
they come off. The guy walking around the track said they used to go off
at 10 PM. |
Adidas Powerpoint Cross-trainers |
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Saturday June 9
Outdoors
approx 530-600 PM
652-805 PM
|
30 minutes on-the-track technique
study
73 minutes windsprints SAEW-IIE
drills |
First went out to investigate question of on what number pace the speed should begin to slow down with shorter choppier steps on a 180 degree turn. Concluded that on the first 11 pace segment of the 45 meter two-180 -degree-turns shuttle, paces 9, 10 and 11 should be shorter and choppier than the preceding paces; on the second 12 pace segment of this run paces 10, 11 and 12 should be choppier shorter slower than preceding paces. On the 45 meter one-180-degree-turn shuttle run with two segments, on the first segment, paces 13 14 and 15 should be shorter choppier slower than preceding paces. Thus for me the current situation is that the
last three paces in a segment prior to a 180 degree turn on shuttle runs G
and H, are the slow-down paces. It is possible to do these turns with the
last two instead of the last three paces before the 180 degree turn being
slowdown paces, but I find that when I do this I end up too off-balance on
the turn so things slow down.
Seems that when every shuttle run is
run in the same way, the best way, with me knowing exactly on which pace
my slowdown will begin, and knowing exactly how many paces will be in each
segment and exactly how each turn will be done, this will
undoubtedly significantly increase speed and decrease the times for
shuttle runs G and H.
Today again did the SAEW II-E
workout.
Creatine: full 3-spoon dose
both before and after workout
It was cool outside again today, wet on the
ground but I did not slip. Again effort was approx 85% of max, with me
being satisfied with runs featuring good form on the straightaways and on
the turns. This was enough to get me winded and sweaty again despite the
cool temperature.
I noted that another kind of nuttiness inside
of myself, is that although for me the best thing for me mentally and
physically is to minimize the amount of time between when I first get out
of bed and when I exercise, I tend to procrastinate the workout until late
in the day because I am thinking, if I procrastinate, I will be able to
turn in a better performance when I get out there. This is silly. I can
get myself used to working out when I first wake up, when
I arise early in the morning. The point is that day after day of
such workouts will add up cumulatively to improvement, and the difference
produced by performing better by procrastinating the workouts until later
in the day will end up being insignificant.
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Adidas Powerpoint cross-trainers |
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Sunday June 10
916-1018 PM
Outdoors rubber track
|
62 minutes windsprints
SAEW II-E |
Did SAEW II-E windsprints, entire routine
once.
These SAEW II-E windsprints, were outdoors on the rubber track like all of the outdoors track work recorded on this page. The intervals were again 15 seconds on A and B, 50 seconds for C-G, with a 10 minute break in the middle after 3 reps of E. Again I worked up a sweat and
hyper-ventilated.
Today I noticed: what a big part the
movements of the arms play in terms of maximizing quickness on turns and
stops; how compared to the first day on which I executed wind-sprint
D, my paces on wind-sprint D have grown longer (I could
tell this from how I was running out of rubber-track space on exercise D
whereas previously I had never run out of rubber track space on exercise
D--the area in which I do exercise D is shaped similar to a rectangle of
rubber track surrounded by grass); how I am getting up fast speeds on
these sprints as indicated by the fact that after the last
segment of wind-sprint H, I take about 15 yards to gradually slow down my
speed to a stop as I slowly deccelerate.
I suspect that the lengthening of the stride
as evinced by the increase in the distance run on D, is related to the
fact that D is measured in paces not yards, which could have an
uninhibiting effect giving rise to longer paces.
Today I continued to attempt to master
exactitude in terms of which paces I slow down on in wind-sprints G and H.
I still do not have this down perfectly, I was a little off on more than
one sprint, I slowed myself down slightly on the turns to get things just
right.
Creatine: consumed normal
3-spoon dose of creatine powder in water before and after workout.
In general it seems that this wind-sprints
workout does not have as much of a mood enhancing effect as the alternate
between a mile run and a mile walked for a total of six miles workout.
This might have to do with the fact that the six mile workout takes me now
about 105 minutes whereas the SAEW II-E done once takes about 60 minutes.
Oh and a couple of days ago I saw Chris the
veterinarian from Cornell whose rainbow-kick influenced me. I have seen
him out on the field where I work out a couple of times. For some reason
he comes to Waltham to work out even though he lives in some other town. I
was being verbose with him about track, then I said to him that my
verbosity was justified since I had a chance at a world record in sprints
(I meant at least an age group world record for my general racial group).
When I said this Chris did not laugh or evince disbelief or scorn. That
tells you something. You could say that from the point of view of
worldly-realism, it is significant when someone can talk about having a
chance at a world record in sprints without being laughed at, mocked,
disbelieved (even if he is a couple of tenths of a second away from such a
record).
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Adidas Powerpoint Cross-trainers |
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June 12 07
Oak Sq Y
730-1030 PM
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Indoor games on basketball
court |
Today ws the first time I touched the ball in 14 days. Had 16 oz Jeff Gordon 24 Energy 'High Octane' Energy Supplement, and the 3 spoons creatine powder in water before game. Burger King Whopper w cheese a couple of hours before game. Felt sleepy and apathetic during the
game.
FIRST OFFICIAL
GAME
The ball this game was a size 3 Brine Lobo
Futsal inflated to 7.1 psi. The last game I played two weeks ago, it was
the same ball at 6.0 psi. I thought the ball was
underinflated because my chip-passes were off this evening but when i
measured the psi after the game it turned out ball was not radically
underinflated.
The teams were completely different this
time, in terms of who was on which team. We lost the first game
11-7. They had a strong team. They had plenty of good luck
today. I spent more time in goal than I usually do all
evening, seems it had to do with the combinations of the
personalities. My behavior is differential, if everyone on my team goes up
and avoidsplaying no-hands-goalie/sweeper, I drop back and play
no-hands-goalie/sweeper. If nobody on my team volunteers to take my place
as no-hands-goalie/sweeper, I keep quiet about it. I'm relatively new at
Oak Sq Y soccer, for a long time I've had very little time in soccer
games; I started out with them getting very winded very quickly, and
though improved still get winded; we've all gotten used to me the
out-of-shape guy playing back, but things should eventually change.
FIRST GAME
DEFENSE
Their best players, the best shooters amongst
the players in these games at this Y, got alot of unmolested opportunities
and capitalized on them against me in the goal. But I had several good
saves. In this game and all evening, I made some almost impossible
stops (these were the best Futsal shooters at this Y) using the text-book
method, of putting my body in a diagonal 45 degrees position vis a
vis the attacking opponent who had the ball.
This diagonal position according to the
textbooks, features, if you think of the opposing player dribbling the
ball at you as being at twelve o'clock on a clock dial, the defender
facing towards 10:30 or 1:30. Instead of having your body face the
defender the body faces off to the side at a 45 degree angle. Your toes
face off to the side at a 45 degree angle with one foot closer to the
attacker than the other foot.
The textbooks say that if you want to force
the attacker to your left, you face to your left at a 45 degree angle as
you confront him, and if you want to force the attacker to your right, you
face to your right at a 45 degree angle as your confront him.
IMHO as of now, the wise approach for
me is always to face to my left at a 45 degree angle as I face the
attacker, because I am left footed and when I do this my left foot,
which I am more competent with, is my rear foot and my right foot is
my front pivot foot. I have not noticed that I am able to force the
attacker this way or that based on my defensive angle of approach to
him.
Many shots were blocked by virtue of me
retreating into the goal I was defending, but I felt that they would have
scored less if I had at certain times charged them.
I thought about the technique of the
charge and remembered what I had learned years ago but forgotten,
that the best time to feint a charge at the attacker, or actually
charge the attacker, is immediately after they have touched the ball with
their foot while dribbling it forwards. The less time elapses
between the time their foot touches the ball and the time I
defensively charge them or feint a defensive charge at them, the better.
This evening I felt I was getting
smarter at thinking about soccer...I had previously during a game
tried to figure out this point about the best time to charge/feint-charge,
which I had already figured out a few years ago but forgotten--but I was
not able previously to figure out this point in my head, that is, what is
the best time to charge or feint-charge an attacker.
Still, this evening I did not get a chance to
implement this knowledge that I had relearned re charging or
feint-charging an attacker right after they touch the ball.
After the game the guy I call 'Herod'
high-fived me and told me that I had played good on defense but that they
(him and the others on my team) 'fucked' up. I felt sort of
surprised he said this, my mind had been dominated by the memory of
my failures.
Seems as I get in better condition, get
healthier, accomplish more things in the games, become a better player, I
become more and more focused on my failures and less and less appreciative
of my successes. A success accomplished when you feel exhausted, somehow
can seem to be a greater thing than the same success accomplished when you
feel fine.
As it turns out 'Herod''s real first name is
Calder--he said his hippie parents named him after a sculptor named
Calder. He said some Lebanese at a Lebanese restaurant thinks he looks
like a member of some Lebanese royal family, and is surprised that he is
not actually from this Lebanese royal family. Similarly I earlier had
thought of him as Edomite royalty--I think Edom used to exist in
present-day Lebanon.
FIRST GAME
OFFENSE
I had little chance to play outside of the
no-hands-goalie/sweeper position all evening. It would be I suppose
immature, neurotic, to fail to take this into account in evaluating the
game. Obviously, a player who plays 40 minutes on offense all things being
equal, will accomplish eight times as much as he would if he played just
five minutes on offense.
I guess what you would call neurosis
or something like that, is feeling emotionally down because you
accomplished half as much on offense this week as you did last week, when
you know logically in your mind, that the problem is that you played on
offense twice as much last week as you did this week.
On offense early in the first game I had the
usual success dribbling by a couple of defenders after getting up a head
of steam. Then I passed off to Pink-cheeks who was on my team this game.
He passed back to me, and I attempted to immediately shoot and shot wide.
This dribble up the middle got me winded.
Another time I dribbled by one defender
and then lost the ball to the next defender.
Once while up in the center forward area I
sent a one-touch or almost one-touch hard 12 yd roller to Pink-cheeks, it
was a perfect pass but then something went wrong. The thing about this
pass is that I had made sure that I knew where everyone was before
I got the ball so I was able to enact the best alternative
flawlessly, the best alternative was this pass to Pink-Cheeks.
The chip-passes were off this first
game, over the entire evening they were sort of at a 50% level of
competence, about half of the attempts were good accurate chip
passes. The ones that were on target were impressive 15-20 yd chips, some
of them high hanging in the air type stuff; but several of them were
off-target.
I think the problem is that since I
had not touched the soccer ball for two weeks prior to the game, the
inactivity was sufficient to produce impairment in terms of
chip-passes. As noted in a previous entry re a previous game, my
chip pass is hardy in the sense that apparently it stays accurate
when I am touching the ball only one day a week at games (so long as I do
wind-sprints during the week). But now at two weeks without
touching the ball I seem to have gotten to the point of the chip becoming
impaired again.
One time I with one touch intercepted
the ball and sent an accurate air-pass 7 feet high at apex to a team-mate
20 yds away with my right foot. I remember I had done this exact same
thing in a previous game. This reminds me yet again, that it
could be wise to remember, that players who in youth are unskilled and/or
lacking in talent, develop compensating strengths such as
intercepting/passing with one touch. Sometimes when such players mature
and become physically talented and skilled, they can cash in on such
abilities they developed in youth when they were clumsy slow etc.
In addition I escaped from being trapped
against a wall with the ball by going forward and backwards and forwards
and sort of bulling my way through retaining possession though the
defender got his foot on the ball; did well in a scrap for a loose ball
with a little guy.
GAMES AFTER THE FIRST
GAME
DEFENSE
Made some good saves, they made a couple of
good shots. There is no offsides rule they just hang out right in front of
the goal, get the ball with nobody covering them and shoot--it is like ice
hockey.
OFFENSE
I made some good chip passes, and 20 yd
air-passes that reached an apex of about 7 feet never touching the ground
en route to target (such are not exactly chip passes).
I worked the ball up away from my side on the
dribble faking out the opponent. These were not fakes in the sense
of Latin-style feinting with the body almost
stationary--these were feints in the sense of dribbling a couple
of yard left and a couple of yards right, quick changes of direction. I
felt I could sense the beneficial influence of the SAEW II-E wind-sprints
routine I have been doing (see entries above), in terms of this ability to
quickly make sharp changes of direction and accelerate on these
moves. I think I may gloomily fail to appreciate that such is a
new ability or signficant improvement related to the shuttle-run
wind-sprints I have been doing. I suspect that I gloomily under-rate such
moves because I feel as if they are not as slick and glitzy as the
body-in-one-place feinting of the best Futsal players in the world.
Once I dribbled up the middle past a couple
of defenders, which I capped off by passing to someone on the other team
who I thought was a team-mate. But Rico, this 'black' guy from
Brazil, thought the dribbling was slick and high-fived me. I
would have maybe gloomily failed to remember this dribble had not Rico
high-fived me to congratulate me on it. Thinking
about this dribble I realized that it evinced new abilities related
IMHO as of now, to the wind-sprints I've been doing. The accelerations and
changes of direction were sharper than usual, but more so than this,
there was this new stop and go to the attack, related I think to the stop
and go wind-sprints I;ve been doing.
GENERAL CONDITIONING
NOTES
I felt sort of sleepy and unmotivated. I
think the combination of the Jeff Gordon energy drink and the Creatine
powder and water before the game was sort of overkill. Plus the whopper
with cheese sandwick approx 3 hours before the game was an experiment
in eating what you feel like eating, that could indicate that eating what
you feel like eating before a game might not be wise (no disrespect to the
whopper with cheese intended).
Looks like wind-sprints by themselves are not
the answer. I still had the problem of getting tired on the jogging around
between the sprinting. I should study soccer/futsal conditioning more.
The 4 on 4 Futsal that we play is more tiring than 5 on 5 Futsal
Futsal conditioning tests and workouts are designed for.
I suspect I should be getting more game-speed
jogging into the intervals between the wind-sprints, combining
wind-sprints with medium and long distance runs. My idea for how
to determine the distance on such aerobic runs is to run as long as
possible at game-speed jogging speed, compute the distance run, and use
this as a starting distance for aerobic runs. Clever
no?
As the evening wore on, I did not
tire as much as I have previously; after the games I did not feel as
tired, as beat, as stiff, as sore as usual. Nevertheless, I was still
getting winded in between sprints in the games.
I still get winded but I am feeling
physically stronger, maybe the cause is the
Creatine/wind-sprints.
GENERAL NOTES
Some might scorn the verbosity of this
report, but they probably do not take into account that this only took me
a couple of hours, I have through practice developed the ability to write,
think, type. Hammering out a soccer blog as a way of relaxing, you could
say is better than drinking or smoking or pornography. How can anybody
deny that in this June 12 entry I have made several clever, original
points?
DEFENSE
The good players who get the ball unmolested
need in front of me and the goal, IMHO as of now, to be charged more by me
when I am playing defense. The fact that sometimes I succeed when not
charging for example through the 45 degree stance I had much success with
today, does not negate this fact.
Idea: charge forward with body at 45
degree angle. Wind-sprint featuring charges with body and feet at 45
degree angle could be devised. Brillliant, huh?
OFFENSE
All evening players were making mistakes on
offense that I would be ashamed to make. Just goes to show that I am not
the only human one out there. Looking at how I performed at level average
for myself, I wonder if we were all affected by the moon and the
tides or something like that.
Seemed that the wind-sprints that I
have been doing, which include wind-sprints featuring
turns after just a few paces, have increased my level of poise when I
have the ball. After all, getting out of trouble when the other
team tries to take the ball away, can involve sprints of a few paces,
sudden stops, sudden turns.
Today at some time I caught myself almost
unconsciously executing a stepover, the way people like Brazilians seem to
almost unconsciously execute stepovers. I suspect this again was a result
of wind-sprints, since the step-over resembles a turn on a
wind-sprint.
Hypothesis--doing certain solitary
drills either with or without the ball will result in certain moves
naturally, almost unconsiously and involuntarily being executed in games.
My idea is to do the SAEW II-E drills with the ball, maybe modify SAEW
II-E to resemble high-pressure situations featuring oneself having the
ball. And do'nt forget the charge at 45 degree angle
drill.
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Adidas Bracara Indoors Size 3 Futsal 7.1 psi |
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6/13/07 Drill development |
SAEW II-F, an anaerobic-endurance workout,
successor of SAEW II-E described. |
Thinking about the game yesterday I came up
with the following revision of SAEW-IIE:
Supplemental
Anaerobic-Endurance Workout (SAEW) II-F
number in secs is
estimated approx time required for one run of exercise represented by
letter (not counting rest intervals)
A 3
clockwise 10 secs
A 3
counter-clockwise 10 secs
B 3
clockwise 10 secs
B 3
counter-clockwise 10 secs
C 3 clockwise 10
secs
C 3
counter-clockwise 10 secs
D 3 clockwise 10
secs
D 3
counter-clockwise 10 secs
E 3
clockwise 10 secs
E 3
counter-clockwise 10 secs
F 3 left
foot starts segments 10 secs
F 3 right
foot starts segments 10 secs
10 minute break
G 3 Left foot starts segments 10
secs
G 3 Right foot
starts segments 10 secs
H 3 Left foot
starts segments 10 secs
H 3 Right foot
starts segments 10 secs
I 3
clockwise 20 secs
I 3
counter-clockwise 20 secs
J 3 clockwise
20 secs
J 3
counter-clockwise 20 secs
Current Interval Spec
for SAEW-IIF
The interval of rest
between each shuttle-run/windsprint:
A,B: first jog at
game-pace for 5 secs, then stationary/walk 10 secs
C-J: first jog at
game-pace for 10 secs, then stationary/walk 40 secs
Note that the
official Futsal conditioning test features a passive rest after a sprint
followed by a jog, I have reversed this. Seems to me that in games sprints
are followed by jogs used to get back into position.
New How
Wind-sprints A-J are done directions for SAEW
II-F:
(major changes in
boldface)
A: Sideways two-pace squares. Total 3 squares on each run.
Run sideways, with torso and face facing perpendicular to the
direction of movement. Run two paces, make a 90 degree turn, run two
paces, make a 90 degree turn, run two paces, make a 90 degree turn, and
run two more paces. This forms one square. Do the square three times
non-stop before pausing for the interval.
B: Three pace sideways diagonals. Total six
segments. Run sideways, with torso and face facing perpendicular to
the direction of movement. Run three paces, make a 45 degree
turn; run three paces, make a 45 degree turn; run three paces,
make a 45 degree turn; run three paces, make a 45 degree turn;
run three paces, make a 45 degree turn; run three more paces. After
each run rest/jog for specified number of seconds, repeat. Rest includes
walk back to starting point.
C: Eight pace squares, total one square each run. Run in the
normal fashion. Run eight paces, make a 90 degree turn; run eight
paces, make a 90 degree turn; run eight paces, make a 90 degree turn; run
eight more paces. This constitutes one run, one square. Between each run
rest/jog/walk for specced
number seconds.
D: Eight pace diagonals. Total 3
segments. Run in the normal fashion. Run eight paces, make
a 45 degree turn; run eight paces, make a 45 degree turn;
run eight more paces. After each run rest/walk/jog for specced
seconds, and repeat. Rest includes walk back to starting
point. E: Six pace 135 degree turns. Total 6 segments. Run in the
normal fashion. Run six paces, make a 135 degree turn;
run six paces, make a 135 degree turn; run six paces, make
a 135 degree turn; run six paces, make a 135 degree turn; run six paces,
make a 135 degree turn; run six more paces. After each run rest/walk/jog
for specced
number seconds. F: Four pace stops. Total 8 segments. Run in the normal
fashion. Run four paces, after making the fourth step bring the other
foot up even with the forward foot and come to a complete (but minimal in
terms of time) halt; repeat this eight times to complete a run;
rest/walk/jog for specced number seconds.
G: 11/12/10 pace
with two 180 degree turns. Run in the normal fashion. Run 11
paces, make a 180 degree turn; run 12 paces, make a 180 degree turn;
run 10 more paces. Rest/walk/jog for specced
number seconds.
H: 15/14 pace with
one 180 degree turn. Run in the normal fashion. Run 15 paces, make a 180
degree turn, and run 14 more paces. Rest/walk/jog for specced number
seconds. I: 45 Degree
Stance Squares. Move forward in a skipping motion with left foot kept
behind right foot, and toes and body pointed 45 degrees left of direction
of movement. Do this for 3 skips. Then for 3 skips move to right,
with toes and body pointed 135 degrees left of direction of movement, and
right foot kept closer to direction of movement than left foot. Then
for 3 skips move backwards, with left foot kept closer to direction of
movement than right foot, and toes and body pointed in direction 135
degrees to right of direction of movement. Then for 3 paces move
left, with toes and body pointed in direction 45 degrees to right of
direction of movement, with left foot kept closer to direction of movement
than right foot. Such constitutes one square clockwise. Do 3 squares
before the interval/rest.
The counter-clockwise
version of this is like the clockwise version in reverse, like a video
played backwards. In the counter-clockwise version, the first segment of
the square features movement to the right with the toes and body
pointed 135 degrees to the left of the direction of movement and the right
foot kept closer to the direction of movement than the left foot;
the second segment of the square features movement forward with the
toes and body pointed 45 degrees to the left of the direction of movement
and the right foot kept closer to the direction of movement than the left
foot; the third segment of the square features movement to
the left with the toes and body pointed 45 degrees to the left of the
direction of movement and the left foot kept closer to the direction
of movement than the right foot; and the fourth segment of the
square features movement backwards with the toes and body pointed 135
degrees to the right of the direction of movement and the left
foot kept closer to the direction of movement than the right
foot.
J: 3 Pace
Around the Clock: stand facing forward (12 O'Clock). Run 3
paces forward, turn around, run 3 paces to starting point, and stand for
minimal amount of time, facing forward. Then run 3 paces in direction 45
degrees to right of forward (1:30 on clock), turn around and run 3 paces
to starting point, stand facing forward for minimal amount of time. Then
run 3 paces in direction 90 degrees to right of forward (3:00 on
clock), turn around and run 3 paces to starting point, stand facing
forward for minimal amount of time. Then run 3 paces in direction 135
degrees to right of forward (4:30 on clock), turn around and run 3 paces
to starting point, stand facing forward (towards 12:00) for minimal
amount of time. Then run 3 paces in direction 180 degrees of forward (6:00
on clock), turn around and run 3 paces to starting point, stand facing
forward (towards 12:00) for minimal amount of time. Then run 3 paces
in direction 135 degrees to left of forward (7:30 on clock), turn
around and run 3 paces to starting point, stand facing forward (towards
12:00) for minimal amount of time. Then run 3 paces in
direction 90 degrees to left of forward (9:00 on clock), turn around
and run 3 paces to starting point, stand facing forward (towards
12:00) for minimal amount of time. Then run 3 paces in
direction 45 degrees to right of forward (14:30 on clock), turn
around and run 3 paces to starting point, stand facing forward (towards
12:00) for minimal amount of time. Such constitutes one rep
clockwise. Start the 3 pace segments away from and back to the
starting point, with your favorite foot for dribbling. A rep
counter
clockwise is the same except the second forward and back 3-pace movements are in the 45 degrees to left of straight ahead (10:30 direction), the second forward and back 3-pace movements are 90 degrees to the left of straight ahead (9:00 direction), and etcetera. Diagrammatically Wind-sprint I 45
Degree Stance Squares is as
follows:
R R
R R
L
L
L L
R
R
L
L
R
R
L
L
R R
R R
L
L L L
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| 6/14/07 |
Internet Newsgroup Post
|
I posted some questions re dribbling to the
Google Groups Usenet. You can post your reply to my post:
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6/16/07
Saturday
908-1008 PM
Outdoors |
Shuttle Runs
I and J |
This evening I did:
Anaerobic Conditioning Workouts I and
J
Shuttle-run I:
clockwise 9 reps
counter-clockwise 9
reps
Shuttle Run J:
clockwise: 9 reps
counter-clockwise: 9
reps
Intervals between reps: 10 sec game-pace
jog, 40 sec walk/stand.
The shuttle run I reps t took me 21 minutes
and after a 10 minute break, J took me 24 minutes.
The intervals were of the appropriate
harshness for me as of the way I am now. I got sweaty and winded
both halves of the workout.
I discovered that the correct technique for
shuttle run I is: left foot leads the skips for forward and moving
sideways to the right; right foot leads the skips for moving backwards and
sideways to the left. This info once I have it ingrained enough
so as to use it will end up being used by me in games improving my
positioning and agility.
The innovation I added for shuttle run J before I
started the first run of shuttle run J, was that the standing
position that I returned to after every 3-pace out and in, was the same
spot on the ground, marked with a white tape, with my left foot on the
left side of the white tape and my right foot on the right side of the
white tape, with me facing forward in the same direction between
every 3-pace out and in.
Seemed that on shuttle run J I was learning
not just speed quickness endurance, but the proper footwork that
gets you into position most efficiently with the minimum number of steps
involved to get you into the desired position.
I believe that shuttle run I will significantly
improve me on defense, and shuttle run J will significantly improve me on
offense.
Creatine: I have consumed no
creatine since the Tuesday game day.
Digression: There seemed to be a certain human-ness,
warmth, and relaxation amongst the patrons of Franco's bar
(Waltham) this evening. I (arrogantly?) in my mind
attributed this to the telekinetic-poetic-prayer emails I sent to the
Laconia New Hampshire Motorcycle Week, where 375,000 Motorcyclists
showed up for a festival--the motorcyclists and the Franco's patrons are a
similar type of person. But I felt I got no credit for their improved
state of mind.
Standing there for half an hour with nobody
coming up to talk to me and befriend me, I was thinking (incorrectly")
that: the men avoid me because an attractive guy like me could disrupt
their romantic life, the women think I am over their head; and alot of the
beautiful women have some guy all over them. Thus I am merely human. And
so how can they expect me to turn my backs on what little social life I
get (beautiful women who 'do'), on the grounds that such is lust, such is
adultery, sich is bigamy, such is mere enthusiasm for women who would
apostasize if they were put to the test by torturers demanding that they
apostasize? |
Adidas Powerpoint Cross-trainers |
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|
6/17/07
959-1050 PM
|
Shutte runs E, F, I and J
51 minutes
|
This evening I did:
Anaerobic Conditioning Workouts E F I
J
Shuttle-run E:
clockwise 5 reps
counter-clockwise 5
reps
Shuttle Run F:
clockwise: 5 reps
counter-clockwise: 5
reps
10 minute break
Shuttle run I:
clockwise 4 reps
counter-clockwise: 4
reps
Shuttle run J:
clockwise 4 reps
counter-clockwise: 4 reps, was supposed to be done
but ran out of time because the lights
went out at 1050 PM this Sunday night.
Intervals between reps: 10 sec game-pace
jog, 40 sec walk/stand.
First half took 24 minutes second half, aborted, 17
minutes.
The intervals were the same as yesterday, I
felt a little less tired than yesterday, for now stick with same
intervals.
E F I and J were selected because today I
felt as if they had the most relevance to games of the type I have
been playing in.
E was the 6 pace 135 degree turns; F was the
four pace stops; I was the 45 degree stance squares, and J was the 3
pace around the clock.
There was some slight problem with the
footwork on J, thing to remember is getting the left foot back into
position on the third pace on the return to starting point.
Seems doing 3 pace stops on F
might be better than doing 4 pace stops.
|
Adidas Powerpoint
Cross-trainers |
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| 6/18/07 |
Essay on soccer dribbling
took 46 minutes to write
|
Continuing my study of (thoughts re) dribbling. My current guess is that the best move would
tend to be pre-planned in the sense of what the first segment of the move
would be. Then one would take stock of how the feint was reacted to, and
continue in the (possibly) feinted direction or change direction depending
upon the reaction to the movement in the first segment.
This is just a guess as is all of this
section, which is an IMHO (in my humble opinion) as of now section. It is
very hard to know what the optimum feinting movements are. To start with,
it could be that: the best thing to do is to not pre-plan the first
segment of a move; or the best thing to do is to pre-plan both the first
and the second segments of a move.
I suppose it would be possible to sort of
abdicate intellectual responsibility and look at the best dribblers in
history, ascertain which moves they as a group used the most, and use
those moves--copy the great players.
Then again you could say that since we are in
certain ways decidedly inferior to the great players, we have to
compensate for this by being smarter than them, and we cannot get smarter
than them if we simply ape or copy them. It could be that the greatest
players despite their greatness might have somehow fallen short in terms
of their intellectual analysis of the game.
We are individuals who differ significantly
from the great players who have come before us.
Soccer moves in their most basic sense come
down to fake right go left, the mirror image of which is fake left go
right. Even this basic fake left go right move can be done in a
bewildering variety of ways. The least chance of error in terms of
selecting the optimum method exists when an overview is taken of this
multitude of ways of executing this simple basic fake right go left move.
When all the possible alternatives have at least been glanced at, this
results in increased confidence that the best solution has been chosen,
which effects morale and energy levels in games and in
practice.
Fake-left go-right can be done with either
the left foot or the right foot responsible for the first feint (the
feinted direction can be continued with); it can be done with either the
left foot or the right foot responsible for the move in the direction that
is different from the feinted direction; the feint and the actual movement
can both be done with the same foot or both feet can be
involved.
The feint and the actual movement can involve
the sides of the feet; they can involve the soles of the feet, they can
involve some combination of sides of feet and soles of feet.
The ball can actually be moved in the feinted
direction; the foot can be moved in the feinted direction without the ball
being moved in the feinted direction; the feint can involve stepping over
the ball; the feint can involve the ball merely being lunged at without a
stepover; the sole of the foot is or is not brought to rest on top of the
ball at the end of the feint.
The feint can (or alternatively does not)
involve the ball being stopped with the sole of the foot after it has
traveled in the feinted direction, followed by movement in the feinted
direction or some other direction.
Alternatively (right
stepover) after the left foot moves the ball to the right, the
right foot can go over the ball without touching it--maybe as if it was
about to move the ball forward and to the left--and then the right foot
can propel the ball to continue in the feinted direction, the outside
of the right foot being used to do this. This as of now is my
second-ranking idea for innovation.
After the left foot goes over the ball so
that the left foot is to the right of the ball at the end of the feint to
the right: the trailing right foot can be used to propel the ball forward;
or, alternatively, one could spin clockwise and move the ball forward with
the right foot.
Defenders are taught to ignore the movement
of the attackers body and to concentrate on the movement of the ball.
Seems the higher quality defenders could be difficult to fool using
feints that do not involve movement of the ball.
My guess as of now is that the
optimum would involve moving the ball to the right with the inside of the
left foot, stopping the ball with the sole of the right foot, and then
either continuing in the feinted direction (to the right), or moving in an
alternative direction (to the left). Seems a pause produced by
the sole of the right foot being placed on the ball would conveniently
coincide with taking a fraction of a second to assess how the feint has
been responded to.
A pause is useful because a feint might
produce some movement in the defense which however is insufficient to
produce an opening, whereas several feints in a row punctuated by pauses
might together produce imbalance/movement in the defense that is
sufficient to produce an opening.
But what I have been resorting to in the
actual games, what I have felt comfortable with, is a
minimal-lunge type approach, moving at the defender, getting the
ball in optimum position, then moving my body as if I was about to go in
this direction or that, without stepping over the ball or actually moving
the ball in any feinted direction.
Maybe the best thing would end up being
something combining what I actually do and feel comfortable with,
with what I analytically conclude is the optimum
method.
The sole-of-foot-on-ball pause is
characteristic of the best Futsal players. Futsal has introduced into the
world of soccer a variant of soccer (Futsal) involving lots of situations
requiring dribbling while closely marked by a defender.
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6/18/07
Monday
1025 PM -
1215 AM 6/19
Outdoors Jogging
|
Alternate Mile Run Mile Walked for 6
Miles
Around-the-Block Course
Untimed |
6 Mile Jog/Walk
I felt like my mental and physical health and my ability to handle stress was deteriorating, from doing just wind-sprints. Let's face it, windsprints may have an aerobic aspect to them, but the alternate jog/walk 6 miles is much more aerobic than the windsprints. Best I can recall, the ATP-Creatine Phosphate
method of energy production lasts from the fifth second of exertion to the
25th second; and then the body resorts in stages to other sorts of energy
production, aerobic in type, such as it is forced to resort to in
long distance running.
This kind of aerobic exercise I suspect to
have mood-enhancing effects.
The pain in the calves I experience when
doing long distane running is indicative acc my research, of
impairment of the blood vessel ability to transport sufficient blood at
sufficient speed to the calf muscles. This kind of impairment could end up
being dangerous for the body and is counteracted through--aerobic
exercise.
(IMHO, of course all of this is IMHO as of
now etc etc) This kind of exercise makes me feel happier and is good for
my body. True the best tasting most enjoyable foods can be dangerous for
the health, and foods that are less superficially attractive can be good
for the health, but still here we have something that is good for the
health, that also enhances the mood.
Today I ran the round the block
course so the "mile" was actually 0.84 miles. I ran a mile, walked a mile,
ran a mile, walked a mile, ran a mile, walked a mile for a total of six
miles.
Creatine: had normal 3 spoon
in water dose after the workout
The pain in the calves grew progressively
less with each mile run. It seemed that the
wind-sprints/shuttle-runs had positively impacted the long distance
running by improving my form, my arm-work, my arm-strength, my overall
body strength, and the length of my stride when jogging long distance.
Seemed previously, my long distance jogging speed had been
more limited due to weakness resulting in exceedingly short strides.
Though I felt stronger on the long distance
jog out there today, which I suspect is a result of the
windsprints/shuttle-runs work, there still existed the limiting factor of
pain in the calves not going away until my energy had been depleted to the
point of not being able to take advantage fully of the absence of the
pain.
I remember how Gabriel had been saying that
long distance running might not be the cure for fatigue in Futsal games
but it still should be done because we should not get obsessed with Futsal
and long distance running is very good for the health.
Continuing my study of (thoughts
re) dribbling.
Remembering the thoughts I expressed in the
previous entry the first 6/18 entry re dribbling, it occurred to me that I
had been focusing exclusively on the many different ways in which you can
move past a defender by faking right and going left at a forward straight
or diagonal slant.
I realized that another kind of
dribbling that it would be advantageous to conceptually master, involves
moving not forwards but sideways, and sideways followed by forward making
an approx 90 degree right angle turn. There are lots of different
ways in which such sideways and sideways followed by right angle turn
movements can be made and feinted.
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Adidas Powerpoint Crosstrainers |
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|
Tuesday
6/19/07
800-1030 PM
Watched YMCA game
|
150 minutes
Watching Indoor Oak Sq YMCA game and taking
notes
approx 110 minutes writing this
report |
Today I decided to just watch the players at the indoors Oak Sq Y game, sitting on the sideline, with my clipboard and my pen, taking notes on the things that they do that I could learn from. When I am out there playing, the notes end up
being inferior re what the other players are doing, because they are
concerned with what I myself have been doing; while playing I do not have
a notepad on me to take notes with, my perspective re what is going on out
there when I am in the game is not as good as when I watch from
the sideline, especially given the fact that I have been playing
sweeper/no-hands-goalie.
Most of the moves I noted
down watching from the sideline and present in the chronology
in this log entry, are the type of thing I have not been doing alot
myself; mostly they are moves by relatively competent dribblers,
moves on which nothing went wrong or something went right when I watched
the player make the move. Then again it is possible that someone used a
move that it would be good to learn, and at the same time got the ball
stolen--I noted down at least a couple of such moves.
RE the idea that we should just learn from
watching videotapes of the best players on TV/internet, certain factors
contradict this idea--I feel like one can learn from watching local
amateurs not just top pros.
These games are structurally different than
official Futsal, or official indoor soccer, or official outdoors soccer.
The goals are much smaller and the goalie cannot use his hands; the angles
of attack are different. Hi-lite videos show just the one in a million
spectacular plays not the run of the mill backbone of the dribbling game.
Often the camerawork and the quality of the video is such that certain
aspects of what you have watched mystify you.
The local amateurs are in certain
ways more similar to what I am as of now--and in certain ways
they could always be more similar to me than the top pros no matter
how much I improve. Thus one could say I could
improve more by watching local amateurs than I could by watching top
pros. The simple basics I learn from local amateurs can be built
on and expanded into advanced slick moves.
Historically the top players went through
this process of carefully watching the local amateurs they played with and
learning from them and building on what they learned in their own unique
way. The majority of the top players probably became top players by first
setting their sights on dominating whatever games they were playing in and
then moving on to dominating games at higher levels of competition.
You might say I have some catching up to do
because in my past, I have not taken soccer seriously enough to
pay any kind of close attention to watching the better dribblers on the
teams I have played on; and, the best dribblers on the teams I
have played on, were stylistically different than the
Brazilians etc. I am playing with, maybe not as
competent as the ones I have been playing with in terms of pure
one on one dribbling. Soccer in the USA has been improving with every
passing year and we have been getting more and more of these immigrants
skilled in soccer.
RE how it feels to watch and not play:
sitting on the sideline watching and actually playing are about equal
right now for me in terms of how good the activity feels; but upon
returning home from the game, I feel much better if I have played than I
do if I have merely watched from the sideline. I always feel better after
I exercise.
Chronology of moves during the games
this evening by the players out there:
Ball used: size 3 Futsal did not
check psi
1: Tariq: moves ball forward with sole of
right foot on ball
2: StrongBrazil: 180 degree change direction
with sole of foot
3: Tariq: sole of foot for ball stop, then
outside of foot for 180 degree turn
4. ShortMoroccan: Every pace dribble ball hit
with alternating feet, short paces.
5: Tall Moroccan: moves ball right to left
with sole of right foot
6: Short Moroccan: 360 degree turn using sole
of foot, L-R L-R every pace dribble
7: Tariq: Right foot on top of ball,
and outside of right foot used to move ball
8: Tariq: Sole of right foot on ball moves
ball left, hesitation re using outside of right foot to move ball
right
9: Tariq: body-right-ankle fake left, cut
right
10: StrongBrazil: Facing to right of goal,
dribbling towards sideline, uses trailing right foot, behind left foot,
either heel or side of foot, to shoot
11: Tall-Moroccan: out-to-in right foot
stepover on ball rolling forward, followed by attempt to cut to right
using outside of right foot. Lost control of ball
12: Calder (formerly referred to as Herod):
mini-steps retreat with sole of foot on ball
13: Tariq: sole of right foot on ball
retreat
14: Tariq: fake shot on ball rolling forward
slowly to his right followed by pass left
15: Calder: ball rolled slowly forward
towards goal and then shot, he scored. I noted instead of stopping the
ball he rolled it slowly forward before shooting
16: Tall Moroccan: sole of right foot used
for 180 degree turn followed by right foot retreat
17: Short Moroccan: retreat with sole of foot
on ball, followed by move forward
18: Short Moroccan: baby steps L-R every pace
dribble, to close to defender, then cut left by defender
19: Tariq: ball rolling slowly to his right,
hesitates with ankle re moving ball this way or that
20: Yellow-Haired-Austrian: without
looking, notices being chased from behind, cuts right behind chasing
player. I noted that I wear ear-plugs, could be the sense of hearing is
useful in judging where defenders are
21: Tall Moroccan: sole of foot 180 degree
turn
22: Herod: retreats by pushing ball with sole
of foot with back to defender (usually this retreat is via pulling ball
backwards with sole of foot on top of ball)
23: Gabriel: sole of foot 180, sole of foot
retreat, pulling ball backwards
24: Fast mini-step sole of foot retreat,
backpedaling and pulling ball backwards
25: Short Moroccan: body feint left with
right foot on ball and ball to right of body followed by shot to
right
26: fake pass on ball rolling
backwards
27: Tariq: moves body as if to shoot at one
post, then shoots at other post
28: stepover on ball rolling
backwards
29: Small Brazilian: sole of foot
retreat
30: ?: habitually steps over ball as it is
rolling forwards
31: Small Brazilian: retreats pulling ball
backwards with sole of foot on ball, then reverses gear and moves forward
past defender
32: ?: stops ball with sole of foot, steps in
front of ball, kicks ball to side with trailing foot
33: OWU (initials on his shirt): sole of foot
retreat, followed by ball sent at 90 degree angle behind front
foot
34: ?: aim at one post shoot at the
other
35: ?: sole of right retreats ball pulling it
backwards diagonally towards left foot and behind left foot, followed by
change of direction
36: ?: Dribble sideways followed by
shot
37: Gabriel: sole of foot 180 degree
turn
38: Short Brazilian: run in front of ball
rolling forward then retreat behind it
39: sole of right foot used to retreat ball
and then send ball to side behind left foot
40: Small Brazilian: right foot retreats ball
with sole of foot, sends ball forward diagonally to left
41: Strong Brazilian: Change of direction:
right foot kicks ball to side and behind left foot followed by body
swivel
42: ?: outwards stepovers left and right over
ball before pass
43: Brazilian: diagonally retreats ball to
left behind left foot with sole of right foot, swivels for 180
degree turn
44: Sole of right foot retreats ball and
sends it at angle behind other foot
Notes
The big thing with these guys typically in
terms of slickness seems to be retreating the ball
with the sole of foot by pulling it in the body's direction
and then
optionally moving it behind the other leg and to the side; and
similarly after stepping in front of the ball with one foot, moving it
behind and to the side of the front foot with the trailing foot. Plus you
have the every-baaby-step left-right dribbling of Short
Moroccan.
I envisage a dribbling training pattern which
would involve a repetition of such behind the leg moves , dubbed the 'Oak
Square Y Routine' or something like that. And some every-pace-touch
pattern in honor of Short Moroccan.
How is this style of play used by these
players at the Oak Sq Y to be defended against? Such a question can only
be answered by first studying the style of play that is to be defended
against. Thus studying the local amateurs, as a way of
learning to defend against them, is a rehearsal for what could come later,
the study of higher level players as a way of defending against
them. Thus focusing exclusively on the types of skills that would
be used against the highest level competition, could be an
error.
In truth as of now, I do not really know what
special steps can be taken against the dribbling techniques of these
players. I think that after I learn how to dribble like them by
imitating them, I will be able to understand how to defend against them.
These guys I am studying might be local
amateurs but alot of them are Brazilians, there are Moroccans, Austrians,
today there was a clean-shaven British-looking guy who looked like a
Michelangelo painting of an angel, wearing a blue 'Italia' soccer
shirt...I am not sure re the significance of this shirt
but amongst these guys as of now we find representatives
of the top two soccer nations in the world as of now, Brazil, and
also apparently Italy.
It was Michelangel (my name for the
guy in the Italia shirt), to whom I (see previous entry) once sent a
perfect short chip pass over the defender's heads even though
Michelangel was only approx 8 yds away from me. But it turned out
Michelangel was on the other team I thought he was on my
team.
At least one of the players out there today
was given to habitual feinting. Habitual feinting might be
predictable, as the 1st move is always a feint, but such could
be good training, good for getting used to feinting the inferior
alternative and then executing the superior alternative, good for getting
used to feinting in general.
The players out there are not
less clumsy than I am, they are basically more often in positions
better suited to being able to score, due to their lack of fatigue and the
way they assert for themselves the right to a position on the field close
to the other side's goal. Since they spend alot of time close to the other
side's goal they get used to being on the offensive.
There exists someone who once implied that
compared to the others I look quite inexperienced at the game of
soccer, but luckily it seems finally in these latter 'end-time'
(?!?) days there are people getting wise to the motives of those
who make such false implications. The fact that my dribbling style is a
minimalist-lunge type style whereas their style involves behind the leg
and the sole of the foot, does not mean I am clumsier than them, it does
not mean I look like I have alot less experience
than they do. But I suppose like Calder said I underestimate how much time
I have when I get the ball, this could be interpreted as a sign of
inexperience.
I admit even if I do not look clumsier than
any of them, I have had I suppose relatively little experience playing
soccer, especially recently, especially when it comes to close-quarters
high player density (high number of players per square meter) type play.
Even when I played the most soccer, more than
a decade ago, in high school, we practiced or played matches about ten
hours per week for only about eight weeks and that was basically it
for the whole year. Still I am proud of the fact, that I can do
things like the chip the ball accurately which I attribute to having
played soccer since I was in the first grade, 7 years old. Let's see...in
grade school we did indeed in gym class, for 40 minutes a day, play
soccer for one month in the year!
Again, the report is that Falcao did not play
soccer till he was 22 years old.
I asked Calder, formerly referred to as
'Herod' for some dribbling tips. Calder's tips: jump rope
to enhance quickness on the balls of the feet; his style is to dance on
top of the ball meaning with sole of foot on the ball move the ball
slightly this way and that; he shoots for accuracy not
velocity; he waits for the other guy playing defense to
make the first move lunging at the ball then moves the ball;
he decides at the last fraction of a second where to move the
ball when the other guy lunges at it; when you have the ball
you have more time than you think you do.
Calder told me that he felt his team could
have used me on defense, as I sat on the sideline taking notes. He
told me that I play good defense and (said in an admiring tone of voice)
"go on these runs". By runs he meant the long dribbles past a couple of
defenders, in which I move from one end of the court to the other.
He agreed with me that per minute of time I spend playing offense I
generate alot of action. So it's not just me saying these
things.
Typically these guys use the sole of
their right or favored foot on the top of the ball, combined with the
outside of the right foot; and the inside of the left foot in a supporting
role.
Things they do not do that I
do. Per minute spent having the ball, these guys do not make
accurate short medium or long range chip passes as often as I do.
They do not dribble by a defender, being at a fairly high speed before
passing the defender as often as I do. They do not play defense as much as
I do.
Things they do that I do not
do: use of the sole of the foot; moving the ball to the side on a
trajectory such that it moves behind their other leg; playing on offense
alot. Unlike me Short Moroccan uses the baby-steps touch ball on every
pace dribble.
I noticed again today that the
dribbling technique is different when ball is rolling forward
at significant speed compared to the technique when ball is stationary or
almost stationary.
For example when the ball is rolling
forwards, simply by taking a step forwards you can change from threatening
to move left with outside of left foot to threatening to move right with
outside of right foot hitting ball. Seems most analyses of dribbling
technique ignore something which should not be ignored, which is this
difference between dribbling a stationary ball and dribbling a moving
ball.
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Not applicable |
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4/20-21 07 Dribbling/defense
vs dribbling
Analysis |
The variants of the most popular dribbling
moves amongst the Oak Sq Y players described; a drill for mastering these
moves; the defense against such moves suggested; a drill for mastering
this defense |
Continuing Analysis: Moves Used by
Oak Sq Y Soccer Players & Defending Against Such
I looked at a major move in the Okie
(Steinbeck-esque name I give to Oak Sq Y soccer players) (I do similarly
to Adam in the Bible, have a talent for giving things and people names,
no?) repertoire, the rolling the ball backwards with the sole of the foot
and then sending it sideways behind the other foot or backwards. I broke
this move which I call the 'Okie 1' down into its possible variants. I
went outdoors and took measurements re the different variants of Okie 1,
in the process being bitten almost to death by mosquitoes.
Okie Behind-the-Leg
Variants
(these are described with left- footed me using my left foot to move the ball Okie-style. When they do the Okie 1 they use the right foot to roll the ball back and then back again or sideways) Variant A: The front sole of the left foot
rolls the ball backwards to a point behind the right foot, at the end the
front sole of the left foot is pointing forward. Experiment showed this
results in the ball being brought to rest 18" (1.5') behind the toe of the
right foot.
Variant B: The front sole of the left foot
rolls the ball backwards to a point behind the right foot, at the end the
toe of the left foot is pointing outwards, sideways. Experiment showed
this results in the ball being brought to rest 28" (2.25') behind the toe
of the right foot.
C: two A's in a row. After front of left sole
rests on ball at end of A, the ball is rolled backwards a second time with
the toe of the foot that rolls the ball pointed forwards, the left foot
hits the ground, the right foot hits the ground (all as body moves
backwards), and the sole of the left foot is again placed on the ball. I
found that this results in a backwards movement of 52", 4.3'.
D: two B's in a row. After front of left sole
rests on ball at end of B, the ball is rolled backwards a second time with
the toe of the foot rolling the ball pointed sideways and outwards, the
left foot hits the ground, the right foot hits the ground, and the sole of
the left foot is again placed on the ball. I found that this results in a
backwards movement of 87", 7.25'.
Variant E: E is A plus the ball rolled
forward and sideways behind the right leg using the left foot. The idea
was to roll the ball to 1:30 o'clock (points on clock dial used for
directional symbol) assuming at the beginning of the move I was facing
towards twelve o'clock. I found that since my right leg got in the way of
this forward diagonal route, the best I could do was to roll the ball to a
point at a 30 degree angle relative to and in front of my right toe
starting point. That is to a point, at two o'clock relative to the front
toe of the right foot starting point. This point was 46" (3.7') from the
toe of the right foot, in front of and to the side of the toe of the right
foot. Getting to the first natural position on which control of the ball
is re-established together with a pause in movement, involved after
rolling the ball with the left, stepping with the left, and then moving
the right foot forward to stop the ball with the sole of the right foot.
At the pause at the end of the move the feet end up pointed sidways at a
45 degree angle with the left foot 6" in front of the right foot; both
feet end up approx on the line that would be drawn sideways through my
body at the starting point. If this move E was started with the deeper
retreat of B instead (untested), the ball would end up stationary at a
point about 10 inches less forward of where it ends up with A as the basis
for E.
Variant F: F is A plus the ball rolled
sideways behind the right leg using the left foot. The idea was to roll
the ball to three o'clock (points on clock dial used for directional
symbol) assuming at the beginning of the move I was facing towards twelve
o'clock. There was no problem rolling the ball in the three O'clock
direction, at a 90 degree angle compared to the direction faced at the
start of the move, perpendicular relative to the direction faced at the
start of the move. This point was 49" (4.1') from the toe of the right
foot, behind and to the side of the toe of the right foot. Under heavy
attack by mosquitoes I did not measure how for behind/to-the-side-of the
right toe this point was, but basic Pythagorean trigonometry estimates
this point to be 18" 1.5' behind the toe of the right foot starting
position, and 46" 3.8' to the side of the toe of the right foot (46" to
the side of the line extending from the toe of the right foot straight
backwards) starting position. Getting to the first natural position on
which control of the ball is re-established together with a pause in
movement, involved stepping with the left, and then moving the right foot
forward to stop the ball with the sole of the right foot. At the pause at
the end of this move F, when the front sole of the right foot is placed on
the ball, the left toe is pointed sideways relative to the direction faced
at the beginning of the move, at three o'clock, and the right toe is
pointed at four-thirty o'clock at a 135 degree angle relative to the
direction faced at the start of the move. If F was started with the deeper
retreat of B instead (untested), the ball would end up stationary at a
point about 10 inches less forward of where it ends up with A as the basis
for F.
G: G is A plus the ball rolled sideways and
backwards at a 135 degree diagonal behind the right leg using the left
foot. The idea was to roll the ball to four-thirty o'clock (points on
clock dial used for directional symbol) assuming at the beginning of the
move I was facing towards twelve o'clock. There was no problem rolling the
ball in the four-thirty o'clock direction, at a 135 degree angle compared
to the direction faced at the start of the move. This point was 65" (5.4')
from the position of the toe of the right foot at the beginning of the
move, behind and to the side of the toe of the right foot. Under heavy
attack by mosquitoes I did not measure how for behind/to-the-side-of the
right toe this point was, but I estimate this point to be 58" 4.8' behind
the toe of the right foot, and 30" 2.5' to the side of the toe of the
right foot position at the beginning of the move. Getting to the first
natural position on which control of the ball is re-established together
with a pause in movement, involved stepping with the left after rolling
the ball with the left, and then moving the right foot forward (relative
to direction faced) to stop the ball with the sole of the right foot. At
the pause at the end of this move F, when the front sole of the right foot
is placed on the ball, the left and right toes are both pointed at
four-thirty o'clock, 135 degree angle, relative to the direction faced at
the beginning of the move, If F was started with the deeper retreat
of B instead (untested), the ball would end up stationary at a point about
10 inches farther back of the starting point compared to where it ends up
with A as the basis for G.
Thus I compute that a good drill for mastering this behind-the-leg Okie move, would be as follows: Okie 1 Dribbling Drill
Mark starting point with a cone/marker. Retreat ball using sole of
left foot. Rest sole of left foot on ball. With left foot roll ball
forward and sideways. Step with left, reach forward with right place sole
of right on ball. Pause. Roll ball with right, step with left, step with
right, place sole of left on ball at starting point and in starting
position. Repeat this process on next reps but with ball rolled sideways,
and then rolled sideways and backwards. Last rep is to move ball backwards
with sole of foot, rest sole of foot on ball, move ball backwards again
with sole of left foot, step backwards with left foot, step backwards with
right foot, rest sole of left foot on ball again, and then dribble to
starting point and starting position. Then the interval--jog at game-pace
for ten seconds, rest for specified number of seconds, repeat.
This Okie 1 drill needs to be tested to see how long it takes. Seems
to me now that these Okie 1 type moves might be interesting if they
started with my body facing to my left before the ball was retreated with
my left and sent to my right, because such would end up in forward
movement in the direction of the opposing team's goal.
Defending Against Okie 1
I had thought that I would have to go outdoors to a gym and do Okie 1
type moves for a while, before I would be able to figure out how to defend
against Okie 1 type moves. But simply sitting down indoors at my desk with
pen and paper, and walking around a little with a ball using the tiles on
the floor as markers, I was able to figure what I now am convinced is the
best defense against Oakie 1 type moves.
This defense involves (assuming that the player doing the Okie 1 move
is using his right foot to roll the ball backwards) simply: taking a step
in the direction of the ball with the left foot; moving the right foot up
near the left foot; pausing; and then lunging forward with the right foot
or sideways with the right foot in pursuit of the ball. This defense can
be used to feint the player with the ball into moving the ball to the
desired spot where it can be pounced on. When the trailing right foot is
brought up to catch up with the advanced left foot, a pivot-point is
created from which the right foot can lunge forwards or to the side.
My idea for a drill to develop the movements used in the Okie 1
Defense:
Okie 1 Defense Drill
Step forward with the left foot. Bring right foot near left foot.
Pause. Lunge forward with right foot. Retreat right foot to near left
foot. Pause. Lunge to right with right foot. Move right foot back to near
left foot. Retreat right foot, retreat left foot to starting position.
Repeat process but with lunge to right preceding lunge forward. Then the
interval--jog 10 seconds or whatever at game pace. Rest for specced number
seconds. Repeat.
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Friday
6/22/07
Okie Moves Analysis
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Okie Types 1 2 3 4 5 and 6; drills emulating these types It took 50 minutes to type out this entry
most of which I had already written on paper in a notebook.
It took 31 minutes to edit, proofread
and revise this entry.
Much of this entry was thought out
and written out before I started the
50 and 31 minutes on the keyboard. This previous writing and thinking took
a few hours, not sure how many.
But re the game-report of Tuesday
it was both written and typed simultaneously nothing was written in a
notebook that I could just copy before I started typing.
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Drills Emulating Okie 3, 4, 5, and 6
type dribbles
Okie 1, analyzed above, is not the only Okie type of move commonly practiced by the Okies. There are other moves characteristic of Okies; some of them came to my mind after I watched the game on Tuesday, others were not evident during the game Tuesday but have been evident often in other Okie games. Okie 2: This is like Okie 1,
except, instead of roll-back with the favored foot, the other foot steps
in front of the ball before the favored foot hits it forward or stops it
or hits it sideways behind the front foot.
Okie 3: This involves
rolling the ball with the sole of the favored foot, kicking it with the
outside of the favored foot, and using the inside of the left foot in a
supporting role.
Okie 4: This is the every
pace dribble, the ball touched with alternating left and right feet, with
sideways shifts accomplished by hitting the ball further sideways than
usual.
Okie 5: This involves
dribbling the ball sideways with the body between the opposing player and
the ball combined with reversals of direction, with the ball
dribbled by pulling it with the sole of the foot at each turn and
then turning the body to face the ball. The variants of this are not
retreating on each turn and retreating a step on each turn.
Okie 6: This involves
dribbling in a curve using the sole of the foot farthest away from the
defender.
My general method is to first imitate the
move and learn it through a drill, then figure out a defense for the move,
and then create a drill for defending against the move.
In this entry I present the drills I have
invented for emulating Okie 3, 4, 5, and 6. Okie 2 is so similar to Okie 1
that, the similarity being boring, I have not yet devised a drill for the
imitation of Okie 2.
The Imitative Drills Figured Out
Since Previous Entry:
Note: these drills are written for those who
favor their left foot. A right footed player might want to reverse these
drills to correspond with his right-footedness.
Okie 3-1:
Move gradually forward while dribbling the
ball during this drill. Roll the ball inwards with the sole of the left
foot; kick the ball outwards and forwards with the outside of the left
foot before stepping forwards with the right; step forward with the right
foot; roll the ball to the right inwards with the sole of the left foot;
feint cutting the ball outwards to the left with the left foot while,
almost simultaneously, stepping with the left foot; kick the ball forward
and slightly to the right with the right foot. Repeat 5 times. Jog/rest
for specified interval.
Okie 3-2:
Move gradually forward while dribbling the
ball during this drill. Roll the ball outwards with the sole of the left
foot; roll the ball inwards to the right with the side of the left foot;
step with the left foot; kick the ball forwards and slightly to the right
with the inside of the right foot; step with the right; roll the ball
outwards and to the left with the sole of the left foot; feint with the
body that you are about to use the inside of the left foot to move
the ball to the right; almost simultaneously hit the ball forward with the
left foot; step with the right. Repeat 5X. Jog/rest for specified
interval.
Okie 4:
Always touch ball on every pace, alternating
between touching with left and touching with right, while moving forward.
Dribble-step with left, dribble-step with right, dribble-step with left,
dribble-step with right; dribble step with left moving ball unusually far
to the right, at more of a sideways angle than usual. Dribble-step with
right; dribble-step with left; dribble-step with right, dribble-step
with left, dribble-step with right; dribble-step with left;
dribble-step with right moving ball unusually far to the left, at more of
a sideways angle than usual. Repeat 3X. Jog/rest for specified
interval.
Okie 5-1
Roll ball backwards with sole of left foot;
swivel body counter-clockwise to face ball and step with left; step
with right, step with left, stop ball with sole of right foot. Roll ball
backwards with sole of right foot, swivel body clockwise turning body
around to face ball; step with right, step with left, step with right,
stop ball with sole of left foot. Repeat 5X. Jog/rest for prescribed
interval.
Okie 5-2
Roll ball backwards with sole of left foot;
swivel body counter-clockwise to follow and face ball and step with
left; step with right, step with left, step over ball with right foot.
Move ball sideways to right behind front right foot with left foot;
place sole of right foot on ball. Roll ball backwards with sole of right foot, swivel body clockwise
turning body around to face ball; step with right, step with left, step
with right, step over ball with left foot. Move ball sideways
to left behind front left foot with right foot; place sole
of left foot on ball. Repeat 4X.
Jog/rest for prescribed interval.
Okie 6
Dribble using the sole of the left foot only
on the ball, touching the ball on every left step, following a curving
perimeter-of-circle type path, turning clockwise to your right. Do this
for 5 dribble-steps. Then stop the ball with the sole of the left foot,
roll the ball backwards with the sole of the left foot, turn
counter-clockwise to follow the ball and dribble following a path curving
to your left, for 5 dribbles touching the ball only with the sole of the
right foot on every right pace; then stop the ball and roll it backwards
with the sole of your right foot, turn the body clockwise to follow and
face the ball. Repeat 2X. Jog/rest for specified
interval.
Notes:
Okie 3's vulnerability appears to be that a
right-footed Okie 3 type will not be good at using the sole of his right
foot to roll the ball to his left. Thus the defense of Okie 3 can focus on
preventing Okie 3 from rolling the ball forward and to his right with his
right foot.
Okie 5-2 looks like it could be modified to
result in intricate interesting forward movement as opposed to retreat.
Okie 1 and 2 are characteristic of
Brazilian Oakies; Okie 3 though common amongst Okies in
general, is principally inspired by Tariq the Jamaican looking guy;
Okie 4 is an imitation of Short-Moroccan; Okie 5 and 6 are inspired by
Tall-Moroccan.
The famous French player Zidane Zidane is of
Algerian descent but Algeria and Morocco have much in common, both nations
contain lots of Berbers of which Zidane is one.
Generally my take on the moves favored by the
Oakies, is that variations of the kind of moves the
Okies favor could involve spinning the body about 270 degrees, as
opposed to keeping the body facing forward. For example, on Okie
3, after rolling the ball inwards to the left with the sole of the right
foot, they could put the right foot to the left of the ball, spin the body
counter-clockwise, move the ball forward with the sole of the left foot,
and be gone off to the right. Such spins can be quick and they place the
body between the dribbler and the defender.
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6/23/07
640 AM
Notes |
Notes on Dribbling
Defense against Okie 3 offense, Okie 2
style dribble drills
Time required for this entry: 55 minutes thinking and scribbling some notes and
paragraphs in my paper notebook; 43 minutes typing/writing first
draft; 14 minutes final proofread/revisions/
boldfacing:
112 minutes total for entry 1499 words in
length.
|
Thoughts Re Dribbling 1: If dribbling drills do
not contain pauses in which the ball is brouht to a stop--then the kind of
dribbling that is done the first 1-3 yards of movement after the ball
has been stopped, ends up being under-practiced. I had been doing
dribbling drills in which I would do some pattern like touch the ball
every other pace, in these drills I would dribble distances like 20 yards,
or maybe even a mile non-stop. I now realize that this results in
under-emphasis of the first 1-3 yards type movement. In the first 1-3
yards type movement the body and the ball move differently than they do
subsequently.
At one point I was succeeding with dribbles
in which I had gotten up a head of steam before meeting the defender,
but not succeeding in dribbles in which I would meet the defender before
getting up a head of steam. I had posited that a reason for this was that
I was not working with the ball LLall week except on Tuesday game day
during the games, and the shuttle-run windsprints I was doing during the
week were keeping my on the run-attack in working order, but not
working in terms of competence-maintenance with regards to the
kind of dribbling that is done in the first 1-3 yds from the point at
which the ball has been stationary.
2: I have suddenly become
seriously, carefully observant re the behavior of other dribblers. Why?
Mostly because on the internet, I ran across this web page in which the
guy was advising those interested in improving their dribbling to
seriously, thoughtfully, carefully study other dribblers. One got the
impression one should approach the study of dribbling the way a medical
school student approaches the study of medicine. This guy was giving
advice to offensive players but the natural extension of the idea is that
defenders should pay close attention to what defenders and offensive
players are doing in terms of ballwork/footwork, and that offensive
players should study the footwork of defenders.
3: Enough of other people's
styles, what of my style? It would be silly not to study ways in which I
myself have been stylistically successful, and to come up with drills that
practice the moves with which I have succeeded (in previous entries I have
commented on how my experience in games seems to reveal that we tend to
over-emphasize learning new tricks we cannot do and working on our
weaknesses).
I find that I have been succeeding by getting
up some speed, swerving out of my way to with my left foot dribble the
ball at the defender's right foot thereby freezing the defender, and then
cutting forward and to my left using my left foot to dribble the ball.
This has worked several times at the Okie Games, best I can recall it also
worked earlier outdoors on the Waltham fields.
Seems for some reason the
defenders usually meet me with their favored foot their right foot
behind their left foot, their body at an angle to their right, and them
coming over from my right to try to block me. Seems for some reason when I
approach the defender they usually end up leaving open for me the move
forward and to my left using my left foot. I am not so confident re the
alternative that must also exist when the defender is met, which would be
me hitting the ball to my right with my left foot. I think I need to work
on a crossover in which I hit the ball to my right with my left, step with
my left, and immediately hit the ball forward with my right.
Here is the best Okie 2 Drill I can come up
with as of now:
Okie 2 Drill
1 step over ball with right foot as if moving
ball forward and slightly to left; kick ball to right with trailing left
foot; step with left, kick ball forward with right; step with left, step
with right placing right foot in front of ball; kick ball sideways and
forward with trailing left foot; step with left foot, kick with right
foot, step with left foot, step with right, stop ball with left
foot. Repeat 4X. Jog/rest for specified interval.
The new things in my mind regarding
Okie 1 and 2:
You could perhaps modify Okie 1 and 2,
so that you would start by rolling the ball forward and slightly to the
left with the sole of the right foot, continue the movement of the right
foot in front of the ball, and kick the moving ball sideways to the right
with the left foot. With plenty of skill you might have a slick move using
this alternative.
Another possible modification is that after
the ball is kicked behind the other leg with the trailing foot, the
kicking foot steps behind the other foot instead of swinging around to in
front of the other foot as the body chases the ball. Up to now with
regards to Okie 1 and 2 I have taken it for granted that the footwork in
Okie 1 and 2 involves moving the trailing foot in front of the front foot
in order to take a step after the trailing foot has kicked the ball
behind the front foot.
The latitude of movement is much less if the
kicking foot steps behind the other leg; but the step behind the other leg
is quicker; with lots of skill you might mave a slick move here
also.
Defense Against Okie
3:
I thought about defending against the Okie 3
style of dribbling. I had previously said that the Okie 3 type will
be weak in terms of crossing the ball over from his right to his left
using the sole of his right foot.
Thus my idea of defense vs the Okie 3, is to
approach the Okie 3 dribbler with my body facing somewhat to my right,
with my left foot in front of my right foot, and advance my left foot to
block the Okie 3 type from cutting to his right using the outside of his
right foot, basically sort of daring him to attempt to cross the ball over
from his right to his left. The idea is that if the Okie 3 type lowers his
right foot as if to cross the ball from his right to his left with the
inside of his foot, which would be a stronger cross-over than with the
sole of the foot, then I would become more alert to block the cross-over,
bring my right foot up--once he switched to using the inside of his foot,
the risk of him nutmegging me putting the ball through my legs would be
almost eliminated.
The funny thing is, that it seems that the
best way to stop the other guy from scoring on me when I am
no-hands-goalie/sweeper the farthest man back, is to face to my left at a
45 degree angle, the right foot in front of the left foot, my favored
left foot in reserve to block shots, the nutmeg risk reduced by the 45
degree angle of the body. BUT HOWEVER, seems the best way to shut down
these right footed dribblers if I am not the furthest man back the
goalie/sweeper, but a fullback/defender type instead, is to angle my
body to my right with my left foot in front of my right foot.
The thing is, no-hands-goalie slash sweeper
is a position that has to be played very conservatively. What you are
basically practicing is the weird situation you get in games featuring
goalies who use their hands, where the goalie has stumbled out of
position and the only thing to prevent a goal is you the fullback who
cannot use the hands.
When you are facing a player with the
ball and you are the no-hands-goalie/sweeper, you in certain
situations have to draw back from assailing the player with the ball
because he could move sideways and shoot on the goal that you have left
open--although in these same situations if you were the fullback playing
in front of the no-hands-goalie sweeper you could attack the player with
the ball and admirably humiliate him, steal the ball from him. Instead of
you are the no-hands-goalie/sweeper, you are the one who ends up getting
humiliated because it is so tough to stop guys who have experience
attacking goals defended by no-hands-goalies, when you are the only thing
left to prevent them from scoring because your defense is on vacation.
Getting in shape to the point where I am
playing defense in front of the no-hands-goalie/sweeper will be an
important milestone for me.
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July 8 2007 |
Defense Against Okie 4 Strategy |
Defense Against Okie
4:
I spent time thinking what the defense
against Okie 4 should be, and I got tired out mentally, even
physically, just thinking about it. I had already been able to defend
against this Okie 4 Short Moroccan guy without even thinking about the
strategy of it. Seems like all the strategic thinking of te type
evinced in the previous few entries tired me out mentally, even
physically, as if my strategic thinking ability reservoir in my brain had
gotten used up.
While awake, I thought of some complex
approach I do not remember well now, and also thought of simply
instituting a defense approach that is traditionally taught, which is that
the defender's front foot is placed in between the left and the right feet
of the dribbling player, with the toe of the extended foot pointed
somewhat inwards. Then while asleep I dreamt of this defensive approach
featuring the foot extended and planted between the dribbler's left and
right feet, being used to disrupt the Okie 4 dribbling. The
Short Moroccan who uses the Okie 4 style however would probably scowl
and frown and consider himself to have been fouled if faced with this
defense, even though this defensive approach of sticking a foot in between
the dribblers feet is traditionally taught, and has been one of the few
set defensive approaches that has been traditionally taught for defense
against dribbling.
Since my mind has gotten tired re devising
defenses and since a dream occurred for defense against Okie 4, my
thinking is, why not stick with the foot extended and planted in between
the dribbler's feet approach for Okie 4 until further notice? Having one
of the defenses based on a dream is an interesting change of pace, I get a
chance to see how a dream-inspired approach works.
But I still feel tempted to devise some other
defense for Okie 4 because I feel that Short Moroccan will unjustifiably
consider himself to be fouled. There exists this idea amongst short
players, lightweight players, and players who are both short and
lightweight, that when two players clash and there is contact, the
taller/heavier player should automatically be considered to be guilty of a
foul. I disagree.
These short light guys are naturally adapted
to small-pitch, high-player-per-square-meter density , small-goal
no-hands-goalie type games, the taller stronger faster guys are more
naturally adapted to the traditional outdoors game; the taller heavier
guys in terms of their practice and play emphasize approaches fitting for
the traditional outdoors game. Judging the taller/heavy guys guilty
whenever there is contact combined with the natural advantage of the
short/light in such games is two disadvantages for the taller heavier
guys. we are sick of disadvantage.
Actually, often the short light guys are the
ones doing the fouling, the taller heavier guys are the ones who are being
forced to be too polite, the taller heavier guys are the ones being called
for fouls when no foul was actually committed. The short light guys get
away with stuff, and the taller heavier guys get inhibited and called for
phony fouls, because the short light guys and their sympathizers have this
attitude that the short light guy is always in the right when there is
physical contact.
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| July 8 2007 |
New Basic Dribbling Drill
Dribbling Drill X
|
Dribbling Drill X LD=dribble with left foot; RD=dribble with
right foot; L=step with left foot' R=step with right foot; LDSTOP= reach
left foot out and stop ball;
LD RL
RD LR
LD RL RD
LDSTOP; 180 degree
turn.
R LD
RL RD LR LD RL RD LDSTOP;180 degree
turn.
R LD
RL RD LR LD R LD
Verbally:
Starting with left footed dribble, dribble
every 3 paces alternating between dribbling with L and dribbling with R
for 4 dribbles; after 4th dribble with right stop ball on next pace with
left foot.
Make 180 degree turn. Half-step with R;
dribble every 3 paces starting with dribble with left foot for 4 dribbles;
after dribble with R stop ball with left foot on next dribble.
Make 180 degree turn. Half-step with right
foot; dribble every 3 paces starting with dribble with L for 3 dribbles;
after dribble with L step with R, dribble with L, gradually slow
down.
So starting with left foot, it is 4 dribbles
every 3 paces, after 4th drible with R stop with L; 180;
half-step with R, 4 dribbles starting with L every 3 paces, after 4th
dribble with R stop with L; 180; half-step with R; starting with L 3
dribbles every 3 paces; after 3rd dribble with L step with R, dribble with
L, gradually slow down.
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| July 10 2007 |
New dribbling Drill
X-2
Comments
|
As I become more aware of the limits on the
amount of time and energy I can put into soccer practice, more aware of
how I need to get in shapecompetent QUICKLY not slowly, I think of how to
combine conditioning work with ball work.
Earlier I had concluded that in drills the
kind of dribbling done in the first 4 yds or less after the ball has been
halted, has been underemphasized in my drills.
Also I had become aware of how I err by
failing to practice the kind of dribbling that I am most comfortable with
and often get a chance to engage in.
And I realized that I have to work on the
cross-over, in which starting with the ball on my left foot I move the
ball to my right past the defender's left side.
I realized that X-1 presented in the previous
entry is long-distance 17.5 yards 15 meter dribble runs, and that
therefore I needed a drill doing short runs to balance it.
I came up with the following
drill:
Dribbling Drill X-2
Short Runs Stop & Go
Dribbling
LD=dribble with left foot; RD=dribble with
right foot; L=step with left foot; R=step with right foot; LDSTOP= reach
left foot out and stop ball;
(slant left) LD R
LD R LDSTOP
(slant right) LD
RD L RD
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then rest/jog prescribed interval
Verbally:
Start with left foot on ball, ball on left side of body, dribbly
slight slant left, step with right, dribble with left, step wirth right,
stop ball with left. Then: dribble with left hitting ball diagonally to
right, dribble with right hitting ball forward, step with left, dribble
with right, stop with left.
Seems the feints praticed should be built on the nonfeint movements
most one most favors and gets the most chances to execute, as opposed to
say some drill in which all the feints used by the greatplayers are rolled
into one drill one feint followed by another.
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July 15 2007 |
New Practice Routine (Routine J15) developed |
I got to thinking, that I have been
procrastinating learning how to do my favorite dribbling moves (https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/soccerdribble.html) that
I do with my left foot predominant, with my right foot being predominant.
This I think has to do with the fact that it
seems that these moves require such precise balance and control, that I
have felt that I will not be able to do them with the right foot
predominating as I am left footed. Plus there is the fact that learning
how to do ground dribbling with the clumsy foot, is simply not that
glamorous. However I have come to realize, that learning how to do my
favorite ground-dribbling moves which I am adept at with my favored left
foot, with my clumsy right foot, is one of the best tactical moves I can
make.
I have come to realize, that my favorite
moves done with the left foot being dominant, naturally lead to situations
where the next natural step would be the same type of moves executed with
my right foot dominant; and, feints featuring me pretending to do
my favorite moves with my left foot dominant, naturally lead to situations
where what is called for is to do the favorite move with my right foot
dominant.
I have come to understand, the importance of
'un-glamorous' types of drills. I have come to realize, that I have been
able to master skills more difficult than reversing my favorite
ground-dribbling moves so that the right foot predominates instead of my
naturally favored left foot. And I have come to see how at least some
exploratory investigation of doing the moves with the soles of the feet is
called for. Thus I came up with the following routine:
Note: detailed descriptions of these drills
can be found in the previous couple of entries.
Practice Routine #J15:
LD=dribble with left foot; RD=dribble with
right foot; L=step with left foot; R=step with right foot; LDSTOP= reach
left foot out and stop ball; RDSTOP= reach right foot out and stop
ball;
Dribbling Drill
X-L-SIDES LD RL
RD LR
LD RL RD
LDSTOP; 180 degree
turn.
R LD
RL RD LR LD RL RD LDSTOP; 180 degree
turn.
R LD
RL RD LR LD R LD
Repeat the above once, jog/rest prescribed
interval.
Dribbling Drill
X-R-SIDES
This is X-L-Sides reversed.
RD LR LD RL
RD LR LD
RDSTOP; 180 degree
turn. L RD LR LD RL RD LR LD RDSTOP; 180 degree
turn.
L RD LR LD RL RD L RD
Repeat the above once, jog/rest prescribed
interval.
Dribbling Drill
X-2-L-SIDES
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
sides of feet; left foot dominates
(slant left) LD R
LD R LDSTOP
(slant right) LD
RD L RD
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed interval
Dribbling Drill
X-2-R-SIDES
This is X-2-L-Sides reversed.
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
sides of feet; right foot dominates
(slant right) RD L RD L RDSTOP
(slant left) RD
LD R LD
RDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill
X-2-L-SOLES
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
soles of feet; left foot dominates
(slant left) LD R
LD R LDSTOP
(slant right) LD
RD L RD
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill
X-2-R-SOLES
This is X-2-L-Soles reversed.
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
soles of feet; right foot dominates
(slant right) RD L RD L RDSTOP
(slant left) RD
LD R LD
RDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill
X-2B-L-SIDES
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
sides of feet; left foot dominates
(slant left) LD R
LD RLR LDSTOP
(slant right) LD
RD LRL RD
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill
X-2B-R-SIDES
This is X-2B-L-Sides reversed.
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
sides of feet; right foot dominates
(slant right) RD L RD LRL RDSTOP
(slant left) RD
LD RLR LD
RDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill
X-2B-L-SOLES
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
soles of feet; left foot dominates
(slant left) LD R
LD RLR LDSTOP
(slant right) LD
RD LRL RD
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill
X-2B-R-SOLES
This is X-2B-L-Soles reversed.
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
soles of feet; right foot dominates.
(slant right) RD L RD LRL RDSTOP
(slant left) RD
LD RLR LD
RDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
OBSERVATIONS: Note the kind of fakes that kind be
based on the above patterns, so as to be able to build dribbling pattern
drills in which the movements in the above patterns are faked as opposed
to actually executed. Remember that the kind of feints created could
differ when the basis is the sole of feet moves as opposed to the side of
foot moves. Note amount of time routine takes and level of
exhaustion. Intervals between reps: 10 sec
game-pace jog, 60 sec walk/stand. Shoot for this kind of interval, but
realize that it takes time to master intricate dribbling patterns
especially when the clumsy foot predominates.
Number of reps:
(As of now I estimate each run will take: 20
secs for run, +10 secs game pace jog +60 secs walk/stand/rest=90
secs each run)
x1 L sides 2 reps
x1 R sides 2 reps x2 L sides 2 reps x2 R sides 2 reps x2 L soles 2 reps x2 R soles 2 reps x2B L sides 2 reps
x2B R sides 2 reps x2B L soles 2 reps x2B R soles 2 reps Rest 10 minutes; repeat.
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July 18-19 |
New Dribbling/Conditioning
Practice Routines J18 (long runs),
J19
(short runs side feet)
and J20 (short runs
soles feet)
developed |
Looking over the drill developed in the
previous entry, thinking about it, I decided to make some revisions. I
realized that I need drills that simulate my movements not just on the
simple cut left and cut right, but also for: the moves wherein I send the
ball to one side of the defender and send my body to the other side of the
defender and then meet up with the ball behind the defender; and the move
wherein I put the ball through the defender's legs. I doubt such will work
with the soles of the feet maybe sometime I can try drills to see if
such would work with soles of feet. Also I realized that the order of the
drills should be such that a given drill is done say four times in a row
and then not done again during the workout routine, as opposed to being
done twice before the break and twice after the break.
I also realized that as opposed to putting a
million different dribbling drills into one routine, so very few reps of
each drill are performed in a row, I should split the drills into two or
three or more different routines. I became aware of the utility of doing
just side of the foot drills for a significant length of time, or just
sole of foot drills for a significant length of time.
I came to see that it was important that I
drill not just the slant right with the left foot in which on the second
step of the dribble the ball is kicked with the right foot, but also the
extended slant right in which after the ball is kicked right with the left
foot, you step with the right and then the left before dribbling the ball
with your right foot. It is a frustration to have to revise
something you thought was done, but this inertial distaste for revisions
impairs performance and achievement.
(new routines in
red)
Practice Routine #J18
45 meter runs with 2 180 degree turns
long dribbles
LD=dribble with left foot; RD=dribble with
right foot; L=step with left foot; R=step with right foot; LDSTOP= reach
left foot out and stop ball; RDSTOP= reach right foot out and stop
ball;
Dribbling Drill X-L-SIDES 2
PACE L DOMINATES
LD R
LD R LD R LD R
LD R LDSTOP; 180 degree
turn;
R LD R LD R LD R LD R LD R LDSTOP; 180 degree turn; R LD R LD R LD R LD R LD Repeat the above once; jog/rest
prescribed interval
Dribbling Drill X-R-SIDES 2
PACE R DOMINATES
This is X-L Sides 2 pace reversed.
RD L
RD L RD L RD L
RD L RDSTOP; 180 degree turn;
L RD L RD L RD L RD L RD L RDSTOP; 180 degree turn; L RD L RD L RD L RD L RD Repeat the above once; jog/rest
prescribed interval
Dribbling Drill
X-L-SIDES 3 PACE L DOMINATES
LD RL RD
LR LD RL RD LDSTOP; 180
degree turn. R LD
RL RD LR LD RL RD LDSTOP; 180 degree
turn.
R LD
RL RD LR LD RL RD
Repeat the above once, jog/rest prescribed
interval.
Dribbling Drill
X-R-SIDES 3 PACE R DOMINATES
This is X-L-Sides
3 pace reversed.
RD LR LD RL
RD LR LD
RDSTOP; 180 degree
turn.
L RD LR LD RL RD LR LD RDSTOP; 180 degree
turn.
L RD LR LD RL RD LR LD
Repeat the above once, jog/rest prescribed
interval.
Dribbling Drill X-R SIDES 4 PACE L
DOMINATES
LD R
LD R L R LD R L R LDSTOP;
180 degree turn.
R LD R LD R L R LD R L R LDSTOP; 180 degree turn. R LD R L R LD R L R LD Repeat the above once, jog/rest prescribed
interval.
Dribbling Drill X-R SIDES 4
PACE R DOMINATES
This is X-L Sides 4 pace reversed.
RD L RD L R L
RD L R L RDSTOP; 180 degree
turn.
L RD L RD L R L RD L R L RDSTOP; 180 degree turn. L RD L R L RD L R L RD Repeat the above once, jog/rest prescribed
interval.
Dribbling Drill X-L SIDES 5
PACE L DOMINATES
LD R L R L RD L R L R LDSTOP; 180 degree turn. R LD R L R L RD L R L R LDSTOP; 180 degree turn. R LD R L R L RD L R L R LD Repeat the above once, jog/rest prescribed
interval.
This is X-L Sides 5 pace
reversed.
RD L R L R LD R L R L RDSTOP; 180 degree turn. L RD L R L R LD R L R L RDSTOP; 180 degree turn. L RD L R L R LD R L R L RD Repeat the above once, jog/rest prescribed
interval.
Number of reps as of
now:
X-L SIDES 2 PACE 5 reps
X-R SIDES 2 PACE 5 reps
X-L SIDES 3 PACE 5 reps
X-R SIDES 3 PACE 5 reps
Break 10 minutes
X-L SIDES 4 PACE 5 reps
X-R SIDES 4 PACE 5
reps X-L SIDES 5 PACE 5 reps
X-R SIDES 5 PACE 5 reps Observations/Notes:
Note amount of time routine takes and level
of exhaustion. Realize that learning new patterns takes time, greater
intervals between reps. Note if patterns can be improved, made easier to
remember. Note if slowdown prior to change direction enhanced through
increase in dribbles per steps taken.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dribbling Routine #J19
45 meter runs short dribbles short runs
stop and go dribbling
LD=dribble with left foot; RD=dribble with
right foot; L=step with left foot; R=step with right foot; LDSTOP= reach
left foot out and stop ball; RDSTOP= reach right foot out and stop
ball;
Dribbling Drill X-2-L-SIDES slant
left/right (slant left) LD R
LD R LDSTOP
(slant right) LD
RD L RD
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed interval
Dribbling Drill X-2-R-SIDES slant
left/right
This is X-2-L-Sides reversed.
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
sides of feet; right foot dominates
(slant right) RD L RD L RDSTOP
(slant left) RD
LD R LD
RDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill X-2B-L-SIDES slant
left/right
(slant left) LD R
LD RLR LDSTOP
(slant right) LD
RD LRL RD
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill X-2B-R-SIDES slant
left/right
This is X-2B-L-Sides reversed.
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
sides of feet; right foot dominates
(slant right) RD L RD LRL RDSTOP
(slant left) RD
LD RLR LD
RDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill X-2C-L-SIDES
split Dribbling with sides of
feet; left foot dominates;split
simulated.
(ball left body right: starts w/ ball far
out to left side of body, ball hit slant left, body goes right around
imaginary defender, meets up with ball behind imaginary
defender):
LD RLR LD
R LDSTOP
(ball right body right: starts w/ ball far out to left
side of body, ball hit slant right, body goes right around imaginary
defender, meets up with ball behind imaginary
defender): LD RLR LD R
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 3 times; then jog/rest
prescribed interval
Dribbling Drill
X-2C-R-SIDES split
Dribbling with sides of
feet; right foot dominates;split
simulated.
(ball right body left: starts w/ ball far
out to right side of body, ball hit slant right, body goes left
around imaginary defender, meets up with ball behind imaginary
defender):
RD LRL
RD L
RDSTOP
(ball left body leftt: starts w/ ball far out
to right side of body, ball hit slant left, body goes left
around imaginary defender, meets up with ball behind imaginary
defender): RD LRL RD L
RDSTOP
Repeat the above 3 times; then jog/rest
prescribed interval
Dribbling Drill
X-2D-L/R-SIDES nutmeg
Dribbling with sides of
feet; left foot dominates;nutmeg simulated.
(ball hit slant right as if through defender's
legs, body goes right around imaginary defender, meets up with ball behind
imaginary defender):
LD RLR LD RL RDSTOP
nutmeg
(ball hit slant left as if through defender's legs, body
goes left around imaginary defender, meets up with ball behind
imaginary defender): RD LRL RD LR
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 3 times; then jog/rest
prescribed interval
Dribbling Drill X-2E-L/R-SIDES
inwards extended slant
With sides of feet ball is slanted inwards with
more steps before next dribble after inwards slant dribble
(slant right) LD R L RD L R L
RDSTOP
(slant left) RD L R LD R L
R LDSTOP
Repeat the above 3 times
Intervals between reps as of now: None
specified
Number
of reps as of now:
x2 L sides 4 reps
x2 R sides 4 reps x2B L sides 4 reps x2B R sides 4 reps
x2C L sides 4 reps
10 minute break
x2C R sides 4 reps
x2D L/R sides 4 reps
x2D L/R sides 4 reps
x2E L/R sides 4 reps
x2E L/R sides 4 reps
Note amount of time taken to complete reps
Observations/Notes: Note the
kind of fakes that kind be based on the above patterns, so as to be able
to build dribbling pattern drills in which the movements in the above
patterns are faked as opposed to actually executed. Note amount of time
routine takes and level of exhaustion. Realize that learning new patterns
takes time, greater intervals between reps. Note if patterns can be
improved.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dribbling Routine #J20
45 meter runs short dribbles short runs
stop and go dribbling
LD=dribble with left foot; RD=dribble with
right foot; L=step with left foot; R=step with right foot; LDSTOP= reach
left foot out and stop ball; RDSTOP= reach right foot out and stop
ball; Dribbling Drill X-2-L-SOLES slant
left/right
(slant left) LD R
LD R LDSTOP
(slant right) LD
RD L RD
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill X-2-R-SOLES slant
left/right
This is X-2-L-Soles reversed.
Short Runs Stop & Go Dribbling with
soles of feet; right foot dominates
(slant right) RD L RD L RDSTOP
(slant left) RD
LD R LD
RDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval Dribbling Drill X-2B-L-SOLES slant
left/right
(slant left) LD R
LD RLR LDSTOP
(slant right) LD
RD LRL RD
LDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill X-2B-R-SOLES slant
left/right
This is X-2B-L-Soles reversed.
(slant right) RD L RD LRL RDSTOP
(slant left) RD
LD RLR LD
RDSTOP
Repeat the above 4 times; then jog/rest prescribed
interval
Dribbling Drill X-2E-L/R-SOLES
inwards extended slant
With soles of feet ball is slanted inwards with
more steps before next dribble after inwards slant dribble
(slant right) LD R L RD L R L
RDSTOP
(slant left) RD L R LD R L
R LDSTOP
Repeat the above 3 times
Intervals between reps as of now: None
specified Number
of reps as of now:
x2 L soles 7 reps
x2 R soles 7 reps x2B L soles 7 reps
x2B R soles 7 reps
x2E L/R soles 7 reps
x2E L/R soles 7 reps
Note amount of time taken to complete reps
Observations/Notes: Note the
kind of fakes that kind be based on the above patterns, so as to be able
to build dribbling pattern drills in which the movements in the above
patterns are faked as opposed to actually executed. Note amount of time
routine takes and level of exhaustion. Realize that learning new patterns
takes time, greater intervals between reps. Note if patterns can be
improved. Realize feints will be different when the basis is soles of feet
as opposed to sides of feet.
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| July 19-20 07 |
Retrospective Overview of Conditioning/Skills
Training Tactics
|
Retrospective Overview of My Conceptual
Development in Skills/Fitness Training
First I realized how wind-sprints training is
needed, simply running miles will not suffice, when it comes to
conditioning for Futsal indoor soccer outdoor soccer. This led to
windsprints. Then I realized how in games you get change of directions of
various types this led to change of direction at various angles
windsprints. I also came to understand, how long distance dribbling runs
differ from short distance dribbling runs. I developed a desire to
integrate skills training with conditioning training as I felt the
limitations of the amount of time and energy available for soccer.
I see 8 major areas of training for myself:
dribbling while running 45 meter shuttle; dribbling patterns simulating
game situations, Air Dribble, Shots, Chips, Rainbow-kick, non-ball
windsprint patterns, non-45 meter windsprint patterns while dribbling
ball. The challenge IMHO as of now is to combine conditioning and skills
training into the same drill for all of these activities. My ideas as of
now:
Rainbow-kick/Air-Dribble:
retrieve ball and return to starting point at game-pace jog; walk/stand
minimal limited amount of time between attempts; no taking of notes or
keeping score; do 30 attempts, break 10 minutes, do another 30
attempts.
Shots/Chips against wall:
volley rebound off wall to side, or start air-dribble to side off rebound;
retrieve ball and return to starting point at game-pace jog; or run
forward after shot/chip, trap/control rebound, make 180 degree turn,
dribble on run back to starting point; walk/stand rest for limited
amount of time between attempts; do not take notes or keep score;
make 30 attempts, break 10 minutes, make another 30 attempts.
Shots/Chips against fence:
this features weak rebounds. Retrieve ball and return to start on run;
walk/stand limited minimal amount of time; do not take notes or keep
score. Make 30 attempts, break 10 minutes, make another 30 attempts.
45 meter and other windsprint
patterns: Do these patterns while dribbling a soccer ball. After
completing each rep, jog to starting point, walk/stand minimal limited
amount of time before next run. Do 15 sprints rest 10 minutes do another
15 sprints.
Dribbling patterns: covered
in previous entry. These are different from windsprint patterns because
they simulate the kind of footwork executed while dribbling in actual
games. After completing each rep, dribble back to starting point at a jog,
rest/stand minimal limited amount of time. Do approx 15 runs break,
another 15 runs.
Non-ball windsprints: Of
course these involve a jog and a walk/stand rest in between each run. Do
approx 15 runs, rest 10 minutes, do another approx 15 runs.
Start off without counting walk/stand rest times or demanding any
limit with regards to such from self. Note how many minutes the given
number reps takes to complete.
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7/22/07
Waltham Y Indoors
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70 minutes
LC90ADWindsprints
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Return to Workouts aftrer 7 Weeks of
Indiscipline & Lethargy
I confess, during June 07 and July up to
today the 22nd of July 07, my self-discipline began to fall apart and I
began to become lazy about soccer workouts. I think this was caused by
stress, being exposed to persons who are such that me being exposed to
them socially or in the course of work is stress.
It--the lethargy and inertia--had to do with
this distaste for doing the conditioning work that I knew I had to do. How
did I overcome the lethargy that overcame me? I invented
LC90ADWindsprints, which combines glamorous acts like a lofty
chip, a 90 degree turn, an air-dribble, with the conditioning kind of work
that I know has to be done, no matter how boring, depressing it is.
LC90ADWindsprints is an attractive activity for me even when I feel
inclined to lethargy, because it introduces new things like turning the
ball 90 degrees at the start of an air dribble, different acts and
purposes all being combined into one drill.
There is a limit to how much I can demand
isolated boring unglamorous conditioning work from myself , getting to the
point where since the only choice I give myself is such repulsive
conditioning work, or no workout at all--I choose no workout at all.
The instinct to revel in the compliments of
the onlookers is natural and human, who knows maybe it (following this
instinct) will be the cause of good fortune for me, it inspires me to
achievement when people watch me and compliment me. I guess that is just
the kind of person I am.
Isnt that the way most people are? They,
people, get sick of doing healthy conditioning work that nobody
notices, that nobody watches, in some time and place where there is nobody
to watch them anyway.
An exercise could be good for you in various
different ways: physically, psychologically, socially, economically,
spiritually, maybe even politically.
Maybe we just naturally choose whichever
exercise is best for us when given the choice between various exercises,
and naturally avoid exercises that are relatively speaking not so
good for ourselves--and so therefore it could be, that there is advantage
in having a relatively large number of alternative possible
workouts to choose from, especially since what we feel like doing varies
from day to day and from week to week.
Being human, and thus subject to human
physical and mental weakness, we can slip into just skipping a workout,
when the choice is between no workout and then on the other hand a very
limited number of choices re possible workouts.
I guess I knew I had to do conditioning and
ground dribbling, but in my heart longed to take to glamourous hot-dogging
flight of a new and different and better kind than that practiced before;
so I kept procrastinating working out, until I had something fun to do
that was also conditioning.
I just could not force myself to skip air
dribble work, keeping the ball off the ground, any more. And also I just
did not feel like repeating the past anymore. And I felt from now on I
would have to build windsprints type anaerobic conditioning into my
workouts. So the answer was, something new, that combines fun and
excitement with the conditioning/ground work that has to be done.
Could be the lesson is, that feeling like not
doing six out of say eight possible alternatives, might be a feeling that
sets one on the right course, as opposed to a feeling that has to be
fought against. Could be that compulsive rock-jawed stiff-upper-lip
fighting against one's natural inclinations can be obsessively
counterproductive.
Today I Did
LC90ADWindsprints. (turning to left on contact with
ball)
This involves chipping the ball at the wall
15 yds away, jogging towards the ball, trapping/turning the ball so as to
make a 90 degree turn to the left while keeping the ball off the ground,
and then air-dribbling the ball up to 15 yds or combining some yards
of air dribbling with a shot, and then grounding the ball and ground
dribbling at a fast pace back to the starting point, and then
standing/walking for a given number of seconds counted off in the head
without a watch. Today this number of seconds of rest was 40.
Today this LC90ADWindsprints
involved 42 runs in 40 minutes, 13 minute rest, followed by 25
runs in 30 minutes. The ball was stationary when chipped with the left
foot.
This workout was tough enough to get me
winded hot and sweaty. Seems that under the pressure of having to chip and
run while fatigued, I developed a style of chip that was new for me.
This new style of chip might be better for actual game conditions because
in games one becomes fatigued.
It involves approaching the ball from
directly behind the ball, the foot moving straight forwards, the top of
the narrowing front toe portion of the shoe used to hit the ball, and a
little jump in the air, best I can recall, when the foot hits the ball.
This style today produced very high, hanging chips and when I was in the
groove superior accuracy, compared to approaching the ball from a slant.
There was a period of relative incompetence immediately after the break.
I evinced competence in making the 90 degree
turn on the first touch, as opposed to first stopping the ball and then
turning with it. These one touch turns were accomplished competently with
the chest and the head, semi-competently with the thigh, amateurishly with
the feet. On the air dribble after the turn there were several competent
fast 15 yard air dribble runs, the ball never touching the ground, the
ball being hit mostly with the head, the ball all the while being kept
close to the head and hit at a a high frequency per pace with the feet.
On the air dribble the head was very
competent, the chest was competent, the thigh and feet were sort of
semi-competent producing 15 yd one bounce air dribbles etc.
Today again I saw how certain skills I have
are very durable compared to other skills I have, meaning that they
degenerate in competence level very little due to long amounts of time
spent not practicing the skill. Also again I could see how some skills are
more durable in this sense than other skills.
Playing on the other side of the court were
seven teenage black guys and a clean shaven teen age white guy with short
straight dark brown hair. None of them was over six feet tall. They
reminded me of Eminem the white rapper surrounded by black rappers.
One of the black guys was wearing a reddish
brown jersey that had 28 Dunn emblazoned on it in white.
To my amazement the boys had left their
keys and a wallet on the bleachers unattended. After our workouts ended
they asked me what happened to the wallet I told them the truth, I had
seen it, but I had not taken it. They were not interested in checking my
bags my pockets etc. I think the wallet disappeared while I was on my
break between the two halves of the workout, and there was no honest
person around to watch it.
Warrick Dunn #28 (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/player/70832) is
a running back for the Atlanta Falcons who gets paid megabucks. He used to
be on the Buccaneers I think the reddish brown and white jersey was a
Buccs jersey. Warrick Dunn is small at 5 feet 9 inch 180 pounds
but successful. He makes 5 million bucks a year.
I thought today I heard the boys looking my
way and saying, "he's good" (re me), but I was wearing my earplugs tightly
pushed into my ears, which results mostly in me thinking I did not hear
something that I actually heard.
Seeing myself in the wall sized mirror in the
weight room I thought I looked handsome in the face and body, I was amazed
at how strong my arm and shoulder looked. My arms only get a (mild)
workout during windsprints, using the keyboard at the computer, swimming.
But I could see that I could probably shave tenths of a second off my
sprint times by getting rid of some of the fat on my body or replacing
such fat with muscle.
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Adidas Bracara Indoors shoes
Ball
Replique at 7.0 psi
Ball Replique 7.0 psi
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July 23 07
455-620 PM
Outdoors Rubber track
area |
40 minutes X-2-L-Sides
30 minutes
X-2-R-Sides
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More Re Why I Became Lethargic for a
few Weeks
Further reflecting on the notorious seven
weeks of indiscipline and lethargy, I realized that a mistake is to get
into this frame of mind, where-in minor self-improvements are obsessed
over while major self-improvements, major beneficial activities are
ignored. For example I got obsessed with waking up at the exact right time
and going to sleep at the exact right time, and other minor matters, and
neglected exercise, even though exercise, helps my in my attempts at
self-improvement in areas other than exercise.
Seems a mistake I made, was failing to
realize that sometimes, it is wise to mess up in terms of some minor
defect, is messing up in such fashion allows one to avoid messing up in
some major aspect of life. For example it is conceivable that at certain
times an individual might be justified in choosing to wake up late in the
day, and combine this with exercise, if the situation was such that when
he woke up at the exact right time, he would not feel like exercising
during the course of the day.
For description of exercise done see previous
entry.
X-2-L-Sides today consisted
of a 30 yd run doing the x2Lsides pattern, followed by a 3/4 of full speed
dribble back to the starting point, followed by a walk/stand rest of 40
seconds counted off in the head without reference to a clock.
X2RSides today consisted of the same thing. The 40 minutes of
X2LSides was enough to get me hot sweaty and winded. Then there was a 10
minute break. Then 30 minutes of X2RSides which got me hot sweaty and
winded but not as bad as the first 30 minutes.
There was significant noticeable improvement
on both x2 LSides and X2RSides.
Funny how we get this mistaken idea that the
most basic skills like cutting left and cutting right on the dribble using
predominately the favored foot, cannot be improved with work, i.e., you
either got it or you dont. As if, the most basic skills were a matter of
pure instinct and talent, and unimprovable through work, unlike the more
advanced skills. This has to do with the old myth that you cannot improve
the speed at which you sprint say the 50 yd dash.
I had planned on bouncing around amongst a
bunch of different drills but I stuck with one drill for 40 minutes and
another for 30 minutes. I had planned on doing a certain number of reps,
what I ended up with was doing reps of a given drill for a given amount of
time. It took only 5-10 minutes to master the basic choreography of each
drill today.
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Adidas Bracara Indoors Shoes Ball Adidas Replique
6.0 psi |
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Tuesday July 24
Waltham Y
816-951 PM |
LC90ADWindsprints,
turning to right on contact with ball; 40
minutes, 15 minute break, 40 minutes
total 80 minutes
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LC90ADWindsprints, turning to right on contact with
ball This drill features (explained previously) features a chip at the wall, followed by turning right at a 90 degree angle on contact with the rebound, air dribbling approx 20 yds, then ground dribbling back to the starting point, then walk/stand rest interval which today was 40 seconds counted in the head. The ball was chipped with the left. The gym was hot and humid as it tends to be
at the Oak Sq Y also. I am sure such fatigues me. I got hot and very
sweaty the first 40 minutes, somewhat winded. The second 40 minutes same
story not quite as bad.
The chips the first half were like the
previous chipping session approx in quality, they were typically
high hanging chips that hit the wall 15 yds away hard about 15
feet above the ground, seems before the ball began to lose altitude. I'm
sure from the right angle of observation these chips at the wall look
impressive.
Beginning of second half there was an
accuracy problem. Towards end of second half I noticed real improvement in
terms of consistent accuracy (after 110 minutes practice today and
day before yesterday).
I do the chip with the left foot, I noticed
that if on follow through the chipping foot is tilted with the right side
of the foot lower than the left side of the foot, the result is the ball
pulled off to the right. Seems noticing this improved accuracy.
I got to thinking that approaching the ball
from straight behind as opposed to from a slant has real advantages.
Simply by slightly tilting the foot you can hit the ball off to the left
or to the right without telegraphing what you are doing to the defense.
When a left footed kicker habitually
approaches the ball at a slant from the right of the ball, he develops a
habit that does not work well if he is required to kick the ball to his
left with his left foot, or straight ahead, and if he has to kick it
without having time to line up in the requisite slant vis a vis the
ball.
When you approach the ball from straight
behind, your body the target and the ball being in a line, I would guess
this is more energy efficient, a higher percentage of the kinetic energy
in your body is put into the ball. I remember in high school this kid
named Jon Wool, who was on my high school soccer team, trying to teach me
to approach the ball from straight behind, hitting it with the top of the
foot, with the knee over the ball--but his teaching did not sink in to me.
The air dribbles today were impressive if you
find fast 20 yard air dribbles with the ball bouncing a couple of times
along the way impressive. The air dribbles today did not seem better than
the last time doing this drill. But today there was the effect of people
playing basketball getting in the way of the air dribble, I think learning
to navigate such 'obstructions' rapidly improves my skill.
I feel as if I am learning alot and am
positioned to make fast progress, due to the fact that I have been
observant and thoughtful, recording my thoughts into this log. And I feel
I have been fairly eloquent, almost poetic at times.
There were some teen-age females hanging out
in the gym when I got there, I could smell gin in the gym. Then there were
some guys of various races, ranging from teenager to I would guess
30s-40s.
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Shoes Adidas Bracara Indoors with foam sole cushion inserted; thin orange socks Ball Adidas Replique 6.0 psi |
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@2007 David Virgil
Hobbs
