Good-runs/attempts percentage

Until further notice: the following holds true: I did not warm up using the ball or not using the ball before beginning to keep score; my sports log also sometimes contains info re practices such as today's practice; I recorded scores every five attempts.

'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-AS-135-L' (2 segments) & 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-AS-135-L' (2 segments) done, without start involving ball rebound off wall

'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-AS-135-L' (first two segments today) is described in text and graphics in the the second row of the 8/03/11 entries of this log. 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-AS-135-L' (second two segments today) is described in text and graphics in the the first row of the 8/04/11 entries of this log.

Today I all the segments featured the start involving me rolling the ball back and then flipping it up with my foot, instead of air-trapping a ball rebounding at me from off the wall.

Today, all the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-AS-135-L' runs scored as successes manifested the following characteristics (first two segments today):

Me using the left foot to flip up the ball (L0), and then performing L1 of the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-AS-135-L' pattern with L1 sending the ball at a 135 degree angle to my left, relative to the direction my body was facing at the start of the run; the ball not touching the ground between L0 & L1; me performing 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-AS-135-L'up to L5 (5 touches not including L0 the flip-up touch); all this (from L0 to L5 of the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-AS-135-L' pattern) happening without the ball touching the ground; the angle of the turns during the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-AS-135-L' not being less than 45 degrees. The closer to 90 degrees the angle of the turns, the better a rating given for quality to the run in question.

Today, all the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-AS-135-L' runs scored as successes manifested the following characteristics (first two segments today):

Me using the left foot to flip up the ball (L0), and then performing R1 of the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-AS-135-L' pattern with R1 sending the ball at a 135 degree angle to my left, relative to the direction my body was facing at the start of the run; the ball not touching the ground between L0 & L1; me performing 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-AS-135-L'up to R5 (5 touches not including L0 the flip-up touch); all this (from L0 to L5 of the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-AS-135-L' pattern) happening without the ball touching the ground; the angle of the turns during the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-AS-135-L' not being less than 45 degrees. The closer to 90 degrees the angle of the turns, the better a rating given for quality to the run in question.

None of the drills done today had ever been done before. They all involved the first touch of the run sending the ball at a 135 degree angle to the left relative to the direction I was facing when I flipped the ball up on L0. The first two segments involved the first touch being done with the left foot (L1), the last two segments involved the first touch being made with the right foot (R1).

I was surprised at how many times per hour I was able to do very difficult, amazing things with the soccer ball, such as: 30 foot long perfectly angled runs at the fastest a human can do such things, with pattern adhered to and ball kept off the ground but close to the body over the entire 30 feet and over the entire 5 touches on the ball. The surprise stayed with me all the way to the end of the practice, even after I had surprised myself dozens of times with super-hero type runs.

Looking at the scores today remember: a quality rating of 6.0 means the run was perfectly angled, 90 degree turns on each turn; a speed rating of 8.0 means a run featured me covering about 25 feet keeping the ball off the ground but under control, about as fast as a human being can do such a thing.

It's surprising what you can do when you remember: that intense mental concentration before each run, with regards to the first two kicks of the run, is crucial; willing oneself to have the mental endurance to keep up such concentration for an entire hour without a break is crucial; rejoicing over successes and mourning over failures is counterproductive.

The patterns I am doing now, when angled so as to produce proximity to the defender(s) at the proper turn in the pattern, are specifically designed to produce the result of my body and the ball ending up between the defender and his goal, so as to enable continued dribble leading to a goal, shot leading to a goal, or pass leading to a goal. It is easily conceivable that dozens of the runs today could have one way or another produced goals.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up at midnight, 7.5 hours before the practice started at 7:26 AM, after having had approx 10 hours of sleep. Had scrambled eggs with green-peppers, french toast, sausage, tangerine juice, and 18 oz coffee/cane-sugar/halfnhalf from 330 AM to 530 AM. Drank 51 oz of cold spring water & Y-water-fountain water during the practice, which went on for 5.5 hours.

Today AFM method was not implemented during L0. After L0, things happened so fast I could not deliberately implement AFM.

Today at the start of the runs, I was focused on the first two kicks of the run being done well.

During the practice, mostly I had the gym to myself, except during the first half of the first segment I tall white bald white man was shooting basketball shots; and during the middle of the practice, there were lots of screaming little kids and their parents having a play-session on the other side of the gym.

The weather outdoors before the practice was comfortable; indoors before the start of practice the temp/humidity felt comfortable; during the practice it felt comfortable the first segment, but it began to get hotter and more humid as the morning wore on.

??%

Quality: 5.7
Speed: 7.5
Length: 26'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 22' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent+++ (numerical 5.7); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ to very fast+++++ (numerical 7.5).

Overall, there were 19 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.43 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score.

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 26' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

??%

Quality: 5.8
Speed: 7.4
Length: 25'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 22' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent+++ (numerical 5.8); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 7.4).

Overall, there were 32 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.68 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score.

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 25' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

??%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 7.5
Length: 26'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 22' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent+++ (numerical 5.6); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ to very fast+++++ (numerical 7.5).

Overall, there were 24 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.51 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score.

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 26' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

??%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 7.4
Length: 25'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 22' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent+++ (numerical 5.6); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 7.4).

Overall, there were 33 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.72 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score.

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 26' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

The first 20 minutes of the segment, the successful-runs/minute score was 1.0 per minute; the last 40 minutes of the segment, the successful-runs/minute score was 0.59 per minute (per minute scores excluded time spent keeping score, 25 secs per successful run today).

I felt the slightly drunk and sleepy feeling effects of fatigue the last 40 minutes of the practice. Reminded me of what the musician wrote in his internet blog, about how: after four hours of practice in a day another hour of practice accomplishes little; the first hour accomplishes more than the second hour which accomplishes more than the third hour which accomplishes more than the fourth hour.

'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' Done for Two Segments

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R
touch ball every step or every two-steps,
with changes of direction

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R is basically the same as P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2, except that with P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, the first touch of the run is made with the right foot, whereas withP6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2, the first touch of the run is made with the left foot. Another difference is that with P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, I start with my body facing the ball at an angle such that the R1 kick sends the ball at a 135 degree angle to my right, relative to the direction that I am facing when I first touch the ball.

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R involves the ball flipped up with the left foot and kicked with the right foot, approx 4 feet on R1; on the very next step, the ball kicked about 7' at a 90 degree inwards angle to the right with the left foot on L2; a step taken with the right foot; the ball kicked about 5' at a 90 degree angle to the left with the left foot on L3; on the very next step, the ball kicked about 5' at a 90 degree angle to the right with the right foot on R4; on the very next step, the ball touched on L5.

The ball is kept close to the body but off the ground the entire time, and kicked on every step, except for the step between L2 and L3.

The blue and wiggly line in the graphic represents the usual location of the gym curtain, the gray line represents the usual location of the wall.

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, described in text/graphic in the box in this entry, is like P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2, except that: R1 the first touch of the run after L0 is made with the right foot (L0 represents the first contact with the ball on an incoming pass, or the ball being flipped up by the foot); and, P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R features an angled start direction of the body, such that R1 sends the ball at a 135 degrees right direction relative to the direction I am facing at the start of the run.

Today I did two segments of P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, without the start involving me receiving a simulated pass of the ball via rebound of ball of wall.

Today I all the segments featured the start involving me rolling the ball back and then flipping it up with my foot on L0, instead of air-trapping a ball rebounding at me from off the wall on L0.

Today, all the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R runs scored as successes manifested the following characteristics (first two segments today):

Me using the left foot to flip up the ball (L0), and then performing R1 of the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R pattern with R1 sending the ball at a 135 degree angle to my right, relative to the direction my body was facing at the start of the run; the ball not touching the ground between L0 & R1; me performingP6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R up to and including L5 (5 touches not including L0 the flip-up touch); all this (from L0 to L5 of the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R pattern) happening without the ball touching the ground; the angle of the turns during the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R not being less than 45 degrees. The closer to 90 degrees the angle of the turns, the better a rating given for quality to the run in question.

The P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R drill done today had never been done before.

Re the scores today: a quality rating of 6.0 means the run was perfectly angled, 90 degree turns on each turn; a speed rating of 8.0 means a run featured me covering about 25 feet keeping the ball off the ground but under control, about as fast as a human being can do such a thing.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up at 2:00 AM, 5 hours before the practice started at 7 AM, after having had approx 7 hours of sleep. Had rice and ground-beef curry, 5 oz tangerine juice, and 20 oz coffee/cane-sugar/halfnhalf from 330 AM to 6:00 AM. Drank 12 oz of cold distilled water during the practice, which went on for 2.5 hours.

Today AFM method was not implemented during L0. After L0, things happened so fast I could not deliberately implement AFM.

Today at the start of the runs, I was focused on doing L0 and R1 well; in the past the focus has been on the two kicks after L0.

Essentially the beginning of the pattern practiced today involved (all with ball never touching ground): flipping the ball up with the left foot (L0); kicking the ball about 6 feet backwards and to my right side on the very next step on R1; on the very next step on L1 kicking the ball about 12 feet at a 90 degree angle inwards to my right; contacting the ball with my left foot. This can constitute a very tight, but very tricky to execute, 180 degree turn resulting in me quickly attacking the defender(s) behind me while having the ball in the air and under tight control.

I estimate that the results today showed that after a few more hours of practice, I will be able to wield this kind of quick 180 degree turn that results in me+ball attacking the man defending me, very effectively in a game.

Today the successful runs were long, fast and well angled--the angles of the turns were close to what they are supposed to be according to the diagram in the box in this table cell; the successful runs ranged in length up to 40'. There were several runs that were at least 33' in length, done at about the max speed humanly possible, that were angled at the prescribed 90 degrees on all the turns.

The L2 (kick ball with left foot), R (step with right foot without kicking ball) L3 (kick ball with left foot) sequence allows me to build up considerable momentum, which I am not able to build up when doing drills in which on every step the ball is touched with a foot and turned at a 90 degree angle.

Today during the second segment, during L0 and R1 kicks, I tried to mentally concentrate on applying the lessons regarding technique that I had learned during the first segment. It seemed as if the concentration on technique, distracted from simple concentration on achieving a high quality flip-up on L1 and a high quality kick on R1. During the first segment, I developed the techniques that worked (angle of foot at ball-contact time, angle and position of body at ball contact time) by concentrating on achieving a quality kick at ball-contact time, not by concentrating on implementing a given slant of foot and body.

Today as usual , the second segment successful runs per minute score was significantly better than the first. It takes effort and concentration to keep up this record of the second segment always excelling the first. I live in constant fear of the day when the second segment will not excel the first segment.

During the practiceI had my half of the gym to myself.

The weather outdoors before the practice was comfortable; indoors before the start of practice the temp/humidity felt comfortable; during the practice it felt comfortable if slightly warm and humid--but it was nice and quiet with no giant fans running and no invisible HVAC system roaring.

??%

Quality: 5.5
Speed: 7.5
Length: 28'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 29' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

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 28 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.61 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score (30 seconds per scoring of successful run, subtracted from total time).

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 28' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

??%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 7.4
Length: 28'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 29' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent+++ (numerical 5.6); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 7.4).

Overall, there were 35 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from R1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.97 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score (30 seconds per scoring of successful run, subtracted from total time).

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 28' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' done in front of big Oak Square Y crowd, without start involving ball rebound off wall

Drill WC06/10-P6.1-5T-knockoutaugone-Rev-E2-AS-135-R,
touch ball every step or every two-steps,
with changes of direction

P6.1-5T-NS-Knockoutaugone-rev-E2-AS-135-R involves me starting with my body facing a direction such that the L1 kick sends the ball in a direction 135 degrees to the right relative to the direction I am facing at the start (another way of saying this is that it involves on L1, me facing towards "Twelve O'Clock" and sending the ball to "Four Thirty O'Clock" on L1); the ball flipped up with the left foot and kicked with the left foot, approx 6 feet on L1; a step taken with the right foot; the ball kicked approx 6 feet at a 90 degree angle to the right, inwards, on L2; a step taken with the right foot; the ball kicked approx 5' at a 90 degree angle to the left, outwards, on L3; on the very next step, the ball kicked approx 5' at a 90 degree angle outwards to the right, on R4; on the very next step the ball touched with the left foot on L5. The ball is kept close to the body but off the ground the entire time, and kicked on every step, or on every other step. The blue and wiggly line in the graphic represents a possible location of the gym curtain, the gray line represents a possible location of the wall. The red circles represent marker cones placed as guideposts for the 'flight'.

Today I did two segments of P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, without the start involving me receiving a simulated pass of the ball via rebound of ball of wall, at the Oak Square YMCA, from 7:49 to noon.

During the 2nd segment, and during the first two-thirds of the third segment, I felt like I was playing in front of a crowd of thousands --Calder, his assistant teacher, at least a half-dozen little children, and at least a half-dozen parents. This scary huge crowd, was composed of persons connected with the Oak Square Y's official "Sports Classes" (officially scheduled from 9 AM to noon in the 'front court').

The curtain at the Oak Sq Y is not a curtain that just anybody can draw, like the curtain at the Waltham Y. The curtain at the Oak Square Y, is lowered from the ceiling and raised to the ceiling by a machine.

Last time I did the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-rev-E2-As-135-R was Wednesday August 3, three days ago. On that the day, the scores were: segment 1: 0.38 runs per minute, quality 5.6, speed 6.6, length 25'; segment 2: 0.70 runs per minute, quality 5.5, speed 7.0, length 25' .

For some reason during the practice I felt uneasy about the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-rev-E2-As-135-R; I felt like my scores August 3rd had been dissapointingly low, given that I am left-footed and all the touches except one are with the left-foot when the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-rev-E2-As-135-R is executed.

Today, the scores were: segment 1: 0.53 runs per minute, quality 5.5, speed 7.4, length 29'; segment 2: 0.93 runs per minute, quality 5.5, speed 6.9, length 30'; segment 3: 1.19 successful runs per minute, quality 5.6, speed 7.1, length 28' .

Re the scores today: a quality rating of 6.0 means the run was perfectly angled, 90 degree turns on each turn; a speed rating of 8.0 means a run featured me covering about 30 feet keeping the ball off the ground but under control, about as fast as a human being can run the pattern I was running. Today, all the runs scored as successes manifested the following characteristics:

me using the left foot to flip up the ball (L0), and then performing L1 of the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' pattern in the prescribed direction, with the ball not touching the ground between L0 & L1; me performing 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R'up to L5 (5 touches); me moving the ball in approximately the designated 135- degrees-right direction on the L1 kick, if such a direction is designated; all this (from L0 to L5 of the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R') happening without the ball touching the ground; the angle of the turns during the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' not being less than 45 degrees. The closer to 90 degrees the angle of the turn, the better a rating given for quality to the run in question.

Today the successful runs were long, fast and well angled--the angles of the turns were close to what they are supposed to be according to the diagram in the box in this table cell; the successful runs ranged in length up to 37'. There were several runs that were at least 33' in length, done at about the max speed humanly possible, that were angled at the prescribed 90 degrees on all the turns .

Yet it was almost disconcerting, the way none of the staff, children, or parents connected with the "Sports Class", gave any indication that they were even aware of my exploits.

My records show that I ran 67 successful runs right in front of them (about one successful run per minute not counting time kept keeping score), averaging about 30' in length, on average with the angles of the turns just slightly off of 90 degrees, on average in speed only a shade below the fastest a human could run such runs.

Yet all I noticed amongst them of the 'Sports Class', was that after the 'Sports Class' ended, a young white clean-shaven dad with a big head and a big face, lingered to watch me. I did a long 30' perfectly angled very fast run as he watched ; then I looked at his face.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up at 3:00 AM, 5 hours before the practice started at 8 AM, after having had approx 8 hours of sleep. Had rice and ground-beef curry, 4 oz orange/strawberry/banana juice, and 18 oz coffee/cane-sugar/halfnhalf from 400 AM to 6:30 AM. Drank 44 oz of cold distilled water and cold spring water during the practice, which went on for 4 hours.

Today AFM method was not implemented during L0.

Today at the start of the runs, I was focused on doing L0 and L1 well; in the past the focus has been on the two kicks after L0. The technique that I developed as the practice went on, for L0: flip a little sideways to in front of right-foot. Technique for L1: crouch a little during L1.

The weather outdoors before the practice was comfortable; indoors before the start of practice the temp/humidity felt comfortable; during the practice it at first felt too hot and humid and then later I felt OK, I suppose as a result of the cooling effect of sweat.

??%

Quality: 5.5
Speed: 7.4
Length: 29'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: Four cones marking 33' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent++ to excellent+++ (numerical 5.5); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 7.4).

Overall, there were 25 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.53 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score.

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 29' from L1 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

??%

Quality: 5.5
Speed: 6.9
Length: 30'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: Four cones marking 33' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent++ to excellent+++ (numerical 5.5); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 6.9).

Overall, there were 37 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.93 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score.

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 30' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

??%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 7.1
Length: 28'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: Four cones marking 33' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (numerical 5.6); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 7.1 .

Overall, there were 44 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 1.19 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score (today, 30 seconds not counted per trip to scoring table to score run).

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 28' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' Done for Two Segments

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R
touch ball every step or every two-steps,
with changes of direction

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R is basically the same as P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2, except that with P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, the first touch of the run is made with the right foot, whereas withP6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2, the first touch of the run is made with the left foot. Another difference is that with P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, I start with my body facing the ball at an angle such that the R1 kick sends the ball at a 135 degree angle to my right, relative to the direction that I am facing when I first touch the ball.

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R involves the ball flipped up with the left foot and kicked with the right foot, approx 4 feet on R1; on the very next step, the ball kicked about 7' at a 90 degree inwards angle to the right with the left foot on L2; a step taken with the right foot; the ball kicked about 5' at a 90 degree angle to the left with the left foot on L3; on the very next step, the ball kicked about 5' at a 90 degree angle to the right with the right foot on R4; on the very next step, the ball touched on L5.

The ball is kept close to the body but off the ground the entire time, and kicked on every step, except for the step between L2 and L3.

The blue and wiggly line in the graphic represents the usual location of the gym curtain, the gray line represents the usual location of the wall.

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, described in text/graphic in the box in this entry, is like P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2, except that: R1 the first touch of the run after L0 is made with the right foot (L0 represents the first contact with the ball on an incoming pass, or the ball being flipped up by the foot); and, P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R features an angled start direction of the body, such that R1 sends the ball at a 135 degrees right direction relative to the direction I am facing at the start of the run.

Today I did two segments of P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, without the start involving me receiving a simulated pass of the ball via rebound of ball of wall.

Today I all the segments featured the start involving me rolling the ball back and then flipping it up with my foot on L0, instead of air-trapping a ball rebounding at me from off the wall on L0.

Today, all the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R runs scored as successes manifested the following characteristics (first two segments today):

Me using the left foot to flip up the ball (L0), and then performing R1 of the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R pattern with R1 sending the ball at a 135 degree angle to my right, relative to the direction my body was facing at the start of the run; the ball not touching the ground between L0 & R1; me performingP6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R up to and including L5 (5 touches not including L0 the flip-up touch); all this (from L0 to L5 of the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R pattern) happening without the ball touching the ground; the angle of the turns during the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R not being less than 45 degrees. The closer to 90 degrees the angle of the turns, the better a rating given for quality to the run in question.

The P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R drill done today was last done on Friday August 5, in the morning at the Waltham Y.

Re the scores today: a quality rating of 6.0 means the run was perfectly angled, 90 degree turns on each turn; a speed rating of 8.0 means a run featured me covering about 25 feet keeping the ball off the ground but under control, about as fast as a human being can do such a thing.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up at 10:00 AM, 9 hours before the practice started at 7 PM, after having had approx 9 hours of sleep. Had sausage and french toast, 8 oz tangerine juice, and 12 oz coffee/cane-sugar/halfnhalf from 11 AM to 6:00 pM. Drank 35 oz of cold distilled water during the practice, which went on for 2.5 hours.

Today AFM method was not implemented during L0. After L0, things happened so fast I could not deliberately implement AFM.

Today at the start of the runs, I was focused on doing L0 and R1 well; in the past the focus has been on the two kicks after L0.

Today was a scary day. The first segment, I was afraid that the score would not be as good as the first segment August 5. Second segment, I was afraid that the score would not be as good as the second segment August 5 or the first segment today.

It's become a rare event, that the second segment of a day should score lower than the first; it's become a rare event, that the total score for a day should be lower than the total score in a previous day, for a given drill. Constant improvement has become something like a source of regimental pride and a hallowed tradition.

I've become better than I used to be, at improving with regards to a given skill or trick. The rate of improvement has become faster, and there are much fewer days featuring a score that was not as good as the score on a previous day (given that the same drill was done on the days being compared).

Today, the scores were: segment 1: 0.95 successful runs per minute, quality 5.6, speed 7.2, length 27'; segment 2: 1.14 successful runs per minute, quality 5.8, speed 7.5, length 27'.

Friday August 5, the scores were: segment 1: 0.61 successful runs per minute, quality 5.5, speed 7.5, length 28'; segment 2: 0.97 successful runs per minute, quality 5.6, speed 7.4, length 30'.

During the first half of the first segment, I shared the gym with two dark heavy teen-age male Spanish boys. Part of the time they sat on the bleachers and watched me. One of them said re what I was doing, "that's difficult".

During the first half of the second segment, I shared the gym with about four Spanish teenage male boys playing soccer. They turned the half of the gym I was in into a mini-soccer field. The area I was practicing in, which was a quarter of the half of the gym, became part of their field but they were careful not to kick the cones out of the way, tried to stay out of my way, and were polite.

The weather outdoors before the practice was comfortable; indoors before the start of practice the temp/humidity felt comfortable; during the practice it felt comfortable but slightly warm and humid. I attribute the warm humid feeling to a lunch of french toast and sausage about 4 hours prior to the practice.

??%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 7.2
Length: 27'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 29' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (numerical 5.6); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 7.2).

Overall, there were 38 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.95 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score (30 seconds per scoring of successful run, subtracted from total time).

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 27' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

??%

Quality: 5.8
Speed: 7.5
Length: 27'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 29' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent+++ (numerical 5.8); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ to very fast+++++ (numerical 7.5).

Overall, there were 42 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from R1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.97 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score (30 seconds per scoring of successful run, subtracted from total time).

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 27' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies).

The Spanish boys left at 9:00 PM, afterwards I had the gym to myself. During the 36 minutes that the Spanish boys were there, my successful runs per minute rate was 1.00 per minute (time reduced by 30 seconds per score, because I took notes on every successful run). During the 24 minutes after they left, the score was 1.41 successful runs per minute.

I suspect that the presence of the Spanish boys, led me to concentrate on maintaining an attitude unflustered by company, which distracted me from simply paying attention to proper technique.

Funny thing about this kind of practice: today the Spanish boys saw me doing long fast sharply angled runs, but with a high failure rate, a wanna-be, overly ambitious in terms of what he attempts to do. After ten hours more of practice on the 'flight-pattern' run today, I'd be doing lost fast sharply angled runs, with a low failure rate, meaning a superstar.

'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' Done for Two Segments

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R
touch ball every step or every two-steps,
with changes of direction

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R is basically the same as P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2, except that with P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, the first touch of the run is made with the right foot, whereas withP6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2, the first touch of the run is made with the left foot. Another difference is that with P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, I start with my body facing the ball at an angle such that the R1 kick sends the ball at a 135 degree angle to my right, relative to the direction that I am facing when I first touch the ball.

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R involves the ball flipped up with the left foot and kicked with the right foot, approx 4 feet on R1; on the very next step, the ball kicked about 7' at a 90 degree inwards angle to the right with the left foot on L2; a step taken with the right foot; the ball kicked about 5' at a 90 degree angle to the left with the left foot on L3; on the very next step, the ball kicked about 5' at a 90 degree angle to the right with the right foot on R4; on the very next step, the ball touched on L5.

The ball is kept close to the body but off the ground the entire time, and kicked on every step, except for the step between L2 and L3.

The blue and wiggly line in the graphic represents the usual location of the gym curtain, the gray line represents the usual location of the wall.

P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, described in text/graphic in the box in this entry, is like P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2, except that: R1 the first touch of the run after L0 is made with the right foot (L0 represents the first contact with the ball on an incoming pass, or the ball being flipped up by the foot); and, P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R features an angled start direction of the body, such that R1 sends the ball at a 135 degrees right direction relative to the direction I am facing at the start of the run.

Today I did three segments of P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, without the start involving me receiving a simulated pass of the ball via rebound of ball of wall.

Today I all the segments featured the start involving me rolling the ball back and then flipping it up with my foot on L0, instead of air-trapping a ball rebounding at me from off the wall on L0.

Today, all the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R runs scored as successes manifested the following characteristics (first two segments today):

Me using the left foot to flip up the ball (L0), and then performing R1 of the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R pattern with R1 sending the ball at a 135 degree angle to my right, relative to the direction my body was facing at the start of the run; the ball not touching the ground between L0 & R1; me performingP6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R up to and including L5 (5 touches not including L0 the flip-up touch); all this (from L0 to L5 of the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R pattern) happening without the ball touching the ground; the angle of the turns during the P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R not being less than 45 degrees. The closer to 90 degrees the angle of the turns, the better a rating given for quality to the run in question.

The P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R drill done today was last done on yesterday August 8, in the evening at the Waltham Y.

Re the scores today: a quality rating of 6.0 means the run was perfectly angled, 90 degree turns on each turn; a speed rating of 8.0 means a run featured me covering about 25 feet keeping the ball off the ground but under control, about as fast as a human being can do such a thing.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up at 9:00 AM, 2 hours before the practice started at 11:15 AM, after having had approx 8 hours of sleep. Had 12 oz coffee/coconut-palm-sugar/halfnhalf from 9 AM to 10:00 AM. Drank 36 oz of cold distilled water during the practice, which went on for 4.5 hours.

Today AFM method was not implemented during L0. After L0, things happened so fast I could not deliberately implement AFM.

Today at the start of the runs, I was focused on doing L0 and R1 well; in the past the focus has been on the two kicks after L0.

Today, the scores were: segment 1: 1.08 successful runs per minute, quality 5.6, speed 7.4, length 26'; segment 2: 1.59 successful runs per minute, quality 5.7, speed 7.5, length 24'; segment 3: 1.60 successful runs per minute, quality 5.8, speed 7.4, length 22'.

Yesterday, the scores were (same drill as today done in same way): segment 1: 0.95 successful runs per minute, quality 5.6, speed 7.2, length 27'; segment 2: 1.14 successful runs per minute, quality 5.8, speed 7.5, length 27'.

Today after the first segment I noted the following (verbatim transcript of notes taken with pen on paper during practice):

I suspect the successes/minute rate could be improved if I were to simply: loft the ball a little higher on L0 (the flip-up); give myself time to firmly set the left foot before R1.

Seems, the segments involving emphasis on speed alone, have created a habitual recklesness resulting in things like, L0 lofting ball too low on L0, left-foot not firmly planted on R1. This habitual recklesness is not always appropriate, for example when the main defect is a low successes/attempts rate.

Nevertheless, the segments emphasizing speed alone played an important role in terms of enhancing not only speed, but also quality and successes/attempts percentage. As the skill of succeeding at high speed develops there is a simultaneous improvement in terms of executing turns at intended angles, and in terms of avoiding failure on attempts.

It is because of the segments involving speed as the only goal, that I've been able to attain to high speeds on new drills, right from the start.

End of transcript of in-session note taken with pen on paper.

Those thoughts after the first segment were wise in that I implemented the ideas during the 2nd and 3rd segments, with good results.

A somewhat short black teenage boy was shooting baskets in my half of the gym during part of the first segment. The second segment, I had the gym to myself, until 1:18 PM (my watch is 4 minutes fast so these times are 4 minutes fast). That is when the official Oak Sq Y 'Sports Camp' entered to take over the gym. Their adult supervisor acted as if I was a superior in charge, the way she repeatedly humbly requested that they be allowed to use the gym. During the second half of the second segment, two teenage black boys were sitting in the half of the gym that I was in, absorbed in their cell-phones. During the third segment, I shared my half of the gym with about eight teenage boys who played a game of half-court basketball (the dominant element amongst them appeared to be heavy, short Afro-Spanish boys).

The weather outdoors before the practice was OK; indoors before the start of practice the temp/humidity felt comfortable; during the practice it felt comfortable but slightly warm and humid on the side the fan was not running on (the downside to the fan, it makes a very loud monotonous noise).

??%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 7.4
Length: 26'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 29' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (numerical 5.6); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 7.4).

Overall, there were 41 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L0 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 1.08 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score (30 seconds per scoring of successful run, subtracted from total time).

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 26' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies). The runs ranged in length from 15'-40'.

??%

Quality: 5.7
Speed: 7.5
Length: 24'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 29' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (numerical 5.7); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ to very fast+++++ (numerical 7.5).

Overall, there were 51 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L0 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 1.59 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score (30 seconds per scoring of successful run, subtracted from total time).

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 24' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies). The runs ranged in length from 20'-35'.

??%

Quality: 5.8
Speed: 7.4
Length: 22'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: five cones marking 29' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs: excellent+++ (numerical 5.8); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 7.4).

Overall, there were 48 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L0 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 1.60 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score (30 seconds per scoring of successful run, subtracted from total time).

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 22' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies). The runs ranged in length from 15'-29'.

'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' Pattern Run

WC06/10-P6.1-5T-knockoutaugone-Rev-E2-AS-135-R,
touch ball every step or every two-steps,
with changes of direction
ANGLED dramatized VIEW

P6.1-5T-NS-Knockoutaugone-rev-E2-AS-135-R involves me starting with my body facing a direction such that the L1 kick sends the ball in a direction 135 degrees to the right relative to the direction I am facing at the start (another way of saying this is that it involves on L1, me facing towards "Twelve O'Clock" and sending the ball to "Four Thirty O'Clock" on L1); the ball flipped up with the left foot and kicked with the left foot, approx 6 feet on L1; a step taken with the right foot; the ball kicked approx 6 feet at a 90 degree angle to the right, inwards, on L2; a step taken with the right foot; the ball kicked approx 5' at a 90 degree angle to the left, outwards, on L3; on the very next step, the ball kicked approx 5' at a 90 degree angle outwards to the right, on R4; on the very next step the ball touched with the left foot on L5. The ball is kept close to the body but off the ground the entire time, and kicked on every step, or on every other step. The blue and wiggly line in the graphic represents a possible location of the gym curtain, the gray line represents a possible location of the wall. The red circles represent marker cones placed as guideposts for the 'flight'.

Puyol Photo source

Purpose of this is to show how a given pattern can be run at various angles, relative to the direction of the opponent goal; and also to show how a pattern can be used to target a defender.

As we grow up from children into men in the US, we learn: that the player who has possession of the ball is the target victim; that the defenders are sharks, who will steal the ball from the dribbler; that the player dribbling the ball better get rid of it as soon as possible, or flee from the defender while dribbling the ball.

As you can see, the tactics I've developed since devoting time and energy to the subject, reverse the mind-set, and turn the defender into a victim who is hunted by the shark who is the player dribbling the ball.

Fact is that if I dribble the ball directly towards a defender, he is going to have a tendency to freeze; what is he going to do, move to his left or to his right when I come at him? If he moves to his left, he opens a path for me, and if he moves to his right, he opens a path for me.

Today I did 1.5 segments of P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, without the start involving me receiving a simulated pass of the ball via rebound of ball of wall. The last time I did this, was Saturday morning August 6, in front of the 'huge crowd' at the Oak Square Y.

Saturday August 6, the scores were: segment 1: 0.53 runs per minute, quality 5.5, speed 7.4, length 29'; segment 2: 0.93 runs per minute, quality 5.5, speed 6.9, length 30'; segment 3: 1.19 successful runs per minute, quality 5.6, speed 7.1, length 28' .

NOTE: When successful runs per minute is calculated, time spent writing down scores after each successful run, is not counted as time for the purposes of calculating the successful runs per minute figure. Today 30 seconds was discounted for each successful run, because I took notes after each successful run but not after the other runs.

Today Wednesday August 10, the scores were: segment 1: 0.70 successful runs per minute, quality 5.4, speed 7.3, length 31'; segment 2: 1.42 successful runs per minute, quality 5.6, speed 7.6, length 31' .

Re the scores today: a quality rating of 6.0 means the run was perfectly angled, 90 degree turns on each turn; a speed rating of 8.0 means a run featured me covering about 30 feet keeping the ball off the ground but under control, about as fast as a human being can run the pattern I was running.

Today, all the runs scored as successes manifested the following characteristics:

Me using the left foot to flip up the ball (L0), and then performing L1 of the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' pattern in the prescribed direction, with the ball not touching the ground between L0 & L1; me performing 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R'up to L5 (5 touches); me moving the ball in approximately the designated 135- degrees-right direction on the L1 kick, if such a direction is designated; all this (from L0 to L5 of the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R') happening without the ball touching the ground; the angle of the turns during the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' not being less than 45 degrees. The closer to 90 degrees the angle of the turn, the better a rating given for quality to the run in question.

During the first segment, lofting the ball on L0 did not work, because the left-foot stays in the air after L0 and does not touch ground between L0 and L1, and there develops a lack of body-balance prior to L1, if L0 lofts the ball too high. I found that the L0 & L1 combination that does not involve the left-foot touching the ground between L0 & L1 or the right foot readjusting position between L0 and R1, works well if L0 simply positions the ball well without lofting it.

The number of errors on L3 was unusually high during the first segment.

The first segment felt very tiring and rough on the body; however after 20 minutes of the second segment, I felt energetic physically resilient and competent. During the first segment everything is more difficult due to a general lack of ball control, which results in awkward, tiring, aches & pains-causing, activities such as lunging after slightly miskicked balls. This can lead me into undue pessimism re my performance and my ability to do three or four segments in one practice session.

The second segment was very successful. During the second segment, I implemented something I'd learned earlier re this drill, that I'd forgotten but then remembered: performance improves when time spent standing and procrastinating immediately before the start of a run is minimized. The standing around seems to fatigue the muscles that are used to balance the body between L0 & L1, and also seems to lead to an overcomplicated mentality during L0 & L1. During the second segment, I simply combined: a slight crouch during L0 & L1; not lofting the ball high on L0; & not delaying the starts of runs.

The performance during the second segment combined: quality in terms of angles of turns being as intended; speed; length, and a high successes per minute rate.

After the first segment today, I was thinking of writing off 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' (touch 1 is made with the left-foot) which I had done the first segment, as simply an inferior alternative to P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R (touch 1 is made with the right-foot). But after the short second segment done today, 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R', (the version done starting with the left-foot), seemed potentially as good or better than P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-RFS-Rev-E2-AS-135-R (the version done starting with the right-foot).

After the first segment, I knew that in about a month I will be too much for people like Puyol to handle, because the second segment today, short as it was, established that I will be able to in short order master not only the 135 degree turn to the right that starts (after L0) with the right foot, but also the 135 degree turn to the right that starts (after L0) with the left foot as practiced today.

Problem is that knowing that I will be able to dominate people like Puyol, only exacerbates the sense of injustice I feel regarding how persons around me have been treating me.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up at 11:00 AM, 6 hours before the practice started at 5:10 PM, after having had approx 8 hours of sleep. Had 12 oz 18 oz green&brown-tea-mix/cane-sugar/halfnhalf, 10 oz coffee/cane-sugar/halfnhalf, two 'Danish' pastries, two small 'seafood salad' sandwiches, & a few potato chips from toon to to 4 PM. Drank 26 oz of cold distilled water during the practice, which went on for 1.7 hours.

Today AFM method was not implemented during L0.

Today at the start of the runs, I was focused on doing L0 and L1 well. The technique implemented for L0: flip ball a little sideways to in front of right-foot. Technique for L1: crouch a little during L1.

During the first segment, about ten white female teenagers and their young adult white male instructor did calisthenics etc. in my half of the gym for about ten minutes. Their instructor said re me: "He's handsome!" (or I just think he did because of my 31 Db earplugs). Apparently he was reacting to the expression on their faces. While they were there, I performed six successful runs (0.86 per minute discounting time spent keeping score); their average quality was 5.8, their average speed was 7.7, their average length was 30'.

I feel like I get a little too much attention for being good looking, because: the locals have driven too many attractive men out of the Boston area by making life too difficult for them. I know they've made life very difficult for me, but I've managed to sort of just barely hang on.

During the first segment, I shared my half of the gym with: an East Asian boy shooting baskets with his father; and, a white teen male basketballer and his young adult black male basketball tutor, who were doing drills with cones, involving about three dribbles followed by a shot. The basketballer's dribble/footwork were the same every time for several shots, and then changed a little. He reminded me of myself doing the soccer drills I've been doing.

The second half of the segment had to be aborted because 14 young adult male basketballers showed up to play basketball. Twelve of them were E. Asian and two were white with very short yellowish hair. These E. Asians excelled in long distance quick release shooting. They were peppy and happy and enjoyed their cameraderie, their good jobs. They had the demeanor of a rising ethnic group.

About 8 minutes before I ended the second segment, the nice E.Asian pulled the gym curtain that I was using to block runaway balls with, back to the side-wall, because of the impending basketball game. After he pulled the curtain back, I performed about 7 successful runs in front of them, with no curtain to hide me from view, in 8 minutes-- a rate of 1.56 successful runs per minute. On average, these runs were: 5.6 in quality, 7.7 in speed, 31' in length.

I suppose it's because of the obliviousness of so many onlookers, that I like to summarize the stats re my performance when performing in front of 'huge crowds' like the dozen E. Asian basketballers and their two white friends. Also, recording what happened when many had a view of what I was doing, has been helping me to develop confidence re my ability to perform in front of 'huge crowds' like the white female teenager calisthenists of today.

There is a problem in that large amounts of gym time/space are officially declared to belong to campers or basketballers who never show up. Then when I try to utilize such gym time, they show up indeed. The uncertainty is disconcerting.

The weather outdoors before the practice was comfortable; indoors before the start of practice the temp/humidity felt comfortable; during the practice it at first felt too hot and humid and then later I felt OK, I suppose as a result of the cooling effect of sweat, or due to the gradual decline in the outdoor temperature.

??%

Quality: 5.4
Speed: 7.4
Length: 31'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: Four cones marking 33' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent++ (numerical 5.4); speed of successful runs: very fast++++ (numerical 7.4).

Overall, there were 31 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.70 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score.

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 31' from L1 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies). The successful runs ranged in length from 22' to 40' .

??%

Quality: 5.6
Speed: 7.6
Length: 31'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: Four cones marking 33' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

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

Overall, there were 17 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 1.41 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score.

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 31' from L0 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies). The successful runs ranged in length from 22' to 44' .

'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' Pattern Run

WC06/10-P6.1-5T-knockoutaugone-Rev-E2-AS-135-R,
touch ball every step or every two-steps,
with changes of direction
ANGLED dramatized VIEW

P6.1-5T-NS-Knockoutaugone-rev-E2-AS-135-R involves me starting with my body facing a direction such that the L1 kick sends the ball in a direction 135 degrees to the right relative to the direction I am facing at the start (another way of saying this is that it involves on L1, me facing towards "Twelve O'Clock" and sending the ball to "Four Thirty O'Clock" on L1); the ball flipped up with the left foot and kicked with the left foot, approx 6 feet on L1; a step taken with the right foot; the ball kicked approx 6 feet at a 90 degree angle to the right, inwards, on L2; a step taken with the right foot; the ball kicked approx 5' at a 90 degree angle to the left, outwards, on L3; on the very next step, the ball kicked approx 5' at a 90 degree angle outwards to the right, on R4; on the very next step the ball touched with the left foot on L5. The ball is kept close to the body but off the ground the entire time, and kicked on every step, or on every other step. The blue and wiggly line in the graphic represents a possible location of the gym curtain, the gray line represents a possible location of the wall. The red circles represent marker cones placed as guideposts for the 'flight'.

Puyol Photo source

Today I did 2 segments of P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R, without the start involving me receiving a simulated pass of the ball via rebound of ball of wall. The last time I did this, was Saturday morning August 6, in front of the 'huge crowd' at the Oak Square Y.

Yesterday August 9, the scores were: segment 1: 0.70 successful runs per minute, quality 5.4, speed 7.3, length 31'; segment 2: 1.42 successful runs per minute, quality 5.6, speed 7.6, length 31'.

Today, the scores were: segment 1: 0.86 runs per minute, quality 5.8, speed 7.7, length 31'; segment 2: 1.41 successful runs per minute, quality 5.9, speed 7.9, length 28'.

NOTE: When successful runs per minute is calculated, time spent writing down scores after each successful run, is not counted as time for the purposes of calculating the successful runs per minute figure. Today 30 seconds was discounted for each successful run, because I took notes after each successful run but not after the other runs.

Re the scores today: a quality rating of 6.0 means the run was perfectly angled, 90 degree turns on each turn; a speed rating of 8.0 means a run featured me covering about 30 feet keeping the ball off the ground but under control, about as fast as a human being can run the pattern I was running.

Today, all the runs scored as successes manifested the following characteristics:

Me using the left foot to flip up the ball (L0), and then performing L1 of the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' pattern in the prescribed direction, with the ball not touching the ground between L0 & L1; me performing 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R'up to L5 (5 touches); me moving the ball in approximately the designated 135- degrees-right direction on the L1 kick, if such a direction is designated; all this (from L0 to L5 of the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R') happening without the ball touching the ground; the angle of the turns during the 'P6.1-5T-KnockoutAugOne-Rev-E2-AS-135-R' not being less than 45 degrees. The closer to 90 degrees the angle of the turn, the better a rating given for quality to the run in question.

Today during the first segment I shared my half of the gym with about a dozen teenage males (white, black, Afro-Spanish types). They often swarmed into the area that I would run through when air-dribbling the ball, and hung out there for a couple of minutes shooting baskets etc. Almost seemed like they were deliberately getting in the way. They started playing basketball at the same basket-area that I was first practicing soccer in, even though there were other baskets open with nobody using them. For much of the first segment, the same area I was using to do my drills, they were using to play basketball. Yet they were good-natured, never complained about me, and never deliberately kicked a marker-cone out of the way.

What has worked for me in terms of my relations with these teens, is being silent and patient and engrossed in my own activities except for when one of them deliberately kicks a marker-cone out of the way.

The first segment was a classic segment, despite all the teenagers and almost-teens swarming around. It was pleasant outdoors, cool and windy, and more pleasant indoors than it has been in weeks, and this seemed to enhance performance. There were many runs that were very long, very fast, and well-angled on the turns. I felt like my performance was unbelievable, I could not believe I was doing the things I was doing. And I felt like someone walking on water, in front of a bunch of blind people. Nobody said a word re the spectacular things I was repeatedly doing right in front of them.

The second segment, I had half of the gym to myself for most of the segment. Throughout the segment, I was engrossed in achieving a high successes per minute rate. I had no idea, that the segment would turn out to be the best ever in terms of quality (extent to which turns adhered to angles prescribed in pattern) and speed.

Throughout the second segment, I was mentally struggling with the loud, monotonous, droning of the giant 4' diameter fans in the gym, despite wearing 31 Db earplugs, one in each ear. The noise of the fans made me feel lazy, tired, sleepy, apathetic, and almost depressed.

One reason I did 'nt realize, during the second segment, that the second segment was the best ever in speed and quality: often the ball would touch my chest, torso or thigh in between touches with the foot. This combined with the mental emphasis on successes per minute, gave me the impression that the performance during the segment was not top notch. However since the ball touching chest, torso, and thigh in between touches was not slowing down the runs signficantly, or throwing off the angles of the turns, the quality and speed scores for the second segment were very high anyway.

EARPLUGS in both ears. Woke up at 10:30 AM, 6 hours before the practice started at 4:45 PM, after having had approx 8 hours of sleep. Had 22 oz coffee/cane-sugar/halfnhalf, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Drank 34 oz of cold distilled or spring water during the practice, which went on for 2.5 hours.

Today AFM method was not implemented during L0.

Today at the start of the runs, I was focused on doing L0 and L1 well. The techniques implemented for L0: flip ball a little sideways to in front of right-foot; crouch a little during L1.

The weather outdoors before the practice was better than merely comfortable; indoors before the start of practice the temp/humidity felt comfortable; during the practice it felt comfortable.

??%

Quality: 5.8
Speed: 7.7
Length: 31'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: Five cones marking 33' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent+++ (numerical 5.8); speed of successful runs: very fast+++++ (numerical 7.7).

Overall, there were 31 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 0.86 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score.

I subtracted 8 minutes from the time the number of successful runs was divided by, due to delays caused by teenagers using the same area of the gym as myself, to practice and play basketball.

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 31' from L1 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies). The successful runs ranged in length from 24' to 40' .

??%

Quality: 5.9
Speed: 7.9
Length: 28'
Goals: successes/minute
Cones: Five cones marking 33' long course
Ball: Adidas Jabulani World Cup 2010 NFHS Top Training Soccer Ball @ 11.6 psi

The goal of this segment: high successes per minute rate.

Overall-- quality of successful runs:excellent+++ (numerical 5.9); speed of successful runs: very fast+++++ (numerical 7.9).

Overall, there were 48 5-TOUCH successes adhering to pattern from L1 to L5, ?? failures, & ?? bad first kicks. There were 1.41 successes per minute, not counting time spent keeping score.

I estimate that the average length of the successful runs this segment was 28' from L1 to L5, measured odometer style (as opposed to as the crow flies). The successful runs ranged in length from 20' to 37' .