Tutorial

It is pretty ridiculous that the Phillies finally lost, but what are you going to do? They're just saving that win for when we are there in a few days. However, enough with the tangents. Thinking of my teammate Scott who is at power soccer camp right now, I'm struck by how important it is to know people who know things. What would make Scott travel to Minnesota to play power soccer? He is there so that he can learn more about power soccer to help all of us improve. How is he going to do that? He is going to learn things from people who know things. I think that this can apply in many areas of life, not exclusively to power soccer. If I need help with a calculus problem, it is definitely beneficial to know a professor who knows things about how to solve the problem. So, that is why business especially is all about networking. None of us know everything, but if you know a lot of people who know something, you will probably be able to find an answer you're looking for from at least one person. Hopefully, Scott will come back and enlighten us!

Loss of a Star

Today is Friday, so here comes some fiction!

The game sped along quickly as the Jaguars and Falcons did battle. These two giants of Florida basketball were squaring off for the first time ever as the Falcons were from the Miami area whereas the Jaguars were from the Panhandle. Fate had never brought them together until this night in March. Both teams ran a high-octane offense so there was little time for even the spectators to catch their breath. This night was a little bit different for the Falcons though. As much as their coach, Dan Smith, tried to run a very balanced offense, he was blessed or perhaps cursed by having the best player in Florida on his team who ran the offense most of the time. The blessing is how he led his team to an undefeated year while playing as good as any player in recent Florida history, but the curse comes when your team doesn't know how to run without him, and he happens to be hurt during the most important game of the year. Nothing throws off a team's balance like dropping the anchor of the team. But they had to play, they had to bring their A game tonight, or this season was over.
Photo by aturkus on Flickr

See and Do

Some people learn by watching, and some people learn by doing. I'm trying my hand at both. I know that often times coaches will watch game film to see how a team performs. While rather than learn about my own team from the film, I have started watching several power soccer films that are available on the Internet to learn new strategy and better technique while I play. I know that it is definitely one thing to talk about and know how to do something than it is to actually be able to do it. As my old statistics teacher Mr. Beard used to say, "I know how to dunk a basketball, but I can't actually do it." That is why I now need to take what I have been seeing in these videos and turn it into production on the court. However, that is also easier said than done. I know what I need to do, but speeding up my reaction time and overall awareness is what I definitely need to improve in order to raise my game to a new level. You need to start by watching, but then you need to work on turning the head knowledge into usable knowledge.

Better Writing than Mine!

As I have done before, I have something else that I want you to do tonight instead of reading my writing. Tonight, I want you to go and read this article that was in Seven Days today about our power soccer clinic as well as watch this video which was also produced by Seven Days. This was such an exciting event for all of us, hype it up!

Team Chemistry

When I think about our power soccer team, I realize that what we really need to work on is our communication, but there are definite signs of improvement. Last night, I was very encouraged as we were actually calling out when a defender was in the box rather than tripping into a three in the box call and giving up a free kick. For those of you who don't know, there can only be one defender and goalkeeper in the goal box at once. The offense does not have a limit though, so it is important for someone to be in the box to support the goalkeeper. However, I think that communication goes both ways, on offense as well as defense. Communication does not necessarily need to be verbal because often times verbalization well give away a wide open weak side cut. However, sometimes something as simple as eye contact can be enough if the team chemistry is there. I do realize that some of us, like myself, have some issues physically rotating our bodies, but we all have cues that we as teammates will learn to read and react accordingly. I am hoping to be able to pick these up from my teammates better so that we all can function as a better team.

Call To Action

I just got back from power soccer practice, and I am all of a sudden inspired to write even though I wasn't all day. So, here's what I'm thinking. I was talking with my teammate Scott about how we could start playing more games. We talked about various ideas of how we could coordinate with all of the other local teams to play more often if you define local as being within six hours. Okay, so I guess that isn't really local, but it is the best we can do right now with power soccer in the Northeast. It got me thinking about what is the simplest solution to this dilemma. You know I came up with? We need more teams! Wow, that was a huge revelation that is much easier to say than do I totally understand. However, I also know that every player who has played power soccer with us has come back. Even if you're not particularly into sports, the competitive aspect is definitely addicting. So this is my version of a call to action. If there is anyone in Vermont who wants to play but is too far away from Burlington to drive for practice, get in touch with me. We are looking to spread the word about this sport, and I'd be happy to tell you what we are up to as far as organization. Playing wise, I am far from an expert, but I am learning and any of you can learn too. All you need is four people to play. So get out there and do it, we would love to see more competition and learn from each other!

Swinging Momentum

It was somewhat disappointing as the Phillies choked last night, but I think that really shouldn't have happened. I thought that the Phillies leaving seven runners on base in the first four innings was pretty bad. It seems as if wasting those types of opportunities always comes back to haunt a team. It's like the football team who can't execute on third down or the hockey team that blows the power play. Even though the walk off home run by Ryan Zimmerman probably had very little to do with leaving all those runners on, I think that is very often a "coincidence" that early mistakes cause late losses. If the Phillies could have brought in two or more of those runs, the Zimmerman home run would not have been a walk off. However, it might have even been more important than that. A few more early runs would have swung the momentum the Phillies way earlier which could have messed with the Nationals. No one should doubt the importance of getting out to an early lead. Once you get a few runs, it seems as if the rest of the game flows much better and the team is able to execute on a higher level.
Photo by pacomexico on Flickr