The drill done today is described in the diagram this entry. The diagram is again, not merely an image. Just click drag to select this table cell starting with the title above the diagram in this entry and you will see what I mean. Everything in the diagram this entry is produced by code, except for the arrow and the curved line.

Saturday, I did a drill in which I first kicked the ball on a slant to my left with my left foot, then on a slant right with my right foot, then again on a slant right with my right foot, then on a slant left with my left foot, and then on the fifth touch kicked the ball with my left foot simulating a pass, trying to kick the ball at as backwards an angle as possible, as far as possible (the ceiling is inhibiting) without kicking it to my right side. Today the preliminary to the kick was the same as yesterday, except that on the fifth kick, I tried to kick the ball hard at a 90 degree angle relative to the line produced by the fourth kick.

Meaning, that if you imagine the direction the ball was moving after the fourth kick as twelve o'clock, on the fifth kick I attempted to kick the ball in the 3:00 direction.

You can see a cluster of five kicks that hit the wall about 18 meters, the ball being sent on a right angle relative to its movement before the kick. On average these five shots hit the wall 18 meters away, before they could bounce; on average they hit the wall at a point 6 feet above the ground; on average their apex height during flight was 11 feet. These balls were like line drives and hit the wall hard.

The graphic shows potential for long kicks in a sharply backwards direction. One ball, kicked in the 4:00 direction given 12:00 on the imaginary clock as the direction the ball was heading after the 4th kick of the run prior to the 5th kick, traveled 18 meters, reaching an apex height of 10 feet, and then hit the wall 9 feet above the ground without bouncing; it was a long hard line drive in a backwards direction shot off a moving dribble. Those dribbling on the ground cannot do this.

Another ball, kicked backwards at a 45 degree angle in the 4:30 direction on the imaginary clock given that the ball after the 4th kick prior to the long kick on the 5th kick was moving towards twelve oclock on the imaginary clock. This ball reached an apex height of 9 feet, and then hit the wall 7 feet above the ground after traveling 19 meters. It was a hard long line drive shot backwards at a 45 degree angle of a moving dribble. There is nobody in the world who can do this off a ground dribble.

Another ball, went backwards towards 5:30 on the imaginary clock given twelve oclock on the imaginary clock as the direction the ball was moving after the 4th kick prior to the final long 5th kick. It went in almost the opposite direction to which the ball was moving prior to it being shot/passed. It traveled 14 meters, and reached an apex height of 12 feet. A nice long chip sent directly backwards off a moving dribble. If anybody in the world can do this off a moving ground dribble they can also walk on water.

You can quibble about accuracy, but the whole point of the drill today was to cut loose to test out my range, and not being obsessed with accuracy, even though I was always aiming for a point at three oclock on the imaginary clock given twelve oclock as straight ahead prior to the shot/pass.

Towards the end of the practice one of the long hard line drive balls, swerved about 3 feet to the right prior to hitting the wall about 18 meters from where it was shot. In the process of swerving it barely missed a white guy with a graying mustache who ducked and avoided it. He was laughing, I thought he was dutch looking. He told me he was lucky to have ducked (it was traveling fast). And he agreed that it swerved during flight.