|
DATE |
RESULT/
ACTIVITY |
COMMENTS |
BALL USED
SHOES USED |
INFLATION OF BALL |
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10/24/06
Lowell Field Playground
Willow & Grove
Waltham MA
Waltham YMCA |
Dribbling Drills Conditioning |
540-640 PM Lowell Field Dribbling Drills
The Latin Ams were not out there today. Temp was approx 50
degrees but ominously cloudy; little kids were using the field with the
miniature soccer goals, the field the Latin Ams love to use.
I set up this drill where I dribbled at a target symbolizing a
defender, then past the defender, then turned around and did this again,
until I got too tired/feet hurt too much.
Seems the bit about skipping with the foot in between touches of
the ball does not work as well with cleats compared to flat
soled shoes.
Experimented with approaching target dribbling with inside of foot or
outside of foot. Concentrated on the move wherein I fake to my left
with my left foot and then go right, because this was not as natural for
me as the fake to my right with my left foot followed by cut left.
The question on my mind is, do the great dribblers before
they encounter a defender decide in advance that they are going to fake
this way and then go that way, or do they improvise?
I realize there is a mania
for stepping over the ball in the soccer world, but today it seemed to me
that the best policy is: when faking to my left with my left foot,
stop the foot behind the ball; when faking to my
right with my left foot, stop the foot behind the ball. I now
believe that this excels stepping over the ball on the fake, because one's
options are more limited once one has stepped over the ball. I
noticed watching the 2006 World Cup, that when players indulged in
flashy stepovers the ball got stolen from them; I never saw the stepover
move used to succesfully beat a defender in the 06 World Cup. Seems the
better defenders are not fooled by stepovers.
Today it seemed that on the fake left cut right, an attractive
alternative is to kick the ball to my right with my left and then forward
with my right. I noticed reviewing the moves used by the famous players,
for example Ronaldo of Portugal, they sort of use one foot to
carrom the ball off the other foot. The ball bounces off of the last foot
that touches it prior to moving past the defender. When the ball is kicked
by the left foot to the right foot, the right foot has the additional
options of stopping the ball or changing its direction.
Today I noticed how bumpy ground is tough on the forwards
attempting to dribble by defenders--forwards benefit from smooth
ground because of the precise nature of offensive dribbling moves. The
annoying complication is that things that work out on smooth ground, may
not work out on bumpy ground. I get the feeling that some of the
over-rated moves are good for bumpy fields, but not so good for quality
fields.
900-945 PM
Conditioning Waltham YMCA
900 PM--ran at 10 MPH on the Life Fitness for 40
seconds
904 PM ran at 10 MPH on the Stairmaster for 50 seconds
Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 50 lbs, 40 reps, toes straight ahead
Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 50 lbs, 30 reps, toes pointing out
Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 50 lbs, 30 reps, toes pointing in
934 PM--ran at 10 MPH on the Star Trac for 60 seconds
Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 100 lbs, 30 reps, toes straight ahead
Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 100 lbs, 25 reps, toes pointing
out
Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 100 lbs, 25 reps, toes pointing
in RE the above workout, for a long time I have suspected that the best
way to get in shape, is to run at a fast speed for as long as possible,
gradually extending the duration for which the fast speed is kept up, as
opposed to the common method of basically jogging the mile or two-miles as
fast as you can, or at say 85% max effort every day, gradually
speeding up.The common method is rooted in an era wherein there were no
jogging machines that allowed us to precisely set the speed of our runs.
The Calf raises are exercises in which the bar is on the shoulders
behind the neck, and one stands up on one's toes over and over again.
One can execute these calf raises with the toes pointing out, pointing
straight, or pointing inwards. They are my idea of an antidote for the
calf pain I experience during games. As an antidote for pain I suspect in
my individual case they will have the side-effect of making me a faster
runner.
Today the guy who works at the YMCA looked at me and said, "you're a
pro". He meant, a pro in soccer. Funny thing is, last time he saw me
playing soccer, before I started working out outdoors, I was like a child
compared to the way I am now. |
Adidas Bracara for outdoors Nike T90 outdoors |
6.5 psi |
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|
10/25/06
Lowell Field Playground
Willow & Grove
Waltham MA
Waltham YMCA |
Game
Conditioning |
600-635 PM GAME 845 pm - 940 pm CONDITIONING Waltham YMCA
It was 50 degrees when we started the game, about the same as
yesterday, but today the sky was clear as opposed to ominously
cloudy and the Latin Ams were out there to play.
I did some stretching and joined them as they did their warm up of
shooting long 25-30 yd chip shots at a goalie in the full size goal. Seems
they are able to fire off long accurate chip shots even when this is the
first thing they do when they get out on the field. As for me, I am sure I
am not a weaker kicker than them but my first shots were all low, they got
no higher than 3 feet off the ground, whereas they were able to accurately
chip the ball as soon as they got out on the field. This despite the fact
that as you can see from the chipping drills recounted at www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/Soccairtwo.htm
, I am a very accurate chipper and improving fast at it despite the lack
of practicing it. I need to shoot some short distance chips before I can
start shooting the long distance chips accurately, this is another
difference between me and the Latin Ams who in the past few years and
probably also throughout their lives have been playing alot more soccer
than me.
I have been using the Nike T90 Radiant ball at 6.5 psi in an effort
to get used to the soft Latin Am style ball, but surprise, most of the
balls they were using during their warmup today were alot softer than the
T90 size 5 at 6.5 psi! A few of the balls they were using in
their chipping practice were size 4. The balls they used during the
game were even softer than the T90 at 6.5 psi. Yet the FIFA standard for a
size ball is minimum psi of 8.7 best I can recall.
The game started and despite the fact that my insomnia problem
returned to me last night--I only got about three hours of
sleep--for the first time I did not feel winded, and I did not
feel pain in my calves or the soles of my feet. Goes to show, I suppose,
my cleverness in terms of the conditioning routine I devised and executed
yesterday.
On the negative side:
Today the game was on a field about 60 yds in length, they played
with goals 3 yds in width and no goalie. I was again playing as one of the
fullbacks. About four times, they shot the ball just beyond my reach and
into the goal. They have alot of experience at this kind of small goal
no-goalie game, they are very skilled at shooting the ball just inches
beyond the fullback's reach, and into the goal.
You think that things are safe, and then they do something like shoot
the ball so that it goes two inches beyond your outstretched foot and one
inch inside the goalpost, following the exact line that is the only line
that could produce a goal, and surprise, there is a goal! They remind me
of championship billiards or pool players. One cannot
underestimate their ability to sneak the ball past the defender and into
the goal in these mini-goal no-goalie games. But none of us ever
spends all our time just standing on the goal-line in between the
goalposts because such would sort of ruin the spirit of the game.
Sunset today was at 547 PM, they started the game at 600 PM--I
suppose this has to do with how it gets so hot in the Latin Am nations
that there is this tradition of playing after sunset. They might be used
to it but I was having a tough time just seeing things like players and
the ball. Plus you have the fact that I was not the only one on my team
with responsibility for defense today.
Once I intercepted a ball, stopped it with my chest, controlled it on
the ground, and began to dribble forward with it--then I tripped over the
ball. I am sure I tripped over the ball because it was so soft. This
ball was much softer than the T90 at 6.5 psi--and according to FIFA rules,
the minimum inflation is supposed to be 8.7 psi! I still do not
understand, why these Latin Ams love to have their balls so soft, like
pillows.
You could debate whether this is a negative but seems the Latin Ams
have developed a respect for my ability to take the ball away from them
when they dribble it...as a result I have less to crow about after the
games, because since they less often attempt to dribble by me, I less
often get the satisfaction of stealing the ball from them--thus they are
sort of starving my ego--it's depressing.
On the positive side:
As usual I intercepted some passes, stole some balls from dribblers,
blocked some shots. It requres quickness to block their shots, especially
when you can barely see anything because it is so dark.
Regaining my boyhood instincts, I was not afraid to slide at the
ball, ending up lying on the ground. Once I slid at the ball and
simultaneously accurately chip passed the ball to a team-mate 12 yds away
from me.
You could debate whether this is a positive, but twice I attempted to
dribble past a Latin Am, and got the ball stolen away from me. I call
these attempts positives, because as I cease to be winded and in pain and
get used to the rhythm of the game, that combative spirit of the game
is coming back to me, the spirit that produces attempts to beat the
defender. This aggressive spirit that produces attempts to beat the
defender, is an essential part of the dribbling game. Both times
if I had gotten the ball just four inches above the ground I would have
beaten the defender as he barely got it with the tip of his toe.
I have been doing ground dribbling drills dribbling by objects symbolizing
a defender, but in these instances, the randomly produced position of
the ball, me, and the defender, was different than what is the case
in the drills; and in these drills I have not bothered with
flipping the ball a few inches above the ground.
I heard one of the Latin Ams say, I'm sure he was speaking of me
as I was the new one and he spoke in pidgin english, "You
handsome!". I noticed them acting a little differently since I
shaved off my mustache. It is true that the even kind of light as in
twilight, is a good light in terms of making me look 'handsome'.
I was watching them carefully to try to resolve the mystery re
whether dribblers are spontaneous or pre-plan their fakes. Seems to me
that two thirds of the time the Latin Ams will fake in the direction
opposite to the direction they are going to go, and one third of the time
there is a spontaneity. The problem with their habit of always
faking in the direction opposite from the direction they go, is that a
defender can count on them doing just that.
845-940 PM
Conditioning Waltham YMCA
845 PM--ran at 10 MPH on the Life Fitness for 70
seconds
Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 140 lbs, 12 reps, toes straight
ahead 915 PM ran at 10 MPH on the Life Fitness for 70
seconds
Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 140 lbs, 12 reps, toes
outwards
931 PM--ran at 10 MPH on the Star Trac for 70 seconds
Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 140 lbs, 12 reps, toes
inwards
I coughed up phlegm and blew my nose alot in between the runs today.
Yesterday the average was 50 seconds at 10 mph today it was 70 secs
despite the increased weight used doing the calf raises. At this
rate, I will be up to 360 secs at 10 mph in 14.5 days, and 720 secs at 10
mph (the standard fitness for soccer players) in 29 days.
|
Adidas Bracara cleats |
NA |
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|
10/26/06
Lowell Field Playground
Willow & Grove
Waltham MA
Waltham YMCA |
Dribbling Drills Conditioning |
555-655 PM Dribbling drills Lowell Field The temp today was 46 degrees, the skies were cloudy, the Latins were
not out there. But the white boys and girls playing soccer were.
Did some ground dribble at and past target drills, experimenting with
fake left cut right, fake right cut left and variations on the themes.
Felt I could tolerate stepovers so long as after the stepover one of the
feet was in position behind the ball allowing for various options.
Did some roll ball back with sole of foot and flip up reps.
Surprised at how easy it is to roll the ball back and flip it up with
cleats. The sole of the foot is used to roll the ball back I thought
cleats might present a problem they did not. I thought the narrowness of
the Bracara cleats might present a problem they did not. Seemed the roll
back and flip trick is actually much easier with the Bracara cleats as
opposed to the flat soled cross-trainers. This bodes well for aerial
dribbling with the Bracaras, because as I said before, the entire air
dribble run becomes infected with the defects in the first moves of the
run.
I decided to play around a little with the trick wherein the
ball is rolled up the back of the left calf with the right foot and
then the left heel knocks the ball forward and up. This is different from
throwing the ball with both feet clasping the ball; the ball is rolled up
the calf, then as it rolls down the calf it is heeled forward. I was
surprised at how much success I was having. After about ten
tries I started counting the results. Out of 10 attempts, 9 times I got
the ball up and in front of me. One of the 10 counted attempts produced a
perfect result, the ball rising up from the heel behind my back to a point
a couple of feet above my head for an easy header. Two of the attempts
produced a good result that was not perfect, the ball rising to a point
above me and in front of me.
I had attempted to master this trick a few years ago and given up on
it, there were too many failures. I tried the trick again because I have
learned that that which one fails in at some time in the past one might
succeed in in the present. I was surprised that I could do so well at this
trick without having practiced it. I think my success with this trick
today has to do with how drills with the ball such as air
dribbling have unpredictable positive side-effects.
I wonder what advantages this back of the calf method has compared to
simply rolling the ball backwards with the sole of the foot and then
flipping it up. Is it quicker or slower?
Conditioning Waltham YMCA
Decided to not do Bar plus 140 on the calf raises, because today in
the dribbling drills there was pain in the left sole of the foot and
slight pain in the calves which indicated to me that the weight used in
the calf raises yesterday was excessive.
Decided not to push myself beyond 70 seconds on the 10
MPH today, because I had been feeling tired all day, I think this
might have something to do with drinking too much Tequila (400 ml)
yesterday evening. The fact that on a given day there is no improvement
does not prove the method is wrong; using the run two miles slowly method
there would be days without improvement also.
There was much less coughing and blowing the nose after the runs
today.
--ran at 10 MPH on the Stairmaster for 70 seconds
--Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 50 lbs, 40 reps, toes straight
ahead, on machine
--Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 50 lbs, 30 reps, toes out, free
weights --ran at 10 MPH on the Life Fitness for 70 seconds
--Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 50 lbs, 30 reps, toes in, free
weights
--Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 100 lbs, 30 reps, toes straight,
machine
|
T90 Bracara Cleats |
||||||||||||||||
|
10/27/06
Lowell Field Playground
Willow & Grove
Waltham MA
|
555-635 PM GAME #6 |
I think the amount of Tequila consumed night
before the game was 300 ml. This seems non-harmful unlike the harmful 400
ml.
Prior to today, since October 13 when I started playing games
with the Latin Ams, I had played in 5 games not counting the one game
in which I was sentenced to play as a regular goalie using my hands
(though it feels as if I have played in alot more). These five games were
for a total of 235 minutes (3 hours 55 minutes). In all the games
I played fullback, sometimes defending a goal without a goalie, sometimes
with a goalie.
The game today, game #6, was a 4 on 4 on a 60 yd length field. Temp 45 degrees. Before the game started I did not want to play, did not feel like playing, I felt tired of playing defense in chilly weather, enduring the constant stress of being out of shape and defending against these Latin Am dribbling wizards. I was hoping there would be no game so I could just go home. But today was my best game so far--seems just as (I have noticed) one can have a good practice even though one feels decrepit before the practice, one can have a good game even though one does not feel like playing. Perhaps it is significant that today I took care to wash my body and
wear clean clothes that had never been worn since they were
washed, before the game. Not that the clothes I had been wearing in
previous games were smelly, but they were not fresh out of the washing
machine either; and not that my body was smelly, but I had been skipping
showers ( have a couple of these powerful organic healthy type
deodorants).
Today I finally began to play somewhat like you would expect someone
with the tremendous flashy individual skills I have to play. My
feeling now is that no matter how good a player is, if he has been
isolated and not playing in scrimmages and in games, it takes a while,
before he begins to fulfill his potential, it is a gradual process--even
the gods need some conditioning work and some time in games before they
begin to play like something even somewhere near a god in games.
Seems that in my case, I have needed 4 hours of scrimmage time,
and about 2.5 hours of short fast jogs and calf raises, prior to the 'god'
or 'star' in me beginning to manifest himself.
Today I dribbled by the Latin Ams three times, and once I failed, my
best day dribbling offensively so far. I felt quick on my feet, confident,
aggressive when I had the ball.
On the negative side:
-- once I attempted to dribble past a defender and he took it from
me. Yet again, what happened is that I over-predictably tried to push the
ball forward to my left as I faced the defender and he ran the ball down
and took control.
-- I felt pain in the soles of both feet and felt winded. I estimate
this is because I have not yet recovered from doing calf raises with
excessive weights day before yesterday; and, a 4 on 4 is alot more tiring
on a 60 yds length field than a 8 on 8 on such a field.
-- after dribbling by a Latin Am, I mis-estimated where the other
side's goal was, and shot wide. This reminds me of the problem of failing
to keep track of where my goal is when on defense.
-- one or two times I got my foot on the ball when a Latin Am was
dribbling it and it went back to him, this has happened before, I did not
hit the ball hard enough.
On the positive side:
-- I dribbled by a Latin Am three times, my best dribbling
performance so far. I remember two of these involved cutting to my right
past the Latin Am after turning to face the Latin Am. That is my style,
facing the defender, even if he is not facing towards my goal, and then
cutting. The Latin Ams erupted into laughter and shouting one of
these times, it seemed funny to them that the 'Gringo' was dribbling by
the Latin Ams like a Latin Am.
-- I headed a ball about ten feet in the air, then accurately headed
it forward to a team-mate before it hit the ground. To tell you the truth
I did not intend to mount this mini-air-dribble with the head, but such is
what happened.
-- I slide tackled a Latin Am, knocking the ball away, then the Latin
An fell down, the Latin Ams shouted and laughed, I am sure there
was no foul. I had been planning on doing this, I had been feeling they
were susceptible to such slide tackles, then I instinctively having a
fraction of a second to decide, somehow slide tackled at just
the right time. In this fraction of a second I did not remember how
earlier I had deliberated, thought things over, and decided to
slide-tackle, but still I feel the earlier decision played a part
unconsciously in what I did.
-- in general like a young boy I was ending up lying on the ground a
few times.
-- I led a Latin Am on my team with a long, very high approx 25 yd
perfect chip pass. I had to get the ball high because otherwise in getting
to the spot it was sent to, it would have gotten away from the recipient,
too far ahead of him. The spot it was sent to, was the only spot
appropriate.
-- my fellow fullback sent me up to help out on offense, the Latin
Ams began passing to me when I went up on offense
-- my fellow fullback at the beginning of the game said to me, 'good
defense', twice; then when I kept on making the 'good defense' plays and
made even better ones he grew quiet, I guess he would have felt like a
broken record saying 'good defense' all the time. At the end of the game,
he said, 'good game!'
--yet again the Latin Ams never dribbled past me, there were a
few stolen balls, blocked shots, intercepted passes taht I was responsible
for. I approached the Latin Ams who had the ball with my feet spread
apart, they then tried to get it through my feet, but I was quick enough
to sweep the ball aside. Yet the orthodox doctrine is, the fullback should
not face the offense with his legs spread in such fashion.
-- I accurately chipped a bouncing ball to a team-mate 10 yards away,
tough on bumpy ground.
-- I passed to a team-mate, he passed back to me, (the beginning of
wall-passes with the Latin Ams), I tried to pass it back to him, but
instead it 'unintentionally' missed the red-cone goalpost of the
other team's goal by a few inches. The Latin Ams shouted and laughed over
the Gringo making a virtuoso shot.
RE the 'uninentional' nature of the mini-air-dribble with the head (I
did not 'intend' to keep the ball near me and above me the first time I
headed it) and the shot that missed the other goalpost by a few inches (I
did not 'intend' to shoot at the goal): the fact is all players
unintentionally do cool looking things, but very few of them ever admit
that the cool looking result was unintentional; I have done cool things
'unintentionally' so many times that I wonder how 'unintentional' such
things are--when you have a fraction of a second, maybe a quarter of a
second, to make a decision, instinctive intent you are unaware of can take
over, sort of as in a dream; could be players instinctively split the
difference between one desirable outcome and another desirable outcome
when they do something. Alot of us have been playing since we were 5 or 6
or 7 or 8 years old. It sort of gets wired into some part of our brain,
when we do something great by 'mistake' and people cheer and laugh and
shout.
After the game I went to the Gordon's Liquor store and the Lena's sub
shop on Main Street. Seemed to me, everyone was somehow aware (collective
unconscious?) that the star in me was beginning to manifest himself in
games. Then again, this feeling could have been 'just my imagination
running away with me'.
My feeling now is that the Latin Ams are an important part of the
human family, who have something significant to contribute to the human
family, and that it is too bad that an unnatural level of population
growth, overcrowding(?) has produced bad feelings between the Latin Ams
and the White folks.
|
Ball N/A Adidas Bracara Cleats |
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|
10/28/06
Waltham YMCA |
Conditioning
|
--646 PM ran at 10 MPH on the Stairmaster for 70 seconds;
--Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 50 lbs, 40 reps, toes straight
ahead, on machine
--Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 50 lbs, 30 reps, toes out,
machine
--712 PM ran at 10 MPH on the Life Fitness for 70
seconds
--Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 50 lbs, 30 reps, toes in,
machine
--Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 100 lbs, 30 reps, toes straight,
machine
--738 PM ran at 10 MPH on the Star Trac for 90
seconds
--Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 100 lbs, 25 reps, toes out,
machine
--Calf Raises, 25 lb Bar + 100 lbs, 25 reps, toes in,
machine
All the runs felt easier today than the
previous day. I did not feel like pushing myself to max effort though, as
such would result in me finding such conditioning work to be
repulsive. The coughing and the nose blowing were similar to Oct 26.
I pushed out the third run to 90 seconds, a quarter of a mile--I think not
looking at the clock, but rather looking down at my feet while running
helped me to push the time at 10 mph up to 90 seconds. I could have gone
on for longer than 90 secs but decided not to.
This is the fourth day of this kind of
conditioning, the max number seconds at 10 mph has been pushed up from 50
seconds to 90 seconds. I can mentally hear the poo-bahs wagging their
finger scornfully about the low number of seconds the 10 mph is kept up
for; but this nice clean shaven average height/build white guy with
short straight blondish hair was telling me that when I start running
(using the traditional method of keeping the distance run constant while
gradually ratcheting up the speed) I can expect to be stuck at the
speed I start at for from 2 weeks to 4 weeks.
There has been no problem with pain in the
soles of the feet and the calves as there used to be when I used to try to
run an entire mile, perhaps this is due to the calf raises.
As for dreaming of glory, I calculate that to
be at the American world record pace for the quarter mile in my age group,
I would have to run at 17.9 mph. On a treadmill a 17.9 mph speed
equivalent would involve a high mph speed combined with a high angle of
elevation. There are probably not too many treadmills out there that
can combine track speed and incline to the point where you have a 17.9 mph
equivalent.
|
N/A
Adidas Powerline Cross-Trainers
|
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| 11/3/06 |
BOUGHT INDOOR 'ADIDAS BRACARA III IN'
SHOES
REVIEW
|
Today I went to the Olympia Sports at the
Fresh Pond Mall in Cambridge MA, and bought the 'Adidas Bracara
III IN' indoor shoes, which are identical to the
'Adidas Bracara III TRX FG' outdoor cleats I bought
earlier, except for the soles of the feet.
It is commonsensical that the main point is
that the indoor and the outdoor shoes should be identical except for the
soles of the feet.
I have become a sort of poobah about
equipment improvements such as new shoes because: I have rebelled against
the preposterous claims often found in advertising; I attained great
heights of skill in air dribbling drills using the Adidas
Powerline (not indoor soccer shoes) cross-trainers; the indoor
soccer shoes used instead of the Powerline trainers can
result in pain in the feet; there was a long time interval between the
time I played soccer in indoor soccer shoes or cross-trainers and the time
long ago when I wore cleats; seems the differences in skills between
players far outweigh whatever shoes they wear; and probably also for other
reasons I cannot now recall.
Yet my experiences during October
06 taught me that having the indoor soccer shoes instead of the
cross-trainers is important because: my first vocation so to speak
was chipping the ball to team-mates in soccer games in Chicago as a boy;
in learning new skills one should not forget one's strengths and
one of my strengths has always been my chip pass; in games
especially at the beginning when playing with strangers, the big thing for
me is the chip-pass; chip-passing is lower in quality and different with
cross-trainers as opposed to indoor soccer shoes; the chip pass apparently
especially with someone like me can be extremely accurate, basically
hitting a three inch post from eight yds several times in an hour; the
scored chip-pass-at-a-target drills are an entertaining way to practice
and to compare results with other people; the type of shoes worn have an
impact on the way chip-passes are executed; it takes time to regain
chip-pass accuracy when you adjust to unfamiliar shoes; in games
shots are important; shots are similar to chip-passes; in games ground
dribbling is important and it takes time to get used to ground dribbling
with unfamiliar shoes; the air-dribble even at say the 20th yd of the
air-dribble is effected by the quality of the first kick, and the quality
of the first kick is impaired by the thick-soled Powerline cross-trainers;
it can be hard to adjust to unfamiliar shoes in terms of the effect on the
air-dribble; the roll the ball up the back of the calf and then heel it
forward move, is sensitive to the type of shoe worn; and then there are
other points I cannot remember now.
As for excuses for the layoff from Oct 29 to
at least today Nov 3: for two or three days I can drink Tequila but after
that it begins to tire my body; seems I need my Noble brand tangerine
juice, Passion-apple-carrot mix Bolthouse Farms juice, coffee,
spring water, cane sugar, Cod liver oil (D vitamin), vit E, minerals,
mixed nuts, multigrain bread and other stuff I now forget to have the
energy to practice and play; dealing with paperwork related to soccer that
has to do with finding places to play indoors here in this (now) seemingly
anti-Christian homosexual 'masshole' land, is something I have'nt
been able to get done without having a few tiring cigarettes due to the
stress of it; not having indoor shoes to practice with is demoralizing in
terms of getting motivated to practice; and some other reasons I cannot
remember now.
You could say, according to the dream of the
irregular white circle that was me as a player, my main weaknesses
skillwise are trapping and shielding the ball. I have always been weak in
shielding the ball. But one positive result of me being weak in shielding
the ball, has been that of necessity I early on became good at getting off
one touch passes immediately as soon as the ball came to me, such as chip
passes. Problem with those who excel in shielding the ball can be that
their passes are too slowly executed, too predictable in the eyes of the
watching defense, too innaccurate.
Similarly I somewhere earlier pointed out in
commenting on an England 2006 World Cup game, that the physically gifted
players can learn from the cunning tactics that the less physically
gifted players are forced to develop; I used to be a less physically
gifted type player.
|
NA |
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|
11/4/06 |
WINE SPAGHETTI MEAT SAUCE
PROJECT
FOOD
DREAM RE SOCCER (BEING PELE)
|
Watching as Italy played Australia in the
World Cup, seemed Australia had been dining on broiled fish and
tangerine juice, whereas Italy had been subsisting on wine with spaghetti
and meat sauce--Australia's fitness impressed me more than Italy's. But
Italy went on to win the 06 World Cup.
I decided 11/3 yesterday friday
evening to put some time and energy into cooking for myself, this is
supposed to get you so much nutrients for so little money. 730 PM started
collecting ingredients at various stories, 1130 PM done cooking. Drank
some Sangria wine to promote appetite for (and interrest in cooking)
the spaghetti with meat sauce that I cooked.
The meat (cheapest ground beef at the store)
was slightly stale and gamey smelling (most of the stuff I buy at
the store I got it at is excellent), but I pulled out a victory
by pan grilling or frying w minimal oil the ground beef meat until it
was well done, with spices, before mixing it with the sauce, thus in
the end I had a four star restaurant type spaghetti sauce anyway having
eliminated the stale taste and odor in the meat. I am really good with
spaghetti sauces.
Interesting how you can get two different
attractive tastes when dryly frying or pan-grilling ground beef, one
cooking the ground beef a minimal amount of time (ground buffalo is
amenable to such a method), then another cooking it a long time with
spices that help keep it from burning.
After the wine and the spaghetti with
meat sauce, I had to lie down without sleeping for twenty minutes to get
my energy and wakefulness back.
Seems I was able to come up with 7
plates of spaghetti with meaty meat sauce for approx seven dollars
in groceries plus the cost of the gas used to cook plus the
cost of the time and energy I put into the matter.
When I fell asleep after the big time energy
and money consuming cook your own spaghetti and meat sauce
meal, I had the following dream:
The Adidas Bracara III IN indoor
soccer shoes, the specific pair of shoes that I bought in real
life yesterday, in the dream belonged to the great Pele
who wins the 'who is the greatest soccer player of all time?' elections or
poll-surveys. In the dream I saw a photo of Pele in soccer clothes on a
white background, Pele looked very dark against the white background, his
skin color seemed almost the same as the mostly black color of my
black and silver Bracara shoes (both the outdoors cleats version and the
indoors version that I have are black and silver).
In another dream segment the same
night I saw a black and white daytime photo of an outdoors park
field type area with black balls graphically superimposed on the photo,
marking where a ball had been kicked to in an outdoors drill; the
photo reminded me of the photo in my soccer log at page 2, a photo which
compares my chip angle to Ronaldinho's-- this in the pre-cleats
(cleats allow you to lean backwards as you chip) days for me when I was
using temporarily I think the old Puma indoor soccer shoes that then later
fell apart. This black and white photo in the dream reminded me of
the chipping at the fence post drills I did in October.
In another dream I was riding in a certain
position in a car going in one direction, then when the car went in the
other direction I no longer had to ride in the same position in the car
which was a relief to me.
How I now interpret these dreams of last
night:
This next phase in my soccer life
wherein the Bracara III IN indoors shoes will be used will be the phase in
which I become a Pele; accurately chipping and otherwise passing
and shooting the ball when it is lying on the ground will play a greater
role in this phase than I have heretofore imagined; in American-style
tackle football the quarterback is the big star mostly due to his passes
some such situation could develop in soccer also; chipping the ball at a
target when it is lying or rolling on the ground can be done indoors, even
if the target/rules of the drill are not exactly the same as a
three inch wide fence post as in the sentimentally longed-for outdoors
version practiced in the fall; playing in shoes different than the shoes
used for practice can significantly throw off chip shots, chip
passes, and shots and passes in general especially if the passer
is highly accurate; with patience I will enter a phase wherein I will
be playing more offense and less defense; Beckham of USA related
UK, is a leading UK player primarily known for his
passes.
What with all the mania about the greatest
players being such great individual offense type dribbling wonders such as
Cruyff, Pele, and Maradona, I suspect many players and observers these
days neglect the importance of shooting or passing specifically short high
angle chip passes, especially given the fact that alot of the practice
games are games which end up de-emphasizing mid to long range passing and
shooting since they are played with small informal goals, no goalies,
goalies not allowed to use hands, high density in terms of number of
players per square meter of field, a Futsal type ball.
Hey when I feel tired as I often do and yet
also feel I should practice at the gym, what I feel like doing is
practicing shots and passes, firing or chipping the ball at targets,
turnng it into a game by keeping score, not running around much. So
why not turn what I the out of shape lazy guy enjoys doing at practice,
into one of my strong points in games?
This as opposed to the tendency I have been
manifesting, which is to sort of automatically swim against the tide, as
if the chips and shots should not be practiced because they are the things
that I feel like practicing, which is kind of a 'medicine that tastes good
is not good medicine' idea. I have been kind of obsessed with using time
for getting in better and better physical condition, as opposed to using
time to do what I feel like doing given my lack of run two miles in twelve
minutes type classic soccer physical conditioning.
Yet the fact is that there have always been
outstanding players who were not good at jogging two miles fast, but were
good at chip passes, passing and shooting.
Maybe a reason players coaches and spectators
overemphasize the jog two miles fast type of conditioning, and the kind of
improvements such conditioning produces in a player's performance,
while they underemphasize chips and line-drive type passing and
shooting, is that they, the players coaches and spectators doing the over
or under emphasizing, are strong in two-mile-run type conditioning but
weak when it comes to passing, shooting and specifically especially
chip-passing.
It would be folly on my part, to ignore how
for a tremendous air-dribbler such as myself, the short chip high angle
chip pass of the type shown in the Ronaldinho photo is an
integral part of the game. The short high angle chip pass gets the ball to
a team-mate often at a spot high above the ground, which allows the
team-mate to return the ball to me in the air, so that I can commence my
air-dribble.
It is a folly on my part to overlook the part
that teamwork can play in getting an air-dribble by my
started.
|
NA |
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| 11/5/06 |
PELE VIDEOS STUDY |
I studied the free Pele videos available on
Google and put together the following page:
Analysis of Pele Method Pele often dribbled crouched low over the
ball, his knees out in front of his ankles. This form of dribbling does
not come naturally to people including myself, especially I
suppose to those born outside of Latin countries.
Some have implied that there is something
monkey like ("prehensile") about Pele's style of dribbling, but my take on
it is that when people play alot of high level soccer from an early age,
this kind of knees in front of ankles low forward crouch becomes natural.
That does not mean such will be natural for
the non-Latin types, but non-Latin types can still manage, I now think,
through training, to get to the point where this kind of crouch is
more natural for them.
Looking over my past practices it seems to
me, that a method that is at first unnatural and inferior can after it has
been practiced become a superior method.
When the hip is kept lower to the ground, the
result can be that the hip and/or the foot end up closer to various
points where the ball might end up on the ground, compared to when
the hip is kept high up above the ground--the fraction of a second
advantage produced can mean the difference between the defender seizing
control of the ball or knocking it away on the one hand, or the offensive
player keeping control of the ball or beating the defender on the other.
Try crouching down Pele style knees in front
of ankles, and move the foot to some spot out in front of you and to your
side. Then stand up and try doing the same thing. You will find that
standing up you cannot reach the same spot without moving the hips
forward. It could be that getting to a certain spot on the ground by
flicking out the foot using the knees is quicker than moving the hips to
reach that spot.
When the knees and the torso are kept in
front of the ball at the feet this serves to naturally shield the ball so
as to prevent the defender from getting to the ball.
The forward leaning crouch is a hard position
to maintain when stationary, but easier to maintain when moving forward.
Analagously people being almost always stationary ball-jugglers
('clowns'?) as opposed to moving air-dribblers (such as myself a
macho pilot-like contrast to a 'clown'?), fail to see how certain
aspects of juggling the ball can actually, and counter-intuitively, be
easier when the body is moved forward while the ball is
juggled.
It is hard to maintain the Pele type forward
crouch position without staying up on the balls of your feet--which
reminds me that sprinters are taught to run on the balls of their feet.
Doing air-dribbling drills I learned about the unintended positive side
effects of drills. Could be an unintended positive side effect of
crouching forward and low is that it builds up speed and quickness through
its conditioning exercising effect on the muscles involved in keeping up
on the balls of the feet?
The forward crouch reminds me of how in
track, the crouch start is considered to be a faster start than the
standing start.
The crouch start has served me well in terms
of beginning an air dribble, but it was not the best start for an air
dribble when I first started using it; the upright start for the air
dribble is what came naturally to me what I did first.
Maybe the problem is that we see these
handsome white heartthrob type pro soccer players, doing things while
standing upright, and this looks like "nonchalance dignity" to us so
we associate such upright posture with quality soccer. Outside the soccer
world, the civilians and the military are taught to sport an upright
posture.
My ideas for conditioning to produce Pele
style crouch over the ball:
1 FORWARD CROUCH AIR DRIBBLE WHILE
WEARING WEIGHT VEST
2 WEIGHTLIFTING 'SQUATS' EXERCISES
HIGH REPS LOW WEIGHTS WITH KNEES FORWARD OF ANKLES
3 CALF RAISES WITH KNEES FORWARD OF
ANKLES
4 TREADMILL JOGS IN
FORWARD CROUCH KNEES FORWARD OF ANKLES
Yet I understand that though there may be
similarities between Pele and me, that does not mean I should attempt to
mold myself into Pele's exact twin.
|
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| 11/6/06 |
MARADONA CRUYFF VIDEO STUDIES |
Created a page listing free online video
clips of Maradona with my comments added at:
Created a page listing free online video
clips of Cruyff with my comments added at: One new drill that comes to my mind
looking at the Pele Maradona Cruyff videos, which is influenced by all the
other players seen in these videos would be as follows:
start slant left by kicking ball to left with
right; lunge inwards with left foot without moving ball, lunge outwards
with right foot without touching ball; step-over inwards with left
foot without touching ball; step-over outwards with right foot
without touching ball; kick ball to forward and to right with left foot;
then, reversing left and right--
lunge inwards with right foot without
moving ball, lunge outwards with left foot without touching
ball; step-over inwards with right foot without touching
ball; step-over outwards with left foot without touching ball;
kick ball to forward and to left with right foot...
...and etc
The stepovers and lunges can be replaced with
the move wherein the ball is rolled first one way and then in the opposite
direction without the foot losing contact with the ball.
My feeling now is that this drill combines:
the fast loosely controlled approach of Maradona; the stepovers and the
lunges of Pele and the more recent stars; the ambidexterity of
a Pele; the zig-zag rolls of recent stars.
|
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| 11/7/06 |
VIDEO STUDIES
RONALDO
WORLD CUP LEADERS
|
I got sick of entrusting my fate to who some unknown person says is one of the all time best eleven players or one of the current best eleven players. So I first put together some stats on World
Cup Performances 1930-2006:
I then did some math on these stats and came
up with a table showing the players who have from 1930-2006 excelled in
goals+assists or assists in more than one World Cup:
Looking at the conclusions at https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/world_cup_reigns.htm,
I concluded that the next person to study should be Ronaldo of Brazil, who
seems to me to be an under-rated player. Almost seems as if becoming an
equal of Ronaldo of Brazil, would be as difficult as becoming an equal of
Pele. Everyone always talks about Maradona, but it seems as if it would be
harder to become the equal of Ronaldo than it would be to equal
Maradona. My study of Ronaldo of Brazil is at:
What Ronaldo of Brazil adds to what is
already known from a study of Pele of Brazil and Maradona of Argentina, is
this: the use of the soles of the feet to roll the ball.
Soles of the foot placed on top of the ball
rolling the ball here and there, is a move that works well on smooth
surfaces; then there is the problem that the ball is rolled differently
when cleats are used. Thus this is a move that to be well developed
requires the use of cleats on well manicured fields of the same type as
played on in matches.
Ronaldo style "sole" soccer, at first glance
seems intimidatingly complex, varied and wizard-like. I now believe: such
first glances make the problem of learning the Ronaldo sole techniques
seem more difficult than they are; such techniques are surprisingly
quickly mastered for at least practice purposes by carefully and
thoughtfully devising a drill that concisely impresses the technique on
the person doing the drill.
The drill I devised for learning the
Ronaldo Sole tech ( for left footed player):
Variant A--roll ball with sole of
foot on top of ball: left and right; forwards and backwards; sideways and
back behind right foot and then forward in front of right
foot.
Variant B--roll ball with sole of
foot on top of ball and then sliding at end of roll to side of ball, and
at end of forward backwards rolls to front or rear of ball: left and
right; forwards and backwards; sideways and back behind right foot
while turning body counter-clockwise; completing counter-clockwise body
turn roll ball forward with right foot.
I now think I should do this just with my
left foot. You learn how to do such stuff with one foot then what you
learn with one foot is applied to the other; it is a mistake, judging from
what I've seen so far (Pele Maradona Ronaldo), to overemphasize
ambidexterity in every little aspect.
The sliding the foot to the sides front and
rear of the ball when rolling it with the soles of the feet is actually
not Ronaldo but his team-mates. But I leave it in because those are
team-mates he plays with for #1 ranked Brazil.
Note I also put some comments re Lato video
clips in at https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/world_cup_reigns.htm
|
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| 11/8/06 |
VIDEO REVIEW SEVERAL LEADING WORLD CUP PLAYERS |
Today I updated the https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/world_cup_reigns.htm
page--I did not get deeply into any one
player but took a shallow look at lots of them: Vava, Cubillas, Rep,
Kempes, Passarella, Rossi, Rummenigge, Littbarski, Lineker, Klinsmann,
Donadoni, Bebeto, Hagi, Baggio, Batistuta, Bergkamp, Zidane, Vieri,
Rivaldo Henry, Klose and Beckham.
Judging from the videos I looked at
today featuring clips of all these guys, what have I learned in addition
to what I already learned from Pele, Maradona, and Ronaldo? My first
reaction is to add the following features to my practice
routine:
Add (or make sure such remain a part
of such drills) to ground attack on target drills:
1 outside of foot
attack, foot feints (less movement of leg than with lunge or stepover) and
feints involving slight movement of body as opposed to movement of
leg.
2 Almost 180 degree turns mixed
with moving straight forward--a couple of yds left, a couple of yds right,
four yds forward, a couple of yds right, a couple of yds left, four yds
forward etc.
Add to Ground Pattern
Drills:
3 Diagonal retreat drill--
diagonally: cut backwards and to the right with left foot, cut forward and
to right with right foot, cut backwards and to the right
with left foot, cut forwards and to the left with right foot -- add to
ground pattern drills.
4 360 degree turns using outside or
inside of foot instead of sole of foot. |
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| 11/9/06 |
SWIMMING
900 yds in 27:30 3:03 per 100
yds.
RONALDO SOLE STYLE DRIBBLING
ANALYSIS
1104 |
IMPORTANCE OF SWIMMING
Last few days I did not feel like playing
soccer, so I did not exercise, since I had heard that someone such as
myself should do nothing but soccer and running, land stuff. But the fact
is, that sometimes: the only exercise that is not a mental torture for me
is swimming; it is the only exercise I will do; and it takes a few hours
of swimming before soccer is no longer some kind of dreaded torture for
me.
We should understand that people are
idiosyncratic individuals...realizing that I was one of these
idiosyncratic individuals, I chose to go swimming instead of not
exercising. Could be that some people maintain their health better, get in
shape better, become better soccer players, when they go swimming say at
least once or twice a week.
I surprised myself today by swimming 900 yds
alternating 50 breast and 50 crawl, in 27 minutes 30 seconds. I had been
feeling physically low the past few days, had not been exercising, and did
not expect I would average 3:03 per 100 yds. I guess just as I surprise
myself given the way I feel physically by my rate of improvement, so I
surprise myself by how I have not gotten as out of shape as it feels
to me physically.
I now suspect that the stay on the treadmill
at 10 mph exercise that I was doing a few days ago are very good exercises
for quickly building aerobic endurance.
After the swim I looked in the mirror and did
not look like the world's best looking man as I usually do under the
bright even ceiling tube fluorescent lights in the YMCA locker room. This
was a surprise for me. Usually swimming gets me to the point where I look
like the world's best looking man in that locker room after swimming.
Lesson learned: being able to look like the world's best looking man
involves more than just swimming once every two weeks or so--it might have
also to do with moderation with substances such as alcohol and
swimming more frequently.
I think alcohol has something to do with it.
I have never been an alcoholic or had a drinking problem, I
have in my adult life with rare exceptions been drinking
about once a week, but end of October and first week of November this
year I was drinking Tequila or beer or wine every day, in quantities
sufficient to seriously enhance my appetite or cause me to want to lie
down for a half an hour; and sometimes I was drinking before I had been up
and awake for even just ten hours. I suspect such "substance abuse" if you
could call it that, negatively impacted my looks and my desire to play
soccer.
945 PM tonight I noticed that between
900 and 945 PM someone had taken my white towel that I hanged on the rack
near the shower at the Y when I went swimming--but still in terms of
thefts the Y I go to is a good YMCA --in at least ten years nothing
has been stolen from me there except this towel.
Last night as I completed my cursory look at
vid clips of all those different players, I somehow knew that I would not
be able to digest everything that I had learned for at least another day.
It was as if my brain and body had become overloaded with looking at all
those clips and taking note on them. As of now I have a conclusion to draw
from what I have learned: the important thing to add to what can be
learned from Pele, is the importance of Sole.
Sole Advantage
(my conclusions as of now lest I continually
qualify statements; non-sole area of foot means the top, sides, toe areas;
I realize that occasionally the sole can be used on the side of the ball
and the side of the foot can be used on the top of the
ball)
In soccer of the past 50 years, the most
important new development in terms of individual attack dribbling, has
been the use of the sole of the foot and related techniques as popularized
by: chiefly Ronaldo of Brazil who played in his first World Cup
for Brazil in 1994 at age 17 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronaldo)
and then starred in three World Cups from 1998 to 2006; and secondarily
Zidane of France who led his team in the World Cup in 1998 and also in
2006.
There are two eras in modern individual
attack soccer--the Pele (Brazil) era and the Ronaldo (Brazil) era.
The first era is characterized by the use of the non-sole parts of the
feet hitting the vertically middle side or middle rear area
of the ball and the second era by the use of the soles of the feet
hitting the top of the ball and also relatedly the sole or the side
of the foot hitting the side of the ball near the top of the ball. Both
movements--sole of foot on top of ball and sole or side of foot near top
of ball-- are similar, one can be used to feint the other, and one
can lead to the use of the other.
Looking at the clips at (https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/world_cup_reigns.htm),
you see merely a very small fraction of all the instances in
which the likes of Ronaldo and Zidane have used the sole--type
techniques--but if you reflect you can imagine possibilities not seen in
the clips.
A player can reach farther to touch a ball
with his foot when he uses the non-sole area of the foot. But
the use of the soles of the feet as opposed
to the non-sole, provides advantages in tight crowded environments
featuring a need to move the ball sideways, forwards and backwards while
keeping it close to the body. Gringos should give careful thought to the
question of when is it best to use the sole-type approach and when is it
best to use the non-sole type approach.
The use of the soles of the feet can excel
the use of the non-sole areas of the foot when it comes to: convincingly
feinting where the ball is going to be moved; changing the direction of
the ball; and degree of precision in terms of speed with which the ball is
moved in tight crowded circumstances.
Compared to the non-sole areas of the foot,
certain moves are better executed with the the sole of the foot. This has
to do with the position of the foot relative to the ball prior to the
movement of the ball in a given direction. When for example the side of
the foot is used to move a ball on the player's left rightwards, the foot
has to be moved all the way to the left middle side of the ball; but when
the sole-type technique is used the foot only has to travel to the top of
the ball or to the left top of the ball.
Compared to the the use of the non-sole areas
of the foot striking at the middle of the ball, When a player hits the
ball with the sole of the foot, or with the side of the foot near its top,
a player is better able to deceive the defender by moving his leg and body
as if he was going to propel the ball a long distance while actually only
moving it a short distance and vice versa.
The sole method can combine
with the stepover feinting move used by so many of the
greatest players such as Pele, better than the non-sole method. When
a dribbler moves the ball by skimming over its top with the sole of his
foot or hitting it near its top on its side with the side of his
foot, his movements when actually moving the ball more closely resemble
his movements when executing a stepover feint than they do when
the old fashioned style of hitting the vertically middle side area of
the ball with the side of the foot.
The vast majority of soccer players coaches
etc. who grew up outside of Latin America have for a few decades
shown a surprising ability to obtusely fail to learn from watching
Latin American players. They failed to see how Latin players are natural
dribblers because in games and in practice they dribble in rhythmic
patterns, such as touching the ball every four paces with the right foot.
Then on my own without reference to sources other than my own mind, I
radically improved my dribbling by utilizing such rhythmic patterns. Then
watching the video clips this month, I noticed that I had re-invented what
had already been invented by Latins long ago (rhythmic patterned
dribbling) despite the fact that the "Gringo" types were too blind to
notice the invention.
Without reference to outside sources I
radically improved my dribbling by inventing a strategy for beating a
defender that nobody in the USA where I learned to play soccer had every
taught me; then this month I realized that I had re-invented Pele's ground
dribbling strategy.
Now I feel as if I have finally gotten a
handle on the mysterious impressive magic I saw in the Latin
dribblers last month at Lowell Field in Waltham but did
not understand while I was playing with them. Seems the magic is
rooted in hitting the top of the ball with the sole of the foot, and
relatedly hitting a point near the the top of the ball with the side of
the foot.
I reciite this Paean to
sole as a player who has never dribbled with the sole of the
foot, or relatedly by hitting the ball near the top on its side with the
side of the foot. Though I realize I am a unique individual and sole style
soccer might not be right for me as an individual, I also realize that
with practice techniques that are at first inferior and unnatural can
become natural and superior. Sole soccer is not something that I can take
pride in because I played it in the past, it is not natural for me, but
I want to be intellectually honest about its place in soccer history.
I now believe that the best way for me to
master the sole soccer technique is to simply do the ground dribbling
drills I now do without using sole-technique utilizing sole
technique.
Watching Zidane and Ronaldo you wonder
whether Sole Soccer is only for the big and the strong--they give the
impression of size and strength. Turns out Ronaldo is five feet
eleven inches tall and weighs 180 pounds, whereas Zidane is six feet tall
and weighs 176 pounds. Sole type players are apparently not punks
and thats something to think about.
|
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| 11/10/06 |
SWIMMING
1200 YDS IN 32:35
2.72 MINUTES 2:43 PER 100 YDS;
APPLICATION OFTECHNIQUES AND MOVES USED
IN OTHER SPORTS TO SOCCER |
Given the way I have been feeling I was
surprised to be able to cover 1200 yds so fast without having been out
there swimming much recently. I felt motivated while swimming because I
was thinking of how swimming for at least 30 minutes while trying to get a
good time is similar to playing in a soccer game--you pace yourself
but there is the constant pressure of getting as much out of yourself as
possible, and like soccer such long distance swimming goes on
for at least 30 minutes.
My plan therefore, is to swim 1500 yds every
day after I wake up before breakfast, since I estimate such would take me
45 minutes to swim and a half of a game in soccer is 45 minutes. I
plan to be in the pool with 60 minutes available to finish the swim. Such
will produce in me the added motivational impulse of knowing that for
example if I do the swim at 2.5 minutes per 100 yds, 37.5 minutes, I will
be able to get out of the pool 22 minutes early.
APPLYING NON-SOCCER MOVES AND
TECHNIQUES TO SOCCER
In an earlier post I looked at the techniques
used by kickers in American style tackle football when they kick field
goals. NOTE you could succeed better doing a google search for
"place-kicking", than you would be searching for "field goal:. Today I
take a look at how such American tackle football but soccer
style kickers kick the ball when they kick-off at the beginning of
the game.
A clip about an outstanding soccer style
kickoff specialist who
plays American-style tackle-football, shows a right footed kicker, Sviatko (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-600872190988498706&q=kickoff&hl=en).
He starts about 8 yds behind the ball and about 4 yds to the
left of the ball, takes 5
to 7 moderate length steps then a long
step placing the foot to the side of the
ball and kicks. He covers the approx 9 yds
to the ball in about 4 seconds. Via this method he consistently
kicks the ball high and 75 yards down the field.
Receivers and running backs in American-style
tackle-football--which is different than soccer, rougher--are faced with
the problem of getting their bodies past defenders, which is a problem
soccer players trying to dribble by defenders also face. Here are some of
the moves/strategies used by American tackle football offensive players
when attempting to get by defenders:
1 The jab step: when five yards from the
defender, the player takes a little step to his own left; when 2
yards away from the defender, the player shortens his stride, jabs
outwards with his left foot again, and then immediately cuts to his
right.
2 The crossover step: when 3 yards away
from the defender, the player jabs outwards with his left foot,
while leaning with head and shoulders to his left; then the
player steps straight towards the defender with his right foot, then
moves his left foot to the right of his right foot as he cuts right using
his upper body to facilitate a quick move to his right which is to the
defender's left.
3 Inside cut: player runs towards sideline,
then uses his rear foot as a pivot foot to swivel change direction and run
towards the middle.
4 The spin: player approaches defender at
half speed, leans into defender steps towards defender with right foot,
spins counter-clockwise, momentarily turning his back to the defender, and
continues forward.
5 S-shaped weave--the receiver runs towards
the defender and upon approaching the defender moves like an
S.
6 Head fake--the head is used to fake a
change of direction
7 Shoulder fake--the shoulders are used to
fake a change of direction
8 Head and shoulder fake--the head and the
shoulders are used to fake a change of direction.
9 Torso fake--defenders are taught to defend
against American tackle football feints by focusing on the torso
or hips of the offensive player. Thus torso fakes or hip fakes are called
for--coaches sometimes advise their tackle football players to get their
hips into their fakes, move their hips/torso as part of the fake.
10 Explosive Starts--the techniques used to explode out of the starting postion by American-style tackle football running backs and wide receivers, can be applied to the challenge of bursting by a soccer defender with the ball. Looks like such explosiveness could be developed by running on a treadmill with a high upwards incline, which might also help to produce the crouched forward Pele style body position. 11 Arm/hand fakes--As it is advised that
tackle football receivers must never let the defender know their intent
through the movement of their arms or hands, seems arms and hands can be
used to fake defenders.
12 Hand Strike--Use of palm of hand by
receiver to strike down defender's forearm (prevents defender from
impeding progress using his arms)
13 Swim move--receiver brings arm closest to
defender over defender's arm(s) and drives defenders arms/body
downwards and backwards using elbow (prevents defender
from impeding progress using his arms)
14 Rip move--receiver uses arm closest to
defender, to push defender's arm(s) up and defender's body
backwards.
15 Step back--receivers steps back when
starting to give himself more momentum when encountering
defender.
16 Shoulder Club Release--receiver uses
forearm of arm near defender to hit defender's arm at point slightly below
shoulder and drive it down; the arm further away from the defender swings
over the defender's shoulder, with the elbow used (ideally the elbow
pushes into the defender's back) to push the defender away as the
receiver runs past.
17 Positonal Rule of thumb: if defender is
away from where you want to go run at him, if he is where you want to go
run away from him.
18 Fake Same Direction Twice then Cut the
Other Way--This appears to be a rule amongst the wise of American tackle
football, probably because a fake to the left followed by a fake to the
right simply serves to give the defender the advantage of lateral balance.
The double fake in the same direction, I suppose, is intended to
compensate for the fact that fakes are not as believable as the real
thing.
19 Premeditate the Move--The wise amongst
American tackle football appear to favor the method wherein before a
move is begun, the attacking player already knows in his head, which
direction he will fake and which direction he will actually run. The idea
seems to be that thus the attacking player has the advantage over the
defender of knowing which direction he is going to go. Of relevance are my
earlier doubts re whether the direction of feint and actual movement
should be predetermined before the move is executed, which had to do with
my knowledge of how spontanaeity, in which the direction of fake and
movement is not pre-planned and pre-decided, can also produce successful
results.
20 Fake no more than twice--Amongst the wise
of American tackle football, there appears to hold a rule of thumb wherein
the maximum number of directional fakes thrown before an actual movement
is two.
Looks like moves that could be applied to
soccer can also be found in basketball, however in basketball, the
defender faces the threat of the offensive player simply stopping at any
time and shooting over the defender.
Some examples of what seem to be recent cases
of soccer players learning from other sports: the Brazilians
with their new soccer move involving the ball being rolled to the left
with the outside of the foot followed by the foot rolling over the
ball to get on the other side of the ball and then moving the ball in the
other direction, the foot all the while almost touching the ball the
entire time (resembles basketball & football "jab step"); the Zidane
and Ronaldo of Brazil 360s using the sole of the foot (resembles
basketball & football "spin moves")
The leading link with regards to
American-style tackle football moves is:
|
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| 11/12/06 |
Study-- how many hours a day do pro soccer
players practice? |
It was hard to find info on the internet
regarding how much time pro soccer players spend in practice.
Looks like a relevant book would
be:
note that besides playing one game per week,
these people (Spanish soccer pros)
practice 4-5 hours a day, 4-5 days a week, for 10 months a year -- http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:NyrtRZzVws4J:www.econ.brown.edu/fac/ipalacios/pdf/profes17.pdf+%22professional+soccer+teams%22+practices+hours&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=19 Thomas: During a season, how often do you
practice per week? For how many hours?
Felipe (pro soccer): I train two hours a day, sometimes only one hour and a half. It depends on the championship. When matches follow each other, we don't need to train a lot. At the beginning of the season, we generally train a lot. -- http://www.unitedathletes.com/english/interviews/felipe.html Roberto: We (Brazilian pro soccer players)
train full time all week. In the morning, we train for two hours or two
hours and a half. Then, we go to dinner. In the afternoon, we go back to
train for a similar period of time as the one in the morning. I think that
it's enough to prepare us for the match for the weekend.
-- http://www.unitedathletes.com/english/interviews/rbrum.html Q: How many hours a day do you practice, and are you on any type of special diet? A: We (China women's soccer team) practice around four hours a day and eat common food. -- http://www.lacancha.com/Chinint.html David Muckle 23:11:40 Saturday 7 August 2004
How many hours a day should i practise if i would like to become a perfessional soccer player It depends on what you are working on and what your current level is. More training doesn’t necessarily guarantee better results. If you were working on high-intensity fitness training, the duration of each session needs to be shortened in order to preserve quality. Even if you are working on light exercises, individual practices should rarely exceed two-two and a half hours. Conducting two training sessions per day will speed your development but make sure you leave an adequate resting period in between. Morning is the ideal time for conditioning. by Expert 16:03:41 Friday 13 August 2004 -- http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:MNgpFr7vEm0J:www.expertfootball.com/gossip/answer.php%3Fqid%3D619+soccer+practice+%22how+many+hours%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1 Nader,
How many hours a day do you practice with the team? Ando, We practice 7 days a week! Every once in a while we get a day off and very rarely they offer two days of rest. Basically we practice twice a day (morning and afternoon), and between Premier League and FA Cup, there is not much time to relax and we constantly work -- http://www.iranfootballcenter.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1162292172&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1& Averaging the number of hours these
players practice per day, you get 3.6 hours;
Seems this would be 6 days a week,
and split into two 110 minute sessions split by a meal.
There appears to be a wide variation in terms of practice
time for pro soccer players ranging from 1.5 to 5 hours per
day.
|
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| 11/13/06 |
SWAM 1200 YDS IN 34:30 2.9 MINUTES PER 100
YDS
|
I started out today thinking I would take it easy and not count the time it took me to cover the 1200 yds. But I still kept looking at the clock. Taking it easy I swam the first 600 in about 3.3 minutes per 100 yds. This means I swam the last 600 in about 2.5 minutes per 100 yds. Which is exciting news, seeing that at 1.5 per 100 yds I would be just a hairs breadth away from the 1.3 per 100 age group world record pace. Method I used today in breathing: alternating
between breathing on every other stroke and breathing every three strokes.
Seemed to work well, producing a balance between plenty of air coming in
(breathing every other stroke) and the balanced streamlined left
right alternation produced by breathing every three strokes. Today in the
second half the pattern was: Breath Left, stroke, Breath Left,
stroke, stroke, Breath Right, stroke, Breath Right , stroke, stroke,
Breath Left, stroke, Breath Left etc etc.
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| 11/16/06 |
DRIBBLING ANALYSIS
DREAM ABOUT SOCCER
|
I've been hard at work sitting at my desk
with my notebook trying to figure out the best strategy for dribbling the
ball past a defender, taking into account all that I have learned studying
the best players.I admit I have "wasted" alot of time getting off on
dead ends and become overcomplicated along the way.
I've been trying to impress potential
employers but it seems people complain about work being made available
free on the internet. Here is my report with half the lines blotted out
(XXXXXXXXXX signifies a deleted
line):
XXXXXXXXXX
should be not to beat the defender,
but
XXXXXXXXXX
he can be beaten.
XXXXXXXXXX
the defender to is, in front of
me.
XXXXXXXXXX
I fake to my right, and if he is to
my
XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX
moves and the ball should move in the
XXXXXXXXXX
of the feints should both be body/ball
positions
XXXXXXXXXX
to dribble past a defender.
The best fake
left move:
XXXXXXXXXX
of body and left foot on ball;
XXXXXXXXXX
roll left foot over ball to left of
ball.
XXXXXXXXXX
moves to desired position); trailing right foot
XXXXXXXXXX
with right and spin right (if defender is close
XXXXXXXXXX
foot on ball (if defender close on right).
The best fake right move:
XXXXXXXXXX
ball on left side of body and
right
XXXXXXXXXX
right foot to right; step over ball
with
XXXXXXXXXX
ball.
Then: left foot on
ball (if defender XXXXXXXXXX
kicks ball forward (if defender
froze);
XXXXXXXXXX
(if defender close on right); step over with
left,
XXXXXXXXXX
As if I did not need any further burden to
get me stressed out about soccer after the dream about Pele, I had another
dream last night about soccer. In this dream me and Michael Gross who was
a boyhood friend, were playing soccer, we were using these little goals
with little markers about two yards apart signifying goals and no goalies.
I kept scoring goals, playing like a Gerd Muller or Gary Lineker
"poacher" type (which is not the way I usually play in real life),
lurking near the goal and knocking the ball into the goal without much
dribbling by people. And Michael said, to me regarding me: "when you
are playing well you are better than a pro". One interpretation of the dream is that while
I was sleeping I was thinking I could be good at one touch shots shooting
balls rolling on the ground into the goal. I have always been good at one
touch passes and shots because I used to be slow and have never been good
at shielding the ball when I have possession of it.
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|
11/16/06
Waltham YMCA
|
SWIMMING
1100 YDS
26:00
2.36 MINUTES PER 100 YDS |
There was a one minute break when I lost and recovered an earplug. Whereas the previous time swimming I
estimated I went 600 yds at a 2.5 minutes per 100 yd pace, during the
second 600 yds of a 1200 yd swim, 26 minutes exactly was my time for
1100 yds today. It could be that actually I swam 1000 or 1200 yds, I might
have lost count, but 1100 yds in 26:00 is what I think my performance was
today.
Thus what I like to think of myself of as
having accomplished, is dropping my time from 3.03 minutes per 100
yds to 2.36 minutes per 100 yds, by 0.67 minutes per 100 yds. If
I cut another 0.67 minutes per 100 yds off my time, I will be at
1.69 minutes per 100 yds, whereas the world record for my age group I
estimate at 1.33 minutes per 100 yds. Thus if I can do what I have done
thus far, I will be at a point where I will have to do 1.69 minus 1.33
equals 0.36 minutes per 100 yds of improvement to be at the
world record pace, which is about half of the 0.67 minutes per 100 yds
time reduction improvement that I have already accomplished.
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|
12/4/06
2 HRS
Outdoors
|
SOCCER GROUND DRIBBLE RUNS |
Used what I learned in November, compressed into two repetitive drills. I call these drills WorldCupReigns or WCR drills, they are based on my study of the great world cup players of the past half century I did this November. Used indoor soccer shoes outdoors, on grass
and then on rubbery pebbly artificial track surface.
What I felt was that if lessons learned from
developing the air dribble runs are applied to the WCR ground dribble
runs, there might result some exciting interesting player development in
myself.
I began to see how a complex offensive
drill such as WCR ground drill, when perfected in form and in speed and in
consistency, could lead to deadly results for the defense. I began to see
how although we tend to despise the ground dribble runs as being basically
all alike and not improvable much, the fact still could be, that ground
dribble runs over say a month of patient practice could improve as much as
air dribble runs, with results in terms of impact on my potency as a
player being as great as the impact of a month of air dribble runs.
The WCR ground pattern involves a series of
feints with the ball kept on the ground; the difference between a
great run and an average run is not as obvious as with an air dribble, but
still with the WCR ground pattern runs, alot of things can be done better:
quality of fakes, hip, shoulders, arm and head into fakes, speed of run,
amount ball moved in feinted direction on feints, feints becoming second
nature so as to allow brain to concentrate on other matters, tightness of
control during feinting runs, consistency of runs, relaxedness on
runs etc etc etc.
Temperature was 28, 21 with wind chill, wind
7 mph.
For a while I felt physically and mentally
not into practicing soccer. I got out of the rut by avoiding the error of
setting too harsh practice goals for myself and then not practicing at all
because the goals were too hard. I did a practice that required relatively
little anaerobic or aerobic endurance. I felt very sluggish the first half
hour but after that began to feel healthy athletic energetic again.
The time for doing the practices that demand
less in anaerobic or aerobic endurance is when you feel a lack of such
endurance. Do not set the goal of doing practices that make exhausting
demands on aerobic or anaerobic endurance and then fail to practice
because you do not feel up to it.
Very tough doing some of these moves outdoors
on grass with ball and grass wet with do, while wearing indoor soccer
shoes.
|
Adidas Replique |
10.1 psi |
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| 12/6/06 |
MUSIC |
They guys who work at the gas station are
more than twice as worried about me not practicing soccer than I
am.
As for me, I have been busy with choosing my
official Samba: "Cosa Nostra" by Erlon Chavez (http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B00005K9T7001001/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_001/102-4565132-4860923).
Coolest Samba I could find, most in line with my spirit as a player.
|
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| 12/9/06 90 minutes |
Ground Dribbling |
Did ground dribbling drills inspired by my dutiful study of video clips of the greatest players of all time. Used a very hard ball on a basketball court, the slightest touch
would set it rolling hard and far, but a soft ball would result in
mis-practice of sole of foot on ball moves. It could be a type of positive
conditioning like running up a hill, though, this difficulty with a hard
ball on an indoor basketball court. Funny how they claim the great players
say that they developed as dribblers by using small soft balls indoors.
Today I noticed, things it seems people do not notice. The ground
dribbling involving dribbling by an opponent, and drills resembling such,
superficially speaking, utilizes muscle strength and muscle
speed the way jogging, or sprinting, or carefree drbbling the ball
along, or air dribbling utilizes muscle strength and muscle speed. On the
surface it appears the same muscles are involved, quickness in the same
limbs is involved with all these activities as if ground dribbling and
jogging etc were identical twins.
Actually it seems to me now, that different muscles are used when
ground dribbling trying to get by an opponent or trying to keep
possession of the ball, compared to ground dribbling in a carefree fashion
similar to jogging, or jogging, or air dribbling, or sprinting. You can
feel this in the fatigue and soreness you feel in certain muscles when you
ground dribble in a competitive type way. They are muscles that are
different from the muscles used in other activities--it reminds me
of the way if you weightlift with your left arm only it will grow
stronger than your right arm.
IMHO etc,
Quickness is similar to strength, strength can enhance quickness. The
kind of quickness required in competitive serious ground dribbling is
different from the kind of quickness required in similar activities such
as carefree dribbling sprinting or jogging. Limbs and torso have different
starting and ending points when quick movements are made when ground
dribbling seriously and competitively.
I continue to appreciate what I have not appreciated fully before,
which is how lessons learned , qualities developed on the air
dribble, can apply to improving the ground dribble.
Humility. Thoughtfulness. Zeal. Motivation. 20 yd runs with ball, 20
yd walks alternating. The realization of how imperfect one is. Trying hard
to get less imperfect.
It is smart to have thoughts that get you excited about practice so
your perform well in practice. When I think about it, it is exciting
to imagine what might be the result if I got as good at the ground dribble
drills as I got at the air dribble drills. I am under-rated as a ground
dribbler, but I can see how there is so much room for improvement in me
when I do ground dribbling drills, in terms of speed, control,
consistency, form etc; and I feel excited re what kind of dribbler might
emerge in me if I made significant improvement in such aspects of the
ground dribbling drills. Would then end result be that comparing me to
other players would be like comparing a hockey player on ice, to a soccer
playing running on ground?
My unfortunate tendency has been to imagine a soccer practice or
workout as a tiring hard driven event, and then on this basis to skip
practice entirely if I did not feel up to a tiring hard driving workout,
and to instead ponder how reducing work, or sleeping better, or eating
better, might give me more energy for soccer.
We make the mistake of assuming that weakness and fatigue within
ourselves, are signs that we should focus on things other than
exercise and not bother with exercise in the first place, seeing that
a person too tired for practice aint gonna make it as a pro.
It could be wiser, in keeping with the increasing wisdom regarding
learning from nature and being led by nature, to see how fatigue could be
our individual nature's way of producing impressive results.
For example if I feel too tired to do treadmill runs and sprints for
1 hour, I could shift to doing milder soccer drills for 2.5
hours. It could be that the kind of thing practiced in a mild 2.5
hour practice develops what I need to develop in me as a player, and also
produces the health benefits that I need in my body and mind in general.
|
10.1psi |
||||||||||||||||
| 12/10/06 |
ground dribble
140 minutes
|
It does not make sense to just skip practice
if one does not feel up to a vigorous workout, as if there was not such
thing as a low energy workout of value as was the practice today.
Today I did 140 minutes low physical energy
expenditure ground dribbling drills inspired by watching videos of the all
time great players. It did not improve my emotional mood or how good my
body felt as much as a more intense workout but it helped me to get able
to do more intense workouts.
In the ground dribble patterns I did
today, every touch of the ball, every step is choreographed, I
endeavor to follow the choreography exactly, I know it when I am off the
choreography even one jot or one tittle, I know it when my control is off
just a little bit. Thus it is hard for me to please myself with my
performances. When I speed up too much I begin to stray from the
choreography. I dont make the mistake of speeding up too and getting
too uncontrolled prematurey before I have had enough time to practice the
given skill.
Today I was glad to see some improvement in
the speed with which the pattern was executed without the error
of straying from the choreography of the ground dribbling pattern.
The change today was that I put more emphasis
on getting my body into position behind the ball so as to render movement
in the feinted direction convenient for me, prior to the
stepover/feint. As a result the quickness and speed of the ground
dribble pattern runs improved without a loss of control. I suspect that
what is not realized is that this position at the beginning of the feint
is an important part of the feint as a whole. Heretofore I had been
putting emphasis on realistically moving my body in the feinted direction
while stepping over the ball as opposed to where my body was positioned at
the start of the stepover.
The stepover feint is one of the moves
most common amongst the all-time greats. Yet you hear alot about how the
defense can shut down the effect of the stepover feint simply by watching
the ball instead of watching the body. I now suspect that what the
mediocre miss that the greats hit upon, is that the body position in the
beginning part of a feint such as the step over feint and other
feints, is an important part of the feint.
The defense might be able to disregard
irrelevant body movement by focusing on the ball; but the defense cannot
get away with too much ignoring of the fact that the enemy dribbler has
gotten himself into position behind the ball without moving the ball, so
as to render it especially convenient for the enemy dribbler to cut this
way or that way with the ball. If the defense indulges in too much of
ignoring where the enemy dribbler has positioned himself behind the ball,
the defense endangers itself.
Heck if you were invisible, but the
ball was visible, and you were an attacking dribbler, the defense would of
course be disadvantaged compared to the way it is in normal reality with
the defense being able to see both the ball and the player. Thus the
defense unavoidably helps itself, by watching the dribbler's body. Thus
this advantage the defense always gains from watching the dribblers body,
can be taken away from the defense through the dribbler's clever use of
body feints.
Have I not in the above para brilliantly
proved my point?
The idea that Body Feints are Not
Effective Because Good Defenders Watch Only the Ball is
False. The dribbler at the beginning of the
feint positioning himself behind the ball so as to render movement in
a given direction convenient could be what makes the feint effective, as
opposed to the actual moving the foot above and or to the side of the
ball and past the ball simulating the movement of the foot
when the ball is kicked in a given direction--could it be that
the multitudes trying to learn from the all-time greats fail to perceive
this but the all time greats understood?
The ground patterns, patterns with the ball
dribbled on the ground, are a series of moves that repeats,
like a looping video or audio clip tape. The shift today from
the emphasis on the concluding part of stepover 1, to the beginning part
of stepover 2, helped to produce greater quickness and precision in
stepover 2. T
The beginning part of a movement, as we
learned doing the air dribble, is crucial, effects the latter part of the
movement, effects all segments of a movement that come after the beginning
of the movement.
I have thought of a drill to strengthen my
individual style of ground attack, forgetting for the moment the all time
great players and their styles. This would involve dribbling a short way,
bring the ball to a stop, then dribbling another way, bringing the ball to
a stop etc etc.
|
replique 10.1 psi |
||||||||||||||||
|
12/12/06
Indoor Basketball Court |
Ground Dribble Drills
120 minutes
|
Decision today was to alter the perfectly
symmetrical ground dribble pattern that I had developed through the study
of the all time greats, especially Pele, Zidane and Ronaldo of Brazil.
Let's call this ground dribble drill AT1, for All Time, #1.
I altered it into AT2, for All-Time 2. AT2
takes into account the fact that I am left footed. Studying the all-time
greats from Pele on up to Brazil's Ronaldo, I realized that the majority
of the dribblers favored one foot or the other when dribbling during
games.
Dribbling by a defender is extremely
difficult, soccer (the Latins and Euros call it football) is a
very low scoring game. Dribbling by a defender is not the kind of thing
that most people can be ambidextrous at, just as most people are not
ambidextrous at batting or bowling in baseball or cricket.
Thus AT2 is no longer a symmetrical pattern
because on both the left and right sides of the pattern there is in AT2 a
point where I am at my favorite, left footed optimum position.
When my feet are in a certain position
relative to the ball that is the optimum position for me. It is a position
in which my left foot not my right foot is in control of the ball.
Imitating the air-dribble drills I had
done of yore, I ground-dribbled 20 yds across the gym, walked the
ball back the 20 yds I had covered, ground-dribbled 20 yds across the gym
again, and so forth over and over again.
Certain persons might quarrel, and declare,
"why should the ground dribbling be practiced this way, in a choreographed
footwork/ballwork pattern that loops, that repeats itself three or four
times over 20 yds? We are soccer men, (hombres futebol), not dancers or
actresses".
The point is, that in an actual game, a
dribbling move involving a rush past the defender, will tend to involve
dribbling with the ball before the move past the defender and also after
the move past the defender, and so it is natural that when rushes past a
defender are practiced, there should be dribbling before and after
the move past the defender. The precision of these moves that come before
and after the rush past the defender should be developed through practice.
Part of developing speed combined with
precision, is the choreographed foot and ball movement that is followed
exactly, because following the choreographed pattern exactly
develops precision, and acts like an indicator light in
a dashboard to notify you when you have become imprecise.
I was much faster and much more precise doing
AT2 at the end of the 120 minutes today than I was at the beginning of the
120 minutes. This contradicts the notion that ground dribble patterns
cannot be improved significantly. I had to for a half hour struggle
through a stage where I was very slow and imprecise running the 20 yds
doing the ground dribble pattern; the difficulty was simply forgetting at
a crucial point exactly what I was supposed to to with my feet or the ball
at a particular point in the choreographed AT2 pattern.
I realize this sounds like I am getting
too Broadway-Musical-like, but the fact remains, due to the
advantages of attempting to exactly adhere to a choreographed pattern, the
necessity is that there must be this phase where the choreographed pattern
is learned and the slow speed and imprecision while executing the
ground-dribble pattern is due to the mind forgetting exactly what to
do next at a particular point in the choreographed pattern.
AT1 is based on the all time great soccer
offensive players, and AT2 is AT1 modified to accomodate my individuality
as distinct from the all time greats who came before me.
Today I stuck with the stepover form of
AT2, as opposed to the form in which the ball is actually moved in
the feinted direction. I felt instinctively that the wise decision was to
stick with the stepover form until all errors produced by forgetting
what the next move is in the choreographed "dance" routine,
disappear.
Today I did some experimenting
with different ways of sweeping the ball to the left with the left
foot or to the right with the right foot. It is surprising how many
different styles you can use to do this and how much you can improve in a
particular style of doing this in five minutes of intensive
unglamorous-type practice.
Inspiring thought of the day:
Hail to the spirit of ground dribbling.
Praise the earthy majesty of the spirit of ground dribbling, royal
brother to the aerial dignity of the spirit of air dribbling. If one
million men and boys in the world can relate in their hearts and minds and
spirits to the spirit of air dribbling, one thousand million, that is a
billion men and boys of the world can relate to the spirit of ground
dribbling.
Because one in a thousand of the men and the
boys have developed their ability to the point where they can even begin
to relate to the air dribbling I am capable of. They can relate to my
kind of air dribbling as spectators, but not as players.
|
Replique 10.1 psi |
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|
12/15/06
Outdoors rubber outdoor track
surface
|
Ground dribbling drill 155 minutes including 15 minutes breaks... AT3 ground dribbling pattern |
Today I did a new AT3 ground dribbling drill, which is like AT2 except with some of the things on the left reversed to being on the right and vice versa. 144 times I slowly dribbled 20
yds towards the base of the padded tackle football goalpost, while
doing the AT3 pattern, then walked the 20 yds back to the starting point.
At first a light at the field provided some artificial light in the
post-sunset evening; after that it was dimness, without artificial
lighting. When it became dim, I could still see the white soccer ball,
certainly well enough for ground dribbling, but my performance declined, I
began to make errors, I would get to a point in the pattern and forget
what I was supposed to do next.
I take it this is significant that this kind
of drill is a drill wherein performance declines in dim light even though
dim light is sufficient to clearly see a white soccer ball. To me it seems
the drill requires alot of concentration, and this level of concentration
declines as the dimness of night relaxes the mind and the
body.
So today that was 2880 yds covered
doing a complex ground dribble pattern, which is 1.64 miles, plus about
2.05 miles walked in between each 20 yd ground dribbling run.
I watched my odometer while driving 0.2 miles
tonight, 1.64 miles is a huge distance to cover doing a complex difficult
dribbling pattern.
The first 40 or so attempts this
evening, I covered the 20 yds of each ground dribbling run at a
snail's pace. It was so easy to, at a point in the ground
dribble pattern, suddenly forget what came next, or get
the ball slightly out of control. I could tell when the ball got out of
control because I know every ball movement and foot movement in the
pattern. The pattern is repeated about 3 times over the 20 yds. This
was a new pattern I had never done before.
By the end of the practice I sometimes noted
that I was doing things that I had previously not been skilled enough to
do that could be a part of variations on the AT1 AT2 AT3 ground
dribbling drills theme.
The 144 runs in 140 minutes, 1.01 runs per
minute that I did today, I did having set myself the goal that I would do
144 runs this evening and then quit.
When I set myself the goal of practicing for
a given amount of time regardless of how many runs I did my rate
was only 0.8 runs per minute. The runs practice was of a higher more
intense quality today, the quitting time being after a certain number of
runs had been executed, not after a certain number of minutes had
expired.
There is
some kind of magic in exercising outdoors in the winter. I guess
I let winter depress me too much, I feel and act as if
winter is as bad as a broken leg for my life as an athlete. Seems I
irrationally feel and act as if there is no such thing as improving
oneself as an athlete by practicing outdoors in the winter. Maybe because
when I was growing up in Chicago without a YMCA nearby, the snow and the
ice and the blustery biting windchill of the Chicago winters meant the end
of me as an athlete for a while.
Today I noticed how the stepover feint move
in which the ball is not touched, is related to the moving the ball
by hitting it on its top with the sole of the foot like Ronaldo of
Brazil. A couple of times this evening attempting a stepover I
accidentally brushed the ball on its top with the sole of my foot and
moved it in the direction I was faking towards with the stepover.
A wise policy might be, to develop the
ability to kick the ball when dribbling it in a given direction, in such
fashion that your movements are the same as they are when you fake in that
direction, by working on changing the way you kick the ball when
actually moving in a given direction, as opposed to working on changing
the way you move your body when you feint in that
direction.
|
Replique |
Forgot to measure and inflate before the drills;
ball was at 9.4 psi |
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| 12/15-18/06 |
PLANNING FOR DRILLS
psychological challenge of
insult
|
Approaching the ground dribbling pattern like
an air dribbling officer appointed to lead the ground dribbling campaign,
I have been very thoughtful about it, kept detailed voluminous records
regarding every practice.
The experience has confirmed for me my
hypothesis that one can be to a surprising degree, fruitfully thoughtful
when it comes to ground dribbling. In the relatively mundane ground
dribbling department of life, once you put a little thought into the
ground dribbling subject, the subject of ground dribbling becomes more
complex than you first thought it would be.
I have the past three days spent several
hours just thinking about ground dribbling, trying to come up with good
ideas.
The good ideas that I came up with, is that I
should devise a ground dribbling pattern, call it ATO for
All-Time-Opposites (drills that are opposites of drills based on a study
of the all-time great players), which is the opposite of a
feinting-type ground dribbling pattern I have done so far, in the sense
that where a given movement with the ball is feinted in the feinting-type
ground dribbling pattern, in the pattern's ATO opposite the movement
is actually executed.
In other words if at a given point I feint
left in a feinting-type ground dribbling pattern that practices
feints, in in the ATO opposite I actually go left with the ball, do the
thing that I pretend to do in the AT1 AT2 or AT3 feinting-practice
ground dribbling drills.
I quickly realized that if I took the actual
movement opposite of each feint in a feinting drill I had
devised, and simply strung these together one after the other in the
same order that the feints they were opposites of were ordered in the
feinting drill, I would end up with a crazy footwork and ball movement
pattern that was unworkable because it is physically impossible for
certain movements to come after other movements; so I altered the order of
the movements but still ended up with a new opposites pattern in which all
the movements done in the feinting drill, were not feinted but actually
executed.
Next thing is to go out and do this new
ATO opposites pattern.
A psychological challenge I face, is how do
you deal with being the best player on the field, and not being picked
first in a pick-up soccer game? Everyone who was ever a boy knows what a
pick-up game is, it is two captains, each taking turns choosing a
player from all the players there so as to end up with two teams;
not polite like Latin Ams lining up in a long line with then the
first in line going left the second in line going right etc.
If you are worth a million dollars a year as
a pro, and you go out to play in an amateur pick-up game, and they pick
teams, and you are not picked first out of all the guys, are they not,
that is those who do not pick you first, being like vandals? It is as if
you had a home worth 5 million dollars and someone came along and burnt it
down and you did not have insurance to cover the loss.
How do you psychologically deal with that
kind of insult? Seems to me, the way to deal with it is to look upon it as
the kind of problem that for some reason will unavoidably occur at some
point, and realizing that letting such insults harmlessly bounce off of
one's psychological armor is part of the challenge of being a good player
the same way being a good air dribbler is part of the challenge of being a
good player.
I figure, just experiment around, maybe go
with using some "personality", implementing a personality in your own mind
like Captain Relaxo or Captain Funn, find out what kind of mental
attitudes serve as armor against the stress of insult.
|
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|
January 7 2007
630-
750 pm
waltham ymca |
Ground dribble drills |
I could see this evening, how these ground dribble drills improve me as a dribbler. The tight intricate choreographed pattern has resulted in my moves towards the ball taking into account the possibility that the move towards the ball might be a feint and taking into account what might come after the move towards the ball or after the feint. This improves what happens after the feint or after the move towards the ball. The more primitive form of dribbler, when he kicks the ball while dribbling moves his body in a way that does not take into account what will happen after he kicks the ball or what will happen if he turns the kick into a feint, or what will happen after the feint if a feint is executed, when the body is moved towards the ball to kick the ball. There were a couple of impressive tall white
father and son teams practicing basketball while I did the ground
dribbling drills. I thought I heard one of the dads say re me, "He's
tricky".
So there you have it, even when you do not do
any air dribbling you can look like a tricky player, even when doing
simply individual drills.
The 80 minute workout was tiring. My reaction
was, my, I am out of shape. But it was 1600 yds of intricate ground
dribbling and 1600 yds of walking, which is a long way in the outdoors, if
you judge by your odometer as you drive.
|
Replque |
psi 6.00 to simulate conditions on indoor and
outdoor fields |
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|
Jan 8 2007
Waltham Y
420-617 PM |
(rainbow kick)
Rear Aerial flip up 30 min; stationary pick up 19/15 rear aerial flip on run 10 min; ground dribble drills 77 minutes 90
20 yd runs |
Started off reinvestigating question of flipping the ball up behind your back and then heeling it forward up to above your head and in front of you. In 30 minutes I succeeded in doing this 19 times using my left heel to heel the ball forward, and 0 times using my right heel to heel the ball forward. I alternated between left heeled and right heeled attempts for 30 minutes. Sort of astounding that I could do this 19 times with my left heel in 15 minutes of attempts. 19 times, I while stationary rolled the ball up the rear of my left foot, and then heeled the ball to up over my head and in front of me with the heel of my left foot, which hit the ball while it was behind me to up above me and in front of me. I suprised myself with my performance it was a world record for me at
this flip up behind back type of thing. I've tried doing this flip up a
few times always concluded that I was not good enough at it to pursue it.
About 20 years ago I saw on boy at the Gilmore playground in Waltham
who was grade school age, he could run at a ball that was moving forward,
trap it between his front and rear foot roll it up the rear of a calf and
heel it forward; I said to myself, I could not equal this
child-deity, what is the use in me pursuing this skill the child-deity of
this skill so excelled me in? But that child-deity may have had certain
weaknesses as an athlete and maybe this skill of rolling the ball up the
rear of the other foot's calf and then heeling it forward with that foot's
heel, is a skill that children are naturally better at.
But Still, in 10 minutes of attempts I was never able to grab
the ball between the heel of my left foot and the inside of my right foot,
and roll it up the rear of my left calf, and then heel it with my left
heel, when the ball was moving forward as I attempted to do this.
The tactical question becomes is there any advantage in this move
featuring the ball when stationary being flipped up behind the back and
heeled out to in front and above my head. I can already flip the ball up
in the air by rolling it backwards with my left foot, then flipping it up
with my left foot, and then kicking it with my left foot, all with the
ball in front of me.
My estimate is that it is significant that with the rear
heel flip the ball is flipped up from a point 2 yds further back than
it is with the front flip up of the ball; with the rear heel flip the body
stands between the ball and the defense as the ball starts its ascent; the
rear heel flip can get the ball to a certain elevation at a point nearer
my head than the front flip up. My estimate is that it would be key, to
know at what time the rear flip should be used and at what time the front
flip should be used.
After the flip I did 90 runs starting at 500 PM with 90 mins gym time
left--I promised myself that I would stay till 630 or stay until I did 90
20 yd runs. I was motivated to get the 90 20 yd runs done fast and so the
practice was brisk and intense and efficient. It was more intense than the
boy's basketball. I got done at 617 PM with the 90 runs so to speak
got out of school 13 minutes early my reward for hustling. I think the
father in the father and son team that re=appeared
while I was practicing today, today muttered something to his son
about how I am getting fast at doing the intricate ground dribble pattern
drill I thought he described as "tricky" yesterday. The dad and his kid
were both today wearing yellow shirts with Marquette written on them
referring I suppose to Marquette university. I think both of them were
wearing Marquette shirts maybe it was only one of them. Marquette
university I think, is some university in Wisconsin.
|
replique |
est 6.0 psi |
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|
Jan 10 07
Wednesday Waltham Y |
ground dribble drills
rainbow kick drills
rainbow kicks 30
minutes |
Did rainbow kicks until 10 executed
succesfully, then marked how long it took to do the 10.
Ball dribbled 3-4 yds, stopped, Rainbow
kick commenced
Results in rainbow kick: 10/12; 10/16;
10/10.
Then did 60 20 yd ground dribble pattern runs
in 42 minutes. Made deal with self, I would end the ground dribble pattern
runs after 60 were run.
|
Replique approx 3.5 psi. |
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|
Jan 11 07
Thursday
Waltham Y |
Rainbow kick drills.
60 minutes
|
Rainbow kick drill Decided that henceforth, a rainbow kick would
count as a success only if it ended with the ball in front of me where my
body was after the kick. The body moves forward a couple of yards in
between the start of the roll of the ball up the back of the heel and the
end of the follow through of the kick.
Again count time to do 10 kicks successfully.
Dribbled ball 3-4 yds, stopped, started rainbow kick.
Results successful kicks/minutes taken to do
them:
10/16; 10/11; 10/13 heel-in; 10/11; 10/13
heel-in; 10/6.
Heel-in means with left heel that kicks ball
up and over pointing towards right side of body, right leg.
The first day it was 19/15 minutes, taking
lots of time, stationary start, no dribble and then stop before start of
rainbow kick. Next day I was dribbling short ways stopping trying to be
quick about starting the rainbow kick, but counting kicks that got beyond
the start point but not beyond the body as successes. Third day today,
only rainbow kicks ending with ball clearly in front of body at end of
follow through of kick counted as successes, some quickness about
launching the kick after stopping the ball sometimes. 10/6 is a 25 per 15
rate compared to 19 per 15 the first day. A 32% improvement over 3 days of
practice gives cause for hope at this rate iof approx ten percent
improvement daily in a week I would be up to 40 per 15 minutes,
which is close to success on every attempt.
Still without the counting it feels as if
progress is painfully slow.
The gym was scheduled to be open till 1 PM,
at which time PS basketball is supposed to start; the basketballers
commandeered it for full court at 1245 PM. Prior to that they played half
court basketball and one of them, with a gray mustache gray shirt and
booming voice, complained to me about my soccer ball rolling in to their
basketball game. he claimed open gym meant basketball, which is false
because time set aside specifically for basketball and open gym are two
different things.
One of the basketballers, a tallish skinny
yellow haired clean shaven one, muttered to me saying "Germany loves
you"...in a girlish tone of voice. I'm fairly sure this
happened.
|
Replique
at 8 psi for rainbow
drill |
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|
Jan 11 07
Waltham Y
444-635 PM |
AFTER 105 MINUTES, RAINBOW KICK
BREAKTHROUGH
111 minutes
Rainbow move |
Did segments seeing how many minutes it would
take to have 10 successes. Kept count of stars--a star for a success that
was such that I could after rainbow-kicking the ball get a part of my body
on it. Results were, successes-minutes-stars:
S=heel straight
B=heel bent inwards
10 10 2 S
10 10 3 B
10 8 7 S
10 9 9 B
10 8 8 S
10 11 7 B
10 10 9 S
10 11 10 B
10 11 9 S
Retrospectively Jan 8 was 15 minutes
19/15 stationary pickup; Jan 10 30 minutes 10/10 10/12 10/16;
January 11 morning was 10/16; 10/11; 10/13 heel-in; 10/11; 10/13 heel-in;
10/6; and Jan 11 afternoon was suddenly 10 10 2; 10 10 3; 10 8 7; 10 9 9;
10 8 8 ; 10 11 7; 10 10 9; 10 11 10; 10 11 9 with a huge number of stars
whereas previously there had been no stars.
How many successes there are per 10 minutes
can be inaccurate for example this afternoon, the successes and the
retrieval of the ball were more time consuming type successes and
retrievals; today I was quicker doing the rainbow kick on each kick, but
quickness reduces the success rate though it is a trait I want to
develop.
The truly amazing thing this afternoon was
that whereas in the previous 105 minutes doing the rainbow kick, the first
105 minutes doing the kick not counting what was done several years ago
for a few hours, in the first 105 minutes there were zero stars, a
star being the rainbow kick depositing the ball somewhere where I can
reach it with a legal part of my body before it hits the ground. But this
afternoon there were suddenly 64 stars! (ed. note: 64/90 71%)
This afternoon the rainbow kicks were depositing the ball
where I could reach it with my head, foot or thigh before it hit the
ground.
Possible reasons for this sudden dramatic
improvement that that successes/minute stat does not capture: practicing
twice in a day produces great skill in the second practice of the day; the
psychological impact of wearing soccer socks shin pads and ankle
protectors as I did this afternoon for the first time; the physical impact
of the soccer socks shin pads and ankle protector the way the physically
effect the ball when the rainbow kick is executed.
I have learned that problems such as the
rainbow kick problem are solved by applying all the power of your mind to
the problem. My mind told me, that every day gym socks tend to reach only
five inches above the ankle but soccer socks reach almost to the knee, and
that this effects the ability to do the rainbow kick in which the right
foot rolls the ball up the rear of the left calf after which the left heel
heels the ball forward. I realized that the presence of shin pads also
effects the way the sock stretches in the rear calf area.
The number of rainbow kicks that was a
success every ten minutes was not dramatically different but the quality
of th successes was dramatically different this afternoon. I would
say this afternoon wearing the soccer socks over the shin pads, my
accuracy was 100% better than it was in the first 105 minutes, for a span
of about 111 minutes of enhanced accuracy.
Whereas yesterday there was 1 success every
1.3 minutes, this afternoon the rate was
1 success every 1.0 minutes, which does not
take into account the quality of the successes.
Today the 1st 5 attempts of the day were all
successes. At 545 PM a star success led to a 10 yd air dribble. At 625
PM and again at 628 PM a starred success led to a 20 yd air dribble.
At 631 PM a starred success led to a 12 yd air dribble.
The history of it so far is 105 minutes of
mediocrity to start, then suddenly 111 minutes of class, a 100%
improvement over 216 minutes 3.6 hours.
As for getting discouraged over the fact that
20 years ago this little boy was far superior to me at rainbow kicking the
ball, the fact remains that that little boy is the only player out of
hundreds I have seen, Latins, preppies, you name it, who showed mastery
over the rainbow kick--he is the only player who showed me that he could
consistently succeed doing the rainbow kick. Except for now out of these
hundreds there is not just him, but me also!
They yap about the rainbow kick alot, they
put up videos on youtube of them doing the rainbow kick. The vids do not
reveal how many times they fail for every success. The vids never show the
rainbow kick ending up right in front of the kicker so the kicker hits it
again before it hits the ground. On the internet a wiseguy declared that
the rainbow kick is easy to do. If it is so easy to do, then how come
nobody can do it? Seems Roberto Carlos, and Maradona, and also some Muslim
player this year are the rare hard to find type that actually successfully
use the rainbow kick in games but I have never seen a clip of a player
using the rainbow kick successfully in a game.
|
Replique 9.0 psi |
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|
Jan 12
Waltham Y
437-613 PM |
Rainbow Kick drills 100 minutes |
Wor e soccer shin guards ankle guards under long soccer sock. Dribbled 3 yds stopped ball before starting
Rainbow Kick
Alternated between quick Rainbow kick and
slow rainbow kick, after a success the next attempt was always a quick
rainbow kick
Results for the segments, each segment
lasting till 10 successful rainbow kicks were done, in terms of
successes/minutes/starred successes were as follows:
10 9 4 Straight heel
10 11 6 heel bent inwards
10 12 4 heel straight
10 15 7 heel straight
10 10 3 heel bent in
9 12 5 heel straight
Today six of the attempts ended with long air
dribbles averaging approx 20 yds featuring 1 bounce the entire time;
and 8 of the attempts resulted in air dribbles averaging 15 yds in length
with the ball never touching the ground from the time it was hit with the
heel in the rainbow kick onwards. That is something cool like that
happening once every 7 minutes.
Today I wore green socks yesterday I wore
orange today I was not the equal of what I was yesterday this was the
first practice of the day for me today yesterday I was a star in the
second practice of the day for me.
It took longer to get a set of 10 successes
done today and less of them were starred successes featuring me reaching
the ball after the rainbow kick before the ball hit the ground.
But each rainbow kick took more time
because the record keeping was more detailed, more things worth recording
happened, the average attempt consumed more seconds in terms of the length
of the attempt and in terms of retrieving the ball and in terms of energy
spent on the attempt. Also I was trying to be quick about getting the
rainbow kick done quickly more today.
I succeeded in consistent success
with the quick-launch versions of the rainbow kicks today. Prior to today
I was not confident the quick-launch would consistently generate results.
Let's face it in games there is a problem of being rushed about doing
things.
Quick launch rainbow kicks have a lower
success rate than slow launch ones.
A man working with a few grade school boys
said to them re me, "and then the air dribble". I was tacking on air
dribbles to the rainbow kicks more today but a lesser percentage of the
rainbow kick attempts were successes or stellar successes.
Thus today only 41% of the successes were
stellar successes whereas yesterday,
64% of the successes were stellar successes.
An angel fallen not all the way to earth, but the half fallen one travels
the long distances on air dribble subsequent to the rainbow kick
start.
When I rainbow kick the ball, the
ball after being hit by the heel travels chip style in a high arc often 8
yds, often as far as 10 yds before hitting the ground. These are
not little kicks featuring the ball traveling just 2 or 3 yds. I actually
hit the ball with the heel of the foot, the ball is not touching my left
leg immediately before I hit it with my left heel. By way of contrast at
() the clip shows Mr Know It All sort of rolling or throwing the ball with
his heel the ball is in contact with the back of the calf immediately
before the heel hits it does not travel very far.
Rainbow kick
clips:
ball travels only 3 yds player underleads
herself gets out ahead of ball on follow through after rainbow kick. I
would not count this attempt a success if such happened to me in terms of
my stats keeping.
This guy is throwing the ball with his
feet not kicking it. The ball goes way out to the side he cannot reach it
before it bounces. I would score this as a success, but not a stellar
success, I would not be proud of it but since it gets above the kicker
and also in front it is technically a success.
This guy also seems to be throwing the ball
with his foot. When the ball is kicked not thrown there is
more unpredictability, more range, more
options. Technically what he does here would count as a star success
because he reaches it before it hits the ground. Note however the
process of keeping the ball up turns him around in the direction he
started from; and the ball only travels 3 yds from the point at which the
rainbow kick is started.
This would count as a success not a star
success the ball bounces before he reaches it. Note the ball after being
heeled only travels3 yds max, so he awkardly has to cringe and lean back
to enable the ball to get ahead of him after he rainbow-kicks
it.
What this guy does would count as a success
not a star success the ball hits the ground before he reaches it after the
rainbow kick. Note how the ball only travels 3 yds at a low
trajectory
If I did what this boy does here I would not
count it a success he has to turn around to catch the ball he gets in
front of the ball the ball only travels about 3 yds at a low
arc.
His rainbow kick here I would count as a star
success in my record keeping. He gets the ball out and in front of himself
and reaches it before it hits the ground. On soft grass he then executes a
bicycle kick incredibly. The bicycle kick after the rainbow kick is very
cool, but nobody used the bicycle kick at the 06 world cup, the amount of
time and energy that goes into mastering it, combined with the physical
beating the body takes mastering it, makes mastering it seem not worthwile
to alot of players.
This rainbow kick only travels 2 yds the
kicker has to turn completely around his rainbow kick underleads his own
self it would not count as a success in my book. I dont have this problem
of underleading myself though.
This guy gets a rainbow kick out about 5 yds
in front of himself it would count a success in my book but not a star
success because he does not reach it before it hits the
ground.
What this expert illustrates is throwing the
ball with the heel not kicking it with the heel. the ball ends up
traveling about a yard forward only, barely reaches 7 feet in height at
the apex of its arc, the kicker has to sort of cringe and lean back
to let it land in front of him, in my book what he does here would be a
success but not star success but I would not be proud of it
anyway.
I have a range of 10 yds with my rainbow
kick. That is about 75 square yds area circle. If your range is only 3 yds
with the rainbow kick, that is only about 27 square yds area circle that
is where you can reach with your rainbow kick. |
Replique 8.0 psi |
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|
Jan 13 07
525-716 PM |
111 minutes
rainbow kick
|
Wore soccer shin guards ankle guards under
long green soccer sock.
Dribbled 3 yds stopped ball before starting
Rainbow Kick
Alternated between quick Rainbow kick and
slow rainbow kick, after a success the next attempt was always a quick
rainbow kick
Results for the segments, each segment
lasting till 10 successful rainbow kicks were done, in terms of
successes/minutes/starred successes were as follows:
10 12 4 Straight heel
10 12 8 heel bent inwards
10 11 9 heel straight
10 13 5 heel bent inwards
10 11 7 heel straight
10 9 8 heel bent in
10 11 7 heel straight
10 11 7 heel bent
Thus yesterday 41% of the successes were
stellar successes, day before yesterday,
64% of the successes were stellar successes;
and today, 55/80 or 69% of the successes were stellar successes. In
terms of the average number of minutes it took to get 10 successes done,
the figures were: Jan 11 9.8 minutes, Jan 12 11.5 mins, Jan 13
11.25 mins.
Today FIVE of the attempts ended with
long air dribbles averaging approx 15 yds featuring 1 bounce the
entire time; and ELEVEN of the attempts resulted in air dribbles
averaging 12 yds in length with the ball never touching the ground from
the time it was hit with the heel in the rainbow kick onwards.
That is something cool like that happening once every 6
minutes. Yesterday Jan 12 there was something cool once every 7
minutes. Jan 11 the big day with the orange socer socks something cool
happened once every 29 minutes.
But Jan 11 the first day with the soccer socks, the orange ones,
seems to excel the subsequent days because after Jan 11 my expectations
for myself suddenly got higher.
Depressingly the mystery is will I ever be consistent enough with
this rainbow kick thing to use it in a game? I would have to be at least
95 percent consistent with it in practice. This is the reason there are
moves that look cool, that kids get obsessed over, that are done in
practice but not in games--the consistency percent of attempts succesfully
executed is too low; the consistency gets too low when the move is done as
quickly as it needs to be done in a game; the accuracy of where the ball
goes is not accurate enough for game conditions.
|
Repllique 9.0 psi |
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|
Sunday
Jan 14 07
Waltham Y
1245-244 PM |
Rainbow Kick drills
9 sets of 10 |
Wore soccer shin guards ankle guards under long green soccer socks. Dribbled 3 yds stopped ball before starting
Rainbow Kick.
Alternated between quick Rainbow kick and
slow rainbow kick, after a success the next attempt was always a quick
rainbow kick
Results for the segments, each segment
lasting till 10 successful rainbow kicks were done, in terms of
successes/minutes/starred successes were as follows:
10 9 8 Straight heel
10 11 6 heel bent inwards
10 12 7 heel straight
10 14 4 heel bent inwards
10 8 6 heel straight
10 8 9 heel bent in
10 7 6 heel straight
10 10 6 heel bent
10 9 8 heel straight
Starred success means after rainbow kick I
got to ball before it hit ground.
Thus today Jan 14 60/90 67% of the successes
were stars. Jan 11 64% of the successes were stellar successes;
Jan 12 41% of the successes were stellar successes, and
yesterday Jan 13 saturday, 55/80 or 69% of the successes were stellar
successes.
In terms of the average number of minutes it
took to get 10 successes done, the figures were: Jan 11 9.8
minutes, Jan 12 11.5 mins, Jan 13 11.25 mins. Jan 14 9.8
minutes.
Today there were subsequent to the
rainbow kick, tacked on to the rainbow kick, 9 air dribble runs featuring
one bounce in between the heel hitting the ball on the rainbow kick and
the end of the run; these runs averaged 15 yds in
length.
Today there were subsequent to the
rainbow kick, tacked on to the rainbow kick, 15 air dribble runs
featuring zero bounces of the ball in between the heel hitting
the ball on the rainbow kick and the end of the air-dribble run;
these runs averaged 15 yds in length also.
Thus today there were 24 runs in 90 minutes,
cool runs featuring an air dribble of 15 yds after the rainbow kick with
the ball touching the ground once or less than once over the course of the
15 yd air dribble run.
That is something cool like that
happening once every 3.5 minutes.
Jan 13 saturday, something cool
happened once every six minutes--FIVE of the attempts ended with long air
dribbles averaging approx 15 yds featuring 1 bounce the entire
time; and ELEVEN of the attempts resulted in air dribbles averaging
12 yds in length with the ball never touching the ground from the time it
was hit with the heel in the rainbow kick onwards. Jan 12 there
was something cool once every 7 minutes. Jan 11 the big day with the
orange soccer socks something cool happened once every 29
minutes. Thus predictably I am getting flashier
and flashier doing this drill, the flashiness coming from what is tacked
on after the rainbow kick, such as an air dribble run the width of the
gym. My flashiness improved by 42% Jan 14 compared to Jan 13; it improved
14% Jan 13 compared to Jan 12. The average
flashiness improvement is 28% per day. At this rate of improvement, I will
be doing something cool and flashy once a minute, after just 4 more days
of practice.
Pooh-pooh it not as merely post-rainbow kick
flash. The rainbow kick itself is a problem child in the sense that it is
so difficult to be consistent and accurate with it, and furthermore the
results are relatively disastrous when a rainbow kick is mis-kicked. Thus
if in the end the rainbow kick were to be not even used once in a game,
the flashiness that I tack on to the rainbow kick can still continue to be
used in a game.
There are better ways to get the ball in the
air to start an air dribble than the rainbow kick.
When the rainbow kick is practiced the result
is pain in the soles of the feet.
The rainbow kick takes plenty of time to
execute properly.
But the masses see it as a sign of
royalty.
If I never get consistent enough to use the
rainbow kick in a game, I will still in a game be faced with situation
similar to the very difficult situation that is created when I have to
handle the ball after I rainbow kick it to continue the air dribble.
There are real advantages to the rainbow kick
if you can do it quickly and consistently and accurately enough. It
(rainbow kick) can get the ball to an elevation of 7 feet
just one yard in front of the player making the rainbow kick. It, the
rainbow kick, can send the ball to a certain spot in
front of the player making the rainbow kick, at a different angle and at a
different speed, and with more surprise, than would be the case if the
player were to flip the ball up by rolling it backwards on to his
shoelaces with the foot in front of his body.
The key rainbow-kick problem is consistency.
The best measure of this is the 9.8 minutes it took to get an average set
of 10 done today. I do not keep track of the number of attempts as yet I
want to encourage a brisk fast paced energetic workout with lots of
attempts and a minimum and moping about thoughtfully in between attempts.
I estimate that if every attempt came out perfectly it would take 7
minutes to get the 10 rainbow kicks done. Today I improved by 13% in terms
of average minutes taken to complete a set of 10 rainbow
kicks.
Yesterday I improved by 2% in terms of
average minutes taken to complete a set of 10 rainbow kicks. That is an
average over the two days of 7.5%. At this rate it would take me 6
more days to get to the point where 95% of my rainbow kick attempts are
successes.
But it seems like it would take me six years
to become gameworthily consistent. Progress seems slow, I seriously
doubt that I will ever be consistent enough with the rainbow kick to use
it in a game.
Today this brown haired clean shaven husky
white guy about six feet two inches tall, who sported a large protuberant
belly, was supervising a few boys playing basketball. The curtain was not
drawn so they were watching while I was on a streak of doing lots of cool
things every ten minutes, despite the pain I felt in my feet and in my
lower right front shin (due to the ankle protectors that came with the
shinguards??). He looked at me like a fan looking at a star. He shouted
out, "I'll take him!", I did not know exactly what he meant. He looked at
the boys he was with as if he was wondering if their proximity to me was
registering an impact upon them that was similar to the impact I was
having on him. The boys looked sort of dumbfounded, awestruck, sort of
with blank looks on their face.
And some Latin grade school boys, hispanics,
showed up to sit and watch intently for a few minutes. I did a rainbow
kick that I controlled with my foot after heeling the ball over my
shoulder, the ball went five yds in front of me, I ran forward to get it
with my foot. One of the hispanic boys jumped in the air and pumped his
fist in the air and shouted "Yea!" after this happened. And as I in a sort
of daze dimly perceived these spectator reactions I was thinking that
these Americans do not seem to realize how the inconsistency of the
rainbow kick that they are so impressed with, renders it quite impractical
for use in games.
I like to note down spectator or
fellow-athlete reactions because then I know that this level of competence
will produce this kind of reaction in onlookers, that level of competence
will produce that kind of reaction in onlookers.
I want to experiment with following combos:
just socks; socks and shinguards; socks and ankleguards. I have been
wearing socks, shin-guards, and also ankle-guards all three. The elastic
ankle guards, built like socks without a toe or a heel, reduce the
flexibility of the ankle. I have been feeling pain in the soles of the
feet and in the right lower shin, I suspect the ankle-guards and right
shin-guard as causes.
|
Replique 9.0 psi
|
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|
Jan 14
Waltham Y
641-724 PM
|
Rainbow Kick Drill
2nd practice of day
43 minutes |
As of now aside from the continual periodic
failures with the rainbow kick, the rainbow kick as I am able to
do it now on approx 25% of my attempts, manifests certain tactically
positive potentialities.
On my better attempts I heel the ball out to
a point approx 6 yds in front of where I am standing, bound forward very
quickly, reach the ball with my thigh head or foot before it touches the
ground, and continue moving forward with the ball under control.
These better attempts are not kidding
around and are in certain ways superior to forward air dribbles
initiated through a simple front ball lift. From the time I heel the
ball to the time I touch it again I move extremely quickly like a sprinter
at top speed, and the ball moves to the point I reach it at quickly also.
On these better attempts the ball travels approx 6 yds from the time it is
heeled to the time it is reached again, not 3 yds as you see the kids
doing the trick on Youtube and what not. On these better attempts after
the ball is reached it is air dribbled at least another 10 yds. On these
better attempts at least 5 yds is covered between the time the ball is
heeled and the time it is reached again and of course the ball does not
touch the ground between these two occasions.
Sometimes when the ball is catapulted by the
heel out to a point 7 yds in front of me, I can reach it with head thigh
or foot but all I can do is knock it away as in a pass or a shot, albeit
very powerfully given the momentum built from lunging at the ball and the
movement of the rainbow kick.
On these better attempts the ball and the
body both move forward 6 yds very suddenly and unpredictably, and after 6
yds the ball is touched again before it hits the ground. This
forward movement of the ball and the body is faster with the rainbow
kick then it is with a front ball lift rolling the ball back on to the
shoelaces and flipping it up. With the front ball lift, the body is not
put into a position that is optimum for beginning a sprint when it rolls
the ball backwards on to the upper shoelaces part of the shoe. By way of
contrast, with the rainbow kick, at the end of the rainbow kick the body
is put into a position similar to the position the world's fastest
sprinters start in at the beginning of the shortest dashes such as the 60
meter dash.
With the front ball lift there is a moment
during which the ball is rolled backwards when it is plain to all that the
ball is about to be flipped up; with the rainbow kick until the ball is
actually rolled up the back of the heel nobody knows what is about to
happen.
With the front ball lift it is evident to all
in which direction the ball is about to travel; with the rainbow kick the
direction of the ball is initially hidden due to the body of the player
executing the rainbow kick obstructing the view and due to the
mysterious nature of the movement of the ball when it is hit with a heel
moving upwards.
With the rainbow kick due to the angles
involved the ball can go to a point say six yards in front of the player
executing the rainbow kick and two yards above the ground, at a faster
velocity than with the front forward lift followed by a chip.
With the rainbow kick the process of kicking
the ball to a given point is quicker than with the front forward lift.
But with the rainbow kick, there are problems
I have mentioned before such as in terms of quickness of the
kick from the time the ball is placed behind the heel to the time the ball
is rolled up the calf; consistency; accuracy.
Today I:
Wore soccer shin guards ankle guards under long green soccer socks. Dribbled 3 yds stopped ball before starting
Rainbow Kick.
Alternated between quick Rainbow kick and
slow rainbow kick, after a success the next attempt was always a quick
rainbow kick
Results for the segments, each segment
lasting till 10 successful rainbow kicks were done, in terms of
successes/minutes/starred successes were as follows:
10 11 8 Straight heel
10 7 6 heel bent
inwards
10 7 10 heel straight
10 9 9 heel bent inwards
Starred success means after rainbow kick I
got to ball before it hit ground.
Thus today Jan 14 2nd Practice, 33/40 or 83%
of the successes were stars. Jan 14 1st Practice, 60/90 67% of the
successes were stars. Jan 11 64% of the successes were stellar
successes; Jan 12 41% of the successes were stellar
successes, and yesterday Jan 13 saturday, 55/80 or 69% of the
successes were stellar successes.
In terms of the average number of minutes it
took to get 10 successes done, the figures are, today Jan 14 2nd Practice,
8.5 minutes; Jan 11 9.8 minutes, Jan 12 11.5 mins, Jan 13 11.25
mins. Jan 14 9.8 minutes.
Today second practice there were 6 no bounce
air dribble runs averaging 13 yds in length the ball never touching the
ground between the rainbow kick and the end of the air dribble; and today
there was 1 1 bounce air dribble the ball bouncing once between the
rainbow kick and the end of the air dribble that was 12 yds long. That is
7 cool things 1 cool thing happening every 4.9 minutes.
The main thing second practice today the
starred successes were up to 83 percent, the avg time for a 10 rainbow
kick batch was down to 8.5 minutes, these developments show the
possibility of quickly becoming competently consistent in the rainbow
kick.
Five practices have dropped the time for 10
rainbow kicks from 9.8 to 8.5 minutes, 1 13% improvement. At this rate in
10 more practices I would be down to 6 minutes per 10 successful
rainbow kicks, which is what I estimate the time would be if I succeeded
on 95% of the attempts.
The percent of the successes that are starred
is up 29% from 64% Jan 11 to 83% Jan 14. At this rate after five more
practices 100% of the successes will be starred successes me reaching the
ball before it touches the ground after the rainbow kick.
|
Replique 9.0 |
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|
Jan 16
Waltham Y
150-240 |
Rainbow kick drill
50 minutes
|
Wore soccer shin guards but NO ankle guards under long green soccer socks. All the other days with shin guards also wore
the elastic-sock-like ankle guards, today NO ANKLE GUARDS
Dribbled 3 yds stopped ball before starting
Rainbow Kick.
Alternated between quick Rainbow kick and
slow rainbow kick, after a success the next attempt was always a quick
rainbow kick
Results for the segments, each segment
lasting till 10 successful rainbow kicks were done, in terms of
successes/minutes/starred successes were as follows:
10 10 3 Straight heel
BAD 20, AD 15
10 9 5 heel bent inwards
BAD 20
10 8 5 heel straight
AD 15, 10
10 7 7 heel bent
inwards
AD 20, 20
10 5 6 heel
straight
BAD
12
HERE 10 SUCCESSFUL
RAINBOW KICKS IN ONLY 5 MINUTES
Starred success means after rainbow kick I
got to THE ball before it hit ground.
AD means Air Dribble, there was an air
dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards were
travelled with the ball kept in the air but off the ground in between the
time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick and the kick that
signified the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the AD is the
number of yards traveled on the air dribble.
BAD means Bounce Air Dribble, there was
an air dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards
were travelled with the ball kept in the air but bouncing only
once, in between the time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick
and the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the BAD is the number of
yards traveled on the bounce air dribbles.
Thus today Jan 16, 52% of the successes
were starred successes. Jan 14 33/40 or 83% of the
successes were stars. Jan 14 1st Practice, 60/90 67% of the
successes were stars. Jan 11 64% of the successes were stellar
successes; Jan 13 saturday, 55/80 or 69% of the successes were stellar
successes; Jan 12 41% of the successes were stellar
successes.
Today there were 5 no bounce air
dribble runs averaging 15 yds in length the ball never touching the ground
between the rainbow kick and the end of the air dribble; and today there
were 2 1 bounce air dribbles the ball bouncing once between the
rainbow kick and the end of the air dribble these averaged 20 yds in
length. That is 7 cool things 1 cool thing happening every 5.9
minutes.
The main thing today avg time for a
10 rainbow kick batch was down 4% to 8.2 minutes,
I set a personal record of
5 minutes for a 10 rainbow kick batch. My new estimate is if every attempt
is a success you can get 10 done in 4 minutes.
So at this rate of improvement I would get
down to 4 minutes avg per 10 minute batch, perfection, in two
weeks.
Hard to say if performance is superior
without the ankle brace/guards I did without today. Today near the
beginning I added to the no-ankle-guards innovation the innovation of the
standardization of the foot and ball placement prior to the time the ball
is rolled up the rear calf of the left foot with the right foot. After I
did this my percent success rate went up and stayed up.
Retrospectively I find it hard to understand
why I delayed standardizing the foot and ball placement prior to roll-up.
In some ways I suppose while I am doing the workout, concentrating hard on
doing lots of good rainbow kicks, my mind becomes like that of a stupid
drunk.
Previously I looked at the position of the
right foot behind the left heel at the beginning of the roll-up. This is
different from the position of the right foot behind the left heel
immediately prior to the beginning of the roll-up which I standardized
today.
Previously I had adopted the attitude that I
should try to do a perfect roll-up, but that due to the fact I have been
doing mostly quick rainbow kicks as opposed to slow ones the perfect
positioning of the ball prior to roll-up on every roll-up was, I
hyper-fatalistically reasoned, something I would never be able to achieve,
and thus I should be aware of what was happening when the roll-up was
imperfect, be aware that such changes things and try to do a good rainbow
kick anyway.
I suppose that previously things had been
going pretty good, improving pretty well, and I was sort of
superstitiously afraid to standardize the foot and ball positions prior to
roll-up. Or maybe the idea of standardizing the foot and ball positions
prior to roll up simply did not occur to me while the idea of
standardizing the foot and ball positions at the start of roll-up did
occur to me. |
Replique 9.0 psi |
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|
Tuesday
Jan 16
235-520 PM
2nd Practice
of Day |
Rainbow kick
45 mins
|
Wore soccer shin guards but NO ankle guards under long green soccer socks. 2nd practice in row NO ANKLE
GUARDS
Dribbled 3 yds stopped ball before starting
Rainbow Kick.
Alternated between quick Rainbow kick and
slow rainbow kick, after a success the next attempt was always a quick
rainbow kick
Results for the segments, each segment
lasting till 10 successful rainbow kicks were done, in terms of
successes/minutes/starred successes were as follows:
10 8 7 Straight heel
BAD 20, AD 15
10 5 10 heel bent
inwards
BAD 15, 15, 15
AD 12
10 RB Kicks in 5
minutes, ALL 10 STARS
10 7 9 heel straight
BAD 15
10 7 9 heel bent
inwards
AD 20, 15, 15, 12, 12
5 COOL THINGS IN 7
MINUTES this segment, 1 COOL THING PER 1.4 MINUTES
Starred success means after rainbow kick I
got to THE ball before it hit ground.
AD means Air Dribble, there was an air
dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards were
travelled with the ball kept in the air but off the ground in between the
time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick and the kick that
signified the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the AD is the
number of yards traveled on the air dribble.
BAD means Bounce Air Dribble, there was
an air dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards
were travelled with the ball kept in the air but bouncing only
once, in between the time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick
and the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the BAD is the number of
yards traveled on the bounce air dribbles.
Thus today Jan 16 2ND practice, ,
88% of the successes were starred successes, a new personal
record. Earlier 1st practice Jan 16 52% of the
successes were starred successes. Jan 14 33/40 or 83% of the
successes were stars. Jan 14 1st Practice, 60/90 67% of the
successes were stars.Jan 13 saturday, 55/80 or 69% of the successes were
stellar successes; Jan 12 41% of the successes were stellar
successes, and Jan 11 64% of the successes were stellar
successes.
In terms of the average number of minutes it
took to get 10 successes done, the figures are: Jan 16 2nd practice
6.75 minutes; Jan 16 1st practice 8.2 minutes; Jan 14
2nd Practice, 8.5 minutes; Jan 11 9.8 minutes, Jan 12 11.5 mins,
Jan 13 11.25 mins. Jan 14 9.8 minutes.
Today this second practice there
were 7 no bounce air dribble runs averaging 15 yds in length the ball
never touching the ground between the rainbow kick and the end of the air
dribble; and today this second practice there were 5 1
bounce air dribble the ball bouncing once between the rainbow kick and the
end of the air dribble these averaged 15 yds in length. That
is 12 cool things 1 cool thing happening every 2.25 minutes another
new personal record.
One of the
main things today second practice avg time for a 10 rainbow kick
batch was down 18% to 6.75 minutes.
I was down 4% 1st practice, 18% 2nd practice
today for average batch time. Average of these two is 11%. So
at this 11% per practice rate of improvement I would get down to 4 minutes
avg per 10 minute batch, perfection, in just 4 days. By way of contrast my
estimate for how long it would take to get to perfection in consistency on
the rainbow kick after the first practice today, was two
weeks.
Throughout the second practice today I
adhered to the innovation of the standardization of the foot and ball
placement prior to the time the ball is rolled up the rear calf of the
left foot with the right foot.
Things are looking up after this practice in
terms of what seemed the hardest task of all, getting to perfect
consistency none of the attempts ever failing to produce an acceptable
rainbow kick.
I estimate as of now, that it is established that a standard for foot
and ball placement prior to rollup improves performance; but the question
of whether the ankle-supporter-guard improves performance is still up in
the air.
Next I want to experiment with wearing the ankle-supporter-guard on
just the left foot; and also on just the right foot. Thing to remember is
that any new technique, piece of equipment on a relevant area of the body,
or removal of piece of equipment on relevant area of the body takes time
getting used to.
I find that these experiments in different ways of doing things take
the pressure off and help me to relax and improve. When some new thing is
being experimented with, I do not feel defeated if I achieve a low score.
I am adhering strictly to the bargains or contracts I make
with myself before practice. If I contract with myself to do 4
batches of 10, even if the 4 batches of 10 get done extremely quickly,
that is the end of the rainbow kick batches practice. Thus I always feel a
zeal, a motivation, about getting the requisite number of rainbow kicks
done quickly, because it makes me feel good to get the practice over with.
It is great fun to get to the point where you are admirably proficient in
the rainbow kick, but it is not fun the stressful tedious hard process of
getting to that admired point. Since I enjoy getting these practices over
with, me knowing that after a given number of rainbow kicks the practice
will be done allows me to harness a natural motivation to succeed. If I
agreed with myself before practice that I would do say six sets of ten
rainbow kicks, and surprised myself by getting the six sets done in just
40 minutes, and then added 3 more sets on the burden of the practice
because the first six sets were done so quickly, this would interfere with
the Pavlovian conditioning I am putting myself through to get myself
motivated to practice intensely and briskly and to succeed with the
rainbow kicks instead of flubbing them up.
Re being admired for doing well in the rainbow kick, with all due
respect to the fans who might be wiser than they seem, since it seems fans
fail to appreciate the shortcomings of the rainbow kick, I was thinking
that a name for a player admired for his rainbow kick such as me might be
"Caesar Rainbogus", as in names such as Caesar Germanicus etc.
Not reflected in the stats the quality and the quickness of the
'stellar' and 'non-stellar' successes is improving. Fact is ;non-stellar'
successes in which the ball bounces before I reach it can produce better
results than 'stellar' successes featuring me reaching the ball before it
hits the ground, after I rainbow kick the ball.
The image at https://www.angelfire.com/ma/vincemoon/22222cr.GIF
shows an estimate of the comparison between a rainbow kick traveling to
six yds in front of the player, and a front lifted front kick traveling to
the same spot. These trajectories are complex a video tape of the two
different ones would be useful.
|
Replique 9.0 psi |
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|
Wednesday
Jan 17
208-252
Waltham Y |
Rainbow Kick Drills 44 mins |
Wore soccer shin guards, ankle guard only on left ankle (I heel ball with left foot when doing rainbow kicks) under long green soccer socks. 1st practice Ankle guard left foot
only
Dribbled 3 yds stopped ball before starting
Rainbow Kick.
Alternated between quick Rainbow kick and
slow rainbow kick, after a success the next attempt was always a quick
rainbow kick
Results for the segments, each segment
lasting till 10 successful rainbow kicks were done, in terms of
successes/minutes/starred successes were as follows:
10 10 7 Straight heel
AD 12, 20
BAD 20
10 7 9 heel bent inwards
BAD 20, 15
AD 12, 12, 20, 15
10 8 7 heel
straight
AD 15 20 15 20
BAD 15 15 15
7 COOL THINGS
IN 8 MINUTES this segment, 1 COOL THING PER 1.1
MINUTES 10 7 7 heel bent
inwards
AD 20, 20, 15
Starred success means after rainbow kick I
got to THE ball before it hit ground.
AD means Air Dribble, there was an air
dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards were
travelled with the ball kept in the air but off the ground in between the
time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick and the kick that
signified the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the AD is the
number of yards traveled on the air dribble. The end point of the air
dribble is the point at which I last touch it before it hits the
ground.
BAD means Bounce Air Dribble, there was
an air dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards
were travelled with the ball kept in the air but bouncing only
once, in between the time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick
and the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the BAD is the number of
yards traveled on the bounce air dribbles. The end point of the air
dribble is the point at which I last touch it before it hits the ground
for the second time.
Thus today Jan 17 1st practice, 75% of
the successes were stars.
Earlier Jan 16 2nd practice, 88% of the
successes were starred successes, a new personal
record. Earlier 1st practice Jan 16 52% of the successes
were starred successes. Jan 14 33/40 or 83% of the successes were
stars. Jan 14 1st Practice, 60/90 67% of the successes were
stars.Jan 13 saturday, 55/80 or 69% of the successes were stellar
successes; Jan 12 41% of the successes were stellar
successes, and Jan 11 64% of the successes were stellar
successes. In terms of the average number of minutes it
took to get 10 successes done, the figures are: Jan 17 1st
practice 8.25 minutes, and earlier:
Jan 16 2nd practice 6.75
minutes; Jan 16 1st practice 8.2 minutes; Jan 14 2nd
Practice, 8.5 minutes; Jan 11 9.8 minutes, Jan 12 11.5 mins,
Jan 13 11.25 mins. Jan 14 9.8 minutes.
Today this second practice there
were 13 no bounce air dribble runs averaging 17 yds in length the
ball never touching the ground between the rainbow kick and the end of the
air dribble; and today this second practice there
were 6 one bounce air dribble runs, the ball bouncing once
between the rainbow kick and the end of the air dribble, these
averaged 17 yds in length also. That is 19
especially cool things 1 cool thing happening every 1.68 minutes
another new personal record.
Throughout this
practice I continued to adhere to the innovation of the standardization of
the foot and ball placement prior to the time the ball is rolled up the
rear calf of the left foot with the right foot.
The big thing this practice was the number of especially cool long
air dribble runs tacked on to the rainbow kick. This validated my
suspicion before I started the practice, which was that wearing the ankle
brace/guard on the left ankle but not on the right ankle, would impair my
performance on the rainbow kick but enhance it in terms of the air
dribble. Seems having the ankle stiffened by a brace/guard helps the foot
deal with the difficult air dribbling tasks generated by the rainbow kick
start.
Generally speaking comparing my rainbow kick, the rainbow kick of
Caesar Rainbogus himself th the rainbow kicks as done by the lowly
plebeians, there are certain differences that the stats do not fully
illustrate.
When Caesar Rainbogus does his Rainbow Kick, he does not awkwardly
look backwards at the ball while doing the rainbow kick. This puts him in
a better position after the rainbow kick is done, compared to the plebes
who look at the ball while doing the kick.
Caesar Rainbogus' rainbow kicks follow a lofty and far path like a
majestic Roman arch, traveling out often up to a point such that if the
ball were allowed to continue unmolested, it would hit the ground ten
yards in front of the point Caesar kicked it with his heel. By way of
contrast the ball travels usually 3 yards when the best of the Plebes do
their rainbow kicks.
Caesar Rainbogus' rainbow kicks follow a path from directly behind
Caesar to directly in front of Caesar, or from directly behind Caesar to a
point between in fighter pilot lingo twelve o clock (straight in front)
and two o clock ( in front a little off to the right). But the best of the
Plebes when they do their rainbow kicks have the ball in a path
starting from to their side, and ending to their side, thus their
bodies are not in a good position to guard the ball or control it during
the course of their lowly rainbow kicks.
Paradox re the ball air pressure, is that the hard ball on the wooden
basketball court floor, rolls around aimlessly randomly too much; but a
softer ball is too different from what is actually used in competition.
The rainbow kick as I execute it, uses both ground dribble and the rolling
up the calf and then kicking it while it is in the air. The ground dribble
part is more realistic with a soft ball but the part that comes after
rolling the ball in the air is more realistic with a hard ball.
|
Replique pumped to 8.0 psi;
was 7.4 psi when I measured it the psi for
the above two dates was just an estimate psi fell from 9 3 days ago to 7.4
psi today. |
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|
Wednesday
Jan 17
510-558 pm
Waltham Y
2nd practice
|
Rainbow kick drills
48 minutes
|
Wore soccer shin guards, ankle guard only on left ankle (I heel ball with left foot when doing rainbow kicks) under long green soccer socks. No ankle guard on right ankle. 2nd practice Ankle guard left
foot only
Dribbled 3 yds stopped ball before starting
Rainbow Kick.
Alternated between quick Rainbow kick and
slow rainbow kick, after a success the next attempt was always a quick
rainbow kick
Results for the segments, each segment
lasting till 10 successful rainbow kicks were done, in terms of
successes/minutes/starred successes were as follows:
10 9 7 Straight heel
BAD 15, 20
10 7 10 heel bent
inwards
BAD 15
AD 20
10 9 7 heel
straight
BAD 15
AD 15
10 9 5 heel bent
inwards
BAD 15 20 15 20 20
AD 20, 20,
10 7 7 heel straight
BAD 20
AD 15 15 15
Starred success means after rainbow kick I
got to THE ball before it hit ground.
AD means Air Dribble, there was an air
dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards were
travelled with the ball kept in the air but off the ground in between the
time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick and the kick that
signified the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the AD is the
number of yards traveled on the air dribble. The end point of the air
dribble is the point at which I last touch it before it hits the
ground.
BAD means Bounce Air Dribble, there was
an air dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards
were travelled with the ball kept in the air but bouncing only
once, in between the time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick
and the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the BAD is the number of
yards traveled on the bounce air dribbles. The end point of the air
dribble is the point at which I last touch it before it hits the ground
for the second time.
Thus today Jan 17 2nd practice, 76% of
the successes were stars.
Earlier Jan 17 1st practice, 75% of the
successes were stars.; Jan 16 2nd practice, 88% of the successes were
starred successes, a new personal record. Earlier 1st
practice Jan 16 52% of the successes were starred successes. Jan
14 33/40 or 83% of the successes were stars. Jan 14 1st
Practice, 60/90 67% of the successes were stars.Jan 13 saturday, 55/80 or
69% of the successes were stellar successes; Jan 12 41% of the
successes were stellar successes, and Jan 11 64% of the
successes were stellar successes. In terms of the average number of minutes it
took to get 10 successes done, the figures are: Jan 17 2nd
practice 8.20 minutes, and earlier:
Jan 17 1st practice 8.25 minutes;
Jan 16 2nd practice 6.75 minutes; Jan 16 1st
practice 8.2 minutes; Jan 14 2nd Practice, 8.5 minutes; Jan 11
9.8 minutes, Jan 12 11.5 mins, Jan 13 11.25 mins. Jan 14 9.8
minutes.
Jan 17 this second practice there
were 7 no bounce air dribble runs averaging 17 yds in length the ball
never touching the ground between the rainbow kick and the end of the air
dribble; and today this second practice there were 10 one
bounce air dribble runs, the ball bouncing once between the rainbow
kick and the end of the air dribble, these averaged 17 yds in length
also. That is 17 especially cool things 1 cool thing
happening every 2.41 minutes. First practice today it was one cool thing
every 1.68 minutes a new personal record.
Standardization of
the foot and ball placement prior to the time the ball is rolled up the
rear calf in effect of course.
Thus overall today looking at both the first
and the second practices of Jan 17, what is evident is that out of 90
successful rainbow kicks that were launched in the two practices, 36 ended
in BAD type or AD type air dribble runs of an average 17 yds; the average
cool thing per minute rate today both practices was one especially
cool thing every 2.0 minutes.
This was Caesar Rainbogus and the two point
zero minute drill.
Yesterday the average of the two practice
sessions for this stat was one cool thing every 4.0 minutes. Jan 12
something cool was happening once every seven minutes. At this rate I
could expect to be down to one cool thing per minute in less than five
days.
The improvement in the number of cool things
per minute stat reflects improved accuracy in terms of where the rainbow
kicks end up. Easily reached and controlled rainbow kicks are more easily
turned into air dribble runs. A rainbow kick that is statistically scored
as a success or a starred success can still be difficult to control after
it has been launched.
A question is, to what extent do these very long air
dribble runs tacked on to the rainbow kick, slow down the number of
attempts per minute and make it look as if the percent success rate is
worse than it actually is?
(I do not count for various reasons already discussed, the number of
attempts). I measure successes per attempts indirectly as successes per
minute. It can take a long time doing a long air dribble run firing off a
shot at the end and retrieving the ball walking all the way back to the
start point.
My estimate as of now is that the ankle guard/brace worn on left
ankle only, produces compared to no ankle guard/brace on either ankle, the
following: flashy air dribble runs tacked on to the rainbow kick, but a
lower statistical percentage success rate in terms of
successful rainbow kicks per attempts to make a successful rainbow kick.
The fact remains that a rainbow kick that is truly successful, not
just statistically successful, a rainbow kick that is
easily controlled once launched, tends to end up as an air dribble
also.
Nevertheless, rainbow kicks that once launched position the ball in a
a position wherein the only option is to fire off a shot or a pass can
also be tactically useful. The nature of the rainbow kick is such that
following a rainbow kick, you can get off a very powerful shot from a
surprising new position and new angle (compared to prior to the
rainbow kick), a shot which follows a surprising trajectory, and that is
fired off very quickly with little wind-up of the body. Likewise following
a rainbow kick you can get off passes full of distance, power surprise and
quickness.
|
estimate 8.0 same as above not measured. |
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|
Thursday
Jan 18
533-747 PM
Waltham Y |
Rainbow Kick/
Air Dribble Drills
|
Wore soccer shin guards, ankle guard only on RIGHT ankle (I heel ball with left foot when doing rainbow kicks) under long white soccer socks. No ankle guard on left ankle. 1st practice Ankle guard
left foot only
Dribbled 3 yds stopped ball before starting
Rainbow Kick.
Alternated between quick Rainbow kick and
slow rainbow kick, after a success the next attempt was always a quick
rainbow kick
Results for the segments, each segment
lasting till 10 successful rainbow kicks were done, in terms of
successes/minutes/starred successes were as follows:
10 7 8 Straight
heel
AD 20, 15
10 7 8 heel bent
inwards
10 7 9 heel
straight
AD 15, 12, 12, 15
10 8 10 heel bent
inwards
AD 20 12 15 12
15
BAD 20, 20,
10 8 10 heel straight
AD 12, 20, 20
10 5 10 heel
bent
AD 15 15 20 20.
Half way through this segment I collided with
an approx first grade level boy, who was playing in the curtains that
divide the two side of the gym. Time after time I have told the kids not
to play in the curtain, because then they cannot see others and others
cannot see them.
The boy screamed and screamed and screamed,
to me it sounded as if he was hamming it up. I just continued with the
practice. After screaming for five minutes the boy was suddenly perfectly
normal and unhurt, completely healed.
I got a rush of adrenaline from the injustice
of the idea that people such as myself should be prevented from practicing
soccer during open gym, because little kids expose themselves to danger by
playing in the big blue curtain that hangs from the ceiling and
divides the gym in half.
The boy hamming it up, screaming without
saying anything, his voice sounded to me that it was the voice of outrage,
the voice of anger, as much as it was the voice of pain, and I felt
offended that the boy should feel unjustified anger and outrage and get me
in trouble, and this feeling of being in the right and offended gave me a
rush of adrenaline also.
I performed very well in the segment during
which I collided with the boy after the collision with the boy, and also
in the next segment, despite the boy's screaming. I suspect the adrenaline
produced by the incident enhanced my performance.
I kind of got a rush of adrenaline out of the
thought that the boy deserved the pain he was experiencing because of his
unjustified selfish sense of outrage and anger which I thought I could
perceive in his voice. I achieved ten starred successes in just five
minutes despite the boy's screaming not counting one minute spent
talking to his mother about it.
In the end I feel amazed the experience did
not stress me out for the rest of the practice. I was thinking, did the
boy's arm break? (my foot had collided with his arm as I was turning a
rainbow kick into a no-bounce air dribble, running across the gym near the
curtain that divides the gym in half.
Suddenly there he was, poking his head and
torso through the area dividing the two curtains in half, as I ran across
the width of the gym parallel to the curtain pursuing the ball as I air
dribbled it--this was going to be another one of those glamorous no-bounce
20 yd air dribbles tacked on to a rainbow kick start. I saw the boy poking
through the curtain, right in my path as I chased the ball, and the
next thing I knew my foot as it neared the ground as I was running kicked
him in the arm or some other part of the body. He was not there when I
started the run. I had been doing what I had been doing for a long time in
the boy's presence and in the presence of his family when this happened.
In the end I respected the fact that Waltham
Y staff and the parents of the boy did not lecture me or restrict me due
to this incident. I felt relieved that nothing happened, but I did not
feel intense depression at the thought of the collision getting me in
trouble, and then afterwards I did not feel intense elation that
everything worked out well. Though you could say it was a miracle the boy
was just hurt for five minutes.
10 7 10 heel
straight
AD 20 20 20 15 15 20
20
BAD 20
10 7 8 heel bent
AD 20 20 15
10 7 10 heel straight
AD 15 20 12 20 12
BAD 20
10 7 9 heel bent
AD 20 15 15 15
10 6 7 heel straight
AD 12 15
BAD 15
10 7 9 heel bent
AD 15 15 15 20
BAD 20
Starred success means after rainbow kick I
got to THE ball before it hit ground.
AD means Air Dribble, there was an air
dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards were
travelled with the ball kept in the air but off the ground in between the
time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick and the kick that
signified the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the AD is the
number of yards traveled on the air dribble. The end point of the air
dribble is the point at which I last touch it before it hits the
ground.
BAD means Bounce Air Dribble, there was
an air dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards
were travelled with the ball kept in the air but bouncing only
once, in between the time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick
and the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the BAD is the number of
yards traveled on the bounce air dribbles. The end point of the air
dribble is the point at which I last touch it before it hits the ground
for the second time.
Thus today Jan 18 2nd practice,
90% of the successes were stars new personal record.
Earlier Jan 17 2nd practice, 76%
stars; Jan 17 1st practice, 75% of the successes were stars.;
Jan 16 2nd practice, 88% of the successes were starred successes, a
new personal record. Earlier 1st practice Jan 16 52% of
the successes were starred successes. Jan 14 33/40 or 83% of the
successes were stars. Jan 14 1st Practice, 60/90 67% of the
successes were stars.Jan 13 saturday, 55/80 or 69% of the successes were
stellar successes; Jan 12 41% of the successes were stellar
successes, and Jan 11 64% of the successes were stellar
successes. In terms of the average number of minutes it
took to get 10 successes done, the figures are: Jan 18 7.0 minutes
over 12 nonstop sets of 10, and earlier:
Jan 17 2nd practice, 8.20 minutes; Jan 17 1st
practice 8.25 minutes; Jan 16 2nd practice 6.75
minutes; Jan 16 1st practice 8.2 minutes; Jan 14 2nd
Practice, 8.5 minutes; Jan 11 9.8 minutes, Jan 12 11.5 mins,
Jan 13 11.25 mins. Jan 14 9.8 minutes.
Jan 18 this practice there
were 38 no bounce air dribble runs averaging 17 yds
in length the ball never touching the ground between the rainbow kick and
the end of the air dribble; and today this practice there were
6 one bounce air dribble runs, the ball bouncing once between
the rainbow kick and the end of the air dribble, these averaged 19
yds in length. That is 44 especially cool things 1 cool
thing happening every 1.91 minutes over 12 nonstop
sets.
Jan 17 the especially cool things per
minute stat was 2.41 minutes second practice . Jan 17 first practice
it was one cool thing every 1.68 minutes a new personal
record. Averaging the two practices the rate was one cool every 2.0
minutes. Today the cool rate was down to one per 1.91 minutes a drop of
4.5 %. Continuing at 4.5% daily improvement, I will be down to a cool
thing per minute in two weeks.
Jan 16 the average of the two practice
sessions for this stat was one cool thing every 4.0 minutes. Jan 12
something cool was happening once every seven minutes.
Standardization of
the foot and ball placement prior to the time the ball is rolled up the
rear calf in effect of course. Overall Jan 18 today, it is
evident is that out of 120 successful rainbow kicks that were
launched in the two practices, 44 or 37% ended in air dribble
runs.
Overall today alot of things were done well,
90% of the successes were stars; it took only 7.0 minutes per 10
successes; the cool thing per minute rate was one per 1.91 minutes. I came
close to a personal record in two of these measures and set a personal
record in one of them.
What I feel is depression re not forging
ahead b y setting a new personal best in every category every day.
In contradiction of said thoughts productive
of depression, if on a given day, for a long time, you perform at a level
that is close to your personal best but that does not excel your personal
best, you could instead of feeling depressed about not improving, feel
good that you are establishing personal best type performance as a
consistent thing.
Especially as time passes on and there is
less daily improvement, any close-to personal best type performance is a
fortuitous occurrence.
If a personal best type performance occurs
for half an hour, you could consider the super-half-hour to be merely a
flash in the pan and not evidence of solid improvement, until the
super-half-hour was followed by say two hours of performance at a level
just a little lower than the super-half-hour level.
Thus I produce arguments that counter
depressing thoughts that unreasonably invade my mind.
Another way to counter such depressing
thoughts, is to realize that in the heat of battle, and immediately after
the heat of battle (heat of battle means the distraction and exertion of
actually performing), you can become like a dumb drunk whose understanding
of stats is not quite there.
For example I was depressed about today's
stats until I realized that the combination of lots of successes per
minute with a high percentage of the successes being starred successes
meant this was a personal record for starred successes per minute. A
starred success means I got to the ball after the rainbow kick before it
hit the ground.
The main thing to avoid looking stupid when
using the rainbow kick in a game after all, is not that there should be a
spectacular air dribble after the rainbow kick, but that there should
be a starred type success, me reaching the ball after the rainbow kick
before it hits the ground.
Again for example, I realized that by
performing so well today in terms of : percentage of successes that were
starred, minutes it took to produce successes, and cool air dribble runs
per minute--overall looking at all the things together this was a personal
best day for me. This helped me get over the depression of this not being
a personal best practice session for me in terms of minutes per success or
cool runs per minute.
After the 'heat of battle' had subsided, I
realized that it is something I can take satisfaction in, that I was able
to do well in several different categories all at the same time today.
Once you cool down and think about it, you realize that it is a special
achievement to excel in several different ways simultaneously.
After I cooled down I realized that this may
not have been a personal best as a practice session, but it was a long
practice session and probably a personal best in various ways I do not
realize comparing performance on various entire days as opposed to in
specific practice sessions.
In general 'IMHO' as of now:
I do not know if I will ever be good enough
with the rainbow kick to use it in a game; but I believe it is possible
that I could get good enough with the rainbow kick to rationally use
it in a game.
I realize that to a certain extent the
air-dribble skill, catching the ball after the rainbow kick and continuing
down the field with it without letting it touch the ground, is a skill
that is separate from the rainbow kick skill itself.
The rainbow kick simulates situations
produced in games in terms of where the ball is placed by the rainbow kick
relative to where I the player making the rainbow kick am positioned.
With the rainbow kick, as in a game, it is unpredictable where the ball
will end up. It is difficult for the player making the rainbow kick to
handle a rainbow kick after he makes it; likewise in games air-balls are
difficult to handle. With the rainbow kick the player making the rainbow
kick does not see the ball behind him as it begins the trajectory to a
point in front of him; likewise in games the ball can be hit from behind a
player to in front of him without him seeing the beginning trajectory of
the ball.
Hard to say what positive qualities a good
rainbow kick is a symptom of, but I suspect that players who are good at
handling rainbow kicks after they make them, will also be good at handling
air-balls in games.
You could say that instead of simulating game
conditions by using a rainbow kick, a player should do something like
throw the ball off a wall behind him and then turn around and field the
ball--but soccer is a game in which the use of the hands is not
allowed.
|
Replique
8.0 psi
somehow it had ballooned up to 9.4 psi,
increased its psi being left in the cold in the car. |
||||||||||||||||
|
Friday
Jan 19
459-549 pm
waltham y |
rainbow kick/air-dribble
50 minutes
AN ESPECIALLY COOL THING HAPPENED
ONCE A MINUTE
|
Today was supposed to be ankleguards on both
ankles day but one of the ankle guards was missing.
Wore soccer shin guards, ankle guard only
on LEFT ankle (I heel ball with left foot when doing rainbow kicks)
under long white soccer socks. No ankle guard on RIGHT
ankle.
2ND day Ankle guard left
foot only
Dribbled 3 yds stopped ball before starting
Rainbow Kick.
Alternated between quick Rainbow kick and
slow rainbow kick, after a success the next attempt was always a quick
rainbow kick
Results for the segments, each segment
lasting till 10 successful rainbow kicks were done, in terms of
successes/minutes/starred successes were as follows:
10 7 9 Straight
heel
AD 12 20
BAD 15 15 15 20
10 6 9 heel bent inwards
ad 15 20 15
bad 12
10 7 9 heel
straight
AD 15 15 15 15
15
BAD 15 15
10 6 9 heel bent
inwards
AD 20 20 20 20
12
BAD 20, 20,
10 7 7 heel
straight
AD 12 15 15
BAD 15 15 20 20
15
Starred success means after rainbow kick I
got to THE ball before it hit ground.
AD means Air Dribble, there was an air
dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards were
travelled with the ball kept in the air but off the ground in between the
time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick and the kick that
signified the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the AD is the
number of yards traveled on the air dribble. The end point of the air
dribble is the point at which I last touch it before it hits the
ground.
BAD means Bounce Air Dribble, there was
an air dribble after the Rainbow Kick so that a certain number of yards
were travelled with the ball kept in the air but bouncing only
once, in between the time the heel hit the ball in the rainbow kick
and the end of the Air Dribble. The number after the BAD is the number of
yards traveled on the bounce air dribbles. The end point of the air
dribble is the point at which I last touch it before it hits the ground
for the second time.
Thus today Jan 19, 86% of the successes were
starred successes.
Earlier Jan 18 90% stars, Jan 17 2nd
practice, 76% stars; Jan 17 1st practice, 75% of the successes
were stars.; Jan 16 2nd practice, 88% of the successes were starred
successes, a new personal record. Earlier 1st practice Jan
16 52% of the successes were starred successes. Jan 14 33/40 or 83%
of the successes were stars. Jan 14 1st Practice, 60/90 67% of the
successes were stars.Jan 13 saturday, 55/80 or 69% of the successes were
stellar successes; Jan 12 41% of the successes were stellar
successes, and Jan 11 64% of the successes were stellar
successes. In terms of the average number of minutes it
took to get 10 successes done, the figure is: Jan 19 6.6 minutes
over 5 sets of 10, new personal record.
This stat earlier: Jan 18 7.0 minutes, Jan 17
2nd practice, 8.20 minutes; Jan 17 1st practice 8.25 minutes;
Jan 16 2nd practice 6.75 minutes; Jan 16 1st
practice 8.2 minutes; Jan 14 2nd Practice, 8.5 minutes; Jan 11
9.8 minutes, Jan 12 11.5 mins, Jan 13 11.25 mins. Jan 14 9.8
minutes.
Jan 19 this practice there
were 18 no bounce air dribble runs averaging 16 yds
in length the ball never touching the ground between the rainbow kick and
the end of the air dribble; and today this practice there
were 14 one bounce air dribble runs, the ball bouncing once
between the rainbow kick and the end of the air dribble, these
averaged 17 yds in length. That
is 32 especially cool things in 33 minutes of actual attempts,
1 cool thing happening every 1.03 minutes over 5 sets,
a new personal record.
So suddenly today Jan 19 it is down
to 1.03 cool things per minute, I was not expecting to get down to this
1.03 minutes so quickly. Just yesterday I was predicting that it would be
two weeks before I was down to one cool thing per
minute.
Earlier stats for this cool thing per minute
thing: Jan 18 cool every 1.91 minutes; Jan 17 the especially cool
things per minute stat was 2.41 minutes second practice . Jan 17 first
practice it was one cool thing every 1.68 minutes which
was a new personal record. Jan
16 the average of the two practice sessions for this stat was one cool
thing every 4.0 minutes. Jan 12 something cool was happening once every
seven minutes.
Standardization of
the foot and ball placement prior to the time the ball is rolled up the
rear calf in effect of course.
One of the white father and son teams
was practicing basketball next to me while I was doing this. On the other
side of the gym, some white kids who looked like second graders and
their white adult male coach were practicing basketball. The only
thing I heard from them is that the dad saw me in the hallway looked at me
and said, "he's good at that".
And in the last three days before today I do
not remember exactly which day, some white lady said to me, "you're
great"; and a Latin approx 5th grade boy looked at me and said, "Beckham"
in a slightly scornful voice while shaking his head seems he figures
Beckham is not my equal or over-rated compared to me or something like
that.
|
replique got up to 8.5 psi set to 8.0 psi |
