Triceps Extension, Leg-Raises, Medicine-ball dribble

From 853-901 PM I did the ABCABC Medicine-ball dribbling drill using a 6 lb medicine ball; From 913-921 PM I did the ACBACB Medicine-ball dribbling drill using a 8 lb medicine ball; From 933-941 PM I did the ABACABAC Medicine-ball dribbling drill using a 8 lb medicine ball. In between the 8-minute medicine ball drills, I did the triceps extension, the hanging knee raise, and the hanging toe-raise.

January 19, the best I could do on the triceps extension was 5 reps at 25 lbs in a hand. Now, 8 weeks later, after 83 reps of the triceps extension with each arm, I am up to being able to do 5 reps with 30 lbs in a hand with either hand, a gain of 20% over eight weeks in terms of max for triceps extension.

Last time I did the hanging knee-raise was March 5 nine days ago; the number of reps for the two sets was up up 30% today compared to last time.

Last time I did the hanging toe-raise was March 5 nine days ago; the number of reps for the set was up up 100% today compared to last time.

The medicine-ball dribbling drills done today are described in the February 20, 2012 log-entry.

See Weightlifting Scores Table for David Virgil Hobbs, Jan 19, 2012 onwards.

Waltham YMCA
815-945 PM
Irish Village Soccer Club games

1st Day Playing in 'Irish Village Soccer Club' games; Dribbling Performance & Energy-level both way up

Tuesday game-day I woke up approx 4 PM, 4.25 hours before the games started. I estimate I got about 8 hours of fitful sleep before the game. In the past few days I had been having trouble falling asleep at the normal time even after having been awake for more than 24 hours straight. Before the game I had a cup of coffee with cream and sugar. My main meal before sleeping had been toast with cream-cheese & salmon.

The games were 4v4 & 5v5, I think occasionally 6v6. There was no goalie who could use his hands. The goals were about 6 feet wide and 4 feet high.

In total I played for: 18 minutes straight (we won 3 in a row); 8 minutes straight (we won 3 in a row); 12 minutes straight (we won 3 in a row); 35 minutes straight (on team different from the one I won 9 games in a row with and we lost 4-3). So in total I played approx 73 minutes, I played every position.

I did not do any warmup today before the game.

I did not take any written notes during the game; hence, my memory of the events is somewhat fuzzy.

Most of the time, the 1st team I was on contained: myself, Amit, Eugene & Will. We won 9 games and lost 0. A game lasted for 5 minutes or until a team scored 2 goals during these 9 games. Then, since several of the players had to leave, as a result of which we only had enough players for two teams, the game went on for about 35 minutes. Breaks between games were no more than 5 minutes.

The ball used was a Lanzara Indoor size 5 inflated to a PSI of only 2.0. Then we switched to another Lanzara Indoor size 5 that was inflated to 3.0 PSI. These balls were green and had a slightly fuzzy carpetish surface. They were inflated to such a low PSI, that I thought they were size 4 balls (the more inflated a ball is the bigger it is).

My performance during the game:

Stats in brief (some numbers given are approximations as I did take notes during game):

Minutes: 56
Goals: 0 (one not-counted shot from behind half-court line)
Assists: 0
Passes: 16 good, 5 off-target
Passes Intercepted: 1
Shots: 4
I Dribbled by defender: 20
I lost ball to defender while dribbling: 4
I lost ball to defender when not dribbling, stationary: 0
Cleared balls: approx 6
blocked shots: 6
I intercepted pass: 3
steals: 2
steals resulting in my control of the ball: 0
defense errors: 0
Beaten by attacker (on the dribble): 0

Goalie minutes: 0
Goalie errors: --
Saves : --
Goals Allowed: --

PASSING:

I made several good long approx 25 yard passes. Also several good wall-passes. I had some trouble with one-touch right-footed pass accuracy but I don't find fault with myself with regards to the passes that did not go where I wanted them to because the ball used was weird and different for me. One pass involved me kicking a ball that had bounced with my left-foot accurately a distance of 30 yards with the ball reaching the high apex I desired (a high apex can give the player receiving the pass more time to reach the ball, and can make it easier for him to handle the ball. Generally I was able to put the desired apex on the passes.

I felt frustrated about 3 times, because the player I passed the ball to, failed to anticipate, that I was in the process of passing the ball not directly to that player, but rather to a spot near the player, that was for tactical reasons a better target compared to sending the ball directly to the player. A good passer needs a good pass receiver and a good pass-receiver does not remain stationary, but rather runs around trying to create openings, and also anticipates where passes targetted to him but not directly at him are going.

Once I got the ball near the opponent goal, and then passed the ball to the defender because I thought the defender was a team-mate. This was because this defender's shirt was darker than those of his team-mates, and resembled the dark blue shirts on my team.

At the beginning of the game for about five minutes, I felt significantly performance-impaired by the fact that I could not tell who was on my team and who was not. Then the tall white man in charge, passed out colored jerseys and everyone put them on. When I could at a glance tell who was on my team and who was not, I felt more relaxed and was able to perform better.

By way of comparison, at the Oak Square Y, the colored jersey situation: they forget to bring colored jerseys; most of the players refuse to wear colored jerseys; after being scolded for not coming to the game wearing the blue Oak Sq Y soccer league shirts, both teams show up wearing blue Oak Sq Y soccer league shirts; and, etc.

I can't understand certain things about Oakie soccer players: their extreme level of intensity; their disdain for colored jerseys. Seems like the disdain for colored jerseys is another trick up the sleeve of the magician who pretends to be a better player than he is, because when it's difficult to tell who is on your team, the relative power of one type of player vs another type of player changes.

PASS RECEIVING:

I received about 8 passes during the game. One event stands out. I ran towards the goal on a slant, and --surprise-- my team-mate, who was almost directly behind me, passed the ball to me. The pass was a good low fast approx 35' foot pass. I handled the ball well though I was moving forwards at a fast speed; I trapped it & with the touch that trapped it, moved it forwards a little. Then on the next touch I shot it, but the no-hands-goalie type player on the other team played the situation well and was just 2 or 3 feet away from me to block the shot. I suspect that on this play, I should not have shot on the second touch, but dribbled instead. Perhaps I need to memorize the following: when you don't know where the defender/goalie is, a dribble in a backwards direction is wise. I think the problem was, that having become annoyed by ball-hogging dribble 'n shoot type team-mates in the Oak Sq Y League, I have excessively reduced dribbling in myself.

Generally I would handle passes better if I had a better mental image of where the players on the field are at the time of receiving the pass.

SHOOTING:

During the first couple of minutes of playing, I took a long low 30 yard shot and scored, getting the ball into the 6 foot wide goal 30 yards away. At this early point I had not gotten used to the rule Irish Village uses, which is that you cannot be awarded a goal on a shot taken from your own half.

Also, once an angled one-touch shot I took hit the goal-post, and once an angled one-touch shot I took hit the cross-bar. One shot off an underled pass was blocked by a defender.

In total these four shots were the only shots I took.

Hence overall, the shot accuracy was excellent, in the sense that I was either scoring or hitting goalposts and crossbars. Unless the net is open (no goalie/defender), a shot is not supposed to go to the middle of the goal. Though I've become used to a goal that is 6 feet high and 8 feet wide, today the goal was just 4 feet high and 6 feet wide.

Not certain about it, but I think all the shots were left-footed.

DRIBBLING:

Today was an excellent dribbling day for me. I dribbled the ball by a defender 20 times, using simple side of foot zig-zagging. Stylistically what dominated in my dribbling today was that I used the movement of the defender against the defender. If the defender was moving towards me and to my right, I dribbled forwards and to my left; if a defender came towards me and to my left, I dribbled forwards and to my right. I timed these directional movements correctly; sometimes I deliberately delayed the moment of change of direction, so that the defender would be completely committed in the wrong direction at the time I made the change of direction.

Seven or eight times, I dribbled by two defenders in a row. These 'beatings', involved me and the ball moving in approx a straight line towards the opponent goal. 80% of the time these double-play dribbling runs ended with a player on my team getting the ball, about 20% of the time they ended with the other team getting the ball. I only remember one incident in which I lost the ball after dribbling two of the defenders: in that incident, after I dribbled past two defenders, maintaining approx a zig-zag in the direction of the opponent goal, I kicked the ball too far, and their rearmost defender kicked the ball away.

I don't blame myself much for whatever dribbling errors occurred, because whereas the ball we had been using at the Oak Sq Y Soccer League had a smooth surface and a 6.0 PSI, the balls used today had a PSI of on average 2.5, and a fuzzy surface.

I want to become more aware of where team-mates and defenders are when I dribble, especially when the dribble starts with me chasing down a ball in the corner.

FOULS AGAINST: Nobody was called for fouling me.

FOULS COMMITTED: I was not called for any fouls.

DEFENSE:

I was again never beaten on the dribble.

However in total the number of steals was only one or two. People were afraid of me and did not attempt to dribble past me. They were adept at simply retreating from me and shielding the ball. However I often forced them into making bad passes. For example: I challenged Irish Village's star dribbler when he had the ball; he did not want to look like a chicken intimidated into passing the ball away; he did some 'fancy' dribbling sideways across the court towards the other side of the court, and in his haste as I closed in on him, made an inaccurate ill-conceived pass, which was taken control of by our team.

When I was playing defense, the opposing team was not able to bring high amounts of pressure on me the way they do at the Oak Sq Y. This and the fact that I was putting more of my energy than I usually do into offense, limited my opportunities for defensive heroics.

As I get more energetic, I should re-institute an old trick of my youth, the defensive feint: pretending to be charging at an opponent who is dribbling the ball, but halting and pouncing on the person he passes to instead. There was one incident today involving me as defender feinting an assault on an opponent dribble resulting in me being able to pressure the opponent who was passed to, resulting in our team getting possession of the ball.

GOALIE:

Did not play goalie today

ENDURANCE:

My physical endurance today was godlike compared to the way it has been for years. During 90 minutes, I played for 73 minutes, in stretches of 18, 8, 12, & 35 minutes. I always felt as if I was able to play at at least 70% of the energy level I can play at when I am completely rested.

I suspect that a main reason for the peppiness today, was that the air is cleaner at the Waltham Y, compared to the Oak Sq Y. The Oak Sq Y is situated in the middle of a busy intersection. I remember about four years ago, during evening soccer in the gym (it was not summer-time), the Oak Sq Y hallways smelled of swimming-pool-chlorine, and the gym was unbearably hot and humid. Since then the gym heat/humidity problem has been corrected, and the chlorine smell in the hallway problem has been corrected. But the fact these heat and smell problems occurred in the first place, and persisted for as long as they did, leads me to suspect that the Oak Sq Y is not on the ball, in terms of purifying the air inside the Oak Sq Y gym. Air cleanliness is more important when people are exercising and breathing deeply, and as I said, the Oak Sq Y is in the middle of a busy intersection, filled with automotive exhaust fumes.

Today during the game all I had for refreshment was tangerine juice, that was almost frozen solid. I could only get small amounts of tangerine juice out of the bottle by turning it upside down; I estimate that I was not able to consume more than 6 ounces of this frozen tangerine juice stuff during the games. I feel that I got an enormous amount of refreshment out of this almost frozen tangerine juice, relative to the amount of it that I consumed. Water accomplishes its rejuvenating dehydrating effect upon the body better when it is cold. I found that the Tangerine juice frozen to a slush level tasted better, and was more easily handled by my stomach, compared to refrigerator-temp or warmer tangerine juice. The tangerine juice I consumed is a natural source of vitamins A and C, and is not reconstituted.

MENTAL STATE: My mental state during the game was better than it has been for years. The improvement re fatigue of course was an important cause of the improved mental state. I felt confident re my abilities on defense, and re my ability to play an intelligent game in terms of where I placed myself. During the game my attitude regarding dribbling was pugnacious, insolent, confident. I estimate that a key ingredient in producing optimal dribbling performance, is that the dribbler should in terms of his attitude, have a level of swagger that is appropriate to his skill. If an excellent dribbler is not enough of a ball-hog or too much of a ball-hog his performance will be impaired. Same goes for average dribblers.

My inner resolve today was: be somewhat selfish regarding dribbling, don't forget about developing your dribbling through practice, due to an obsession with overall team performance.

OBSERVATIONS RE MY TEAM:

The Irish Village Soccer Club people split up into about four different five player teams. Compared to the Oakies at Oak Square Y, they are more of a team-player, and less inclined to neglect defense and loiter near the opponent goal looking for opportunities for glory.

Number of words in log-entry today: 2505.

Aerial Off-Wall Corner Ballwork Skill-Drills. Ball touched one or two times between times ball hits wall

Corner Dribble Drill F2012CD0

F2012CD0 involves a corner of the gym. I alternate between kicking the ball (A) at the wall on my left (B), and the wall on my right (C). The kicks are of approx 90 degree angle (outgoing relative to incoming ball-direction). I place orange cones at the base of the wall so that I will have targets to shoot at.

Characteristics of F2012CD0: the ball is kicked touched just once between the times it hits the walls.

Doing F2012CD0 I keep going, alternating between kicking at wall C and and kicking at wall B, until something prevents me from continuing.

F2012CD0, is so named because it is similar to F2012CD1 (introduced 2/15/12), except that the ball is not dribbled once before it is kicked.

I believe I've done 'F2012CD0', which I did today, previously, without having named it 'F2012CD0'. The F2012CD0 is described in graphic and text in the box in this entry.

Also today I did the Aerial form of the F2012CD1+. I now define the F2012CD1+ as being the same as the F2012CD1 (introduced 2/15/12 in this log), except that I prescribe myself to dribble the ball at least once before kicking it away.

It's become difficult, if you are not a morning person or unavailable during the morning, to find times at the Y gyms when there is enough open gym space. This evening the Waltham Y gym was open and not crowded, so I decided to take advantage of the open gym space and do aerial corner drills.

I've learned that, for corner drills that involve relatively difficult ball juggling/dribbling, the use of one wall is just a little worse compared to the use of a corner. But for corner drills involving relatively easy ball juggling/dribbling, the use of just one wall is much worse than the use of an entire corner.

When the dribbling/juggling/kicking is easy, a given repetition of the drill can go on and on, alternating between kick at left wall and kick at right wall. A repetition of the given exercise/drill going on and on for several kicks has several advantages: a type of endurance is developed; a wide variety of situations is encountered; the activity/minute and ball-touches/minute rates are high.

However when the dribbling/juggling/kicking is relatively difficult, an attempt at a repetition of the given exercise/drill rarely results in the ball being kicked at a wall more than twice; hence, relatively little is lost when a wall is used instead of a corner.

Thus the new policy, is to prioritize the relatively easy corner drills when an entire corner of the gym is available, and to prioritize the relatively difficult corner-drills when just one wall is available.

Had I not carefully thought it out, I might well have ended up prioritizing the difficult corner-drills when plenty of gym space was available.

Today on all the attempts, I tried to to hit the wall at a point at least 6 feet above the ground, and when I dribbled the ball between kicks at the walls, I tried to keep the ball off the ground (aerial version). Today I started out kicking the ball at a wall in a corner (F2012CD0), at a point 15 feet away from both walls joining at the corner. For a few minutes I tried to use my right foot to kick at the left wall, and my left foot to kick at the right wall, with the ball touching me just once in between the times the ball would touch the wall. Then for a few minutes, I did the same thing but touched the ball at least twice between the times the ball touched the wall (F2012CD1+), while keeping the ball off the ground; I did not pre-ordain, which foot would be used or which direction I would move with the air-dribbling. Then for a few minutes I tried to use my right foot to kick at the right wall, and my left foot to kick at the left wall, with the ball touching me just once (F2012CD0) in between the times the ball would touch the wall.

After 37 minutes of starting 15 feet away from each wall, for 6 minutes, I moved to starting each rep from a point that was 35 feet from the left wall, and 15 feet from the right wall. For a few minutes I kicked the ball at the left wall with my right foot, and at the right wall with my left foot, touching the ball just once (F2012CD0) between the times it hit the wall.

Finally, for 12 minutes, I moved my starting point to a spot 37 feet from the left wall and also 37 feet from the right wall. From this point, I alternated between kicking at one wall and then the other, aiming for a point 6 feet above the ground, and touching the ball once (F2012CD0) between the time it hit the walls.

Log-entry contains 842 new words.

Waltham YMCA
815-945 PM
Irish Village Soccer Club games

2nd Day Playing in 'Irish Village Soccer Club' games; Performance down (due to Hot weather & Lack of Practice?)

Today Tuesday game-day I woke up approx 5 PM, 3.25 hours before the games started. I estimate I got about 5 hours of interrupted sleep before the game (I could not sleep for more than an hour straight). Before the game I had a cup of coffee with cream and sugar. My main meal before sleeping had been steak and baked potato.

The games were 5v5. There was no goalie who could use his hands. The goals were about 6 feet wide and 4 feet high.

In total during 90 minutes I played for approx 65 minutes: Twice I played one 5 minute game and was off-court for the next game; three times I played two games for about 10 minutes and was then off-court; twice I played three games in a row for about 15 minutes straight and was then off court. On average the break between games was 2 minutes; on average the break between shifts so to speak, was 3.5 minutes.

My 5-person team's record tonight was 7-6-1.

I did not do any warmup today before the game.

I did not take any written notes during the game; hence, my memory events and results recorded in this log entry is somewhat approximate.

Correction: my team-mate last week is named Amit, not Hamid.

A game lasted for 5 minutes or until a team scored 2 goals. Breaks between games were minimal, no more than a couple of minutes on average.

The ball used was a Lanzara Indoor size 5 inflated to a PSI of only 2.0 (PSI is estimate did not measure).

My performance during the game:

Stats in brief (numbers given are rough approximations as I did not take notes during game):

Minutes: 56
Goals: 0 (one not-counted shot from behind half-court line)
Assists: 0
Passes: 28 good, 8 off-target (more than half of the off-target passes succeeded anyway)

Passes I made that were Intercepted: 2
Passes I Received: 16
Shots: 4
I Dribbled by defender: 16
I lost ball to defender while dribbling: 6
I lost ball to defender when not dribbling, stationary: 0
Cleared balls: 6
blocked shots: 12
I intercepted pass: 4
Steals: 5 (CORRECTION: last week this stat was incorrectly reported as 21, the correct figure was 2. However in the 'DEFENSE' paragraph it was acknowledged that there were just a couple of steals)
Steals resulting in my control of the ball: 2
defense errors: 7
Beaten by attacker (on the dribble): 1

Goalie minutes: 0
Goalie errors: --
Saves : --
Goals Allowed: --

PASSING:

Right from the start, I did a great job on one touch passes off bouncing balls. I would chase the ball down, and then after it had bounced once, send off accurate 20-30 yard chip-passes.

The accuracy of the simple short roller passes was worse than a week ago, especially at the beginning of the evening (but it's not a big deal messing up with a skill you have already mastered). I attribute this to the lack of warmup combined with the not having practiced since March 16 six days ago. I had previously noted when doing solitary drills, that warmup is especially important when one has not practiced for a long time.

My awareness of where my team-mates were was improved compared to last week.

Even when a pass was off-target, the result was usually still our team retaining possession of the ball (the intended receiver would get the off-target pass anyway, or someone else on my team would).

PASS RECEIVING:

I did a good job of pass receiving, though most of the passes received were easy to handle passes. Seemed the ball would glue itself to my foot when I would receive a pass while moving towards the opponent goal.

I did a competent job of handling balls (not always passed) that came my way in the air: I would evade the defense and dribble or pass.

SHOOTING:

I was able to control the ball prior to shooting, but the shots were blocked by the no-hands-goalie. I was shooting off the second touch, meaning: trap ball, then shoot. I feel I should have been moving the ball on the first touch or adding another touch prior to the shot and moving on that touch. Also a fake shot might have improved things.

I've been habitually shooting off the first or second touch, in part because I've noticed that at the Oak Sq Y games, such has often been the wise course of action for shooters. However, the goal being used in these game is only about half the size of the goal used at the Oak Square Y.

I felt dissatisfied with my mental picture of where the goal was and where the no-hands goalie was at the time of the shot.

The Pass Receiving section of the March 15 game report of last week, also features me accusing myself of not dribbling enough prior to shooting, after getting a pass: "Perhaps I need to memorize the following: when you don't know where the defender/goalie is, a dribble in a backwards direction is wise. I think the problem was, that having become annoyed by ball-hogging dribble 'n shoot type team-mates in the Oak Sq Y League, I have excessively reduced dribbling in myself".

I've had very little actual game experience over the past few years involving quick shots from near the opponent goal.

DRIBBLING:

Today though I told myself before the game to be pugnacious and selfish, during the game, I was not so pugnacious and selfish. This because: selfishly speaking I wanted to win because the winning team stayed on court, & I was afraid individualistic dribbling could cause defeat; and, my team-mates positioned themselves in such a way that I had to fall back to playing defense and no-hands-goalie more than I did last week.

What stood out in my mind this evening, especially at the beginning, was that simply studying (deskwork studying, without a ball) the conventional wisdom regarding soccer dribbling over the past week for many hours, had changed the way I dribbled during the game. I found myself confidently using the sole of the foot more than I have been.

In one event, when I was chasing down the ball in my zone with my back to the defender, I cut the ball outwards and backwards with the sole of my left foot and then turned, and so beat him; this kind of sole of foot outwards movement has in the past not been my style, but outwards movements & use of the sole, are characteristic of the conventional soccer dribbling wisdom I've been studying.

The deskwork-study effect reminded me of how I've noticed that moves I work on in practice, quickly become at least to some extent second nature in games, even before I've had a chance to experiment with them in games.

One result of the deskwork-study done this week: a sense of confidence when using dribbling techniques that are characteristic of the conventional soccer dribbling wisdom, but that have not been characteristic of my dribbling style in the past.

Based on my experiences this game and last, I expect that: doing new conventional-wisdom-type soccer dribbling drills I've invented over the past week, will quickly result in conventional dribbling techniques I've been neglecting becoming second nature and me becoming competent in their use during games, if such practicing is done enough.

The dribbling successes today were similar to those of last week; I did not feint but rather simply tried to cut left and right at the right speed at the right time.

Again today I noted something I've noted before: Now that I am around 190 pounds, I am able to sort of bull my way through defenders and outmuscle defenders, in ways that I could not when I weighed about 140 lbs (98% of the game-type experience I have under my belt through the course of my life, I got when I weighed just about 140 lbs or less).

I feel as if I could continue to improve my ability to take advantage of my new-found weight and strength; I expect that as I master the conventional soccer dribbling wisdom, I will be able to effectively use my weight and strength when I execute the conventional-type moves. However, I worry that such would be considered too physical by important Irish Village Soccer Club members.

My ball control with the sole of the foot is better than it used to be; my mind is friendlier to the use of the sole of the foot than it used to be; my understanding of and confidence with regards to sole of foot dribbling are both up; there are situations where I can just bull my way through the defense using the sole of my foot on the ball with my body in front of the ball; my skill in using my newfound weight and strength is improving; I find that often I am able to win control of the ball when my foot and an opponent's foot simultaneously touch the ball simply due to my new strength/weight.

But the result can be the opponent winding up on the floor and/or momentarily in pain; I don't want to get rough beyond what is acceptable with the people I play with.

FOULS AGAINST: Nobody was called for fouling me.

FOULS COMMITTED: I was not called for any fouls. However at the beginning of the game, the tallest man in the Irish Village Soccer Club, this white guy, ran at me as I dribbled and tried to 'tackle' me. My left foot was on the ball and his left foot on the other side of the ball simult. I don't remember what happened next with the ball, because he ended up on the floor; and he shouted, " Take it easy!". I responded, "but YOU were tackling ME". Afterwards neither of us said anything more about it. This tall guy played quite physically later in the game.

DEFENSE:

I was beaten once on the dribble. This was the first time I've been beaten on the dribble this year. To be fair, the position of the ball was such that the situation was difficult for me and easy for the opponent. The ball was in front of me and to my right; I was off-balance and leaning to my left; I reached my right foot forwards and out for the ball; the opponent facing me swiped the ball to his left with his right foot, cut it forwards and scored.

I estimate that I would have handled this situation better if instead of lunging outwards and forwards for the ball with my right foot, I had moved my entire body sideways to the right.

After the first few games, one or both the opponent teams introduced a new strategy: one of their players simply played positionally speaking as a no-hands-goalie. Previously none of the Irish Village teams had had a player who positionally speaking was a no-hands-goalie. My team was playing without anyone positionally as a no-hands-goalie (left back, right back, 3 forwards). Nobody on my team dropped back positionally to play no-hands-goalie. The result was that the other team was getting the advantage. So I dropped back to play no-hands-goalie positionally speaking.

It was when I dropped back to play no hands goalie, that almost all of my 'defensive errors' occurred. However, by the end of the evening, I was twice as good at no-hands-goalie as I was at the beginning of the evening.

With the passage of time this evening, I began to realize that in situations where it was just me the no-hands-goalie against an opponent, I had to charge the attacker, cut down the angle. I did not immediately understand this, because I saw how the no-hands-goalie on the other team was shutting my team down without coming more than 4 feet away from his goal. Then I realized that opponents shooting at me were more skilled and experienced in this type of indoor soccer compared to the opponents the other team's no-hands-goalie was facing, and had to be treated differently.

I estimate that playing no-hands-goalie as I did this evening, is good for improving defensive skills, especially when one charges forwards so that one ends up playing like a typical defender.

The resulting situation is difficult because the opponent merely has to get the ball past me, he does not have to get his body past me also; if he 'nutmegs' me (puts the ball through my legs) the result is a goal; whereas in the normal defense position, if he nutmegs me without being able to keep up with the ball, the end result is simply a turnover in my team's favor.

When I was playing defense in the Oak Square Y League, at least a couple of times, this little brown player who Andre said was a 'great striker', in frustration simply kicked the ball through my legs, without bothering to even attempt to catch up with it afterwards, so my team got possession of the ball. It's no disgrace or loss to be nutmegged in such fashion, and I allow defenders to get away with it. However when you are playing no-hands-goalie, being nutmegged in this way usually results in a goal.

To a significant extent, the defensive errors I made were due to the fact that I was being bombarded with so much defensive work, that I began to become lackadaisical in terms of effort. The number of attacks I had to endure became so great, that me making a defensive error simply did not seem like a big deal anymore.

GOALIE:

Did not play goalie today

ENDURANCE:

My physical endurance today was much better than it had been during the Oak Square Y games, but significantly worse compared to last week's Irish Village Soccer Club games. The temperature was a record-setting, unseasonably warm 79-75 degrees F outdoors during the game; the dew-point was 54 degrees F.

Due to changes in terms of who my team-mates were, I ended up having to run more than I had to last week.

I drank about 12 oz cold liquid tangerine juice during the games; I suspect that the tangerine juice was more refreshing last week when it was frozen to a slush.

MENTAL STATE:

I felt tempted to just skip the game, and ended up getting there 15 minutes late. Solitary drill has become a habit for me, I have not done much solitary drill lately, I felt like doing solitary drills instead. Before the game: I felt tense; I felt tired; it seemed impossible that I would be able to generate even half the energy required to participate competently. But I reminded myself again, that I'll be better off in the long run if I play in games even when I feel as if the performance will be a disaster.

I reminded myself that: I can learn even more from bad days than I can from good ones; I can learn even more from mistakes than I can from successes; someone like me who pays close attention and keeps a log, can learn more from failures compared to the average person; I can learn more per minute from one bad game or ten mistakes, than I can from an evening of solitary practice. These thoughts calmed me and helped me to see it through.

Before the game I commanded myself to be pugnacious & selfish with regards to dribbling; however circumstance curtailed my dribbling endeavors. Last week I felt I had more to prove to myself and others re dribbling. This week, having succeeded with dribbling last week, I felt less motivated to dribble. Factors such as the composition of my team, my team's behavior, the composition & behavior of the other team, & heat-induced exhaustion outweighed my inner resolve to be an aggressive dribbler.

OBSERVATIONS RE MY TEAM:

We started out with two defenders and three forwards and zero no-hands-goalie. This was overwhelmed by the opposition resorting to use of a no-hands-goalie. We could not do without a no-hands-goalie because we did not communicate. We did not discuss who was playing which position, all the positioning was intuitive. The players on my team were less inclined to drop back and play defense, compared to last week.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

I only practiced once between the previous games Thursday March 15, and todays games March 22-- that was 55 minutes of Aerial Off-Wall Corner Skill Drills, done March 16 six days ago.

By way of contrast, in the week prior to the March 15 game, the practices were as follows:

Wednesday 03/14
853 - 943 PM
Waltham Y
50 minutes
Weightlifting, stomach exercises, medicine-ball dribble

Saturday 03/10
405 - 436 PM
Oak Sq Y Wts Rm
31 minutes
weightlifting: dumbbell bench press, dumbbell kickback
445-645 PM
Oak Sq Y Gym
120 minutes
Aerial & Ground/Aerial M2012CD 2-dribble corner soccer drills
Total: 151 minutes

Friday 03/09
710 - 805 PM
Oak Sq Y Wts Rm
55 minutes
weightlifting: reverse biceps preacher curl, fly, palm down wrist curl, palm up wrist curl
815-945 PM
Oak Sq Y Gym
90 minutes
Aerial M2012CD 2-dribble corner soccer drills
Total: 145 minutes

I felt as if most of the improvement I showed today compared to the games a week ago, was due to the experience gained in the games a week ago; and I felt my performance this week was not equal to what it was last week. Part of this can be attributed to the unseasonably warm weather; however for example the inaccurate passing of today cannot be blamed on the weather. Thus I conclude for now, that practice of the type done in the week prior to the March 15 games is effective for producing performance improvement in games.

The week before the Thursday March 15 games, I exercised on Friday 6 days before the Thursday games, Saturday 5 days before the games, and Wednesday 1 day before the Thursday March 15 games. On these days I exercised in total for 5 hours and 46 minutes (111 minutes weightlifting, 25 minutes medicine ball dribble, 241 minutes 2-dribble corner soccer drills).

For now I make the following tentative conclusions: a mix of weightlifting & aerial 2-dribble corner drills done during the week before games improves game-performance; weightlifting for about 2 hours in total on 3 different days the week before a game improves performance; Aerial & Ground/Aerial corner drills of the type done in the week before the March 15 games improve performance; not exercising for five days in a row prior to a game-day, impairs performance (too much rest).

I suspect that the weightlifting improves my ability to sleep, as a result of which I am more energetic during the game.

The corner drills done during the week prior to the March 15 games are described in the March 9 & March 10 entries.

Number of words in log-entry today: 3169.

New 'Mar31A1' Off-wall 1-touch ground-dribble drill with feints Done

From 4:57 - 6:41 PM, in 104 minutes, I did the 52 different variations of the new, never done before, Mar31A1 drill. On average each variant took 2.0 minutes.

In this para the direction of the wall kicked at is always 12 O'Clock (fighter pilot lingo, inaginary clock) and the other directions are all relative to 12:00 as the direction of the wall. Every variant involved: me kicking the ball at the wall (12 O'clock); me feinting (with my right foot) to kick the rebound either straight ahead (12 O'clock), to my left (9 O'clock), backwards (6 O'clock), or to my right (3 O'clock); and ultimately, me using my left foot to kick the ball to my right (3 O'clock). Today I did not touch the ball during the feint.

With some variants, kicking the ball behind the back came naturally.

With some variants the variant could be accomplished in two ways, ball kicked behind back, & ball kicked in front of torso the common natural way.

Some variants were very difficult to perform successfully if the ball initially rebounding off the wall was moving at me at a high speed.

Some variants could be done with the body facing either to the left or to the right at the beginning of the feint.

At least one variant was better accomplished if the counterclockwise rotation of the body during the feint, as prescribed by the official Mar31A1 drill table, was ignored.

A couple of variants involving the outside of the left foot used to kick the ball to the right, required the insertion of an extra touch on the ball.

When more than one way of accomplishing a variant presented itself, I continued until I had successfully accomplished the variant in all possible ways.

This drill was based in part, on my observation of videos of the top all-time dribblers. I concluded that a dominant characteristic of theirs was proficiency in sharp 90 & 180 degree turns. I felt shocked that so many people in the soccer world have blabbed so many words for so long re soccer-dribbling, all the while ignoring the obvious importance of proficiency in 90 degree turns.

At the start of the practice the Adidas Replique ball was inflated to 7.0 PSI.

New 'Mar31A2' Off-wall 1-touch ground-dribble drill with feints Done for first time; 'GroundWorld-1' ground-dribbling drill done with medicine ball for first time

From 4:43 - 6:26 PM, in 103 minutes, I did the 52 different variations of the new, never done before, Mar31A2 drill. On average each variant took 2.0 minutes.

In this para the direction of the wall kicked at is always 12 O'Clock (fighter pilot lingo, inaginary clock) and the other directions are all relative to 12:00 as the direction of the wall. Every variant involved: me kicking the ball at the wall (12 O'clock); me feinting (with my left foot) to kick the rebound either straight ahead (12 O'clock), to my left (9 O'clock), backwards (6 O'clock), or to my right (3 O'clock); and ultimately, me using my left foot to kick the ball to my right (3 O'clock). Today I did not touch the ball during the feint.

This drill is like Mar31A1 of yesterday, except the feint made prior to turning the ball to my right using my left foot, is made with the left foot, not the right foot.

Some of the variants could be done in more than one way. For example, some of them could be done both with the body facing to the right at the beginning of the feint and also with the body facing to the left at the beginning of the feint.

I counted 11 variants, as being such that after the feint left foot passes over the ball, the rear right foot stops the ball, prior to the left foot kicking the ball to the left.

I counted 7 variants, as being such that after the feint left foot passes over the ball, the left foot stops the ball after passing over it while making the feint.

NOTE: in these descriptions, left is always the wall closer to my left shoulder when I face the wall I kick the ball at at the beginning of a repetition of the drill.

I concluded the evening by for 30 minutes doing the left-footed versions of the GroundWorld-1 Drill using an 8 lb medicine ball. I did each variant once, except I did the Three-sixty variants three times each.

The GroundWorld-1 Drill is meant to encapsulate the wisdom of the world out there (not necessarily my own wisdom) with regards to dribbling the soccer ball.

I spent many a tiring hour, studying the wisdom of the soccer world regarding ground-dribbling.

The process was complicated by: the fact that many of the "moves" are known by at least two different names; the names given moves are often not descriptively accurate; too many names are used in describing the "moves" (i.e., every variant of a given move has to be named after a soccer star); people are not good at using words to describe the "moves"; the videos available can be hard to follow with the eye; moves used by the players in the popular video-games are not used by players in reality; sources differ regarding how a move with a given name should be performed.

At the start of the practice the Adidas Replique ball was inflated to 7.0 PSI.

New 'Mar31A1-ToLeft' Off-wall 1-touch ground-dribble drill with feints Done for first time; Started with 'Mar31A2-ToLeft'

From 2:09 - 4:25 PM, in 136 minutes, I did the 52 different variations of the new, never done before, Mar31A1-TL drill. On average each variant took 2.6 minutes.

In this para the direction of the wall kicked at is always 12 O'Clock (fighter pilot lingo, inaginary clock) and the other directions are all relative to 12:00 as the direction of the wall. Every variant involved: me kicking the ball at the wall (12 O'clock); me feinting (with my RIGHT foot) to kick the rebound either straight ahead (12 O'clock), to my left (9 O'clock), backwards (6 O'clock), or to my right (3 O'clock); and ultimately, me using my left foot to kick the ball to my LEFT (9 O'clock). Today I did not touch the ball during the feint, but sometimes I used the feinting foot to stop the ball after the feint.

This drill is like Mar31A1, except with the Mar31A1-TL, the the left foot kicks the ball to the left.

I started each rep by kicking the ball at the padded wall at the far end of the Oak Square Y gym. I took detailed notes regarding each variant, and regarding every different way a variant can be done.

I concluded that 5 of the variants were such that there was no satisfactory way of implementing them.

Two subvariants, 8.2 & 10.1, thrilled me.

In the following descriptions 'left' is always the direction to my left when I first face the ball rolling towards me after it rebounds off the wall; 'right' is always the direction to my right when I first face the ball rolling towards me after it rebounds off the wall.

8.2 involved: the ball rolling at me after rebounding off the wall; my right foot swinging over the ball as if to kick the ball to the left direction; my body making a 180 degree clockwise turn; the sole of my left foot rolling the ball to the left direction.

10.1 involved: the ball rolling at me after rebounding off the wall; my right foot swinging over the ball as if to kick the ball to the left direction; my body making a 180 degree clockwise turn; the outside of my left foot rolling the ball to the left direction.

I surprised myself by my competence in executing the 8.2 & 10.1 moves. Both of these moves involved my body making a 180 degree counterclockwise turn as my right front foot swung over the incoming ball feinting to kick it to the left, and then my left foot kicking the ball to the left at the end of the turn, with all this happening in one motion, and my eye not seeing the ball when my left foot kicked the ball to to the left after the feint.

Both of these moves if not operationally effective, at least look cool, & display a high level of a type of aptitude or skill.

If elaborated upon so that they end with the ball kicked to the 'right' direction instead of the same direction feinted at, they would be operationally effective.

From 5:10 - 5:25 PM, in 15 minutes, I did variants 5-13 of the new, never done before, Mar31A2-TL drill. On average each variant took 2.5 minutes. I took detailed notes re each subvariant.

Next for 37 minutes from 545-622 PM, I did the RIGHT-footed versions of the GroundWorld-1 Drill using an 8 lb medicine ball. I did each variant once, except I did the Three-sixty variants three times each.

Finally for 15 minutes from 630-645 PM, I put on boxing gloves and punched the hanging punching bag in the 'annex'.

New 'Mar31A2-ToLeft' Drill that was Started Yesterday, Finished

From 2:04 - 4:26 PM, in 142 minutes, I did variants 14-52 of the Mar31A2-TL drill. On the grounds of unnecessary redundancy, I skipped experimentation with 12 of the variations. So in total, the rate was one variant done per 5.5 minutes. Almost all the variants had subvariants, meaning there was more than one way to do the variant.

In this para the direction of the wall kicked at is always 12 O'Clock (fighter pilot lingo, inaginary clock) and the other directions are all relative to 12:00 as the direction of the wall. Every variant involved: me kicking the ball at the wall (12 O'clock); me feinting (with my LEFT foot) to kick the rebound either straight ahead (12 O'clock), to my left (9 O'clock), backwards (6 O'clock), or to my right (3 O'clock); and ultimately, me using my left foot to kick the ball to my LEFT (9 O'clock). Today I did not touch the ball during the feint, but sometimes I used the feinting foot to stop the ball after the feint.

I started each rep by kicking the ball at the unpadded wall at the far end of the Waltham Y gym. I took very detailed notes regarding each variant, and regarding every different way a variant can be done.

I concluded that none of the variants were such that there was no satisfactory way of implementing them.

Some of the subvariants excited me.

Many of the variants/subvariants doing the M31A2TL done today, involved the ball being kicked behind the back.

Many of the variants/subvariants doing the M31A2TL done today, involved the front left foot cutting over the ball but missing it in a feint, then the rear right foot stopping the ball, and then the left foot kicking the ball.

I noted that when a ball is rolling towards me, missing it deliberately in a feint with the front right foot and then kicking it with the rear left foot behind my back, is a skill that is improving.

I noted regarding situations featuring a ball is rolling towards me, me missing it deliberately in a feint with the front left foot and then stopping it with the rear right foot: such is a surprisingly important, untaught skill; this skill is improving; I am becoming suprisingly competent at this skill.

New 'Mar31A1-ToRight' Drill Done for Second Time; four for six on basketball pro-distance 3-pointers without warmup

From 1:51 - 5:33 PM, in 222 minutes, I did variants 5-52 of the Mar31A1-TR drill. the previous name for Mar31A1-TR was simply Mar31A1.

On the grounds of unnecessary redundancy, I skipped experimentation with 16 of the variations. So in total, the rate was one variant done per 7.2 minutes. Almost all the variants had subvariants, meaning there was more than one way to do the variant.

In this para the direction of the wall kicked at is always 12 O'Clock (fighter pilot lingo, inaginary clock) and the other directions are all relative to 12:00 as the direction of the wall. Every variant involved: me kicking the ball at the wall (12 O'clock); me feinting (with my LEFT foot) to kick the rebound either straight ahead (12 O'clock), to my left (9 O'clock), backwards (6 O'clock), or to my right (3 O'clock); and ultimately, me using my left foot to kick the ball to my RIGHT (3 O'clock). Today I did not touch the ball during the feint, but sometimes I used the feinting foot to stop the ball after the feint.

I started each rep by kicking the ball at the unpadded wall at the side of the Oak Sq Y gym. I took very detailed notes regarding each variant, and regarding every different way a variant can be done.

I concluded that none of the variants were such that there was no satisfactory way of implementing them.

In the following descriptions 'left' is always the direction to my left when I first face the ball rolling towards me after it rebounds off the wall; 'right' is always the direction to my right when I first face the ball rolling towards me after it rebounds off the wall.

19.1 involved: the ball rolling at me after rebounding off the wall; my right foot swinging at the ball as if to kick it straight ahead with the inside of the right foot; and then at the last instant, the sole of the left foot being used to kick the ball to my right.

Re 19.1, I noted that the move is more effective, when the left foot is in the air and close to the right foot at the time the right foot feints a kick straight ahead. If the left foot is kept planted in the rear of the right foot when the right foot makes the feint, the right foot feint has to be made while the ball is still far away, to give the left foot time to move up and sweep the ball to the right after the feint.

Feints are more effective when they closely resemble the movements of the body when the ball is actually kicked in the feinted direction. I found that it is indeed possible to kick the ball with the right foot, while the left foot is in the air and close to the right foot, but that the power generated through this style of kicking is weak, suitable for kicking the ball as a part of a dribble or as a short pass, but not suitable for long shots or long passes.

20.2 involved: the ball rolling at me after rebounding off the wall; my right foot swinging over the ball as if to kick it straight ahead with the inside or the sole of the right foot; and then at the last instant, the sole of the left foot being used to kick the ball to my right, with my body turning counter-clockwise to follow the ball. The 20.2 variant did not involve stopping the ball with the rear left foot before moving it.

R.e. 20.2, I noted that 20.2, difficult as it is, was working surprisingly well.

26.1 involved: the ball rolling at me after rebounding off the wall; my right foot swinging over the ball as if to kick it straight ahead with the OUTSIDE of the right foot; and then at the last instant, the OUTSIDE of the left foot being used to kick the ball to my right, with my body turning counter-clockwise to follow the ball. The 26.1 variant did not involve stopping the ball with the rear left foot before moving it.

R.e. 26.1: the competence I showed in executing it was surprisingly good. I noted that feinting a kick straight ahead with the OUTSIDE of the right foot, has an advantage compared to faking a kick straight ahead with the INSIDE of the right foot, in that when the feint simulates a kick with the outside of the foot, the overall body balance is superior, so one is better able to make the kick with the left foot after the feint with the right foot.

52.2 involved: the ball rolling at me after rebounding off the wall; my right foot swinging over the ball as if to kick it straight ahead with the OUTSIDE of the right foot; and then at the last instant, the OUTSIDE of the left foot being used to kick the ball to the right, with my body turning counter-clockwise to follow the ball. The 26.1 variant did not involve stopping the ball with the rear left foot before moving it.

R.e. 52.2: the competence I showed in executing it was surprisingly good. Generally, with regards to moves such as 52.2, I noted that when the left foot has to dig the ball out from behind the right foot and kick the ball to the left, the use of the outside of the left foot is superior to the use of the sole of the foot.

In other cases I have noted that the use of the sole of the foot is superior to the use of the inside of the foot or the use of the outside of the foot.

After I had finished up with the soccer at 5:33 PM, Calder and Antonio were shooting baskets. Calder was the ref and Antonio the scorer, when Antonio robbed me of the best save of the season in the indoor league, by claiming that a ball that I deflected to the outside of the post during a diving save, had actually gone inside the post and then through a hole in the netting.

I had not taken pro-distance 3 point shots in about a year. I had for the past few months barely shot the ball at all. Without warmup, I took 6 shots from 24 feet and made 4 of them; I put extra-high arc on every shot. Calder and Antonio were there and the witnessed the feat.

Later I was thinking, what irony, that the two involved in robbing me of the honor of having made the greatest save in indoor soccer league history, should witness this shooting performance.

After the six shots, I felt convinced that a major factor in my success shooting the 3-pointers, was that, when I had previously practiced basketball about a year ago, I had counted the percentage from the first shot with no uncounted warmup allowed.

I've been thinking about how things went about a year ago when I was into basketball for a couple of months. Overall my left handed performance had been sometimes NBA level and sometime high school level, while my ability to shoot with my right hand improved dramatically (I'm left-handed).

I suspect that shooting around 50-100 shots per practice day after day, using the hand one is more adept with (for most people this is the right hand), can fail to produce improvement in shooting with that hand. Evidence: I read that in a typical practice Michael Jordan would only touch the basketball three times, or something like that.

However I also suspect that shooting 50-100 shots per day with the off-hand, the hand one is clumsy with (for most people this is the left hand) tends to produce dramatic improvement.

In general, I've concluded that the reason for the inconsistency I experienced when practicing basketball shooting (NBA level one day, beneath high school the next), is that my physical endurance was not good enough. When one's physical endurance is sub-par, one can enter into a pattern wherein every other practice one is recuperating from the previous practice; the shooting percentage goes down during the recuperation practice.

New 180-2.1-L Drill Practicing 180 Degree Turns Done for First Time; 1/2 of Game-Simulation Conditioning Drill Done

From 6:27 - 8:53 PM, in 146 minutes, I did variants 1-16 of the 180-2.1-LtoR drill .

In total, I did 16 variants, and in total I did 29 subvariants. Most of the variants had subvariants, meaning there was more than one way to do the variant. Thus the rate was 9.1 minutes per variant, and 5.0 minutes per subvariant.

In this paragraph, the direction of the wall kicked at is always 12 O'Clock (fighter pilot lingo, inaginary clock) and the other directions are all relative to 12:00 as the direction of the wall. Every variant involved: me kicking the ball at the wall (12 O'clock); me kicking the ball to my right (3:00) with my left foot; me stepping with my right foot without touching the ball; me kicking the ball to the left (9:00) with my left foot.

I started each rep by kicking the ball at the unpadded wall at the side of the Oak Sq Y gym. I took detailed notes regarding each variant, and regarding every different way a variant can be done.

I concluded that none of the variants were such that there was no satisfactory way of implementing them.

In the following descriptions 'left' is always the direction to my left when I first face the ball rolling towards me after it rebounds off the wall; 'right' is always the direction to my right when I first face the ball rolling towards me after it rebounds off the wall.

I felt that 3.1, & 9.4 were awkward subvariants.

I felt that 6.1 & 10.2 were especially good subvariants.

6.1 involved: using the outside of the foot to cut right with the left foot, stepping with the right foot, and then using the outside of the left foot to cut with the right foot. This method resulted in constant switching between my body being between the ball and the wall, and the ball being between my body and the wall. I felt that performance improved if I skipped with my right foot between touches.

10.2 involved: using the sole of the left foot to kick the ball to the 'right' direction while my body spun in a counter-clockwise direction; stepping with the right foot, then using the inside of the left foot to cut the ball to the 'left' direction, with my body spinning in a counterclockwise direction. This method also resulted in constant switching between my body being between the ball and the wall, and the ball being between my body and the wall. I felt that performance improved if I skipped with my right foot between touches.

Some of the methods resulted in the ball always being between me and the wall. Some of the methods resulted in my body always being between the ball and the wall. Some of the methods resulted in switching between the ball being between my body and the wall, and my body being between the ball and the wall.

During the practice I noted that: some of the subvariants are difficult but learnable; due to the anatomy of the human body, a 180 degree turn made with the outside of the foot contacting the ball is superior to a 180 degree turn made with the inside of the foot contacting the ball.

I noted that it seems that the sole of the foot is superior to the outside of the foot or the inside of the foot when it comes to making 180 degree turns; the area of ground on which a ball can be reached by the sole of the foot is greater compared to such for the outside of the foot.

However, there are situations where the outside of the foot is able to impart more force to the ball compared to the sole of the foot.

There are situations where the use of the outside of the foot results in better accuracy, better body position, and greater speed compared to the sole of the foot.

I noted that doing this 180-2.1-LtoR drill slowly at first, and then gradually working up the speed, seems to be a wise approach.

I noted that some of the variants result in me after the turn approaching the ball with clockwise body movement, others result in me approaching the ball with counterclockwise body movement, and then both types of body movements can be advantageous depending upon the situation.

From 910 to 935 PM, for 25 minutes I did the first half of the Game-Simulation Conditioning Drill as it is in its present form. This involved:

F2012D, counterclockwise turns to right at corners, following a rectangular 4-cone 37' x 26' path. One rep = 3 sides of rectangle run, short side walked. One set = 4 reps. walking break between sets. I did 8 reps in 5 minutes.

F2012E, clockwise turns to left at corners, following a rectangular 4-cone 37' x 26' path. One rep = 3 sides of rectangle run, short side walked. One set = 4 reps. walking break between sets. I did 8 reps in 5 minutes.

F2012R: following a square 4-cone 18' per side path, running backwards. One rep = back and forth style, one side of the square run 4 times; clockwise direction run around the square; counterclockwise direction run around the square; back and forth style 2 sides of the square walked. One set = 3 reps. Walking break between sets. I did 3 reps in 5 minutes.

F2012: Following a path betwen two cones 18' apart. One rep = back and forth style, run cone to cone 7 times; walk from one cone to the other. One set = 8 reps. Walking break between sets. I did 10 reps in 5 minutes.

At all times I tried to implement the method wherein after a turn the first force is always produced by the left foot, and prior to a turn the stopping force is always provided by the right foot.

Gradually the number of cones I own has gone down to just 4. As a result I had to spend 5 minutes in between conditioning segments re-arranging cones.

Yesterday I consumed a small dose of my 'nutrients cocktail' (wheat germ oil, cod liver oil, carrot juice, tangerine juice, minerals, vitamin pills containing A, B, D, & E vitamins, potassium). The surprise result was that I was sleepy feeling as if I had consumed a huge meal for 4 hours, one reason I missed the Irish Village Soccer Club games. However I find it interesting that today for the first time in a long time, I did the tough conditioning drill, after having consumed the nutrients cocktail yesterday.

New 180-2.2-L Drill Practicing 180 Degree Feints & Turns Done for First Time; Game-Simulation Conditioning Drill Done

From 4:39 - 6:28 PM, in 109 minutes, I did variants 1-16 of the 180-2.2-LtoR drill .

In total, I did 16 variants, and in total I did 29 subvariants (same as yesterday). The majority of the variants had subvariants, meaning there was more than one way to do the variant. Thus the rate was 6.8 minutes per variant, and 3.8 minutes per subvariant.

In this paragraph, the direction of the wall kicked at is always 12 O'Clock (fighter pilot lingo, inaginary clock) and the other directions are all relative to 12:00 as the direction of the wall. Every variant involved: me kicking the ball at the wall (12 O'clock); me kicking the ball to my right (3:00) with my left foot; me feinting a kick to the left direction with my right foot; me kicking the ball to the left (9:00) with my left foot.

I started each rep by kicking the ball at the unpadded wall at the side of the Waltham Y gym. I took detailed notes regarding each variant, and regarding every different way a variant can be done.

For some variants, I simply skipped actually executing the variant on the floor with the ball, because I did not need to.

After completing the 16 variants, I sat down at a desk in the gym, and wrote down my conclusions with a pen, in my paper notebook:

After the feint, problems result with regards to reaching the ball. The backwards sole of foot feint causes the least such problems. After the feint, the shole of the foot provides the best reach, as extra reach is needed after the feint. The LF sole rolling the ball to the outside of the body produces a quicker turn than the LF sole of foot moving the boall clockwise across the body to my right. However changes in terms of what side of the body the ball is on, have to be taken into account.

The meaning of the above paragraph:

None of the feints today involved my right foot actually touching the ball when I feinted kicking it to the left backwards at a 180 degree angle. The feints involved my right foot, moving in a direction opposite to the direction the ball was moving, passing over the ball.

In this drill, after the feint the left foot is used to make a 180 degree turn by reversing the direction of the ball. All of the feint-types impaired the ability of my foot to reach the ball after the feint. I realized I needed to maximize the ability of my left foot to reach the ball after the feint with the right foot.

Feinting to roll the ball backwards with the sole of the right foot, produced the least amount of impairment in terms of reaching the ball with the left foot after the feint.

I found that use of the sole of the left foot to reverse the direction of the ball after the feint, gave me more reach and range, compared to using the outside or inside of the left foot.

I found that using the sole of the left foot to roll the ball back roughly speaking a counterclockwise direction, to the outside of the body, produced a quicker turn compared to using the sole of the left foot to roll the ball back to the inside of the body in a clockwise direction.

Thus I developed some general ideas regarding what kind of technique should be used to make the feint, and what kind of technique should be used to make the 180 degree turn.

What remains, is to map out the 180 degree turn and feint-turn footwork with the following objectives: keeping the ball between me and the wall; keeping my body between the wall and the ball; changing from keeping the ball between my and the wall to keeping my body in between the wall and the ball; changing from keeping my body in between the wall and the ball, to keeping the ball in between me and the wall.

I feel relieved that by understanding these things, I am able to radically reduce the number of alternatives I need to test out, in order to develop my technique for 180 degree turns and feints of 180 degree turns.

I started out doing nine subvariants of variant 1 today. Then I realized that the purpose of this drill was to explore 180 degree turns and feints thereof, and that by experimenting with too many different ways of making the first touch which deflects the rebound to my right, I was simply duplicating the experimentation in the 90 degree turn drill and overcomplicating things.

From 645 to 733 PM, for 48 minutes I did one Game-Simulation Conditioning Drill as it is in its present form, but not in the usual order. This involved:

F2012SW: following a square 4-cone 18' per side path, run sideways, with body facing perpendicular to direction run. One rep = back and forth style, one side of the square run 4 times; clockwise direction run around the square; counterclockwise direction run around the square; back and forth style 2 sides of the square walked. One set = 3 reps. Walking break between sets. I did 10 reps in 20 minutes.

F2012R: following a square 4-cone 18' per side path, run backwards. One rep = back and forth style, one side of the square run 4 times; clockwise direction run around the square; counterclockwise direction run around the square; back and forth style 2 sides of the square walked. One set = 3 reps. Walking break between sets. I did 3 reps in 5 minutes. I did the third rep skipping backwards, instead of simply running backwards.

F2012: Following a path betwen two cones 24' apart. One rep = back and forth style, run cone to cone 7 times; walk from one cone to the other. One set = 8 reps. Walking break between sets. I did 10 reps in 5 minutes.

F2012D, counterclockwise turns to right at corners, following a rectangular 4-cone 37' x 26' path. One rep = 3 sides of rectangle run, short side walked. One set = 4 reps. walking break between sets. I did 8 reps in 5 minutes.

F2012E, clockwise turns to left at corners, following a rectangular 4-cone 37' x 26' path. One rep = 3 sides of rectangle run, short side walked. One set = 4 reps. walking break between sets. I did 8 reps in 5 minutes.

At all times I tried to implement the method wherein after a turn the first force is always produced by the left foot, and prior to a turn the stopping force is always provided by the right foot.

I felt that today I showed improvement on the turns doing the F2012D and F2012E runs. My doctrine is to always use the right foot as the primary stopping force at the turns. This has resulted in me taking lots of little choppy steps prior to a turn, which slows things down. But today after the first reps, I learned to sort of jump off my left foot prior to a turn, so as to take a long step and then use my right foot as a brake as my right foot landed, result being that the speed prior to the turn was faster.

Sometimes there were breaks between of two to three minutes between the various subdrills. This because: I had to rearrange cones; I had to take notes; I had to consult my notebook re how a repetition of a given subdrill was done.

Game-Simulation Conditioning Drill Done in 47 Minutes

From 5:55 - 6:42 PM, in 47 minutes, I did the Game-Simulation Fitness Drill (according to specs in effect as of April 8 2012).

In total in 47 minutes I did: 8 reps of D, 8 reps of C, 3 reps of R, 10 reps of 180, & 10 reps of SW. The 47 minutes doing versions D, C, R, 180, & SW includes time spent rearranging cones, drinking water, & taking notes.

For a change I was wearing not my indoor soccer shoes, but rather my outdoor running shoes, which have cushier soles and are heavier and bigger.

D version notes: The turns were all turns to the right, right-turns. Prior to a turn, I leapt at the corner of the turn with my right foot. Then I spun my body counterclockwise and used my left foot to be the primary starting force in the new direction. I found that my right foot literally bounced off the ground as my left foot swung counter clockwise and then provided the impetus for the movement in the new direction. I had not experienced this bounciness before. Today was better than yesterday, in that I was not taking lots of short choppy steps to slow down prior to the turn.

C version notes: The turns were all turns to the left, left-turns. Prior to a turn, I leapt at the corner of the turn with my right foot. Then I spun my body counterclockwise a little and used my left foot to be the primary starting force in the new direction. I found that my right foot literally bounced off the ground as my left foot swung counter clockwise and then provided the impetus for the movement in the new direction. I had not experienced this bounciness before. Today was better than yesterday, in that I was not taking lots of short choppy steps to slow down prior to the turn.

Previously I had been doing E instead of C. E is the same as C, except that with C, the body rotates counterclockwise at the turns, whereas with E, the body rotates clockwise at the turns.

R version notes: Today instead of trying to run backwards, I skipped backwards.

180 version notes: The turns were all 180 degree turns, 'U-turns'. Prior to a turn, I leapt at the corner of the turning point with my right foot extended, so that my right foot acted as the brake. Next, rotating the body, I used my left foot as the primary acceleration force for moving off in the new direction.

I noted continued improvement in the 180 degree turn, in terms of the speed with which the turn is made. I noted that I was almost sliding in to the turn, with my right foot stretched out, my body rotated somewhat to my left, my body leaning backwards. I noted that after the right foot acted as a brake at the turn, the right foot bounced up slightly and that this bounce was accompanied by a slight bounce in the left foot, prior to the moment at which the left foot provided the impetus for the moving off in the new direction.

SW version notes: The turns were all 90 degree turns. I tried to keep my body facing in a direction perpendicular to the direction my body was moving in; yet sometimes I found that when my body was moving to my left, my front left foot was pointed somewhat to the left and so was my body.

Looking in a mirror in the locker room after the practice I found myself looking handsome, seemed my looks have been improving. This particular mirror, is behind a row of about three sinks. I looked healthy bodily, tanned, intelligent, well-built & handsome, like an Old Testament hero, but clean-shaven.

Though changes in lighting can produce changes in how handsome I look in a mirror, I felt that the way I looked in the mirror reflected continued improvement in facial appearance; and I attributed this improvement to the doing the soccer conditioning drill three days in a row.

But what kind of hero, would be dumb enough to do what I have done for so long, which is to fail to include in his exercise schedule, the so to speak minimum weekly dosage of weightlifting and windsprinting?

Experiments with Alternatives/Feints on AP1 Style 180 Degree Turns, using Soccer Ball & Medicine Ball; Game Simulation Conditioning Drill Done in 40 minutes

From 2:46 - 5:35 PM, for 159 minutes, I experimented with various alternative moves whilst doing 180 degree turns while dribbling the soccer ball, AP1 style.

Working on 180 degree turns, I had concluded that the style that I have named "AP1" (for first new thing in APRIL) is for now at least, the best and most important style for me when it comes to making 180 degree turns.

There are various alternatives/feints that can be executing when running the 180 degree turns AP1 style. At points 1 through 6 in the AP1 style execution of the 180 degree turns, something unusual can be done, or the usual can be feinted and something unusual done instead.

I came up with 15 alternatives/feints for step 1, things that can be done on step 1 instead of the usual rolling the ball backwards with the sole of the right foot while the body rotates clockwise.

I came up with 9 different alternatives/feints for step 2, things that can done instead of the usual rolling the ball straight ahead with the left foot.

During this time I came up with what I felt is a bright idea, I could not figure out why I did not think of it earlier: use the medicine ball instead of the soccer ball when practicing the AP1 style 180 degree turns, because going slowly at first is advantageous, & the weight of the medicine ball naturally slows things down.

I've noted something over the past week or so, while kicking stray soccer balls about 20 yards at targets on the gym wall: my strength and accuracy with approx 20 yard shots has improved, without me having practiced such shots, and this seems to be due to the effect of practicing dribbling the soccer ball with a 6-8 pound medicine ball.

By the end of the practice at the Waltham Y, I had settled on two types of feints on touches 1 through 6 of the AP1 style 180 degree turn, as being of primary importance as of now.

The two-touch feint style involves simply: on touch 1 using the right foot to roll the ball first slightly to the left and then the right; on touch 2 using the left foot to roll the ball backwards slightly and then rolling it forwards; on touch using the left foot to roll the ball forwards slightly, and then rolling it backwards; and etcetera in similar fashion for touches 4-6.

The foot-over-ball feint style involves simply: on touch 1 using the right foot to move over the ball as if kicking the ball to the left, and then rolling the ball backwards; on touch 2 using the left foot to move backwards over the ball, and then rolling the ball forwards; on touch 3 using the left foot to move forwards over the ball, and then rolling the ball backwards; and etcetera in similar fashion for touches 4-6.

I found to my surprise, that--when feinting on every touch, the foot-over-ball feints style, was more difficult compared to the ball actually moved in the feinted direction style. With the foot-over-ball feints style, the footwork that produces a convincing feint followed by a quick accurate turn or movement, results in awkward difficulty on the subsequent touch on the ball.

I came to the conclusion that the using the slow moving medicine ball to practice the surprisingly difficult foot-over-ball feints style, would help me to master the movements by slowing things down, while at the same time building up my speed/quickness.

At the Oak Square Y from 821-925 for 64 minutes, I practiced the AP1 style 180 degree turns, using 6 lb & 8 lb medicine balls; I worked on both the foot-over-ball feints style, and also the two-touch feints style.

It turned out as I suspected it would: the heaviness of the medicine ball slowed things down, which enabled me to master the intricate footwork involved when the foot-over-ball feints style is applied to the AP1 style 180 degree turns.

At the Oak Square Y from 936-1016 for 42 minutes, I did the Game-Simulation Fitness Drill (according to specs in effect as of April 8 2012) once, in 40 minutes & 14 seconds. I ran less reps of some of the subdrills, compared to yesterday.

Today while doing the fitness drill, I used my indoor soccer shoes, not my outdoor running shoes. I did not attempt to do "bouncing" (breaking foot bounces during turn) turns for fear of causing a small rip near the heel of my right shoe to expand; but still anyway, some of the turns were bouncing type turns.

Experiments with Alternatives/Feints on AP2 Style 90 Degree Turns, using Medicine Ball; Game Simulation Conditioning Drill Done in 31 minutes

From 7:47 - 9:07 PM, for 80 minutes, in the Oak Sq Y 'annex', I experimented with alternatives described in a page I've put up online: 90 Degree Turns to Right with left foot, after feint -- AP2 Compilation of Alternatives. Alternatives experimented with included: foot does not touch ball during feint; foot touches ball during feint; foot remains in contact with ball in between feint and actual movement.

I used a 6 lb medicine ball approx the size of a soccer ball, instead of the soccer ball.

At the Oak Square Y from 940-1011 for 31 minutes, I did the Game-Simulation Fitness Drill (according to specs in effect as of April 8 2012) once, in 30 minutes & 38 seconds, wearing my outdoor running shoes.

Yesterday I did the same number of reps for each subdrill as I did today. Yesterday the time required was 40 minutes; today the time required was 30.6 minutes; hence, my speed/endurance was up by 31% compared to yesterday.

Today before practice I consumed an abbreviated version of my nutrients cocktail: carrot juice, tangerine juice, A&D vitamin, E vitamin, B vitamin, mineral pill, potassium pill, magnesium pill. This I did not do yesterday.

I did not attempt to do "bouncing" (braking foot bounces during turn) turns for fear of further breaking down my outdoor running shoes; still anyway, some of the turns were bouncing type turns.

Looking over the log entries for the past week re conditioning, I noted a couple of errors and corrected them. For example, yesterday I had compared my performance of yesterday April 10, to my performance April 8, without taking into account that on some of the subdrills I did less reps April 8.

I have put up online "April 2012 Conditioning Drill Stats". Stats on this page are correct to the best of my knowledge, and double-checked.

Before I started my own workout, I watched the Oak Sq Y Royalty basketball team, for about 10 minutes. The team is composed of people I share the gym with during practices often. When I got to the game, the Royalty was losing by 14-2. While I was watching the Royalty outscored the other team by about 11-8, and then there was half-time. After I got dressed in the locker room I checked out the score, and the Royalty were ahead 37-31!

Watching the "Royalty", I noticed certain things: the Royalty did not seemed out of place and winded by the full court action like they had seemed to be the last time I watched them; alot of the Royalty's long shots were in and out line-drives; they Royalty needs to learn to put more arc on their shots.

1+ Game-simulation Conditioning Drill done; speed up 33% compared to five days ago.

At the Oak Square Y from 904-940 for 36 minutes, I did the Game-Simulation Fitness Drill (according to specs in effect as of April 8 2012) once, in 36 minutes & 14 seconds, wearing my outdoor running shoes.

I have put up online "April 2012 Conditioning Drill Stats". Stats on this page are correct to the best of my knowledge, and double-checked.

Today I did one full game-simulation conditioning drill. I did 10 reps of SW, 3 reps of R, 10 reps of the 180 degree turns subdrill, 8 reps of D, & finally 8 reps of E. In total this took me 36.2 minutes.

The number of reps for each subdrill was the same as April 7, five days ago. April 7, it took me 48 minutes to complete all the subdrills. So, the overall speed today was up 33% compared to April 7 five days ago.

I felt a need to be able to compare my current times on these subdrills, to my times when I first started doing these conditioning subdrills back in February of this year 2012. This would give me the ability to see how much I have progressed in terms of conditioning since the January-February 2012 indoor soccer league at the Oak Square Y.

I found that making such comparisons is complicated by the fact that the number of repetitions I have been doing for a given subdrill has changed, and the order in which I do one subdrill after another has changed.

On 4/12, I did 8 reps of D in 3.8 m (2.1 reps/min), after 17 minutes of doing the SW & R subdrills. On 2/16, I did 28 reps of D in 20 mins (1.4 reps/min), D was the first segment of runs.

On 4/12, I did 8 reps of E in 4.7 m (1.7 reps/min), after 30 mins of SW, R, & the 180-degree turns subdrill. On 2/17, I did 28 reps of E in 20 mins (1.4 reps/min), E was the first segment of the runs.

On 4/10, I did 8 reps of C in 4.8 minutes (1.7 reps/min); C wa the last segment of a 36 minute run. On 2/16 I did 28 reps of C in 20 mins, (1.4 reps/min), after 20 minutes of doing D.

On 4/12 I did 3 reps of R in 3.25 minutes (0.9 reps/min), after 12 mins of doing the SW subdrill. On 2/17, I did 6 reps of the R subdrill in 11 minutes (0.5 reps/min), after 30 mins of doing E & SW.

On 4/12, I did 10 reps of the 180-subdrill in 4.0 m (2.5 reps/min), after 12 mins of SW. On 2/14, I did 36 reps of the 180-subdrill in 24 min (1.5 reps/min), the SW was the first subdrill done.

On 4/12 I did 10 reps of the SW subdrill in 12.2 m (0.8 reps/min), the SW was the first subdrill done. On 2/17 I did 6 reps of SW in 11 min (0.5 reps/min), after first having done 28 reps of E in 20 mins.

Getting running times that can be compared to the times achieved in February 2012, requires that the given subdrill be done for the same number of repetitions as in February; and it requires that the subdrill be performed after the same amount of work as preceded the subdrill when it was done in February.

Therefore in order to come up with times that can be accurately compared to the February times I need to:

1: start with first 28 repetitions of D, followed by 24 repetitions of C.

2: start with first 28 repetitions of E, followed by 6 repetitions of SW.

3: start with 36 repetitions of the 180 degree turn run.

I concluded the evening by doing 10 reps of the SW drill in 11.7 minutes, and 3 reps of the R subdrill in 3.3 minutes.