Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!
2011 Soccer Drill Stats Part XV
 
 

  Continued from 2011 Soccer Drill Stats Part XIV      
  Date Description
  Tuesday 10/11 @ Oak Sq Y

Soccer Game

Drills

Played in Semi-Official Soccer Games at Oak Sq Y, scored impressive goal during warmups; Did two 30-minute segments of 926-4.12 Drill

What happened During the Games (note--names given to teams and individuals are sometimes my invention):

I started warming up with the ball about 615 PM, in the gym. I took some shots against the padded wall with my left and right feet. I kicked the ball around with the other guys. I noticed that I was shooting using the powerful new style that I have developed since practicing volley-shots off the air-dribble intensively.

The shooting style involves: ball more directly in front of body compared to the usual case; knee more over body; body more into shot. In high school a team-mate tried to explain this kind of shooting to me, but I could'nt do it and what he was saying made no sense to me. I used to kick the ball the way a winger kicks the ball when he crosses it in, because I played left-wing on the high school team.

During the warmups, for a few minutes Latin Adonis of the Romeo Rockets (about 5'10" tall, 170 lbs heavy at least, muscular, light-brown skin, clean-shaven face), graciously played goalie. Adonis played energetically and athletically & dominated the 8' wide, 6' high goal. Me & some handsome young healthy-looking whitish Latin Romeo Rockets were standing in a semi-circle, taking shots on Latin Adonis in goal. I took a hard shot from 12 yards out (using the powerful new style), my only shot on goal of the entire evening. The ball went into the 8' wide, 6' high goal, thigh-high to Adonis' left.

Adonis was left completely frozen slash transfixed by the shot; it was as if he had no chance from the beginning to make a save and knew that from the beginning. The shot ball swerved about two feet to the right (from side closest to my left arm as I face the goal shot at, to side closer to my right arm as I face the goal shot at). All the Latin youths, at least a half-dozen, gave a type of cheer regarding this shot; they went, 'oooh', as if they were my friends taking an empathetic delight in me stealing Latin Adonis' sexy girfriend from him and then parading her in public.

Momentarily, I felt as if I was in a social paradise; I was thinking: Latin-types are often at least almost-shocked to hear that I am not 'Spanish' & do not 'Habla Espanol'; genetically I at least have a little Latin ancestry, allegedly being in part descended from a blood relative of Ms Veramendi or Viramendi who was related by blood to the famous James Bowie of Texas; it would have been fun growing up and living amongst the right kind of compatible Latin; why have I been cursed with being around so many incompatible cold unfriendly people all my life?

The first game, featured the 'Romeo Rockets', featuring a goalkeeper wearing a Unicef soccer uniform, and Latin Adonis playing halfback, playing on both offense and defense. They played the Berber Boys featuring Marty of Morocco & bald-headed Zidane Sr. of Algeria. Three of the Rockets wore a yellow colored jersey, nobody else on the floor did. The game ended in a tie, 1-1.

Two new teams took the floor for the next game, because there were in the gym today 26 players, more than enough for five teams. The game featured the Spanish Satins vs the Islamic Emirs. The Spanish Satins featured a player who was on my team last week, who they said was Spanish, and who that day had proclaimed himself to be cute, and who never played defense.

Nobody used a colored jersey during this game (a few days ago I dropped the Oak Sq Y a note re how the two teams not wearing different colored jerseys is confusing and impairs the quality of the game).

Next my team, the United Nations Blue-helmets, played. I name them thus because we were a hodge-podge combination of different ethnic groups, more diverse than the other teams. There was myself, bespectacled Ezay (pronounced like essay, but with a z) from Nigeria, Tevez (who wears a red & white Manchester United jersey with the name Tevez on it & 'AIG' emblazoned on the front), bald-headed Zidane Jr., a short-white clean-shaven young adult white male, and Yakub (Yakub was on my team 9/13). We played against the Romeo Rockets, they won 1-0 with me in goal. There were six of us, and one of us had to sit out; Yakub volunteered to sit out or start the game on the bench. Zidane Jr. pressured me into playing goalie, he practically ordered me to (bald-heads and spiffy jerseys are apparently considered important by those who possess such). I was glad that I was not the guy sitting out so I did not resist playing goalie much. I forget how they scored.

Next the Romeo Rockets played the Berber Boys, the Rockets won 1-0.

Next, the Romeo Rockets played the Islamic Emirs, and the game ended in a fight.

The Islamic Emirs got ahead 2-0, I estimate because by now, the Rockets had been on the floor for three straight games. With the Emirs ahead 2-0, there was some scrabble for the ball, two players from each team contested it. Latin Adonis, the same youth who I scored on with my shot during practice, took offense & ran up to one of the Islamic Emirs, & sort of stuck his chest into the Emir's face & pushed him a little.

At this point a fight broke out between the Rockets & the Emirs, who, although being shorter thinner lighter in body-weight, and darker-colored compared to the Rockets, would not back down. Somehow nobody landed a punch, though there were visually speaking, fists flying. I shouted, "stop acting like children!". Calder who was supervising the games, sent both teams off the court and brought two new teams on.

Next the Blue-helmets & me, beat the Spanish Satins, 1-0, with me playing defense.

In the last game of the evening, the Blue-helmets & I, lost to the Berber Boys 3-0, with me on defense. The boyish-white-young-adult on my team was in goal and I was on defense during this loss. Statistically it shattered my good record in terms of goals allowed by my team with me on defense.

During the game, the three non-Berber forwards on the Berber Boys all of a sudden all began to play with physical skill and intelligence. I faced a few situations featuring me as the only defender vs two or three of them. The floor was slippery (Calder later agreed it was unusually slippery today); I would slide across the floor when I tried to come to a stop while defending against them. Boyish-white who was in goal, tried to humbly take the blame for the three goals scored against us, but I told him that it was because the three non-Berbers on the Berber Boys all suddenly began to play very well.

Overall I felt as if my fitness was about as good as it was last week. I still have not felt energetic enough to get back to doing the windsprints I was doing before I caught a cold.

During the games, I made a few saves as goalie. While on defense, for some reason, some part of my body somehow repeatedly collided with hard shots fired by the opposing team. You could say that such is positioning, or you could say that my strength as a defender has produced an inclination amongst opponents to score simply by shooting the ball so it misses me by just a little.

The high point of the games this evening for me: the ball landed near me, it bounced once: I saw Ezay in the open about 25 feet away; one-touching the ball, I chipped the ball to Ezay about 25 feet away with the side of my right foot (I'm left-footed); the ball followed exactly the path I wanted it to, reaching an apex of about ten feet; Ezay had just one defender very close to him and beyond that broad daylight; the ball was placed perfectly as intended so it descended to head-height just a little in front of Ezay's head, giving him an opportunity, exactly as intended, to get past the defender and start an uncontested run to the goal with just one touch with his head; instead Ezay let the ball descend to knee height and kicked it backwards, and an opposing player got it.

Ezay has dribbling skill but seems out of practice using his head. Ezay only vaguely remembered the tremendous hard line-drive 30 yard goal, ball travelling the length of the gym, which I scored on September 27 (he was on court during the goal).

Before we (the Blue-Helmets & I) took the court for the last two games: Zidane Jr. complimented me for my quality of play as goalie in the first game, but I felt he was just trying to butter me up to get me to play goalie instead of him yet again in the next game; I told him that I should not be playing goalie again; I chatted with Tevez who was sitting on my right & Ezay who was sitting on my left; I complimented Tevez for a chest trap followed by a long kick; I talked about my soccer-life past & present; I talked about Nigeria with Ezay; Tevez assumed command of the team, and told the team, that the only way to beat these young energetic guys would be to field a certain formation; the formation was to be, Zidane Jr., not ME in goal, ME and Tevez on defense, & short-white-male & Ezay on offense; Tevez expressed an intense interest in winning the game.

Then after all this talk (unusual amount of talk amongst players in Boston area who do not know each other): we took the court using the formation Tevez had insisted on, and beat the Spanish Satins; Tevez played better than I've ever seen him play before; Ezay regained the dribbling touch he had displayed in earlier games.

I felt that Tevez played so well in the last two games because I had spoken with him and complimented him: I felt as if me conversing with Ezay was responsible for the return of Ezay's dribbling touch.

At least twice during the last two games this evening Tevez impressed with a move: using the outside of his left foot he put the ball through the defender's legs, moved his body past the defender's right, and got himself and the ball past the defender (beat the defender).

I would have played more aggressively on defense and had more to brag about, but Tevez wanted me to stay back and play sweeper while he aggressively assaulted the opponents who had possession of the ball.

Overall, I noted that I am not the only one getting tired in these games, as evidenced by the fact that often when on defense I would end up being the only defender in a 3 on 1 or 2 on 1 situation. Players playing offense are also getting tired. Given the fact that my level of fatigue is beginning to resemble that felt by other players, the excuse that I should not play offense because offense is so tiring, begins to become untenable.

Overall, I have now since September 13, played in the games on Tuesday evening at Oak Square Y, on four evenings. During this entire time, I have never played offense for even one minute! The rule has been that usually the winning team stays on the court for another game, and this has created in teams a desire to win games. The players on the teams have pushed me into defense or goalie because they see somebody other than me on offense (naturally themselves generally speaking) as producing a better chance of winning; my offensive dribbling and shooting skills have not been displayed, revived or improved, because I have not gotten any time on offense; the offensive scrimmaging competence of the players who have been playing offense have however been sharpened; as they grow in offensive skill and I stagnate in offensive scrimmaging skill what should be a very temporary gap in skill between us featuring them on top and me below, widens and widens; a vicious circle takes birth. None of the players at the games has ever seen me doing the spectacular aerial drills that have impressed so many observers so much.

I believe that if you take even the best player in the world, and prohibit him from ever playing on offense in scrimmages or games for twenty-five years, the result will be embarrassing degeneration in terms of the player's ability to dribble the ball past defenders. Even if said world's best player during those twenty-five disrupted years attains to amazing heights with regards to skills that can be practiced alone without defenders to work against, the level of competence with regards to playing offense against real-live defenders will degenerate.

I know that when given a chance: I can dribble past and through defenders of the type that have been on court during recent games, in basketball-court soccer games of the type we have been playing; I can do this at least as well any of the hot-shots who have been refusing to play defense; I can improve rapidly in terms of dribbling ability when given the chance to practice against defenders.

I've noticed that an important characteristic of myself as a player, is this: though the first time I practice a given skill, I am often not especially extraordinary, my rate of improvement is extraordinary and my level of competence with regards to the given skill, rapidly improves to a very high level.

Seems to me that a good idea would be for me to keep track of my accomplishments during such games, to give me an idea re my strengths and potentials. Something I forgot to mention re the previous game of 10/4: in one touch, I intercepted a pass made by the opposing team, and simultaneously passed the ball accurately to a team-mate (Brazilian white youth). I used to do such things when I played on my high school team; for example once in one quick sliding, leg-outstretched touch on the ball, I intercepted an opponent's pass, and at the same time passed to a team-mate who then scored.

The soccer games started approx 630 PM, and ended 737 PM.

The drills practice in the air-conditioned exercise studio:

The first segment, from 912 PM (estimated start time) - 944 PM, I did the 926-4.12 pattern, with the four cones marking out the perimeter of the square to be followed while air-dribbling the ball, 11 paces from each other; average distance between touches on ball was approx 6.6'; my two goals during this segment were: Length, & a high score. The perimeter was generally closely followed during the runs.

The second segment, from 952 PM (estimated start time) - 1018 PM, I did the 926-4.12 pattern again, with the four cones marking out the perimeter of the square to be followed while air-dribbling the ball, 11 paces from each other; average distance between touches on ball was approx 6'; my two goals during this segment were: Speed, & a high score. The perimeter was generally closely followed during the runs. The highlight of the segment: a run that was on-pattern with ball kept off ground but close to body, with correct footwork (ball touched on every other pace with left-foot only, 90 degree turn made on every three touches) adhered to, for 86 feet at a quick pace.

About 1.5 hours before the practice started, I consumed about 10 oz of organic coffee mixed with coconut palm sugar & organic half and half. During the practice, which went on for 4 hours including breaks, I drank 22 oz of cold distilled water. After the game and before the hour of drills, I got so hungry that I could not resist getting a half pound of sirloin tips and a slice of pizza at the nearby Pizza Etc. Restaurant. I need to start bringing organic trail-mix to these practices.

The scores for all of the 920, 926, & 105 Series drills done since 9/26, including those done today, can be found at the 920 926 & 105 Series Drills Scores Summary Table, on the 'Dropbox' server.

     
  Wednesday 10/12 @ Waltham Y
& Oak Sq Y

Practiced '926-4.12 & 926-4.11' Series Dribbling Drills Using New Nike T90 Catalyst ball @ 10.6 PSI/11.6 PSI; with ball kept in the air always

All of the scoring done for the 920, 926, & 105 Series Drills has followed, and continues to follow, these rules: No warmup with or without ball before start of first scored segment; no warmup with or without ball in between segments; no time subtracted from the time total for a segment, due to statistical scoring; time subtracted from the time total for verbal notes taken; no time subtracted from time total for segment for drinking water; time subtracted from time total for segment for tying shoes, going to bathroom, interruptions caused by other persons.

Today, I practiced from 455 PM to 655 PM at the Waltham Y (2.0 hours including breaks); and from 932 PM - 1004 PM at the Oak Sq Y (0.5 hours), total 2.5 hours . The drills all involved air-dribbling, with the ball kept in the air but close to the body while I ran around. The new Nike T90 Catalyst ball was used; it was inflated to 10.6 PSI for the first three segments during the first two hours, and to 11.6 PSI for the last segment during the last half hour. I forgot to check the PSI & inflate the ball to 11.6 PSI before going to the Waltham Y.

The 926 Series drills done today are described in the 9/26 entry this page; on 9/26 these drills were done conventionally with the ball dribbled on the ground; but today the ball was kept off the ground & close to the body while I adhered to the prescribed ballwork & footwork patterns.

The 926-4.12 pattern done today ran as follows: ball kicked on every other pace with left foot; kicks send ball straight ahead except that on every third kick, a 90 degree inwards turn is made on the kick. The 926-4.11 is the same except that on every third kick, a 90 degree inwards turn is made on the kick.

The first segment, from 455 PM - 528 PM, I did the 920-6-4.12 pattern, with the four cones marking out the perimeter of the square to be followed while air-dribbling the ball, 11 paces from each other ; average distance between touches on ball was approx 6.6'; the goals of the segment were LENGTH between touches & total score. The perimeter was generally closely followed during the runs; runs that did not adhere to the perimeter were not counted as successes. On average, the 13 runs that went on for at least 8 touches with prescribed ballwork/footwork pattern adhered to, went on for 11 touches, and for a length of 66 feet. The longest run of the segment, went on for 86 feet with the ball kept off the ground but close to the body, the 926-4.12 pattern adhered to, & the perimeter of the square adhered to.

The second segment, from 536 PM - 612 PM, I did the 920-6-4.12 pattern, with the four cones marking out the perimeter of the square to be followed while air-dribbling the ball, 11 paces from each other; average distance between touches on ball was usually approx 6.6'. The goals of the segment were SPEED & total score. The perimeter was generally closely followed during the runs. . On average, the 14 runs that went on for at least 8 touches with prescribed ballwork/footwork pattern adhered to, went on for 10 touches, and for a length of 59 feet. The longest run of the segment, went on for 86 feet with the ball kept off the ground but close to the body, the 926-4.12 pattern adhered to, & the perimeter of the square adhered to.

The third segment, from 623 PM - 655 PM, I did the 920-6-4.11 pattern, with the four cones marking out the perimeter of the square to be followed while air-dribbling the ball, 11 paces from each other ; average distance between touches on ball was approx 6.6'; the goals of the segment were LENGTH between touches & total score. The perimeter was generally closely followed during the runs; runs that did not adhere to the perimeter were not counted as successes. On average, the 15 runs that went on for at least 8 touches with prescribed ballwork/footwork pattern adhered to, went on for 11 touches, and for a length of 66 feet. The longest run of the segment, went on for 92 feet with the ball kept off the ground but close to the body, the 926-4.11 pattern adhered to, & the perimeter of the square adhered to.

The fourth segment, was done at the Oak Sq Y whereas the first three were done at the Waltham Y. From 932 PM - 1004 PM, I did the 920-6-4.11 pattern, with the four cones marking out the perimeter of the square to be followed while air-dribbling the ball, 11 paces from each other; average distance between touches on ball was usually approx 6.6'. The goals of the segment were SPEED & total score. The perimeter was generally closely followed during the runs. . On average, the 16 runs that went on for at least 8 touches with prescribed ballwork/footwork pattern adhered to, went on for 10 touches, and for a length of 59 feet. The longest run of the segment, went on for 79 feet with the ball kept off the ground but close to the body, the 926-4.11 pattern adhered to, & the perimeter of the square adhered to.

During the first three segments at the Waltham Y, Patrick Ferdinand the Gym Director slash Jack-of-all-Trades (nobody ever is enthusiastic about giving ME on-the-job-training), shared my half of the gym with me. He was coaching a white brown-haired boy. The soccer ball bounced at him off a wall, and with one touch, he started juggling it and juggled it for about 12 touches.

I complimented him for having juggled so well without warming up. He was pleased that I noted that he did it without a warmup.

But Patrick rarely compliments me with I do my soccer tricks in front of him. Once he said I was 'good'; another time he said once I mastered the trick I was doing I would 'have them'.

The mother of the boy Patrick was coaching and his sister were sitting at the table I was using for scoring. Often they would watch me intently as I began a run. But I did not choke or mess up in front of them. I asked the woman if she was Italian because I thought she looked Italian. She said she was Greek. She asked me if I spoke Greek.

CORRECTION NOTE: the above 4 paragraphs were messed up from October 13-15, because I accidentally deleted some text, and did not notice such had occurred; the text that was not deleted ran together into a paragraph that was almost nonsensical and that stated that 'During the first three segments at the Waltham Y, Patrick Ferdinand the Gym Director slash Jack-of-all-Trades (nobody ever is enthusiastic about giving ME on-the-job-training), shared my half of the gym with me. He was coaching the idea being that such is a high-quality alternative to succumbing to pangs of hunger buying steak-tips & slices of pizza at the delis near the Oak Sq Y'.

I bought some organic trail mix at 'Whole Foods', the idea being that such is a high-quality alternative to succumbing to pangs of hunger buying steak-tips & slices of pizza at the delis near the Oak Sq Y.

After the practice ended, I ate some of the 'Thai' food from the hot-bar at the Newtonville Whole Foods, combined with rice I made at home. I find it important and notable, that just $4 of food from the Newtonville 'Whole Foods' store hot-food bar, mixed with inexpensive home-made rice, produced a healthy tasty dinner that filled me up . The Newtonville Whole Foods is doing an excellent job this week with the 'Thai' food at their 'Hot Food Bar'. It gets harder and harder to spot healthy good deals in prepared food all the time; and at the same time, it gets harder and harder to spare time and energy for cooking food all the time.

The scores for all of the 920, 926, & 105 Series drills done since 9/26, including those done today, can be found at the 920 926 & 105 Series Drills Scores Summary Table, on the 'Dropbox' server.

     
  Thursday 10/13

Waltham Y

Air Dribble Assaults on hypothetical defender

New 1013-1 Drills done for first time, involving air-dribble assault on pair of cones symbolizing hypothetical defender; Nike T90 Radiant ball inflated to 4.5 PSI used

 vspace=2

Oct 13, Waltham Y
Where ball met with vertical plane intersecting with hypothetical defender, during aerial assault

I air-dribbled the ball towards two cones marking the left & right feet of a hypothetical defender. When approx 5 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The red circles represent points at which the ball met with the vertical plane that intersects with the defender and runs parallel to the goal line, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced.

The blue circles represent points at which the ball met with the vertical plane that intersects with the defender and runs parallel to the goal line, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, after the ball bounced once.

 as135rl0r1lrl2

Oct 13, Waltham Y
Overhead View of Where ball was touched after being reached after being chipped past hypothetical defender

I air-dribbled the ball towards two cones marking the left & right feet of a hypothetical defender. When approx 5 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The red circles represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced.

The blue circles represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, after the ball bounced once.

The practice started at 439 PM & ended at 530 PM (0.7 hours). Although according to the schedule, half the gym was supposed to be open from 530 PM to 630 PM, Mr. Nelson Class kicked me out of the gym so that the little kids in his 'Family Prime Time' program could use the whole gym.

The two images in the graphic to the left, show two views of what happened to the ball, after I chipped the ball in the general direction of two cones marking a hypothetical defender, and then, running past the hypothetical defender, attempted to reach the ball before it bounced.

The new drill done today, I named 1013-1. 1013-1 runs as follows: I placed two cones about a foot away from each other on the floor. Starting 18 feet away from the two cones marking the defender, I dribbled as follows, with the ball kept off the air the entire time: kick with left, step with right, kick with left, step with right, kick with left, step with right, chip ball past defender with left, run to catch up with ball behind defender before ball bounces.

There was no warmup of any kind. I took careful notes regarding every attempt.

The first segment & only segment, I did not choose whether I was intending to move ball or body past defender's left or right. Out of 12 attempts, I succeeded 3 times (25% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball before it had bounced; I succeeded 3 times (25% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball after it bounced once. On 4 of the attempts (33%), I kicked the ball away and lost control. On 0 of the attempts (0%), I grounded the ball during the approach towards the defender. On 1 of the attempts (8%), I chipped the ball straight into the hypothetical defender's body. On 1 of the attempts (8%), I ran straight through the defender's body so the run could not be counted as a success.

I felt I could feel the excitement in the air amongst the people in the gym, with regards to this drill. Seemed they were thinking (using a less advanced vocabulary then used here), "finally, he is'nt pussy-footing around with ivory-tower theoretical abstract patterns; finally he is running real-live practical patterns intended to beat a real-live defender, that can be used to trounce the uppity players at the Oak Sq Y".

Before the practice, I had decided that it was past time to start drills running practical killer-patterns against a hypothetical defender marked by cones. I felt that the evidence was indicating that: mastering one air-dribble pattern often does not necessarily lead to quick mastery of another air-dribble pattern, even when the two patterns are very similar, and therefore, I need to put time into the patterns that are the most similar to what will actually be used during a game. I felt that I needed to master the pattern that would be the easiest to actually execute during a game.

     
  Thursday 10/13

Oak Square YMCA

Air Dribble Assaults on hypothetical defender

New 1013-1 Drills done for first time, involving air-dribble assault on pair of cones symbolizing hypothetical defender; Nike T90 Radiant ball inflated to 4.5 PSI used

 vspace=2

Oct 13, Oak Square Y
Where ball met with vertical plane intersecting with hypothetical defender, during aerial assault

I air-dribbled the ball towards two cones marking the left & right feet of a hypothetical defender. When approx 5 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The red circles represent points at which the ball met with the vertical plane that intersects with the defender and runs parallel to the goal line, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced.

The blue circles represent points at which the ball met with the vertical plane that intersects with the defender and runs parallel to the goal line, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, after the ball bounced once.

The horizontal black line represents the low 9.3 foot high ceiling in the Group Exercise Studio at the Oak Square Y.

 as135rl0r1lrl2

Oct 13, Oak Square Y
Overhead View of Where ball was touched after being reached after being chipped past hypothetical defender

I air-dribbled the ball towards two cones marking the left & right feet of a hypothetical defender. When approx 5 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The red circles represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced.

The blue circles represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, after the ball bounced once.

The practice, in the Group Exercise Studio, started at 742 PM & ended at 1020 PM (3.6 hours). Overall during all the practices today I drank only 14 oz of cold distilled water (the Group Exercise Studio is air-conditioned & chilly).

The ceiling in the Group Exercise Studio is according to my measurement, only 9.3 feet high. This strongly inhibited the practice today; but I was surprised at how good a job I did of chipping the ball to a 7 to 8 foot apex and avoiding hitting the ceiling.

The two images in the graphic to the left, show two views of what happened to the ball (during evening practice at Oak Sq Y), after I chipped the ball in the general direction of two cones marking a hypothetical defender, and then, running past the hypothetical defender, attempted to reach the ball before it bounced.

The new drill done today, I named 1013-1. 1013-1 runs as follows: I placed two cones about a foot away from each other on the floor. Starting 18 feet away from the two cones marking the defender, I dribbled as follows, with the ball kept off the air the entire time: kick with left, step with right, kick with left, step with right, kick with left, step with right, chip ball past defender with left, run to catch up with ball behind defender before ball bounces.

There was no warmup of any kind. I took careful notes regarding every attempt.

The first segment (742-812 PM), I attempted to move both the ball and my body past the defender's left. Out of 11 attempts, I succeeded 3 times (33% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball before it had bounced; I succeeded 3 times (33% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball after it bounced once. On 3 of the attempts (27%), I kicked the ball away and lost control. On 1 of the attempts (9%), I grounded the ball during the approach towards the defender. On 1 of the attempts (9%), after chipping the ball, I reached the ball behind the defender after it had bounced more than once.

The second segment (813-843 PM), I attempted to move both the ball and my body past the defender's left. Out of 9 attempts, I succeeded 5 times (56% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball before it had bounced; I succeeded 3 times (33% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball after it bounced once. On 0 of the attempts (0%), I kicked the ball away and lost control. On 1 of the attempts (9%), I grounded the ball during the approach towards the defender. On 0 of the attempts (0%), after chipping the ball, I reached the ball behind the defender after it had bounced more than once.

After this segment I took a break and returned to find an Asian-Indian young adult female, in the room doing yoga with her eyes closed while listening to music; she was sitting right next to the point I was aiming to unite with the ball after chipping it over the two cones marking the defender. I kept quite for a long time; then I re-arranged the cones so that I would be travelling away from her with the ball. She did not complain and after a while she left.

The third segment (910-940 PM), I attempted to move both the ball and my body past the defender's right. Out of 10 attempts, I succeeded 4 times (40% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball before it had bounced; I succeeded 3 times (30% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball after it bounced once. On 1 of the attempts (10%), I kicked the ball away and lost control. On 1 of the attempts (10%), I grounded the ball during the approach towards the defender. On 0 of the attempts (0%), after chipping the ball, I reached the ball behind the defender after it had bounced more than once. On 1 of the attempts (10%), after chipping the ball, I ran through the defender while trying to reach the ball after the chip, and so the run was not scored as a success.

The fourth segment (950-1020 PM), I attempted to move both the ball and my body past the defender's left. Out of 10 attempts, I succeeded 7 times (70% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball before it had bounced; I succeeded 2 times (20% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball after it bounced once. On 0 of the attempts (0%), I kicked the ball away and lost control. On 0 of the attempts (0%), I grounded the ball during the approach towards the defender. On 0 of the attempts (0%), after chipping the ball, I reached the ball behind the defender after it had bounced more than once. On 0 of the attempts (0%), after chipping the ball, I ran through the defender while trying to reach the ball after the chip, and so the run was not scored as a success. On 1 of the attempts (10%), I chipped the ball away from the direction of the defender, but kept the ball under control.

The October 13 entries, today's entries, are especially detailed because I wanted to establish what the performance was like the first day doing aerial assaults on two cones marking a hypothetical defender.

     
  Friday 10/14

Oak Square YMCA

Air Dribble Assaults on hypothetical defender

New 1013-1 Drills done for second day, involving air-dribble assault on pair of cones symbolizing hypothetical defender; Nike T90 Catalyst ball inflated to 11.6 PSI used

 vspace=2

Oct 14, Oak Square Y
Segment 1 (30 minutes)
My intent: no slant intent
Where ball met with vertical plane intersecting with hypothetical defender, during aerial assault

I air-dribbled the ball towards two cones marking the left & right feet of a hypothetical defender. When approx 5 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The red circles represent points at which the ball met with the vertical plane that intersects with the defender and runs parallel to the goal line, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced.

The blue circles represent points at which the ball met with the vertical plane that intersects with the defender and runs parallel to the goal line, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, after the ball bounced once.

The horizontal black line represents the low 9.3 foot high ceiling in the Group Exercise Studio at the Oak Square Y.

 as135rl0r1lrl2

Oct 14, Oak Square Y
Segment 1 (30 minutes)
My intent: no slant intent
Overhead View of Where ball was touched after being reached after being chipped past hypothetical defender

I air-dribbled the ball towards two cones marking the left & right feet of a hypothetical defender. When approx 5 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The red circles represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced.

The blue circles represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, after the ball bounced once.

 vspace=2

Oct 14, Oak Square Y
Segment 2 (74 minutes)
My intent: slant to my right
Where ball met with vertical plane intersecting with hypothetical defender, during aerial assault

I air-dribbled the ball towards two cones marking the left & right feet of a hypothetical defender. When approx 5 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The red circles represent points at which the ball met with the vertical plane that intersects with the defender and runs parallel to the goal line, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced.

The blue circles represent points at which the ball met with the vertical plane that intersects with the defender and runs parallel to the goal line, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, after the ball bounced once.

The horizontal black line represents the low 9.3 foot high ceiling in the Group Exercise Studio at the Oak Square Y.

 as135rl0r1lrl2

Oct 14, Oak Square Y
Segment 2 (74 minutes)
My intent: slant to my right
Overhead View of Where ball was touched after being reached after being chipped past hypothetical defender

I air-dribbled the ball towards two cones marking the left & right feet of a hypothetical defender. When approx 5 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The red circles represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced.

The blue circles represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, after the ball bounced once.

Times reported are my time, 5 minutes faster than EST

The practice, in the Oak Sq Y Gym, started at 753 PM & ended at 950 PM (2.0 hours). Overall during all the practices today I drank only 15 oz of distilled water ( it was a cool day). Before the practice, all I consumed was a cup of coffee/coconut-palm-sugar/half-n'-half.

The four images in the graphic to the left, show two views of what happened to the ball (during the first and second segments), after I chipped the ball in the general direction of two cones marking a hypothetical defender, and then, running past the hypothetical defender, attempted to reach the ball before it bounced.

The new drill done today, I named 1013-1. 1013-1 runs as follows: I placed two cones about a foot away from each other on the floor. Starting 18 feet away from the two cones marking the defender, I dribbled as follows, with the ball kept off the air the entire time: kick with left, step with right, kick with left, step with right, kick with left, step with right, chip ball past defender with left, run to catch up with ball behind defender before ball bounces.

There was no warmup of any kind. I took careful notes regarding every attempt.

The first segment (753-823 PM), I had no intent to slant to the defender's left or right, my only intent was to get past the defender, preferably with the ball lofted over his head. Out of 13 attempts, I succeeded 9 times (69% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball before it had bounced; I succeeded 3 times (23% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball after it bounced once. On 1 of the attempts (8%), I kicked the ball away and lost control. On 0 of the attempts (0%), I grounded the ball during the approach towards the defender. On 0 of the attempts (0%), after chipping the ball, I reached the ball behind the defender after it had bounced more than once.

The second segment (835-950 PM), I attempted to move both the ball and my body past the defender's left, on a slant to my right. Out of 25 attempts, I succeeded 17 times (68% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball before it had bounced; I succeeded 3 times (12% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball after it bounced once. On 2 of the attempts (8%), I kicked the ball away and lost control. On 3 of the attempts (12%), I grounded the ball during the approach towards the defender. On 0 of the attempts (0%), after chipping the ball, I reached the ball behind the defender after it had bounced more than once.

The entire evening, I felt depressed--IMHO because I ran out of coffee and had to drink tea before the practice, and because I was so tired that I slept late and missed the open gym time in the daylight hours, and because the weather had suddenly turned so cool, a warning of snow and ice to come; and because it was Friday night, a night for fun with friends, and I was just doing solitary work with the soccer ball in some gym.

During the first 13 attempts of the second segment, I was intending to slant to my right past the defender's left, and only once (8% of attempts), did I accidentally slant to my left, to the defender's right. During the last 12 attempts of the second segment, I was intending to slant to my right past the defender's left, yet 9 times (75% of attempts), I accidentally slanted to my left instead.

Hence I experienced loss of directional control at around 9:12 PM, 79 minutes after the start of the practice. Never before have I suddenly experienced such a loss of control.

Looking at the results of yesterday and today, it has become evident to me, that the attack pattern that I have been practicing, is a pattern that often produces acceptable results even when on the chip over and past the defender the ball ends up in some spot quite distant from where I intended to put the ball. Even when on the chip the ball goes to some spot I did not intend it to go to, I have usually been able to snare the ball after the chip, and before it bounces, with some part of my body. Today I experienced loss of control of the ball on only 8% of the 38 attempts--when I I got into a situation where I was not able to make the chip (malfunction on preliminary air-dribble kicks), I was still able to retain control of the ball.

The above paragraph, illustrates the unpredictability of the chip over and past the defender; said unpredictability is an advantage. With the ball on the ground, it is extremely unusual for the ball to go in an unintended direction (i.e., slant left instead of right), due to the physical positioning of the body during the kick; also, at the same time, the direction in which the ball is going to be kicked becomes evident to the defense.

On the other hand, with the ball in the air, even when for example the movements of my body are such that it is obvious that I intend to slant the ball to my right, the ball ends up being slanted to me left instead anway, which comes as a surprise to me, and must also come as even more of a surprise to the defense.

Also, pondering the results, it has become evident to me, that even when the chipped ball stays below six feet high and no more than a foot away from the defender horizontally speaking, the defender is put in a difficult situation. Examples:

If the ball is above three feet high and near the defender's torso, the result: my foot and thigh against his torso; me with the initiative; me moving while he is still; me knowing earlier than him where the ball is going; me having more practice dealing with such balls than him; possibly an intimidating and painful collision for him (with me not having any intention whatsoever of causing such, just playing the ball).

Note to compare graphic in different entries, simply duplicate the open tab, and scroll.

     
  Saturday 10/15

Waltham YMCA

Air Dribble Assaults on hypothetical defender

New 1013-1 Drills done for third day, involving air-dribble assault on pair of cones symbolizing hypothetical defender; Nike T90 Catalyst ball inflated to 11.6 PSI used


Oct 15, Waltham Y
Segment 1 (75 minutes)
My intent: slant to my left
Where ball met with vertical plane intersecting with hypothetical defender, during aerial assault

I air-dribbled the ball towards two cones marking the left & right feet of a hypothetical defender. When approx 5 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The red circles represent points at which the ball met with the vertical plane that intersects with the defender and runs parallel to the goal line, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced.

The blue circles represent points at which the ball met with the vertical plane that intersects with the defender and runs parallel to the goal line, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, after the ball bounced once.

The horizontal black line represents the low 9.3 foot high ceiling in the Group Exercise Studio at the Oak Square Y.


Oct 15, Waltham Y
Segment 1 (75 minutes)
My intent: slant to my left
Overhead View of Where ball was touched after being reached after being chipped past hypothetical defender

I air-dribbled the ball towards two cones marking the left & right feet of a hypothetical defender. When approx 5 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The red circles represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced.

The blue circles represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, after the ball bounced once.

The orange dots leading from me (red uniform) to the defender (white uniform) show the points at which I kicked the ball as I advanced towards the defender; the fourth orange dot, the one closest to the defender, shows the point at which I chipped the ball trying to get it over and past the defender.

Today, out of 21 attempts, 95% resulted in success: the ball being chipped to at least as far as the line intersecting with the defender that runs parallel to the goal-line, with me catching up to and touching the ball before it reached the ground. On the one 'failure', the ball was grounded without loss of control.

Times reported are my time, 5 minutes faster than EST.

The practice, in the Waltham Y Gym, started at 631 PM & ended at 755 PM (1.4 hours). Overall during all the practices today I drank only 22 oz of cool distilled water ( it was a cool day again). Before the practice, all I consumed was a 6 oz cup of organic-tobacco/coffee/coconut-palm-sugar/half-n'-half. Today for a change I did not forget to put the organic tobacco in the coffee--the performance turned out very good.

The two images in the graphic to the left, show two views of what happened to the ball today, after I chipped the ball in the general direction of two cones marking a hypothetical defender, and then, running past the hypothetical defender, attempted to reach the ball before it bounced.

The drill done today, I named 1013-1; it was first introduced on 10/13, October 13. 1013-1 runs as follows: I placed two cones about a foot away from each other on the floor. Starting 18-20 feet away from the two cones marking the defender, I dribbled as follows, with the ball kept off the air the entire time: kick with left, step with right, kick with left, step with right, kick with left, step with right, chip ball past defender with left, run to catch up with ball behind defender before ball bounces.

Today the distance between the point at where I made the chip of the ball over and at the defender, and the defender, was about 5.5', previous two days it was about 5'. My intent was to kick the ball to the defender's right, and also run to the defenders right.

There was no warmup of any kind. I took careful notes regarding every attempt.

There was today only one segment, which ran from 631- PM to 755 PM, with about 9 minutes in breaks.

Today I noted that the chipped ball (4th touch of run, kicked over & at defender), never reached an altitude of more than 15', never was caught more than 15' behind the (hypothetical, stationary, symbolized-by-cones) defender, and never was caught after the chip more than 11 feet to the side of the defender.

Despite the ball staying within the confines described in the above paragraph, the ball was swerving. The swerve was not an optical illusion created due to the fact that I ran quickly sideways while observing the ball; even when I ran in the same direction that the ball swerved, the swerve was apparent; the ball was swerving 1 to 3 feet left (closer to my left hand as I face the opponent goal), or right (closer to my right hand as I face the opponent goal). When the spin on the ball was counter-clockwise, with the ball spinning from right to left, the ball would swerve left. When the spin on the ball was clockwise, with the ball spinning from left to right, the ball would swerve right.

I noted that this creates a real possibility, that I will soon develop the ability to swerve the ball around the defender, chipping the ball to the defender's right for example, with the ball swerving so it ends up on the defender's left, and then catching up to the ball before it bounces! The ball being kicked while it is in the air, dramatically increases the amount of swerve.

Sometimes today, I would be to the (hypothetical) defender's right when I kicked the ball, yet I would end up catching the ball to the defender's left, and vice-versa to a lesser degree. Sometimes today, I would kick the ball to the defender's right, but move my body to the defender's left, and then catch the ball (with my feet of course) behind the defender.

Out of 21 attempts, I succeeded 20 times (95% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball before it had bounced; I succeeded 0 times (0% of attempts) with the preliminary air-dribble, the chip past the defender, & then catching up with the ball after it bounced once. On 0 of the attempts (0%), I kicked the ball away and lost control. On 1 of the attempts (5%), I grounded the ball during the approach towards the defender. On 0 of the attempts (0%), after chipping the ball, I reached the ball behind the defender after it had bounced more than once.

Note to compare graphic in different entries, simply duplicate the open tab, and scroll.

CORRECTION NOTE: today I corrected a mistake in the October 12 entry that resulted in an almost nonsensical paragraph about Patrick Ferdinand. A block of text had been accidentally deleted, the text before and after the deleted text ran together, the result was the errant paragraph. The errant paragraph ran as follows: "During the first three segments at the Waltham Y, Patrick Ferdinand the Gym Director slash Jack-of-all-Trades (nobody ever is enthusiastic about giving ME on-the-job-training), shared my half of the gym with me. He was coaching the idea being that such is a high-quality alternative to succumbing to pangs of hunger buying steak-tips & slices of pizza at the delis near the Oak Sq Y".

     
  Sunday 10/16

Waltham YMCA

Air Dribble Assaults on hypothetical defender

Same Drill as Yesterday but Lengthened Out & Speeded Up with Less Detailed Notes Taken; 10 perfect longer than 33 foot 1013-1 type flights achieved; Nike T90 'Radiant' ball used

Times reported are my time, 5 minutes faster than EST.

The practice, in the Waltham Y Gym, started at 639 PM & ended at 750 PM (1.2 hours). Overall during all the practices today I drank only 22 oz of cool distilled water. Before the practice, all I consumed was a 8 oz of coffee/coconut-palm-sugar/half-n'-half. Forgot if I put organic tobacco in the coffee.

Today the distance between the point at where I made the chip of the ball over and at the defender, and the defender, was about 7', previous two days it was about 5'. My intent today was to slant right on the 4th touch, kick the ball to the defender's left, and also run to the defenders left.

There was no warmup of any kind. I took careful notes regarding every attempt.

I did the same drill as done yesterday (described in text and graphic in previous entry) but with: distance between cones marking touches increased; during performance with emphasis on lengthening distance between touches & speed; slant right on 4th touch instead of slant left.

The drill involves me, with ball kept off ground but under control: kicking the ball straight ahead with the left foot (touch L1); stepping with my right; kicking the ball straight ahead with my left foot (touch L2); stepping with my right; kicking the ball straight ahead with my left foot (touch L3); stepping with my right; kicking the ball ahead far and high, on a slant to my right/left, with my left foot (touch L4); stepping with my right foot; stepping with my left foot; stepping with my right foot; touching the ball with some part of my body (touch L5) other than of course the hands.

Alteration to drill set-up today : I placed the four cones marking the touches on the ball up to the 4th touch launch of the ball over the hypothetical defender's head, 6.6 feet from each other, instead of 4.4 feet from each other. Hence the preliminary run-up to the chip over the hypothetical defender's head on the 4th touch, was lengthened out to a 20 foot run instead of a 13 foot run.

I knew this lengthening was the thing to do to accelerate improvement . Yet still, the four touches covering only 20 feet, felt cramped . I want to further expand the length of the runway used for the flying-takeoff prior to flying over the defender's head, so to speak.

I took notes, but the notes were not as detailed as the notes taken yesterday. There was as usual no warmup with or without the ball prior to the start of the first segment.

Terms used in this entry :

Perfect run : footwork and ballwork adhering to the intended pattern; the intended slant to the right on the 4th touch; the ball lofted over the hypothetical defender's head on the 4th touch; the ball caught and controlled (not using hands) on the 5th touch at a sprint; two to four steps between the 4th and the 5th touch.

On pattern success: same as a perfect run except that if the running speed between the 4th touch & the 5th touch is not a sprint, the the run is an on-pattern success, but not perfect.

On pattern success except slanted up the middle: like an on-pattern success, the defect being that the 4th touch sent the ball straight ahead & not on a slant-right as intended.

On pattern success except slanted to the left: like an on-pattern success, the defect being that the 4th touch sent the ball on a slant left & not on a slant-right as intended.

Succeeded except ball bounced between 4th & 5th touches: the prescribed pattern was adhered to except that the ball bounced between the 4th & 5th touch; included in this category are runs involving balls that slant left,right or up the middle on the 4th touch of the run.

First segment: the emphasis was on lengthening distance between touches; there were 15 attempts; there was perfect success on 33% of the attempts; I succeeded according to pattern by slanting to my right on 53% of the attempts; I succeeded on-pattern except that the slant after the 4th touch was up the middle on 0% of the attempts; I succeeded except the slant after the 4th touch was to my left on 7% of the attempts; I succeeded except that the ball bounced between the 4th touch & the 5th touch on 13% of the attempts; I failed by accidentally kicking the ball away on 27% of the attempts; the max distance traveled along the line running through myself at the start and the hypothetical stationary defender was 45 feet (20 feet from 1st to 4th touch, 7 feet from 4th touch to hypothetical defender, & 18 feet from the hypothetical defender to the 5th touch).

The highlight of the first segment-- attempt #14: on the 4th touch I lofted the ball up, to a point that was 25 feet in front of the point of the 4th touch on the straight-ahead axis and 12 feet to the right on the sideways axis, and then caught the ball on the sprint on the 5th touch without the ball touching the ground.

Second segment: the emphasis was on increasing speed ; there were 17 attempts; there was perfect success on 29% of the attempts; I succeeded according to pattern by slanting to my right on 41% of the attempts; I succeeded on-pattern except that the slant after the 4th touch was up the middle on 6% of the attempts; I succeeded except the slant after the 4th touch was to my left on 24% of the attempts; I succeeded except that the ball bounced between the 4th touch & the 5th touch on 18% of the attempts; I failed by accidentally kicking the ball away on 12% of the attempts; the max distance traveled along the line running through myself at the start and the hypothetical stationary defender was 47 feet (20 feet from 1st to 4th touch, 7 feet from 4th touch to hypothetical defender, & 20 feet from the hypothetical defender to the 5th touch).

The highlights of the 2nd segment-- attempt #3: on the 4th touch I lofted the ball up, to a point that was 24 feet in front of the point of the 4th touch on the straight-ahead axis and 0 feet to the right on the sideways axis, and then caught the ball on the sprint on the 5th touch without the ball touching the ground; attempt #13: on the 4th touch I lofted the ball up, to a point that was 25 feet in front of the point of the 4th touch on the straight-ahead axis and 0 feet to the right on the sideways axis, and then caught the ball on the sprint on the 5th touch without the ball touching the ground. These two runs were like twins.

Overall I estimate that the typical run that was at least a success today: covered a distance of 37 feet from 1st touch to 5th touch with ball kept off ground entire time, along the line running through me at the start of the run and the defender, with ball kept off ground entire time, and usually sprint speed after first 20 feet.

The results bring to mind: There are superstars whose percentage success rate doing something is nowhere near 100%. Critics and sceptics should question themselves-- is the ground-hog, who dribbles the ball on the ground when attempting to get past or 'beat' a defender, really superior to the aerial 'showoff ' slash 'hot-dog', in terms of success percentage? Is the shoot-right-away man really better? Does the teamwork oriented guy who meekly passes the ball away, really set up plays that achieve a superior percentage rate of success?

It's an annoying double standard--innovations being subjected to higher standards compared to traditional practices. A success rate that would be considered wonderful for a ground-hog, is for some reason is in the eyes of xenophobes, deplorably pathetic when achieved by the innovative aerialist. There is little patience with failure when a radically new method is implemented.

     
  Monday 10/17

Outdoor basketball court
adjacent to
Oak Square YMCA

Air Dribble Assaults on hypothetical defender

1013-1 Drills, involving air-dribble assault on cone symbolizing hypothetical defender; Adidas Replique ball inflated to 11.6 PSI used outdoors at night


Oct 17, Oak Sq Outdoors basketball court
Segments 1, 2, & 3
My intent: slant to my left on segment 2, slant to my right on segments 1 & 3
Overhead View of Where ball was touched after being reached after being chipped past hypothetical defender

I air-dribbled the ball towards a cones marking the position of a hypothetical defender. When approx 6 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball over & past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The numbers in red represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, before it bounced. A 1 means the run was in the 1st segment, a 2 means the run was in the 2nd segment, & a 3 means the run was in the third segment.

The numbers in green represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, at the same time as it hit the ground. A 1 means the run was in the 1st segment, a 2 means the run was in the 2nd segment, & a 3 means the run was in the third segment.

The small numbers in red represent points at which the ball met with my body after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender, during runs in which the ball was reached after the chip, at the same time as it hit the ground; however in between the 4th touch and the 5th touch during these runs, the ball did not definitely avoid the defender's body area. A 1 means the run was in the 1st segment, a 2 means the run was in the 2nd segment, & a 3 means the run was in the third segment.

The orange dots leading from me (red uniform) to the defender (white uniform) show the points at which I kicked the ball as I advanced towards the defender; the fourth orange dot, the one closest to the defender, shows the point at which I chipped the ball trying to get it over and past the defender.

Times reported are my time, 5 minutes faster than EST.

The practice, outdoors in dim artificial light in the cool air on the basketball court adjacent to the Oak Square Y, started at 819 PM & ended at 1020 PM (2.0 hours). Overall during all the practices today I drank only 20 oz of cool distilled water. Before the practice, all I consumed was a 8 oz of coffee/coconut-palm-sugar/half-n'-half. Forgot if I put organic tobacco in the coffee.

Today the distance between the point at where I made the chip of the ball over and at the defender, and the defender, was about 6'. My intent today: during the 1st & 3rd segments-- slant right on the 4th touch, kick the ball to the defender's left, and also run to the defenders left; during the 2nd segment-- slant left on the 4th touch, kick the ball to the defender's right, and also run to the defenders right.

There was no warmup of any kind. I took careful notes regarding every attempt.

The drill involves me, with ball kept off ground but under control: kicking the ball straight ahead with the left foot (touch L1); stepping with my right; kicking the ball straight ahead with my left foot (touch L2); stepping with my right; kicking the ball straight ahead with my left foot (touch L3); stepping with my right; kicking the ball ahead far and high, on a slant to my right/left foot, with my left foot (touch L4); stepping with my right foot; stepping with my left foot; stepping with my right foot; touching the ball with some part of my body (touch L5) other than of course the hands.

Alteration to drill set-up today : I placed the four cones marking the touches on the ball up to the 4th touch launch of the ball over the hypothetical defender's head, 8.8 feet from each other, instead of 6.6 feet from each other, as was the case yesterday. Hence the preliminary run-up to the chip over the hypothetical defender's head on the 4th touch, was lengthened out to a 26 foot run instead of a 20 foot run.

There was as usual no warmup with or without the ball prior to the start of the first segment.

Terms used in this entry :

Perfect run : footwork and ballwork adhering to the intended pattern; the intended slant to the right on the 4th touch; the ball lofted over the hypothetical defender's head on the 4th touch; the ball caught and controlled (not using hands) on the 5th touch at a sprint; two to four steps between the 4th and the 5th touch.

On pattern success: same as a perfect run except that if the running speed between the 4th touch & the 5th touch is not a sprint, the the run is an on-pattern success, but not perfect.

On pattern success except slanted up the middle: like an on-pattern success, the defect being that the 4th touch sent the ball straight ahead & not on a slant-right as intended.

On pattern success except slanted to the left: like an on-pattern success, the defect being that the 4th touch sent the ball on a slant left & not on a slant-right as intended.

Succeeded except ball bounced between 4th & 5th touches: the prescribed pattern was adhered to except that the ball bounced between the 4th & 5th touch; included in this category are runs involving balls that slant left,right or up the middle on the 4th touch of the run.

Succeeded except ball bounced at same time I touched it for the 5th touch: the prescribed pattern was adhered to except that the ball bounced hit the ground at the same time as I got to it for the 5th touch; included in this category are runs involving balls that slant left,right or up the middle on the 4th touch of the run.

First segment, slant right on 4th touch: the emphasis was on lengthening distance between touches; there were 10 attempts; there was perfect success on 10% of the attempts; I succeeded according to pattern by slanting to my right on 20% of the attempts (does not count 'perfect' success); I succeeded on-pattern except that the slant after the 4th touch was up the middle on 10% of the attempts; I succeeded except the slant after the 4th touch was to my left on 10% of the attempts; I succeeded except that the ball bounced between the 4th touch & the 5th touch on 0% of the attempts; I succeeded except that the ball hit the ground at the same time I made the 5th touch on 10% of the attempts; I failed by accidentally kicking the ball away on 40% of the attempts; amongst the successful no-bouncers, the max distance traveled along the line running through myself at the start and the hypothetical stationary defender was 56 feet (26 feet from 1st to 4th touch, 6 feet from 4th touch to hypothetical defender, & 24 feet from the hypothetical defender to the 5th touch).

The highlights of the first segment:

Attempt #3: on the 4th touch I lofted the ball up, to a point that was 30 feet in front of the point of the 4th touch on the straight-ahead axis and 1 feet to the right (from my perspective) on the sideways axis, and then caught the ball on the sprint with my left foot on the 5th touch without the ball touching the ground; overall the run from the 1st touch to the 5th touch was 56 feet.

Attempt #4: on the 4th touch I lofted the ball up, to a point that was 9 feet behind and the defender & 3 feet to the defender's left, & then caught the ball with my left-foot; the ball passed the defender to the defender's right, & but I caught up to it to the defender's left, because the ball swerved 3 feet to my right ( from my perspective), during it's short course of flight between the 4th & the 5th touch. My body ran past the defender's left in between the 4th & 5th touches. This was exactly the kind of magical amazing run I predicted I would be able to some day accomplish in the October 15 entry.

Second segment, I attempted to slant left on the 4th touch: the emphasis was on increasing speed; there were 10 attempts; there was perfect success (including to slanting to my left on the 4th touch) on 50% of the attempts; I succeeded according to pattern by slanting to my left on 0% of the attempts (does not count 'perfect' runs); I succeeded on-pattern except that the slant after the 4th touch was up the middle on 10% of the attempts; I succeeded except the slant after the 4th touch was to my right (not to my left as intended) on 30% of the attempts; I succeeded except that the ball bounced between the 4th touch & the 5th touch on 0% of the attempts; I succeeded except that the ball hit the ground at the same time I made the 5th touch on 10% of the attempts; I failed by accidentally kicking the ball away on 10% of the attempts; the max distance traveled along the line running through myself at the start and the hypothetical stationary defender was 46 feet (26 feet from 1st to 4th touch, 6 feet from 4th touch to hypothetical defender, & 14 feet from the hypothetical defender to the 5th touch).

The highlight of the 2nd segment:

Attempt #4: on the 4th touch I lofted the ball up, to a point that was 20 feet in front of the point of the 4th touch on the straight-ahead axis and 2 feet to my left (from my perspective) on the sideways axis, and then caught the ball on the sprint with my left foot on the 5th touch without the ball touching the ground; overall the run from the 1st touch to the 5th touch was 46 feet.

Third segment, slant right on 4th touch, attempt for two steps between 4th & 5th touch (heretofore on this kind of drill I have been attempting to take 3 steps between the 4th & the 5th touch): the emphasis was on lengthening distance between touches; there were 10 attempts; there was perfect success on 20% of the attempts; I succeeded according to pattern by slanting to my right on 10% of the attempts (does not count 'perfect' success); I succeeded on-pattern except that the slant after the 4th touch was up the middle on 10% of the attempts; I succeeded except the slant after the 4th touch was to my left on 0% of the attempts; I succeeded except that the ball bounced between the 4th touch & the 5th touch on 0% of the attempts; I succeeded except that the ball hit the ground at the same time I made the 5th touch on 20% of the attempts; I failed by accidentally kicking the ball away on 40% of the attempts; amongst the successful no-bouncers, the max distance traveled along the line running through myself at the start and the hypothetical stationary defender was 56 feet (26 feet from 1st to 4th touch, 6 feet from 4th touch to hypothetical defender, & 24 feet from the hypothetical defender to the 5th touch).

The highlight of the 3rd segment:

Attempt #10: on the 4th touch I lofted the ball up, to a point that was 27 feet in front of the point of the 4th touch on the straight-ahead axis and 2 feet to my left (from my perspective) on the sideways axis, and then caught the ball on the sprint with my left foot on the 5th touch and trapped it with my left foot at the same time it hit the ground; the bapp reached an apex height between the 4th & 5th touch of 13' with lots of backspin; overall the run from the 1st touch to the 5th touch was 53 feet.

Overall I estimate that the typical run that was at least a success today: covered a distance of 43 feet from 1st touch to 5th touch with ball kept off ground the entire time, along the line running through me at the start of the run and the defender, with ball kept off ground entire time, and usually sprint speed after first 26 feet.

The longest run that was at least a success today: covered a distance of 56 feet from 1st touch to 5th touch with ball kept off ground the entire time, along the line running through me at the start of the run and the defender, with ball kept off ground entire time, with running speed at a sprint from the 4th to the 5th touches.

It was a weird feeling being out there at night, under the dim white light produced by these box-like lights mounted on a wall adjacent to the playground. The weather was cool. I was layered up in 5 layers of clothing: sleeveless t-shirt, sleeved t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, & windbreaker.

The hard concrete outdoor floor was less flat compared to the indoors wooden basketball courts. The wind was at my back. I was alone, there was nobody else on the court.

Yet again I encountered this odd phenomenon: most of the balls that I caught on a bounce, and reported in the past as having caught on a bounce whilst performing the 10-13 type drill, were balls that I reached with my foot at approximately the same time that the ball reached the ground; again today, all the balls 'caught on a bounce' were caught at the same time that they touched the ground. Similar to a tackle-football 'dropkick'.

Overall, out of 30 attempts, 63% of the time, there was some kind of success, either 'perfect' or 'imperfect'. Overall, typically, these successful runs involved: a brisk runup and a sprint from the 4th to the 5th touch: a runup of 26' covered with three touches on the ball; then a chip of about 17', and then the ball caught before bouncing or at the same time as it hit the ground, after being chipped over the hypothetical defender's head.

Overall, almost all of the runs that I classed as either perfect, or an imperfect success, involved a brisk speed on the runup from touch 1 to touch 4, and a max speed sprint from touch 4 to touch 5.

I try to see distances covered during drills, from an angle that makes them appear short distances, before and during a practice.

But now after the practice, I can sit back & think: the ceilings at the Waltham Y & the Oak Sq Y look like they are a very long way up, and are about 25' high; Yet the typical attempt tonight resulted in a fast five-touch 43 foot long run, all with ball kept off ground and close to body, all with a long chip over the hypothetical defender's head on the 4th touch.

And this was all done under disadvantages: the Replique had not been used for a long time and never at 11.6 PSI; I was outdoors on a concrete uneven floor; the lighting was dim & unusual; I was bundled up in 5 layers of clothes; the weather was unusually cool; for the first time the intended length between touches was stretched out to 9 feet.

The ball kicked away failures all came in streaks. First segment 10 attempts: attempts 1, 7, 8, & 9 were ball kicked-away failures. Second segment 10 attempts: attempt 3 was ball kicked-away failure; 3rd segment 10 attempts: attempts 3, 7, 8, & 9 were ball kicked-away failures.

Seemed that the failures were in part due to mental distraction produced by thoughts about evil men who are world leaders in terms of evil, negative impact on the U.S & the world. I felt anger for such men. Then in my mind I treated the art of defeating the distraction produced by such thoughts as a sport, & overcame the distraction.

The emphasis on length between touches segments, involved much more failures compared to the emphasis on speed segment. This was because IMHO, the emphasis on length between touches, resulted in high waist-high apex balls from the 1st to the 4th touch, the problem being that such high apex balls are hard to handle when making the chip on the 4th touch.

Traversing 9 feet between touches from the 1st touch to the 4th touch while doing the 1013 type drills was completely new, but I had experience attempting to emphasize speed on the 1013 type drill. When I emphasize speed I pay less attention to the cones marking out the prescribed length between touches, compared to when I emphasize length.

I was more like an old pro out there outdoors than I've ever been, because during the indoors practices I learned that prior to the start of a run, I should mentally think about doing the first two touches well, and after that I should take the touches one at a time.

     
  Tuesday 10/18 @ Oak Sq Y

Soccer Game



Played in Semi-Official Soccer Games at Oak Sq Y

What happened During the Games (note--names given to teams and individuals are sometimes my invention) played from 630 PM to 730 PM:

Review: This was game #5 for me. I've now played on 10/18, 10/11, 10/4, 9/27, & 9/13. At the end of today's game the record still stands: I still have not played for even 1 second, in an offense position. All I've done is play defense & goalie. I've had a hard enough time asserting my right to play defense; if I get the privilege of escaping playing goalie, I feel lucky enough & don't press the issue re playing offense.

I felt as if my endurance was not as good as it was on 10/11. I suspect this is due in part at least, to how my practices have changed and the amount of practice.

There were in the end 34 males from teen to adult, in the gym for the 60 minutes of five on five soccer.

I started warming up with the ball about 625 PM, in the gym; got unusually low amount of warmup time due to traffic-jam in Watertown Square.

I took some shots/passes against the wall with my Nike T90 'Radiant' ball inflated to 4.5 PSI. Then I kicked the ball around in a circle of players, we did just ground passes to each other.

The teams took shape as a result of small cliques of males who knew each other and formed themselves into teams. Two of these little gangs of friends, assumed center stage on the court as if they had some divine right to do so, and played the first game.

The composition of the teams was similar to the previous week, however, there were many changes. The Islamic Emirs appear to have been disbanded, with the slim dark membersof the Emirs split up amongst various teams. This apparently is the result of the fight last week involving the Emirs and the Romeo Rockets.

Summary of the seven games played (using my Nike T90 Radiant ball inflated to 4.5 PSI):

All successful shots and assists during the games were of the short slow roller type:

1. Spanish Satins 2, Berber Boys 0: All the scoring shots and assist-passes were slow rollers of less than 6 yards in length. The first goal: a slow roller 4 yd cross into the middle, followed by a slow roller 5 yd shot on the first touch. Second goal: defender's pass to goalie intercepted, slow roller 5 yard shot.

2. Spanish Satins 1, Janizzaries 0: One of the now disbanded (due to fight?) Islamic Emirs, playing for the Janizzaries, kicked the ball into own goal with 6 secs left, result loss for Janizzaries. Again the source of the goal was a short slow roller, a pass by a Romeo Rocket, which the former Emir kicked into his own goal; and the ball as it entered the goal was a slow roller. The Janizzaries featured 2 former Emirs, and some whites. My ball, which they were using, got kicked into the raised curtain dividing the gym during the game. a young man named Christian from Denmark, threw a ball at it and on his first attempt, knocked the soccer ball loose from the curtain (Christian appears to be naturally athletic, but humbly declares that what appears to be natural athleticism is just a result of him having played soccer alot due to being from Denmark). The Janizzary goalie, the teen boy with the wavy yellow hair who was a Berber Boy last week, came ten yards out of the goal & kicked the ball away, with his feet, which I thought was tactically clever (this same teen seemed clever last week when playing forward for the Berber Boys). When blond-teen left the goal, a former Emir playing defense covered for him, showing a seriousness on defense (they are never serious on defense, when they think there is no chance to get to stay on the court for another game due to a victory).

3. Spanish Satins 0, UN Blue-helmets 0.

4. Romeo Rockets 0, Enanos 0.

5. Berber Boys 1, Janizzaries & ME 0: The Janizzaries were forced to take me on to their team. I was supposed to choose four of them to play with me. I let them make the decision. I played 4.2 minutes on defense and spent the last 0.8 minutes in goal. As goalie, I allowed 1 goal. On defense I cleared away balls, blocked shots, broke up dribbles, & intercepted passes. My best play of the game playing defense came when I intercepted a pass made by one of the best players, & sent an accurate ground pass to Cuteo, both acts accomplished on one touch (Cuteo was a Spanish Satin last week. Cuteo is from Spain, he's white, he has proclaimed himself to be 'cute'). At the start of the game I refused to play goalie, because I had not played for one minute all evening. Hence everyone stood around, nobody volunteered to play goalie. The ref Calder blew the whistle to start the game, & with all us Janizzaries standing in one group and nobody in goal, a Berber Boy took a low slow bouncing 20 yard shot & scored--but the goal was not counted. Finally, blond-teen, volunteered to play goalie. I played defense. After a couple of minutes, the Janizzaries demanded that Cuteo (who always avoids playing defense or goalie), play goalie. I continued on defense. Cuteo was like a caged wildcat as goalie, I felt that he hated it an wanted to escape out to playing forward again, as soon as possible; he asked me, in a Spanish accent, 'you waan to play goal?'. With 45 seconds left in the game I let him go up and went in to the goal to play goalie. With a few seconds left, I was peppered with 3 shots from less than 2 yards away, in less than 5 seconds. It was as if there was no defense, and I was surrounded by 3 Berber Boys. The first shot rebounded, the second shot, I made a diving save which ref Calder later complimented me for, & the third shot went in. I noted that as soon as I stopped playing defense, they began peppering the goalie (me) with shots. But for more than 4 minutes I played defense & re-established my tradition in such games, which is that the other team does not score when I play defense.

6. Berber Boys 0, UN Blue Helmets 0.

7. Romeo Rockets 0, Enanos 0.

Last week's results:

1 Romeo Rockets 1, Berber Boys 1.

2 Spanish satins islamic emirs ?-?

3 Romeo Rockets 1 UN Blue Helmets 0

4 Romeo Rockets 1, Berber Boys 0

6 Islamic Emirs 2, Romeo Rockets 0 FIGHT

7 Blue Helmets 1, Spanish Satins 0

8 Berber Boys 3, Blue Helmets 0.

     
  Tuesday 10/18

Outdoor basketball court
adjacent to
Oak Square YMCA

Air Dribble Assaults on hypothetical defender

1013-1 Drills, involving air-dribble assault on cone symbolizing hypothetical defender; Nike T90 Radiant ball inflated to 3.5 - 4.5 PSI used outdoors at night

Times reported are my time, 5 minutes faster than EST.

The practice, outdoors in dim artificial light in the cool air on the basketball court adjacent to the Oak Square Y, started at 831 PM & ended at 1025 PM (1.9 hours). Overall during the earlier game & the practice today I drank only 14 oz of distilled water. Before the game & practice, all I consumed was a 10 oz of coffee/coconut-palm-sugar/half-n'-half. I put organic tobacco in the coffee.

Today the distance between the point at where I made the chip of the ball over and at the defender, and the defender, was about 6'. My intent today: during the 1st segments-- slant left on the touch 4, kick the ball to the hypothetical defender's right, and also run to the defenders right; during the 2nd segment-- slant right on touch 3, kick the ball to the defender's left, and also run to the defenders left.

There was no warmup of any kind. I took careful notes regarding every attempt.

The drill done the first segment, involves me, with ball kept off ground but under control: kicking the ball straight ahead with the left foot (touch L1); stepping with my right; kicking the ball straight ahead with my left foot (touch L2); stepping with my right; kicking the ball straight ahead with my left foot (touch L3); stepping with my right; kicking the ball ahead far and high, on a slant to my right/left foot, with my left foot (touch L4); stepping with my right foot; stepping with my left foot; stepping with my right foot; touching the ball with some part of my body (touch L5) other than of course the hands (all with the ball kept off the ground but close to the body).

The drill done second segment was the same thing, except that overall there were only 4 touches; the chip over the hypothetical defender's head came on the 3rd touch; there were only two preliminary touches before the chip up and over.

Cones setup: I placed the cones marking the touches on the ball up to the touch4/touch3 launch of the ball over the hypothetical defender's head, 8.8 feet from each other Hence the preliminary run-up to the chip over the hypothetical defender's head on the 4th touch, was 26 feet during the first segment, and 18 feet during the second segment.

There was as usual no warmup with or without the ball prior to the start of the first segment.

Terms used in this entry :

Perfect run (5 touch runs): footwork and ballwork adhering to the intended pattern; the intended slant on the 4th touch; the ball lofted over the hypothetical defender's head on the 4th touch; the ball caught and controlled (not using hands) on the 5th touch at a sprint; two to four steps between the 4th and the 5th touch; ball kept off ground but under control throughout run.

Perfect run (4 touch runs): footwork and ballwork adhering to the intended pattern; the intended slant on touch 3; the ball lofted over the hypothetical defender's head on the 3rd touch; the ball caught and controlled (not using hands) on the 4th touch at a sprint; two to four steps between the 4th and the 5th touch; ball kept off ground but under control throughout run.

'Imperfect' runs Imperfect runs are marred in that they slant in an unintended direction, or the ball bounces between the chip touch in front of the defender and the final touch behind the defender.

Slant right: on the touch involving the chip up and over the defender, I slanted in a direction closer to the sideline that is closer to my right hand than it is to my left, when I face the opponent goal.

Slant left: on the touch involving the chip up and over the defender, I slanted in a direction closer to the sideline that is closer to my left hand than it is to my right, when I face the opponent goal.

Caught on bounce: there was a bounce between the touch chipping the ball over the defender's head, and the next touch.

Note: if no bounce is mentioned, the ball did not bounce between the chip over the hypothetical defender and the next touch.

First segment, slant left intention on 4th touch (831-931 PM): the emphasis was on speed; there were 10 attempts; there was perfect success on 50% of the attempts; I succeeded according to pattern by slanting to my left on 0% of the attempts (does not count 'perfect' success); I succeeded on-pattern except that the slant after the 4th touch was up the middle on 0% of the attempts; I succeeded except the slant after the 4th touch was to my right on 0% of the attempts; I succeeded on a slant left except that the ball bounced between the 4th touch & the 5th touch on 20% of the attempts; I succeeded on a slant right except that the ball bounced between the 4th touch & the 5th touch on 10% of the attempts; I succeeded except that the ball hit the ground at the same time I made the 5th touch on 0% of the attempts; I failed by accidentally kicking the ball away on 10% of the attempts.

Amongst the successful no-bouncers, the max distance traveled along the line running through myself at the start and the hypothetical stationary defender was 56 feet (26 feet from 1st to 4th touch, 6 feet from 4th touch to hypothetical defender, & 24 feet from the hypothetical defender to the 5th touch).

The highlight of the first segment:

Attempt #1: on the 4th touch I lofted the ball up, to a point that was 30 feet in front of the point of the 4th touch on the straight-ahead axis and 2 feet to my left on the sideways axis, and then caught the ball on the sprint with my left foot on the 5th touch without the ball touching the ground; overall the run from the 1st touch to the 5th touch was 56 feet in length.

A couple of apparently oblivious white teenage males were playing basketball at one of the baskets during the first segment.

Feeling as if somehow I am not quite succeeding in communicating the dramatic majesty of my soccer achievements, I present a chronological attempt-by-attempt description of the first segment:

1
Perfect Slant Left. Ball caught on sprint with left foot on 5th touch 24' behind the hypothetical defender, & 2' to the defender's right; high 15' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender.

2
Kicked away on 3rd touch.

3
Perfect Slant Left. Ball caught on sprint with left foot on 5th touch 10' behind the hypothetical defender, & 12' to the defender's right; high 12' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender.

After attempt 3, the ball was lost for five minutes. The boys playing b-ball on the other side of the playground said it had not gone their way. I found it hiding on a pile of leaves in a dark corner, opposite the direction I had kicked it.

4
Perfect Slant Left. Ball caught with right foot on sprint on 5th touch 13' behind the hypothetical defender, & 4' to the defender's right; 10' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender.

5
Perfect Slant left: Ball caught on sprint with left foot on 5th touch 18' behind the hypothetical defender, & 15' to the defender's right; 14' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender; 4th - 5th touch: RLRLRLRL.

6
Slant left caught on bounce: Ball Caught with head on one bounce on sprint on 5th touch 24' behind the hypothetical defender, & 15' to the defender's right; 12' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender. 4th to 5th touch: RLRL.

7
Perfect Slant left: Ball caught with right foot on sprint on 5th touch 13' behind the hypothetical defender, & 11' to the defender's right; 13' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender; 4th - 5th: RLRL.

8
Kicked away on touch 4. Kicked ball over fence. Moved cones over to other dimmer side of playground after retrieving ball.

9
Accidental Slant right, caught on bounce: Ball Caught with right thigh on one bounce on sprint on 5th touch 22' behind the hypothetical defender, & 2' to the defender's left; . 4th to 5th touch: RLRL. Ball started to defender's right, & swerved to defender's left; body ran to defender's right.

10
Slant left caught on bounce: Ball Caught with left foot on one bounce on sprint on 5th touch 12' behind the hypothetical defender, & 13' to the defender's right; ball arc cleared defender; 4th to 5th touch: RLR.

Second segment (935-1020 PM), I attempted to slant right on the 3rd touch: the emphasis was on increasing length between touches; I tried to step with the right foot and then the left foot between the 3rd chip touch and the final 4th touch; whereas during the 1st segment the runup prior to the chip-touch involved 4 touches over 26 feet, this segment the runup involved only 3 touches over 18 feet.

Second segment there were 13 attempts; there was perfect success on 46% of the attempts; I succeeded according to pattern by slanting to my right on 8% of the attempts (does not count 'perfect' success); I succeeded on-pattern except that the slant after the 4th touch was uintentionally up the middle on 8% of the attempts; I succeeded except the slant after the 4th touch was uintentionally to my left on 8% of the attempts; I succeeded on a slant left except that the ball bounced between the 4th touch & the 5th touch on 0% of the attempts; I succeeded on a slant right except that the ball bounced between the 4th touch & the 5th touch on 8% of the attempts; I succeeded except that the ball hit the ground at the same time I made the 5th touch on 0% of the attempts; I failed by accidentally kicking the ball away on 15% of the attempts; I accidentally kicked the ball at the defender on 8% of the attempts.

During segment 2, amongst the successful no-bouncers, the max distance traveled straight-ahead along the line running through myself at the start and the hypothetical stationary defender was 48 feet (18 feet from 1st to 4th touch, 6 feet from 4th touch to hypothetical defender, & 24 feet from the hypothetical defender to the 5th touch).

The highlight of the 2nd segment:

Attempt #4: on the 3rd touch I lofted the ball up, to a point that was 30 feet in front of the point of the 3rd chip-touch on the straight-ahead axis and 7 feet to my right on the sideways axis, and then caught the ball on the sprint with my right foot on the 4th touch without the ball touching the ground; overall the run from the 1st touch to the 5th touch was 48 feet in terms of straight-ahead distance.

There were some oblivious blacks and whites playing b-ball on the other side of the court during the stupendous achievements.

Play-by-play of segment 2 (a statistical table would be easier, but I fear that stat tables will not make much of an impression on the average soccer-hobbyist...text-blocks can be used as templates).

1
Slant Right. Ball caught on 4th touch 5' behind the hypothetical defender, & 13' to the defender's left; ball swerved 3' to my right.

2
Perfect slant right. Ball caught on sprint with right foot on 4th touch 22' behind the hypothetical defender, & 2' to the defender's left; high 14' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender.

3
Accidental slant left. Ball caught with left foot on sprint on 4th touch 15' behind the hypothetical defender, & 2' to the defender's right; 9' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender; 3rd to 4th touch: RLR.

At 948 PM, I realized that the ball which I had inflated to 4.5 PSI before the league used it for the games, was too soft. I used the gage and found PSI was down to 3.5 PSI. I inflated it back up to 4.5 PSI.

4
Perfect slant right. Ball caught with right foot on sprint on 4th touch 24' behind the hypothetical defender, & 7' to the defender's left; 14' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender; 3rd to 4th touch: RLRL.

5
Slant right caught on bounce: Ball Caught with head on one bounce on sprint on 4th touch 26' behind the hypothetical defender, & 9' to the defender's left; 10' ball arc apex cleared defender; 3rd to 4th touch: RLRLRL.

6
Accidental slant up middle. Ball caught with head on sprint on 4th touch 9' behind the hypothetical defender, & directly behind the hypothetical defender; 9' ball arc apex vertically cleared hypothetical defender.

7
Kicked away on touch 2

8
Perfect slant right. Ball caught with right foot on sprint on 4th touch 24' behind the hypothetical defender, & 1' to the defender's left; 15' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender; 3rd to 4th touch: RLR.

9
Kicked away on touch 2

10
Perfect slant right. Ball caught with head on sprint; 10' apex arc easily cleared hypothetical defender; 3rd to 4th touch: RLR.

11
Accidentally, ball kicked to defender

12
'Perfect' short slant right. Ball caught with head on sprint on 4th touch 4' behind the hypothetical defender, & 7' to the hypothetical defender's left; 7' apex arc cleared hypothetical defender.

13
Perfect slant right. Ball caught with left foot on sprint on 4th touch 11' behind the hypothetical defender, & 17' to the defender's left; 11' apex arc vertically cleared hypothetical defender; 3rd to 4th touch: RLR.

Overall I estimate that the typical run that was at least a success today: during segment 1, covered a distance of 48 feet from 1st touch to 5th touch with ball kept off ground the entire time; during segment 2, covered a distance of 39 feet from 1st touch to 4th touch with ball kept off ground the entire time (straight-ahead distance measured on line running through me at start and hypothetical defender.

     
  Thursday 10/20

Waltham Y

Air Dribble Assaults on hypothetical defender

1013-1 Drills, involving air-dribble assault on cone symbolizing hypothetical defender; Adidas Replique ball inflated to 11.6 PSI used; special attention paid to collecting data re what happens after chip over defender


Oct 20, Waltham Y
Segments 1 - 5
My intent: slant to my right on segments 1, 3, & 5;
slant to my left on segments 2 & 4
Overhead View of Where ball was touched after being reached after being chipped past hypothetical defender; where ball was touched with which body part is illustrated

I air-dribbled the ball for 2 touches over 18' towards a cone marking the position of a hypothetical defender. When approx 6 feet from the defender, I attempted to chip the ball over & past the defender, and then catch up with the ball behind the defender before it bounced.

The distance between a little green cross and the little green crosses to the left, right, above, & below, represents one foot. The gray man represents a hypothetical defender.

The solid red circles represent points at which the ball met with my head, after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender.

The solid blue circles represent points at which the ball met with my feet, after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender.

The solid brown circles represent points at which the ball met with my thigh, after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender.

The solid green circles represent points at which the ball met with my torso, after I chipped the ball while in front of the defender.

The small gray x's represent points at which I stepped with my feet in between touches on the ball.

The solid gray circles represent points at which the ball bounced.

Each black line represents the pathway for an air-dribble run, during which I was able to perform more than one touch after the chip over the defender's head on touch 3, and also remember what went on during the run. The curved black lines are curved to avoid overlap, and are not exactly a realistic portrayal of the given run.

The orange dots leading from me (red uniform) to the defender (white uniform) show the points at which I kicked the ball as I advanced towards the defender.

The point where the black lines intersect represents the point at which I made the chip over the defender.

Times reported are my time, 5 minutes faster than EST.

The practice, outdoors in dim artificial light in the cool air on the basketball court adjacent to the Oak Square Y, started at 139 PM & ended at 541 PM (4.0 hours). Overall during all the practices today I drank 34 oz of cold distilled water, and 34 oz of cold water-fountain water. Before the practice, all I consumed was 10 oz of coffee/coconut-palm-sugar/half-n'-half, with organic tobacco added before the coffee was brewed.

Today the distance between the point at where I made the chip of the ball over and at the defender, and the defender, was about 6'. My intent today: during the 1st & 3rd & 5th segments-- slant right on the 3rd touch, kick the ball to the defender's left, and also run to the defenders left; during the 2nd & 4th segment-- slant left on the 3rd touch, kick the ball to the defender's right, and also run to the defenders right. I alternated between segments emphasizing length & segments emphasizing speed.

There was no warmup of any kind. I took careful notes regarding every attempt.

The drill done today involves me, with ball kept off ground but under control: kicking the ball straight ahead with the left foot (touch L1); stepping with my right; kicking the ball straight ahead with my left foot (touch L2); stepping with my right; kicking the ball ahead far and high, on a slant to my right/left, with my left foot (touch L3); taking about 3 steps; touching the ball with some part of my body (touch L4) other than of course the hands; attempting to keep the run going forwards without letting the ball touch the ground.

Alteration to drill set-up today : The ball was chipped up on the 3rd touch of the run, not the 4th touch. The preliminary run-up to the chip over the hypothetical defender's head on the 3rd touch, was 18 foot today.

Terms used in this entry :

Perfect run : footwork and ballwork adhering to the intended pattern; the intended slant to the right/left on the 3rd touch; the ball lofted over the hypothetical defender's head on the 3rd touch; the ball caught and controlled (not using hands) on the 4th touch at a sprint; two to four steps between the 4th and the 5th touch.

On pattern success: same as a perfect run except that if the running speed between the 4th touch & the 5th touch is not a sprint, the the run is an on-pattern success, but not perfect.

On pattern success except slanted up the middle: like an on-pattern success, the defect being that the 4th touch sent the ball straight ahead & not on a slant-right as intended.

On pattern success except slanted in unintended direction: like an on-pattern success, the defect being that the 3rd touch sent the ball on a slant left when a slant right was intended, or vice versa.

Bouncer: the prescribed pattern was adhered to except that the ball bounced between the 3rd & 4th touch.

Totalled results for segments 1 to 5: there were 53 attempts; there was perfect success on 43% of the attempts; I succeeded on pattern with slant in the intended direction, but imperfectly, without the ball bouncing between touch 3 & touch 4, 4% of the attempts (does not count 'perfect' success); I succeeded on-pattern without a bounce between touch 3 & touch 4 except that the slant after the 4th touch was up the middle on 11% of the attempts; I succeeded on pattern without a bounce between touch 3 & touch 4 except the slant after the 4th touch was in an unintended direction 4% of the attempts; I succeeded on pattern with slant in the intended direction, except that the ball bounced between the 3rd touch & the 4th touch on 13% of the attempts; I succeeded on pattern with slant in the unintended direction, and with the ball bouncing between the 3rd touch & the 4th touch on 8% of the attempts; I failed by accidentally kicking the ball away on 8% of the attempts; I failed by accidentally kicking the ball to the defender on 6% of the attempts;

I felt unusually tired and not woken up, because before the 139 PM start, I woke up just 99 minutes earlier at noon, after only about 4 hours of sleep.

     
  Monday 10/31

3d soccer imaging

Imaging Soccer in 3D Graphics


3D Modeling Program Image of Soccer Drill

The field markings are shown in 3D. The orange 3D rectangle represents the penalty area box. The blue arc represents distances 45 yards from the center of the goal-line.

I've been learning how to utilize a 3D program, 'Sketchup', to portray soccer situations. The graphic contains a screenshot of an image produced by the program.

Some advantages of the program: one 3d graphic provides via a front view, an overhead view of ball movement, and also via a side-view a side view of ball and player movements--hence, two graphics, one showing a top view and the other the side-view, do not have to be produced or looked at; the 3D program produces more realistic images compared to 2D.

Some disadvantages of the 3d program: for several reasons, especially when at first learning the program, it can take a surprising amount of time to accomplish something; as a result of becoming absorbed in and obsessed by learning the mastery of the 3d program, one neglects activities such as actual soccer practice.

From now on I intend to institute a simple rule for myself: I can 3d program as much as I want, so long as such does not interfere with or impair other activities that are at least as important.


3D Modeling Program Image of Runs that come naturally to me that I am proficient in

The field markings are shown in 3D. The orange 3D rectangle represents the penalty area box. The blue arc represents distances 45 yards from the center of the goal-line. The orange arcs represent the path of the ball when I go on a typical 42 foot, 3-touch run against a hypothetical defender, keeping the ball off the ground the entire time, and using only the feet.

I have learned through practice that: the type of run pictured comes naturally to me when I face a hypothetical defender; I am able to consistently with a low error rate, accomplish such runs at a sprint, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

One can see that even if I start at a distance 45 yards from the center of the goal-line, at the end of the 42 foot jaunt, I pose a very serious threat to the defense.

What can an expert 'boaster', appropriately add to the graphic-caption text above, without being redundant (what belongs in the caption-text, & what belongs here)? For now suffice it to say, that the runs depicted in the second graphic in this entry, are just 42 foot straight-line 3-touch runs; whereas, I have developed the ability to execute similar runs (involving a pop over the defender) that are compared to the 42-foot runs depicted in the graphic, much longer, with more than 3-touches at a sprint, with changes of direction produced on each touch and with of course the ball kept off ground entire time.

Some things I can add without being redundant: the big field game depicted in the graphic, is very different from the indoor soccer; runs of the type depicted do not work as well in indoor soccer; the indoor soccer game features a goal that is only 8 feet wide and 6 feet high; the ceilings in the gyms are usually only about 26 feet high which is way above the arc apexes I use but which can get in the way of ball movements eventually produced by my aerial attacks; similarly the small indoor dimensions inhibit long lateral movements of the ball that could eventually indirectly be produced by my aerial runs; the indoor soccer features 12 players crammed into an area that is like the big-field penalty-box but only two-thirds as wide; the aerial runs I've been practicing are hindered in a six on six game on the basketball court, because of the high density of players (both team-mates & opponents) per square yard; indoors on the basketball court, even team-mates become an obstruction; indoors on a basketball court, especially given the small size of many of the players, there is always the fear that the aerial-chip attacks of the type depicted, will end up causing too much physical damage to some short thin guy or some heavy guy who is just not prepared for physical contact.

One might say that I suffer from an obsession with developing greater and greater skill in the art of boasting. Or I might say, that it is difficult for me to competently explain my greatness in soccer to the folks, but I am beginning to master the art. The problem seems to be not lack of competence on my part, but rather inability of persons to appreciate my powers as an attacker.

Whatever the case may be, I feel like now that I have made some progress in terms of explanation of my greatness via 3D graphics, I can tear myself away from the computer and get back to practicing with a ball and other important matters.

     
  Tuesday 11/1

Practice portrayed with 3d soccer imaging

Today's practice recorded in 3D

Today I practiced from 4:06 PM to 5:44 PM (1.6 hours), and drank 22 oz of cold spring water during the practice.

Drill done today: Kick with left foot (touch 1); step with right foot; kick with left foot to chip ball over defender (touch 2) 8.8' from touch 1 point; after this, starting with touch 3, an attempt to get the ball under control without the ball touching the ground, and move forward at high speed keeping the ball off the ground but under control.

During the practice: I was usually close to max sprint speed during the run; I slowed down a little after touch 3; there were at least 3 touches on 100% of attempts; there were at least 4 touches on 82% of the attempts; there were at least 5 touches on 71% of attempts; there were 6 touches on 24% of attempts; the gym curtain 24' behind the marker representing the hypothetical defender blocked further progress on many runs; the ball bounced bounced during a run in 12% of the runs; there was no uncounted warmup with or without the ball.

I wanted to test out what my natural inclinations are, because I had not practiced for almost 2 weeks. I did not have any premeditated intent to slant left or right, just to chip the ball past the hypothetical defender.

One 3D graphic, was used to produce both the top view image and also the side view image; I did not have to change the graphic in any way to go from the top view to the side view.


Top View of Today's Practice Runs

The soccer balls represent points at which I touched the ball with thigh head or foot before it touched the ground, after chipping it over the defender. The lines connect the touch points during a run. The white balls represent the apex of the arc after the 2nd touch of the run. The brown balls represent points at which the ball hit the ground and bounced after being chipped past the defender.




Side View of Today's Practice Runs

The soccer balls represent points at which I touched the ball with thigh head or foot before it touched the ground, after chipping it over the defender. The lines connect the touch points during a run. The white balls represent the apex of the arc after the 2nd touch of the run. The brown balls represent points at which the ball hit the ground and bounced after being chipped past the defender. The orange box to the left represents the penalty box. The blue arc represents points 45 yards from the center of the goal defended by the yellow crash dummy.

     
  Saturday 11/5

Practices of 11/3, 11/4, & 11/5

Extremely Detailed Notes Taken on Every Run Attempted, over Three Days

For the past three days, all the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot; stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender; continuing the run forwards as fast as possible when catching up with the ball behind the hypothetical defender; all this done with the ball kept off the ground as much as possible; all this done at as fast a running speed as possible; a lack of premeditation re the directional slant, which part of the body will be used on the third touch of the run, and how many steps will be taken between the 2nd & 3rd touches of the run.

For the first time these runs were done with the entire width of the gym available; as a result, instead of running into a curtain or a wall at a point 12 paces (26.4') behind the cone marking the hypothetical defender, I was running into the wall 17 - 21 paces behind the hypothetical defender.

The data collected via taking very detailed notes re the runs is available in table format online.

As soon as I looked at the data after typing it up, I realized that today, my performance was marred due to a large numbers of incidents involving a touch on the ball resulting in loss of ball control, because the gym floor was slippery today. Then I realized that I was wrong to have thought during the practice that my skills had gone into a rapid decline, because the problem was the slippery gym floor.

Today, prior to when I started practice @ 340 PM, the gym was used from 700 AM to 230 PM by: adult basketball, triple play sports, little hoopsters, league prep, jr celtics leag. a, & jr celtics league b. Their use of the gym resulted in large amounts of dust and lint (the stuff that collects in the screen in the dryer when you dry you clothes) on the floor of the gym, and this made the gym slippery. After the Brazilian lady swept the gym floor, the gym was suddenly much less slippery. I saw all the dust and lint collected when she swept the floor.

     
  Monday 11/7

Practices of 11/6 & 11/7

Data Collected November 3-5 Used to Devise Correctional Drills

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot; stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender; continuing the run forwards as fast as possible when catching up with the ball behind the hypothetical defender; all this done with the ball kept off the ground as much as possible; all this done at as fast a running speed as possible; a lack of premeditation re the directional slant and how many steps will be taken between the 2nd & 3rd touches of the run.

However certain changes were made based on an analysis of the data collected from November 3 to November 5. Looking at the data I concluded that the most important drill now, for the purpose of correcting weaknesses as detected, would involve: the ball headed on touch #3; and thereafter, the ball touched with the feet alone. Therefore all the runs made yesterday and today involved an attempt to touch the ball with the head on touch #3, and touch the ball with the feet only after touch #3.

After the first segment November 6, I realized that when the ball was headed on the third touch and kicked with the foot on the fourth touch, two distinctly different situations materialized: sometimes the arc-apex after the 3rd touch with the head and before the 4th touch with the foot was high, and sometimes this arc-apex was low. I realized these two different situations produced two different types of kicks on the fourth touch.

The first segment November 6, I did not attempt to reach any particular height with the ball-apex subsequent to the touch #3 with the head; the result was that the apexes were generally high subsequent to touch #3 with the head. The second segment November 6, & also the first segment November 7, I attempted to produce low ball-apex subsequent to touch #3 with the head. The second segment November 7, I attempted to produce high ball-apexes subsequent to touch #3 with the head.

Again these runs were done using the entire width of the gym; as a result, instead of running into a curtain or a wall at a point 12 paces (26.4') behind the cone marking the hypothetical defender, I was running into the wall 17 - 18 paces behind the hypothetical defender.

The data collected via taking very detailed notes re the runs is available in table format online.

     
  Wednesday 11/9

Practice of 11/9

Attempts to reach specific ball arc apex heights after third and fourth touches of runs

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot; stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender; continuing the run forwards as fast as possible when catching up with the ball behind the hypothetical defender. All this done with: the ball kept off the ground as much as possible; at as fast a running speed as possible; with a lack of premeditation re the directional slant and how many steps will be taken between the 2nd & 3rd touches of the run.

As yesterday, all the runs made today involved an attempt to touch the ball with the head on touch #3, and touch the ball with the feet only after touch #3.

Today the innovations were: during the first segment I attempted to achieve a low ball arc apex after the 2nd touch with the left foot and also after the 3rd touch with the head; during the second segment I attempted to achieve a low ball arc apex after the 2nd touch with the left foot and a high ball arc apex after the 3rd touch with the head; during the third segment I attempted to achieve a high ball arc apex after the 2nd touch with the left foot and a high ball arc apex after the 3rd touch with the head.

During and after the practice of November 7 day before yesterday I began to realize certain things: the kick with the foot on the 4th touch is technically different depending on whether the arc after the 3rd touch with the head was high or low--therefore, I need to learn to deliberately arc the ball high or low with the 3rd touch with the head, so as to be able to practice the different types of kicks at will; the level of arc achieved after the 3rd touch with the head depends upon the level of arc achieved after the 2nd touch with the foot--therefore, I need to learn to deliberately arc the ball high or low on the 2nd touch with the left foot.

Again these runs were done using the entire width of the gym; as a result, instead of running into a curtain or a wall at a point 12 paces (26.4') behind the cone marking the hypothetical defender, I was running into the wall 18 paces behind the hypothetical defender.

The data collected via taking very detailed notes re the runs is available in table format online.

During the entire practice, Patrick Ferdinand was in the gym tutoring a young adult white female in basketball. On the 2nd run of the day, I almost ran into Patrick, I said I have the ball under control and field-vision so I can avoid running into him, and Patrick giggled like a girl and said, 'I hope you can avoid me'.

Such is significant because I've made the point that since I am 5'10" tall, 195 lbs, and a fast sprinter, me running into someone during one of the runs of the type I've been practicing, could be a serious problem.

Although Patrick was there, nevertheless: I was working on my weaknesses; I was attempting to achieve specific heights on ball apexes which resulted in difficulties; I was trying to achieve difficult arc-apex combinations, such as a low arc after the 2nd touch and a high arc after the 3rd touch, which resulted in failures. I was not parading what I am competent in; rather, I was working on weaknesses.

     
  Thursday 11/10


Like Yesterday, Attempts to reach specific ball arc apex heights after third and fourth touches of runs

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot; stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender; continuing the run forwards as fast as possible when catching up with the ball behind the hypothetical defender. All this done with: the ball kept off the ground as much as possible; at as fast a running speed as possible; with a lack of premeditation re the directional slant and how many steps will be taken between the 2nd & 3rd touches of the run.

As yesterday, all the runs made today involved an attempt to touch the ball with the head on touch #3, and touch the ball with the feet only after touch #3.

Today: during the first segment I attempted to achieve a high ball arc apex after the 2nd touch with the left foot and also after the 3rd touch with the head; during the second segment I attempted to achieve a high ball arc apex after the 2nd touch with the left foot and a low ball arc apex after the 3rd touch with the head; during the third segment I attempted to achieve a low ball arc apex after the 2nd touch with the left foot and a low ball arc apex after the 3rd touch with the head; during the fourth segment I attempted to achieve a high ball arc apex after the 2nd touch with the left foot and a low ball arc apex after the 3rd touch with the head.

Again these runs were done using the entire width of the gym; as a result, instead of running into a curtain or a wall at a point 12 paces (26.4') behind the cone marking the hypothetical defender, I was running into the wall 17 paces behind the hypothetical defender.

The data collected via taking very detailed notes re the runs is available in table format online.

     
  Friday 11/11


Summary & Analysis of Data Collected re Runs featuring varying ball apexes, as reported in 11/10 & 11/9 entries

Over the past couple of days, I have been experimenting with attempts to reach various heights with the ball, after the second and third touches of the runs. The various combinations have been: low ball-apex after 2nd touch, low ball-apex after 3rd touch; low ball-apex after 2nd touch, high ball-apex after 3rd touch; high ball-apex after 2nd touch, low ball-apex after 3rd touch; high ball-apex after 2nd touch, high ball-apex after 3rd touch.

Each practice segment has been devoted to one of these combinations. The results for each practice segment are summarized in a table available online entitled "Soccer Aerial Runs at Hypothetical Defender Incidents Summary Table for Different Ball-Apexes after 2nd & 3rd touches of Runs".

Apparently, the order of difficulty from easiest combination to most difficult combination is: high/high, low/low, high/low, & low/high. Seems the combinations that feature the same type apex twice are easier and about equally difficult, the combinations that feature different apexes are harder and about equally difficult.

My impressions as of now: the low/low combination produces speed and ball-control; the high/low combination produces range and speed; the high/high combination produces range, and ball-control; the low/high combination produces I don't know what.

Seems that the low/high combination produces a relatively large number of balls that bounce after the 3rd touch with the head; the balls produced by the 3rd touch with the head, when the apex is high after the 2nd touch with the foot, but low after the 3rd touch with the head, tend to rocket out like a line-drive and land at a point about 11 yards behind the defender, after which I catch up to them whilst running at full speed before they bounce again.

The data in the table show that with regards to the low/low combination, the percentage of 4th or 5th run-incidents that involved loss of ball control or loss of ball directional control, was 57% on November 9th, but only 9% on November 10.

With regards to the high/low combination, the percentage of 4th or 5th run-incidents that involved loss of ball control or loss of ball directional control, was 66% on November 9th, but only 43% on November 10.

I expect that as I collect more data and have more time to think about the data collected, my understanding of the differences between the various apex-combinations, and the peculiar qualities of each apex-combination will improve.

Being able to achieve various ball arc-apexes at will after the 2nd touch with the foot & the 3rd touch with the head, will produce beneficial results: I will be in a position to understand which apex combinations work best & implement those combinations; and I will be in a position where I can produce an apex-combination that needs to be practiced, when I need to produce such apex combinations so as to be able to practice them.

     
  Saturday 11/12


1st segment high/high ball-arc combo; 2nd segment high/low ball-arc combo

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot; stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender; continuing the run forwards as fast as possible when catching up with the ball behind the hypothetical defender. All this done with: the ball kept off the ground as much as possible; at as fast a running speed as possible; with a lack of premeditation re the directional slant and how many steps will be taken between the 2nd & 3rd touches of the run.

As yesterday, all the runs made today involved an attempt to touch the ball with the head on touch #3, and touch the ball with the feet only after touch #3.

Today: during the first segment I attempted to achieve a high ball arc apex after the 2nd touch with the left foot and also after the 3rd touch with the head; during the second segment I attempted to achieve a high ball arc apex after the 2nd touch with the left foot and a low ball arc apex after the 3rd touch with the head.

Again these runs were done using the entire width of the gym; as a result, instead of running into a curtain or a wall at a point 12 paces (26.4') behind the cone marking the hypothetical defender, I was running into the wall 17 paces (37.4') behind the hypothetical defender.

The data collected via taking very detailed notes re the runs is available in table format online.

The percent of runs involving loss of ball control before the 6th touch of the run was down dramatically today. Today the runs were very fast, many of them were at maximum sprint speed. Today, lots of excellent runs were obstructed due to running into the wall, 37.4' behind the hypothetical defender, 53' from the start point.

     
  Thursday 11/17


New Right-foot emphasis drill done for first time; designed to correct weaknesses detected November 2-6.

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot (1st touch); stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender 2nd touch).

The change put into effect today: the intent today was to kick the ball with the right foot only, from the 3rd touch onwards. Previously the rule had been to touch the ball with the head on the 3rd touch, and then touch the ball with either the left or right foot thereafter.

The drill done today constitutes a second response to the weaknesses detected Nov 2-6; the drills done November 12 & previously, constituted the first response to the weaknesses detected. Both responses involve the emphasis of types of kicks with the foot, that often produced errors from Nov 2-6 (I am naturally left-footed).

The technical confusion or point of the day: should I look at the ball with my eyes during the third touch of the run with the right foot, or should I keep my eyes up during the third touch of the run with the right foot?

I noticed that after the third touch of the run, my ability to air-dribble at a high speed using only my right foot, without having to look down at the ball as it hit my foot was excellent, even though I have not practiced such much lately.

But I felt confused as to whether I should watch the ball down to my foot on the third touch with the right foot, which was the most difficult touch of the runs.

I could not remember sometimes, whether during the third touch of the run with the right foot, I had followed the ball down to my foot with the eyes; I could not remember if the arc had been high or low prior to the 3rd touch with the right foot.

The balls that had followed a high-arc trajectory prior to being kicked with the right foot on the third touch of the run, were much harder to handle than the balls that followed a low-arc trajectory prior to the 3rd touch with the right foot.

I felt confused re: should the balls coming in from a high apex prior to the 3rd touch, be watched all the way to the foot prior to the 3rd touch? Should the balls coming in from a low apex prior to the 3rd touch, be watched all the way to the foot prior to the 3rd touch?

As of now it appears to be the case , that I should not watch the ball all the way to the foot after the 3rd touch of the run, and that on the 3rd touch of the run, I should not watch the ball to the foot when the preceding arc apex of the ball has been low. Not sure what to do when the arc of the ball is high prior to the 3rd touch with the right foot.

Again these runs were done using the entire width of the gym; as a result, I was running into the wall 17 paces (37.4') behind the hypothetical defender.

The data collected via taking detailed notes re the runs, including today's runs, is available in table format online.

The young white women's basketball team (Watertown Girls AAU team?) was on the court sharing the gym with me during the first seven runs. The last three of these first seven runs were excellent runs. Hard to expect excellence during the first four runs of a day, with no warmup preceding, doing a new drill, when there has been no practice for four days.

At one point an East Asian man was playing with the ball in the middle of the gym 20 yards away from me, the ball rolled my way, and I after stopping the ball, kicked the small size-4-ball back to him with a perfect left-footed 20' apex chip, that conveniently landed at his feet so he could trap it as soon as it hit the ground. This despite not having made any such kicks for weeks.

There was a tall white brown-haired movie-actor-like middle-aged well-dressed white man with a tan, wearing a brown sweater, watching the proceedings up until the women's basketball team left. He sat on the bleachers on my side of the gym, I did'nt understand why, as the girls he seemed connected with were on the other side. Then he left when the girls left. In my imagination, he was something like a Finnish James Bond, because Nov 16 yesterday, I sent an email to Finland that I had spent a long time on.

     
  Friday 11/18


Same as Yesterday, Right-foot emphasis drill done; designed to correct weaknesses detected November 2-6.

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot (1st touch); stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender 2nd touch).

The change put into effect Nov 17 remained in effect today: the intent today was to kick the ball with the right foot only, from the 3rd touch onwards. Previously the rule had been to touch the ball with the head on the 3rd touch, and then touch the ball with either the left or right foot thereafter.

The drill done today constitutes a second response to the weaknesses detected Nov 2-6; the drills done November 12 & previously, constituted the first response to the weaknesses detected. Both responses involve the emphasis of types of kicks with the foot, that often produced errors from Nov 2-6 (I am naturally left-footed).

Again these runs were done using the entire width of the gym; as a result, I was running into the wall 17 paces (37.4') behind the hypothetical defender.

The data collected via taking detailed notes re the runs, including today's runs, is available in table format online.

During the practice, I felt that I was on track and had a good attitude in that: I have become competent even on the first attempt of the day without warmup; I have learned to enjoy striving for high performance without warmup; striving for high performance without warmup has become like an interesting game that I am used to, do well, and enjoy.

During the practice there were a few E. Asian boys running around the gym.

     
  Thursday 11/24
Waltham Y
920 am - 1050 am

Same as 11/18, Right-foot emphasis drill done; designed to correct weaknesses detected November 2-6.

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot (1st touch); stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender 2nd touch).

The change put into effect Nov 17 remained in effect today: the intent today was to kick the ball with the right foot only, from the 3rd touch onwards. Previously the rule had been to touch the ball with the head on the 3rd touch, and then touch the ball with either the left or right foot thereafter.

The drill done today constitutes a second response to the weaknesses detected Nov 2-6; the drills done November 12 & previously, constituted the first response to the weaknesses detected. Both responses involve the emphasis of types of kicks with the foot, that often produced errors from Nov 2-6 (I am naturally left-footed).

Again these runs were done using the entire width of the gym; as a result, I was running into the wall 17 paces (37.4') behind the hypothetical defender.

The summary of the data collected 11/17-24 for runs involving the right foot used from the 3rd touch on, is available in table format online.

During the practice the performance level was way down compared to Nov 18 (Nov 18 was the second day doing this drill). This was due to not having been able to practice since November 18.

Today, compared to the past, I was much less emotional re failure and success, and there were more attempts per hour compared to past days. Compared to previous days, today I was emotionally like a machine with regards to failure and success. I was much more relaxed than I have been about failures.

The degeneration in performance today, showed me how difficult it is for a left-footed person like me to accomplish these runs, which emphasize the right foot. The bad performance today taught me respect for the level of performance I was able to achieve on Nov 18.

After the practice I was thinking, that at least today I learned how going without practice can impair the kind of skills practiced today.

Today I noted that despite going without practice from Nov 12 to Nov 17 I was able to perform well on Nov 18; however going without practice from Nov 12 to Nov 17, combined with going without practice from Nov 18 to today Nov 24, resulted in significant performance impairment on Nov 24. I've noticed this before: going without practice for around five days does not mess things up that much; but by the time I've been practicing only every five or so days for about ten days, then the performance becomes impaired.

     
  Monday 11/28
Waltham Y
740 am - 1140 am

Same as 11/24, Right-foot emphasis drill done; designed to correct weaknesses detected November 2-6.

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot (1st touch); stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender 2nd touch).

The change put into effect Nov 17 remained in effect today: the intent today was to kick the ball with the right foot only, from the 3rd touch onwards. Previously the rule had been to touch the ball with the head on the 3rd touch, and then touch the ball with either the left or right foot thereafter.

Again these runs were done using the entire width of the gym; as a result, I was running into the wall 17 paces (37.4') behind the hypothetical defender.

A new improved summary of the data collected 11/17-28 for runs involving the right foot used from the 3rd touch on, is available in table format online.

All of the runs described as successes in the table, covered a distance of approx 53' from start to finish with the ball kept off the ground the entire time. Usually these runs were at approx max sprint speed up to the 4th touch, with some slowdown thereafter. Most of the successful runs were deliberately brought to a stop near the wall at the far side of the gym; some came to end due to the ball bouncing into a wall, but without loss of ball control.

Seems that running speed after the 3rd touch would be faster if I allowed the ball to roll or bounce after the 3rd touch. Yet for now, I continue to attempt to keep the ball above the ground, because such results in skill-improvement, and will eventually result in improvement of speed after the 3rd touch.

During the practice the performance was better than it was Nov 24. One can see from the new table, that eventually (soon) the skill of continuing with the right foot after the first two touches with the left foot will be mastered. When this skill is mastered, there will no longer be any weaknesses with regards to the approach towards the defender, the chip over his head, and then the continuance of the run, all with the ball never touching the ground.

Today as yesterday, I was again less emotional than I have been in the past with regards to success and failure.

     
  Tuesday 11/29
Waltham Y
1055 am - 305 pm

Wednesday 11/30
Waltham Y
755 am - 1205 pm

Thursday 12/01
Waltham Y
1150 am - 205 pm


Right-foot emphasis drill done; designed to correct weaknesses detected November 2-6.

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot (1st touch); stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender 2nd touch).

The change put into effect Nov 17 remained in effect 11/29-12/1: the intent was to kick the ball with the right foot only, from the 3rd touch onwards. Previously the rule had been to touch the ball with the head on the 3rd touch, and then touch the ball with either the left or right foot thereafter.

Again these runs were done using the entire width of the gym; as a result, I was running into the wall 17 paces (37.4') behind the hypothetical defender.

A new improved summary of the data collected 11/17-28 for runs involving the right foot used from the 3rd touch on, is available in table format online.

Most of the runs described as successes in the table, covered a distance of approx 53' from start to finish with the ball kept off the ground the entire time. Usually these runs were at approx max sprint speed up to the 4th touch, with some slowdown thereafter. Most of the successful runs were deliberately brought to a stop near the wall at the far side of the gym; some came to end due to the ball bouncing into a wall, but without loss of ball control.

Seems Church on Sunday, and physical rest on Sunday, are important. Day of rest varying from week to week does not seem to work in terms of getting the body and the mind set to for producing large amounts of effort.

Seems that sitting down on a chair at a desk between run attempts, impairs performance.

I noted that during these drills I am kicking balls that are such positionally, that in a game I would head them or use my thigh on them. Hence the drill performance somewhat under-rates the actual level of competence that is being achieved.

On Tuesday for 55 minutes, between the first and the second segments, I sat down and read the April 2011 issue of 'Men's Health', & an issue of 'The Economist' Magazine (the one with the old painting & Berlusconi on the cover). This seemed to dramatically impair performance during the first half of the 60-minute-long second segment.

During the second segment, a group of mentally disabled types and their leader were in the gym playing basketball. One of the disabled types was a heavy set black guy, who constantly makes very loud deep noises (shouting). This I found to be somewhat distracting.

I noted that since I have chosen not to watch the high apex balls that precede the third kick of the runs all the way to the foot, this has resulted in me failing to lower my eyes when kicking lower apex balls that come afterwards. The failure to lower the eyes for the lower apex balls coming later in the run seems to have resulted in mistakes.

Wednesday, by the time the second segment ended, I felt fatigue which I attributed to a failure to consume fruit juice containing natural vitamin C before the practice. The day before, I had had a bottle of orange juice before the practice started.

So starting with the break prior to the third 60-minute segment of the day, I began drinking a bottle of gatorade, instead of the water I'd been drinking. The Gatorade pepped me up, and was partly responsible for a large number of attempts during the third segment. However the increased number of attempts did not coincide with an improved success rate (I've noticed this on at least two different days).

During the 3rd segment Wednesday, I noted that a frustrated, almost manic increase in number of attempts per minute, did not solve the temporary lack of competence I was experiencing.

Performance the third segment, improved dramatically when I decreased the number of attempts per minute rate, and Patrick Ferdinand's session with the kids in the other half of the gym came to an end (Patrick was shouting the entire time). During this time, the speed of the successful runs was up significantly.

After the third segment Wednesday, I felt that it was depressing that, after finishing long 53-foot runs involving the ball touched 5-7 times over the course of 53 feet, runs that ended only due to the wall on the other side of the gym, runs done at full speed, with the ball kept off the ground but under control, using only my off-foot the right foot after the second touch of the run, I looked back at the basketball players and apparently they saw nothing.

     
  Tuesday 12/06

Strategic/Tactical Analysis-Review


Saturday 12/3
Oak Square Y
318 pm - 651 pm

Monday 12/5
Oak Square YMCA
127 pm - 718 pm

Tuesday 12/06
Waltham Y
215 pm - 305 pm


Right-foot emphasis drill done; designed to correct weaknesses detected November 2-6; Revision of Drill Designed to Accelerate Improvement Decided Upon.

I practiced on Saturday 12/3 (Oak Sq Y), Monday 12/4 (Oak Sq Y), & Tuesday 12/5 (Waltham Y) All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; flipping the ball up in the air with my left foot; kicking the ball forwards with my left foot (1st touch); stepping with my right foot; kicking the ball with the left foot again at a point approx 6.6' in front of the cone marking the hypothetical defender, and in the process attempting to chip the ball over and past the hypothetical defender 2nd touch).

The change put into effect Nov 17 remained in effect 11/29-12/1: the intent was to kick the ball with the right foot only, from the 3rd touch onwards. Previously the rule had been to touch the ball with the head on the 3rd touch, and then touch the ball with either the left or right foot thereafter.

Again these runs were done using the entire width of the gym; as a result, I was running into the wall 17 paces (37.4') behind the hypothetical defender.

A summary of the data collected 11/17-28 for runs involving the right foot used from the 3rd touch on, is available in table format online.

Most of the runs described as successes thru the fifth touch of the run in the table, covered a distance of approx 57' from start to finish with the ball kept off the ground the entire time. Usually these runs were at approx max sprint speed up to the 3rd touch, with some slowdown thereafter. Most of the successful runs were deliberately brought to a stop near the wall at the far side of the gym; some came to end due to the ball bouncing into a wall, but without loss of ball control.

I have produced a new table breaking down the practice results over the past week or so, by type of arc generated by the 2nd kick of the run with the left foot, that chips the ball over the defender. The table is available online: L, L, Rs Drill: Total Scores by Type of Arc Produced by 2L kick of Ball During Run.

Based on the data in the table, I concluded that I can accelerate my improvement in terms of the drill I've been doing by doing some segments involving: chipping the ball unusually high on the 2nd kick with the left foot; aiming to place the ball horizontally at a point in between extremely close, & the perfect midpoint.

Up till now while doing the current drill, I've been trying to create an arc that is medium in height, and medium in length.

One could say, that since 'high near' balls are balls one never needs to use the right foot on during games, balls one is inclined to use the head or thigh on, therefore concentrating on kicking such balls on the third touch of the run, during practice is not necessary.

This despite the fact that mastering the art of kicking close high balls with the right foot on the 3rd touch, is a skill that would radically improve the scores for the drills being done now.

Hence the question: is mastering the art handling close high balls with the right foot on the 3rd touch of the run, something one would want to put much effort into?

I've noted that sometimes, mastering a given skill, results in accelerated improvement with regards to mastering a closely-related less difficult skill. Meaning, mastering my weakness with close high balls, would result in accelerated improvement in terms of mastering medium arc balls.

One must admit: errors on balls attaining to 'medium arc' prior to being kicked on the third touch continue to constitute a major portion of the total error; with every so-called 'medium arc' ball, there is variance in terms of how close and high the arc apex of the ball was prior to the ball being kicked; some of the balls labelled as 'medium arc', are balls that would have been labeled close and high if they had been just a little bit closer and higher; there exists technical skill weakness with such close & high but labeled 'medium-arc' balls also; learning to master close and high balls, is probably the fastest road to improvement when the goal is mastering balls that are labeled as having been of medium arc, but were nevertheless, somewhat close and high.

Ignoring how the different types of arc generated by the 2nd kick of the run, is not a wise idea. If I know that when the second kick of the run with the left produces a certain arc, the ball will be difficult to kick with the left or the right or either foot, such knowledge can serve to reduce error during a game.

If I know that when the arc produced by the second kick with the left is of a certain type, that then I have a high chance of handling it well with the left or the right or either foot, then this knowledge can serve to increase my chances of success during a game.

Hence we see that plunging ahead into increased cleverness in terms of tactics used to accelerate improvement on the ('academic') drill I've been doing, could result in not pedantic silliness, but rather: acceleration of improvement with regards to skills that are valuable in actual games and not just in an academic sense.

     
  Thursday 12/08

Wednesday 12/7
Waltham Y
532 pm - 700 pm

Thursday 12/8
Waltham YMCA
118 pm - 300 pm
708 pm - 934 pm

Drill Revision Designed to Accelerate Improvement Implemented, with Careful Note-Taking re techniques utilized during both good & bad runs

I practiced on Wednesday 12/7 & Thursday 12/8 at the Waltham Y. All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the right foot thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 11 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 37 feet.

Online you can find 3 different tables containing the data carefully recorded during the practices of 12/8 today and yesterday:

Tech & Results for RF Kicks Preceded by High/Close Arc Balls

Tech & Results for GOOD RF Kicks Preceded by High/Close Arc Balls

Tech & Results for BAD RF Kicks Preceded by High/Close Arc Balls

Although the number of attempts has been in decline due to the very detailed taking of notes re each run, during the past week or so, I having been feeling more tired than usual.

The decline in number of runs, and the distance of the runs being shortened to about 12 yards max, has decreased the amount of physical energy I have been expending during practice, & this decrease seems to have negatively impacted me physically and mentally.

The following activities all involved tiring deskwork: Organizing & totalling the runs data by subcategories based on type of arc generated by the second kick of the runs; inputting the organized data into the html table in the PC(very tiring data-entry work); analyzing the data after it had been entered into the html tables; entering the data recorded by pen and ink over the past two days, into the html page in the computer (more tiring data entry); analyzing the most recent data.

Also simply trying to remember about a dozen different facets of each run, & then writing these memories into a notebook with a pen during practice, has been a tiring activity.

And on top of everything, there has been stress & depression because the past two days have been spent working on a ball-trick (handling high/close balls) that is the weakest link in a drill that was designed in and of itself designed to correct a weakness (drill involving just the right foot used after the first two touches on the ball).

But I suffered through it all, because I knew it would be a mistake to simply press on with the same drill I had been doing up through Tuesday December 6, due to inhibiting factors such as: inertia, laziness, hatred of deskwork, being allergic to data-entry work, etc.

     
  Friday 12/9
Waltham Y
522 pm - 630 pm

Oak Square YMCA
845 pm - 945 pm

Drill Revision Implemented, with Emphasis on Speed, & Emphasis on Length

I practiced on Friday 12/9 at the Waltham Y & at the Oak Sq Y. I emphasized speed the first segment, and maximizing distance between touches on the ball (what I call 'length') during the second segment. This because I feel that I've learned from experience, that improvement is accelerated through such emphasis on speed and length.

The results show that I was indeed able to deliberately lengthen out the distance between the first kick and the second kick, during the second segment.

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the right foot thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 11 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 41 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online I have posted a new table entitled Summary & Details for Good Runs, starting Friday Dec 9 . This table gives a summary of the results during the practices today, with detailed information provided for the 'GG' runs (runs that featured a good kick on both the first and second kicks of the run).

My head has been spinning, and my body has been feeling physically down, due to all the data I've been recording and processing during the runs. All the data work has caused fatigue, stress, & a little depression. But ultimately I'll be happier than I would be had I skipped all the data-work, because the data work will end up accelerating the rate of improvement.

     
  Saturday 12/10
Waltham Y
654 pm - 750 pm


Drill Revision Implemented, with Emphasis on Speed; Big Improvement in Performance

I practiced on Saturday 12/10 at the Waltham Y. I emphasized speed during the one segment; this because I feel that I've learned from experience, that improvement is accelerated through such emphasis on speed, as opposed to continued cautious emphasis on percentage of attempts resulting in success.

Out of 13 attempts in the segment today: 38% were failures, 8% a one-touch success, and 54% were two-touch successes (invariably the ball and I ran into the curtain I was running at, which was 40' from the start point, before the 3rd touch on the run could be executed). five of the seven two-touch successes were judged as 'GG+', better than a mere 'GG' two-touch success. This because: the runs were especially fast; and/or, the ball was especially well controlled on the second touch. All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the right foot thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 12 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 40 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online I have posted a new table entitled Summary & Details for Good Runs, starting Friday Dec 9 . This table gives a summary of the results during the practice segments yesterday, with detailed information provided for the 'GG' runs (runs that featured a good kick on both the first and second kicks of the run). I intend to update this table shortly with details of today's results.

Thus the history in a nutshell over the past few days is:

Tuesday December 6, I analysed notes taken regarding the 55-foot runs across the width of the gym, involving the first two touches being with the left foot, the second touch a chip with the left foot, and the touches thereafter being made with the right foot.

Wednesday December 7 & Thursday December 8, I spent about five hours, practicing a revision of the drill I had been doing prior to Wednesday, the revision involved stepping with the right foot, lofting the ball up with my hands so as to simulate a close high arc (detected weak point); kicking the ball with the right foot thereafter; starting the run 40' from the curtain so as to emphasize repetition of the early part of the run that I had detected as a weakness.

Thursday December 8, I analyzed the data I had recorded during the practice so as to determine the technique that is most effective.

Friday December 9, I spent two hours practicing the revised shortened run that is started with a hand-toss of the ball; one hour I ran as fast as I could during the runs; the second hour I tried to maximize length between the first and the second touches.

Saturday December 9, I spent an hour practicing the revised shortened run, again emphasizing speed, and I noted that suddenly I had almost mastered the problem skill, which is handling balls that arc high and near the ground close to my body, so as to be able to continue the run smoothly with speed.

Note: I feel the problem-skill was already almost mastered by the end of today's segment because: balls that would usually and naturally be kicked with the body a moderate distance from the ball, are being kicked with the body close to the ball, as the runs being scored are all runs involving the first kick preceded by a high/near arc, & as the purpose of the practice is to improve on such runs involving a high-near arc prior to the first kick of the run. Hence the practice-score paints a picture that is bleaker than reality.

Thus from Wednesday to Saturday, over the course of four days, simply by spending 8 h0urs practicing and about 15 hours compiling and analyzing data, I was able to improve at a very quick pace, from success on about 10% of runs involving the first kick with the right preceded by a high/near arc, to success on about 55% of the runs involving a high near arc.

This rapid improvement in ability to handle high/near arcing balls also means: elimination of the main weakness when kicking a ball with the right foot while 'flying' across the gym; mastery of kicking the ball with the right foot when 'flying' (ball kept off ground but close to body) across the gym; and, mastery of 'flying' across the width of the gym.

And it was all accomplished through just 8 hours of practice (combined with lots of mind-numbing clerical and analytical work).

The practice segment today, was out of all my practice segments, one of the greatest.

During the practice, the grade-school-age boys at the birthday party in the other side of the gym, behind the curtain, kept running around my side of the gym, shouting, wearing decorations on their heads, making noises blowing through noisemakers, like a pack of forest elves wearing lauring elves making merry with flutes and pipes.

After my last attempt of the segment, which was a big success, the lights in the gym went out, just as I was in the process of trying to remember the details of the segment & noting them down in a notebook. The only remaining light was the candle-light at the birthday party as the boys sang happy birthday. By the time the lights went on, it was time to pack up and head home.

I thought the birthday party in the gym this evening was the best YMCA gym birthday-party I had ever witnessed; it was the only such birthday party at which I had ever heard the children singing together a song they had memorized (they had memorized many lines); the boys did a good job of singing the song they had memorized; when the boys sang 'happy birthday', the lights went off completely so the only remaining light was candle-light (I'd never seen this at a Y birthday party); the birthday party coincided with one of my best practices; the boys seemed psychically aware that I was having a great practice.

     
  Monday 12/12
Oak Square Y
528 pm - 720 pm

Tuesday 12/13
Waltham Y
440 pm - 713 pm


Drill Revision Practicing Handling High/Close Balls with Right Foot that was first Implemented on Friday 12/9 Continued; with Emphasis on Length of Distance between kicks; Big Improvement in Performance

I practiced on Monday 12/12 at the Oak Sq Y, and Tuesday 12/12 at the Waltham Y. I emphasized maximization of length of distance between kick 1 & kick 2 both days; this because I feel that I've learned from experience, that improvement is accelerated through such emphasis on maximizing length of distance between kicks, as opposed to continued cautious emphasis on percentage of attempts resulting in success.

Today there was huge improvement in terms of percent of attempts rated as good for both kicks, and also in terms of length of distance between 1st & 2nd kicks on runs rated good for both kicks. This tells me that soon the ability to control the high/close arc balls with my right foot (I am left-footed), while continuing the run forwards keeping the ball under control but off the ground, will be mastered.

Although I am improving fast, I have not felt as if I've been improving fast. I've felt as if things are going badly. This I suspect is because: in a sense I have been working in the lowest place in hell, I've been working on a trick that is my weakest weakness; it's been hard to find open gym time at the YMCAs; it's been hard going without caffeine, which I've been doing for about ten days now; there is alot of news warning of impending financial disaster for the nation; the more successful runs I produce, the more boring, tiring, depressing data entry work I face, since I've been recording details for successful runs only; I've had to deal with fruit-flies infesting my apartment.

Date/percentage of attempts resulting in success on 1st & 2nd kicks/average distance between 1st & 2nd kick amongst runs rated good for both kicks/ intent of run; S=maximize speed, L = maximize length of distance between 1st kick & 2nd kick.

12/9-1 25%, 7.2'; S
12/9-2 26%, 12.5'; L
12/10-1 54%, 12.1'; S
12/12-1 30%, 9.7' L
12/13-1 53%, 12.7'; L

The percentage of attempts that resulted in success on both the first and second kicks, was up dramatically today 12/13, compared to (previous segments featuring intent to maximize distance between kicks) 12/12 & 12/9-2.

12/9-2 segment, amongst runs rated good for both the first and second kick of the run, the average distance between the first and the second kick was 12.5'. 12/13-1, this average distance was 12.7'. This does not seem like much progress. However:

12/9-2, the longest distances between first and second kick on runs that were good on both first and second kick, was 14', this was achieved once. 12/13, amongst runs that were rated good for both the first and second kicks, there were 2 runs featuring a distance of 15' between kick 1 and kick 2; 1 run with a distance of 16' between kick 1 & kick 2; 3 runs with a distance of 17' between kick 1 & kick 2; 1 run with a distance of 18' between kick 1 & kick 2; and 1 run with a distance of 19' between kick 1 & kick 2.

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the right foot thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 13 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 40 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online I have posted a new table entitled Summary & Details for Good Runs, starting Friday Dec 9 . This table gives a summary of the results during the practice segments yesterday, with detailed information provided for the 'GG' runs (runs that featured a good kick on both the first and second kicks of the run).

     
  Wednesday 12/14
Waltham Y
215 pm - 310 pm
520-655 pm

Drill Revision Practicing Handling High/Close Balls with Right Foot that was first Implemented on Friday 12/9 Continued, BUT WITH SWITCH TO KICKING BALL WITH LEFT FOOT for first time; with Emphasis on Length of Distance between kicks;

I practiced today Wednesday 12/14 at the Waltham Y. I emphasized maximization of length of distance between kick 1 & kick 2; but I switched from kicking the ball with the right foot after tossing it, to kicking the ball with the left foot after tossing it.

I made the switch, because yesterday I pulled off, a flap of skin that was protruding over the base of the big toe of the right foot, and this resulted today in pain when the ball struck the right foot.

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my LEFT foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my RIGHT foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the LEFT foot thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 13 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

Clarifications:

Runs scored as failures or F: ball was kicked after being tossed up, but the ball bounced before the second kick of the run, or I could not reach the ball to make the second kick of the run.

Runs scored as G for good on first kick, but not on second: ball was kicked with the designated foot after being tossed up, and then the ball was reached with the designated foot before it touched the ground for the second kick, but I lost control of the ball or control of the direction of the ball on the second kick.

Runs scored as GG for good on first kick, and also good on second kick: ball was kicked with the designated foot after being tossed up, and then the ball was reached with the designated foot before it touched the ground for the second kick, with ball control maintained after the second kick.

Summary of today's practice results:

Date-segment/percentage of attempts resulting in success on 1st & 2nd kicks/average distance between 1st & 2nd kick amongst runs rated good for both kicks/ intent of run; S=maximize speed, L = maximize length of distance between 1st kick & 2nd kick.

12/14-1 40%, 14.7'; L
12/14-2 45%, 13.8'; L
12/14-3 40%, 12.3'; L

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 40 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online I have posted a new table entitled Summary & Details for Good LF Runs, starting Wed Dec 14. This table gives a summary of the results during the practice segments today, with detailed information provided for the 'GG' runs (runs that featured a good kick on both the first and second kicks of the run), and some of the 'G' runs (runs featuring a good kick on the first kick, but something going wrong on the second kick).

I noticed that these drills I have been doing, featuring me kicking a ball thrown into the air high, with the ball kicked with the body close to the ball, have been taking a toll on my knees due to the shock of the ball hitting the upper front portion of the foot, after falling downwards for around 15 feet at least.

Perhaps the pain in the right foot forcing me to switch to the left foot is a blessing in disguise. A few months ago I noticed that it seems that improvement occurs at a faster pace, if I first master a given skill with my favored foot, the left foot, and then master it with my clumsy foot, my right foot.

Already I've noticed that when I kick the high near balls with my favored left foot, my technique is different compared to when I do the same thing with my right foot: when kicking with my left foot, I tend to use my torso to crouch and lower my height slightly; when kicking with my left foot I tend to bend the foot that is not kicking slightly so as to crouch slightly; when kicking with my left foot I tend to bend the kicking foot slightly at the time I make the first kick of the run (the kick off the high near ball); when kicking with my left foot I tend to place the left foot in front of the right foot.

     
  Thursday 12/15
Waltham Y
719 pm - 942 pm

Drill Revision Practicing Handling High/Close Balls Continued, WITH SWITCH TO KICKING BALL WITH LEFT FOOT for 2nd day in a row; with Emphasis on Length of Distance between kicks; Huge Improvement in Successes/Attempts Percentage during 2nd Segment

I practiced today Thursday 12/15 at the Waltham Y. I emphasized maximization of length of distance between kick 1 & kick 2; again I was kicking the ball with my left foot after tossing it. The change made today was that the first step of the run was with the RIGHT foot, and I tossed the ball up while my LEFT foot was moving forwards on the next step.

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my RIGHT foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my LEFT foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the LEFT foot thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 13 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

By 'high-close arc' I mean: prior to the first kick of the run, the apex of the ball was high; on the first kick of the run, the ball was kicked with the body close to the ball, so that at ball impact time, the foot was no more than two feet from the point beneath the body. Studying the data I deduced that when it comes to air-dribble runs over and past hypothetical defenders, such kicks are the weakest link in the chain.

Clarifications:

Runs scored as failures or F: ball was kicked after being tossed up, but the ball bounced before the second kick of the run, or I could not reach the ball to make the second kick of the run.

Runs scored as G for good on first kick, but not on second: ball was kicked with the designated foot after being tossed up, and then the ball was reached with the designated foot before it touched the ground for the second kick, but I lost control of the ball or control of the direction of the ball on the second kick.

Runs scored as GG for good on first kick, and also good on second kick: ball was kicked with the designated foot after being tossed up, and then the ball was reached with the designated foot before it touched the ground for the second kick, with ball control maintained after the second kick.

Summary of yesterday and today's practice results:

Date-segment/percentage of attempts resulting in success on 1st & 2nd kicks/average distance between 1st & 2nd kick amongst runs rated good for both kicks/ intent of run; S=maximize speed, L = maximize length of distance between 1st kick & 2nd kick.

12/14-1 40%, 14.7'; L
12/14-2 45%, 13.8'; L
12/14-3 40%, 12.3'; L
12/15-1 44%, 15.1'; L
12/15-2 83%, 13.8'; L

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 42 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online I have posted a new table entitled Summary & Details for Good LF Runs, starting Wed Dec 14. This table gives a summary of the results during the practice segments today, with detailed information provided for the 'GG' runs (runs that featured a good kick on both the first and second kicks of the run), and some of the 'G' runs (runs featuring a good kick on the first kick, but something going wrong on the second kick).

Today during the second segment, 10, or 83% of 12 attempts resulted in success on both the first kick and the second kick (GG score), and the average distance between the two kicks was 13.8 feet. The highest success percentage rate on this particular drill prior to the second segment today, was 45%, during the second segment yesterday. Thus it seems that after just 4 hours or so of practice, in the fifth hour I suddenly attained to competence with regards to one of the weakest links in the chain, kicking the high close balls with the left foot, so as to continue the run without the ball touching the ground while keeping it under control.

If I can achieve an 83% success rate when trying to maximize the distance between touches, I can do better than 83% when not trying to maximize the distance between touches.

During the second segment, I tried to mentally deploy a 'fun' attitude, I tried to enjoy the entire segment, the runs, and the act of kicking the ball during the runs--and the result was a big success. Seemed that deploying the 'fun' attitude resulted in: faster runs; more very long and high ball trajectories between kicks.

Analytically, it makes sense that adopting the 'fun' attitude should result in improved performance. During our formative years, when we played ballgames with our schoolmates, we were usually having fun and possessed by a 'fun' attitude; we were not weighed down by morose concern for data regarding performance that we recorded in notebooks. During our formative years we established the mental and physical basis for the athletic skills we display as adults.

Looking at average improvement per hour (in terms of successes/attempts percentage) doing the drills done since Dec 9: one hour of practice improved my percentage rate of success using the right foot while emphasizing speed, by 120%, and while emphasizing maximizing distance between kicks, by 40%. One hour of practice improved my percentage rate of success using the left foot while emphasizing maximizing distance between kicks, by 20%. Thus the average improvement caused by each hour of practice since December 9, has been 60%.

A 60% improvement in skill per hour of practice, is like a skill being improved at a rate such that one becomes ten times better in a skill after 5 hours of practice, which is a phenomenal rate of improvement. Yet I've been feeling almost miserable, simply because I've been completely focused skill-wise on, so to speak, the weakest links in the chain.

Seems I've fallen victim to illogical emotion that tells me: 'you're being very clever about what you choose to do during your practices; since you are being so clever, there is of course nothing commendable about your performance during the practices; clever nerds never attain to athletic glory'.

     
  Friday 12/16
Oak Square YMCA
733 pm - 950 pm

Drill Revision Practicing Handling High/Close Balls Continued, WITH SWITCH TO KICKING BALL WITH LEFT FOOT for 3rd day in a row; with Emphasis on SPEED of runs; High successes/attempts percentages

I practiced today Friday 12/16 at the Oak Square Y. I emphasized speed; again I was kicking the ball with my left foot after tossing it. The change made today was that instead of trying to maximize distance between kicks, I tried to maximize speed.

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my RIGHT foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my LEFT foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the LEFT foot thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 13 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

By 'high-close arc' I mean: prior to the first kick of the run, the apex of the ball was high; on the first kick of the run, the ball was kicked with the body close to the ball, so that at ball impact time, the foot was no more than two feet from the point beneath the body. Studying the data I deduced that when it comes to air-dribble runs over and past hypothetical defenders, such kicks are the weakest link in the chain.

Clarifications:

Runs scored as failures or F: ball was kicked after being tossed up, but the ball bounced before the second kick of the run, or I could not reach the ball to make the second kick of the run.

Runs scored as G for good on first kick, but not on second: ball was kicked with the designated foot after being tossed up, and then the ball was reached with the designated foot before it touched the ground for the second kick, but I lost control of the ball or control of the direction of the ball on the second kick.

Runs scored as GG for good on first kick, and also good on second kick: ball was kicked with the designated foot after being tossed up, and then the ball was reached with the designated foot before it touched the ground for the second kick, with ball control maintained after the second kick.

Summary of the practice results over past 3 days, LF kicks:

Date-segment/percentage of attempts resulting in success on 1st & 2nd kicks/average distance between 1st & 2nd kick amongst runs rated good for both kicks/ intent of run; S=maximize speed, L = maximize length of distance between 1st kick & 2nd kick.

12/14-1 40%, 14.7'; L
12/14-2 45%, 13.8'; L
12/14-3 40%, 12.3'; L
12/15-1 44%, 15.1'; L
12/15-2 83%, 13.8'; L
12/16-1 69%, 13.7'; S
12/16-2 75%, 18.7'; S

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 44 feet. Runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online I have posted a new table entitled Summary & Details for Good LF Runs, starting Wed Dec 14. This table gives a summary of the results during the practice segments today, with detailed information provided for the 'GG' runs (runs that featured a good kick on both the first and second kicks of the run), and some of the 'G' runs (runs featuring a good kick on the first kick, but something going wrong on the second kick).

Today, the improvement rate per hour in terms of the successes/attempts percentage, was 9%. However, during the second segment today, the average distance between kicks was higher than it has ever been, at 18.7 feet, 36% higher than during the first segment. During the second segment, I deployed the 'fun' attitude.

I've noted over the past week, that skills for which my successes/attempts percentage is low, improve faster than skills for which my successes/attempts percentage is high; hence it can make sense to zero in on low percentage skills and practice them, especially when in the natural course of events, they get little attention and practice.

During the first segment this evening, 'Cuteo' (mentioned in the 10/18 entry this page), and a couple of his friends were sitting on the bench watching, while they waited to play ping-pong. Their presence did not faze me.

     
  Saturday 12/17
Waltham Y
614 pm - 744 pm


Drill Revision Practicing Handling High/Close Balls with Right Foot that was Last Implemented on Monday 12/12 Returned To; 1st segment emphasis on maximizing distance between kicks, 2nd segment emphasis on speed; Big Improvement in Successes/Attempts Percentage

I practiced on Saturday 12/17 at the Waltham Y, using the right foot only. I emphasized maximization of length of distance between kick 1 & kick 2 the first segment, and SPEED during the second segment.

The score history since 12/9 for Runs Involving Right-Footed Kicks: Date/percentage of attempts resulting in success on 1st & 2nd kicks/average distance between 1st & 2nd kick amongst runs rated good for both kicks/ intent of run; S=maximize speed, L = maximize length of distance between 1st kick & 2nd kick.

12/9-1 25%, 7.2'; S
12/9-2 26%, 12.5'; L
12/10-1 54%, 12.1'; S
12/12-1 30%, 9.7'; L
12/13-1 53%, 12.7'; L
7 segments using left foot only, 12/14-16
12/17-1 65%, ?'; L
12/17-2 76%, ?'; S

One can see, how practicing using the left foot only from December 14-16, seems to have resulted in significant improvement in terms of performance when using only the right foot.

I am by nature left-footed. This experience combined with past experiences, I now believe that (so to speak) my right foot learns from my left foot, when development of some new skill is being attempted.

One can see how comparing the 12/9 performances with the right foot, to the 12/17 performances with the right foot, the 10 (approx 1 hour long) segments of practice from 12/10 to 12/16, resulted in the average successes/attempts percentage when using the right foot, rising from 25.5% to 70.5%; this despite the fact that 7 of the 10 segments were devoted to using the left foot only.

Meaning that less than ten more segments of practice, can be expected to bring me to a 100% successes/attempts rate, when using my right foot , to achieve a type of trap (ball is kicked forwards so as to continue air-dribble run) on high-arcing balls that descend so as to produce a cramped awkward kick, with the right kicking foot no more than 2 feet in front of the left foot. When I get to 100% on such, I will have turned the weakest link in the chain into a strong point.

The two right-footed segments today were especially commendable in light of the fact that I've been using only the left foot, from 12/14 to 12/16. During both segments, I tried to mentally maintain a 'carefree' attitude, meaning that during the segment, and during the runs, and during the kicks, I tried to adopt an attitude that was mentally 'carefree' with regards to the failures vs successes score I was recording.

All the attempts continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the right foot only thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 14 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 42 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online there is a table entitled Summary & Details for Good RF Runs, starting Friday Dec 9 . This table gives a summary of the results during the practice segments today, with detailed information provided for the 'top runs' or the 'especially notable runs' .

     
  Tuesday 12/20
Waltham Y
520 pm - 730 pm


Drill Practicing Handling High/Close Balls with Left Foot Implemented; notes taken during practice minimized; 1st segment emphasis on maximizing distance between kicks, 2nd segment emphasis on speed;

I practiced on Tuesday 12/20 at the Waltham Y, using the right foot only. I emphasized maximization of length of distance between kick 1 & kick 2 the first segment, and SPEED during the second segment.

The only thing that I noted during the practice segments, was number of runs that fell in the GG or GG+ categories. The first segment I achieved runs scored as GG or GG+ 32 times in 60 minutes, which comes to 0.53/minute. The second segment I achieved runs scored as GG or GG+ 38 times in 60 minutes, which comes to 0.63/minute.

A GG run involves the ball kicked well so as to keep the ball off the ground and under control on the first kick, and also the ball kicked well and kept under control on the second kick of the run. A GG+ run is like a GG run but even better.

Somehow I managed to lose count regarding how many attempts I had made during a given segment (what I wanted to do, was to be able to lose count of such).

I estimate that the percentages today were not superior to the percentages last time the left-foot was used, which was Friday 12/16 four days ago.

Compared to the past few segments using the left foot alone, today: the number of kicks involving the use of ankle-force, with the foot flipping upwards immediately before striking the ball was much higher; today, the amount of ankle-force and foot-flip involved in the kicks utilizing such, was higher.

During both segments today there were significant delays during which no attempts were made. This due to me being deferent with regards to other people using the gym.

I felt better psychologically during today's practice than I have in months. Possible reasons: today there was a mix of all different ages of people in the gym, which is something I enjoy; today the number of attempts per hour was much greater than it has been in the past, as a result of which I was not under-exercized; this morning I had sent an email to Stanford QB Andrew Luck.

Why I suspect sending the email to Luck, resulted in me feeling better this evening: as a result of sending the email, my mind was sort of off in California even though I was physically speaking in the western suburbs of Boston; since my mind was off in California, I had completely forgotten about the annoying faults and misbehavior of the local population; since my mind was California, I was thinking about women and people in the local Boston area, without feeling negativity regarding their faults; in my mind California was a place like Chicago where it is abnormal and unnatural to think about women's faults & people's faults, which led to my forgetting about the faults of women and people in the local area.

As of now I suspect that in the Boston area, it is acceptable and normal for a man to be preoccupied by the sins of the men and the women around him; I suspect this has to do with the enthusiasm for the homosexual lifestyle.

I was feeling unusually good about a half an hour after the practice started up until the time I met Byron ('Biro') from Guatemala in the locker room after the practice. Although I've told Byro many times that the facetious kind of jokes that he is addicted to are uncivilized and condemned by the Book of Proverbs in the Bible, he was at it again. I told him the truth, that I had eliminated the facial sag problem I was beginning to experience a few years ago, by increasing the amount of organic and natural food in my diet. His response was to the effect of, no actually your facial sag problem is still with you', yuk, yuk, yuk. I could tell this was another example of facetious humor he is so proud of.

For example, in the previous case of his facetious humor, he told me that I will never make the pros and that I play as if I had a broomstick up my ass. Then the next day he came up to me to shake my hand in the gym, and declared that he wanted to "apologize 100% and that everything he said to me yesterday was a lie.

Possible reason I felt especially good during the practice: I drank about 20 oz of Glaceau 'Energy' type vitaminwater during the practice. This sports drink contains caffeine. For a couple of weeks now I've been feeling the effect of caffeine withdrawal; possibly the 'Vitaminwater' alleviated such.

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the LEFT foot only thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 14 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 42 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online I have posted a table entitled Summary & Details for Good LF Runs, starting Wed Dec 14. This table gives a usually up-to-date summary of the results during the practice segments, with detailed information provided for the 'GG' runs (runs that featured a good kick on both the first and second kicks of the run), and some of the 'G' runs (runs featuring a good kick on the first kick, but something going wrong on the second kick).

     
  Wednesday 12/21
Waltham Y
526 pm - 700 pm


Drill Practicing Handling High/Close Balls with Right Foot Implemented; notes taken during practice minimized; 1st segment emphasis on maximizing distance between kicks, 2nd segment emphasis on speed;

I practiced on Wednesday 12/21 at the Waltham Y, using the right foot only. I emphasized maximization of length of distance between kick 1 & kick 2 the first segment, and SPEED during the second segment.

The only thing that I noted during the practice segments, was number of runs that fell in the GG or GG+ categories. The first segment I achieved runs scored as GG or GG+ 24 times in 40 minutes, which comes to 0.60/minute. The second segment I achieved runs scored as GG or GG+ 32 times in 40 minutes, which comes to 0.80/minute.

A GG run involves the ball kicked well so as to keep the ball off the ground and under control on the first kick, and also the ball kicked well and kept under control on the second kick of the run. A GG+ run is like a GG run but even better.

I managed to lose count regarding how many attempts I had made during a given segment (what I wanted to do, was to be able to lose count of such).

I estimate that the percentages today were not superior to the percentages last time the right-foot was used, which was Saturday 12/17 four days ago.

Compared to the past few segments using the right foot alone, today: the number of kicks involving the use of ankle-force, with the foot flipping upwards immediately before striking the ball was much higher; today, the amount of ankle-force and foot-flip involved in the kicks utilizing such, was higher.

This practice was done in a sleep-deprived state. I estimate that during the 24 hours prior to the start of today's practice, I had only two hours of sleep.

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the RIGHT foot only thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 14 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 42 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online there is a table entitled Summary & Details for Good RF Runs, starting Friday Dec 9 . This table gives a summary of the results during the practice segments that is usually up to date, with detailed information provided for the 'top runs' or the 'especially notable runs' .

     
  Thursday 12/22
Waltham Y
826 pm - 950 pm


Drill Practicing Handling High/Close Balls with LEFT Foot Implemented; notes taken during practice minimized; one segment involving attempt to slant RIGHT on the first kick.

Today, Thursday 12/22 I practiced at the Waltham Y, using the LEFT foot only. I attempted to slant RIGHT starting with the first kicks of the runs.

The only thing that I noted during the practice segments, was number of runs that were at least good enough to be rated as G, GG or GG+. I achieved runs that produced a slant right on the first kick, and that also scored as a G, GG or GG+ 27 times in 66 minutes, which comes to 0.41/minute.

A GG run involves the ball kicked well on the first kick so as to keep the ball off the ground and under control, and also the ball kicked well and kept under control on the second kick of the run. A GG+ run is like a GG run but even better.

A G run is worse than a GG run; runs scored as G involve a good kick on the first kick of the run that sets me up well for a second kick with the ball not touching the ground between the first and second kick, however runs scored as G involve mis-kicks on the second kick of the run hence they are scored as just a G.

Again I managed to lose count regarding how many attempts I had made during a given segment (what I wanted to do, was to be able to lose count of such).

I was intending to practice for more hours today, but I felt too tired to do so. Fact is that the practice-days starting with Tuesday 12/20, have involved a much increased number of attempts per hour, because the note-taking during the practice has been minimized.

Assuming that the percentage of runs rated at G/GG/GG+ has been, since I minimized note-taking & stopped keeping track of the number of attempts per segment, the same as it was when the number of attempts was most recently counted on 12/16-17 (average success/attempt percentage 12/16-17 = 74%), I estimate that the number of attempts per minute 12/20 & 12/21 combined (days on which I minimized note-taking), was at least 0.85 per minute. By way of contrast, 12/16-17, when I was taking more detailed notes, the number of attempts per minute was 0.31 (notes taken 12/16 were more detailed than those taken 12/17).

Hence I estimate that when I minimize note-taking, the number of attempts per hour is about three times greater than it is when I take detailed notes. This means that one hour of practice not taking detailed notes is in terms of physical effort approx equal to three hours of practice when taking detailed notes.

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the LEFT foot only thereafter; trying to produce a slant-right on the first kick of the runs; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 14 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 42 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online there is a usually-up-to-date table entitled Summary & Details for Good LF Runs, starting Wed Dec 14. This table gives a summary of the results during the practice segments, sometimes with detailed information provided for the 'GG' runs (runs that featured a good kick on both the first and second kicks of the run), and some of the 'G' runs (runs featuring a good kick on the first kick, but something going wrong on the second kick).

     
  Friday 12/23
Waltham Y
905 pm - 950 pm


Drill Practicing Handling High/Close Balls with LEFT Foot Implemented; notes taken during practice minimized; one segment involving attempt to slant LEFT on the first kick.

Today, Friday 12/23 I practiced at the Waltham Y, using the LEFT foot only. I attempted to slant LEFT starting with the first kick of each run.

The only thing that I noted during the practice segments, was number of runs that were at least good enough to be rated as G, GG or GG+. I achieved runs that produced a slant left on the first kick, and that also scored as a G, GG or GG+ 23 times in 42 minutes, which comes to 0.55/minute.

A GG run involves the ball kicked well on the first kick so as to keep the ball off the ground and under control, and also the ball kicked well and kept under control on the second kick of the run. A GG+ run is like a GG run but even better.

A G run is worse than a GG run; runs scored as G involve a good kick on the first kick of the run that sets me up well for a second kick with the ball not touching the ground between the first and second kick, however runs scored as G involve mis-kicks on the second kick of the run hence they are scored as just a G.

Again I managed to lose count regarding how many attempts I had made during a given segment (what I wanted to do, was to be able to lose count of such).

During the practice I noticed something that I have never noticed before: interesting effective changes of pace and direction, can be achieved by way of not just the foot moving in a forwards direction at the time of ball contact, but also by way of the foot moving in a backwards direction at the time of ball contact.

Mastering speed, maximization of distance between touches, and change of direction when kicking high-arc close cramped-type balls that are kicked with the non-kicking foot no more than two feet from the kicking foot, could result to some extent in automatic mastery of the art of handling balls that are easier to handle, such as balls that follow a medium high arc prior to being kicked, and that are kicked with the kicking foot more than two feet away from the non-kicking foot.

By 'automatic mastery' I mean: the given skill is mastered without being practiced due to the fact that a similar but more difficult skill has been practiced.

Recently I've noticed that the especially difficult to handle, high-close balls that I've been concentrating on in practice since December 7, produce certain advantages compared to easier-to-handle balls encountered during such runs, such as balls that apex at medium height and then are kicked when ball is comfortably in front of the body as opposed to in close-cramped conditions.

The high-arc balls that are kicked with the kicking foot close to the non-kicking foot, follow a longer, more vertical path of descent prior to being kicked; this produces an unusually strong downwards force that in turn can be harnessed/reflected/bounced by the ensuing kick, so that the ball is sent in directions other than straight ahead with power.

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the LEFT foot only thereafter; trying to produce a slant-LEFT on the first kick of the runs; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 14 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 42 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online there is a usually-up-to-date table entitled Summary & Details for Good LF Runs, starting Wed Dec 14. This table gives a summary of the results during the practice segments, sometimes with detailed information provided for the 'GG' runs (runs that featured a good kick on both the first and second kicks of the run), and some of the 'G' runs (runs featuring a good kick on the first kick, but something going wrong on the second kick).

     
  Monday 12/26

Waltham Y
604 pm - 704 pm
823 pm - 923 pm

Drill Practicing Handling High/Close Balls with RIGHT Foot Implemented; notes taken during practice minimized; first segment involving attempt to slant LEFT on the first kick, second segment involving attempt to slant RIGHT on first kick.

Today, I practiced at the Waltham Y, using the RIGHT foot only (a few times the left was used). I attempted to use the first kick of the run to slant LEFT during the first segment, and to slant RIGHT during the second segment.

The only thing that I noted during the practice segments, was number of runs that were at least good enough to be rated as G, GG or GG+. First segment, I achieved runs that produced a slant left on the first kick, and that also scored as a G, GG or GG+ 34 times in 60 minutes, which comes to 0.57/minute. Second segment, I achieved runs that produced a slant right on the first kick, and that also scored as a G, GG or GG+ 37 times in 60 minutes, which comes to 0.62/minute.

A GG run involves the ball kicked well on the first kick so as to keep the ball off the ground and under control, and also the ball kicked well and kept under control on the second kick of the run. A GG+ run is like a GG run but even better.

A G run is worse than a GG run; runs scored as G involve a good kick on the first kick of the run that sets me up well for a second kick with the ball not touching the ground between the first and second kick, however runs scored as G involve mis-kicks on the second kick of the run hence they are scored as just a G.

Early on in the practice, I noted that the type of mnemonic that I recited before each run, effected the performance level. The mnemonic I started out using, was: R (step forwards with right foot), Loft (toss ball in air as left foot moves forwards), Reft (kick ball with right foot in a left-slanting direction), on (continue kicking ball with right foot for rest of run). Then I switched to a different mnemonic for the same runs (right-footed kicks producing slant to my left).

The second mnemonic was: 'R (step forwards with right foot), Loft (toss ball in air as left foot moves forwards), Tf+ (kick ball with right foot, with the ball landing on the Top of the foot (t), in the area above the middle of the toes (f+) ). I found that this second mnemonic coincided with much improved performance. I attributed this to the fact that the second mnemonic provided detailed info re where the ball should strike the foot, whereas the first mnemonic did not.

I was not taking detailed notes today, but I estimate that during the first 20 minutes of the first segment, my success rate was 0.33/minute using the first mnemonic, whereas during the last 40 minutes of the first segment, my success rate was 0.68 per minute, while using the second mnemonic. During the segment I felt convinced that above and beyond the fact that performance first segment (there is no unscored warmup) improves as the segment wears on, switching to the second mnemonic improved performance.

Previously, when using the left foot to kick the ball during the runs (I'm left-footed), I had avoided using 'Tf+' in the pre-run mnemonic I silently recited to myself in my head, because I did not want to prematurely abort the development of a variety of techniques; I felt that the TF+ mnemonic which directed me to contact the ball with a specific part of the foot, might prematurely prevent variety of technique from manifesting.

It can seem to be a pedantic exercise to practice these cramped kicks with the kicking foot close to the body and the ball coming in from a high arc, because naturally in a game, such high close balls instead of being kicked, would generally be headed, or perhaps sometimes contacted with the thigh. However during the practice I noted, that when the foot is used on such balls instead of the head or the thigh, things can be done with the ball that cannot be done when the ball is contacted with the head or thigh.

For example, using the foot, the ball can be sent to a spot to my side that is about five feet away, and then the foot can be used again before the ball bounces; but it is almost impossible to do this using the head. When the foot is used, a strong spin can easily be placed on the ball as a result of which the ball bounces in surprising strange ways that throw off the defense; but when using the head or the thigh, the amount of spin imparted to the ball is much less.

Starting about three practice-days prior to today's practice, I began to notice that my performance on the kicks that come after the first kick, has been improving as a result of drills of the type done today; my ability to change direction on these kicks, the ease/grace with which the kicks are made, the distance covered between kicks, have all improved. I believe this improvement indicates that the 'automatic mastery' phenomenon is indeed in effect to a significant extent-- practicing the difficult kicks of the close high balls on the first kick after the chip up and over the hypothetical defender, has automatically improved my performance on the different easier kicks that come after the first kick in the run.

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the RIGHT foot only thereafter; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 14 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 42 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online there is a table entitled Summary & Details for Good RF Runs, starting Friday Dec 9 . This table gives a usually-up-to-date summary of the results during the practice segments that is usually up to date, with detailed information provided for the 'top runs' or the 'especially notable runs' .

     
  Wednesday 12/28

Waltham Y
605 pm - 706 pm
842 pm - 942 pm

Drill Practicing Handling High/Close Balls with LEFT Foot Implemented; notes taken during practice minimized; first segment involving attempt to slant RIGHT on the first kick, second segment involving attempt to slant LEFT on first kick.

Today, I practiced at the Waltham Y, using the LEFT foot only (a few times the right was used). I attempted to use the first kick of the run to slant RIGHT during the first segment, and to slant LEFT during the second segment.

The only thing that I noted during the practice segments, was number of runs that were at least good enough to be rated as G, GG or GG+. First segment, I achieved runs that produced a slant left on the first kick, and that also scored as a G, GG or GG+ 59 times in 60 minutes, which comes to 0.98/minute. Second segment, I achieved runs that produced a slant right on the first kick, and that also scored as a G, GG or GG+ 62 times in 60 minutes, which comes to 1.03/minute.

A GG run involves the ball kicked well on the first kick so as to keep the ball off the ground and under control, and also the ball kicked well and kept under control on the second kick of the run. A GG+ run is like a GG run but even better.

A G run is worse than a GG run; runs scored as G involve a good kick on the first kick of the run that sets me up well for a second kick with the ball not touching the ground between the first and second kick, however runs scored as G involve mis-kicks on the second kick of the run hence they are scored as just a G.

During the practice I developed an idea: perhaps I should learn to deliberately kick the ball into my chest. I noticed that there were several runs during which, on the first kick, I kicked the ball into my chest, and then after the ball bounced off my chest, kicked the ball with my foot. These runs worked out well in that the ball was kept under control, the intended directional slant was adhered to, and fast forwards progress was made during the run.

An advantage of mastering intentionally kicking the ball into my chest is predictability; whenever the ball is kicked into my chest, the end result in terms of where the ball ends up after it hits my chest, is roughly the same. Also, often when the all hits my chest, it sort of stays stuck to my chest, which allows me to sort of wheel to my left or right, or move forwards, while pushing the ball with my chest.

The direction the toe is pointing at time of ball-impact, the direction the foot is moving at time of ball-impact, and the lateral position of the ball at time of impact with the foot, all effect the direction the ball moves after being kicked (by lateral position I mean, left side of foot, middle or top of foot, or right side of foot). I noted that lateral position of the ball exerts a stronger effect on the directional path of the ball compared to toe-direction or foot-direction.

I noted that a slight crouch at time of ball impact during the first kick, seems to improve performance.

During the first segment, the pre-run mnemonic I recited was, 'R, loft, TF+ right'. During the second segment, at the start, this mnemonic was, 'R, loft, TF+ left'. Then feeling dissatisfied I changed to 'R, loft, 45TF+ left' (45 meaning that the foot should be held at an upwards angle of 45 degrees at ball contact time); seemed this change at first improved performance but later impaired performance. Finally I ended the second segment leaving the 45 out and using the 'R, loft, TF+ left' mnemonic; leaving the 45 out seemed to improve performance.

Seemed to me, that including the foot-angle specification '45' in the pre-run mnemonic, results in too much stiffness in the foot, and interferes with the natural ankle-flip-force that often produces good kicks. Also, due to ball position variance at time of impact with the foot, the 45 degree upwards angle for the foot is not always optimal.

Over the past couple of days I've developed a doctrine: the pre-run mnemonic can be insufficiently detailed; the pre-run mnemonic can be excessively detailed.

The last time I practiced slanting left and right using the left foot as I did today, was 12/22 (slant right), and 12/23 (slant left). The score 12/22 was 0.41/minute, the score 12/23 was 0.55/minute. Then 12/26 I practiced using the right foot for the kicks. Then today 12/28 I practiced using the left foot, and the slant-left score was 0.98/minute, and the slant-right score was 1.03/minute.

Thus the left-footed slant-left was up from 0.41/min to 0.98/min today, and the left-footed slant-right was up from 0.55/min to 1.03/min today. This is a phenomenal rate of progress, with the score doubling for a given task with every hour of practice spent on the task. Continuing at such a rate of improvement I would quickly become some kind of deity. This despite the fact that today during practice I felt physically tired and stiff, and mentally unhappy (cause of such--12/24 to 12/26, only 6 hours of sleep in 68 hours of existence; lack of sleep 12/26-27).

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the LEFT foot only thereafter; trying to produce a slant-LEFT or slant-RIGHT on the first kick of the runs; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 14 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

These runs were done using about half of the length of the gym; the total distance from start point to the curtain that I ran at, was approx 42 feet. Many runs came to an end due to the proximity of the curtain.

Online there is a usually-up-to-date table entitled Summary & Details for Good LF Runs, starting Wed Dec 14. This table gives a summary of the results during the practice segments, sometimes with detailed information provided for the 'GG' runs (runs that featured a good kick on both the first and second kicks of the run), and some of the 'G' runs (runs featuring a good kick on the first kick, but something going wrong on the second kick).

     
  Friday 12/30

Waltham Y
635 - 735 am

Drill Practicing Handling High/Close Balls with RIGHT Foot Implemented; notes taken during practice minimized; segment involving attempt to slant LEFT on the first kick; continued high rate of improvement

Today, I practiced at the Waltham Y, using the RIGHT foot only (occasionally the left was used). I attempted to use the first kick of the run to slant LEFT during the segment.

The only thing that I noted during the practice segments, was number of runs that were at least good enough to be rated as G, GG or GG+. During the segment, I achieved runs that produced a slant left on the first kick, and that also scored as a G, GG or GG+ 57 times in 60 minutes, which comes to 0.95/minute.

A GG run involves the ball kicked well on the first kick so as to keep the ball off the ground and under control, and also the ball kicked well and kept under control on the second kick of the run. A GG+ run is like a GG run but even better.

A G run is worse than a GG run; runs scored as G involve a good kick on the first kick of the run that sets me up well for a second kick with the ball not touching the ground between the first and second kick, however runs scored as G involve mis-kicks on the second kick of the run hence they are scored as just a G.

During the practice I noted that the closer the right kicking foot at ball contact time is to the left non-kicking foot, the sharper the turn of direction to the left. This has to do with the fact that when the ball is closer to the non-kicking foot, the kicking foot is pointed inwards at a sharper angle.

The best kicks seemed to occur with the non-kicking foot off the ground.

During the segment, the pre-run mnemonic I recited was, 'R, loft, TF+ left'.

The last time I practiced slanting left using the right foot as I did today, was 12/26. The score 12/26 was 0.57/minute; today 12/30 doing the same thing, the score was 0.95 per minute. Thus the score today was 67% higher ( (95-57)/57 = 67) than it was 12/26.

Performance improving by 67% per hour of practice is a tremendous rate of improvement; this despite the fact that mentally and physically I have been in a sort of humdrum state of existence while the improvement has occurred.

Including the hour spent practicing slanting RIGHT using the right foot on 12/26, the improvement rate is 29% per hour, because the square root of 1.67 is 1.29. An improvement rate of 29% per hour is also excellent. Improving at a rate of 29% per hour, I will be ten times better than I am now in just 9 more hours. This mathematical fact contradicts the general sense of mediocrity I have been subjectively experiencing-- a little basic competence in applied math can go a long way in terms of pulling oneself out of an unrealistic sense of futility produced by emotion, and back to reality.

All the attempts involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the RIGHT foot only thereafter; trying to produce a slant-LEFT on the first kick of the runs; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 14 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.

Online there is a table entitled Summary & Details for Good RF Runs, starting Friday Dec 9 . This table gives a usually-up-to-date summary of the results during the practice segments that is usually up to date, with detailed information provided for the 'top runs' or the 'especially notable runs' .

     
  Monday January 2nd

Dream related to soccer

Dream About Levitating and Flying While Playing Soccer with Pope John Paul II & Others

I had the dream around 3:00 AM EST, January 2nd.

I was on what seemed to be an island, the weather was cool, but not so cool as to require jackets or coats; the weather was pleasant, just perfect; I was playing soccer with Pope John Paul II, one to two dozen people who were young to middle aged adults, and a high-level church official who was just a step below the Pope. The pope and his assistant were wearing tight-fitting white spherical hats, and they both played goalie. We were not involved in an actual game, but rather just passing the ball, taking shots, and juggling the ball. It was all very pleasant, almost paradisical.

Seemed it was that time of day right after the sun sets, when there is still daylight. At first I was surprised at how the others playing with me seemed at least as good as me, but as time wore on my skills began to manifest. I was thinking, maybe these people are producing such good long passes because they are used to playing on sand, or because they are playing barefoot which gives an advantage on sand.

I discovered that I could just scoop up the soccer ball, hold the ball between my shin and the top of the foot, and run with it. In this manner I ran at a a young man, flipped the ball over him, and reconnected with the ball behind him; the move worked perfectly, despite the ball glancing off the left side of the man's chest during the move.

I was thinking, I'm doing at least as well as the others but not getting noticed as much by the people watching.

At one point as I neared the assistant to the pope, who was playing goalie, I muttered something angrily under my breath about someone who was annoying me. I think one of the words I muttered was 'grandmother'. Then I assured the pope's assistant that I was not talking about him but rather muttering about somebody else.

I air-dribbled the ball as I've been doing in practice; I kicked the ball high, and got my body close to the ball while kicking it, similar to how in practice I've been throwing the ball high and getting close to it when kicking it. By air-dribble I mean the ball does not touch the ground as me and the ball move around--it's not a stationary juggle of the type the Spanish-types are so often engaged in.

After I had been playing with the ball for a while, somehow I managed to air-dribble the ball, sending the ball high between touches and keeping my body close to the ball when kicking it, while levitating with my feet about ten feet above the ground; I found I was able to move both forwards over and above some concrete and some bushes and then also backwards while levitating; then I returned to the ground.

Then I did some air-dribbling of the same sort but without levitating, on the sand and behold-- on the third or fourth kick of the ball my body rose up to an altitude high in the sky so that everything down below on earth looked the way it does from a satellite or from an airplane high in the sky.

From the sky, I could see: a mainland; a strip of land descending at a 45 degree angle downwards and to my right from the mainland; water in between this strip of land and the mainland; a couple of triangular shaped islands in the middle of the water between the mainland and the strip of land; a large sandy area a short distance from the strip of land that looked like an island, which was where I had been playing soccer, regarding which I was not sure whether it was connected to the mainland or an actual island; a modern, tall, rectangular shaped colorful looking building on the mainland near the shore, with windows colored red and blue, as a result of which it seemed from high above that the building had huge red and blue windows much larger than normal windows. The colorful modern building gave me the impression that I was looking at some part of California.

Then without feeling afraid, I descended back to the earth, walked into the dimly lit ground floor of a building, and asked what date & time it was and where I was. Nobody answered my question. A 'police psychiatrist', a policeman who was also a psychiatrist, was summoned. Next I was sitting in a chair at a table, near the 'police psychiatrist', talking with him. He was balding, bespectacled, white, middle-aged, and somewhat overweight. He did not tell me where I was or what the date and time was. I tried to impress him by talking about how I had a good friend in Chicago, who was a doctor, Michael Gross MD.

Then I woke up.

     
  Wednesday January 4th

Application for Waltham Y Executive Director Position

Links to Copies of the Pages in my application for Waltham YMCA Executive Director

After gaining laborious victories over innumerable problems with PC technology, I finished filling out the YMCA job application forms, without having to buy a typewriter. How? I scanned the application forms into my computer, and then used Microsoft Paint to fill them out, then printed them. This method has various advantages compared to the use of a typewriter.

Then I went to Home Depot in Waltham, looking for a good deal on some stuff. There, there was a white middle-aged, jovial energetic bespectacled man who reminded me of my grandfather 'Mack'. He was scoffing at his employees and being friendly and respectful with me. At one point he shrugged his shoulders as he looked at me and shouted 'Naa...she's getting in the way'. I estimated he was yet another Waltham man who I don't even know, expressing how he felt I should be the Y Director instead of the woman who now is, but is moving on to another Y now. Then the elderly woman who was a cashier, as she rang up the sale, murmured, 'I like Scots' (my grandfather was part-Scot).

This experience at Home Depot just reinforced in me, my inclination to post my application to the Y up on the internet. And so, here are the links to the pages in the application:

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

CORI Form

Attachment

I suspect that the impressive computer programmer from 'Haiti' named Donald, who works sometimes at the Waltham Y, and who exercises at the YMCA, might be behind the recent goings on at the YMCA with regards to the Executive Director job (Donald taught me respect for U Mass, he studied programming there, and now he's a pro programmer). More than a year ago, Donald informed me, in his hard-to-understand enthusiastic way: "Ya you...I'll kick her upstairs".

     
  Thursday January 5th

Email to Y Human Resources VP re Exec Dir Job

Link to email sent to Greater Boston YMCA VP for Human Resources Paul Mantell, re Waltham Y Executive Director Position

Y-boston VP HR Paul Mantell: regarding the waltham Y exec director position

     
  Monday 01/03
Oak Sq Y
1252 PM - 332 PM

Friday 01/06
Oak Sq Y
218 - 443 pm

Various Drills Practicing Handling High/Close Balls of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with

I felt exhausted from January 3 to January 5, too exhausted to practice. This because: I've been trying to lose weight (more on this in another entry later); working on the job application has left me feeling stressed out and angry because it has reminded me of past events in my life, the memory of which makes me feel that I've been financially abused by society.


Note 1: A run scored as a GG run involves the ball kicked well on the first kick so as to keep the ball off the ground and under control, and also the ball kicked well and kept under control on the second kick of the run. A run scored as a GG+ run is like a GG run but even better. A run scored as a G run involves the ball kicked well on the first kick, the ball kicked again on the 2nd kick before it hits the ground, but with a lack of control of the ball on the 2nd kick of the run.

Note 2: on January 2, I introduced a new strict form of scoring, strict compared to what has been the case in the previous days. According to the new strict method of scoring, a run was counted as a success, only if: the angle of the slant produced by the first kick of the run was in the intended direction and ALSO an angle of between 30 & 60 degrees; the distance between the first kick and the second kick was at least 7'; the apex of the ball between the first kick and the second kick was at least 5'. Aside from this the new strict method of scoring is the same as the less-strict form of scoring I have been applying in previous days.

Note 3: ... All the attempts January 2 & 6 involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the left foot only or the right foot only thereafter; trying to produce a slant-LEFT or a slant-RIGHT on the first kick of the runs; attempting to kick the ball again before it hits the ground on the second kick of the run; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 14 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.


January 2, I practiced at the Oak Sq Y. The first segment, the intention was to use the RIGHT foot only (occasionally the left was used). I attempted to use the first kick of the run to slant RIGHT. During the first segment of January 2, I achieved runs that produced a slant RIGHT on the first kick, and that also scored as a G, GG or GG+ (according to the less-strict form of scoring) 69 times in 60 minutes, which comes to 1.15/minute. Thus the number of successses was up 83% compared to the last time I did this drill.

During the 2nd segment January 2, the intention was to use the LEFT foot to slant RIGHT on the first kick of the runs. there were 60 runs counted as successes going by the new strict form of scoring described in Note 2 at the beginning of this entry (slanted in the intended direction, scored as at least a G, & satisfied the new strict criteria) in 60 minutes, 1.o per minute.


January 6, I practiced at the Oak Sq Y. The first segment, the intention was to use the LEFT foot only. I attempted to use the first kick of each run to slant LEFT. During the first segment of January 6, I achieved runs that produced the intended slant LEFT on the first kick,scored as a G, GG or GG+, & satisfied the new strict criteria described in Note 2 at the beginning of this entry 52 times in 60 minutes, which comes to 0.87/minute.

January 6, the second segment, again, the intention was to use the LEFT foot only, attempting to use the first kick of the run to slant LEFT. However during this segment, I attempted to kick the ball to my left on the first kick, with the toe of my leftfoot pointing to my RIGHT. During the 2nd segment of January 6, I achieved runs that produced a slant LEFT on the first kick, scored as a G, GG or GG+, & satisfied the new strict criteria described in Note 2 in the beginning of this entry37 times in 60 minutes, which comes to 0.62/minute. During this segment after every successful run, I made a brief note re where on the foot the ball struck the foot, and the movement of the ankle during the kick, during the first kick of the run.

During the 2nd segment January 6, the pre-run mnemonic I recited was, 'R, loft, Treft'. By 'Treft', I meant, that the Toe of my left foot was pointed to my Right, when I kicked the ball to me left, on the first kick of the runs.

During the middle of this second segment of January 6, I realized that though I was starting the first kick of the run with my foot pointed towards my right, my foot was sometimes ending up pointed towards my left at the time of ball contact, this despite the fact that the whole point of this segment was to experiment with kicking the ball to my LEFT, but with the toe of my left kicking foot pointing towards my RIGHT at ball-contact time, on the first kick of the runs.

Therefore, during the second half of the 2nd segment of today January 6, I made sure that I threw the ball somewhat to my right at the beginning of the runs prior to the first kick, so that the toe of the kicking foot would not be pointing LEFT at ball contact-time. I'm not sure, but I estimate that the successes per minute rate was the same during the 2nd half of the 2nd segment January 6, as it was during the first half of the 2nd segment January 6.

During the 2nd half of the 2nd segment January 6, out of 19 successes: 32% were recorded as T, F++; 21% were recorded as T, F+; 11% were recorded as T, F; 16% were recorded as TL, F+; 5% were recorded as T, M; 11% were recorded as L, F+; & 5% were recorded as L, F++.

Explanation of above paragraph: T means the ball struck the top of the foot; TL means the ball struck the top left of the foot; L means the ball struck the left edge of the foot; M means the ball longitudinally speaking struck behind the point where the toes intersect with the foot; F means the ball struck where the toes intersect with the foot; F+ means the ball struck above the middle of the toes in between where the toes intersect with the foot and the toe-tips; F++ means the ball struck the foot above the front of the toes.

Of the first 15 successes during the 2nd segment January 6, 73% involved ball contact with the left edge of the left foot, and 27% involved ball contact with the left of the top of the foot. Of the last 22 successes during the 2nd segment January 6, 86% involved ball contact with the top of the foot, latitudinally speaking in the middle of the foot.

     
  Saturday 01/07
Waltham Y
545 PM - 750 PM


Right Footed Drills Practicing Handling High/Close Balls of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with


Note 1: A run scored as a GG run involves the ball kicked well on the first kick so as to keep the ball off the ground and under control, and also the ball kicked well and kept under control on the second kick of the run. A run scored as a GG+ run is like a GG run but even better. A run scored as a G run involves the ball kicked well on the first kick, the ball kicked again on the 2nd kick before it hits the ground, but with a lack of control of the ball on the 2nd kick of the run.

Note 2: on January 2, I introduced a new strict form of scoring, strict compared to what has been the case in the previous days. According to the new strict method of scoring, a run was counted as a success, only if: the angle of the slant produced by the first kick of the run was in the intended direction and ALSO an angle of between 30 & 60 degrees; the distance between the first kick and the second kick was at least 7'; the apex of the ball between the first kick and the second kick was at least 5'. Aside from this the new strict method of scoring is the same as the less-strict form of scoring I have been applying in previous days.

Note 3: ... All the attempts today January 7, involved: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the right foot only thereafter; trying to produce a slant-LEFT (segment 1) or a slant-RIGHT (segment 2) on the first kick of the runs; attempting to kick the ball again before it hits the ground on the second kick of the run; all of this happening as I run forwards covering a distance of about 14 yards from start to finish, with the ball kept off the ground the entire time.


Today Saturday January 7, I practiced at the Waltham Y. The first segment, the intention was to use the RIGHT foot only (occasionally the left was used). I attempted to use the first kick of the run to slant LEFT. During the first segment today,There were 50 runs counted as successes going by the new strict form of scoring described in Note 2 at the beginning of this entry (slanted in the intended direction, scored as at least a G, & satisfied the new strict criteria) in 55 minutes, 0.91 per minute.

During the first segment it seemed that exaggerated and/or premature body-movement in the direction of the intended slant of the ball after the first kick of the run, throws things off.

Last time doing this drill was 12/30, when the successes per minute rate was 0.95/minute using a scoring system that is less strict than the one used today.

Previous to 12/30, this drill was done on 12/26, when the successes per minute rate was 0.57/minute using a scoring system that is less strict than the one used today, this was the the same scoring system as the scoring system used 12/30.


During the 2nd segment today Saturday January 7, the intention was to use the RIGHT foot to slant RIGHT on the first kick of the runs. There were 44 runs counted as successes going by the new strict form of scoring described in Note 2 at the beginning of this entry (slanted in the intended direction, scored as at least a G, & satisfied the new strict criteria) in 50 minutes, 0.88 per minute.

Last time doing this drill was done on 01/02, when the successes per minute rate was 1.15/minute using a scoring system that is less strict than the one used today.

Previous to 01/02, this drill was done on 12/26, when the successes per minute rate was 0.62/minute using a scoring system that is less strict than the one used today, same scoring system used 12/30.

During the second segment, I developed a suspicion that certain persons at the YMCA, were sinning by being judgemental with regards to a certain member Mr X, having had a social interest in a certain Ms Y. Later I was thinking, if I were running the YMCA, my policy would be, that it is not my business whether Mr X had a social interest in Ms Y, and that I do not have a right to use the fact that he had a social interest in Ms Y, to discriminate against him with regards to employment, or with regards to if he should be allowed on Y property, or with regards to if he should be a member.


So I can see that using the right foot, to slant left: I was at 0.57 successes per minute on 12/26 twelve days ago using a tolerant scoring system, and today I was at 0.91 successes per minute using a strict scoring system.

And, using the right foot, to slant right: I was at 0.62 successes per minute on 12/26 twelve days ago using a tolerant scoring system, and today I was at 0.88 successes per minute using a strict scoring system.

This represents dramatic progress accomplished during the eight segments done on: 12/26 (2 segments); 12/28 (2 segments); 12/30 (1 segment); 01/2 (2 segments); and, 01/06 (1 segment). This progress, produced by only 8 hours of practice, led to the high scores achieved this evening 01/07.

Looking at right-footed kick to slant ball to left and right-footed kick to slant ball to right put together, today's practice showed an improvement of 50% compared to 8 practice hours ago, not taking into account, that the scoring system has become more strict.

Given an improvement in performance of 50% every eight hours, in 32 more practice hours I will be about five times better than I am now.

So I can see that the history of soccer for me personally, during the twelve days from Christmas to a week after New Year's day, as having being twelve days of majestic astounding dramatic progress per hour, despite: the cold-weather, the limited number of practice hours, and my personal emotional subjective sense that I was being a shabby ordinary unimpressive person during those twelve holidayish days.

     
  Monday 01/09
Waltham Y
434 PM - 623 PM


New Never-Done-Before Left Footed Drills Practicing Handling High/Close Balls of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with


Note 1: All the attempts today January 9, continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the foot only, with the body close to the foot thereafter.

The pattern followed starting with the first kick of the run during the 1st segment, was different from the pattern followed starting with the 1st kick of the run during the 2nd segment.


The 1st segment, the intention was to use the LEFT foot only. Starting with the first kick of the run: I attempted to use the my left foot on the first kick of the run to produce a backwards 180 degrees movement, with the apex of the ball as produced by the first kick, at least 6 feet; on kicks thereafter I continued to try to use the left foot to produce a backwards movement of the body and the ball with ball apex of at least 6 feet; the intention the entire time was to keep the ball off the ground.

A run was counted as a success if: my body moved backwards between the first kick and the second kick, and also, the ball did not touch the ground between the first kick and the second kick.

First segment, there were 28 successes in 56 minutes, 0.50 successes per minute.


The 2nd segment, the intention was to use the LEFT foot only . A run was counted as a success only if: the first touch of the run produced an apex of at least 6 feet; the 2nd kick of the run produced an apex of at least 6 feet; the foot touched the ball on the 3rd touch of the run; all of this happened without the ball touching the ground; my body stayed stationary in terms of forwards movement, or moved forwards between the 1st touch and the last touch.

Second segment, there were 13 successes in 23 minutes, 0.57 successes per minute.

     
  Tuesday 01/10

Woke up Noon,
Planned day

440-605 PM
Oak Sq Y
Did new off-wall drills

715-930 PM
Oak Sq Y
Played in league game


A game-day described, starting with from when I woke up, to the point after the games


Today I was cognizant of how one's thoughts words and actions prior to a game on game day, can have a surprisingly strong impact in terms of one's performance during a game.

Today somehow I managed to wake up at noon-- I had set my alarm clock to wake up at 715 PM, hence up late.

First things I did upon waking: prepared myself one of my self-invented 'nutrients cocktails', & consumed it; boiled some spring water, and then poured into a cup which had within it organic raw cacao powder & turbinado raw sugar, and consumed some of the hot drink produced; emptied and repacked my gym bag with all necessary stuff; brushed my teeth; and, shaved.

Then at 1:45 PM: I sat down at one of my three desks, at the main desk, and with a pen & a one-subject, wide-ruled notebook, while looking at the xeroxed Y gym schedules I had, took notes on the Waltham Y & Oak Square Y schedules in a paper notebook; analyzed my written notes on the schedules; and, concluded that today I should leave for the Oak Square Y in between 4 PM & 6 PM.

Next, at my computer desk, I began the log input you are now reading it is now 2:14 PM.

Next, I turned my attention to the importance of planning the pre-game drills intelligently, especially since today I might have two uniterrupted hours to do drills, at the site of the game, prior to the start of the game.

So it is now 2:27 PM and I am going to: find a ball and under-inflate it to the proper under-inflated setting; sit down at my main desk with a pen and notebook, and take notes regarding what the most intelligent choices would be when it comes to pre-game drills.

Today I've already realized/remembered that: the ball they will be using during the game will be soft and underinflated; most probably I will find myself playing goalie and defense; in the past, I have failed to realistically face the fact that I will end up playing goalie and defense; the short balding stocky white man who I saw at the Waltham Y kicking a ball at the wall repeatedly as it rebounded to him off the wall might have an idea I should use; realistically speaking, today is going to involve playing a ground game.

I've already decided in fact, what the decision will be basically, in terms of drills today. Today the pre-game drills will be drills such as: A) stand in front of wall, kick ball at wall, kick rebound at one wall on first touch; B) stand in front of wall, kick ball at wall,trap ball on first touch, kick rebound at one wall on second touch; C) stand in front of wall, kick ball at wall, trap ball on first touch, dribble ball on second touch, kick ball at wall on third touch.

I have to admit to the fact that perhaps I as a player am in certain ways not that different from other players, and hence, the statistic that very few goals are scored after the scorer has touched the ball more than twice in a row prior to taking his shot, is a relevant applicable statistic.


I started my first individual warmup segment today at the Oak Sq Y at 440 PM, approx 2.5 hours before the games started.

All of the pre-game drills today involved me kicking the ball at the wall, and then after that kicking the rebound of the ball at the wall, until it became no longer possible to do so. What I varied was: the order in which the feet touch the ball, and how many times the ball is touched, before the ball is kicked at the wall.

I went through 16 different variations of the off-the wall stuff, doing the drill with me positioned just 11 feet from the wall I was kicking the ball at. Then I went through the same 16 different variations, but doing the drill with me positioned 18 feet from the wall I was kicking the ball at. This took 2 hours and 5 minutes.

I did one of the 16 variations until I had succeeded 5 times, and then went on to the next of of the 16 variations until I had succeeded 5 times, etc., until all 16 variations were done.

What I called success: the ball was kicked at the wall, hitting the wall at a point 6 feet high at least; next after executing the prescribed footwork with the rebound of the ball, the ball was kicked by the prescribed foot at the wall, again hitting at a point 6 feet high at least.

To understand the notation of the list (see below) of the 16 variations, some examples:

LLL-L, means that when the rebound came at me, I: stopped the ball with my left foot (touch 1); touched it again with my left foot (touch 2); touched it again with my left foot ( touch 3); and then kicked it back at the wall with my left foot.

RL-R means, when the rebound off the wall came at me, I stopped the ball with my right foot, then touched it with my left foot, and then kicked it back at the wall with my right foot

L-L means, when the rebound off the wall came at me, I stopped the ball with my left foot,and then kicked it back at the wall with my left foot

0-R means, when the rebound off the wall came at me: on the very first touch, I kicked the ball back at the wall with my right foot.

The variations done in order were:

LLL-L
LLR-L
LRR-L
LRL-L
LL-L
LR-L
L-L
0-L

RRR-R
RRL-R
RLL-R
RLR-R
RR-R
RL-R
R-R
0-R

The cycle of 16 variants was done with me 11 feet from the wall, and then it was done with me 18 feet from the wall, from 440 PM to 645 PM.


During the games I: at the start played defense for 8 minutes the beginning of the first half for my team, which I for now dub the 'White Ponies' (we all were for some inexplicable reason, wearing white shirts, jerseys & uniforms were not used) against a team I for now dub the 'Moroccan Moors'; was in goal for the last 12 minutes of the first half vs the Moors; during the second half, was on the bench during the first 8 minutes, on defense during the next 10 minutes, and in goal the last 2 minutes (we lost the game to the Moors 6-4); did not play in the 2nd game; 3rd game, played the entire game, 40 minutes, in goal for the Shiprwecked Spaniards against the January Janizzaries (we won 6-5).

My performance during the games (amount of time spent playing a position wherein the given skill can be applied):

PASSING (18 minutes): I started kicking the ball around with a circle of players in the group warmup prior to the start of the game. I noted that I was excelling in terms of accurate chip passes, featuring an apex of at least 8 feet, and a distance from me the passer to the recipient of approx 40 feet. This skill of chip-passing, manifested itself when I was playing defense during the first game I played also. For example, I made a perfect chip-pass to a team-mate (apex 20 feet, distance 45 feet), but for some reason the play was ruled dead. Another example: very accurate long 60 foot long 11 foot apex chip pass mishandled by recipient.

Then later when I was playing goalie, I forgot to discipline myself and force myself to place the ball on the ground before kicking it, and instead I foolishly punted the ball, with the punts being rather inaccurate. I realize now that due to the way I've been practicing, I can kick the ball with sufficient apex to clear the defender with the pass going a distance of approx 40 feet, more accurately when the ball is on the ground, compared to accuracy when I punt the ball.

SHOOTING (18 minutes): While playing defense I took two hard left footed shots from approx 60' from the opponent goal (a miniature 8' wide, 6' high goal); both these shots missed the upper right-hand corner of the goal I was aiming at, by 3 feet. The first miss curved inwards about 2 feet as it neared the goal.

DRIBBLING (18 minutes): During my first 8 minute stint as defender, I had the first offensive ground-dribbling thrill I've ever had in such games over the past few months. The team we were playing, I dub them for now the Moroccan Moors, has two so-called stars: Zidane Jr, & Marty. At one point I dribbled past one of them, and a fraction of a second after that almost dribbled past both of them, except my foot was about an inch from where it needed to be to dribble the both of them, when I had almost gotten by them for the third time.

While playing defense in the second half of the first game for 10 minutes: a bouncing ball came at me; I dribbled it so as to keep it from one onrushing Moor, and then dribbled it again to keep it away from another onrushing Moor who came a fraction of a second after the first one. Then I passed to team-mate. This all happened very fast, the ball was sort of in between grounded and bouncing and airborne while I was dribbling it, control of the ball was skillfully maintained despite repeated attempts to steal it, even though I did not move forwards while dribbling it.

Dribbling today was better than it has been for months in the Oak Sq Y games.

Problem is that the immigrant types who speak some other language, refuse to play defense, or goalie, or sit on the bench for even a minute during game-time. I've noticed that they are energetic and skilled when it comes to dribbling the ball in any direction except towards the opponent goal.

FOULS AGAINST (18 minutes): Defense-wise, my first 8 minute stint started out rough. One of the Moroccan Moors, a tall thin white black-haired clean-shaven young man in a green soccer uniform raced at me while dribbling the ball. He pushed the ball past me, but I was too fast for him and was going to reach the ball before he did. So he barrelled right into me, like a tackle football player blocking for a team-mate who is his ball-carrier. I shouted at 'Calder', the ref, that he was always calling the defense for fouls, but ignoring flagrant fouls committed by the offense.

About a couple of minutes after the hit described in the above paragraph, Marty of the Moroccon Moors ran at me. The ball was not in our theater of play. He folded his arms in front of his chest, and starting from a point about 11 feet away from me, sprinted at me and hit me in my chest with his elbows, this with the ball not near either of us. He was called for a foul.

Absurdly rough as these two Moors were, they did not succeed in: causing me pain, injuring me, or intimidating me.

DEFENSE (18 minutes): When I was on defense, I blocked a few shots. The opponent players shrank from attempting to dribble past me, and avoided the area of the gym-floor that I was in. During the first 8 minute stint on defense, Zidane Jr of the Moors complimented me for playing defense well.

GOALIE (54 minutes): I played 12 minutes in goal the first half against the Moroccan Moors, & 2 minutes in goal the second half against the Moroccan Moors. Then in a second game, I played 20 minutes the first half, and also 20 minutes the second half, in goal playing for a team I now dub the Shipwrecked Spanish, in a game against the January Janizzaries, which we won 6-5. During the these 54 minutes as goalie, I made four diving saves that were widely appreciated, in situations where it was just me alone, against the Moor or against the Janizzary with the ball, who was only about 6-10 feet away from me. These four different diving saves involved me deflecting the ball away with my hand, my chest, my hip, and my left foot; the saves displayed excellent quickness and timing, all by my goalie-self against the opponent player who had the ball, with no defender between me and one of the other team's best attackers. Calder stated that goalie might be the beginning of a new career for me. I knew that I had made at least four great saves in the 54 minutes.

At the end of the soccer games today I felt that they had decided that I am a goalie, because I am so good at being a goalie. I disagree. You can bet players like Beckham, Pele, Christiano Ronaldo & Maradona, would do an excellent job if they played goalie with us and had a motivation to perform. The same attributes that make them world-class players in positions other than goalie, would make them an excellent goalie. That however, does not mean that the position they should play should be goalie.

ENDURANCE: My endurance today was much better than it had been in the series of games that ended October 18 2011, which was approx 2.5 months ago. During the October 2011 series I weighed 195 lbs. A week ago I weighed 192 lbs on the Oak Sq Y scale. Today after the game, I weighed 189.5 lbs on the Oak Sq Y scale ( I've been losing 0.4 lbs per day over the past week). Seems for every pound of weight I lose, I gain a minute in terms of how long I can stay on the court before retiring to the bench or to play goalie. This evening I lasted 8 minutes on defense the first half of the first game, & 10 minutes on defense the 2nd half of the first game, plus 40 minutes as goalie in the third game of the evening (did not play in second game). Previously in the October series, best I can recall, I could last about 4 minutes playing defense, before needing a break.

MENTAL STATE: I felt more relaxed than I have ever felt in the games at the Oak Sq Y. I attribute this to having lost approx 2.5% of my body-weight over the past 2.5 months.

     
  Wednesday 01/11
Waltham Y
455 PM - 655 PM


New Never-Done-Before Right Footed Drills Practicing Handling High/Close Balls of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; same drills as done Monday January 9 @ Waltham Y, but with right-foot used instead of left (I'm left-footed)


Note 1: All the attempts today January 11, continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the foot only, with the body close to the foot thereafter.

The pattern followed starting with the first kick of the run during the 1st segment, was different from the pattern followed starting with the 1st kick of the run during the 2nd segment.


The 1st segment, the intention was to use the RIGHT foot only. Starting with the first kick of the run: I attempted to use the my right foot on the first kick of the run to produce a backwards 180 degrees movement, with the apex of the ball as produced by the first kick, at least 6 feet; on kicks thereafter I continued to try to use the right foot to produce a backwards movement of the body and the ball with ball apex of at least 6 feet; the intention the entire time was to keep the ball off the ground.

A run was counted as a success if: my body moved backwards between the first kick and the second kick, and also, the ball did not touch the ground between the first kick and the second kick.

First segment, there were 48 successes in 59 minutes, 0.81 successes per minute.


The 2nd segment, the intention was to use the RIGHT foot only . A run was counted as a success only if: the first touch of the run produced an apex of at least 6 feet; the 2nd kick of the run produced an apex of at least 6 feet; the foot touched the ball on the 3rd touch of the run; all of this happened without the ball touching the ground; my body stayed stationary in terms of forwards movement, or moved forwards between the 1st touch and the last touch.

Second segment, there were 48 successes in 48 minutes, 1.00 successes per minute.

During the second segment this evening, the number of good kicks per run was way up compared to two days ago using the left-foot (I kept up each run for as many kicks as possible, with the kick done with the body close to the ball and a high arc put on the ball). This despite me being left-footed.

However during the second segment this evening, the additional touches made after the 3rd kick of the run, did not improve my score as they were not counted in the score. I simply have been counting runs good up to the 3rd touch, as successes.


The high score on the drills done today whilst using the right foot (I'm left-footed), was a surprise for me. The scores were much higher than they were two days ago using the left foot. The scores in total today using the right-foot, were 69% higher than they were two days ago using the left-foot. This indicates the phenomenon of 'automatic mastery' in effect again-- meaning, that doing these drills two days ago using the left-foot, automatically improved my ability to do these drills using the right foot.

Let's see. I practiced two hours Monday two days ago, approx 3 hours yesterday including the games, and today I am 69% better than I was day before yesterday. At this rate of improvement, 69% every five hours of practice, after 45 more hours of practice, I will be 100 times better as a player than I am today.

     
  Thursday 01/12
Waltham Y
642 PM - 800 PM


Left Footed Drills First Introduced Monday January 9 three days ago, Done Again, using new & different scoring system.


In the locker room as I was getting dressed in the shoes and clothes I practice in, Brian Francione, came up to me and in a loud voice announced to me, that the new Executive Director of the Waltham YMCA is Jack Fucci. The January 4 entry of approx a week ago in this log describes my application for the Waltham Y Exec Director job. After Brian made his announcement, Brian and I had a short conversation, which I now describe the best I can given the limitations of my memory.

After announcing Fucci's appointment, Brian suggested that I go to graduate school. I said, 'you locals are always trying to sell a degree (to me) but you are never a paycheck (for me)'. Brian responded 'oh then I'm sorry I asked' (sorry to have suggested grad school).

I said, 'you are outside my body so maybe you know better than me exactly which grad school degree I should chase...There are so many guys like Jack Fucci, who have so much experience doing the exact same things that Y executive directors do...what I'm thinking right now, I'm afraid of being barred from the gym by a new strict director with new strict standards I don't know about...I've developed an approach to soccer that succeeds better in the gym than it does outdoors'.

Perhaps Brian or I said some other things I don't remember now.

Brian's announcement brought me down to earth, compared to earlier daydreams about being a highly paid executive director. I realized it could be a struggle, preventing my mental reaction to the new down-to-earth reality, from impairing my practice performance.

Note 1: All the attempts today January 12, continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the foot only, with the body close to the foot thereafter.

This evening, the pattern followed starting with the first kick of the run during the 1st segment, was different from the pattern followed starting with the 1st kick of the run during the 2nd segment.

A new scoring system was introduced today Jan 12, though the drills were the same as done January 9. The old scoring system awarded each run that achieved a minimum level of success one point. The new scoring system introduced today awarded runs that succeeded beyond the minimal level additional points.

Comparing the scores Jan 9 to today Jan 12, is a confusion because of the change in the scoring system. I was pleased with my level of improvement compared to doing the same two drills three days ago. Going backwards there were runs involving up to 6 almost perfect backwards kicks in a row, so that I ended up covering a backwards distance of about 30 feet. Being stationary or moving forwards while kicking high apex balls, with the body kept close to the ball, interesting things happened, I felt much more relaxed and confident compared to Jan 9. Today I was succeeding both with eyes up and eyes following ball to ground, but on first touch eyes were always up.


The 1st segment, the intention was to use the LEFT foot only. Starting with the first kick of the run: I attempted to use the my left foot on the first kick of the run to produce a backwards 180 degrees movement, with the apex of the ball as produced by the first kick, at least 6 feet; on kicks thereafter I continued to try to use the left foot to produce a backwards preferably 180 degrees movement of the body and the ball with ball apex of at least 6 feet; the intention the entire time was to keep the ball off the ground.

A run was counted as a one point if: my body moved backwards between the first kick and the second kick, and also, the ball did not touch the ground between the first kick and the second kick.

The scoring change introduced today: if there was backwards movement over the course 2 kicks on the ball, the run was counted as 1 point; if there was backwards movement over the course of 3 kicks on the ball, the run got 2 points; if there was backwards movement over the course of 4 kicks on the ball, the run got 3 points; and etc., the formula being, number of touches minus 1 = number of points awarded run.

First segment, I scored 45 points in 33 minutes, 1.36 points per minute. January 9 three days ago, the score on this drill, using the earlier scoring system, was 0.50 'successes' per minute.


The 2nd segment, the intention was to use the LEFT foot only . A run was counted worth one (1) point only if: the first touch of the run produced an apex of at least 6 feet; the 2nd kick of the run produced an apex of at least 6 feet; the foot touched the ball on the 3rd touch of the run; all of this happened without the ball touching the ground; my body stayed stationary in terms of forwards movement, or moved forwards between the 1st touch and the last touch; there were no further touches on the ball after the 3rd touch of the run.

The scoring change introduced today for runs that were like those awarded one point but better: if the 3rd touch of the run produced a ball apex of at least 6', & the ball was touched again on the 4th touch before it hit the ground, the run was awarded 2 points; if in addition, the 4th touch of the run produced an apex of at least 6' & the ball was touched again on the 5th touch before it hit the ground, the run was awarded 3 points, and etc.

Second segment, there were 47 successes in 40 minutes, 1.18 points per minute. January 9 three days ago, the score on this drill, using the earlier scoring system, was 0.57 'successes' per minute.

     
  Friday 01/13
Waltham Y
334 PM - 600 PM


Same things done as yesterday, except with right-foot instead of left-foot; same scoring system as used yesterday, used today


Note 1: All the attempts today Friday January 13, continued to involve: starting at a point 7 paces, 15.4' in front of a cone marking a hypothetical defender; stepping forwards with my right foot; lofting the ball into the air with my hands as my left foot moves forwards, with the intent being that the ball after being tossed, produces a 'high/close arc' of the type I deduced I've been having trouble with; trying to kick the ball with the foot only, with the body close to the foot thereafter.

The new scoring system that was introduced yesterday Thursday Jan 12, was used again today.

Comparing the scores Wednesday Jan 11, the last time the drills done today were done using the right-foot, to today Friday Jan 13, is a confusion because of the change in the scoring system. I do not have a strong memory of the Wednesday practice of two days ago.

Elaboration upon what I noted with my pen in my spiral notebook during the practice today: I am surprised at the initial level of skill I displayed doing the drills done today, when I did these same drills on on Jan 9, 11; I am surprised and pleased with the rate of improvement doing these drills from Jan 9 to Jan 13 today; the performance the second half of the segments has been better than the performance first half of the segments and I have been able to observe how after the first 20 minutes of a segment, my performance improves for the remainder of a segment, I have been able to see myself improving during the course of a segment.

Things that should be assumed to have been true for previous practices if not mentioned in the log-entry for the practice, and that are true for this practice also: there was no unscored warmup; the Nike NFHS Size 5 Catalyst ball was used, inflated to 11.6 psi.


The 1st segment, the intention was to use the RIGHT foot only. Starting with the first kick of the run: I attempted to use the my RIGHT foot on the first kick of the run to produce a backwards 180 degrees movement, with the apex of the ball as produced by the first kick, at least 6 feet; on kicks thereafter I continued to try to use the RIGHT foot to produce a backwards preferably 180 degrees movement of the body and the ball with ball apex of at least 6 feet; the intention the entire time was to keep the ball off the ground.

A run was counted as a one point if: my body moved backwards between the first kick and the second kick, and also, the ball did not touch the ground between the first kick and the second kick. If there was backwards movement over the course of 2 kicks on the ball, the run was counted as 1 point; if there was backwards movement over the course of 3 kicks on the ball, the run got 2 points; if there was backwards movement over the course of 4 kicks on the ball, the run got 3 points; and etc., the formula being, number of touches minus 1 = number of points awarded run.

First segment, I scored 75 points in 60 minutes, 1.25 points per minute. On Wednesday January 11 two days ago, the score on this drill, using the earlier different scoring system, with the right-foot used as it was today, was 0.81 'successes' per minute. Yesterday segment 1 the same drill was done as was done today segment 1, except that today the right foot was used whereas yesterday the left foot was used. Yesterday the left-footed score for this drill was 1.36 'points' per minute


The 2nd segment, the intention was to use the RIGHT foot only . A run was counted worth one (1) point only if: the first touch of the run produced an apex of at least 6 feet; the 2nd kick of the run produced an apex of at least 6 feet; the right-foot touched the ball on the 3rd touch of the run; all of this happened without the ball touching the ground; my body stayed stationary in terms of forwards movement, or moved forwards between the 1st touch and the last touch; there were no further touches on the ball after the 3rd touch of the run.

The scoring system for runs that were like those awarded just one point but better: if the 3rd touch of the run produced a ball apex of at least 6', & the ball was touched again on the 4th touch before it hit the ground, the run was awarded 2 points; if in addition, the 4th touch of the run produced an apex of at least 6' & the ball was touched again on the 5th touch before it hit the ground, the run was awarded 3 points, and etc. Formula being, number of touches minus 2 = score of run, no run scores lower than zero.

Second segment, I scored 74 points in 60 minutes, 1.23 points per minute. On Wednesday January 11 two days ago, the score on this drill, using the right-foot as was the case today, & using the earlier different scoring system, was 1.00 'successes' per minute. Yesterday segment 2 the same drill was done as was done today segment 2, except that today the right foot was used whereas yesterday the left foot was used. Yesterday the left-footed score for this drill was 1.18 'points' per minute

     
  Saturday 01/14

430-635 PM
Oak Square YMCA

New hybrid off-wall drills


Did new hybrid drills, which combined the pre-game off-the-wall drills done Tuesday Jan 10, with the start-with-hand-toss drills of the type done Jan 9, Jan 12, & Jan 13.

All of the runs today involved me: starting by kicking the ball at the wall; then executing a prescribed ballwork/footwork pattern with the ball; then, starting a movement of ball and body in a direction opposite to the direction my body was facing, with the ball kept off the ground during this backwards movement; me continuing the backwards movement as long as I could, with ball kept off ground. None of the runs today involved me starting by tossing the ball in the air.

In between the point at which I first contacted the rebound off the ball, and the point at which I started the backwards movement of ball and body, I used one of eleven different ballwork/footwork variations. Sometimes I demanded from myself, that the ball be kept off the ground, while these ballwork/footwork variations were performed.

With regards to the backwards movement of ball and body that came after the ballwork/footwork variations, I always demanded from myself, that I keep the ball off the ground.

Sometimes the backwards movement of ball and body, started with me facing away from the wall the rebound of the ball came from, and sometimes the backwards movement of ball and body, started with me facing towards the wall the rebound of the ball came from.

I went through a cycle of eleven different ballwork/footwork variations during each of the three segments done this evening, starting each attempt by kicking the ball at the wall with me positioned 18' feet from the wall I was kicking the ball at.

During the first segment: when first kicking the ball at the wall & first dealing with the rebound off the wall, I faced the wall the ball was rebounding from: I performed the ballwork/footwork prescribed by the variation I was trying to succeed with (I did not require from myself that the ball be kept above ground during this phase this segment). Next I attempted to: 1) kick the ball straight up with my left foot; 2) kick the ball up & backwards, away from the wall; 3) kick the ball again; with the ball kept above the ground from step 1) to step 3). I achieved one success for each of the eleven variants in 50 minutes (0.22 successes per minute).

The 2nd segment, was the same as the 1st segment, except: the ball was kept in the air while the ballwork/footwork prescribed by one of the eleven variants, was performed prior to the kicks 1, 2, & 3 described in the above paragraph. I achieved one success for each of the eleven variants in 42 minutes (0.26 successes per minute).

During the 3rd segment:

Given the wall I am kicking the ball at as 12:00 on the imaginary clock, I faced in the 9:00 direction before kicking the ball at the wall to my right; I started the attempts by kicking the ball sideways at a 90 degree angle towards the wall which was to my right at kicking time. Then: I tried to face away from the wall the ball rebounded at me from prior to first making contact with the rebound; I performed the ballwork/footwork prescribed by the variation I was trying to succeed with (this segment I did not require from myself that the ball be kept above ground during this phase); then I tried to, with my back facing the wall the rebound of the ball had come from, kick the ball backwards towards the wall, move my body backwards, and kick the ball again before it hit the ground. I tried to keep this kind of aerial backwards movement going for as long as possible. I achieved one success for each of the eleven variants in 25 minutes (0.44 successes per minute).

For all three segments a success was defined as: A) ballwork/footwork prescribed by variant (one of the eleven) executed starting with first contact of body with rebound of ball off wall ( during this phase, ball must be kept off ground if required by drill being done during given segment); B) ball kicked straight up; C) a kick producing movement of body and ball in a backwards fashion, with body facing away from direction moved in, & ball kept above ground; D) contact with ball again, without ball having touched ground in between step B & step E.

The eleven different variants executed in each cycle:

LLL-L
LLR-L
LRR-L
LRL-L
LL-L
LR-L
RL-L
RR-L
L-L
R-L
0-L

To understand the notation of the list (see below) of the 16 variations, some examples:

LLL-L, means that when the rebound came at me, I: stopped the ball with my left foot (touch 1); touched it again with my left foot (touch 2); touched it again with my left foot ( touch 3); and then on touch 4 began the backwards movement of ball & body, starting with the left foot kicking the ball straight up.

RL-L means, when the rebound off the wall came at me, I stopped the ball with my Right foot (touch 1), then touched it with my Left foot (touch 2), and and then (touch 3) began the backwards movement of ball & body, starting with the left foot kicking the ball straight up.

L-L means, when the rebound off the wall came at me, I stopped the ball with my Light foot (touch 1), then and then on touch 2 began the backwards movement of ball & body, starting with the left foot kicking the ball straight up (touch 2).

0-L means, when the rebound off the wall came at me, the very first thing I did was initiate the upwards movement of the ball with my left foot, which immediately precedes the backwards (direction opposite to which body is facing) movement of ball and body.

During each cycle, first I would try time after time to execute the LLL-L variant until I succeeded with the LLL-L variant; then I would try to succeed with the LLR-L variant until I succeeded with it; then I would try to succeed with the LRR-L variant until I succeeded with it, and etc.

This evening I used the blue soccer ball, deflated to 4.5 psi, which is the psi of the ball that they used in the official game this Tuesday.

This evening I was pleased to note that I am developing the ability to, in game-conditions, while keeping the ball off the ground: scoop up the ball, and begin air-dribbling it towards the opponent goal, with my back facing the opponent goal; do this with my body leaning backwards so as to protect the ball from the defender; swerve my body around so that it begins to face towards the opponent goal during the course of this movement; do all of this with a respectable distance covered between touches on the ball; do all this at a respectable speed. After the practice I was pleased with the rapid progress I have made via just 7 hours of practice since Monday January 9 five days ago, with regards to this kind of backwards movement.

Before I started working on this backwards movement, I had felt that it was something that would be just too difficult to do.


This evening I weighed 188 lbs on the Waltham Y scale @ 725 pm; I weighed 192 lbs on the Oak Sq Y electric scale @ 645 pm. There is a difference.

Jan 3 I weighed 192 lbs at Oak Square Y; apparently despite having severely curtailed caloric intake since January 3 ( down to less than 1000 calories per day), I have not lost any weight since January 3 despite some ups and downs.

I remember weighing 195 lbs a few months before the 192 lbs weight recorded @ Oak Sq Y on January 3 2012. But I don't remember if that 195 lbs was recorded on the Oak Sq Y scale or on the Waltham Y scale which reports my weight as 4 lbs lighter than the Oak Sq Y scale does.

Due to the defects in the weight data, I have to admit that as of this evening, I am uncertain re: whether on January 3, when I weighed 192 lbs at oak sq y scale, I had been in a process of losing weight.

I've been weighing myself almost every day. It appears that, unless I exercise more: I have to stay down below 500 calories per day to lose weight; being at 1000 calories per day I will not lose any weight.

The 'Yogi'-types who are able to live without food, or on very little food, are widely esteemed. Seems I have a similar ability to live on very few calories without losing weight, but that this ability is interfering with losing weight.

     
  Monday 01/16

557-653 PM
Oak Square YMCA

New hybrid off-wall drill


Did one segment of new hybrid off-wall type drill, with emphasis on left-foot

The segment done today, the drill done was the exact same as the drill done the third segment on Saturday January 14 except that, the object was to keep the ball above the ground in between the time at which I contacted the rebound off the ball, up until all the steps required for the run to be a success were completed. The January 14 log entry describes how the third segment done Jan 14 was done and scored.

For the segment a success was defined the same way that it was defined on January 14; the January 14 log entry describes how success was defined January 14.


This evening I weighed 189 lbs on the Oak Sq Y electric scale @ 730 pm; I weighed 192 lbs on the Oak Sq Y electric scale @ 645 pm on January 14 two days ago. Over the past two days I've lost 1.5 lbs a day.

In between the January 14 & January 16, I ate very little: no 'nutrients cocktails'; hot raw organic chocolate in the morning; a few blue corn chips; a little fruit juice; a little yogurt drink. I ended up doing lots of work on Sunday which I was intending to be a day of rest; but at least Sunday was still a day of physical rest. Sunday I worked hard on a 'refutation of biblical infallibility', & on a statistical table entitled "Ethnic Statistics for Boston Area, 1999-2007".

     
  Tuesday 01/17

Woke up 4 PM,

Oak Sq Y
627-652 PM
Did new off-wall drill

845-900 PM
did ground dribble drills

900-945 PM
Played in league game


2nd Game of Oak Square YMCA Soccer League Season; 100% of attempts to dribble other team succeeded; 1.5 defenders beaten per dribble; average-dribble run covered 16 yards


The night before the game, and the ensuing day before the game, were not as auspicious as a week ago. Yesterday evening of January 16, for my meal of the week, I had white wine and barbecued pork spare-ribs, whereas, January 9 for dinner the day before the game, I had steak tips & no alcohol for my meal of the week. I think the alcohol threw me off because I had not been awake for enough hours, and had not been active enough, prior to when I started drinking the wine. I felt as if the pork did not agree with me as well as the steak-tips.

On January 9, I slept well for the normal amount of hours from about 4 AM to noon. The night prior to January 17 today, I did not sleep at all; the only sleep I had prior to the game this evening January 17, was about 4 hours of sleep from 10 AM to 4 PM of January 17 today.

I was able to play defense for 10 minutes during the first 20 minute half, and for 10 minutes during the second 20 minute half. After 10 minutes, I felt as if I was exhausted or in pain to the point where, it would be unethical for me to not excuse myself from the game and have a substitute step in for me. Most guys on the bench want to get into the game rather than be on the bench.

I felt pain in my calves and in the soles of my feet during the game. I did not feel this pain last week.


Prior to the game for 25 minutes, I did the same drill that I did 2nd segment on Jan 14 three days ago, except using my right foot at the points in the drill where the left foot was used on Jan 14, and using the left foot at the points in the drill where the right foot was used Jan 14. The scoring system was the same as used Jan 14. I achieved 5 successes in 25 minutes, 0.20 successes per minute.

Then in the exercise room in the basement, for 15 minutes before the game I did little squares dribbling the ball on the ground . Each little square would stop with the fourth touch. Sometimes I'd go clockwise and sometimes counterclockwise. Sometimes I'd start with the left-foot, sometimes with the right-foot. Sometimes I'd make a 90 degree turn on every touch, and sometimes I'd make a 90 degree turn on every other touch. Sometimes I'd use the sole of my feet and sometimes not.


My team, which a week ago I dubbed 'White Ponies', has been given a name by organizer/ref Calder Akin: 'Hot Sauce'. The team we played, which a week ago I dubbed the January Janizzaries, Calder has named, 'the Ballers'. In the game today the Ballers beat us, 9-5 . There were two 20 minute halves.

First half, the score was them 'Ballers' 4, us 'Hot Sauce' 1. The score was was Ballers 1, 'Hot Sauce' 1 while I was in the game for 10 minutes playing defense, during the second half of the first half. Before I entered the game the score was Ballers 3, 'Hot Sauce' 0.

Second half, the score was Ballers 5, 'Hot Sauce' 4. The score was Ballers 2, 'Hot Sauce' 1, while I was in the game during the second half for 10 minutes playing defense, & Ballers 3, 'Hot Sauce' 3 with me on the bench during the second half.

Hence in total counting both halves, while I was in the game, the score was Ballers 3 Hot Sauce 2 while I was in the game, and Ballers 6 Hot Sauce 3 while I was out of the game.

My performance during the games (amount of time spent playing a position wherein the given skill can be applied):

PASSING (20 minutes): I made an accurate chip pass of a length of about, 30 feet, apex 9 feet to our tall white star forward. Nothing much came of the pass, but the pass was perfect. I also made some humdrum roller passes that successfully connected. None of the passes I made, best I can recall, were intercepted or off-target.

SHOOTING (20 minutes): I took one shot-- A 20 yard shot that I intended to be a volley shot, by mistake became a roller shot, and missed to the goalie's left. However the shot somehow did snake it's way through the crowd of players, and rolled with speed past the goalpost. The interesting thing about this shot was that though it rolled on the ground almost the entire time, it curved to the right (in the direction closer to my right shoulder when I face the opponent goal) about 4 feet while rolling. The ball had enough force to maintain a respectable speed despite curving while rolling.

DRIBBLING (20 minutes as defender):

During the first half, in one incident: I intercepted a pass; next I dribbled the ball on a slant to my right past a defender; next I and the ball ran into one of our best players, and so rather than continue the dribble, I let him take possession of the ball. The run covered about 7 yards.

In another incident, I chased down a ball that was in my right corner (the corner closer to my right shoulder as I face the opponent goal), & turned with the ball to find myself confronted by a ferocious skilled extremely pepped up Latin type player of the other team. I did not panic & immediately pass the ball away (such was my bad habit in high school). I faced towards the defender who was about 6 feet away from me and to my left at a 45 degree angle (he was crouched, peppy, skilled, psyched-up Latin-type); by facing him I froze him for a fraction of a second which allowed me to dribble the ball past him, on a slant forwards to my right; next a slim young peppy skilled psyched-up Latin-type on the opponent 'Ballers' team came charging at me to steal the ball; next I dribbled the ball off the wall to my right, as a result me and the ball had beaten the second Baller berserker opponent ; next I and the ball collided with a third Baller opponent at which point a foul was called on the Ballers. This run covered about 25 yards in total from start to finish.

Hence out of two attempts to dribble the other team, both succeeded. I beat 1.5 defenders per attempt. The average run distance (runs involving dribbling by defenders) was 16 yards .

FOULS AGAINST (20 minutes): The 25 yard run which involved beating two defenders, ended with a foul called on the Ballers as I and the ball collided with a third Baller defender. After I had beaten the second Baller defender and gotten my body in between him and the ball as I dribbled the ball towards the opponent goal, he while chasing me fanatically, frenetically clawed at my left arm, shoulder & back with his outstetched hands in an attempt to slow me down ; he was unable to get the ball away from me. I think this is the reason a foul was called on them. The third Baller defender at the end of the run did not do anything wrong. After the second Baller defender began clawing at me, I pushed his claws back with my left hand, but he just kept clawing at me.

DEFENSE (20 minutes): On defense, I was less active than I was the previous game IMHO, for a number of reasons: I was not as energetic today; at least two of my team-mates dropped back to help out on defense so I did not have as much to do; the opponent players made no attempts to dribble past me. Once I stole the ball from one of their slickest dribblers. I blocked a couple of shots. Retrieving the ball I passed to team-mates.

In only one instance do I find myself to have been at fault on defense this evening. One of their guys was about 15 feet away from me, at a 45 degree angle to my left as I faced the opponent goal. His team-mate passed to him, & he one-touched it in; I got to him about a tenth of a second too late. I knew he was there, and I knew that they would be tempted to pass to him, but I thought that I would be able to get to him in time if they did. I estimate that had I been as peppy as I was last week when I had a normal amount of sleep before the game, I would have gotten to him, hence my judgement was off.

GOALIE (0 minutes): Miraculously, I escaped the dread fate of playing goalie.

ENDURANCE: My endurance this game was not as good as it was in the game a week ago. My weight on the Oak Sq Y scale was 189.5 lbs both this evening and a week ago. A week ago I had been minimizing my caloric intake for a week, this evening I had been minimizing it for two weeks.

MENTAL STATE: I did not feel as relaxed, peppy & happy this evening as I did a week ago . I did not enjoy myself as much. A week ago, I was not feeling pain in my calves & soles of feet, this evening, I was feeling such pain. A week ago, I was out of bed seven hours before the game, this evening I was out of bed five hours before the game, as a result I felt uncomfortably rushed during the preparations for the game. A week ago I had my 'nutrients cocktail', 6 hours before the game, this evening I had my 'nutrients cocktail' 4 hours before the start of the game. A week ago, I practiced for 85 minutes until 70 minutes before the game started. This evening, I practiced for 25 minutes until 128 minutes before the start of the game, & then for 15 minutes until 900 PM when the game started.

     
  Wednesday 01/18

Waltham Y
613-700 PM
Did new off-wall drill, emphasis on right-foot


Did same drill done first segment on Jan 14, but with the right foot replacing the left-foot, & the left-foot replacing the right-foot, in the choreography of the drill


1st segment: finished the cycle of eleven variants started yesterday during the pre-game warmup (527-652 PM yesterday). Yesterday the first 5 variants took 25 minutes. Today the last 6 variants of the cycle, took 36 minutes. Hence in total it took 59 minutes to finish the eleven variants of the cycle, 0.19 variant-successes per minute.

The drill done the first segment, was the same as the 2nd drill done Jan 14, except with left & right reversed for the footwork/ballwork. The Jan 14 entry explains the score-keeping & choreographical footwork/ballwork details for this drill.

2nd segment: the drill done the 2nd segment, was the same as the 1st drill done Jan 14, except with left & right reversed for the footwork/ballwork. The Jan 14 entry explains the score-keeping & choreographical footwork/ballwork details for this drill. I succeeded with the first 4 variants of the cycle, in 8 minutes, 0.50 variant-successes per minute.

During the 2nd variant of the 1st cycle, a white clean-shaven black-haired early-middle-aged man was in the doorway watching. There has been an increase in this type since Jack Fucci became Executive Director. I did not screw up while he was watching: I kicked the ball at the wall with my right-foot, stopped the ball with my right-foot on the rebound; air-dribbled it once with my left-foot; chipped it up with my right-foot; chipped it way up and back (apex at least 20 feet to a point 30 feet directly behind me; turned around and sprinted to catch the ball 30 feet behind me just as it hit the ground and trapped it perfectly against the ground.

After ( or before not sure which) the practice, Brian Francione sat down next to me in the locker room. Yet again, he announced to me that Jack Fucci is the new Executive Director of the Waltham YMCA. I asked Brian if Mr. Fucci was introducing any new rules re conduct inside the gym. Brian said no. Brian told me that Mr. Fucci is planning big new changes for the Waltham Y.

My practice came to an end because of the Waltham Y Corporate Basketball League. So I spent the rest of the evening picking up new socks (5), headbands (6), shorts (2), long-sleeved t-shirt (1), & sweatshirt (1) all for only $63 at Modell's in Cambridge MA. As I was paying for the items the white young man who was ringing the sale up, told me that I was Christiano Ronaldo.

Then when I got home, I started thinking about the difference between me and Mr. Fucci. Brian says that Mr. Fucci, who now has been Waltham Y Executive Director for 6 days (see January 12 entry above), is planning big new changes for the Waltham Y.

By way of contrast, if I was now Waltham Y Executive Director (the job they hired Mr. Fucci for instead), I would now be: analyzing information re who has spent how much buying goods and services from the Waltham Y; analyzing information re who has given how much to the Waltham YMCA; compiling a list of persons who have spent money buying goods and services from the Waltham Y to interview them re their opinions re what changes should be made; compiling a list of persons who have given money to the Waltham Y to interview them re their opinions re what changes should be made at the Waltham Y.

I was thinking, when I got home, people think Mr. Fucci is 'tall, dark & handsome'. Little do they realize, that recently they surveyed at random ten thousand women and found that the most preferred type of man, is of average height, five feet ten inches like me. They seem to fail to realize that only about one in twenty-five men is at least 77 inches tall. I was thinking, seems like, the Greater Boston Y umbrella organization, thinks that the Walthamites scoffed at the previous Executive Director of the Waltham Y when they saw me, because the Walthamites have the hots for Jack Fucci.

     
  Thursday 01/19
Waltham Y

off-wall soccer drill, RF emphasis
714-800 PM

wtlifting
827 - 948 PM


Continued with Right-footed version of Left-foot-emphasis off-wall soccer drills done Jan 14


1st segment: the drill done the 1st segment, involved finishing the eleven-variant cycle for the 2nd segment done Jan 18. January 18, 4 of the 11 variants were done in 8 minutes. Today Jan 19, the remaining 7 variants were done from 714 - 745 PM in 31 minutes. Thus the eleven variants in the segment started yesterday evening and finished today, took in total 8 + 31 = 39 minutes, 0.28 variant-successes per minute.

The drill done first segment today: kick ball at wall with right foot, while facing wall; execute one of eleven ballwork/footwork patterns with the rebound, while keeping ball on the ground, flipping ball into air on last touch of the pattern; kick ball straight up with right foot before it hits the ground; kick ball backwards with right foot, after moving body backwards kick ball again with right foot before it hits ground.

The drill done second segment, was the same as the drill done 3rd segment Jan 14, but with left & right foot reversed. It was scored the same way it was scored Jan 14. How it is executed is described in the Jan 14 entry.

During the 2nd segment, I started out with the wall I was kicking at to my left; I used my right foot to kick the ball at a 90 degree angle to my left at the wall, trying to hit at least 6 feet high on the wall; I tried to contact the rebound with my back facing the wall; I focused on trying to succeed with a footwork/ballwork choreographed variant until I succeeded once with it; I did not try to keep the ball above the ground during the variant phase; the last touch of the variant phase was used to flip the ball into the air; then before the ball hit the ground I kicked it straight up with my right foot; then before it hit the ground I kicked it backwards with my right foot; then before it hit the ground I touched it with my right foot.

Such was the intention on each attempt, and when the intention was fulfilled exactly, the run was called a success and I moved on to the next variant.

During the 2nd segment, I succeeded with 4 variants in 10 minutes from 750-800 PM, 0.4 variant-successes per minute.

The soccer ceased because the 'Irish Village Soccer Club' (about 20 white males & females), had rented out the gym for the remainder of the evening to play their spirited games.


From 827 - 948 PM I lifted weights, using dumbbells, one arm at a time:

Bicep curl, left arm: 35 lbs - 2 reps; 30 lbs - 7 reps; 25 lbs - 5 reps.
Bicep curl, right arm: 35 lbs - 4 reps; 30 lbs - 4 reps; 25 lbs - 6 reps.

Lateral shoulder raise, left arm: 25 lbs - 3 reps; 20 lbs - 7 reps; 15 lbs - 11 reps.
Lateral shoulder raise, right arm: 25 lbs - 4 reps; 20 lbs - 7 reps; 15 lbs - 13 reps.

Shoulder press (upwards), left arm: 40 lbs - 3 reps; 35 lbs - 6 reps; 30 lbs - 8 reps.
Shoulder press (upwards), right arm: 40 lbs - 3 reps; 35 lbs - 8 reps; 30 lbs - 8 reps.

Front shoulder raise (upwards), left arm: 20 lbs - 5 reps; 15 lbs - 12 reps;
Front shoulder raise (upwards), right arm: 20 lbs - 7 reps; 15 lbs - 12 reps;

Reverse biceps curl, left arm: 25 lbs - 6 reps; 20 lbs - 9 reps;
Reverse biceps curl, right arm: 25 lbs - 8 reps; 20 lbs - 8 reps;

Triceps press, left arm: 25 lbs - 4 reps; 20 lbs - 8 reps;
Triceps press, right arm: 25 lbs - 5 reps; 20 lbs - 9 reps;

After the practice I had a disagreement with Jose the janitor. He claimed that the weightlifting had not changed my physical appearance, I said it had already changed my physical appearance. He said it takes 3 years to change one's body via weightlifting. He said he was "disappointed" that I had claimed that 80 minutes of weightlifting had changed my appearance.

I was under the impression that at least one person in the 'Irish Village Soccer Club', could see that my body had changed after just 40 minutes of weightlifting; I had weightlifted for 80 minutes by the time I encountered Jose in the locker room.

I thought it was obvious that the 80 minutes of weightlifting had already changed my body's appearance.

With all bodybuilders, the appearance of the body changes immediately after weightlifting (with some more than others). Bodybuilders call this being 'pumped up'. IMHO, bodybuilders do weightlifting immediately before appearing on stage in contests, because the weightlifting temporarily enhances their appearance.

I realize that it can take months or years to get to the point where one always looks the way one looks right after a weightlifting workout. Though this is true, nevertheless it is also true, that a weightlifting workout can temporarily (immediately after the workout) produce an extraordinary 'pumped up' look, even in someone who has not been regularly weightlifting for months or years.

This 'pumped up' look achieved immediately after a workout, can be like a magic image that shows what the person would look like after months or years of weightlifting at which time he would always be looking the way he looks in the magic image.

I was further disappointed when this Catholic gentleman in the locker room, a Y-patron, informed me that all he ever thinks about is sex, & sex is all he lives for. He is a married man, a hard-working financial success who has raised a successful child, and to my disappointed surprise, he claims that all he thinks about is sex! I had been hoping that in the person of this Catholic gentleman, I had found a saintly man who might one day turn into a godly friendship of the type approved of by God.

During & after the practice I noticed that I looked puffy-faced in uneven light, & dry-faced, thin-faced, wan-faced & tired-faced in even light. In the even light, I did not look puffy faced. In my mind I have various suspects for this deplorable puffy-facedness: taking a melatonin pill every night for a week after not taking any melatonin pills for years; not getting enough exercise because the soccer exercise has been skill-oriented producing minimal demands on the body in terms of physical exertion; attempts to minimize my food intake over the past couple of weeks; disruption of my normal sleep routine.

My observation told me that just an hour lifting weights reduced the puffiness in my face significantly.

After the practice I weighed 189 lbs on the Waltham Y scale.

     
  Friday 01/20
Oak Sq Y

off-wall soccer drills
750-942 PM


Did Off-the-Wall Drills OTW-R-2, OTW-R-4, & OTW-L-5

Description of OTW-R drills and how they are scored

Description of OTW-L drills and how they are scored

OTW stands for Off-The-Wall. L stands for left-foot emphasized, R stands for right-foot emphasized.

For the past few days I have been doing OTW drills. As of today I've named these drills OTW drills, and produced individual pages that describe them in detail.

1st segment: From 750 - 815 PM, I did the OTW-R-2 drill by mistake, kicking the ball at an unpadded wall. The plan was to do the OTW-R-4 drill, but I ended up doing the OTW-R-2 drill by mistake for 25 minutes, then I realized the mistake. During this 25 minutes I succeeded with the first 3 of the 11 variants, a rate of 0.27 variant-successes per minute. The first 4 variants in the eleven variant cycle (variants LLL, LLR, LRR, & LRL) are especially difficult in aerial form, because with so many aerial touches involved there is a higher chance of something going wrong.

2nd segment: From 820 - 907 PM, I did the OTW-R-4 drill, kicking the ball at a padded wall. During 47 minutes I succeeded with the once with each of the 11 variants, a rate of 0.23 variant-successes per minute.

3rd segment: From 920 - 942 PM, I did the OTW-L-5 drill, kicking the ball at a padded wall. During 22 minutes I succeeded with the once with each of the 11 variants, a rate of 0.50 variant-successes per minute.

Overall the practice lasted for 112 minutes, one hour & 52 minutes, almost 2 hours.

I used the blue soccer ball that I always use when practicing with a soft ball, with the ball inflated to 4.5 psi. I've been using the blue ball at soft psi since Monday January 16th.

I weighed 188.5 lbs before the practice, & 190 lbs after the practice, on the Oak Sq Y scale.

First segment, the RRR variant was succeeded with on the first attempt of the day with no warmup of any kind. Next, the RRL variant was quickly succeeded with. The RLL variant took a long time. I had also spent much time on the RLR variant without succeeding when I realized that I was doing the wrong drill by mistake.

Second segment, I as I often do, was reciting to myself verbal formulas before each attempt, denoting the different steps in the routine I was about to execute. I noted that the mnemonic 'R R L rup rack', worked better than the mnemonic 'R R lip rup rack'. The former mnemonic does not demand that the third touch with the left-foot flip the ball up into the air to an unusually high apex. The latter mnemonic does demand ('lip') that the foot flip the ball up into the air to an unusually high apex on the 3rd touch. The 'lip' is a necessary command when the ball is on the ground, as it signifiest that the ball is to be flipped up into the air. However, 'lip' is unnecessary when the ball has been in the air and is intentionally being kept in the air.

I am beginning to develop the ability to, with my back turned to the opponent goal: control the ball that bounces towards from the direction of my own goal, while keeping the ball in the air; kick the ball straight up about 6 feet high with my right-foot (I am left-footed); before the ball hits the ground, with my right-foot kick the ball straight backwards to an apex around 10'; turn around & sprint to catch the ball before it hits the ground at a point 20 feet behind me.

The tactical advantage of skill in this kind of 180 degree aerial turn is obvious.


During yesterday's practice at the Waltham Y, there was this tall gray-haired white bespectacled clean-shaven gentleman in blue-jeans, playing with his grade school kids. At one point he looked at me & said, 'Ya...you...you're low'. I did'nt know what he meant.

I was trying to figure him out. I was thinking, that he looked & acted like a Wehrmacht officer on leave from the Front. I estimated that he meant that I should be appointed to some position, because I realize the significance of the fact that he spends more money on the Waltham Y per year than I do.

Getting back to my daydreams re what I would be doing if I was now Waltham Y Executive Director (previously mentioned in Jan 18 log entry):

Re volunteers: I would look at who had done how much volunteer work for the YMCA; assign a monetary value to the volunteer work they had performed; choose some of them to interview re their ideas regarding the Y.

I would be putting together a list of questions I wanted to ask those who I chose to interview (from the general population of Waltham YMCA donors, customers, & volunteers). Therefore I would be gathering information, which I needed in order to ask the questions.

Possible question-type: Page 3A contains a chart showing how much money the Y spent on various programs during 2011. If you had been in charge of spending the money, would you have done things differently? If so, what would you have done differently?

Possible question-type: Page 3A contains a chart showing how much money the Y spent for purposes such as parts and labor in 2011. If a magician magically produced 5 million dollars that had to be spent on the Waltham YMCA, and you had to decide how the $5 million should be spent, what would you use the money for? Page 3C contains the projected costs for various possible projects.

     
  Saturday 01/21
Waltham Y

off-wall soccer drills
649-749 PM


Did Off-the-Wall Drills OTW-L-6, OTW-L-7

Description of OTW-R drills and how they are scored

Description of OTW-L drills and how they are scored

OTW stands for Off-The-Wall. L stands for left-foot emphasized, R stands for right-foot emphasized.

1st segment: From 649 - 723 PM, I did the OTW-L-6 drill, kicking the ball at an un-padded wall. During the choreographed variation starting with contact with the rebound I tried to keep the ball aerial. During 34 minutes I succeeded once with each of the 11 variants, a rate of 0.32 variant-successes per minute.

2nd segment: From 727 - 749 PM, I did the OTW-L-7 drill, kicking the ball at a padded wall. I did not try to keep the ball off the ground during the variation During 22 minutes I succeeded with the once with each of the 11 variants, a rate of 0.50 variant-successes per minute.

Overall the practice lasted for 60 minutes, 1 hour.

I used the blue soccer ball that I always use when practicing with a soft ball, with the ball inflated to 4.5 psi. I've been using the blue ball at soft psi since Monday January 16th.

I weighed 188 lbs after the practice, , on the Waltham Y scale.

First segment doing the OTW-L-6, I noted that: performance seems better, when the foot & body are tilted in the same direction on every kick of the run; whereas in the past I habitually used the top middle of my foot when chipping the ball forward to an apex of around 6 feet so as to be able to catch the ball with my foot again before the ball hit the ground, the new development is that nowadays I often use the top-left or the top-right of the foot to chip the ball straight ahead in such fashion.

Also I noted that my performance has improved on the last 3 touches of the run, involving the ball kicked up, then chipped forwards or backwards, & then touched again all with the ball not touching the ground. This ending sequence is also part of the previous drills that started with the ball tossed up and straight ahead. I can compare my skill on this sequence to my skill doing the same sequence with the previous drills that started with me tossing the ball forwards and up with my hands, and see the improvement.

Second segment done today, OTW-L-7, involved keeping the ball on the ground from contact with rebound to ending aerial sequence. During the segment I encountered a complication I've encountered before but never mentioned. When doing variations L, R, & 0, the ball rebound cannot be grounded because the ball has to be gotten into the air on the first touch that contacts the rebound. These variations are the most difficult in the segments that involve mostly the rebound of the ball being grounded before the aerialism commences.


Continuing with my daydreams re what I would be doing if I was now Waltham Y Executive Director (previously mentioned in Jan 18, 20 log entries):

Re ethnic background of job applicants:

I laboriously and skillfully, working with various sources, put together a table entitled Boston Area Ethnic Composition Statistics 1999-2007 for State, MSA, PMSA.

I got the feeling from Brian Francione, that he thought the following facts were very important: he Brian is of Irish-Italian stock; there are lots of Irish, Italians, & Irish-Italians in the Boston area; the new Executive Director Mr. Fucci is Italian. Brian stated that the majority of persons in the Boston area are of the Italian/Irish mix.

The table shows that 24% of the Boston area is composed of persons primarily of Irish descent, & 15% of the Boston area is composed of persons primarily of Italian descent.

As of now there are laws on the books, that prohibit employers in Massachusetts with six or more employees from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, or genetics. It would be at least in keeping with the spirit of such law, to not discriminate on the basis of ethnic background.

People fail to realize, that when we emphasize something, we are at the same time de-emphasizing something else. When we emphasize what a person's ethnic background or gender is, we de-emphasize skill, ability, competence, & potential.

Despite my belief that not discriminating on the basis of ethnic background is at least in keeping with the spirit of Massachusetts discrimination law, I believe a Y Executive Director should have an understanding of the ethnic composition of the area his/her YMCA is in, and I am proud of my achievement in putting together the Boston Area Ethnic Composition Statistics 1999-2007 for State, MSA, PMSA web-page.

I have educated myself re the ethnic composition of the Boston area and sources of such data. Compared to a person who is ignorant of such things, I am better equipped to become aware of discrimination that has been taking place or is taking place around me. If an ethnic group is represented in the work-force I supervise at twice the level it is in the surrounding population, that would alert me to the possibility that discrimination has been, or is now taking place.

With regards to what should be done about discrimination that has occurred in the past at the YMCA (example-- there are employees who are from an ethnic group that is extremely over-represented, due to the prejudiced activities of a clique), I would consult with the head office.

I am aware of the dangers of assuming that discrimination consists of having a workforce that does not mirror the ethnic composition of the population in the area. The ethnic composition breakdown of persons who want to work at the Y, or persons who are qualified to work at the Y, could be different from the general ethnic composition.

I am aware of how attempting to exactly mirror the ethnic composition of the population in the area, can result in extreme discrimination against "statistically insignificant" groups. For example if I had to hire ten camp counselors and I was trying to exactly mirror the ethnic composition of the Boston metro statistical area, I could end up hiring 2 Irish-Americans, 2 Italian-Americans, 1 English-American, 1 Afro-American, 1 Hispanic-American, 1 German-American, 1 Jewish-American, & 1 French-American, because I thought that this combination best mirrored the ethnic composition in the area. In the process I could end up discriminating against smaller ethnic groups.

The preferable course of action, one in keeping with the letter and the spirit of Massachusetts discrimination law, would be to be wisely tolerant of phenomenon such as people from an ethnic group composing a small percentage of the local population, being represented in my workforce to the point where there are one or two more of them than there would be if I were trying to exactly mirror the local population's ethnic composition. The point is that it's not that hard to focus on characteristics other than ethnic background, when hiring.

Re discriminating against persons born outside of Massachusetts:

Apparently it is technically not against the law, for Boston area employers to discriminate against people because they were not born in the Boston area. I suspect that many people feel there is alot of this kind of discrimination and are angry about it.

I am proud to have had the energy and the skill ('impermissible talent' perhaps?) to have ferreted out some data re the extent to which Blacks and Whites in the Boston area are persons born outside of Massachusetts. Fact is, that 50% of Boston area Blacks, & 30% of Boston-area Whites, were born outside of Massachusetts.

These Boston-area persons who were born outside of Boston are an economically and numerically powerful force, and it could be foolish to offend them.

One of the things that I would discuss with the persons I chose to interview (Y-members, Y-donors, Y-volunteers) if I were Executive Director, would be their feeling regarding discrimination against persons who were not born and raised in the Boston area.

There are people who have the attitude that there is no such thing as too little discrimination against persons born outside of Massachusetts. This can be proven to be incorrect. For example, if a law was passed declaring that when there are two or more applicants for a given job, the job should be given to the person who was born closest to the house Billy Bulger grew up in, people would think the lawmakers were nuts.

Re Massachusetts Law Prohibiting Discrimination on the Basis of 'Genetics':

The idea that hiring a person who is "naturally talented" instead of a "talentless" person is impermissible "genetic discrimination", is an idea I disagree with. My interpretation of the law: despite the fact that NE Patriots star Tom Brady's football powers are to some degree genetic, the Patriots still have the right to choose him to play QB for them; genetic discrimination consists of rejecting an applicant with a genetically based tendency to develop some disease; employers have a right to choose genetically advantaged employees when the genetic advantage in question, has produced skills and abilities that are important in terms of what the particular job in question calls for.

If I were Waltham Y Executive Director, I'd consult with the Boston Main Office re what exactly said "genetic discrimination" is. Sometimes crazy laws get on the books and we have to be careful. Sometimes when crazy laws get on the books, there are methods by way of which we can avoid being convicted of breaking the crazy law.

The legislators who pass into existence legislation such as laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of 'genetics', are, though very aware of the positive repercussions of their laws, usually too dimly aware of the negative repercussions. Undoubtedly you can now find persons in the Waltham Y community, who feel disappointed and disenchanted, with what they perceive to be an endless parade of 'talentless locals'. Who knows how many of them suspect that Massachusetts discrimination laws prohibiting 'genetic discrimination' might be a root of the problem.

     
  Sunday 01/22

wind-sprints review


Review of windsprints

September 15 2011 entry re windsprints

September 16 2011 entry re windsprints

I need to review & reactivate my windsprint activity. Sept 15 & 16 of 2011, four months ago, I did windsprints. This was followed by: fatigue, body-ache, coughing, & stuffy-nose, and 10 days of not exercising.

September 15, & September 16, the sprints were done to exhaustion, & I sprinted as fast as I could ; the sprints were done in the Oak Sq Y Exercise room, a small room that is used by lots and lots of people, a room that I am not used to using, a room of the type that I am not often in.

I suspect that I need to make the following revisions: sprint a little slower than max speed; sprint until I am getting near exhaustion as opposed to until exhaustion; sprint in a place I am accustomed to such as the Waltham Y gym or the Oak Sq Y gym.

Sept 15 & Sept 16, I did every sprint drill described in the Sept 15 & 16 log entries, except drills 11-E-R, & 11-E-L.

I won't name names, but a certain YMCA-worker advised me to do the wind-sprints to exhaustion.

I've read reports that the health of the heart, is built up not by slow jogging but by sprints to exhaustion. Even if such is true, IMHO one should gradually build up one's sprinting strength before going full speed to exhaustion. One could argue that sprints done at 90% speed to near-exhaustion, could be just as beneficial as sprints done to 100% speed to exhaustion, if the sprints done at 90% are done with a shorter rest-time between sprints.

The faster one runs, the closer to exhaustion one exerts oneself unto, the longer the rest-times between sprints.

An alternative to increasing the speed & duration of the sprints is decreasing the rest-time between sprints.

     
  Monday 1/23

Oak Sq Y
910-1016 PM

weightlifting;

Ground Dribble Assaults on hypothetical defender

Used blue ball inflated to 4.5 PSI only


Did weightlifting ('fly' for chest, 'palm-down wrist curls' for forearms); did ground dribble assaults on hypothetical defender


Ground Dribble Drill 123

A left-footed segment consisted of: dribbling from point A towards the two cones at point B marking the two feet of a defender; with the left-foot, using the first of four different moves to dribble past the cones symbolizing the 'defender'; stopping before the cone at point C; turning around and dribbling at the two cones at point B; with the left-foot, using the second of four different moves to dribble past the cones symbolizing the 'defender; stopping before the cone at point A; turning around and dribbling at the two cones at point B; with the left-foot, using the 3rd of 4 different moves to dribble past the cones symbolizing the 'defender; stopping before the cone at point C; turning around and dribbling at the two cones at point B; with the left-foot, using the 4th of 4 different moves to dribble past the cones symbolizing the 'defender; stopping before the cone at point A.

A right-footed segment consisted of: same thing as described above, but emphasizing the right-foot instead of the left, with the dribble-moves past the two cones representing the defender, done with the right-foot.

Today the distance between A & B was 11 feet, and the distance between B & C was 11 feet.

I started out using free-weights in the free-weight room, from approx 910 PM to 930 PM (20 minutes).

1st, I did the dumbbell 'fly' exercise (chest), whilst lying on my back, with equal weight in each hand. I did 4 reps with 25 lbs in each hand; & then 8 reps with 20 lbs in each hand.

2nd, I did the dumbbell 'palms-down wrist curl exercise (forearms). With the right hand, I did: 4 reps @ 20 lbs; 5 reps @ 17.5 lbs; &, 5 reps @ 15 lbs. With the left hand, I did: 4 reps @ 20 lbs; 4 reps @ 17.5 lbs; &, 5 reps @ 15 lbs.

Next I went into the Exercise Room, because the lady-yogis had finally finished their group session, they were in there about 15 minutes longer than they were scheduled to be.

In the exercise room, from 934 to 1016 PM (40 minutes), I did the Ground Dribble 123 Drill described in the box in this entry. Defining 1 cycle as the two cones representing the defender being rushed at and past 4 times, the usual pattern was: 2 left-footed cycles; 1 minute rest; 2 right-footed cycles; 3 minutes rest; repeat.

I found that for me this evening (a little fatigued, sore throat, stuffy nose), alternating between the 1 minute & 3 minute rests between cycles was a demanding workout.

Overall in the 40 minutes, I did 10 left-footed cycles, & 10 right-footed cycles, which altogether consisted of 80 dribbling runs at & past the 2 cones representing the defender.

Ever since I did 80 minutes of weightlifting four days ago, on January 19, the muscles involved have felt stiffer and harder. Today looking in the mirror in the exercise room after 20 minutes of weightlifting, it was obvious to me that the 80 minutes 4 days ago + the 20 minutes today, had already significantly changed the appearance of my upper body. When I saw this I remembered Jose the Brazilian janitor at the Waltham Y, who said he was 'disappointed', that I had said that my body appearance had already changed after the 40 minutes of weightlifting on Jan 19.

Luckily for me, after they ended their Yoga workout, they left the lights in the exercise room on in a combination that made me look handsome. The two light switches on the left panel were in the off position, and of the three light switches in the right panel, only the left one was in the on-position. As a result, the circular approx 8 inch diameter lights that cast their light downwards, that are immediately in front of the mirrors and the walls, were the only lights that were on in the exercise room. This produced the even type of light in which I look like one of the world's best looking men. So now I have to bring in the tripod and camera again. Problem is the camera is loaded with a very slow film.

An E. Asian man and a white woman were dancing in the exercise room while I was doing my soccer drill. At one point the man looked in my direction and said, "...and then...Hendrix!". Yet another cryptic comment. I interpret it as meaning that after a few hours of such dribbling drills I will be like a Jimi Hendrix of soccer in the games in the basketball court.

I do expect that soccer drills of the type done today will signficantly improve my performance in the games. The ball used was at just 4.5 psi like the psi of the game-balls (feels very different than the 11.6 PSI ball I usually have been practicing with); the drill involved practicing moves of the type I am ready to deploy during games; the distance between points A, & B, and points B & C (see diagram) was carefully chosen as 11 feet to reflect game-time realities; the drill required me to stop and turn around at points A & C because I've noticed that in games usually the start-from-a-stop point and the contact point are only a few feet distant from each other.

As for the cryptic comments in the weight-room before the soccer, seemed this teenage Latin boy thinks I Hobbs (5' 10", 188 lbs) am well-built & that Christiano Ronaldo (6' 1", 165 lbs) is punky and over-rated. Proportionally speaking, if I was 6' 1" tall, I would weigh 213 lbs compared to C. Ronaldo's 165 lbs.

It is true that a low center of gravity, a high weight/height ratio, and simple heaviness in pounds, can provide advantages in soccer. However I've decided I need to lose weight because I have not been able to develop the endurance I need without losing weight.

Though I have not even played for a minute on offense so far in the games in the Oak Sq Y basketball court, I have manifested qualities of the type found or expected in top players such as C. Ronaldo: a good all-around game (good at defense, passing, dribbling, shooting), a low error-percentage; general athleticism (excellence as goalie); teamwork; humility, physical courage, toughness, a clean non-fouling game.

After the practice, I (at 5' 10") weighed 188 lbs on the Oak Sq Y Scale.


I've detected some cryptic scoffing at Blacks at the Y's lately, sort of beamed in my direction as I pass by. Seems that there are those who are downgrading me, because they think that the people who have spoken out in my behalf are black.

Actually: they are wrong to proceed on the basis of a mere assumption, the assumption being that all those who have spoken out in my behalf are black; they are wrong to assume that those who have spoken out in my behalf are black, because less than half of them are black; they are wrong to conclude that I am somehow 'tainted goods' simply because someone who spoke out in my behalf was black.

Looking at the world's most admired people, you can bet that every single one of them, had at least a million unattractive or disreputable supporters. But nobody ever suggested regarding any of these most admired persons, that since the admired person has a million supporters who are unattractive or disreputable, therefore the admired person is someone to be condescendingly dismissed.

No white-racist ever said, that Jesus Christ should be disrespected, simply because he had a supporter who was black, because such does not make sense. Nobody thinks it makes sense to say that Christ should be rejected simply because Christ has had supporters who are evil like Judas, or simply because the demons agreed with Christ, that Christ was indeed the Christ.

     
  Tuesday 01/24

Woke up 4 PM,

Oak Sq Y
633-1005 PM

633-700 PM
Did new off-wall drills

700-750 PM
Played in League Game

915-1005 PM
weightlifting


3rd Game of Oak Square YMCA Soccer League Season; dribbling-run achievements continue to increase


Yesterday evening of January 23, for my meal of the week, I had steak tips, fries & salad; and after the meal I had a 'nutrients cocktail'. Today, yesterday and day before, I had been experiencing: sore throat, fatigue, stuffy nose, body-ache. Hence I did not touch a soccer ball until 633 PM today. I was thinking of just skipping the game. I expected that if I did play, I would be either out if it, or making mistakes, rendering today's game my worst of the season.

I decided to play in the game despite the cold-like symptoms because: the game does not involve extremely close contact between players; the density of persons per square yard in the gym is not extreme; I had not developed a fever; I was experiencing symptoms short of a full-fledged cold.

Feeling almost sick, I did not get out of bed until 3 PM. Then I packed up my gym bag, tried to make sure nothing was missing, and headed for the Oak Sq Y at around 535 PM. Getting to the Y at 600 PM, I got going with 25 minutes of never done before drills at 6:33 PM, before the start of the game at around 710 PM.

Drills done in 25 minute warmup today:

All the drills involved: 2 cones representing the feet of a defender, a foot from each other, 7 feet in front of the wall; me starting each run by kicking the ball at the wall from a point 18 feet away from the wall.

1: From 18 feet from the wall: I kicked (left-foot) the ball at the wall; grounded the rebound; dribbled the ball at the 2 cones and executed (using left-foot) each of 4 different moves to dribble by & through the 2 cones with the ball on the ground.

2: From 18 feet from the wall: I kicked (right-foot) the ball at the wall; grounded the rebound; dribbled the ball at the 2 cones and executed (using right-foot) each of 4 different moves to dribble by & through the 2 cones with the ball on the ground.

3: From 18 feet from the wall: I kicked (left-foot) the ball at the wall; trapped the rebound while keeping the ball above the ground or allowing it to bounce once; air-dribbled the ball (ball kept off the ground) at the 2 cones and executed (using left-foot) each of 4 different moves to dribble by the cone with the ball on the ground. I kept attempting to succeed with one of the four different moves until I had succeeded with it, and then went on to another of the 4 different moves, until I had succeeded with all of them.

4: From 18 feet from the wall: I kicked (right-foot) the ball at the wall; trapped the rebound while keeping the ball above the ground or allowing it to bounce once; air-dribbled the ball (ball kept off the ground) at the 2 cones and executed (using right-foot) the first 3 of 4 different possible moves to dribble by the cone with the ball on the ground. I kept attempting to succeed with one of the four different moves until I had succeeded with it, and then went on to another of the 4 different moves, until I had succeeded with 3 of the 4 different moves.

So overall, the 4 different possible moves were done with the first 3 sub-drills, and 3 of the 4 possible different moves were done with the last sub-drill, in 25 minutes.

I found that I ended up spending most of the 25 minutes on the drills involving aerial control of the rebound off the wall, followed by an aerial charge at the cones representing the defender. This is because I was not moving on to the next thing until I succeeded with the thing I was working on, and success with the aerials did not come easily. But I was impressed at how quickly I improved on the aerials.

I played defense for the first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes during the first 20 minute half. The second 20-minute half, I played offense the first 5 minutes, and defense the last 2 minutes.

I did not feel the pain in my calves and in the soles of my feet during the game this week. My team, 'Hot Sauce' today was AWOL. Only 'Matt' (from Amsterdam Holland) & I showed up; so therefore, 3 of the players on 'Hot Sauce' this week were from other teams in the league and one was not a league-player. We played Marty of Morocco's team, which apparently has been named 'Marty'. Score was: 'Hot Sauce' 7, Marty's Team 5 (not counting a goal that Antonio, Calder's assistant, said I allowed but that actually, I deflected to my left on a diving save.

I did not keep a good job of keeping track of what the score was while I was: on the bench, or on defense, or on offense, or in goalie. So I don't bother reporting such re this evening.


My performance during the game (amount of time spent playing a position wherein the given skill can be applied):

SUMMARY: During the game I noted that: it's getting easy for me to dribble past defenders, simply by cutting to the left or right at a 45-60 degree angle and dribbling towards open spaces; a very high percentage of my dribble-attempts are ending in success; when I am on defense (not goalie) the opponents never manage to dribble past me; At one point when I tried to stop my movement while on defense, I just slid across the floor on my shoes for about 3 feet like a man on ice, so maybe it's time for new shoes, or maybe I need to take a knife and deepen the anti-slip patterns on the soles of my shoes.

I could tell after this evening's game, that I will get to the point where I combine a high dribbling success percentage with large numbers of successful dribbling runs, sooner or later. If I can: improve endurance; get plenty of time on offense; get plenty of opportunities to initiate dribbling runs; enjoy team-mates who do not begrudge me my dribbling runs, it will be sooner. If not it will be later.

Given my demonstrated high rate of progress per hour practicing a given skill, & given how well I am doing in dribbling past defenders after having made less than a dozen attempts at dribbling past defenders, the prognosis looks excellent for how well I will be doing when I have made hundreds of such attempts at dribbling past defenders. I believe that after hundreds of such attempts, I would become unstoppable in the Oak Sq Y League.

PASSING (18 minutes): I made an accurate perfect chip pass of a length of about, 30 feet, apex 9 feet to a Latin-type guy who was not here last week. He was the non-league guy, he wore a t-shirt that had '#6' on it, his name was 'Matteo'. He jumped up and skillfully trapped it in with his chest. He was the first guy I've chipped the ball to, who competently handled the chip. He was sandwiched between two guys but I got the ball to him.

Also I made a perfect 90 degree angle one-touch 1' apex 30' distance pass to my right, which 'led' the pass recipient perfectly. The ball came to me from behind me, and I one-touched it to my right. The pass was a little too high velocity for him and was mis-handled. However, I felt that the pass was of appropriate velocity for pro-level games.

I don't recall making any bad passes.

PASS RECEIVING (18 minutes): This is the first game for which I had to create a pass-receiving department, which tells you something. This game I received a pass! After I intercepted a pass, and beat Marty on a 45 degrees left and forwards dribbling slant, I ran into a team-mate and let him have the ball. Then I ran ahead to where I should be to get a pass. I was very surprised when the guy I had given the ball to passed to me. I was so surprised that I was not ready for it. The pass was about a foot above the ground and hard and a little forwards, but if I had not been surprised I would have handled it. I'm just completely unused to getting the ball passed to me when playing forward.

SHOOTING (18 minutes): I took one shot-- A 25 yard shot that I was attempting to surprise the goalie with. The ball landed about 30 yards away from me, about 5 yards to the goalie's left. The 10'-apex shot had clockwise spin on it and must have curved at least 5' to the right (to my right as I face opponent goal).

DRIBBLING (18 minutes):

My first feat of the game, during the first 5 minutes of the game, I dribbled past the opponent by cutting forwards and to my left at a 45 degree angle. I had the defender beat and would have had the ball under control after beating him, except the ball rolled into a tangle consisting of: Calder the ref, a chair, and a table that were on the floor of the gym adjacent to the side-wall of the gym.

I was at left-wing, at forward for a change. My team-mate kicked off from center and passed to me. I dribbled through two opponents, at the goalie and scored. However the play was ruled dead because Calder the ref had not officially initiated the kickoff by blowing his whistle.

I intercepted a pass. The result was the ball spinning ferociously and floating up to an apex of about 7 feet, about 6 feet in front of me, & enemy captain Marty, star of their team racing at the ball. I grounded the ball and cut it at a 45 degree angle forwards and to my left past Marty, with one touch. Then with Marty beaten and the ball under control, I ran into a team-mate, and gave the ball up to him.

I dribbled past two opponents, and then just as I was about to dribble the third and break through to the goal, the third defender stretched out his foot and got it on the ball and softly knocked it away. I felt that he had just barely gotten to the ball and just barely touched it. Seemed if the ball had been just six inches to the left of where it was when the third defender got it with his stretched out toe, or if the ball had gotten to where the defender touched it a tenth of a second earlier, I would have broken through to the goal, having beaten 3 defenders.

In another incident I stole the ball from their tall white foreign guy, dribbled past a defender and passed successfully to a team-mate.

When I was (surprise!) playing left-wing during the 2nd half, and the ball was pinned against the wrestling-mat-padded-wall near the corner, I did a good job of moving the ball towards the enemy goal, in the weird conditions that prevail in such situations in indoor soccer (body vs body contact in squabble over ball that is pinned against padded wall).

Hence out of 6 attempts to dribble the other team, 4 of them succeeded (I beat at least one defender and did not lose the ball), and 2 of them combined success and failure (example-- I beat a man and then the next defender knocked the ball away). In total I beat a defender 8 times, and twice the defender got the ball away from me during the dribble, after I had beaten at least one guy.

I was in a state of shock, due to the fact that: my team-mates, especially in the 2nd half, were respectfully falling back and allowing me to play offense. I found myself playing left-wing, the position I played in high school. It all seemed so reasonable and sane, that it was completely different and unusual. I found myself having to adjust to changing from getting the ball with me facing the opponent goal, to getting the ball with me facing the center of the basketball court from the left-wing area.

FOULS AGAINST (30 minutes): Nobody fouled me this game.

DEFENSE (8 minutes): A few times, my team-mates kept telling me to get closer to the other team's forward, who I was allowing to stand about 15 feet away from me. My idea, was to entice the other team into passing to him, because I knew that I would be quick enough to overwhelm the pass-recipient if they did pass to him. Almost always, they elected not to pass to him, and so me putting my distance between him and me, paid off in terms of positional advantage. Me keeping my distance from him, allowed me to be closer to other players and events. But my team-mates did not seem to understand. They kept urging me to get closer to the opponent who they felt I was marking too loosely.

Once I pounced on their tall thin white black-haired clean-shaven guy after he received a pass (of all of them he's the one who looks the most like an international). I knocked the ball away from him while keeping it under control and passed off to a team-mate.

I was never beaten on the dribble.

I was at fault once. 'Matt' from Amsterdam, humbly started out in goal, even though he is a good dribbler, using the sole of his foot on top of the ball alot, on offense. However Matt rushed out of the goal too much. As a result they scored goals, and I ended up having to retreat into the goal to cover for him. They took a shot, it went right at the gap between my ankles, I moved my left foot over, it bounced off my left-heel into the goal.

GOALIE (13 minutes): 2nd half, the idea was that I would play the first 5 minutes outside of goal, then 10 minutes in goal, and then the guy who started the 2nd half in goal would play goal. But what happened instead: I was stuck in goal until there were just 2 minutes left in the game. Moral of story(?): It's harder to escape from playing goalie late in the game or half (when everyone is used to playing the position they are playing and absorbed in the game), than it is to escape from playing goalie early in the game or half. So if you have to play goalie, play at the beginning of the game or half.

I was in goal for 13 minutes during the second 20 minute half. During that time they scored 3 goals, not including a goal awarded to them that I actually made a good save on, diving to my left and deflecting the hard fast shot to the left-side. Antonio the scorekeeper decided that the ball had somehow gone through a small hole in the netting in the left side of the goal, and then hit the back wall. Actually it hit hit the back wall after it hit my hand, without passing over the goal-line between the posts. I was astonished that the shot was called a goal, disappointed since I made such a good save on it.

However they did score 3 goals while I was in goalie. As soon as I stopped playing defense and started playing goalie, our defense collapsed and they started peppering the goalie (now me) with shots from close-in. No such goalie abuse ever occurred while I was playing defense. Repeatedly, their star & captain Marty, would get the ball around 6 feet away from me, with plenty of time, and with nobody between him and me the goalie. He must have scored a hat-trick in this manner. I was just not producing miracles like I did in the previous game in which I made four diving saves. I felt tired because of the sore throat body ache etc., and I had drugged myself with an Ibuprofen pill. I suspect that I failed to move out towards the man with the ball when I should have, or dive forwards when I should have, because of the aggression-inhibiting effect of the ibuprofen pill, or because of the aggression-inhibiting effect of being halfway down with a cold, or both.

Once Marty got the ball, as usual around 6 feet from me, with nobody near him, this time on my right; I crouched down, waiting for the shot when I probably should have charged him. He chipped the ball over my head into the goal. Matteo rebuked me, saying they shoot the ball high; I responded to him ( the truth) 'there's no defense'. I was crouching down because in previous games I had noticed that: the opponent scorers were not chipping types; a goalie is taken by surprise and allows a goal more often when the ball is low compared to when the ball is high. In retrospect I suppose I got too low, and should have just dived forwards on to the ball. I feel like at least a couple of times a goal resulted because I did not dive forwards with my arms or charge forwards with my feet, or dive forwards using my legs, in one of those crazy all-too-common situations featuring Marty six feet away with the ball and just me the goalie to stop him.

ENDURANCE: My endurance this game was hard to judge compared to past games, because instead of staying on court (not subbing or playing goalie) for 10 minutes straight in a half, I stayed on court 5 minutes, took myself off-court for 10 minutes, and then went back out on-court for 5 minutes. Endurance was better than I expected it to be, given that for the past 3 or 4 days I had been experiencing sore throat, body-ache, stuffy nose, and fatigue. The Ibuprofen was like a miracle-drug in terms of the way it took away the body-ache and fatigue I felt prior to the game. I weighed 190 lbs before the game, and 189 lbs after on the Oak Sq Y scale. Meaning that somehow, I have not lost any weight over the past week, despite eating only one normal meal a week and minimizing food intake at all other times!

MENTAL STATE: I sort of felt like I was in a daze during the game; I attribute this to the combination of ibuprofen and the cold-like symptoms. I did not feel confident at all and did not expect to do well; however in the first half, during which I was less tired than I was second half, I racked up many successes and few failures. I did not feel nervous. I had mentally resigned myself to the idea that I should play even when not feeling at 100%, because over the long term, aside from the ups and downs the more experience and practice I get, the better. This mental resignation served to relax me.


After the game, I used free-weights in the free-weight room, from approx 915 PM to 1005 PM (50 minutes).

1st, I did the 'palm-up wrist-curl' exercise (forearms), each hand individually. At 35 lbs, I did 4 reps with my right-hand, & 5 with my left-hand; at 30 lbs, 7 with my right, & 7 with my left; at 25 lbs I did 7 with my right, and 7 with my left.

2nd, I did the 'dumbbell bench-press (chest), with dumbbells of equal weight in each hand. At 52.5 lbs each hand, I did 2 reps; at 47.5 lbs, 7 reps; at 42.5 lbs, 5 reps.

3rd, I did the 'Triceps Kickback' (triceps), one arm at a time. At 27.5 lbs, I did 4 reps with my left-hand, & 5 with my right-hand; at 22.5 lbs, 8 with my left, & 8 with my right.

4th, I did the 'Triceps Extension' (triceps), one arm at a time. At 25 lbs, I did 8 reps with my left-hand, & 8 with my right-hand; at 20 lbs, 8 with my left, & 7 with my right.

     
  Wednesday 01/25
Oak Square Y

weightlifting
929-1016 PM

Sports Drink Inventions

emailed Calder re imperfections in soccer game


Did same weightlifting exercises as done January 19; emailed Calder re imperfections in soccer game administration

From 929 - 1016 PM I lifted weights, using dumbbells.

Standing Biceps Curl: Today, I had dumbbells of equal weight in each hand & alternated between left & right hand. January 19, one hand was empty & one contained a dumbbell. Today's Score was approx same as Jan 19 score:

Bicep curl, left arm: 35 lbs - 3 reps; 30 lbs - 5 reps; 25 lbs - 8 reps.
Bicep curl, right arm: 35 lbs - 3 reps; 30 lbs - 5 reps; 25 lbs - 8 reps.

Standing Lateral Shoulder Raise: Today, I had dumbbells of equal weight in each hand & lifted both dumbbells simultaneously. January 19, one hand was empty & one contained a dumbbell. Today's Score was better than the January 19 score:

Lateral shoulder raise, left arm: 25 lbs - 5 reps; 20 lbs - 10 reps.
Lateral shoulder raise, right arm: 25 lbs - 5 reps; 20 lbs - 10 reps.

Standing Shoulder Press: Today, I had dumbbells of equal weight in each hand & lifted both dumbbells simultaneously. January 19, one hand was empty & one contained a dumbbell. Today's Score was not as good as the January 19 score:

Shoulder press (upwards), left arm: 40 lbs - 1 rep; 35 lbs - 6 reps; 30 lbs - 7 reps.
Shoulder press (upwards), right arm: 40 lbs - 1 rep; 35 lbs - 6 reps; 30 lbs - 7 reps.

Standing Front Shoulder Raise: Today, I had dumbbells of equal weight in each hand & lifted both dumbbells simultaneously. January 19, one hand was empty & one contained a dumbbell. Today's Score was exactly the same as the Jan 19 score:

Standing Front Shoulder Raise, left arm: 20 lbs - 5 reps; 15 lbs - 12 reps.
Standing Front Shoulder Raise, right arm: 20 lbs - 7 reps; 15 lbs - 12 reps.

Standing Reverse biceps curl: I did this exercise January 19 but skipped it today, because I felt that doing it had resulted in pain in my right elbow when manipulating the computer mouse. That pain has now disappeared.

Standing Dumbbell Row: This exercise was not done January 19. Today, I had dumbbells of equal weight in each hand & lifted both dumbbells simultaneously. Today's score:

Standing Dumbbell Row, both arms: 35 lbs - 1 rep; 30 lbs - 4 reps; 25 lbs - 8 reps; 25 lbs - 8 reps.

January 19th, I had not done any weightlifting for a long time. I estimate that: I wisely reduced the stress on my body by holding a dumbbell in one hand and leaving the other hand empty during the exercises; if I had insisted on forcing myself to do the exercises while holding a dumbbell in each hand, I might have just skipped the weightlifting completely.

The lighting in the weights room is not as flattering as the lighting in the Exercise Room. The lighting in the weights room consists of flat ceiling panels, covering some parts of the ceiling but not most of the ceiling. The mirrors do not reduce the predominance of ceiling light much, by way of reflecting light. Today my face looked better in the weights room than it did yesterday. Weightlifting increases the testosterone level. I've noticed that when I weightlift, blood is often forced into my face. I suspect that this facial circulation is useful in removing facial subdermal fluids.

During the workout today, I drank 16 ounces of a mix that was 62% coconut-water, & 38% strawberry-orange-banana juice (cold). I thought the mix was a refreshing and effective sports drink. Previously I had consumed a mix that was 50% spring water and 50% coconut-water, which I liked even better. But I suspect that perhaps the strawberry-orange-banana mix is better for weightlifting whereas the coconut-water & water mix is better for soccer.

Coconut water is a natural souce of potassium; coconut water features a natural mix of water and potassium. It's surprising how though so many people pay close attention to getting enough vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants, so few people pay attention to getting enough potassium. Best I can recall a lack of potassium can cause cramps in exercising athletes.

Before the weightlifting workout I weighed 187 lbs on the Oak Sq Y scale. After the workout, I weighed 186 lbs on the Oak Sq Y scale. This despite the fact that I consumed during the workout, 16 oz of my sports drink, which weighed one pound.


After the practice I sent Calder, who was the ref at yesterday's soccer games, an email:

Calder Akin: my two gripes re soccer game of Tuesday January 24 .

     
  Thursday 01/26
Waltham YMCA

1220-235 PM,
New Off-wall drills designed for left-wing position


Did New off-wall drills designed for the left-wing position

I started the practice, 18 hours after I had last been asleep. At the time of the practice I had been minimizing food intake for many days. The practice went better than I thought it would. During the practice I was not in the mood to keep score; I felt tired, but not exhausted or sleepy.

I have been in recent months penny-wise & pound-foolish, in the sense that I have missed soccer practice often even when the gym was open, because I was asleep or because I felt I had been awake for too many hours since last sleeping. I attribute this failure to a fear of being out and about during the day when tired due to lack of sleep. The fear IMHO is rooted in noise-pollution, air-pollution, & past experiences, involving being tired & stressed during the daytime in places away from home.

I suspect that understanding the causes behind my avoidance of soccer practice (excuse-- I've been awake for too many hours without sleep), will help me to overcome my habit of thus avoiding soccer practice.

I suspect that taking note of & committing to memory how I actually felt during the 'sleep-deprived' soccer practice, will help me to transcend the pessimism I experience before a 'sleep-deprived' soccer practice.

I'm convinced that I have to remind myself that: we get ahead in life emotionally and spiritually, by slogging through many non-peak-experience hours of life that are relatively boring unpleasant and un-fun.

Examples: people get a healthy pleasure out of drinks with their friends once a week, because they do not drink every hour of the day; people enjoy physical health as a result of hours of semi-drudgery in the gym; people enjoy a clean and neat house because of hours of boring work keeping house; people enjoy being awake and asleep at optimal times, because they suffer through the fatigue and exhaustion involved in changing their sleep-schedule to the optimal schedule.

I should not, due to an obsession with religious scripture, forget practical un-scriptural ('worldly wisdom'?) insights I have developed independently or learned from others.

I can't force myself to fall asleep when I'm not sleepy, but I CAN force myself to stay awake when I feel sleepy, I can force myself to be active when I feel tired.

If I pack everything I will need to take to the gym long before it is time to go to the gym, I will be more likely to go to the gym even if I feel tired.


Today in soccer practice I did variants A, B, C, D, E, & F of the Left-wing J2012-L Drills for Soccer left Forwards (page describes drills & scoring thereof). I spent 20 minutes on each variant. I did not keep score during the ground variants. During the aerial F variant, the score was: 3 aerial successes, 1 one-bounce success.

During the game two days ago, for the first time in months, I was getting a chance to play forwards, and ending up at left-forward. The 'Left-wing J2012-L' drills are designed to build up the skills needed to play the left-wing position in indoor soccer on the basketball court (5 players on each team, including one goalie allowed to use his hands). Such skills are somewhat similar to the skills needed by a left-wing in normal soccer on a 100 yard long field.

After the 2 hours of soccer practice ( during which I consumed 2 lbs of liquid), I weighed 187 lbs on the Waltham Y scale.

     
  Friday 01/27
Waltham YMCA

555-835 AM,
New Off-wall drills designed for left-wing position


Did New off-wall drills designed for the left-wing position

I started the practice, 5 hours after waking from a sleep of 7 hours. Previous to the 7 hours of sleep, I had been awake for 23 hour straight without sleeping. Hence despite the relatively normal number of hours of sleep had just 5 hours before the start of practice, I still felt more tired & less upbeat than usual. This was compounded by the continued minimization of food-intake.


Today in soccer practice I did variants G, H, I, J, AA, & BB of the Left-wing J2012-L Drills for Soccer left Forwards (page describes drills & scoring thereof). I spent 20 minutes on each variant. I did not keep score during the ground variants. Scores for scored segments:

G variant: 3 aerial successes, 1 one-bounce successes.
H variant: 1 aerial successes, 0 one-bounce successes.
I variant: 1 aerial successes, 0 one-bounce successes.
J variant: 2 aerial successes, 0 one-bounce successes.

AA variant: 12 aerial successes, 1 one-bounce successes.
BB variant: 11 aerial successes, 0 one-bounce successes.

Notes taken during practice:

G-variant: some almost. H-variant: commendable efforts. I-variant: showed some promise, but not as good as H.

BB-variant: highly professional performance dong this variant. I showed a surprising ability to air-dribble the ball backwards & then accurately chip the ball over the defender's head while turning counter-clockwise to face the defender, all with the ball kept off the ground.

I consumed 2 lbs fluid during the practice. After the practice I weighed 187.5 lbs on the Waltham Y scale.

     
  Saturday 01/28
Waltham YMCA

725-1125 AM,
New Off-wall drills designed for center-back position

blue ball inflated to 4.5 PSI


Did New off-wall drills designed for center-back positions

I went out and practiced for 4 hours in the morning starting 730 AM, despite feeling tired. I drank approx 3 lbs of coconut water mixed with green tea, and coconut water mixed with mango nectar during the practice. After the 4 hours of tired morning practice I felt tired but I felt good physically & mentally, I felt relaxed. Which reminds me that I manage to forget how good I can feel after a long tiring practice early in the morning, even when I felt tired and down during the practice.

Today I did variants CC, DD, EE, & EE2 of the Left-wing J2012-L Drills for Soccer left Forwards (page describes drills & scoring thereof).

Then I did variants A, B, C, D, & D2 of the Central J2012-L Drills for Soccer center backs (page describes drills & scoring thereof).

I invented all these drills this month. I spent 20 minutes on each variant. Scores:

Left-wing J2012-L Drills for Soccer left Forwards:
CC variant: 5 aerial successes, 0 one-bounce successes.
DD variant: 5 aerial successes, 0 one-bounce successes.
EE variant: 5 aerial successes, 0 one-bounce successes.
EE2 variant: 1 aerial successes, 0 one-bounce successes.

Central J2012-L Drills for Soccer center backs:
A variant: 24 runs.
B variant: 15 runs.
C variant: 16 runs.
D variant: 16 runs.
D2 variant: 15 runs.

The latter half I was keeping the ball on the ground the whole time. I was surprised when A tall Brazilian-looking man glanced in my direction & said, 'he's good!'. It's hard to believe, that a person could look like a good player, just doing ground-dribbling drills. Maybe he meant that I'm a good person.

I consumed 3 lbs fluid during the practice. Before the practice I weighed 187.5 lbs on the Oak Sq Y scale; after the practice I weighed 189 lbs on the same scale.

     
  Monday 01/30
Oak Sq YMCA

910 AM - 1213 PM,
New Off-wall drills designed for central positions

Blue ball at 4.5 PSI


Did New off-wall drills designed for the center midfield & center back positions; Evinced very high Rate of Improvement in terms of difficult world-class soccer skills

Today in soccer practice I did variants E, E2, F, H, G, & J of the Central J2012-L Drills for Soccer center backs (page describes drills & scoring thereof). I spent 20 minutes on each variant.

Scores for scored segments:

F variant: 9 aerial successes, 4 one-bounce successes.
H variant: 3 aerial successes, 0 one-bounce successes.
G variant: 6 aerial successes, 1 one-bounce successes.
J variant: 4 aerial successes, 3 one-bounce successes.

Notes taken during practice:

E, E2, done kicking ball at hard wall, E high kicks, E2 low kicks, with target the 6" wide post on the wall of the indoor basketball court. I often hit the edge of the target which was 20 feet away, the result being that the rebound was unplayable.

When F, H, G, & J were done, I kicked low, aiming for a point 2' above ground. This resulted in the 1st touch when interacting with the rebound of the ball, never being made with the thigh. When the ball is kicked at a spot about 8-9 feet above the ground on the wall, the rebound of the ball off the wall is often first contacted with the thigh.'

F, H, G, and J were done aiming the ball at the padded wall in the gym. I was approx 20' from the wall I was kicking the ball at. I placed 2 cones representing the feet of the imaginary defender, 9 feet in front of the wall I was kicking the ball at.

The practice today was a spectacular success, but there were few in the Oak Sq Y gym to witness it. The number of successes per 20 minute segment, was much improved compared to January 26-27, when the same drills were done, but from the perspective of the left-wing position, not from the perspective of a central position as was done today.

If the successes involving the ball bouncing once are awarded 0.5 points, and the successes involving the ball never bouncing but kept in the air the whole time are awarded 1 point, a total score can be given to each 20 minute segment.

January 26, doing the left-wing version of F, the score was 2.5. Today, January 30th, doing the central version of F, the score was 11.0.

January 27, doing the left-wing version of G, the score was 2.0. Today, January 30th, doing the central version of G, the score was 6.5.

January 27, doing the left-wing version of H, the score was 1.0. Today, January 30th, doing the central version of H, the score was 3.0.

January 27, doing the left-wing version of J, the score was 2.0. Today, January 30th, doing the central version of J, the score was 5.5.

Thus compared to January 26-7, looking at F, G, H, & J together, the performance today January 30, was up 246%!

Saturday January 28th, in 4 hours of practice @ the Waltham Y: I did the ground/aerial CC, DD, EE, & EE2 variants from the perspective of the left-wing position; &, I did the ground A, B, C, D, & D2 variants from the perspective of a center-back position.

Sunday January 29, I engaged in no sports activity.

And then came today Monday January 30, the day on which the scores were so much improved.

Therefore, I estimate that the 1.3 hours of practice spent on the aerial/ground CC, DD, EE, & E2 drills on Saturday January 28, produced the 246% improvement in the scores for the F, G, H & J aerial versions done today. I do not believe that the A, B, C, D, & D2 ground variants done Jan 28 produced the improvement.

I should take into account, that January 26 and 27 the ball was kicked high at a hard wall in the Waltham Y gym, whereas on January 30 today, it was kicked low at a padded wall. But even assuming an improvement rate of 123% ( half of 246%) every 1.3 hours, the skills practiced by variants F, G & J will be perfected after just 3 more hours of practice; and, the skills practiced by variant H will be perfected after just 4 more hours of practice.

This is phenomenal because the skills practiced by variants F, G, H & J are phenomenal world class skills.

The left-wing version of F involves me, while keeping the ball airborne: controlling a ball that bounces towards me; making a 90 degree turn to my left; moving towards a defender 11 feet away from me, chipping the ball over his head, and maintaining control movement and speed afterwards. The center-back-version is the same except that instead of turning left, I move in the direction the ball came to me from.

The left-wing version of G involves me, while keeping the ball airborne: controlling a ball that bounces towards me; making a 90 degree turn to my left; moving towards a defender 11 feet away from me while moving backwards with my back to the defender; turning counter clockwise to almost face the defender; chipping the ball over the defender's head, and maintaining control movement and speed afterwards. The center-back-version is the same except that instead of turning left, I move in the direction the ball came to me from.

The left-wing version of H involves me, while keeping the ball airborne: controlling a ball that bounces towards me; making a 90 degree turn to my left; moving towards a defender 11 feet away from me while moving backwards with my back to the defender; turning clockwise to almost face the defender; chipping the ball over the defender's head, and maintaining control movement and speed afterwards. The center-back-version is the same except that instead of turning left, I move in the direction the ball came to me from.

The left-wing version of J involves me, while keeping the ball airborne: controlling a ball that bounces towards me; making a 90 degree turn to my left; moving towards a defender 11 feet away from me while moving sideways with my trailing left-foot dribbling the ball; turning clockwise to almost face the defender; chipping the ball over the defender's head, and maintaining control movement and speed afterwards. The center-back-version is the same except that instead of turning left, I move in the direction the ball came to me from.

It is amazing and exciting that I will soon be able to master these world class skills. It is also surprising, because of the gloom I have experienced recently as a result of events such as: Oak Sq Y soccer games featuring childish players treating me as if I was just somebody; the drudgery of working on prosaic fundamental ground soccer skills and weightlifting; the being passed over for high-paying jobs; the general pessimism regarding the future prosperity and liberty of members of society.

I attribute the dramatic impending success to abilities I have developed through drills practiced since early in 2011, which did not involve attacking 2 cones representing a defender's feet, & did not involve a chip of the ball up and over the imaginary defender represented by the cones. These drills built up within me, abilities which were then applied to the specific problems of controlling an incoming ball, moving towards a defender, & chipping the ball over the defender's head, all without the ball ever touching the ground.

Before the practice today I weighed 190 lbs on the Oak Sq Y scale.

     
  Tuesday 01/31

Woke up 3 AM,

Oak Sq Y
645-700 PM
Warmup

830-910 PM
Game 4 of Indoor season

700-830 PM
Watched League Games


4th Game of Oak Square YMCA Soccer League Season; Played after having been awake 18 hours

Yesterday January 30, I attempted to imitate copy game-day routines of top athletes that I had found on the internet. I woke up as I recall approx normal time (not sure exactly when); I practiced soccer drills in the morning from 9 AM to noon, I had a big lunch featuring a steak and cheese sub and shrimp; I tried to nap after the lunch; I ended up basically sleeping until 3 AM, sleeping for about 12 hours, except for lying in bed sleepy but awake from approx 5-9 PM. My intent had been to imitate pro athletes by napping for 3 hours, then working out in the evening, then going to sleep approx normal time.

Again today Tuesday January 31 , I attempted to copy copy game-day routines of top athletes that I had found on the internet. I woke up 3 AM; I took my car to get the oil changed at 8 AM, I went to Harvard Square to sign a document in front of a notary at 11 AM; I bought chicken & salad at Whole Foods Fresh Pond in Cambridge; I went home and ate the chicken, and salad with the some spaghetti and sauce I made myself; I attempted to take an afternoon nap but was unable to fall asleep; I lay in bed for longer than I had been planning on napping; I got to the Oak Sq Y gym late; I warmed up for only 15 minutes from 645 to 700 PM; then my game started suddenly at 830 PM, 90 minutes after the 15 minute warmup ended, with me having been awake for 18 hours straight when the game started.

My intention this afternoon had been to imitate pro-athlete game-day routines and nap after the lunch that I finished with about 130 PM. However I was unable to fall asleep, and lay in bed awake until about 500 PM, whereas my intention had been to nap until 345 PM. So I got to the gym so late, that the warmup was minimal.

Drills done in 15 minute warmup today:

First, for approx 10 minutes, I kicked the ball at the wall, aiming for a point about 9 feet high on the wall, with the wall about 18 feet away from me. I took about 3 kicks approaching the ball from the right, about 3 approaching it from the center, & about 3 approaching it from the left. Then I did the same thing, but aiming for a point about 1 foot high on the wall.

Next, I moved over to the other side of the gym. There about 5 times in 5 minutes, I kicked the ball at the wall, and then dribbled the ball at 2 cones representing the imaginary defender.

I played goalie for the first 9 minutes of the first half. Then I played outside goal on defense for 3 minutes. 2nd half I played defense and offense for the first 10 minutes, and then took myself out of the game.

My team the 'Hot Sauce', defeated the other team, 'the Amys' 11-7. With me in goal the score was us 2 them 3; with me on the bench the score was us 6 them 3; with me on defense & offense the score was us 3 them 1.

This evening, at least 4 players from my team showed up. Tom the Merrimack accounting grad, Matt from Holland & the defender/goalkeeper showed up, plus me. Maybe one or two others who are enrolled team members showed up. We used one or two people who were not from our team on our team, which was 6 people, with one substitute.

For some reason I did not keep as good a job of keeping notes of what was going on during the game as I thought I would. It's difficult to take notes when trying to learn from watching the game; play well in the game; trying to avoid being left out on the bench for too long during the game

I felt I was actually taking too much pleasure in being out of the game, because being out of the game improved my chances of being able to note down what I had done while I was in the game.

Prior to the game, Tom from Merrimack, who was not present during the game last week, game me a stern speech (paraphrased best I can): 'IYou have to work on your position-play...when you play defense, you just stand at the top of the key, and cover a radius of 5 or 10 feet...only 2 or 3 of the players here (in this league involving about 50 players) are very good...you don't chase down balls in the corner when you are on defense'.

I responded to Merrimack Tom with a few words. One of the things I told him was that I don't notice who here is very good, I notice who is good at what things.


My performance during the game (amount of time spent playing a position wherein the given skill can be applied):

SUMMARY: The ball played with this game, was at 7.5 PSI because the players had complained to Ref Calder, that the 4.5 PSI the ball had previously been at for the first 3 league games, resulted in a ball that was too soft. The ball used this game was not only at the new relatively high PSI of 7.5, it was also a different ball, a black and gold ball, a relatively heavy ball. Though it had a padded surface, when shot at me in goal it felt like a rock compared to the 4.5 PSI ball that had been used previously. Though it had a little padding it was like a rock because of it's heaviness combined with the high PSI loaded into it.

I was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt, a t-shirt, & a long-sleeved shirt right before the game started. To this on top was added a blue short sleeved shirt so I would be in the team colors. All these shirts were just too much after I got out of goalie, so after just about 3 minutes, I took myself out of the game, so that I could get the extra shirts off.

PASSING (13 minutes): Prior to the game while kicking the ball around with Merrimack Tom, I surprised myself at how well I was able to do one-touch roller passes of approx 12 yards. My passes were low, easily playable, fast and accurate. I found myself using techniques that I felt I had never used, and that I was certain I had not practiced during the last ten years. The roller pass performance was good despite me not having practiced such roller passes in at least ten years.

I suspect that since I spent about 2 hours practicing kicking the ball at a target 2 feet above the ground and 6 yards away yesterday Jan 30, this improved my roller-pass ability. Fact remains that what I practiced yesterday was hitting a point 2 feet above the ground, not a roller pass.

There was one play involving me with one-touch intercepting the ball and passing it about 15 feet accurately to a team-mate, a nice easily handled roller pass.

The one chip I attempted was a disappointment. It was low and to the right, it curved right about 3 feet, it was intercepted when about chest-high. I think this is the first chip pass all season, that was not perfect. I suspect the reason is that the warmup this evening was only 15 minutes, and that there was a 90 minute time-gap between the warmup and my game.

PASS RECEIVING (13 minutes): At one point somehow I got the ball; I passed it about 15 feet to an open team-mate; I ran up the middle towards the opponent goal; the team-mate passed the ball back to me, about a 15' pass; the pass underled me by about 5 feet; I reached by left foot backwards and kicked it forwards, but I kicked it too far forwards and the defender kicked it away.

I told Matt from Amsterdam, that he was shooting the ball when he should have passed the ball to me, because I was wide-open. I told Andre about how this was happening with Matt and others. What Andre said to me (paraphrased): 'I am an indoor soccer coach in a youth league...indoor soccer is different than outdoors soccer...in outdoors soccer you are not supposed to move to a new place when you are wide-open for a pass, but in indoor soccer, even when you are wide-open for a pass in an advantageous position, you are supposed to move to a new place for a pass...this is because the goals are so small, and one needs to disorient the goalie through movement.

I could not believe what I was hearing from Andre. Often I have seen, in these indoor games. People score by shooting the ball past the goalie, even when the goalie is facing directly towards them.

SHOOTING (13 minutes): During warmup I took a couple of shots. On one approx 12 yard shot I aimed up the upper left-corner, & instead hit the goal hard in the middle of the crossbar, thus the shot was vertically exactly where I wanted it, but 4 feet to the right of where I wanted it.

DRIBBLING (13 minutes):

Event 1: Marty, the top scoring wizard in the league, got the ball and dribbled up the side, near the wood bleachers (no out of bounds line in this game, it is like a hockey rink). I took the ball away from him and then dribbled between him and the bleacher; I had him beat but play was stopped because he was called for a foul. I was surprised at how easy it was for me to sort of bull the ball past him with my feet despite his feet contacting the ball as I did this.

Event 2: Once I pounced on a loose ball, with two defenders right in front of me, one at a 30 degree angle to my left, the other at a 30 degree angle 5 feet to my right. I calmly in leisurely fashion shielded the ball from them with my body and my front leg, turned counterclockwise and passed it backwards and towards the middle, a couple of passes later we scored. I could tell that at least one of my team-mates considered me responsible for this goal as the pass set off a chain of events. The pass caught two of their players sort of flat-footed standing there looking at me while I shielded the ball from them.

Event 3: somehow I got the ball, with 2 of their near me, one on my left at about a 30 degree angle, the other on my right at about a 30 degree angle from about 15 feet away. I stood upright near the ball and acted sort of lesiurely and plegmatic. They rushed at me. I turned to face the one on my right with the ball. I cut the ball slightly backwards and to my right with my left foot as he rushed at me so he missed it; then I pushed it forwards with my left foot so I had him completely beaten; then I passed it off.

This last event involved as most of my dribbles do, me directly beating the defender by starting out with the defender between me & the ball and the goal, and ending with the ball in front of me and closest to the goal, and the defender behind me and farthest from the goal. Such direct conquests in my mind far excel stunts such as avoiding a defender while dribbling towards the sideline, or dribbling down the sideline towards the corner.

There were zero instances of me attempting to dribble by someone and losing control of the ball in the process.

I suspect I succeeded in shielding the ball from two nearby defenders, because of drills done during the past 2 or 3 days involving sideways dribbling movement. All my life, I have never been good at shielding the ball, and all my life, I have never, except during the past 2 or 3 days, practiced ball-shielding like techniques.

I have always felt a certain disdain for ball shielding. The style of dribbling I favor, involves confrontational face-to-face attacks on the defender that end with me either beating the defender, or the ball being knocked away.

My attitude has been-- there are dozens of pretty dribbling tricks one would like to master, but spending time on too many different tricks, spending too much time on a trick, being a jack of all tricks but a master of none, are all potentially fatal errors. I estimate my I've practiced ball shielding less than ten hours my whole life.

FOULS AGAINST (13 minutes): The league star Marty was called for a foul on a play in which I stole the ball from him and then dribbled past him. I felt that if there had been a foul it should have been ignored because the foul negated the advantage I had after beating him. In any case I did not even think that Marty had fouled me.

FOULS COMMITTED (13 minutes): Marty was dribbling the ball down the sidewall to the corner. I got between him and the ball, took the ball away from him. So he just used his body to blast my body and knock me down. Calder the Ref, called me for a foul for playing the ball while prone on the ground! I could not believe it. I shouted about how Marty was like a little bull and that he had knocked me down. I still feel shocked by the call. I got between the dribbler and his ball, and so the dribbler knocked me down (a foul), and then I get called for a foul because I unintentionally played the ball in the process of falling down?!?

DEFENSE (13 minutes): I blocked a few shots, the ball that was used hit my body really hard. This heavy ball at 7.5 PSI was just too much.

I intercepted at least one pass.

I stole the ball from the star Marty twice. The first time, he was called for a foul I felt he was innocent of, and play was stopped though it should have been allowed to continue. The second time, Marty just body slammed me after I got between him and the ball, knocked me down, and I was called for a foul when I felt he should have been called for foul.

Andre from Armenia told me that he agreed with me, re the controversy regarding how I when playing defense do not mark a man closely, but often allow him to be around 15 feet away from me.

I was never beaten on the dribble.

I do not recall having been at fault on defense even once.

GOALIE (9 minutes): I started out in goal. The hard shoots they took at me during warmup, hurt my hands. They scored 3 goals.

One goal, I was taken by surprise by a shot from the center point, on a kickoff after a goal. I thought Calder had not blown his whistle to set the play in motion.

Another goal, one of their players got the ball about 60 degrees right of the goal and 9 feet away, and fired the ball past me. The shot was absolutely perfect, a great world-class shot. Let's face it, amateurs often make world-class plays. If a shot is a great shot, then it's silly to blame the goalie. In retrospect I suspect I should have rushed at him, but I felt he did not have a good angle so rushing him would be too risky.

The third goal, one of their players got the ball about 8 feet in front of me, with nobody between him and me. I slid at him with my foot towards the ball, trying to guard the rest of the goal with my body, and he kicked the ball over my foot. This sliding method, has worked for me before producing miracle saves but this time it did not. In retrospect I suspect I should have charged him throwing my chest at the ball. My team-mates sighed after this goal as if I had let them down. The fact is, that they allowed this player, to get the ball right in front of the goal, 10 feet from the goal, with time and nobody very near him, and with nobody between him and the goal.

ENDURANCE: I did not feel as energetic as usual during the game this evening. I had been awake for 18 hours when the game started. I weighed 189 lbs before the game. Meaning that somehow, I have lost 1 pound over the past week, despite eating only 2 at least normal-size meals during the week .

It has been a strange week weight wise. Jan 28 Saturday morning I weighed 187.5 lbs before practice on the Oak Sq Y scale. Then the rest of Jan 28 & Sunday Jan 29, I had no meals, all I ate was a few blue corn chips mixed with cream cheese and 'black salt', (which tasted really good given how cheap it is), and some egg casserole (about a small breakfast's worth) at the church where they were ending a 3-day fast. Then Jan 30 Monday morning my weight was up to 190 lbs on the Oak Sq Y scale before practice. Then I had two big lunches Jan 30 & Jan 31. Then on Jan 31 Tuesday evening, my weight was down to 189 lbs on the Oak Sq Y scale before practice.

MENTAL STATE: I felt tired. I had been awake for 18 hours straight when the game began. I had been distracted and fatigued during the day by having to have the oil in my car changed at 8 AM in Watertown, and having to appear before a notary public in Cambridge at 11 AM. At Honda Village early in the morning I consumed things I have not consumed in a long time: coffee, and 2 sugary donuts. Before and during the game I drank a sports drink with tea in it. Merrimack Tom upbraided my for my alleged position-play deficiency. People sighed at me for a goal that was their fault not mine. I was thinking re my team-mates: they notice my faults, but they do not notice their own faults, even when they do the same things they criticize me for; they blame me for things, but do not blame themselves for things, even when they are guilty of the things they blame me for.

     
  Continued at 2012 Soccer Drill Stats Part XVI