Double Time

As always, here are my goals for playing power soccer today. However, these goals also extend until tomorrow as a few of my teammates and I are traveling to Littleton to visit the newly named North Country Storm. So, I think that it will be pretty a pretty awesome weekend. Four hours of power soccer never gets old.

·         First, I need to remember that I need to speed test at some point. I think that my speed should be all right now, but it is definitely hard to judge just by feel.

·         Also, I need to remember to utilize my spin kick. It seems a lot better now that I've turned up my turn speed some, so while I know that it has a long way to go, it feels better, and I actually can use it a little bit better in games.

·         Finally, I need to think about winning in a one-on-one situation. I need to be able to think about spinning the ball back to my teammate in order to actually be able to advance from these situations. It's hard to win in a one-on-one situation without passing out of it because often times the chairs are so evenly matched that you cannot beat them one-on-one. Therefore, I hope I will be able to hit to my teammates well.

Draft

Okay, I am so sorry. It has been an insane week, so I haven't gotten around to writing. However, I have something awesome to write for you tonight. I chose my first fantasy baseball team of the year. The league I am in is called the Battle of the Blogs. Essentially, the idea is that a lot of people who like to talk about sports and claim they know everything like myself now have a chance to back it up. So, I thought that I would show you my entire team.

Catchers: Mike Napoli (starter), Bryan Pena

First Baseman: Gaby Sanchez (starter), Mike Napoli and Garrett Jones also have eligibility at this position

Second Baseman: Gordon Beckham (starter), Clint Barmes

Third Baseman: Ryan Zimmerman

Shortstop: Alexi Ramirez (starter), Clint Barmes

Leftfield: Juan Pierre (starter), Ben Francisco

Centerfield: Adam Jones (starter), Carlos Beltran

Right field: Garrett Jones (starter), then Ben Francisco

Utilities: Carlos Beltran

Starting Pitchers: Felix Hernandez, Ubaldo Jimenez will lead the way, but they are supported by Cole Hamels, Randy Wolf, and Tim Stauffer with Daisuke Matsuzaka and Joe Blanton on the bench. My relief pitchers are Brad Lidge, Brandon Lyon, Mike Adams, Evan Meek, and Takashi Saito.

Well, what do you think? I would love to hear any and all of your opinions!

New Settings

Well, I have power soccer tonight, so it seems appropriate that I should again tell you what I want to do better. I want to make the slight disclaimer that I altered my forward speed on my chair so hopefully I am legal, but I'm pretty sure that we are speed testing today, so that will be extraordinarily helpful to help me get these settings zeroed in on 6.2 miles an hour. The positive side is that I also turned up my turning speed, so maybe I will be better at spin kicking. It will be fun to find out. Now, the main thing I want to do today is be intelligent. I was watching Georgetown and Virginia Commonwealth men's basketball last night, and as most of you will probably know by now, Virginia Commonwealth pulled off the upset. Why did they pull off the upset? It was mainly because they barely turned the ball over and shot with very high efficiency. Therefore, my goal is to apply this model to practice. When my team is on offense, I do not want to turn the ball over and allow for any fast breaks. Then, I want to take good shots because every shot essentially that is not a goal is almost like a turnover. Therefore, I want the shots to count and be decent attempts on goal.

Aud Night

So, I just got done watching myself on TV. Why was I on TV? I was on TV because I was at the Barre Auditorium last night for some semi-final basketball. It was a pretty solid night. The first game was relatively predictable given that Proctor has been losing more and more players every year from what was once their dynasty. When you combine that with the fact Twinfield was led by 6'6" junior Chad Copeland. Proctor simply did not have anyone with enough size to match up with him. The loss by Proctor was only the second one that I have seen in my life. Then, in the second game, I really did not know anything about Fair Haven before this game, but they gave U-32 the type of run few others have. Fair Haven was zoned in from three-point land, and that was ultimately what put them ahead. They also played a solid all around game, but the long-range shooting was definitely the difference. It was kind of hard to watch a team that you have watched so closely to get knocked out in a game they were supposed to win, but it was definitely a great match. It is always good to go to the Aud!

Photo by Murray State on Flickr

Aggression

As usual on Saturday, here are my ideas about what I want to work on at power soccer practice today. We are less than one month away from our home games on April 9!

·         I was very aggressive last week, and it worked very well quite honestly. While I did have collisions, very few of them were my fault which I was very excited about. I am going to bring it again today, so I hope it works well.

·         I need to develop my spin kicking as usual. I would like to be confident enough to use them in the midst of gameplay. However, I can totally picture of myself spinning and ramming into someone which would then totally be my fault and might even be a card if it was hard enough. I will try to avoid that, but I will try to develop.

·         I think that I need to pass better. I had one or two nice passes last week, but in an entire game, that is not very impressive at all. Unfortunately, I tend to try to beat everyone one-on-one, but that eventually will not work. I need to use my teammates better, and we will do better as a result.

Playoff Fever

It is playoff basketball time for the boys now in Vermont. Two games in the past two nights. Last night's game was particularly exciting given that it was actually a decent matchup between Spaulding and Essex. Spaulding was in control most of the game largely because of solid play on their part, but it cannot be discounted that Essex had major problems finding the net. When you combine that with the return of Evan Tullar and a huge effort from Lucas Dutil and it was a recipe for success. I know that I just highlighted a few names, but I seriously think that the entire team played well and outmatched Essex.

Tonight, the game wasn't quite so close. I was taking in U-32 versus Lyndon. Whenever there is a matchup between the 15 seed and the 2 seed, there are bound to be mismatches. However, it is rare to see a team pretty much play the bench for the entire fourth quarter with one exception that I can remember for about one minute. Nevertheless, it was a fun game, and it was good to see U-32 move on to the next round where they are only one step away from the fabled Barre Auditorium.

Photo by  ktylerconk on Flickr