Good-runs/attempts percentage

Until further notice: the following holds true: I warmed up by jogging about 300 yards before the start of the scored practice, but did not warm up using theball.

The Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball at 11.6 psi, today felt uncomfortably sticky during the first kicks of the runs with the mid-top of the left foot.

When I placed the Jabulani NFHS on the floor prior to the start of the runs, it did some annoying wobbling around because of the big yard-diameter fan they had blasting on to the middle of the gym from a corner.

The big fan cooled me off because it was pointed in the exact direction of the point from which I start my runs. Plus I had the entire half of the gym all to myself during the first segment. I felt like I was being treated like royalty; yet I felt uncomfortable, because I had gotten somewhat used to heat, humidity, high number of boys per square meter of basketball court space, shouting, noise, congestion, conflict with persons invading my court space.

Three segments of P6.1-5T-NS were done; the distance between kicks marked out by the marker cones was again 4.4' which used to be the usual distance.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up today at approx 8:30 AM, after having had approx 7 hours sleep. Had approx 12 oz coffee/cane-sugar/halfnhalf, & scrambled eggs & french toast made from two pieces bread, 3 eggs, & cup of half and half, from 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM approx. Drank 32 oz of Glaceau Vitaminwater Energy Drink prior to during and after the practice segments which went on for 3.75 hours.

Today an attempt was made to combine the AF1 method with the implementation of "Ankle-Force-Minimization" (AFM); however again, the speed of the runs was so fast that usually I did not have enough time to consciously apply the AFM method.

Again, all day I was at the start of each run, usually focused on the first two kicks of the runs being done well; yet I was beginning to focus more, immediately prior to the start of the runs, on the first kick specifically.

Today the score the second segment was: percentage 89%; quality 5.5; speed 7.5. Yesterday the score the second segment was: percentage 77%; quality 5.7; speed 7.3.

The results today indicate that having speed as the only goal during a segment, serves the purpose of loosening inhibitions so as to promote an increase in speed, yet at the same time, overall the best performances are attained when the goals are both speed and a high successes/attempts percentage also.

Finally, today the instrumentals of the first part of the 'Rule Brittania' song did not so to speak play in my mind during the practice. I suspect this was because: I was at Oak Sq Y which was a change of scenery; the big (about a yard diameter) fan, made a noise that sounded almost like music (high rattling hum interspersed with low hum), and this fan-generated 'music' prevented the Rule Britannia music from playing in my head.

The second and third segments, I shared half the gym with teenage and young adult males of the white, black and E.Asian types. They all seemed oblivious to my performance. I feel as if, if I had not been taking notes after each attempt, I would not have realized that I had had a great practice, due to the apparent obliviousness of my compatriots. It was as if, I was proverbially-speaking pinching myself to assure myself that my performance was not a dream (the obliviousness of the youths made me feel as if it was just a dream). No, the pinching of the mind via the written notes taught me that it was not a dream.

Were it not for the written notes, my memory of the practice, being influenced by the obliviousness of those around me regarding my great performance, would have enventually produced a memory of the practice that portrayed the practice as much worse than it actually was. Were it not for the written notes, what would have stood out in my memory, would have been the mistakes, the low-performance runs; and what would have been forgotten in my memory, would have been the qood qualities of the practice and the high-performance runs. Without written notes, the 15 runs in the second segment at max speed and also max quality, would have been remembered as two or three runs at max speed and max quality.

I watched the Women's soccer between France and Sweden before the practice. During the practice, the practice felt dreary at times, compared to the France vs Sweden game; at such times I felt as if what I was doing was less beautiful and joyful fun compared to the Sweden France game.

The weather outdoors before the practice was comfortable; indoors before the start of practice the temp/humidity felt comfortable because of the fan; during the practice I felt comfortable, because of the fan.

90%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 6.4
Length:20'
Goals: successes/attempts percentage
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: successes/attempts percentage.

1st 10 successes/attempts (no prior warmup with ball) -- quality of successful runs: excellent++ (numerical 5.0); speed of successful runs: very fast+++ (numerical 6.4); percentage: 90%; good runs: 9; bad runs: 1; bad 1st kicks: 2.

Overall-- quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (numerical 5.6); speed of successful runs: very fast+++ (numerical 6.4).

Overall, there were 36 successes, 4 failures, & 6 bad first kicks.

During this segment, the length of the successful runs ranged from 15-29'; the average run covered 21' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

This segment I had the gym all to myself.

89%

Quality: 5.5
Speed: 7.5
Length:22'
Goals: successes/attempts percentage, & speed
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: successes/attempts percentage, & speed.

1st 10 successes/attempts (no prior warmup with ball) -- quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (numerical 5.6); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 7.2); percentage: 90%; good runs: 9; bad runs: 1; bad 1st kicks: 0.

The stats in the above prior paragraph, are evidence that I would be able to do these tricks well in a game, because the first 10 attempts of the second segment, resemble the first attempts of a game after the warmup, and then some time not touching the ball.

Relatedly, during the first half of this segment, the performance was super: 19 good runs; 1 failure (on the 7th attempt); no bad first kicks; successes/attempts percentage 95%; average quality of successful runs: 5.6; average speed of successful runs: 7.3.

Overall-- quality of successful runs: excellent++ to excellent+++ (numerical 5.5); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ to very fast+++++ (numerical 7.5).

Overall, there were 39 successes, 5 failures, & 4 bad first kicks.

During this segment, the length of the successful runs ranged from 18-31'; the average run covered 22' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

This segment, there were 4 runs (10% of successful runs), averaging 22' in length, rated as at x++ (excellent++, numerical 5.0) for quality & very fast++++ (4 pluses, numerical 7.0) for speed.

There were 5 runs (13% of successful runs), averaging 21' in length, rated as at x++ (excellent++, numerical 5.0) for quality & very fast+++++ (5 pluses, numerical 8.0, highest possible speed rating at 4.4' between kicks marked by cones) for speed.

There were 10 runs (26% of successful runs), averaging 22' in length, rated as at x+++ (excellent+++, numerical 6.0, highest possible quality rating) for quality & very fast++++ (4 pluses, numerical 7.0) for speed.

There were 15 runs (38% of successful runs), averaging 21' in length, rated as at x+++ (excellent+++, numerical 6.0, highest possible quality rating) for quality & very fast+++++ (5 pluses, numerical 8.0, highest possible speed rating) for speed.

There were a couple of young white adult males playing basketball in my half of the gym during this segment.

75%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 7.6
Length:22'
Goal: speed
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: speed.

1st 10 successes/attempts (no prior warmup with ball) -- quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (numerical 5.7); speed of successful runs: very fast+++++ (numerical 7.6); percentage: 70%; good runs: 7; bad runs: 3; bad 1st kicks: 2.

Overall-- quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (numerical 5.6); speed of successful runs: very fast+++++ (numerical 7.6).

Overall, there were 18 successes, 6 failures, & 2 bad first kicks.

During this segment, the length of the successful runs ranged from 18-29'; the average run covered 22' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

During this segment I felt performance-impaired, due to feeling irritated by two persons I shall here refer to as Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Tweedledee pressures me to socialize with certain persons including Tweedledum; Tweedledee pressures me to socialize with Tweedledee; Tweedledee discourages me from getting married; Tweedledee does not give a hoot whether I enjoy persons he wants me to socialize with; Tweedledum hounds me with messages on my answering machine even though I tell him not to, and even though Tweedledum sounds ugly on the phone slash answering machine; Tweedledee expects me to donate all the spare time I have, after dealing with the basics of life, to Tweedledee, Tweedledum, and other favorites of Tweedledee.

There were some black and East Asian and white teenager types playing basketball in my half of the gym during this segment.

The P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS is graphically described top of this page. It involves outwards as opposed to inwards kicks on the turns. Written notes were taken after each run.

Today the cones marked out a distance of 4.4 feet between kicks.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Three segments done. Woke up this morning at approx 7:30 AM, after having had approx 8 hours sleep. Had approx 12 oz coffee/coconut palm sugar/halfnhalf, and 12 oz brown-tea/coconut palm sugar/halfnhalf , and a bag of potato chips, and 12 oz strawberry/banana/orange juice, from about 9:00 AM -6:00 PM. Had 30 oz Glaceau brand 'Energy' type Vitaminwater water immediately prior to & during the practice segment.

The (AF1) method was used. Also I tried to implement ankle-force-minimization (AFM) but things were happening so fast I did not usually consciously implement AFM during the runs.

On June 24:June 24th was the eighth practice-day in a row during which the drill done was P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS; the goal of the first segment was speed alone; the successes/attempts percentage was 90%; amongst successful runs the average quality was 5.2 and the average speed was 6.1.

Today, July 18:July 18th I did the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS after not having done it for 24 days; the goal of the first segment was percentage; the successes/attempts percentage was 74%; amongst successful runs the average quality was 5.3 and the average speed was 6.6.

Hence on July 18th doing the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS, after 24 days not doing it, compared to June 24, twenty-four days earlier doing the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS for the eigth day in a row:the percentage was down from 90 to 74; the quality was up 2%; the speed was up 8%.

The way things are these days, if I have not done a drill for a few weeks, there can develop a temporary clumsiness that is cured after a couple of hours of doing the drill.

The P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS drill, involves the first kick of the run being made with the right foot. I have been rolling the ball back with the left foot, flipping it up and forwards with the left foot, and the kicking it forwards with the right foot before it touches the ground, on the first kick of P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS.

The first kick of P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS is the biggest difference between P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS and P6.1-5T-NS.

The first kick of P6.1-5T-NS, involves the left foot only: the ball is rolled back with the left foot, flipped up with the left foot, and then kicked forwards with the left foot.

Today, during the second and third segments, I succeeded in combining quality and speed up to almost the maximal humanly possible, but the percentage was low. Yet the third segment did its job, which was to disregard percentage and establish ability to reach maximal speed; the maximal speed was combined with perfect quality of adherence to 90 degree turns on the kicks.

During the first segment Patrick Ferdinand was in the gym shooting baskets with someone. During the first 25 minutes of the second segment, he and three of his tall black friends were hanging around the bleachers talking while I practiced.

Up till about 5 minutes before Patrick left the gym, I knew something was wrong, but did not realize quite what was wrong. Then I realized that the problem was that I was not crouched low enough during the runs, as a result of which the kicks were too long and wild.

Then when I first implemented a lower crouch, I knew that the lower crouch would quickly bring mastery over this drill, but I also knew that it would take some time to get used to the lower crouch since I had already done 85 minutes of practice without the lower crouch.

I suspect that Patrick's presence resulted in me assuming my performance problems were due to a lack of talent and spirit due to feeling inferior to Patrick (I feel third class compared to first-class blacks--Patrick is like a magnet for paychecks, whilst paychecks seem to be repelled by me). Actually the problem was tactical, a failure to crouch low enough during the runs.

The lower crouch, produced a visual perspective of the ball and court, that, being the visual perspective of a short person, seemed inappropriate for me at first, because I felt proud of my recent achievements, and felt lofty. The lower crouch stressed the front tendons of my knee, and increased fatigue.

The lower crouch feels less natural when P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS is executed, because the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS involves the ball being rolled back & flipped up with the left-foot before it is kicked with the right foot for the first kick or touch of the run.

The weather outside was comfortable; it felt comfortable inside the gym before and after practice.

We were able to use the men's locker room again for the first time since it was renovated. The renovations are an improvement. The locker room is now: more spacious, more pleasant, better smelling, cleaner. The lockers are bigger and easier to reach for a man of average height.

Review of the previous campaign (June 16 - June 25 2011) to improve performance in the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS:

6/16/11 @ Waltham YMCA; 
1st segment of day:
6:22-7:26 AM  
-- B AF1 36 52 0.69 (NA) 
90% 
Quality: 3.9 
Speed: 4.8 
Length:20' 
Goals: per hour, percentage, speed 
Cones: normal (4.4') 

6/17/11 @ Waltham YMCA; 
1st segment of day:
6:03-7:20 AM  
-- B AF1 60 59.5 1.01 (NA) 
100% 
Quality: 4.5 
Speed: 5.2 
Length:22' 
Goals: per hour, percentage, speed 
Cones: normal (4.4') 

6/18/11 @ Oak Square YMCA;
1st segment of day:
 11:13 am -12:43 PM  
-- B AF1 60 72 0.83 (NA) 
88% 
Quality: 4.5 
Speed: 5.9 
Length:28' 
Goals: successes per hour, percentage, LENGTH 
Cones: extended (6.6') 
P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS 

6/20/11 @ Waltham YMCA;
1st segment of day:
 10:21 am - 12:00 noon PM  
-- B AF1 50 76 0.66 (NA) 
91% 
Quality: 4.3 
Speed: 5.9 
Length:23' 
Goals:SPEED 
Cones: normal (4.4') 

 6/21/11 @ Oak Sq YMCA; 
1st segment of day:
5:14 - 7:30 PM  
-- B AF1 60 107 0.56 (NA) 
85% 
Quality: 4.7 
Speed: 6.4 
Length:28' 
Goals:SPEED 
Cones: extended (6.6') 

6/22/11 @ Waltham YMCA;
1st segment of day:
 5:21 - 7:20 PM  
-- B AF1 49 96 0.51 (NA) 
77% 
Quality: 4.9 
Speed: 6.7 
Length:35' 
Goals:LENGTH 
Cones: extended+ (8.8') 
 
6/23/11 @ Oak Sq YMCA;
1st segment of day:
 5:27 - 6:57 PM  
-- B AF1 50 75 0.67 (NA) 
78% 
Quality: 4.0 
Speed: 4.9 
Off-target-by: 1.1' 
Goals:Percentage, per hour 
Cones: Condensed (2.2') 
 
6/24/11 @ Oak Sq YMCA; 
1st segment of day:
7:21 PM - 9:06 PM  
-- B AF1 60 82 0.73 (NA) 
90% 
Quality: 5.2 
Speed: 6.1 
Length:21' 
Goals:SPEED 
Cones: normal (4.4')
 
6/25/11 @ Waltham YMCA; 
1st segment of day:
3:55 - 5:55 PM  
-- B AF1 55 93 0.59 (NA) 
87% 
Quality: 4.7 
Speed: 7.3 
Length:35' 
Goals:SPEED 
Cones: extended+ (8.8') 

One can see that an attempt was made to improve the 3.9 quality and 4.8 speed averages at 90% successes/attempts posted on June 16.

The quality and speed were determined to be inadequate and a determined attempt was made to fix the problem. After one week of practices, June 24 a score of 5.2 quality, 6.1 speed, and 90% successes/attempts was posted, indicating an improvement of 33% in quality and 27% in speed.

Cone-distances & goals of the 6 practices between 6/16 & 6/24: 4.4', per-hour, percentage, speed; 6.6', per-hour, percentage, length; 4.4', speed; 6.6', speed; 8.8', length; 2.2', percentage, per-hour.

Of the 6 intervening practices, four involved cones marking distances other than 4.4' between kicks; three ignored percentage.

From June 16 to June 25 working on the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS, all of the practices days involved just one segment.

My strategy was to shake off the mediocrity of quality and the slowness of speed, by changing the distances between kicks marked between cones, and sometimes excluding percentage as a goal during the segment.

In retrospect, I find it hard to believe that just a month ago, I was unable to during segment combine a successes/attempts percentage of at least 85% with an average quality rating of 5.5, and an average speed rating of at least 7.0. Given my recent success with P6.1-5T-NS, I feel surprised that I had not been able to do better with P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS in June.

Apparently, the work done on P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS in June combined with the work done thereafter on P6.1-5T-NS in late June and the first half of July, paved the way for the accomplishment of July 16 while doing the P6.1-5T-NS: percentage 89, quality 5.5, speed 7.5.

74%

Quality: 5.3
Speed: 6.6
Length:24'
Goals:successes/attempts percentage
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 60%; Quality of successful runs during this period: excellent++ (5.3)(there were 2 bad first kicks during the first 10 attempts); speed of first 10 successful runs: very fast+++ (6.3) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent++ (5.3); overall speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (6.6) . There were 26 good runs; there were 9 missed attempts (not counting bad first kicks); there were 3 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 20-31 feet; average run covered 24' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

76%

Quality: 5.3
Speed: 7.1
Length:22'
Goals:successes/attempts percentage, & speed
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 90%; Quality of successful runs during this period: excellent+++ (5.6)(there were 2 bad first kicks during the first 10 attempts); speed of successful runs during this period: very fast++++ (7.1) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent++ (5.3); overall speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (7.1) . There were 26 good runs; there were 8 missed attempts (not counting bad first kicks); there were 6 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 18-29 feet; average run covered 22' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

68%

Quality: 5.8
Speed: 7.6
Length:22'
Goal: speed
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 50%; Quality of successful runs during this period: excellent+++ (5.6)(there were 2 bad first kicks during the first 10 attempts); speed of successful runs during this period: very fast++++ (7.4) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (5.8); overall speed of successful runs: very fast+++++ (7.6) . There were 23 good runs; there were 11 missed attempts (not counting bad first kicks); there were 7 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 18-29 feet; average run covered 22' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

The P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS is graphically described top of this page. It involves outwards as opposed to inwards kicks on the turns. Written notes were taken after each run.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Three segments done. Woke up this morning at approx 7:30 AM, after having had approx 8 hours sleep. from 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM, Had approx 12 oz coffee/coconut palm sugar/halfnhalf, & 12 oz brown-tea/coconut palm sugar/halfnhalf; had 16 oz Acai Juice by Sambazon and $5 of Chinese food from the Whole Foods Hot Bar at approx 3:30 PM.

The (AF1) method was used. After the first 10 successes/attempts of the first segment, I decided that for the rest of the practice I would implement an exaggerated form of AF1.

After the beginning of the first segment, I felt an identity crisis: moderate form of AF1, or exaggerated form of AF1? I knew from experience that I should choose one of the two identities. I also knew that the exaggerated identity would be easier to consistently implement.

Again, I tried to implement ankle-force-minimization ( AFM) but things were happening so fast I did not usually consciously implement AFM during the runs.

Yesterday the second segment (goals: percentage, speed) score was: 76%, quality 5.3, speed 7.1. Today the second segment (goals: percentage, speed) score was: 97%, quality 5.3, speed 7.4.

Yesterday, there were 16 bad kicks on the first kick, out of a total (successes + failures + bad first kicks for this stat) of 194 attempts; 8% of the attempts resulted in a bad first kick. Today, there were only 7 bad kicks on the first kick, out of a total (successes + failures + bad first kicks for this stat) of 151 attempts; 5% of the attempts resulted in a bad first kick.

The performance during the second and third segments of the day, has become important in terms of my doctrine. From June 16 to June 25 (doing the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS) however, every practice day involved just one segment. Hence I believe that it's easy to underestimate the skill level attained to by June 24. This in turn could lead to overestimation of the improvement achieved due to the efforts of the past couple of days. Nor would I want to underestimate the improvement over the last couple of days.

I reviewed the days featuring more than 2 segments since 6/16 ( P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS & P6.1-5T-NS drills done). I concluded one could guess what the performance second segment would have been if there had been a second segment, by multiplying the first segment percentage by 1.07; multiplying the first segment average quality rating by 0.99; and multiplying the first segment speed rating by 1.17.

Using this formula, I estimate that June 24 (the last time the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS was done prior to July 18, with cones marking 4.4' distance between kicks), if there had been a second segment, the score would have been: percentage 96; quality 5.1; speed 7.1. By way of comparison: July 18 second segment score was percentage 76; quality 5.3; speed 7.1. July 19 second segment score was percentage 97; quality 5.3; speed 7.4.

The stats in the above paragraph tell me that: July 18 I was not as competent as I was June 24; July 19, I was more competent than I was July June 24.

The weather outside was comfortable; it felt comfortable inside the gym before and during the practice.

I met Biro from Guatemala before the practice. I remarked that he looked like Adrian Gonzalez. He exclaimed, "I wish I had one percent of his money!". He thinks soccer players are paid too much. He seems to think they should be taxed. He thinks the public should boycott sporting events to bring down the salaries paid to pro athletes.

As for me, I did not make any statements re whether pro athletes get paid too much or too little or re whether anything should be done about them. Biro has a good job as a Chief Machinist at some German-owned company which gave him on-the-job training, so he is perhaps in a position where he can safely proclaim his opinions re such matters.

During the practice I shared the gym with: young adult male blacks who practiced with cones; white young males; an Asian Indian dad and his grade-school age sons.

73%

Quality: 5.3
Speed: 6.5
Length:22'
Goals:successes/attempts percentage
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 100%; Quality of successful runs during this period: excellent++ to excellent+++ (5.5)(there was 1 bad first kicks during the first 10 successes/attempts); speed of first 10 successful runs: very fast+++ (6.3) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent++ (5.3); overall speed of successful runs: very fast+++ to very fast++++ (6.5) . There were 19 good runs; there were 7 missed attempts (not counting bad first kicks); there were 3 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 14-31 feet; average run covered 21' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

The first 10 successes/attempts were much better than the rest of this segment. Seems my mind has become habituated to considering the first 10 attempts as especially important because they are supposed to indicate how I would perform in a game.

97%

Quality: 5.3
Speed: 7.4
Length:21'
Goals:successes/attempts percentage, & speed
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 100%; Quality of successful runs during this period: excellent++ (5.2)(there was 1 bad first kicks during the first 10 attempts); speed of successful runs during this period: very fast++++ (7.1) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent++ (5.3); overall speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (7.4) . There were 28 good runs; there was 1 missed attempt (not counting bad first kicks); there were 3 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 18-29 feet; average run covered 21' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

After the first 10 successes attempts (100%, quality 5.2, speed 7.1), a funny thing happened: all the activity in the gym ended suddenly all at once simultaneously, like a bunch of musicians in an orchestra performing the last note of a piece and then going silent.

I noted during this segment that I do not use long delays between attempts to reduce number of attempts when my score is high.

83%

Quality: 5.8
Speed: 7.5
Length:21'
Goal: speed
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 70%; Quality of successful runs during this period: excellent++ (5.4)(there was 1 bad first kick during the first 10 attempts); speed of successful runs during this period: very fast++++ (7.3) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (5.7); overall speed of successful runs: very fast++++ to very fast+++++ (7.5) . There were 19 good runs; there were 4 missed attempts (not counting bad first kicks); there was 1 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 18-24 feet; average run covered 21' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

During this segment, there was an Asian Indian man in my half of the gym. He had made an appearance during the first segment also. After an excellent run I looked at him. He said, "it can't get any faster than that" (meaning, what I was doing, people cannot do faster). He somewhat resembled Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN.

At one point his grade-school age son looked at him and said, "I'm Beta!" (Beta means little-child or little-son in Hindi). Seemed to me that the influence of poetic prayers I wrote has reached far and wide, and consequently the boy was asserting his privileges in accordance with the poetic prayer lines that promote good conduct on the part of fathers with regards to their children.

The P6.1-5T-NS-IM is graphically described at 2011 Soccer Drill Stats Part III. It involves inwards as opposed to outwards kicks on the turns. Written notes were taken after each run.

Today I did the P6.1-5T-NS-IM drill, after not having done P6.1-5T-NS-IM since June 14 2011 36 days ago. Today I had not done any drill involving inwards kicks on the turns for 35 days.

Reading the stats I now present, one should keep in mind that: a 6.0 rating for quality represents perfect quality, meaning none of the turns on the angles noticeably deviated from 90 degrees; a 8.0 rating for speed means the run was executed approximately at the fastest speed humanly possible. The lower the quality rating, the more the angles of the turns deviated from 90 degrees, and the lower the speed rating the slower the speed of the run was.

This practice illustrates the power of practicing the difficult before the easy, outwards kicks (more difficult) practiced before inwards kicks (less difficult).

Previously when patterns involving inwards kicks were done after patterns involving outwards kicks were done first for a few weeks, there was no reference point for measuring inwards turns performance prior to outwards turns practice. But today, the performance for the inwards turns drill done today can be compared to such performance prior to spending a few weeks doing the more difficult outwards turns.

The box-score summary last time I did P6.1-5T-NS-IM 36 days ago (June 14 (1st segment of day)), was: 95% Quality: 4.4 Speed: 5.0 Length:22' Goals: per hour, percentage, speed Cones: normal (4.4').

The box-score summary for today (July 20 (1st segment of day)), after 35 days of working only on drills involving the more difficult outwards turns, was: 85% Quality: 5.2 Speed: 6.9 Length:24' Goals: successes/attempts percentage Cones: normal (4.4').

Thus you can see, that today, the quality was up 18%, and the speed was up 38%, compared to June 14, the last time I did the P6.1-5T-NS-IM drill done today. The improvement can be attributed to the previous 36 days of working only on drills involving outwards kicks.

This despite the fact that today, I had not done the P6.1-5T-NS-IM drill for 36 days, whereas June 14, I had been working exclusively on the P6.1-5T-NS-IM for a week.

May 31, 2011 was the first ever day for the P6.1-5T-NS-IM drill (I had never done it before); the box score summary May 31 was: 71% Quality: 3 Speed: 4 Length:21' Goals: per hour, percentage, quality, speed Cones: normal (4.4').

You can see that during the two weeks from May 31 to June 14, as a result of two weeks of focusing solely on drills involving the easier inwards turns, quality rose just 47%, and speed rose just 25%.

Today showed great promise for forwards lean of body during the air-dribble, with shoulders approx two feet in front of the feet. This forwards-lean could result in defenders being knocked away with the shoulder so they cannot molest the ball (could work out for me well since I'm 5' 10" tall, 195 lbs , not fat).

Today there were six runs during which I noted such extreme forwards lean in my body. The average quality for these six runs was 5.7; the average speed for these six runs was 7.3.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up this morning at approx 7:30 AM, after having had approx 8 hours sleep. from 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM, Had approx 12 oz coffee/coconut palm sugar/halfnhalf. Drank 22 oz distilled water immediately before, during and after practice.

The (AF1) method was used. I decided that during this practice I would implement an exaggerated form of AF1.

Again, I tried to implement ankle-force-minimization ( AFM) but things were happening so fast I did not usually consciously implement AFM during the runs.

The weather outside was comfortable; it felt comfortable inside the gym before and during the practice.

During the practice I shared the gym with: 1st segment, nobody in my half of the gym; 2nd segment, some teenage black white & Spanish teen male basketballers; 3rd segment, black and white teen male basketballers.

85%

Quality: 5.2
Speed: 6.9
Length:24'
Goals:successes/attempts percentage
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 90%; Quality of successful runs during this period: excellent++ (5.2)(there was 1 bad first kick during the first 10 successes/attempts); speed of first 10 successful runs: very fast++++ (6.7) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent++ (5.2); overall speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (6.9) . There were 17 good runs; there were 3 missed attempts (not counting bad first kicks); there was 1 bad kick on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 18-31 feet; average run covered 24' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

91%

Quality: 5.7
Speed: 7.2
Length:22'
Goals:successes/attempts percentage, speed
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 90%; quality of successful runs during this period: excellent+++ (5.6)(there were 2 bad first kicks during the first 10 successes/attempts); speed of successful runs during this period: very fast++++ (7.1) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (5.7); overall speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (7.2) . There were 20 good runs; there were 2 missed attempts (not counting bad first kicks); there were 4 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 18-31 feet; average run covered 22' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

78%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 7.5
Length:23'
Goals:speed
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 80%; quality of successful runs during this period: excellent+++ (5.9)(there were 2 bad first kicks during the first 10 successes/attempts); speed of successful runs during this period: very fast+++++ (7.6) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (5.6); overall speed of successful runs: very fast++++ to very fast+++++ (7.5) . There were 18 good runs; there were 5 missed attempts (not counting bad first kicks); there were 3 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 13-31 feet; average run covered 23' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

We're facing 100 degree plus heat index official warnings for today Thursday July 21. Experience tells me, that knowing how the temperature will fluctuate during the course of the day is important. I try to build up my morale and spirit before a practice: such will be especially necessary if it is going to be hot and humid in the gym today.

[INTERRUPTION- WATER BOTTLES PLACED IN FREEZER]

My goal half a year ago, was to master flight over the soccer field, by mastering four different drills, the P6.1-5T-NS (East wind) , the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS (West wind), the P6.1-5T-NS-IM ( Northeast wind), and the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS-IM (Northwest wind).

These drills all involve the ball caused to make a 90 degree turn on every step, with the ball kept off the ground for five touches (ball is shot away on 5th touch). The drills whose names end in 'IM' involve inwards movements such as the kicker's left foot kicking the ball towards the kicker's right shoulder at a 90 degree angle. The ones not ending in 'IM' involve outwards movements such as the kicker's left foot kicking the ball away from the kicker's right shoulder at a 90 degree angle.

The mastery of these drill indicates a mastery of flight with the soccer ball in general, because: turns at angles less than 90 degrees are easier to accomplish compared to 90 degree turns; the more steps one takes between touches on the ball, the easier it is to fly with the ball (this true from zero to five steps); mastering 90 degree turns greatly increases one's competence with regards to turns of less than 90 degrees; mastering flight with the ball touched on every step, greatly increases one's competence with regards to flight involving one or more steps between touches on the ball.

The project to attain to mastery over the four winds was started January 8, 2011, 6.5 months ago. The May 30 entry of my sports log reports how my level of improvement as of May 30, about 4.7 months into the project, did not match up with predictions I made on April 15, about 3.2 months into the project.

On April 15 (3.2 mos. into project), I had predicted that the East wind would be mastered in a basic sense, after 30 more practice segments working on the East Wind, and that the West wind would be mastered in a basic sense, after 10 segments of working on the West Wind.

Actually, in reality it took 63 segments not 30 to get to what I then (4.7 mos. into project) called basic mastery of the East Wind: successes/attempts percentage 91%; average quality of run, excellent (numerical 3.0); average speed very fast++ (numerical 5.0).

Actually, in reality it took 8 segments not 10 to get to what I then (4.7 mos. into project) called basic mastery of the West Wind: successes/attempts percentage 97%; average quality of run, excellent (numerical 3.0); average speed very fast++ (numerical 5.0).

Since improvement during the 4th & 5th months of the four-winds project was not as fast as I had predicted at the start of the 4th month, I developed a gloomy frame of mind, I felt as if the four-winds would end up taking at least a year of hot humid embarrassingly error-plagued drudgery to master.

But today on July 20, 2011, suddenly, 6.5 months into the four-winds project, three performances from July 16 to July 20 have shown that three of the winds have now been mastered in an advanced not just basic sense; and the wind not mastered, the Northwest wind, will be mastered very quickly.

All of a sudden, Saturday July 16th the East Wind was mastered, Tuesday July 19th the West Wind was conquered, & Wednesday July 20th, the Northeast Wind fell.

Average of the scores (second segments of day) for July 16th (E Wind), July 19th (W Wind), July 20th (NE wind): quality 5.5; speed 7.4; successes/attempts percentage: 92%.

Despite the early overoptimistic predictions, the rate of improvement has radically accelerated, and now for three of the winds put together: 90 percent of attempts succeed, the average quality is just a shade below perfect in terms of adherence to 90 degree angles on turns of the ball, and the average speed is just a shade below the maximum humanly possible.

Feels like a dream. You get used to the idea that an achievement, that you once considered to be impossible to accomplish, will not be accomplished until some time far in the future. Then the rate of improvement accelerates, and suddenly you accomplish three such achievements in just one week--and it seems like you are living in a dream. Whereas a week ago you were used to feeling that things take longer to accomplish than you think they will, now you are feeling like things take less time to accomplish than you think they will.

Last week I felt like a loser, this week I feel like a winner. I feel as if the difference between my current understanding of the strategy and tactics of planning out soccer-practices, and my level of understanding of such 6.5 months ago when I started the four-winds project, is like the difference between a genius and a moron.

The P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS-IM is graphically described at 2011 Soccer Drill Stats Part III. It involves inwards as opposed to outwards kicks on the turns. Written notes were taken after each run.

Today I did the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS-IM drill, after not having done P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS-IM since June 15 2011 36 days ago.

Today, since P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS-IM was done June 15, I had practiced drills involving outwards kicks on the turns from June 16 to July 19th; and I had practiced the P6.1-5T-NS-IM, involving inwards kicks on turns, on July 20 yesterday.

The box-score summary last time I did P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS-IM 36 days ago (June 15 (1st segment of day)), was: 95% Quality: 4.4 Speed: 5.1 Length:22' Goals: per hour, percentage, speed Cones: normal (4.4').

The box-score summary for today (July 21 (1st segment of day)), was: 77% Quality: 5.5 Speed: 6.8 Length:23' Goals: successes/attempts percentage Cones: normal (4.4').

Thus you can see that 35 days of practicing the more difficult outwards kicks, plus one day of practicing inwards kicks, resulted in an improvement on the P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS-IM of 25% in terms of quality (adherence to the prescribed 90 degree angle on turns), and 33% in terms of speed.

I had the gym to myself. The gym was supposed to be open from 6-10 PM according to the schedule; however the gym was occupied by a women's basketball tourney, which had not been announced by any signs anywhere. Result: inconvenience and waste of time.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up this morning at approx 7:30 AM, after having had approx 8 hours sleep. from 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM, Had approx 12 oz tea/coconut palm sugar/halfnhalf, 12 oz coffee/coconut palm sugar/halfnhalf, home-made curry & rice @ approx 3 PM; 12 oz mango-lassi from Trader Joe's @ 3 PM; 4 oz apple juice @ 3 PM. Drank 8 oz of chilly distilled ice-water immediately before, during and after practice.

The (AF1) method was used. I decided that during this practice I would implement an exaggerated form of AF1.

Again, I tried to implement ankle-force-minimization ( AFM) but things were happening so fast I did not usually consciously implement AFM during the runs.

The weather outside was too warm/humid; it felt too warm/hunid in the gym before and during the practice.

77%

Quality: 5.5
Speed: 6.8
Length:23'
Goals:successes/attempts percentage
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 80%; quality of successful runs during this period: excellent++ (5.3)(there were 2 bad first kicks during the first 10 successes/attempts); speed of successful runs during this period: very fast++++ (6.8) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent++ to excellent+++ (5.5); overall speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (6.8) . There were 17 good runs; there were 5 missed attempts (not counting bad first kicks); there were 2 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 18-31 feet; average run covered 23' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

The P6.1-5T-Reverse-NS-IM is graphically described at 2011 Soccer Drill Stats Part III. It involves inwards as opposed to outwards kicks on the turns. Written notes were taken after each run.

The curtain dividing the gym in half was not down; I shared the gym with about a half dozen to a dozen white, black, & East Asian teenage/young-adult basketballers.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up this morning at approx 10:30 AM, after having had approx 8 hours sleep. from 11:30 AM to 6:30 PM, Had approx 24 oz coffee/coconut palm sugar/halfnhalf; at home-made curry & rice @ approx 5:15 PM; 12 oz mango-lassi from Trader Joe's @ 4 PM. Drank 18 oz of chilly distilled ice-water immediately before, during and after practice.

The (AF1) method was used. I decided that during this practice I would implement an exaggerated form of AF1.

Again, I tried to implement ankle-force-minimization ( AFM) but things were happening so fast I did not usually consciously implement AFM during the runs.

Before the practice I felt too tired to be able to perform well during the practice. Yet once the practice got started, I did not feel too tired and I performed well.

The weather outside was too warm/humid; it felt too warm/humid in the gym before the start of the practice; but during the practice it felt comfortable (I suspect, that the combination of wind produced by the two big 3-foot diameter fans and the sweat on my body cooled me off).

Somehow the practice was endurable because: I started as late as possible knowing that the temp cools off as the evening wears on; the gym had two big fans blowing in it; the doors of the gym were wide open so as to allow in and out the cool air in the air conditioned lobby/hallway; the water I drank had ice in it as I had kept the water bottles in the freezer prior to the practice.

Today the temperature was officially at a high of 103 degrees, which according to the TV News, is the second highest temperature ever recorded in Boston.

86%

Quality: 5.5
Speed: 7.1
Length:22'
Goals:successes/attempts percentage
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 90%; quality of successful runs during this period: excellent++ (5.4)(there was 1 bad first kicks during the first 10 successes/attempts); speed of successful runs during this period: very fast++++ (6.9) .

Overall quality of successful runs: excellent++ to excellent+++ (5.5); overall speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (7.1) . There were 17 good runs; there were 5 missed attempts (not counting bad first kicks); there were 2 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 18-26 feet; average run covered 22' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

96%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 7.8
Length:23'
Goals:successes/attempts percentage, speed
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 100%; quality of successful runs during this period: excellent++ (5.4)(there were 0 bad first kicks during the first 10 successes/attempts); speed of successful runs during this period: very fast+++++ (7.8) .

Overall quality of successful runs:excellent+++ (5.6); overall speed of successful runs: very fast+++++ (7.8) . There were 24 good runs; there was 1 missed attempt (not counting bad first kicks); there were 0 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 18-31 feet; average run covered 23' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

62%

Quality: 5.9
Speed: 7.9
Length:21'
Goal: speed
Cones: normal (4.4')
Ball: Adidas Jabulani NFHS @ 11.6 psi

Successes/attempts rate on first 10 attempts: 40%; quality of successful runs during this period: excellent+++ (6.0) (there were 0 bad first kicks during the first 10 successes/attempts); speed of successful runs during this period: very fast+++++ (8.0) .

Overall quality of successful runs:excellent+++ (5.9); overall speed of successful runs: very fast+++++ (7.9) . There were 13 good runs; there was 8 missed attempt (not counting bad first kicks); there were 2 bad kicks on the first kick of the runs.

Length of successful runs ranged from 18-24 feet; average run covered 21' from the first kick to the 5th kick.

Percentage being down does not bother me, this is supposed to be the speed-demon reckless segment. 8.0 the highest speed rating, represents approx the fastest a human can do this drill. Yet runs rated at 8.0 for speed are not all equal in terms of speed. I spent this segment trying to reach the upper level 8.0 speeds.