Understanding the following stats:

The chronological order number of the shot is given with its estimated speed. Shot at 1:30 angle means, given straight ahead relative to path of ball before shot as 1200 on the imaginary clock, the ball was shot at a 45 degree angle to the right at 130 on the imaginary clock. Coordinates for where ball hit goal or goal-wall (goal is area on gym wall): 1,1 = lower left corner of goal; 1,8 = upper left corner of goal; 24,8 = upper right corner; 24,1 = lower right corner; -4,3 = hit goal wall 4 feet to left of goal and 3 feet high; 31,7 = ball hit goal wall 7 feet to right of goal and 7 feet high, etc. One pace equals 0.67 meters. The last number is the angle in degrees of the shot times the mph of the shot.

Morning session results:

Shot/angle/Est Speed:

1 : 25 mph; 4:30 angle, 135 degrees right. 3375

2 : 15 mph; 3:30 angle, 105 degrees right. 1575

3 : 32 mph; 3:00 angle, 90 degrees right. 2880

9 : 14 mph; 5:30 angle, 165 degrees right. 2310

10: 45 mph; 4:30 angle, 135 degrees right. 6075

10: 19 mph; 8:00 angle, 120 degrees left. 2280

11: 24 mph; 3:30 angle, 105 degrees right. 2520

14: 24 mph; 3:30 angle, 105 degrees right. 2520

16: 16 mph; 5:00 angle, 150 degrees right. 2400

17: 05 mph; 5:30 angle, 165 degrees right. 825

18: 25 mph; 4:30 angle, 135 degrees right. 3375

19: 30 mph; 4:00 angle, 120 degrees right. 3600

20: 34 mph; 3:30 angle, 105 degrees right. 3570

23: 29 mph; 3:30 angle, 105 degrees right. 3045

The average angle of the shot compared to the angle established by the 4th touch prior to the shot on the 5th touch today, was 4:24 on the imaginary clock, 132 degrees right (shots for which mph recorded).

33 shots were taken today from 3:33 PM to 5:10 PM during 97 minutes. All these shots were taken on the 5th touch of an air dribble that adhered to the prescribed footwork and touches pattern. The rate of 0.34 shots per minute was up from the previous day.

Out of total 23 shots: 8 balls swerved to the right in the air prior to bouncing; 8 balls featured balls bouncing at a rightwards angle; two balls featured both swerve right before bouncing and and a bounce to the right. Shot #18, bounced twice on its way to the goal 20 meters away which it hit in the lower left corner at (1,1). It's average speed was 25 mph. The two bounces together created a gigantic slant to the right of 45 degrees. It was kicked with the inside of the left foot. It reached an apex of 5 feet during flight.

What I wanted to do today, was collect data re shots shot backwards and to the right at an angle of around 135 degrees and greater, as I felt there was a shortage of such data. Results for this kind of shot: 135 degrees right (3 shots): 32 mph avg; 150 degrees right (1 shot): 16 mph; 165 degrees right (2 shots): 10 mph avg. I only managed to get 6 shots recorded in the 135-180 degree range. Data on such shots is hard to come by in part because by nature, I tend to avoid difficult extremely backwards angled shots. Not sure, how wise it is is, or how morale boosting it is, to spend hour after hour trying to get data on such shots.

The game of multiplying the angle of the shot times the speed of the shot to find the greatest shots of the day:

Gold medal: #10. The angle times speed multiplier (6075) for this shot was I think the highest for me in my records so far (I have not made this calculation for all the shots I could calculate it for). The ball was shot backwards and to my right relative to path of ball prior to shot at a 135 degrees angle. Ball reached a 4 foot apex, and hit the goal at coordinates (2,3) in the lower left corner, 18 meters from where it was shot, without bouncing. The ball was kicked with the inside top of the left foot. The ball's avg speed was 45 mph. It swerved 2' to the right in the air, without spinning.

Silver: #19. Angle X speed mult = 3600. Shot backwards and to my right at a 120 degree angle relative to path of ball prior to shot. Average speed in flight, 30 mph. This ball reached an apex of 13 feet, and would have hit the goal-wall 20 meters away before bouncing, at (15,10) (it hit the basketball backboard 7 feet in front of the goal). This ball was kicked with the inside of the left foot. It swerved 2 feet to the right in the air, on clockwise spin.

Bronze: #20. Angle X speed mult = 3570. Ball was kicked backwards and to my right at a 105 degree angle relative to the path of the ball before it was shot. It reached an apex of 4 feet, and hit the goal 18 meters away at (18,2) in the lower right corner, on 1 bounce. It bounced 30 degrees rightwards on clockwise spin. By right I mean in the direction of my right shoulder as I stand watching it. The ball's average speed in flight was 34 mph.

Today and previously I've noticed that I seem to have a natural tendency to shoot the ball at the corners of the goal (I started playing soccer when I was six years old). This effects attempts to measure accuracy based on how far from the exact center of the goal the balls hit the goal wall.

I did not collect as much data as I wanted to on shots or passes backwards and to my right, almost straight backwards as I wanted to today. Yet I demonstrated today a real ability to be in headlong retreat on the 4th touch of the air-dribble, and then kick the ball almost straight backwards and to my right at a 150-165 degree angles, reaching the goal 20 meters away with rolling balls moving at an average speed of 15 mph.

Not sure why such angles to the right should be not as powerful as such angles to the left. When angling to the right my foot has to swing from my left and around to my right. When angling to my left, my foot moves from my left further to my left. Especially since I have a relatively wide torso such could be significant.

Out of 23 shots taken today with the prescribed initial slant putting the goal at a 150 degrees right angle, 1 hit the ceiling and 3 were so off target that they would have missed the left goal post of the goal I was shooting at (closer to my left shoulder as I look at it than the right goalpost is) by more than 24 feet.

Looking at 14 shots made today after the preliminary air-dribble, with the initial slant as it was supposed to be, and also the mph of the shot being recorded, the average shot (not counting the 3 shots estimated to be more than 24 feet from the closest goalpost when crossing goal line) missed the horizontal center of the goal by 9 feet horizontally, and missed the vertical center of the goal by 3 feet vertically (these averages correct for statistical illusions created by for example, a shot 4 feet to the left of center cancelling out a shot 4 feet to the right of center). The average shot traveled 18 meters from the point at which it was kicked, to the goal or the goal-wall that the goal was on.

Prior to the practice I had had a comically nonsensical dream related to soccer. Perhaps this dream has something to do with the fact that I feel that alot of my best shots in an almost backwards direction, have been interrupted by the low ceiling at the Y . These shots have hit the lowest parts of the ceiling, about 21 feet above the ground hard, and have looked like they would have been on target on the goal if not interrupted by the low ceiling. In the dream:

I was a member of this group of about 16 stagehands, who were setting up some gig in a gym. We were hanging in scaffolds from the ceiling which was 57 feet above the gym floor, not 26 feet above the ground like the Waltham Y's. We used ropes to pull into place on the gym floor below, these markers that looked like stuff from the Olympic curling; the markers looked sort of like statues of ducks about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide. These markers spotted out various positions of the ball and of my body when I do air-dribble runs on the gym floor. During the course of our work, as we pulled on the ropes to get the markers into place, about four of us fell to our deaths. But we all acted as if such accidents were normal and in the course of a days work. One of the workers in the scaffolding was WCVB TV announcer Harvey Leonard. When my scaffold collapsed I jumped on to his scaffold and so escaped death; he and I both survived this day of dangerous work. One of the workers was named Colin Shaw and he looked like Harvey Leonard. This Colin Shaw was one of the guys who fell to his death.

When I was awoke I was thinking, how could it be, that I was the star of the show, yet, at the same time, I had to do dangerous work on scaffolds as one of 20 stagehands? If the show was fell funded enough to hire 20 stage hands, how come I had to be one of them, when I was the star of the show?

Today I changed over to, on the 4th touch of the runs, instead of attempting to maintain a fast backwards direction away from the goal, setting myself up for getting the ball in optimal position vis a vis my body for the 5th touch which is the kick towards the goal.

In between the afternoon practice and the evening practice, I discovered that when the distance between the foot hitting the ball and the goal-line is approx 20 meters as it was today, the maximal speed of the ball during flight is approx 4/3 times the average speed.

This is because the maximal speed, is the initial speed, and the ball speed decreases with every millisecond that the ball travels.

I have been up till now, measuring and recording the average speed on my shots. My ball mph speed estimator now produces an estimate for both average speed and maximum speed of the ball during flight.

The laconic javascript that I used to make the ball_speed_estimator cough up estimates not just for my personal 0.67 meters per pace setting, but for all pace settings, is impressive beyond words.

Dont know for sure but I expect that the pro soccer leagues that have been measuring shot speeds, have been measuring the maximum speed of the ball during flight, and not the average speed.

The German Bundesliga's strongest shooters were measured at 80 mph over 7 meters. Over 7 meters the maximum speed is 1.1 times the average speed; so I estimate the strongest shooters in the league can shoot at 88 mph max speed.\

Makes sense to, when choosing between two definitions of speed, choose the one that give the higher mph rating.

When the max speed of the ball during the flight is the definition of speed, the speed rating automatically takes into account the fact that balls that travel a short distance to the goal have deccelerated less than balls that have traveled a long distance to the goal.

But when average speed over foot-meets-ball to ball-meets-target is used as the definition of speed, a ball that has a higher max speed during flight, could be given a slower speed rating than a ball with a lower max speed during flight, because the time interval between the starting measuring time and stopping measuring time was less for the ball with the lower max speed during flight, hence it enjoyed the advantage of it speed not being recorded in the latter stages of the ball flight, when the ball speed slows down more.

With all balls the highest speed during flight is the initial speed; the speed of the ball is constantly declining with every millisecond of flight of the ball.

The average speed I reported for one of my shots, which was based on the stopwatch being started when I kicked the ball and the stopwatch being stopped when the ball hit the goal-wall 20 meters away, was a few days ago 93 mph, and there was another at 90 mph; these were measures of the ball average speed. With all balls timed over a 20 meters distance, the maximum speed of the ball, the initial speed, is 4/3 times the average speed.

Therefore, the 93 mph average speed, translates into a max speed during flight of 124 mph, which is the definition of ball speed that the soccer world uses unless it, the soccer world, specifies that it is being technical and talking about average speed.

Thus the 90 mph speed I reported translates into 120 mph in soccer fan lingo.

In all recorded history, the soccer world has recorded only one shot faster than 124 mph, the 134 mph free kick by the Brazilian Araujo. I put that fact together with the fact that on either the 124 mph or 120 mph shot, not sure which right now, I felt I could have shot the ball alot harder--and I think I'm on to something significant.

Today, the fastest shot taken at the full court distance was #16, at 42 mph. This shot's maximum speed during flight, was approx 55 mph. In terms of soccer fan lingo, this shot was 55 mph, even though in my lingo it was 42 mph.

#16 hit the goal-wall at: (-8, 14). It traveled 19 meters and hit 14 feet high on the wall. My calculations show that if I took into account the fact that it traveled not 61.6 feet but actually 63.2 feet taking into account the fact that it traveled vertically and hit high on the wall, the speed was just 1 mph faster than the 44 mph calculated using distance between base of wall and point at which ball kicked. Moral of digression: Mathematical quibbling does not always yield signficant results. Heretofore, I have been ignoring the fact that speeds are a little faster than recorded when the ball hits high on the wall due to the actual distance traveled being greater than the distance between the start of flight point and the base of the wall. I intend to continue to ignore this fine point.

For a regulation size soccer ball of weight 0.43 kg and circumference 22 cm, when the start point and the end point are 20 meters apart, the initial max speed of the ball during flight is 4/3 the average speed.

When the start of flight and the end of flight are separated by 16 paces, or 10.7 meters, the max speed during flight is 1.16 times the average speed.

The max/avg speed multiplier at 20 meters, is different from what it is at 16 paces, 10.7 meters. This is because the balls shot from 16 paces have less time to slow down in between kick=point and start of stopwatch, and wall impact and stopwatch being stopped.

Distance between kickpoint & start stopwatch and wall-impact point and stop stopwatch (in paces, 1 pace = 0.67 meters); Max/avg speed multiplier at said distance; seconds required for ball with initial max speed of 60 mph to travel given distance:

16 paces (10.7 meters); 1.16
17 paces (11.4 meters); 1.17  
18 paces (12.0 meters); 1.18   .53 
19 paces (12.7 meters); 1.19   .566 
20 paces (13.4 meters); 1.21   .603 
21 paces (14.0 meters); 1.22   .635 
22 paces (14.7 meters); 1.23   .674
23 paces (15.4 meters); 1.24   .713
24 paces (16.1 meters); 1.25   .753
25 paces(16.75 meters); 1.27   .791
26 paces (17.4 meters); 1.28   .829 
27 paces (18.0 meters); 1.29   .866
28 paces (18.8 meters); 1.31   .915
29 paces (19.4 meters); 1.32   .952   
30 paces (20.0 meters); 1.33   .991 
31 paces (20.8 meters); 1.34  1.042
32 paces (21.4 meters); 1.36  1.082
33 paces (22.1 meters); 1.37  1.129
34 paces (22.8 meters); 1.39  1.177 

In terms of average miles per hour, the fastest shot today was #14 towards the end of the evening practice, taken after switching from operating on a length wise basis to operating on a width wise basis. It was the second to the last shot of the day. It was at 60 mph in terms of average speed. This translates to 70 mph in soccer enthusiast jargon. This ball involved doing a 180 degree turn in terms of ball direction and body direction, in between the 4th touch on the ball and the 5th touch on the ball, and taking only one step in between the 4th and the 5th touch as in touch 4 with left, step with right, touch 5 the shot with the left (all with the ball as usual not touching the ground).

The whole point of the practice was inspired by times in the past in which I had done this 180 degree turn between the 4th touch and the 5th touch; yet it was not until the second to last shot of the evening that I actually did the 180 degree turn.

Today I was just trying to optimize ball position on the 4th touch, which I had not been doing previously. Seems in order to produce 180 degree turns, I have to command myself to specifically produce 180 degree turns as opposed to more generally commanding myself to use the 4th touch to optimize ball position. Chipping the ball over one's head backwards, turning around and shooting it, seems harder than it is; such seems intimidatingly difficult so there is a tendency not to attempt it.

70 mph was the figure given by the English club that employs Christiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney (considered two of the best ten players amongst the earthlings), as the max shot speed of these two players.

Significantly, it now seems possible that I can develop a move in which when air dribbling away from the other team at at least 10 mph, on one touch I completely reverse direction to face the opposing goal and shoot the ball at 70 mph , all without the ball touching the ground, and all done with just one step taken between the preliminary touch and the shot.

In dramatic terms, such reminds me of: the lever on a pistol being cocked back and then snapping forwards as the pistol is shot; those heathen statues of the Indian God dancing on an infant that symbolizes ignorance.

Today for the first time, I include not just the average speed that I myself recorded, but also the estimated max speed.

Understanding the following stats:

The chronological order number of the shot is given with its estimated speed; the first number for speed is the average speed, the second number for speed is the max speed. Shot at 1:30 angle means, given straight ahead relative to path of ball before shot as 12:00 on the imaginary clock, the ball was shot at a 45 degree angle to the right at 1:30 on the imaginary clock. Coordinates for where ball hit goal or goal-wall (goal is area on gym wall): 1,1 = lower left corner of goal; 1,8 = upper left corner of goal; 24,8 = upper right corner; 24,1 = lower right corner; -4,3 = hit goal wall 4 feet to left of goal and 3 feet high; 31,7 = ball hit goal wall 7 feet to right of goal and 7 feet high, etc. One pace equals 0.67 meters. The last number is the angle in degrees of the shot times the max mph of the shot.

Afternoon session results:

Shot/angle/Est Speed:

Afternoon part one using entire gym. Initial slant of air dribble put goal at 165 degree angle behind me and to the right:

1 : 32 41 mph; 2:30 angle, 75 degrees right. 3075

2 : 31 40 mph; 2:30 angle, 75 degrees right. 3000

4 : 19 24 mph; 1:00 angle, 30 degrees right. 720

7 : 25 33 mph; 4:00 angle, 120 degrees right. 3960

8: 30 38 mph; 1:00 angle, 30 degrees right. 1140

12: 35 45 mph; 1:30 angle, 45 degrees right. 2025

13: 36 45 mph; 11:00 angle, 30 degrees left. 1350

14: 31 40 mph; 2:00 angle, 60 degrees right. 2400

15: 27 33 mph; 1:30 angle, 45 degrees right. 1485

16: 42 55 mph; 3:30 angle, 105 degrees right. 5775

18: 26 34 mph; 3:00 angle, 90 degrees right. 3060

20: 42 54 mph; 3:00 angle, 90 degrees right. 4860

22: 34 44 mph; 3:00 angle, 90 degrees right. 3960

23: 35 43 mph; 2:00 angle, 60 degrees right. 2580

Afternoon part II, now using just half the gym:

2: 27 33 mph; 1:30 angle, 45 degrees right. 1485

3: 48 58 mph; 1:30 angle, 45 degrees right. 2610

6: 14 16 mph; 2:00 angle, 60 degrees right. 960

7: 55 64 mph; 2:00 angle, 60 degrees right. 3840

8: 40 48 mph; 2:30 angle, 75 degrees right. 3600

At this point, at 5:07 PM, a man and his kids wandered into the half of the gym I was on. Hence it was not possible to continue with the shooting of the ball. So until 5:35 PM, I did tests re the first touch on the ball, seems the proper apex of arc is upper shin to knee.

8:20 PM I returned to the gym for the evening practice. For the evening, the initial slant of the air dribble was such that the goal was 150 degrees behind me and to the left during the initial slant:

4: 27 35 mph; 3:00 angle, 90 degrees right. 3150

5: 35 46 mph;3:00 angle, 90 degrees right. 4140

6: 33 42 mph; 2:00 angle, 60 degrees right. 2520

7: 34 44 mph; 1:00 angle, 30 degrees right. 1320

At this point conditions in the gym became such that I had to switch from a length of gym basis to a width of gym basis.

14: 60 70 mph; 12:00 angle, straight ahead 70

15: 39 46 mph; 3:00 angle 90 degrees right, 4140

At this point as an East Asian man and his little kids entered the room carrying balloons, it was no longer possible to do any kind of shooting drill in the gym.

The average angle of the shot on the 5th touch, compared to the angle established by the 4th touch prior to the shot, today, was 2:07 on the imaginary clock, 63 degrees right (shots for which mph recorded), during the afternoon when the initial slant was to put goal at 165 degrees behind and to my right. In the evening practice (when the initial slant put the goal at 150 degrees backwards and to my left), the average angle of the shot relative to the ball path before the shot, was 2:00 on the imaginary clock, 60 degrees right.

46 shots were taken today during 184 minutes of shooting. All these shots were taken on the 5th touch of an air dribble that adhered to the prescribed footwork and touches pattern (in about half a dozen cases I allowed deviations from the prescribed footwork, such as ball shot on a bounce, or ball shot on 6th touch not 5th. The rate of 0.25 shots per minute was understandable given all the concerns and pauses due to the gym being crowded from time to time with various persons.

Out of total 46 shots: 10 balls swerved to the right and 2 to the left in the air prior to bouncing; 1 ball featured a ball bounce at a rightwards angle.

The game of multiplying the angle of the shot times the speed of the shot to find the greatest shots of the day:

Gold medal: #16. The angle times speed multiplier for this shot was (5775). The ball was shot backwards and to my right relative to path of ball prior to shot at a 105 degrees angle. Ball reached a 16 foot apex, and hit the goal-wall at coordinates (-8,14), 20 meters from where it was shot, without bouncing. The ball was kicked with the inside of the left foot. The ball's avg speed was 42 mph and it's max speed 55 mph. It swerved 2' to the right in the air, on slight spin. Very similar to the gold medal winner of the previous day. Jose's toddler JJ looked at me and said "Oh my God" after this shot.

Silver: #20. Angle X speed mult = 4860. Shot to my right at a 90 degree angle relative to path of ball prior to shot. Average speed in flight, 42 mph, max speed 54 mph. This ball reached an apex of 10 feet, and hit the goal-wall 18 meters away before bouncing, at (11,9). If there was a crossbar it would have hit it. This ball was kicked with the inside of the left foot slash inside of left ankle. It swerved 2 feet to the right in the air, on no spin.

Bronze: #5, evening. Angle X speed mult = 4140. Ball was kicked to my right at a 90 degree angle relative to the path of the ball before it was shot. It reached an apex of 16 feet, and hit the goal-wall 19 meters away at (-12,13), without bouncing. It swerved 2' Left on some spin. It was kicked with the inside front of the left ankle. It's avg mph was 35, it's max mph 46 mph.

Bronze: #15, evening (tie for bronze), last shot of the day. Angle X speed mult = 4140. Ball was kicked to my right at a 90 degree angle relative to the path of the ball before it was shot. It reached an apex of 1 foot, and hit the goal-wall 12 meters away at (25,1), on 1 bounce. It swerved 2' Left on some spin. It was kicked with the inside of the left foot.

Out of 46 shots taken today with the prescribed initial slant putting the goal at a 165 degrees angle to the right, or 150 degree angle back and left, 8 hit the ceiling and 2 were so off target that they would have missed the right goal post of the goal I was shooting at (closer to my left shoulder as I look at it than the left goalpost is) by more than 24 feet.

Looking at 31 shots made today after the preliminary air-dribble, with the initial slant as it was supposed to be, and also the mph of the shot being recorded, the average shot (not counting the 2 shots estimated to be more than 24 feet from the closest goalpost when crossing goal line) missed the horizontal center of the goal by 10 feet horizontally, and missed the vertical center of the goal by 4 feet vertically (these averages correct for statistical illusions created by for example, a shot 4 feet to the left of center cancelling out a shot 4 feet to the right of center). The average shot traveled approx 15.5 meters from the point at which it was kicked, to the goal or the goal-wall that the goal was on.

Today there were three white boy, seventh graders, out on the court the majority of time I was on the court. I gave them the choice between shooting baskets directly in front of the goal target I was shooting at, or shooting targets on the opposite side where none of the shots ever went. They chose to shoot on the side being shot at. I was impressed by their uncomplaining conduct.

At the end when the only way to shoot at the goal wall was from a point only about 13 meters away from the goal-wall, I no longer shot at the goal-wall, because at this distance I thought it would be unacceptable because the seventh graders would be too close to the point at which my foot hit the ball, result being excessively high velocities if the ball were to hit them, and also the ball being right on top of them before they had the chance to react, due to the fact that the fastest human reaction times are around 0.25 secs.

The text at the bottom of the above box explains what happened today. The 3rd touch of the air dribble run had the ball moving directly away from the goal; the 4th touch reversed direction; the shot was on the 5th touch.

I had become used to making a 30 degree turn to the left on the 4th touch. This was the prescribed pattern that I attempted to adhere to. The change to reversing the ball direction with the 4th touch on the ball was difficult to get used to.

Prior to shot #2, the 86 mph shot, there was a Spanish looking teenager in front of the target I was shooting at, and a tall gray haired white man on the opposite side of the court near where I was starting. The tall man told the teenager to leave the area where he was and go and shoot on the other side where he was (so that he would not be in my way and not get hit with a shot). Right after this shot #2 rifled into the lower right hand corner of the goal at 86 mph. Then the tall white gray haired man and the Spanish teenager left. It was as if the whole reason they had stayed in the gym was to watch me shoot, and having seen the 86 mph rocket now thet felt free to leave.

On shot #2, the 3rd touch of the air-dribble had the ball going directly away from the goal. The 4th touch reversed the ball's direction. On the 5th touch I kicked the ball straight ahead directly in front of me, and the ball, a low fast line drive, smashed into the lower right hand corner of the goal. This shot #2 did deviate from the normal prescribed footwork pattern. The prescribed ideal is that there is a reverse of direction on the 4th touch with the left foot, then there is one step with the right, and then the shot with the left. On this shot #2, after the 4th touch I stepped with my left, then with my right, and then shot the ball.

Interesting thing is that I was shooting with the ball at 7.5 psi; now the ball is at 9.1 psi; but officially a ball is allowed to be up to approx 16 psi. I wonder how fast the shots would go if the ball was at 16 psi?

The text at the bottom of the above box explains what happened today. The 3rd touch of the air dribble run had the ball moving directly towards the right sideline; the 4th touch reversed direction; the shot was on the 5th touch.

After about two hours of practice I felt hungry thirsty tired had to take a break, even though the gym was open as vb afficionados did not show up.

Unless mentioned otherwise, the footwork between touch 4 and touch 5 of the run was as follows: Left footed shots: Touch 4 with left, step with right, shot with left. Right footed shots: Touch 4 with left, step with right, step with left, shot with right foot.

Today I showed ability in turning chips created by the 4th touch on the ball into rollers on the shot on the 5th touch. Sometimes the 4th touch would send the ball high in the air to an apex of around 10 feet prior to the shot on the 5th touch. The problem with kicking such high arcing balls on the 4th touch, is the tendency to wildness and ball being kicked too high on the shot on the 5th touch. But I succeeded in avoiding wildness and turning such high arc preliminaries into hard accurate rollers, ball rolling on the ground. I was even able to do this with my right foot. I am surprised that I have these skills, I have not been practicing them, they are old pro type skills, and I am not an old pro.

The goal today was to reverse ball direction on the 4th touch so as to have the ball moving parallel to the goal line on the 5th touch, so as to set up a left footed broadside 90 degree angle (relative to ball movement prior to shot) right angle shot on goal with the left foot. This can be done kicking the ball at a slight forward angle on the 4th touch but today the intent was to kick the ball on a line parallel to the goal line.

The angle of the shot relative to the path of the ball prior to the shot has in the past been usually the same as the angle of the shot relative to the body movement prior to the shot. With the introduction of the sharp changes of direction prior to the shot these two types of relative angles are becoming more dissimilar.

The fastest shots (#10, #15, #23, #41) today were around 60 mph, which is 97 kmh. #23 was shot at a 75 degree angle to the right relative to the path of the ball prior to the shot, but still had a speed of 60 mph and hit the goal-wall at (14,11). All of these shots were shot on the 5th touch of a twisting air-dribble that practices the most difficult moves. All of them were shot on the 5th touch after a sharp change of direction on the 4th touch. On all these shots the ball only touched the ground once (#10) between the start of the air dribble and the shot on the 5th touch of the air-dribble. All of these shots were more difficult and more spectacular than a 60 mph shot of 6 months ago, that had the soccer world screaming about how fast and how "spectacular" and "stunning" it was.

The 60 mph shot of 6 months ago I am talking about was Antar Yahia's 60 mph shot (higher quality clip than most clips of this shot) that produced a victory for Algeria over Egypt in the World Cup qualifying tournament.

The BBC called this shot "an absolute screamer" and a "stunning strike". The Daily Mail called it a "cracker" . Over and over the shot was described as "spectacular" . A Youtube headline re a video clip of the goal shouted "100 kmh". Another Youtube clip has "100 kmh" emblazoned into the video itself. One observer even ascribed the rioting that followed the game that this goal was decided by, as being due to the "unique" "100 kmh" nature of the shot.

Fact is, that looking at the video clip of the Algerian's fab shot, I would have to say that I would expect myself to shoot that kind of shot at at least 130 kmh, not just 100 kmh. The Algerian had a running start at the ball, running in the direction that he shot it, when he shot it. By way of contrast, my 100 kmh shots today, were at the end of a difficult 5 touch air dribble that made the ball difficult to position for the shot. They were shot on the 5th touch of an air dribble after a 90-165 degree turn on the 4th touch of the air dribble, which robbed me of the physical momentum that produces high shot speed amongst ordinary mortals. The sudden change of direction prior to the shot made accurate powerful shots difficult nevertheless my 100 kmh shots today were accurate.

Just goes to show, how nationalistic soccer fans are. Seems like the typical soccer fan, would be proudly shouting all day, about some feat that if it had been performed by a foreigner, would leave him mute.

But I must confess that I have a certain respect for the Algerian team. Because a long time ago while watching the Algerian or the Moroccan soccer team play a game, I sort of fell into a trance, and I felt as if the young men on the team were spiritual, and in touch with the spirit of Mary the mother of Christ. Fact is, that (the Crusaders probably did not know this), the Muslims venerate Mary the mother of Christ.

The text at the bottom of the above box explains what happened today. The 3rd touch of the air dribble run had the ball moving directly towards the left sideline; the 4th touch reversed direction; the shot was on the 5th touch. When all the preliminary air dribbling was done as intended, the result was a shot with the right foot propelling the ball sideways at a right angle relative to the direction of the ball prior to the shot. The intent was that the ball not touch the ground between T1 and T5. In the chart above, if the ball touched the ground between T1 and T5 this is mentioned, but if it did not, no mention is made of the fact that the ball never touched the ground. Today more than 90% of the time, I estimate, the ball did not touch ground betwen T1 and T5.

The first segment of shooting, I found the task at hand more difficult than what was done yesterday, which was the same thing only with the ball directions established by T3 and T4 opposite of the directions established by T3 and T4 today. The first half hour from 440PM to 510 PM, about half of the shots involved more than the intended number of steps (just one) between T4 and the shot on T5. But by the time of the evening practice the number of shots involving more than one step between touches had been radically reduced percentage-wise.

Then the kids came out on the gym, and I had to stop shooting. From about 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM, I did the run up to T5, but on T5 I took deliberately slow speed shots at areas of the gym which were empty.

This hour from 530 to 630 PM did not produce any stats to boast about, but it was one of the best hours ever in terms of improvement. The rate of improvement was "stirring", the way they call inspiring military music during a parade "stirring". During this hour, my ability to reverse direction on T4 so as to move the ball in the direction of the right sideline prior to the shot on T5, and set up a good shot on T5, improved tremendously.

During this hour I practiced without carrying a stopwatch in my hand. I was surprised at how much better I felt not having to carry the stopwatch; I felt like a man freed from slavery, like a man who has just taken off a knapsack weighing 40 lbs. The stopwatch is not heavy, but it is carried by a limb, the arm, that also is not heavy, which renders the weight of the stopwatch relative to the arm as more significant than would be the case if the arm weighed 300 lbs.

The stuff I am doing now is very precise and even a small weight like a stopwatch can throw things off. The arm and the hand are involved in balancing the body and helping to generate various types of forces; they move at high speeds during the maneuvers I am executing and the weight of the stopwatch can throw these speeds off resulting in performance impairment.

During this hour this young man who looked like Senator Scott Brown as a young man, was practicing basketball right next to me. I felt he was a likeable type and that perhaps his presence improved my performance. An elderly white gray haired man was giving him pointers on basketball.

In the evening when I returned to the gym, the shot I recorded as at 113 mph came uncomfortably close to hitting this black young man of Spanish heritage named Angel. He offered to shoot at the side baskets to get out of my way. I told him to go ahead and shoot at the main middle basket because it was ten feet high and he would not want to be shooting at the 8 foot high baskets on the side; I told him that henceforth, I would pay close attention to not allowing a fast shot to get too close to him. Angel and the white young man he was with were both very sporting and uncomplaining re the discomfort of hard shots hitting the wall near them.

The 113 mph shot, was so fast, simply because the position of the ball, and of the body, and of the foot, were all just right so as to produce a hard shot. I think I could have shot it even harder but I was afraid of hitting people with the ball. After the shot I failed to record a time with the stopwatch for the next three shots, because I was in shock re the 113 mph shot.

113 mph is almost the same as the fastest shot recorded over a span of ten years in the English Premier League, which was a 114 mph shot.

Overall in the evening session I felt I did a good job of reversing direction on T4, and then on T5, shooting a right angle shot ( like a ship in a war movie firing a cannon 'broadside') at the goal with my right foot, all without the ball touching the ground, and all with only one step taken with the left foot between T4, a left footed touch on the ball, and T5, a right footed shot.

I am left footed, and I have not been practicing right footed shots. But I knew that the having been practicing the air dribbling with the right foot would be producing good right footed shooting today.

Towards the end of the practice, a tough looking strong looking young white guy who was from Honduras, was in the gym practicing shooting the ball at the wall and stuff like that. He looked like the guy Steve, who used to be a clerk at the gas station but is now an armed security guard. Despite the fact that Steve does not have Spanish or Latin American ancestry. Such has to do in part, with the fact that people like Irish, German, British, and Spanish, are all from the same R1b haplogroup.

The text at the bottom of the above box explains what happened today. What happened today, in fact, is already explained in about four different paragraphs redundantly in this entry. Then again you could say redundance insures the message is gotten across understandably and without error.

Today I started out on the first touch with my back to the opponent goal, moving on a slant to my left. On the second touch I slanted right with a right foot touch. On the third touch I slanted right again with a right foot touch. The 3rd touch sent the ball on a path directly away from the opponent goal. The 4th touch created a 90 degree turn to the right sending the ball on a path parallel to the goal-line, towards the left sideline (sideline closer to my left shoulder as I face opponent goal). The 5th touch, sent the ball on a right angle to the right relative to the path of the ball prior to the shot, and towards the goal.

I felt this particular pattern was important as it combines retreat away from the opponent goal, followed by sideways movement parallel to the goal-line. Sideways movement parallel to the goal-line is difficult for the defense. If the defender follows this sideways movement too closely, he could get caught in terms of a sudden reversal of movement, or a fake movement. If he does not follow such sideways movement closely enough, he risks allowing me to get off an unimpeded dangerous volley shot.

Again today, the high apex of the ball after the fourth touch and prior to the fifth touch, made the shot on the 5th touch difficult. Again I felt I did a good job of not allowing the shot to become directionally too wild due to the high apex of the ball arc after the 4th touch prior to the shot on the 5th touch.

The fact that the third touch sends the ball in a direction that is the opposite of towards the opponent goal, and then the 5th touch sends the ball in the direction of the opponent goal, reduces the amount of bodily momentum that can be put into the shot in this variation of the drill.

Alot of how the shot turns out, has to do with factors such as: do I take the difficult shot on the 5th touch or do I make another touch on the ball so as to set up a better angle on the sixth touch? Do I allow the ball to bounce and then shoot it after it bounces because then the position of the ball will be more optimal? The general rule is and has been, to go ahead and take the difficult shot on the 5th touch, instead of allowing the ball to bounce or making another touch to get the ball in the more advantageous position. This choice entails a sacrifice of power and accuracy in favor of getting practice shooting balls that are in a difficult position.

The fastest shot today was #11, at 77 mph. Zlatan Ibrimahovic, shot a penalty shot recently at 124 kmh which is 77 mph. Large numbers of soccer fans, filled the internet with comments about what a tremendously fast shot it was (example). My 77 mph today was as follows: Starting with my back to the opponent goal, I slanted to my left. Then I slanted right, then I slanted right again. Then I made a 90 degree right turn ending up going towards the sideline. While going towards the sideline, I fired a right-angle broadside at the goal 14 meters away. The ball had a max speed of 77 mph and if the goal was as the normal ones are, would have sailed a few inches above the cross bar, horizontally in the middle of the goal. Zlatan's 77 mph was simpler: he put the ball still on the ground; at leisure placed his body in the perfect starting point to kick it towards the goal, ran at it and kicked it.

All we ever hear about is Beckham's heroic free kick, Carlos' heroic free kick, this heroic free kick that heroic free kick. Is soccer supposed to be a game of free kicks, or is it supposed to be a game of normal play? The free kick type of shot, is not often open to players when up against the top defenses, in the normal course of play. Players get the free kick type shot in the normal course of play, when the defense has become overwhelmed and is no longer able to keep up.

First Practice at Woburn Y; First time using new Absolado X IN shoes and new Jabulani ball

Today I practiced at the Woburn Y instead of the Waltham Y because the Waltham Y gym floor is closed because the floor is getting some kind of polishing type treatment.

As soon as I walked through the door of the Woburn Y, this tall white man with a tan, said "that's a superstar I can tell right away"; and he scoffed at Waltham.

Previous to him, the short guy working at the Sports Authority in Woburn scoffed at Waltham when he first met me.

And I've been thinking, these folks have never seen my photo and my name together on any piece of paper, how is it that they know that I'm from Waltham and have been having a tough time in Waltham?

Today I started out kicking the ball with my left foot on a slight angle to my right; then on T2 I kicked the ball to my right with my right (I am left-footed); then on T3 I kicked the ball with my right so that the ball was moving parallel to the goal target; on T4 I kicked the ball so that it was moving towards the goal, and on T5 I shot the ball at the goal, all of this without the ball touching the ground, with about 30 feet covered on the air-dribble.

Today I was using my new Adidas Absolado X IN shoes for the first time, and using my new $40 replica of the 2010 World Cup Jabulani ball for the first time; I did not keep track of what happened when I shot the ball today. The ball I was using was the actual replica of the World Cup ball with the reduced number of panels on the surface. It was not the cheaper $25 ball that they call a replica but is a replica of the World Cup ball only in the sense of the coloring on the surface.

At 8:13 PM 19 minutes after practice started I achieved the first perfect run in terms of preliminary air-dribble prior to the shot.

The new ball and the new shoes both seemed sticky. Sticky enough to reduce the backspin on the ball. The Adidas Jabulani ball inflated at 11.6 psi, flew like a rocket compared to the Adidas Replique ball I have been using up to today inflated at 9.1 psi (the Replique I have been using is a replica of the 2006 World Cup ball). NOTE: The pro leagues are inflating their balls to 15.6 psi according to reports on the internet.

The Jabulani ball seemed lighter and smaller, like a toy compared to the 2006 World Cup Replique. The Jabulani did not seem like a hardy ball in that it became slightly chipped just 20 minutes after I started using it (I felt sorry for the ball, it was being fired at angular projections on the gym wall at a very high velocity). The Jabulani ball seemed to make it easier to move fast in an imprecise, straight ahead kind of way on the air-dribble. There are less panels on the ball compared to the 2006 World Cup Replique, this seemed to result in less backspin.

With the Jabuloni, there seemed to be more capacity for 45 degrees left or 45 degree right angles on the shot, compared to the direction that would be normal, given the positions of ball, foot, leg, and body at the time of the shot (this due to the smaller weight and size of the ball?)

Seems there is less need for backspin on the air dribble with the Jabuloni ball, due to its relatively light weight and small size. With the Jabulani ball, backspin seems to be less associated with quality on the air-dribble.

There was much more traction on the gym floor surface with the new shoes. But even such improvement can temporarily set you back when you are not used to it.

I estimate the velocity of my shots was 15% faster today with the Jabulani ball, compared to previously with the replica of the 2006 World Cup Ball, which is named the "Replique" (white with black figure 8 patterns).

When I started practicing today everything was at first very clumsy due to the new shoes and the new ball and not having practiced for six days. Nevertheless this brown-haired boy about 13 years old scoffed at Landon Donovan the US soccer team captain when he saw me practice, which surprised me.

Thinking about it I remembered something I had come to understand previously, which is that when I practice, the persons watching do not know exactly what I am trying to do, what my intent is, thus they are not aware of the difference between what I am attempting to do and what I am actually doing.

Towards the end of the practice a couple of short thin Portuguese looking guys and a thin black guy were playing soccer in the gym. As one of the Portuguese looking guys left the gym he waved his hand in my direction and said, "his shot...", in a somewhat scornful sounding voice that faded and trailed away (sort of like the woman who says, "you're like...", leaving it a mystery exactly what you are like, even though she is yet another woman to have fallen at your feet). I was thinking, what has this punk got to be scornful about? Because I didnt join him in his game with his underinflated ball (Spanish boys always seem to use underinflated balls)? Is he blind? He acts as if I am nothing but a powerful shot, but I was air-dribbling the ball for 30 feet before shooting it every time. Maybe like a spurned woman he was aggravated that I did not join them and play with them.

After the practice, in the locker room, I ran into this gentleman from Hong Kong. He had a gym bag with the exact same colors as mine, and he had chosen a locker right next to mine. He thought that these similarities were perhaps some kind of sign.

When I left the gym, I walked into an Indian convenience store and the Indian gentleman there scoffed at Waltham when he saw me.

Seemed like every woman I met in Woburn, fell for me at first sight, as has been sort of the case elsewhere in Massachusetts. But when I lived in Hyde Park in Chicago it seemed as if almost every woman who met me considered me insignificant.

The people in Woburn seemed to me to be less fat, happier, and friendlier compared to the Walthamites. But that's just a snap judgement based on meeting a few people.

Second Practice using new Absolado X IN shoes and new Jabulani ball

Today I started out kicking the ball with my left foot on a slight angle to my right; then on T2 (touch 2) I kicked the ball to my right with my right (I am left-footed); then on T3 I kicked the ball with my right so that the ball was moving parallel to the goal target; on T4 I kicked the ball so that it was moving in the same direction as established by T3, and on T5 I shot the ball at approx a 90 degree angle to my left, usually with my right foot, all of this without the ball touching the ground, with about 40 feet on average covered on the curving air-dribble.

Looking at my notes I noticed that up till now I had not done any runs involving the 4th touch on the ball (T4) sending the ball on the same direction as established by the third touch on the ball (T3). So today on T4 I sent the ball in the same direction as established by T3. Up till today, all the runs involved either a sharp or moderate change of direction on T4.

The shots were not as good as on Friday, despite T3, T4 and T5 all being in a straight line for the first time. Yet another example of how the easier things become hard, and the harder things easy, when the harder things are practiced and the easier things ignored.

The runs today were fast and several were fast and long in terms of distance from T1 to T5 the touch on which I shoot the ball. The distances of the runs can be measured in terms of straight line distance from T1 to T5; they can also be measured in terms of the total distance traveled. The two measurements differ because the run is not a straight line run. Some fast runs today that were also long, with the straight line measurement given first and the curving line measurement in parentheses, distance in meters: 12(14); 12(15); 14(17)*; 12(14); 12(14). The run marked with an asterisk was slightly off-pattern in that a couple of extra steps were taken between T4 and T5. All the other long runs listed were on-pattern. By on pattern, I mean that the intended number of steps were taken between touches. Two steps are supposed to be taken between T1 with the left foot and T2 with the right foot; one step is supposed to be taken between T2 and T3; 2 steps are supposed to be taken between T3 with the right foot and T4 with the left foot; one step is supposed to be taken between T4 and T5 with the left foot.

All the runs featured the intended foot being used for the touch.

The speed on the runs was comparable to top speed doing the same run with the ball on the ground, with the same number of steps between touches and the same feet used for the various touches.

When I first walked in the gym the woman behind the desk said, "and those are the people in Waltham". Again I was wondering how did she know I was from Waltham. Seemed as if she had found out about the earlier report re Woburnites scorning Walthamites and wanted to be conciliatory.

Saturday after Ghana defeated the US at the World Cup, I put up a blog-post containing my analysis of the event . Wednesday June 23, I put up a post comparing my shooting stats to the World Cup shooting stats . One thing the latter post at first ignored is that apparently though my shots at first (I count all shots I take from the beginning there is no uncounted warmup) my shooting is not as good as it becomes once I get warmed up, once I get warmed up I shoot like a superstar.

Progress noted on Air Dribble; Ground dribble compared to air dribble; incidental matters

Today I started out kicking the ball with my left foot on a slight angle to my right; then on T2 (touch 2) I kicked the ball to my right with my right (I am left-footed); then on T3 I kicked the ball with my right so that the ball was moving towards the goal; on T4 I kicked the ball so that it was moving in the same direction as established by T3, and on T5 I shot the ball straight ahead towards the goal target.

I noticed that there is a problem with getting too close to the ball after rolling it back and flipping it up with the left foot. Seems having the right foot about 1.5 feet behind the left foot produced the best results at T1.

From 810 PM 20 minutes after starting to 910 PM I counted 20 runs that were properly angled, on pattern in terms of footwork, and fast. These runs averaged approx 14 meters in length from T1 (touch 1 to T5 (touch 5). As usual the ball did not touch the ground between T1 and T5. About 20% were slightly off target, me winding up more than 2 meters to the left of the cone marking T5. About 10% involved extra steps taken between T4 and T5, or an extra touch between T3 and T4, stuff like that.

When I practice, I put out on the gym floor, five cones denoting where each of the five touches should be. Today I noticed that the runs were following the direction laid out by the cones much more closely than was the case previously when I was doing these runs before I started shooting seriously at the end of the run. Today I was not shooting seriously at the end of the run on T5 this allowed my mind to take notice of this improvement.

From 912 PM to about 920 PM, for the first time I followed the pattern laid out by the cones, and the same footwork pattern and angular pattern, but with the ball rolling on the ground instead of kept in the air, for comparison purposes. Surprisingly, I found the ground dribble to be significantly SLOWER than the air-dribble. I found that with the air dribble the body is in a much better position for sudden acceleration that is beyond pattern or on-pattern (by pattern here I mean the footwork and touches and angles predetermined as the intent of the drill for the day). I found the air-dribble to be less tiring, more spirited, more fun. With the ball kept in the air, at the end on T5 the shot is more powerful with more diverse angular possibilities, and things are less predictable for the goalie. With the air-dribble at every touch there is greater potential for fast unpredictable changes of direction in various directions.

For the first time in memory, this evening I had this gut feeling (don't know how trustworthy the feeling is), that I was above the players at the World Cup and that a grave injustice was being perpetrated on me. The soccer world seemed dirty to me and I seemed cleaner than it. But these could be just feelings, I realize that. Like the feelings in the dream I had a couple of nights ago in which the USA was a gray colored piece of tube floating in the black night; looking at the tube I felt like Americans are never behaviorally Christian. I realize that now I am beginning to praise myself but I've never praised myself before and I am admitting that my feelings could be just feelings.

Towards the end of the practice I talked to Ryan, who is from Des Plaines Illinois near where I grew up in Chicago; he was shooting baskets and lamenting the lack of persons to play against. He is going to teach school at the Boston Public Schools, teaching English and Phys ed. He lives in Maynard. He went to Carthage College in Wisconsin and was born in Lake Forest Il. I told him how my high school regularly whipped Lake Forest in soccer. I was dissapointed that he would not give me his email address so I could send him the link to the Google map I made showing where all the YMCAs are (he was interested in the various Ys in the area), and I told him so. But it was nice to talk to someone who grew up in the area where I grew up. Ryan said that he was 6'7" tall which surprised me very much as he seemed to be to be about 6' 2" (could be because I play a tall style of soccer). I measured the top of my head against his neck he was about seven inches taller than me it seemed which would put him at six five. Seems easy to become a public school teacher I did not know it was so easy. I thought as a Harvard grad I should be able to teach in a private school no luck getting such a position so far for me, maybe I don't have time for such.

Prior to the workout the Guatemalan guy was teasing me again, repeating the lie that I said that I was the best soccer player in the world. Actually I had said that I dreamt that I was the best in the world and that persons watching me had put me in the same class as the best in the world. I've corrected him on this matter before but he seems uncorrectable. The young man with him agreed that I did not praise myself but rather quoted sycophants.

After the practice I was talking to Jose. Previously he had told me that I was a pro at soccer. He asked me what I thought of the World Cup action. I told him that in the game today the players were making mistakes a high school player would be ashamed of. He agreed. I told him that I was feeling as if I was better than the World Cup players (I've never expressed such feeling before). I told him that I felt stronger than them, faster than them, and more skilled. He surprised me by agreeing with me.

Yesterday I drove down to the Burbank Y in Reading MA. Accidentally I drove past it and stopped at a deli type place to ask directions. As soon as I walked in the deli, the cook looked at me and said, "it's an aura". This got me thinking that the way the people in Woburn had acted when they met me had to do with some kind of aura. When I was in the deli this group of black haired white girls was smiling without looking at me I felt as if my aura or whatever was why they had such big smiles on their face.

The trip to Reading was difficult. The intersection leading to the Y had a sign pointing the direction to the Y but the sign was small and hard to read in hard to read colors, placed kind of out of the way. Seems around here all the unimportant intersections have clearly legible signs whereas at the important ones there is confusion. The driving back on Rte 128 I was in the right lane and all of a sudden I found myself forced to take the exit on to Rte 93, which I did instead of attempting to swerve into the lane to my left at the last second. I was bothered by drivers tailgating me, on dangerous curving poorly lit roads...what if I suddenly had to stop? At the Reading Y I had told this guy Chris that it seemed all the workers at the Waltham Y were Catholic and that the YMCA is supposed to be non-denominational. He just quietly looked at me as if, discriminating against protestants was proper. All these little incidents annoyed me. I was thinking, these people think they are so great that they should discriminate against protestants; but they won't let you change lanes when you need to change lanes, and they are terrible, dangerous drivers, accidents waiting to happen.

Performance impaired due to 1 lb chili, coffee, fruit juice consumed just 45 minutes before start of practice; close encounter with arch-scorner overweight Guatemalan Biro.

Today I started out kicking the ball with my left foot on a slight angle to my right; then on T2 (touch 2) I kicked the ball to my right with my right (I am left-footed); then on T3 I kicked the ball with my right so that the ball was moving parallel to the goal-line; on T4 I kicked the ball so that it was moving in the same direction as established by T3, and on T5 I shot the ball at a 90 degree angle sideways to my right wi5th my left foot.

As noted in the headline of this entry, I consumed a bunch of food just before the practice. I thought this would not impair my performance because I was so hungry when I ate the food. Nevertheless, today the quality of the air-dribble run prior to the practice was definitely worse than what it was yesterday. Perhaps this also had to do with the fact that today I was shooting from about 17 meters at a 8x24 foot goal target seriously, whereas yesterday at the end of the run I was so close to the target wall that the shot was not serious, which allowed me to concentrate on the air-dribble prior to the shot.

The inferiority of the air-dribble compared to yesterday reminded me of the Kipling poem containing the lines:

Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!

Today I did not have that inner sense of superiority and of being unrighteously persecuted that I felt yesterday.

Part of the problem was that before the practice I ran into the scornful Guatemalan named 'Biro'. His argument in the locker room today was that when I am practicing there are no defenders to stop me, whereas in a game, the players have to face defenders. I told him that I am shooting the ball at 100 mph and that I make things difficult for myself to compensate for lack of defenders.

And that's the truth. I realize that in games things are more difficult so I compensate by introducing into my practice difficulties that are not present during games: I avoid allowing the ball to bounce at any time; I adhere exactly to a careful footwork and ball-touch pattern; I avoid the use of the head because I find air-dribbling with the head to be easy; I avoid the use of the thigh because I find air-dribbling with the thigh easy; I use moves that are especially difficult such as slanting to the right with the right foot on the air-dribble; I almost always shoot the ball on T5 (touch 5) before the ball bounces even when such is an awkward shot; the direction of the air-dribble prior to the shot is usually such as to make the shot awkward.

I remember that it took me alot of time researching the internet to find out that in practice without the defenders, basketball players shoot at a percentage that is only about five percent better than the percentage they shoot at in games when there are defenders.

The first ten minutes of the practice today were unusually clumsy I suspect due to the food right before practice. Then about 30 minutes after practice started, just my luck, for the first time Biro the mustachioed overweight Guatemalan, who team is like the very incarnation of the diabolically scornful soccer-career ending soccer coach, came out to watch me for the first time.

The first run as he stood and watched, I was unable to get the ball into a shooting position.

The second run, after T5 the fifth touch, the ball bounced once and then I shot it at the end of a 10 meter air-dribble involving only the one bounce after T5; it flew like a rocket into the lower right corner of the goal target, hitting the goal target at a point a foot above the ground, and just inside the right goalpost without bouncing, having been shot from a distance of about 17 meters. I knew that this shot would have been unstoppable and told Biro that it would have been unstoppable. He just smiled, but I could see that some of the wind had been taken out of his sails.

Then Biro ordered me to place the ball on the ground and shoot it. I did as he said, and shot it, aiming for the upper right corner of the goal (when the ball is on the ground, I aim for specific points on the goal target). Even though I never practice this kind of shot, the shot was very hard, and would have caught the right corner of the goal were it not for swerve to the right; it hit the wall on which the goal-target is, at a point 8 feet above the ground and 3 feet to the right of the right goal-post, having been shot from a distance of 17 meters. I could see that this shot took some more wind out of 'coach' (God forbid) Biro's sails.

Then Biro juggled the ball in the air while standing still, bragging about how he was doing this wearing his sandals. I admit he did this very well given the fact that he had no warmup time before doing it; but what he did was something all Spanish boys can do, even though almost no Spanish boys can juggle the ball while running like I do. I tried to explain to Biro that only 10% or so of shots are goals all he could do was smile condescendingly. Last thing Biro said to me before he left was 'you should be a politician because you know how to talk'. Seems he had retreated from his earlier false assertion that when I talk I say inappropriate things such as boasting about being better than the best players.

Later Jose walked into the gym, I briefly discussed Biro with him. Brazilian Jose was scornful of Guatemalan Biro; Jose's face turned red just talking about Biro. I told Jose, that of all the people who have commented on my soccer activities, Biro is the only scorner, and Biro is also the only overweight one. Jose nodded his head in agreement.

The shots at the end of the runs today were hard and accurate. Though I was aiming for just the goal in general, I think again I showed a subconscious affinity for hitting the corners and edges of the goal.

The Indian from India Ahit was in the gym practicing bowling a cricket ball with a baseball. I asked him to be careful about hitting me with the baseball. He said, 'I should be asking you to be careful about hitting me with the soccer ball', as if he feared the power of my shots.

One thing I've learned is that I improve faster when I learn to mentally focus on the good qualities displayed during the defective runs or on the defective days. Today I noted that I have developed the ability to fire hard accurate shots at the goal from about 20 meters, even when the 4th touch of the run (T4) sends the ball in a direction away from the goal. I sort of manage to step backwards and get off a good shot.

Skill of slanting to right with right foot during air-dribble suddenly mastered (I'm left-footed)

Today I started out kicking the ball with my left foot in a direction parallel to the goal-target; then on T2 (touch 2) I kicked the ball to my right with my right (I am left-footed); then on T3 I kicked the ball with my right so that the ball was moving towards the goal-line; on T4 I kicked the ball so that it was moving in the same direction as established by T3, and on T5 I shot the ball straight ahead.

Today the skill of kicking the ball to my right with my right foot during the air-dribble was suddenly mastered. For months I have been focusing my practices on mastering this skill, without being able to master the skill. Today it was finally mastered.

Today large numbers of runs, and a high percentage of runs, featured success in terms of adhering to the footwork and ball angle patterns intended, including two cuts to the right with the right foot on T2 and T3. The footwork pattern intended, was: 2 steps between T1 with the left foot and T2 with the right; 1 step between T2 and T3 with the right; 2 steps between T3 and T4 with the left; one step between T4 and Tf with the left foot, T5 being a shot. Most of the runs almost exactly followed the directional pattern laid out by the marker cones, except for the fact that T4 and T5 occurred further down the straight line at the end of the L-shaped line created by the marker cones.

The most common distance from T1 to T5 today was 13 meters, (14 yards, 43 feet). Most of the runs were fast and featured a well controlled potentially powerful but restrained shot on T5 (which can only be created through a well-placed touch on T4).

Hard to say what the exact technique was that produced success today.

Overall the phenom today was that there was a five touch air dribble run covering 42 feet from T1 to T5 (twice the distance from the basketball hoop to the three point line in basketball); the run was L-shaped in that T2 and T3 together produced a 90 degree turn.

Today was a momentous day in soccer for me maybe my best day ever. The most difficult skill I had ever attempted to master I finally mastered today. On many days in the past I almost decided that the skill I was trying yet again today to master was too difficult for me. Many days in the past I felt frustrated and angry at myself due to my failure to master the skill of slant right with right foot (my off-foot) during the air-dribble.

Now my air-dribble will have no weaknesses, meaning I will durin the air-dribble be able to slant left and right with my left foot, and I will be able to slant left and right with my right foot.

Thus I feel I will possess what I call majesty and liberty. The majesty is based on the liberty of being able to do whatever I want whenever I want to, meaning that my actions will not be constrained by lack of an ability to do something, but rather by what I feel is the best thing to do at the given moment.

Henceforth I will be able to during an air-dribble: move in any direction with any foot; pass the ball in any direction with any foot, and shoot the ball in almost any direction with any foot. I will always be free to move in almost any direction I choose, using air-dribble, pass or shot so my decisions will be constrained by my sense of what is best for my team and my spirit, as opposed to limitations of skill in myself.

Now all I need in order to become a world-class player: a patient team, and some improvement in terms of physical endurance, seeing how: soccer players have to run such a long way during a game; there are limits on substitutions; the fields are big in terms of length and width; there are some skills I have become rusty in that I will be able to master after a few hours of work with other players or with expensive machines that mechanically pass soccer balls.

Today although my performance was one of me best ever, I did not feel an inner sense of superiority compared to world class players and I did not feel like someone who had been victimized and treated unfairly by the soccer world. Seems the humiliation of the previous day had banished pride, conceit, arrogance from my soul.

Today was the first of the month and I received an important check in the mail. Possible the check in the mail relaxed me and energized me and was a factor in my performance today.

A couple of drill ideas influenced by World Cup observations

I've been watching the Soccer FIFA 2010 World Cup; I took note of the kinds of drills I should be doing if I am going to improve my skills in which I suspect I am inferior to the World Cup level of play.

I think I did a good job of welding together the inclination to be influenced by my observations of the World Cup on the one hand, and the direction I was headed based in personal experience and personal spirit on the other, into the same drills.

Watching the games I noticed that the World Cup players, excel in a way that makes me uncomfortably aware of my weaknesses, when it comes to: receiving a pass and then dribbling short distances with the ball followed by reversals of direction and 90 degree turns (short dribble, reverse direction or 90 degree right-angle turn, short dribble, reverse direction or 90 degree right angle turn, etc). Thus I have devised a drill designed to deal with such weaknesses.

A drill influenced by World Cup observations: Touch 1 (T1): kick ball with left, step with right, step with left; T2: kick ball to right with right, step with left; T3: kick ball to right with right, step with left, step with right; T4: kick ball in 180 degree direction backwards with left, step with right; T5: kick ball in 180 degree direction backwards with left foot, step with right, step with left; T6: shoot sideways to right at as sharp an angle as possible with right foot. Ball does not touch ground between T1 and T6.

This drill honors slash imitates the World Cup players for their ability to lose defenders in tight situations by dribbling the ball short distances on the ground and reversing direction one or more times.

Another possibility:

Touch 1 (T1): kick ball with left, step with right, step with left; T2: kick ball to right with right, step with left; T3: kick ball to right with right, step with left, step with right; T4: kick ball at 90 degree angle sideways to left with left, step with right; T5: kick ball at 90 degree angle sideways to left with left foot, step with right, step with left; T6: shoot at 90 degree angle sideways to left, with right foot. All without ball touching ground between T1 and T6.

This second drill honors and imitates the World Cup players' ability to elude defenders after receiving a pass by moving back and then forwards in a circular or square type of path. It also gives the left foot practice in terms of cuts to the left, a type of copy of the cuts to the right with the right that I have been practicing. I think I'll do this second variation first, as it is more like a breath of fresh air compared to the stuff I have been doing in the past.

These drills increase the overall number of touches during the run from 5 to 6. This increase appears to be necessary if the skills admired in the World Cup players are to be imitated. Utilizing five touch drills already done, which to a lesser extent emulate the admired skills, would be boring because this would constitute a return to drills done long ago. A five touch variant which included two cuts to the right with the right foot was finally mastered Thursday July 1 as noted previously in this log. It would seem to be fitting that watching the World Cup should kick off progression to a yet greater level of difficulty, the six touch run.

Another drill possibility inspired by observation of World Cup play: throw ball at wall, intercept rebound, and commence sideways reverses of direction of circular/square movements with ball, culiminating in shot sending ball in same direction it was moving when first intercepted.

When I do the drill, I will be keeping the ball off the ground, while imitating movements made by the World Cup players while they were dribbling the ball on the ground; nevertheless tactical principles that apply to World Cup dribbling on the ground, also apply to my dribbling with the ball in the air.

One of the Drills influenced by World Cup observations, Put Into Effect whilst sharing gym with Patrick Ferdinand's Women's Basketball Team.

Previous Entry One of the Drill Ideas was as follows:

"Touch 1 (T1): kick ball with left, step with right, step with left; T2: kick ball to right with right, step with left; T3: kick ball to right with right, step with left, step with right; T4: kick ball at 90 degree angle sideways to left with left, step with right; T5: kick ball at 90 degree angle sideways to left with left foot, step with right, step with left; T6: shoot at 90 degree angle sideways to left, with right foot. All without ball touching ground between T1 and T6".

Today I implemented this drill at the Waltham Y. Not counting 17 minutes taking breaks for various reasons, I practiced the drill for 100 minutes.

Today I counted 18 of what I labeled "1-star" successes and 8 "2-star" successes. The one-star successes, adhered to the prescribed and intended angles, and footwork patterns with the exception of one error. The "2-star" successes adhered the prescribed and itended angles and footwork patterns without significant error fron T1 the first touch to T6 the sixth touch.

I estimate the total ground covered during an average one or two star run (measured as would register on an automobile odometer not as the crow flies) was 12 meters. I was'nt just standing still and juggling the ball in the air like Spanish boys, Spanish teenagers, Spanish young men, and Spanish men.

Previously I had attempted to do something almost the same as this, however the approd 30 degree angles of the turns on T4 and T5 were not nearly as sharp the previous times, as the 90 degrees angle turns on T4 and T5 that were prescribed and intended today.

The Gym was supposed to be 'open gym' fron 700 PM to 1000 PM. However some women's basketball team coached by Patrick Ferdinand had the entire Gym till 730 PM at which time they retreated into only half the gym and I was able to use the other half. Then, about 854 PM, they drew back the curtain and their basketball drills from time to time spilled over into my half of the gym.

At the end of their basketball activities, a teenage white girl was practicing free-throw shots, with her tall white dad, who looked like a medieval knight on vacation, watching. She kicked my T5 marker out of the way, the marker was positioned at about the free throw line. So without saying anything, I gathered up the markers and moved to the middle of the gym so I would not get in her way.

I realize I was the only person on one half of the gym. Point is that above and beyond this, if a YMCA develops a reputation for adhering to its schedules, this will effect the manner in which Y patrons interact with the Y in the future. I estimate that the reason I was the only person in one half of the gym may have been that people are used to seeing the printed schedule over-ruled at the last minute.

Then again, it could be that the Y actually likes the effect of people not coming to the Y because of doubts regarding whether the schedule should be adhered to. Empty gym means more space for those who are in the gym, more square feet per person in gym.

The main errors which prevented runs given one star from being given two stars today: ball kicked with right foot on T5 when it was supposed to be kicked with left foot; ball kicked at 180 degree angle straight backwards towards goal on T5 instead of being kicked at 90 degree angle sideways towards sideline on T5.

What I mean by 180 degree angle straight backwards towards goal: T4 when pattern laid out by marker cones properly adhered to in variant practiced today, sent me in a direction directly away from the goal. T5 was supposed to send the ball sideways towards the sideline on a 90 degree turn to the left. But on T5, I would kick the ball directly backwards and make a 180 degree change of direction instead (then I would finish off with T6 the shot with the right, all without ball touching ground from T1-T6, however the run would only be awarded one star not two).

Apparently the hours spent practicing a 180 degree turn on a kick with the left foot on T4 earlier, ingrained a kind of habit into my mind.

Analyzing the errors that separated the boys (one-star) from the men (two-stars) today leads me to thinking that: with this particular variant of the drill, something that comes naturally is kicking the ball with the right foot on T5; and, another thing that comes naturally, is a 180 degree turn on K5. What was prescribed and intended for the variant implemented today was using the left foot on T5 and a 90 degree turn to the left through T5.

Day Two of One of the Drills influenced by World Cup observations, Put Into Effect

Drill done today same drill as done yesterday:

"Touch 1 (T1): kick ball with left, step with right, step with left; T2: kick ball to right with right, step with left; T3: kick ball to right with right, step with left, step with right; T4: kick ball at 90 degree angle sideways to left with left, step with right; T5: kick ball at 90 degree angle sideways to left with left foot, step with right, step with left; T6: shoot at 90 degree angle sideways to left, with right foot. All without ball touching ground between T1 and T6".

Today I implemented this drill at the Waltham Y. I practiced the drill for 109 minutes not counting 11 minutes in breaks.

Today I counted 18 of what I labeled "1-star" successes and 19 "2-star" successes. The one-star successes, adhered to the prescribed and intended angles, and footwork patterns with the exception of significant errors, with me making it from T1 to T6 without the ball ever touching the ground (occassionally if run good enough and just one bounce during run a star is awarded to run). The "2-star" successes adhered to the prescribed and intended angles and footwork patterns without significant error fron T1 the first touch to T6 the sixth touch, with the ball never touching the ground between T1 and T6.

I estimate the total ground covered during an average one or two star run (measured as would register on an automobile odometer not as the shortest distance between T1 and T6) was 11 meters.

The Gym was supposed to be 'open gym' fron 730 PM to 1000 PM. However the Aikido people took over half of the gym until around 9:00 PM. As a result the rest of us were crammed into just one half of the gym. As a result, I developed a cramped style featuring shorter runs compared to yesterday.

Today I found that the natural emphasis on what has changed with this variant of the E2E3 reverse compared to the variant I was practicing up till yesterday, had resulted in me becoming lax so that the rightwards turns on T2 and T3 were not sharp enough. I came to realize that I had semiconsciously begun to reduce the sharpness of the angles on T2 and T3 because this made it easier to have the ball propelled directly away from the goal on T4 as prescribed for this variant of the drill and as intended. I awarded a yellow card to myself, reminding myself that if the T4 turn is not sharp enough, I cannot award myself two stars for the run.

I came to realize that I should make a sharp turn to the left on T4 even if this results in me and the ball not moving directly away from the goal after T4 as prescribed and intended. The ability to make sharply angled turns will not be developed if I duck the challenge of attempting such turns during practice.

One of the major causes of runs not being awarded two stars today, was that on T5, I would kick the ball so that it did not move horizontally in any direction, meaning that the ball and me both came to a complete halt. This suggests that coming to a halt on T5 is a natural alternative that could be useful. When there is more than one identified natural directional alternative on T5, the result is a natural form of the unpredictability that is necessary if I am to achieve success.

Another memorable reason for runs getting just one star today was the use of the left foot on T6 instead of the prescribed and intended right foot.

Today was as exciting a day as one can have when one's movements are cramped because of boys running everywhere, lots of boys per square foot of gym space, which was a result of the five Aikido men and women taking over half the gym.

On a few of the runs it felt as if I had mastered the new skills practiced in this new variant of the E2E3 reverse.

I find the prospect of mastering this variant to be exciting. On the runs on which I felt as if I had mastered the new skills, I kicked the ball sharply to my left with my left foot on T4, stepped with my right foot, kicked the ball sharply to my left with my left foot on T5, stepped with my right foot, stepped with my left foot, and shot the ball with my right foot, all done at high speed with the ball kept close to my body and never rising above chest height.

If the soccer public were to see me on the best runs today they would be fascinated. The movements starting with T4 build up a wheeling type of momentum that results in a hard shot on T6. The ball is moving after T5 prior to T6, in a direction opposite to the direction it was moving after T3. This imitates the short dribbles followed by reverse of direction and another short dribble wherewith the World Cup players impressed me when escaping from hordes of pursuers.

One reason the moves I am practicing are important and powerful, is that such moves contrary to what many would expect, are faster and more powerful, compared to the same moves done with the ball on the ground. This is because when the ball is on the ground the dribbler has to slow down his foot speed when striking the ball because otherwise the ball will go too far and get out of control, which results in an impairment of the dribbler's speed. Since I am keeping the ball in the air, I can maintain high foot speed when striking the ball by undercutting the ball with my foot and slicing the lower part of the ball, minimizing ball/foot contact.

Day Three of One of the Drills influenced by World Cup observations, Put Into Effect

Drill done today same drill as done yesterday:

"Touch 1 (T1): kick ball with left, step with right, step with left; T2: kick ball to right with right, step with left; T3: kick ball to right with right, step with left, step with right; T4: kick ball at 90 degree angle sideways to left with left, step with right; T5: kick ball at 90 degree angle sideways to left with left foot, step with right, step with left; T6: shoot at 90 degree angle sideways to left, with right foot. All without ball touching ground between T1 and T6".

Today I practiced the drill for 132 minutes not counting 13 minutes in breaks.

Today I counted 19 of what I labeled "1-star" successes and 37 "2-star" successes. The one-star successes, adhered to the prescribed and intended angles and footwork patterns with the exception of certain significant errors, with me making it from T1 to T6 without the ball ever touching the ground (occassionally if run good enough and just one bounce during run a star is awarded to run). The "2-star" successes adhered to the prescribed and intended angles and footwork patterns without significant error fron T1 the first touch to T6 the sixth touch, with the ball never touching the ground between T1 and T6. On T5 I tolerated angles that diverged by 45 degrees from the prescribed and intended 90 degrees left. Today I ignored angle of turn errors on T2 and T3 because I am concentrating on T4, T5, and T6. Today the star rating was not effected by the direction of the shot on T6.

The runs today were shorter than usual, at the beginning most of them covered just around 8 meters in total. But after the beginning the runs began to get longer.

Most of the runs that were not given either one or two stars, the problem was miskick on T5. The most important defects preventing 1 star runs from getting 2 stars were: ball sent to close to 180 degrees backwards on T5; ball horizontally stationary as a result of T5 (T5 is supposed to send the ball at a 90 degree angle to the right).

The 'tongue' of my right shoe (Adidas Absolado) hurt the front of my right ankle and the rear top of my right foot from the beginning of the practice to the end today; the pain was especially bad the last ten or so minutes of practice.

It was hot in the gym today and we've had a few days of extreme heat and humidity in the local area.

Today I found that the most usual error involving loss of control of ball, was that on T3 I would kick the ball away accidentally, at a 45 degrees to the right angle relative to the direction of the ball established by T1. Perhaps this info could be made use of in the sense that a pass at the same angle on T3 would be an option.

At 819 PM for the first time since starting to wear the Absolados I slipped, but did not fall. Previously when wearing the respectable old shoes whose soles had become worn out and whose soles had grooves that were shallow and not numerous, I would slip at least a couple of times per day.

I realize one potential objection re these kinds of dribbling moves is the loss of control of the ball. In response: doing the drill variant done previous to the one done for the last three days, I got to the point where about 3% of the runs involved a loss of ball control. With this new variant, the percentage is greater.

My plan now is to, next practice, do an abbreviated version of this drill which leaves out T2 and T3. I estimate this will accelerate the progress I need to make in terms of being able to knock the ball to my left at a 90 degree angle on T5. I've been practicing doing this improvised version because it just seems like less fun than the full version I am now doing.

The quality of the shots on T6 was much better today than previously.

The main problem on the two-star runs today, was that on T5, the ball although near enough to the perfect angle (90 degrees to the left), would usually be angled too close to 180 degrees which would be straight backwards.

Today the Youth and Family Aikido, scheduled to use the gym up till 645 PM, stayed late in half the gym until 715 PM. The gym matts they laid down on the court were not removed until 730 PM, even though open gym is supposed to start at 700 PM.

If the rule of procedure was that us open-gym people are supposed to put away the mats, then I would do that. Things should follow the rule of procedure. Since the rule is not that I should put away the gym mats but that a Y worker should, I myself did not put away the floor mats used by the Aikido people.

Yesterday I had a good day despite eating french fries, onion rings, cheese stick, and buffalo wings with cheese sauce about an hour before the practice. Previously Beef Chili right an hour before the practice made me clumsy. Today there was no food prior to start of practice.

Day Four of a Drill influenced by World Cup observations, New Variations Put Into Effect

All variants done today were like the drill done yesterday from T4 (touch 4) to T6 (touch 6). Today the first touch was the touch that was T3 yesterday, and T1 and T2 were left out.

All variants done today shared the following elements:

T3: kick ball forwards (what happened after this today depended on the variant being done); T4: kick ball at 90 degree angle sideways to left with left, step with right; T5: kick ball at 90 degree angle sideways to left with left foot, step with right, step with left; T6: shoot at 90 degree angle sideways to left, with right foot. All without ball touching ground between T3 and T6.

Things now getting confusing, I give the drill done yesterday an official name: WC2010-B. I give the first variation of WC2010-B that was done today the name WC2010-B1.

WC2010-B1 was the first variant done today. WC2010-B1 involved T3 being kicked with the left foot after the left foot rolls the ball back and flips it up, then a step with the right foot, and then T4 kicked with the left foot. It was done from 743 PM to 813 PM total 30 minutes. There were 11 two-star successes (nothing significantly wrong with run), and 0 one-star successes (if the ball does not touch the ground between T3 and T6 and things are basically right except for certain defects, for example ball bouncing after T5 before T6, the run gets one star).

WC2010-B2 was the second variant done today. WC2010-B2 involves T3 being kicked with the left foot after the left foot rolls the ball back and flips it up, a step with the right foot, a step with the left foot, a step with the right foot, and then T4 kicked with the left foot. It was done from 813 PM to 843 PM total 30 minutes. There were 6 two-star successes and 1 one-star success .

WC2010-B3 was the third variant done today. WC2010-B3 involves the ball flipped up with the left foot, then without a step being taken the ball being kicked with the right foot for T3, a step with the left, a step with the right, and then T4 done with the left foot. It was done from 843 PM to 913 PM total 30 minutes. There were 11 two-star successes (nothing significantly wrong with run), and 4 one-star successes (if the ball does not touch the ground between T3 and T6 and things are basically right except for a defect the run gets one star).

WC2010-B4 was the fourth variant done today. WC2010-B4 involves the ball flipped up with the right foot, then without a step being taken the ball being kicked with the right foot for T3, a step with the left, a step with the right, and then T4 done with the left foot. It was done from 916 PM to 945 PM total 29 minutes. There were 7 two-star successes (nothing significantly wrong with run), and 5 one-star successes (if the ball does not touch the ground between T3 and T6 and things are basically right except for a defect the run gets one star).

The quality of the runs given two stars today was superior to the quality of the runs given two stars yesterday. Today T5 was more accurate compared to yesterday.

I believe WC2010-B1 can henceforth be skipped. The W3 to W4 segment of WC2010-B1, featuring kick with left, step with right, kick with left, is practiced enough because every variant of WC2010-B involves this pattern starting with T4.

WC2010-B2 was much more exciting and fun compared to WC2010-B1. WC2010-B2 features 3 steps before T4 not just 1. This results in speed being built up so that the abbreviated version more resembles the full version. The build up in speed can result in an exhilarating wheeling motion from T4 to T6.

WC2010-B3 features on T3 the left foot flipping the ball up and then the right foot kicking it, something completely new.

WC2010-B4 features the ball rolled back with the right foot, flipped up with the right foot, and kicked with the right foot. This is something I've only practiced once previously (I am left-footed).

A few of the runs today featured a sharp fast tightly controlled turning motion on T4 and T5, followed by a good shot on T6. Rate of improvement was much faster on T4, T5 and T6 today compared to previous improvement rates because I am left footed, T4 and T5 are done with the left foot, and T6 features a shot which is easier than the continuance of the air-dribble for yet another touch.

There was supposed to be open gym starting at 7:30 PM, however Patrick Ferdinand's young women's basketball team was practicing so I did not get started till 7:43 PM after checking the situation with Patrick. This team of his will be playing in the Bay State games tommorrow around 1045 AM in a big game, so Patrick was not enthusiastic about sharing the gym space with others this evening.

Today there was a young black man wearing a red shirt that said staff on it, assisting Patrick with the practice for the girls basketball team. He had a lacrosse stick and a big heavy hard lacrosse ball. He kept firing the lacrosse ball into the blue curtain separating the two halves of the gym. I told Patrick that this could be dangerous because if a person ran into the curtain at the same time the lacrosse ball hit the curtain, that person could be seriously injured. Patrick agreed with me.

Being around people in the area gets my mind to thinking, that the people in the area seem to have an antiquated notion re the ethnic composition of the nation and of the local area and that this distorts their hiring practices and their social life; they seem to think the ethnic composition is the same as it was when Kennedy was president. Actually things have changed since Kennedy was president and the nation is not as black and white as it used to be.

WC2010-B2, WC2010-B3, WC2010-B4 done, improvement in all three variants

All variants done today were first done previous practice (July 8 log entry this page describes these variants).

WC2010-B2 was the first variant done today. It was done from 805 PM to 835 PM total 30 minutes. There were 10 two-star successes and 2 one-star successes. Previous practice Thursday July 8, there were 6 two-star successes and 1 one-star success.

WC2010-B3 was the second variant done today. It was done from 835 PM to 905 PM total 30 minutes. There were 18 two-star successes, and 3 one-star successes. Previous practice, there were 11 two-star successes, and 4 one-star successes.

WC2010-B4 was the third variant done today. It was done from 910 PM to 940 PM total 30 minutes. Today there were 17 two-star successes, and 3 one-star successes. Previous practice, there were 7 two-star successes, and 5 one-star successes.

The problem with the first variant done today was insufficient sharpness of turn on T4 the second touch of the run. The problem with the second and third variants today, was that the angles of the turns on T4 and T5 combined were too sharp. With all variants there remained the problem of T5 producing a 180 degree turn as opposed to the intended and prescribed 90 degree turn to the left.

There were several runs featuring a fast tightly controlled U turn motion covering a total distance in the u-turn of about 12 feet, with the ball touched four times during the U-turn while kept off the ground the final touch being a shot at a 90 degree angle to left relative to ball direction prior to being shot. Indeed impressively reminiscent of skills witnessed with the ball on the ground during the World Cup.

30 minute segments of WC2010-B2, WC2010-B3 Done; 10 minutes of WC2010-B4 done;

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B2 was the first variant done, for 30 minutes. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 13 (10) two-star successes and 6 (2) one-star successes.

WC2010-B3 was the second variant done today; it was done for 30 minutes not counting breaks. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 23 (18) two-star successes, and 8 (3) one-star successes.

WC2010-B4 was the third variant done today. It was done for 10 minutes until 705 AM when practice was interrupted by basketball. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 6 (17) two-star successes, and 2 (3) one-star successes.

20 minute segment of WC2010-B4 done; 30 minute segments of WC2010-B2, WC2010-B3, and WC2010-B4 done.

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B4 was the first variant done this evening. It was done for 20 minutes so as to complete a 30 minute segment begun earlier in the morning. For the entire 30 minutes total there were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 17 (17) two-star successes, and 6 (3) one-star successes.

WC2010-B2 was the second segment done this evening, for 30 mins. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 24 (13) two-star successes and 7 (6) one-star successes. The quality of the successes was up compared to the previous practice.

WC2010-B3 was the third variant done today; it was done for 30 minutes not counting breaks. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 24 (23) two-star successes, and 8 (8) one-star successes.

WC2010-B4 was the fourth segment done today, done for 30 minutes not counting breaks. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 20 (17) two-star successes , and 2 (6) one-star successes . The starting position of the left foot for WC2010-B4 was changed this segment to a ball's length from the ball, at a 45 degree angle behind and to the left of the ball. Previously, the left foot starting position for this segment had been: behind the left edge of the ball, and 1.6 shoe-lengths behind the ball.

From the end of the morning practice to the end of the evening practice I experienced the pain in the front of the right ankle due to the tongue of the new shoe.

At the end of the evening I was soaked in sweat, too soaked to go home without showering. Same for the morning practice and yesterday's practice. It's been hot and humid.

I estimate that the high levels of heat and humidity have resulted in me being unusually exhausted as a result of the soccer practices.

At the end of this practice, 2 hours in total had been spent on WC2010-B2, 2 hours in total had been spent on WC2010-B3, and 2 hours in total had been spent on WC2010-B4. This investment in time had produced (2-star ratings per 30 mins practice) an improvement of from 6 to 24 in B2, from 11 to 24 in B3, and from 7 to 20 in B4 per 30 minute segment. The total improvement has been 278% over 6 hours practice.

These WC2010-B drills based on observation of the world cup, have involved something never attempted before, two 90 degrees left turns with the left foot on T4 and T5. The fact that cutting to the left with the left foot on the air-dribble, is easier than cutting to the right with the right foot on the air-dribble, does not mean that cutting to the left with the left foot on the air-dribble is easy or is a skill that can magically be acquired without the effort of practice.

30 minute segments of WC2010-B2, WC2010-B3, and WC2010-B4 done at reduced attempts per hour rate.

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

The exhaustion induced by intense 90 minute practice sessions featuring lots of attempts per hour in the hot humid gym had become a problem. Thus This practice session I reduced the attempts per hour rate, but without keeping track of the number of attempts per hour.

WC2010-B2 was the first segment done, for 30 mins. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 13 (24) two-star successes and 2 (7) one-star successes.

WC2010-B3 was the second variant done; it was done for 30 minutes not counting breaks. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 15 (24) two-star successes, and 2 (8) one-star successes.

WC2010-B4 was the fourth segment done today, done for 30 minutes not counting breaks. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 11 (20) two-star successes , and 5 (2) one-star successes . The starting position of the left foot for WC2010-B4 was again the left foot a ball's length from the ball, at a 45 degree angle behind and to the left of the ball.

30 minute segments of WC2010-B2, and WC2010-B3 done at reduced attempts per hour rate.

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

The number of attempts per hour was again reduced due to heat/exhaustion concerns.

WC2010-B2 was the first segment done, for 30 mins. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 10 (13) two-star successes and 6 (2) one-star successes.

WC2010-B3 was done in the second segment; it was done for 30 minutes not counting breaks. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 14 (15) two-star successes, and 4 (2) one-star successes.

The numbers now show that the success rate and estimated attempts per hour at the leisurely pace of activity of today, is 62% of the success rate and estimated number of attempts per hour yesterday when I was at almost maximum effort in terms of number of attempts per hour and became exhausted. Thus, I estimate that 37 minutes at near-max effort is equal to 60 minutes at a leisurely pace of activity; and, 60 minutes at near-max effort is equal to 97 minutes at the leisurely pace.

30 minute segments of WC2010-B4, and WC2010-B2 done at reduced attempts per hour rate.

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

The number of attempts per hour was reduced due to heat/exhaustion concerns.

WC2010-B4 was the first segment done, for 30 mins. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 12 (11) two-star successes and 3 (5) one-star successes.

WC2010-B2 was done in the second segment; it was done for 30 minutes not counting breaks. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 15 (10) two-star successes, and 3 (6) one-star successes.

30 minute segments of WC2010-B3, and WC2010-B4 done at reduced attempts per hour rate.

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

The number of attempts per hour was reduced due to heat/exhaustion concerns.

WC2010-B3 was the first segment done, for 30 mins. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 15 (14) two-star successes and 4 (4) one-star successes.

WC2010-B4 was done in the second segment; it was done for 30 minutes not counting breaks. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 14 (12) two-star successes, and 4 (3) one-star successes.

30 minute segments of WC2010-B2, WC2010-B3, and WC2010-B4 done at approx 80% of Max attempts per hour rate.

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

The number of attempts per hour was reduced due to heat/exhaustion concerns; I took detailed notes re the runs that were successes, and walked slowly when I was walking. I estimate the attempts per hour rate to be at about 80% of what would be near max.

WC2010-B2 was the first segment; done for 30 minutes not counting breaks. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 17 (15) two-star successes, and 3 (3) one-star successes.

WC2010-B3 was the second segment, for 30 mins. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 24 (15) two-star successes and 4 (4) one-star successes.

WC2010-B4 was the third segment, 30 minutes. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 21 (14) two-star successes, and 2 (4) one-star successes.

The quality of the runs in ways that are not reflected in the one-star and two-star scores was up this morning very significantly. Yesterday the number of turns that were not 90 degree turns as the turns are supposed to be in this drill, was much greater. Yesterday there was much more of turns that were supposed to be 90 degree turns being 45 degree or 135 degree turns, that kind of thing.

Whereas yesterday on the best successful runs I looked like a star, today on the best successful runs I looked more like a superstar.

Today I became convinced that this skill of cutting to the left with the left foot at a 90 degree angle twice in a row, with the second cut to the left with the left foot precise enough to allow the air-dribble run to continue on the next touch with the ball kept in control and off the ground, or precise enough to allow for an accurate powerful shot on the next touch, will be mastered within another 18 hours of practice.

As hot and humid as it has been outside the past few days, it has been much more hot and humid inside the gym. After a few of the practices this week I was totally soaked in sweat and too tired to do anything except struggle through the next practice. There has been plenty of exhaustion during practice and between practices, one reason for this is that the open gym schedule that I've got to work with, does not allow for sleeping a full night's sleep at the normal time.

In hard times like these I find it an anti-depressant and relaxing, simply to realize that with every passing day the longest runs are getting longer, the fastest runs are getting faster, the best runs are getting longer and faster, more tightly controlled and more on target.

Thoughts I think to render myself more able to deal with the drudgery heat and exhaustion that Come Before Victory is Finally Attained

It's hard to keep up one's spirit both on and off the practice field or floor, when subjected to: high heat; high humidity; exhaustion on and off the practice floor; being soaked in sweat at the end of a practice; days featuring little or no progress; seeing everything from the perspective of the doer, which makes every trick performed seem less impressive compared to when the trick is observed from the point of view of the observer.

Thus I resort to the keeping up of my sporting spirit, through various types of mental trickery.

One mental trick is to enjoy each attempt the way people enjoy paradisical unscored activities such as surfing and sailing. This means that although the runs are being scored, the enjoyment and relaxation level is the same as it would be with relaxed unscored activity, such as a walk on a beach at sunset during a long vacation. This means enjoying each attempt despite the reality of the outcome of the attempts being scored, the way a toddler enjoys his moments of play. Meaning, one becomes able to enjoy even those attempts that end in failure.

Another trick (discussed in a previous post) is to notice events taking place during failed attempts, which signify types of progress, or which teach needed lessons, despite the fact the attempt cannot be scored as a success.

Another trick for keeping up my spirit in the face of hot exhausting slow progress is to in my mind think of what the best runs being accomplished each day are like, remembering that these runs that are the best now will eventually become common-place.

At the latest practice the U-turn movement starting with T3 the first touch of the movement, was sometimes a fast 16 feet from T3 to T4 with the ball kept close to the body, 5.5 feet per each of three steps taken between T3 and T4, followed by a perfect 90 degree turn to the left on T4. Sometimes from T4 to T5 the movement was a distance of 12 feet, 6 feet covered per step taken between T4 and T5, ball kept close to the body, with a perfect 90 degree turn to the left on T5. The max distance covered from T5 to T6 was 10 feet (seems by nature the T5 to T6 distance is short due to reduction of momentum as direction becomes opposite of initial direction). But there were fast T5 to T6 segments with the ball kept close to the body and approx 3 feet covered per step.

Thus what we will be looking at with increasing regularity is spectacular runs featuring 16 feet covered from T3 the first touch to T4 the second touch; a 90 degree turn to the left on T4 and another 12 feet covered to T5; a 90 degree turn to the left, made with the left foot on T5, and another 10 feet covered to T6; a hard accurate shot at a 90 degree angle to the left, made with the left foot on T6; total distance covered in flight from T3 to T6 38 feet on 3 touches in a U-turn shape (38 feet is approx the distance from a basket on a regulation basketball court to the closest spot on the center-circle); all of this happening with body and ball moving fast, ball kept close to the body, and ball kept off the ground. 37 feet in distance is is the distance from the 3-point line to the basket in basketball plus 16 feet, almost half the length of a basketball court.

That's the long fast tightly controlled powerful glory of it. Plus there have been many perfect runs featuring just 4 feet covered on each of the three legs of the U-turn.

When I am doing the drill instead of watching a video of me doing the drill, I don't have the sense of covering long distances that I would have if I were watching a video. It's good to remember that at their longest these runs are fast tightly controlled demanding sprints covering almost half the length of a regulation-size basketball courts. The tendency to underestimate distances covered, underestimate difficulty of tasks accomplished, could result in me demanding too much from myself during a practice.

Watching the World Cup set my mind on short runs followed by 90 degree or 180 degree turns. The WC2010B left-footed turns to the left series drill I've been doing, is just one of a few that came to mind based on observation of the 2010 World Cup. Others that came to mind are all with the exception of one, less difficult than the WC2010B series:

WC2010A: this series will involve practicing two 180 degree turns in a row, both the left and the right feet practicing the 180 degree turns. The left footed 180s should be easier than the left-footed 90 degree turns in the WC2010B series I am now practicing. Perhaps the right-footed 180s will also be easier than left-footed 90 degree turns. I estimate that the WC2010A skills will be mastered for both left and right feet after 40 hours of practice.

WC2010B right-footed: I've been doing the WC2010B left-footed (I estimated I need another 18 hours for it), WC2010B right-footed will involve 90 degree turns to the right with the right foot. This I expect to be the only drill of all those that have come to mind based on the the 2010 World Cup, that will be harder than WC2010B left-footed. I estimate the WC2010B right-footed variant will be mastered after 30 hours of practice--I've recently spent many hours on turning to the right with the right foot at about a 45 degree angle.

WC2010C: 90 degree turns to the right made with the left foot in the left-footed version, and 90 degree turns to the left made with the right foot in the right-footed version. Both variants should be easier than the left-footed WC2010B series I've been working on the past few days. I estimate the WC2010C type skills will be mastered after 15 hours of practice for each foot, 30 hours total.

The grand total of hours required to master all the WC2010A, WC2010B, and WC2010C type skills according to my current estimate: 40 + 48 + 30 = 118 hours. At 18 hours of practice per week, these 118 hours could be done in 7 weeks, meaning by the first week in September. Meaning if I can just tough it out and do 18 hours per week despite the heat and the humidity and all the stresses I'm being subjected to, by the first week in September I will be like a soccer god: able to fly around with the ball kept close to the body and off the ground, making any change of direction I want with any foot, while keeping the flight going.

A side-effect of the drills will be that I will have developed the ability to come to a sudden halt in horizontal movement with the ball kept under control and off the ground.

Meaning that I will have become like the World Cup 2010 players observation of whom these drills are based on, the difference being that I will be doing with the ball in the air, what the World Cup players did with the ball on the ground; I will be making the sharp 90 degree and 180 degree turns the World Cup players made on the ground, in the air with the ball off the ground; I will be making the turns faster with the ball at least as tightly controlled, and with greater potential for powerful unpredictable maneuver deviation in terms of dribble direction, shot direction, or pass direction. And then clearly I will be a cut above and nobody will be able to deny it.

With thoughts like these I try to strengthen myself for the drudgery and the fatigue and the exhaustion and the heat and the sweat and the sacrifice of time and energy that lies ahead, but which will if endured inevitably be crowned with the dignity of global triumph.

30 minute segments of WC2010-B2, 9 minutes of WC2010-B3, done at approx 85% of Max attempts per hour rate.

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B2 was the first segment, for 30 mins. There were 17 (17) two-star successes and 7 (3) one-star successes.

WC2010-B3 was the second segment, for 9 mins (after 9 minutes the Jabulani ball ball got stuck on the ceiling). There were 7 two-star successes (7 in 9 minutes = 23 per 30 mins) and 3 one-star successes (3 in 9 mins = 10 in 30 mins).

After 9 minutes of the B3, the Jabulani ball got stuck on the ceiling and I had to end the practice. When I returned with the replacement Replique ball (2006 WC ball), the gym had been taken over by basketball.

30 minute segments of WC2010-B2, 9 minutes of WC2010-B3, and WC2010-B4 done at approx 85% of Max attempts per hour rate. Done with 2006 World Cup Ball replica named 'Replique' due to Jabulani ball stuck on ceiling.

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B3 was the first segment, for 21 mins (after 9 minutes the Jabulani ball ball got stuck on the ceiling the previous day). There were 14 two-star successes (14 in 21 minutes = 20 per 30 mins) and 2 one-star successes (2 in 21 mins = 3 in 30 mins).

WC2010-B4 was the 2nd segment, 30 minutes. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 16 (21) two-star successes, and 2 (4) one-star successes.

WC2010-B2 was the 3rd segment; done for 30 minutes not counting breaks. There were (previous practice perfomance in parentheses) 15 (17) two-star successes, and 7 (7) one-star successes.

30 minute segment of WC2010-B3, at approx 80% effort rate.

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B3 was done for 52 minutes not counting breaks. There were 37 two-star successes (equates to 21 2-star successes in 30 mins) and 4 (equates to 2 one star successes in 30 mins) one-star successes. Previous time B3 variant was done, there were 21 2-stars and 5 1-stars over 30 mins.

Today in the Home Depot parking lot, this tall white woman with straight shoulder length brown hair, was carrying a child who had wavy yellow hair and seemed about two years old. When the child saw me, the child shouted, "I do!". Then the mother looked at the child, smiled, and said, "say yes". Reminded me of how previously a child about one year old in a shopping cart ahead of me in the line at the supermarket, looked at me, affirmatively shook his/her head up and down, and shouted, "you!".

Today this tall white man with crew-cut yellow hair was coaching this girls basketball team that looked like they were 8th graders. He looked at them and said, "you can't marry him". I knew he was talking about me.

Women who have some kind of empty yearning inside, some kind of thing for me but can't literally marry me should take heart. Seems there is some thing called spiritual marriage without the conjugal relations. I remember how after I watched a college women's volleyball tournament at Bentley University, I had a dream in which all the women out on the gym floor playing volleyball, about 40 of them (more than one match was played at a time), both blacks and whites, had their own bodies but my head. This reminded me of how in the Bible it says that the husband is the wife's head, and the wife is the husband's body.

It all reminds me of a dream I had about a month ago. There was this big church congregation. They were presented with the idea that financial abuse of people like me David Hobbs who are popular with beautiful women, is a form of rape. The entire congregation unanimously agreed, that such abuse is a form of rape.

I am not going to pretend that I am happy with the hiring practices in the area in which I live. The idea of justice through quotas has given rise to the idea that justice consists of hiring typical persons and that dignified=typical. Hello? Dignified does not mean typical. In fact, dignified means someone of untypical unusual dignity. This typicalism is combined with localist discrimination against persons with roots outside the local area, which contradicts the law of the land, which states that persons born outside the US cannot be discriminated against on the basis of the place of their birth (this law is designed to protect those who have no locality in the US which they can call their own and which will discriminate in their behalf). Nevertheless, it seems the personnel officers, routinely ignore anti-discrimination laws (though they unfairly favor typical persons and persons who in their estimation anti-discrimination laws are designed to protect). Actually anti-discrimination laws are designed to protect everyone, they are not designed to promote pet groups. For example, the law designed to protect overweight people from job discrimination is not designed to make fat people first class citizens and the rest of us second class citizens. Rather the law is intended to spur employers into ignoring how overweight a person is when making hiring decisions.

A problem with laws like the one designed to protect fat people, is that the end result of such legal interventionism, is that persons have ceased to respect all qualities wherein the not-fat are superior to the fat; in the spirit of being fair to fat persons, things like beauty, athletic achievement, have been thrown out the window. Great.

30 minute segment of WC2010-B4, 7 minute segment of WC2010-B2

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page. The effort level for this practice, I could not find in the notes taken during the practice.

WC2010-B4 was the first segment; done for 30 mins not counting breaks. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 15 (16) two-star successes, & and 4 (2) one-star successes.

WC2010-B2 was the 2nd segment; done for 7 mins not counting breaks. There were 5 two-star successes, & and 2 one-star successes.

23 minute segment of WC2010-B2, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B3, & 30 minute segment of WC2010-B4; done at 80=85% max effort rate in terms of attempts per hour

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B2 was the first segment; done for 23 mins not counting breaks (previous day B3 had been done for 7 mins when I had to stop). There were 10 two-star successes, & and 9 one-star successes.

WC2010-B3 was the 2nd segment; done for 30 mins not counting breaks. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 21 (21) two-star successes, & and 9 (2) one-star successes.

WC2010-B4 was the 3rd segment; done for 30 mins not counting breaks. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 18 (15) two-star successes, & and 7 (4) one-star successes.

Seem to have been having a problem of feeling too tired to practice when there is open time at the gym, and having energy to practice when open time at the gym is not available.

There have recently been several runs featuring 12 feet from the first touch T3 to the second touch T4. There have been several featuring 10 feet between T4 and T5. There have been several featuring 8 feet between T5 and T6 ( on this last leg of the u-turn there is a loss of momentum). This all adds up to runs featuring 30 feet in total length becoming commonplace. There have continued to be several short runs featuring just 15 feet in total length over the three sections of the u-turn. There have been many well angled runs with all the turns made at almost exactly 90 degree angles, many fast runs the u-turn made with speed. Today for the first time I noticed fast quick u-turns made with plenty of backspin on the Jabulani ball, with the ball kept low . July 19 the first practice there was plenty of backspin but that was using the 2006 World Cup ball the 'Replique'.

This kind of skill work does not have the same relaxing and anti-depressant impact as jogging or weightlifting. I need to get mental to keep up my spirits. I can take satisfaction in that: every recent practice there have been several fast tightly controlled runs featuring well formed 90 degree turns, with the ball tightly controlled, with the distance covered total on the u-turn up to 30 feet, crowned by a powerful accurate shot on the final fourth touch T6; and, this u-turn move is truly a world-class move involving a sharp turn of direction followed by a shot with the ball kept in the air over 4 touches.

Perhaps the fact that between day 11 and day 12 of the World Cup inspired practices, the total number of one star and two star successes combined rose by about 30% for both the B3 and the B4 variants, indicates that soon the dreary drudgery of not being able to quite master that classic skill, will come to an end the skill being finally mastered.

30 minute segment of WC2010-B2, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B3, done at 80-85% max effort rate in terms of attempts per hour

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B2 was the 1st segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 16 (15) two-star successes, & and 9 (11) one-star successes.

WC2010-B3 was the 2nd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 16 (21) two-star successes, & and 17 (9) one-star successes.

In both segments there was evidence of progress, of the type that does not show up in the one-star two-star counts.

When I make a U-turn run attempt, I can try to do the run in a relatively difficult way-- at a high speed, with long distances between touches, while being a stickler for precision in terms of the angle of the turn being close to 90 degrees. Or I can do the run in a relatively easy way--at a slow speed, with short distances between touches, choosing say the easy 120 degree angle of turn instead of the more difficult 90 degree angle of turn when there is a choice between the two (remember, the intent of the drill is 90 degree turns 90 degree turn is the angle that is considered perfect in this drill).

There are also combinations of difficult and easy: for example, combining high speed and long distance between touches with looseness in terms of extent to which the turn of the angle precisely adheres to the intended 90 degree right angle turn.

If I do the runs in a difficult way, long, fast etc, the one star two star scores are lower compared to if I do the runs in an easy way designed to run up the one-star/two-star score up to a very high level.

I like to let my spirit run free, in terms of this kind of difficult low-score vs easy high-score thing. Sometimes I feel like doing difficult runs at high speed, at precise 90 degree angles with long distances between touches. Other times I feel differently.

Looks like while doing these drills I have not forgotten that the ultimate goal is not to achieve high scores in terms of the one-star and two-star ratings, but rather to develop an effective, consistent, impressive, world-class soccer move. Being willing to experiment a little, the result being a star-score lower than what might have been, is an example of such reasonableness in mentality.

There are advantages in pursuing the conservative high-score approach, easy runs that produce lots of stars in terms of the score: the abundance of such runs provides a basis for improvement; if you rarely get to the third touch of the run, you don't get much chance to practice the third touch of the run.

Likewise there are advantages in pursuing the adventurous high-risk approach, difficult runs that produce less stars in terms of the score: one should be willing to experiment with new techniques and styles that at first reduce the score but eventually increase it; developing the ability to do the u-turn fast and long with precise 90 degree turns is not only fun it is also of practical importance.

Looks like what has already been almost mastered is consistently achieving at least one star on this u-turn move, meaning that there is loss of control over the ball on only about 3% of the attempts, and: when there is not loss of control over the ball, on every attempt, there is (starting with me moving moving from point X, towards the sideline with the goal I shoot at to my right) on the 1st touch of the ball movement in a direction towards the sideline, on the 2nd and 3rd touches with the left foot, the cessation of this directional movement (sometimes there is an extra touch with the left foot), and on the 4th touch a right-footed shot in the direction of the opposing goal, with the right foot swinging swinging in an arc so that it first faces towards my own goal and then faces towards point X where I started the movement, all without the ball touching the ground, with the ball kept under tight control, all being done quickly.

Sometimes the end result is that the body and ball first move towards the sideline, then come to a halt, and then move towards the opposing goal (L-shaped movement), before the ball is shot. Sometimes the result is that the body and ball first move towards the sideline, then move towards my own goal, then move towards the start-point (point X) before the ball is shot at the goal (U-shaped movement). Sometimes the result is that the body and ball move first towards the sideline, then towards my own goal, and then towards the opposing goal (T shaped movement), before the ball is shot. There are variations. But what is predictable is that there will be a halt in the sideways movement followed by a wheeling right footed shot with the arc being such that the shooting foot first points at my own goal and then at the opposing goal.

What is required for a move to become useable in a game above and beyond that the loss of control of the ball should be a rare event, is that there should be a certain level of predictability regarding the outcome of the move. A move can be useable even when exact predictability regarding the outcome of the move does not exist.

It could even be an advantage that with the move there is a certain degree of unpredictability in terms of whether the final result will be a U-shaped, T-shaped or L-shaped movement.

Thus I am already on the verge of introducing into my repertoire, a new move that I can rely on, whose outcome I can roughly predict, being confident that loss of control over the ball will rarely occur. A greater level of sophistication would be being at the point where the outcome of the move can be exactly predicted.

The more exact predictability will exist when: there are less unintentional second touches involving the ball kept in place horizontally as opposed to kicked to the left at a 90 degree angle; there are less unintentional 3rd touches involving the ball kept in place horizontally as opposed to kicked to the left at a 90 degree angle; there are less 3rd touches involving the ball kicked at a 180 degree angle instead of at a 90 degree angle to the left.

In sum I've been erudite here re a point, because I sense the danger that I could fail to realize that I already have a useable new move in my repertoire, due to being obsessed with exact predictability regarding the body and ball movement outcome of the move.

At the end of the practice today the basketballers took over the court at 830 AM even though according to the schedule they are not supposed to do that till 9:00 AM.

30 minute segment of WC2010-B4, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B2, 30 min segment of B3 done at 80-85% max effort rate in terms of attempts per hour

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B4 was the 1st segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 8 (18) two-star successes, & and 8 (7) one-star successes.

WC2010-B2 was the 2nd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 11 (16) two-star successes, & and 7 (9) one-star successes.

WC2010-B3 was the 3rd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 8 (16) two-star successes, & and 8 (17) one-star successes.

The heat and the humidity were difficult. About half the time the only place to escape the sun was these little spots of shade I tried to spend as much time as possible in. The surface of the concrete basketball court is not as even as the surface of the indoors basketball court. There was the problem of the exhaust produced by the cars at the busy intersection. When shooting at the fence a few balls were kicked over the fence, requiring time consuming retrieval (the drivers were all quite civilized in their attempts to avoid the ball that sailed over the fence on to the road). A few times unexpectedly the ball shot at the fence rebounded all the way to the other side of the playground resulting in time consuming retrieval. Extra minutes were not awarded to compensate for these time consuming retrievals. The entire situation was new and the success rate was down significantly.

While I was practicing, a brown-skinned or tanned young man looked at me and said, 'that's hard!'. After practice a tall white man sitting in the Burger King looked at me and smiled and said, 'the Spanish are like animals' (I've been developing this reputation for being better than the Spanish players in some ways).

Doing the ball control drills today was much easier than running 70 yards to retrieve the ball over the fence. At least at the Y they now put fans in the doorways allowing air conditioned air to blow into the gym from the hallways. No such luck outdoors at the Peter Gilmore playground.

As always there were zero uncounted preliminary warm-up runs, every run attempted was part of a counted 30 minute segment, which keeps the scores down.

During the third B3 segment at the playground, there was again pain the the right front ankle due to the tongue of the shoe digging in to the right front ankle.

30 minute segment of WC2010-B4, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B2, 30 min segment of B3 done at 80-85% max effort rate in terms of attempts per hour

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B4 was the 1st segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 13 (8) two-star successes, & and 7 (8) one-star successes.

WC2010-B2 was the 2nd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 12 (11) two-star successes, & and 10 (7) one-star successes.

WC2010-B3 was the 3rd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 16 (8) two-star successes, & and 7 (8) one-star successes.

Hot and humid and sunny, but in the morning felt like it was going to be a cool day. Significantly improved scores compared to yesterday, getting used to the outdoor playground.

Comparing the outdoors to the Y indoors gym, bears keeping in mind that the temperature and humidity fluctuates significantly during the day, the afternoon is a hot time of day.

30 minute segment of WC2010-B4, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B2, 15 min segment of B3 done at 80-85% max effort rate in terms of attempts per hour

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B4 was the 1st segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 13 (13) two-star successes, & and 8 (7) one-star successes. At the end of this segment there were 38 people on the basketball court. This is a difficult variant because the flipup and the first touch are with the right foot and I am left-footed. Only recently have I been trying to master the initial flipup and first touch being done with the right foot.

WC2010-B2 was the 2nd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 13 (12) two-star successes, & 17 (10) one-star successes. Consistently there is a problem with this variant on the third touch of the run which is T5. I estimate this is because, with this variant there are more steps between the first touch T3 and the second touch T4, which means there is more speed going into T5. As a result, often on T5 there is no horizontal movement of the ball by mistake, or there is a 180 degree angle turn by mistake.

WC2010-B3 was the 3rd segment; done for 15 mins without a break. There were [per 30 minute rate in brackets] (previous practice results in parentheses) 11 [22] (16) two-star successes, & and 2 [4] (7) one-star successes. A young adult white couple, male and female, were shooting baskets just ten feet from where I was practicing. It was reassuring and relaxing to have them there (sometimes it seems that the white heteros are under-rated). The white guy at one point said, 'that's Conky he's nice looking' (Conky is the familiar term for William the Conqueror, some people know I'm his direct descendant). At 840 PM I called it quits as the visibility was getting poor. The last five minutes doing the B3 drill, I was admiring myself for the calm concentrated unfatigued mental and physical energy within myself prior to and during the first touch of every run. Such is something that takes time and hard work to develop.

Taking into account that the B4 variant involves the difficulty of the initial flipup with the right foot and the first touch with the right foot, the B2 variant involves the difficulty of a fast speed by the time it is the third touch T5, and the B3 variant involves the difficulty of a first touch with the right foot, I'd say I am well on the way to mastering the skill of being able to make two tightly controlled fast 90 degree angle turns in a row to the left with the left foot.

At the end of the practice someone walking by me said, "they'll surrender to you". I am still somewhat mystified re the meaning of this cryptic comment.

15 minutes of WC2010-B3, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B4, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B2, 15 min segment of B3 done at 80-85% max effort rate in terms of attempts per hour

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B3 was the 1st segment; done for 15 mins without a break (done for 15 mins at end of practice yesterday). There were [per 30 minute rate in brackets] (previous practice results in parentheses) 7 [14] (11 [22]) two-star successes, & and 7 [14] (2 [4]) one-star successes. Here you can see, how a segment at the very beginning is at a disadvantage compared to a segment after being warmed up. I count everything from the beginning of practice there is no uncounted warm-up.

WC2010-B4 was the 2nd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 23 (13) two-star successes, & and 6 (8) one-star successes.

WC2010-B2 was the 3rd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 22 (13) two-star successes, & and 8 (17) one-star successes.

WC2010-B3 was the 4th segment; done for only 15 mins without a break (the front desk has a habit of complaining about people not being out of the Y by 10 PM). There were (previous practice results in parentheses) [per 30 minute rate in brackets] 14 [28] (18) two-star successes, & and 5 [10] (9) one-star successes.

For a while I've been trying to remember what my technique was when I did the T5, the third touch of the run, correctly. This evening suddenly I acquired this ability which had heretofore eluded me; I was able to remember my technique on T5 both when T5 was well done and when T5 was done improperly. Looks like T5, the third touch of the run, works out well when: the ball is kicked with the leg straight; the ball is kicked with the outside front of the left foot; the ball is kicked with the body leaning towards the side the body is kicked.

Today I saw myself pulling out of the frustrating plateau phase that came after the first burst of improvement.

Today I took detailed notes, and walked slowly from place to place while going through the practice routine. This is what I call the 80-85% of max effort rate.

With regards to the babbling bitch who has been persecuting me for my polygamous inclinations, I (despite not having freakish rote memorization or brainspeed abilities), have come up with a tough counterargument (as I often do when arguing): in the past there have been lots of wicked rich kings and rich men, whose harems have been filled with women involuntarily incarcerated in the harem. This has left a genetic imprint on the human race. Antidote for such: someone like me, whose wives are his wives not because of coercion, and not because he is rich, but rather, because such is what the ladies feel like doing. So go mind your own business, babbling bitch.

15 minutes of WC2010-B3, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B4, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B2, done at 80-85% max effort rate in terms of attempts per hour

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B3 was the 1st segment; done for 15 mins without a break (WC2010-B3 was also done for 15 mins at end of practice yesterday). There were [per 30 minute rate in brackets] (previous practice results in parentheses) 6 [12] (14 [28]) two-star successes, & and 6 [12] (5 [10]) one-star successes. Again, here you can see, how a segment at the very beginning is at a disadvantage compared to a segment after being warmed up: the last 15 minutes yesterday was B3 at a very high number of stars per minute; the first 15 minutes today was B3 at a low number of stars per minute. I count everything from the beginning of practice there is no uncounted warm-up.

WC2010-B4 was the 2nd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 19 (23) two-star successes, & and 9 (6) one-star successes.

WC2010-B2 was the 3rd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 21 (22) two-star successes, & and 7 (8) one-star successes. I did not really feel comfortable this evening until the last 20 minutes of this segment, meaning until 55 minutes after the practice started. I counted six of the runs this segment as perfect, I estimate this is the highest number of perfects in a segment of a variant of the WC2010-B series. These "perfect runs" adhered exactly to the corners of the rectangle laid out by the markers I place at the corners. On all these perfect runs: the distance from T3 the first kick to T4 was approx 11 feet; a 90 degree turn to the left was made with the left foot on T4; the distance from T4 to T5 was approx 7 feet; a 90 degree turn to the left was made with a left-footed kick on T5; the distance from T5 to T6 was approx 9 feet; (usually) on T6 I took a hard accurate shot at a 90 degree angle to my left with my right foot; the total distance covered in the rectangular u-turn was approx 27 feet, with the ball never touching the ground between T3 the first touch of the run, and T6 the fourth touch of the run; the ball was tightly controlled; the prescribed and intended footwork pattern was adhered to.

Also during this WC2010-B2 segment, there were several impressive runs not counted as "perfect" featuring 90 degree angles on all the turns, high speed, tight ball control, and: distances of up to 15 feet between T3 the first touch and T4 the second, distances up to 15 feet between T4 the second touch and T5 the third touch; and distances up to 11 feet between T5 the third touch and T6 the touch on which the shot was made (the total of these distances amounts to 41 feet). Sometimes two or all of the three distances in the u-turn were long. Some of these runs involved a bounce of the ball between T4 and T5 or between T5 and T6. The bounce of the ball seems to lengthen out the distances.

All this despite the fact that at the beginning of the WC2010-B2 segment, I definitely did not feel as if I would be able to accomplish so many runs of such quality.

Even now I find it hard to believe that I accomplished so many runs of such glamorous quality, given how I felt out there today. During a run everything is sort of a herky jerky blur, things look the way a video shot by someone running from a stampeding bull looks, and I end up after the u-turn almost where I started--so I am almost unaware of what I am accomplishing, the distances, the speeds, the spectacular off-the-ground ball control.

So truly in this segment about ten times in 30 minutes, there were runs that were spectacular and impressively world class.

30 minutes of WC2010-B3, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B4, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B2, 15 minute segment of B3, done at 80-85% max effort rate in terms of attempts per hour

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B3 was the 1st segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 17 (20) two-star successes, & and 9 (11) one-star successes.

WC2010-B4 was the 2nd segment; done for 30 mins not counting a one minute break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 18 (19) two-star successes, & and 12 (9) one-star successes. 9 of the 18 2-star successes were counted as 'perfect', and 1 of the 1-star successes was counted as perfect. Perfect for 2-star success means: 90 degree angles on the turns; turns made close to the marker cones laid out prior to the drill to illustrate the rectangular u-turn movement of body and ball; approx 24 feet covered in total on the u-turn; ball tightly controlled; shot to left on T6 fourth touch of run.

WC2010-B2 was the 3rd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 21 (21) two-star successes, & and 9 (7) one-star successes. I counted 8 of the runs this segment as perfect (previous B2 segment 6 were counted as 'perfect'. But the perfect runs were not as thrilling as they were during the previous B2 segment which was the first B2 segment with lots of 'perfect' runs (see previous entry for definition of perfect B2 run).

WC2010-B3 was the 4th segment; done for 15 mins without a break. There were [rate per 30 mins in brackets] (previous practice results in parentheses) 11 [22] (17) two-star successes, & and 6 [12] (9) one-star successes.

I felt prior to the practice, that after the heroics of the previous two days I was in for a decline in performance, but the decline was not as great as anticipated.

Generally there has recently been a significant improvement in the quality of the runs, in ways not reflected by the 2-star and 1-star scores. The angle of the turns has been closer and closer to the prescribed and intended 90 degrees; the runs have been faster, the runs have adhered to the course laid out by the marker cones more closely.

Seems my creative powers in terms of essays returned to me today as a result of the decline in the heat and the humidity.

The U-turn shaped runs I have been practicing which I have labeled the WC2010-B series, have involved me first air-dribbling the ball towards the sideline with the opposing goal on my right; on the second touch (T4) moving the ball at a 90 degree angle to my left towards my own goal; on the third touch (T5) making a 90 degree turn to my left with my left foot so that I am moving at the sideline with the opponent goal to my left; and on the fourth touch (T6) shooting to my left at a 90 degree angle with my right foot in the direction of the opponent goal. I have, as an unintended side effect of these drills, been developing a powerful ability to keep the defender at bay on the third touch (T5) of these runs which usually involve a 90 degree turn to the left with the left foot, but accidentally have often involved the ball being kept stationary or arched at a 180 degree angle backwards.

Often on the 3rd touch of these runs whereas my intention has been to kick the ball at a 90 degree angle to my left with my left foot, the result has been the ball being kicked to a height of about six feet, and then descending towards the ground, with the ball not moving significantly in the horizontal sense, and such happening a few times in a row.

Often the unintended result has been the ball being kicked at approx a 180 degree angle backwards, with me (intentionally according to the prescribed footwork pattern) then wheeling counterclockwise while stepping with the right and left feet and then shooting the ball with my right foot on the final touch of the run. These unintended results could be transformed into intended results and used with effect on the defense.

I remember watching a video of Ronaldo of Brazil, their tall heavy striker. He was leaning in to the defender with the right side of his body and his right shoulder, while keeping the ball away from the defender with his left foot on the ball. The defender just stood there for a few seconds unable to do do anything, while Ronaldo stood there keeping the ball approximately stationary (looked like a very humiliating situation for the defender).

Many times the past few days I have found myself accidentally doing the same thing Ronaldo did with the ball on the ground, but with the ball in the air, starting with the third touch of the run; at these times I've felt I could in between touches knock the defender backwards with my body, while at the same time maintaining control over the ball.

As an unintended positive side-effect of the drill, I've been developing the ability to knock the defender away from me with my right shoulder and right arm, in between touching the ball with my left foot, while keeping the horizontal movement of the ball stationary, or choosing to continue the air-dribble in any direction, especially the 180 degree turn direction approx straight at the hypothetical defender.

What I've been doing: my left foot rises to kick the ball while the right foot is on the ground; then my left foot descends to the ground; then my right foot rises above the ground; then my right foot descends to the ground; and repeact cycle. I do this with my right foot pointed a little to the right of the direction my left foot is pointed at, with my left foot far in front of my right foot, my left leg straight, and my left toe extended forwards to the max, the top of the toe striking the ball. During such interludes I've been kicking the ball only with my left foot.

My method provides several advantages compared to the method of ball juggling commonly seen amongst persons such as Spanish toddlers, Spanish boys, Spanish teenagers, Spanish young men, Spanish adults, and Spanish senior citizens.

The Spanish method: hunched over the ball; both feet pointed in same direction; left foot sometimes kicks ball twice in row without right foot moving; left foot kicks ball twice in row with left foot not touching ground in between kicks with left foot; this kind if thing with left and right reversed; left and right feet alternate in kicking ball.

My method allows me to rock back and forth, with my body alternating between leaning in to the defender with my right shoulder as I kick the ball up with my left foot, and leaning away from the defender towards the ball. This kind of alternation can go on for up to approx 4 touches on the ball with the ball not moving horizontally, just sort of up and down vertically without touching the ground. On a touch on the ball the ball can be propelled 90 degrees to the left, or at a 180 degree angle towards the defender (from my perspective), followed by two steps and a shot with the right with the ball never hitting the ground and everything happening fast. I can push the defender back and then wheel and drive towards the defender's left in a quick powerful motion that utilizes my body as a shield for the ball, all with the ball kept off the ground and tightly under control.

The hypothetical proud hombre might retort that the Spanish style is ambidextrous whereas mine involves just one foot. To this my response is, true ambidexterity sometimes consists of being able to master both LLLL, kicking the ball four times in a row with the left foot, and also RRRR, kicking the ball four times in a row with the right foot, as opposed to LRLR, kicking the ball with alternating feet.

Watching basketball and football you often notice players gaining advantage by pushing a defender in one direction with a shoulder or arm while they move in the other direction with or without the ball. When I throw my right shoulder and arm into a defender and then trot away with the ball in an approximately opposite direction, this allows me to sort of turn the tables on the defense in terms of the defense's tendency to take advantage by committing fouls--and the referee would err if he were to call me for a foul, because the body swaying away from the ball as the ball is kicked upwards is a natural part of the body-motion for such kinds of kicks. The push one way go the other trick frees up a little time for me to size up the situation, opens up a little space.

Hopefully in this entry I've avoided the failure to notice and take advantage of positive unforeseen, unintended side-effects of a drill.

Watching the World Cup opened my mind to the possibilities of 90 degree and 180 degree turns while keeping the ball above ground and close to the body and under control. This has opened up conceptually for me a new world of possibilities with regards to close encounters with the defense while air-dribbling the ball. Up to around 2010 World Cup time,I had seriously considered turns of up to around 60 degrees in angle. Around the time of the World Cup there developed the coincidence of me first beginning to develop the ability to make sharper than 60 degree turns, combined with the observation of sharper than 60 degree turns being made with the ball on the ground during the World Cup.

15 minute segment of WC2010-B3, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B4, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B2, 15 minute segment of B3, done at 80-85% max effort rate in terms of attempts per hour

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B3 was the 1st segment; done for 15 mins without a break. There were [rate per 30 mins in brackets] (previous practice results in parentheses) 6 [12] (11 [22]) two-star successes, & and 5 [10] (6 [12]) one-star successes. A dramatic decline in two-star successes, for the first 15 minutes out on the playground today, compared to the last 15 minutes at the indoor gym at the Y yesterday. I counted 3 of the 2-star successes as perfect.

WC2010-B4 was the 2nd segment; done for 30 mins not counting a 2 minute break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 13 (18) two-star successes, & and 8 (12) one-star successes. Again a decline in the score is evident, compared to yesterday's B4 segment at the indoor gym. I counted 4 of the 2-star successes and 3 of the 1-star successes as perfect. A 1-star success can in my judgement be considered perfect, if aside from the deviation that results in the run getting one star instead of two stars, the run displays good qualities such as: prescribed intended 90 degree angles on turns; speed; turns made at the marker cones laid out in a rectangular formation on the ground.

WC2010-B2 was the 3rd segment; done for 30 mins without a break. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 14 (21) two-star successes, & and 7 (9) one-star successes. The decline in the score compared to yesterday in the indoors gym is again evident. I counted 7 of the two-star runs, and 4 of the one-star runs, as perfect. So many runs counted as perfect outdoors on the playground where the scores are lower, would have thrilled me three days ago. During the first 20 minutes a young man from Haiti was sitting on the same bench I had my stuff like clipboard and notepad on, talking into a cell phone while watching me. While he was watching and talking I made very few mistakes.

WC2010-B3 was the 4th segment; done for 15 mins without a break. There were [rate per 30 mins in brackets] (previous B3 segment results in parentheses) (8 [16]) (6 [12]) two-star successes, & and (2 [4]) (5 [11]) one-star successes. I counted 3 two-star runs and 1 one-star run as perfect. The last six minutes of this segment, from 837-843, it got to be so dark that the darkness presented a problem.

Comparing the last time out on the playground Monday July 26 to today July 31, there has not been progress in terms of total number of two-star and one-star runs, but there has been progress in terms of the quality of the runs in ways that are not reflected by the two-star and one-star scores. Monday evening July 26, and this evening, the workout was outdoors at the playground with 30 minutes of B2, 30 minutes of B3 and 30 minutes of B4 done on both occasions. Monday evening there were 4 perfect 2-star runs in 90 minutes (0.04/minute); this evening there were 17 perfect 2-star runs in 90 minutes (0.19/minute). Thus the rate rose by 0.15 per minute over 4 days. If the 'perfect' rate continues to improve by 0.04/minute per day, in just 3 weeks I will be at 1 perfect run per minute meaning basically that everything will always be perfect, meaning also that undoubtedly I will be well on my way to being a top player, because the only skill left to master that is more difficult than the one I am mastering now, is doing the same thing I am doing now, but with the right foot. I get demoralized if I don't take a little time to hash out such stats. What I can see on the horizon, is: despite the continued occurrence of days of drudgery and non-improvement, four months from now I will be at a skill level such that nobody will be able to deny that I am one of the world's best players.

I'm still trying to understand why the scores are lower outdoors, even when during the entire segment I never kick the ball over the fence and never have to spend alot of time chasing the ball because the nice boys on the playground retrieve the ball for me. Seems that the unflat uneven concrete surface throws off the first flip-up and kick, which in turn throws off all the kicks in the run that come after the first kick. Seems the somewhat uneven unflat concrete surface can throw off kicks that come after the first kick. Seems that the replica of the 2010 World Cup Jabulani ball I am using, can be moved around by the wind during the air-dribble to the point of things being thrown off, unlike the heavier bigger replica of the 2006 World Cup 'Replique' that I used to be using.

During the practice I looked up at the sky, the clouds blowing through the sky; I heard the carefree sound of the boys on the playground shouting; I felt a sense of relaxation, and I was thinking: despite all the sin in the world, God keeps things going, well-fed boys are playing on a playground that has not been bombed to pieces, because God keeps things going for the sake of the innocent boys on the playground types. Then I reconsidered and thought, maybe God keeps things going for the sake of all the children who are too young to be damned.

15 minute segment of WC2010-B3, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B4, 30 minute segment of WC2010-B2, done at 80-85% max effort rate in terms of attempts per hour

All variants done today are described in the July 8 log entry this page.

WC2010-B3 was the 1st segment; done for 15 mins without a break. There were [rate per 30 mins in brackets] (previous practice results in parentheses) 5 [10] (6 [12]) two-star successes, & and 4 [8] (5 [10]) one-star successes. I counted 1 of the 2-star successes & 2 of the 1 star successes as perfect. The ball, due to the unflat nature of the concrete ground and the wind, was often blowing away from where I spotted it, and had to be chased down.

WC2010-B4 was the 2nd segment; done for 30 mins not counting 2 minutes in break time (now awarding extra minutes to compensate for time spent chasing ball, due to packing up entire bag when chasing down ball over fence, due to theft possibilities). There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 12 (13) two-star successes, & and 8 (8) one-star successes. I counted 5 (4) of the 2-star successes and 4 (3) of the 1-star successes as perfect. This was not my best segment today, but it was watched by Spanish boys and men. Some of the Spanish boys, even set out four plastic bottle type things as markers and imitated me for a while. I've heard that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

WC2010-B2 was the 3rd segment; done for 30 mins not counting 4 mins spent recovering balls shot over the fence. There were (previous practice results in parentheses) 12 (14) two-star successes, & and 5 (7) one-star successes. I counted 9 (7) of the two-star runs, and 2 (4) of the one-star runs, as perfect. This segment was the high point of the practice. Of the first 14 runs awarded one or two stars, 9 out of 12 2-star runs were judged as perfect, and 2 out of 2 1 star runs were judged as perfect, meaning during this stretch which lasted for the entire segment except for the last three runs which were all imperfect one star runs, 79% of the runs that achieved at least a one-star rating, were also judged to be perfect. Looking back at the calculations made in the previous entry of this log, I was not expecting this rate of perfects per minute to be achieved until six days from now.

At one point I kicked a ball over the fence and it rolled about sixty yards away. A Spanish man wearing a hat and a mustache, dutifully caught it and threw it back to me. Later he sat down on the bench on the other side of the fence and talked into his cell phone as he watched me.

After the practice I developed the stomach ache that has bothered me from time to time since boyhood, featuring alternation between severe pain and normal feeling. I suspect this was due to me tightening the string around the waist of my shorts too tightly, because I was beginning to feel bothered by having to hitch the shorts up prior to each attempt. Thing is, this ball drill is so precise that even the bottom edge of the shorts reaching over the knee, feels like something that impairs the performance level.