Belated Recap

It is ridiculously cold out. I don't really know what else to say, so I will leave it at that and the fact that the high temperature today in Burlington is supposed to be 5°. Anyway, on to the sports. I realized that I never talked about how power soccer practice went on Saturday night. Actually, it went amazingly well. For me, I think it was one of my better games which always makes me happy. I actually hit some spin kicks so that was great. One of them was even a 180° which I had never landed during a game. Everybody else played excellently as well! I think that we're all coming along very nicely, and I think the teamwork aspect is definitely coming along as well. People are talking and finding each other with passes. Also, we end up double teaming less and less which is obviously a good thing. It is exciting to be part of a team that is coming together like this and to see where we have come from. I wasn't there at the very beginning, but I have been with this team almost as long as everyone else, so I have pretty much seen every stage of our development. It really is amazing.

Two Great Games

Well, what a day of football! Both games were excellent, but I will say that the second one was better. The Jets had an amazing rally, and the Steelers had an amazing first half. Unfortunately, the opposing halves for each team were less than stellar, but it made for a very competitive game. I never felt like the Bears had much of a shot versus the Packers. They couldn't get their offense running until they brought in their third stringer whom I had never heard of but did a pretty good job considering the defense he was playing against and the magnitude of the game he was thrown into. Now, we have a golden Super Bowl, so not only will that be a lot of fun, but I hope it will be pretty competitive. You have two great defenses against two great quarterbacks, but from what I thought today, I would have to say that Pittsburgh has the upper hand simply because I think that the running game will be what differentiates the teams, and Pittsburgh had quite the offensive ground attack rolling in the first half. Of course, I would love to hear more opinions too, so don't be afraid to send them in!

Photo by tedkerwin on Flickr

A Cold One Out There

As usual, here is my list of what I want to do better at power soccer today. Before I start though, I just wanted to mention that this is my 400th blog posting. Wow...

·         I know that it is very cold out today, so even though it isn't really a goal, I am really hoping that the gym is warm. I play so much better when I am warm, but I will work hard anyway.

·         I want to remember to integrate my spin kick into the flow of the game more efficiently. Every now and then, I can launch one, but it is my most powerful shot, so I would like to be able to put it in the game more often.

·         I want to get more comfortable backing up. We do a lot of drills that involve backing up, and I am getting better at them, but there's obviously room for improvement. Isn't there always room for improvement?

·         Finally, I want to use my teammates better. I need to get nice strong pass off to them more often. Again, that kind of relates to the above, but I thought it should be emphasized again.

Tennis Talk

I don't understand why it has to be so cold out. It just doesn't make sense. Anyway, we all know that there is a lot of tennis going on. I like tennis, but I do think that the games are very long. I know many people will say that I like long games because I like baseball. I most definitely do like baseball, but there is a lot more to baseball that changes over the duration of the match. Baseball on the other hand could be a totally different game in the ninth inning than it was in the first. I realize that tennis does change as well, but it is still one player on one player. Saying all of this, I do enjoy tennis. I think that it is definitely a fun sport that takes a lot of skill to play well or even adequately. I do enjoy it in small doses when it is a really tight match and when I am watching with someone who really enjoys the sport. That is a lot of it; when you're with someone who enjoys whatever they are watching, you catch on as well. So, enjoy the Australian Open and remember that Roger Federer is the man!

Photo by dcJohn on Flickr

Goalie Styles

I felt like yesterday was Friday, but today is only Thursday. I'm not sure how that works, but I will probably be off for most of the day. Anyway, today let's talk about the power soccer goaltending. From that film I have watched, there are basically two schools of thought when it comes to goaltending -- appropriately modeled by the top two teams in America, the Circle City Rollers and the Atlanta Synergy. First, Circle City played an extraordinarily conservative style in which the goaltender hardly ever leaves the goal. The obvious benefit of this is that the goaltender will hardly ever be out of position, but the disadvantage is exactly why I believe that Atlanta plays such an aggressive style. Atlanta puts the goaltender almost up to half-court a lot of the time with the rationale that the goaltender can cut the ball off before the ball gets too deep into his zone. Obviously, these styles are hardly compatible, but they are both definitely effective. To play the latter style, I feel like the goaltender needs to be probably the best player on the court or if not at least able to stop the best player on the other team. He needs to be able to slow down the ball enough to get support from his teammates.

Background Noise

I think that Vermont weather is crazy. I also think that I have watched more college basketball this season than I ever have previously. The main reason for this is that doing homework becomes much more enjoyable when there is a basketball game on in the background. Many people say that multitasking doesn't work, but I haven't had a problem with it yet. Honestly, I don't really multitask because if I am doing my work, the TV might be on, but I am not paying attention to it. I use the game on TV in between working for a break, but it is otherwise just there. I know that even noise throws some people off, but I am lucky that I am not one of them. I would rather work in the Davis Center rather than the library at UVM. I think that maybe I have to work harder when there is noise to focus so I end up paying even better attention to the material because if I didn't I would lose all focus. Whatever the reason, I like having some noise around, and I think I do better because of it. If it is hurting me, well, I guess we will never know that anyway because I don't think that I will be changing it.

Photo by William Hook on Flickr