It's just about here. Everyone's favorite time of year when they get to pick the brackets and see which of their favorite college teams make it to the final 4. I have to admit, my interest in basketball is small to say the least, but I do enjoy picking (randomly) the teams that will go on to the end. I have to say that Mandi bested me last year by quite a margin if I remember correctly, so I'll have to try and do better this year. On most of these sports things where you pick stuff to see who wins she seems to be much better at it than I am...
Something that is quite frustrating is to go and buy a product from the store, come home and set it up to be used, and to have it explode right there on your table after no more than 5 minutes. Then you have to deal with that awful stench of burnt metallic parts and everything, and at some point you have to find the time to go back to the store and return it for a new one. And of course, you inevitably have a pressing need to use this product, which is why you bought it in the first place. Not that I have any personal experience in that, I'm just saying, that's what always seems to happen.
If you check the comments page on the last post, you will see a couple of fun little riddles to be solved. I have indeed been remiss in posting any of these recently, mostly because I misplaced the sheets that I was pulling them from, and I had about exhausted the ones that I had answered myself. I guess I might have to go find them, and of course, there is the 365 day calendar with some random word games incorporated which I could pull from. Maybe a brainteaser would work as well. At least on those I could get a definitive answer on, and I have been reading some fairly intriguing ones recently...sounds like a plan, although that plan won't come in to effect until later.
The question of camp is a difficult one. They have been some of the best times that I've experienced in the past couple years. That week of hard work and hard play has been an immense highlight. There has been so much that has happened in those 2 weeks that I've been there thus far, it's hard to remember all that's gone on. I've referenced some before, with the miserably awful firework choice to light the pyre, Paul correctly answering a question in celebrity jeopardy: the bible edition, beating the campers in football 2-0 on a mark grayson safety, finding a camper in the staff cabin with his aunt after running a double c for a few minutes, watching xbox being played in the ark on the screen...tons of others, and that's just from two years of camp. I can't say what will happen this summer. There are a lot of things that will need to happen, and I'm not sure when I can squeeze everything in. There is the necessity of finding a job, which this past interview might have helped out considerably in and there is the need to finish my master's thesis, which is coming along slowly. My mom wants me to go to Japan along with the rest of our family to visit her mother, who is quite old. People from church would like it if Mandi and I were able to go with them to the Dominican Republic for the mission trip our church does yearly. I just don't know what time I will have. Knowing the importance of getting to Japan to see my grandmother, if there is 1 thing that I can do this summer and only one, it's going to be that. If at all possible, my knee-straps and I will be coming to camp. It's just to hard to tell at the moment. I'm hoping that somehow it works out that I can go.
For any of you soccer people out there, just a warning for this week's soccer action. ESPN 2 and ESPN Classic will be broadcasting the premier soccer tournament of Europe as the 2nd leg of the 1st knock-out stage is played this Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday's marquee matchup is Liverpool vs. Barcelona (last year's champions) with Liverpool holding a 2-1 advantage from the away leg. What this means, is that as long as Liverpool ties or wins, they will advance to the next round. If Barca wins 1-0, Liverpool still will advance on the away goals rule. If Barca wins 2-0, Barca will advance. If Barca wins 2-1, they will play extra time, and if Barca wins by 2 goals or more by any margin, Liverpool will be eliminated. It'll be an excellent game. Wednesday's highlight is the Bayern Munich vs. Real Madrid matchup, with Real holding a small 3-2 advantage from their home leg. It's essentially wide open, with Real needing to tie, or score more than 2 goals to advance. That game will be on Classic at 5/4 central. I don't know how many other soccer fanatics other than myself look at this...but if you're not too into soccer, I'd invite you to check out the Liverpool - Barcelona game. Granted it's at 2:30 in the afternoon...but maybe you might not be at work that day or something...not that I'd think about doing that...
Oh, what the heck, here is a neat little riddle for your enjoyment. There is one clear solution, once you know how to think about it. Here is "The Man in the Elevator" riddle:
A man lives on the tenth floor of a building. Every morning he takes the elevator down to the lobby and leaves the building. In the evening, he gets into the elevator, and, if there is someone else in the elevator - or if it was raining that day - he goes back to his floor directly. Otherwise, he goes to the seventh floor and walks up three flights of stairs to his apartment. Can you explain why?
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Friday, March 02, 2007
The Prestige
Today ended up being a good day. The interview went extremely well, I've been able to get some rest and relaxation, and I didn't have to drive 50 miles in and out of Oak Ridge. All excellent indications of a good day in my book.
On one of my usual thoughts about music, I've recently discovered a band called Anberlin who are really pretty good. They've been around for a number of years, but I didn't know much about them. They are Christians, but they're music is more pop/rock and not really so much what you would consider Christian music. In other words, they aren't like groups such as Casting Crowns, Kutless, or Skillet, but they have good music in the sense of the word without preaching to the choir as some would put it. They just released a new album called Cities which is excellent throughout, with my personal favorites being the tracks "The Unwinding Cable Car", "Alexithymia", and "Dismantle. Repair." Check them out if you've got the chance.
I've been a fan of magic for quite a long time. I can remember growing up watching the yearly David Copperfield TV special that would air, and the time period when magic shows were kind of a cultural phenomenon and they would have 2 hour specials at random times throughout the year. There is just something interesting about watching someone do something that just seems impossible to all of your senses, but they are right there in front of you doing it. Copperfield actually came here to Knoxville back last fall, and my parents and I went to the show. He's done some pretty impressive stuff, such as making a train car disappear in mid-air, flying, and walking through the Great Wall of China. My favorite trick when I saw him live was where he took 13 audience members, sat them down inside a box, closed it, made them all disappear and then re-appear in the back of the auditorium. Cool stuff. I wonder what it's like to be involved on stage with that. How does it feel? I think it'd be cool to find out at some point.
I got on to this magic thing because tonight I watched The Prestige, the story of two magicians that were once friends, but because of an event in their lives became enemies that spend their lives attempting out-do the other in the world of stage illusion. It's directed by Christoper Nolan, who recently did Batman Begins, and has also done the much talked about movie Memento, which I haven't seen. The Prestige is a really well-done movie, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The title stems from a description given at the start. It says that there are 3 parts/acts to a magic trick. The first is The Pledge, where something ordinary is taken and shown to be normal, at least from the audience point of view. The second part is The Turn, where the ordinary piece does something...extraordinary. At this point, you don't quite know what to make of what just happened, but you're waiting to see how everything turns out. The final part, is the Prestige. This is where the reveal occurs. The object is returned to normal, the thing that disappeared comes back in to view, what seemed wrong and impossible, is shown to somehow be possible.
I wonder if people around in Jesus' time might have felt like they were a part of something similar to this type of description. I wonder what would happen if we had our view of magic in their time what we would make of something like this. Obviously this is a poor comparison, but I do think that it holds on some levels. They were given the pledge, where Jesus came down from heaven and became a man, saying that anyone who followed him would have eternal life. To those on the earth, he was viewed as a prophet, and by some as the Christ. The turn comes, and suddenly the one we were calling the Christ is hanging from the cross dying. We don't know what to make of the situation, and what we viewed as our reality is falling apart. Finally, the prestige comes, and what a prestige it is. Not only is the tomb empty, but Jesus is alive, and he has ascended to the right hand of God to intercede for us. When everything seemed lost, and it didn't seem possible, it is shown to be a reality. The pledge really was true.
I guess that I like to think that God has a sense of humor, or at least a wit about him that enjoys seeing us go through our lives. I'd like to think that he laughs at our jokes, or cracks a smile when we do something silly or make complete fools of ourselves. Obviously sending his son was not an easy task, and he was incredibly pained at the separation he had to endure. But, like all great illusionists, he knew the true nature of the event. His sleight of hand fooled evil in to thinking that it had triumphed, when all along, God knew the secret. He knew...the prestige.
On one of my usual thoughts about music, I've recently discovered a band called Anberlin who are really pretty good. They've been around for a number of years, but I didn't know much about them. They are Christians, but they're music is more pop/rock and not really so much what you would consider Christian music. In other words, they aren't like groups such as Casting Crowns, Kutless, or Skillet, but they have good music in the sense of the word without preaching to the choir as some would put it. They just released a new album called Cities which is excellent throughout, with my personal favorites being the tracks "The Unwinding Cable Car", "Alexithymia", and "Dismantle. Repair." Check them out if you've got the chance.
I've been a fan of magic for quite a long time. I can remember growing up watching the yearly David Copperfield TV special that would air, and the time period when magic shows were kind of a cultural phenomenon and they would have 2 hour specials at random times throughout the year. There is just something interesting about watching someone do something that just seems impossible to all of your senses, but they are right there in front of you doing it. Copperfield actually came here to Knoxville back last fall, and my parents and I went to the show. He's done some pretty impressive stuff, such as making a train car disappear in mid-air, flying, and walking through the Great Wall of China. My favorite trick when I saw him live was where he took 13 audience members, sat them down inside a box, closed it, made them all disappear and then re-appear in the back of the auditorium. Cool stuff. I wonder what it's like to be involved on stage with that. How does it feel? I think it'd be cool to find out at some point.
I got on to this magic thing because tonight I watched The Prestige, the story of two magicians that were once friends, but because of an event in their lives became enemies that spend their lives attempting out-do the other in the world of stage illusion. It's directed by Christoper Nolan, who recently did Batman Begins, and has also done the much talked about movie Memento, which I haven't seen. The Prestige is a really well-done movie, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The title stems from a description given at the start. It says that there are 3 parts/acts to a magic trick. The first is The Pledge, where something ordinary is taken and shown to be normal, at least from the audience point of view. The second part is The Turn, where the ordinary piece does something...extraordinary. At this point, you don't quite know what to make of what just happened, but you're waiting to see how everything turns out. The final part, is the Prestige. This is where the reveal occurs. The object is returned to normal, the thing that disappeared comes back in to view, what seemed wrong and impossible, is shown to somehow be possible.
I wonder if people around in Jesus' time might have felt like they were a part of something similar to this type of description. I wonder what would happen if we had our view of magic in their time what we would make of something like this. Obviously this is a poor comparison, but I do think that it holds on some levels. They were given the pledge, where Jesus came down from heaven and became a man, saying that anyone who followed him would have eternal life. To those on the earth, he was viewed as a prophet, and by some as the Christ. The turn comes, and suddenly the one we were calling the Christ is hanging from the cross dying. We don't know what to make of the situation, and what we viewed as our reality is falling apart. Finally, the prestige comes, and what a prestige it is. Not only is the tomb empty, but Jesus is alive, and he has ascended to the right hand of God to intercede for us. When everything seemed lost, and it didn't seem possible, it is shown to be a reality. The pledge really was true.
I guess that I like to think that God has a sense of humor, or at least a wit about him that enjoys seeing us go through our lives. I'd like to think that he laughs at our jokes, or cracks a smile when we do something silly or make complete fools of ourselves. Obviously sending his son was not an easy task, and he was incredibly pained at the separation he had to endure. But, like all great illusionists, he knew the true nature of the event. His sleight of hand fooled evil in to thinking that it had triumphed, when all along, God knew the secret. He knew...the prestige.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Rain
What is it about rainy days and practices that makes it so much fun? I can't really put my finger on what makes rainy practice days fun, but they always seem to be that way. I think back to who knows when and playing competitive soccer. Some of my favorite practices were the ones done in complete downpours where the mud is so stained in to your clothes that they have that awesome new color of washed out brown that never goes away. You got to do the fun drills at practice like diving header practice, where you'd start from between the center circle and the 18 yard box and you'd sprint on to a ball being thrown in front of the goal to score that perfect goal (or more often than not just miss the ball).
As a defender I was always fond of the slide tackle practice session. What's more satisfying than seeing a forward running with the ball 15 yards to your side and getting up a head of steam, hitting the ground, and flying in from the side and taking the ball while knocking him over? Nothing much in the game of soccer. One of my favorite memories from high school soccer involved that very thing. We were playing in the tournament that Oak Ridge hosted annually and were playing in a heavy mist...just enough to get everything nice and wet, but not so much that you couldn't see anything. I was one of the last defenders, they're team went on a fast break, and I had to cover. A quick sprint, a lunging slide tackle, and the ball is running towards the out of bounds allowing my team to recover while the opposing team's forward goes flying over me as I stand up to go after ball. I can still remember the feeling of knowing that I just completely owned the other guy just like it happened yesterday. Anyone that plays sports I'm sure can relate to that.
Frisbee practice was much the same way in the rain. Given my inability/lack of wanting to dive, they were not generally as exciting to me. My overriding memory of rain practice involved diving practice where I ended up not being able to turn my head to the left for about 2 days because of landing awkwardly on my neck. To this day, I don't think that I've ever laid out for a frisbee. I'm sure there are those reading that will feel like berating me for such a blasphemous comment. And in response, all I can say is...you're right.
Why all this talk of practices in the rain? It's because tonight's middle school practice occured in the rain. And it was awesome. Now, we're not allowed to use the fields when it rains, so we couldn't do any type of diving/tackling practice, but we did play on the tennis courts and enjoyed some fine running. And by we, I mean myself included. I figure, at this age, it was always easier for me to run if our coach ran with us, so why not. It was a good work-out for me anyway. We played my soccer version of king of the hill, which is essentially a drill to get the team talking, working together, and understanding the importance of ball movement, while it gives people on defense the chance to completely own the offense and make them do push-ups/sit-ups/running/whatever punishment you can think of when the defense holds the ball for more than 5 seconds. It also teaches team defense, and that when you turn the ball over, your one goal should be to get it back as quickly as possible, which for this age group seems to not be something they're too concerned about.
All in all, it was good stuff. Makes me miss the days when all I had to worry about was soccer practice, my piano lesson and a little homework. I've got myself a job interview tomorrow, which should be interesting to say the least, since it's more geared toward engineers, which I'm certainly not. It should be good experience anyway. And I'm still waiting on that pros/cons view of soccer Luke.
As a defender I was always fond of the slide tackle practice session. What's more satisfying than seeing a forward running with the ball 15 yards to your side and getting up a head of steam, hitting the ground, and flying in from the side and taking the ball while knocking him over? Nothing much in the game of soccer. One of my favorite memories from high school soccer involved that very thing. We were playing in the tournament that Oak Ridge hosted annually and were playing in a heavy mist...just enough to get everything nice and wet, but not so much that you couldn't see anything. I was one of the last defenders, they're team went on a fast break, and I had to cover. A quick sprint, a lunging slide tackle, and the ball is running towards the out of bounds allowing my team to recover while the opposing team's forward goes flying over me as I stand up to go after ball. I can still remember the feeling of knowing that I just completely owned the other guy just like it happened yesterday. Anyone that plays sports I'm sure can relate to that.
Frisbee practice was much the same way in the rain. Given my inability/lack of wanting to dive, they were not generally as exciting to me. My overriding memory of rain practice involved diving practice where I ended up not being able to turn my head to the left for about 2 days because of landing awkwardly on my neck. To this day, I don't think that I've ever laid out for a frisbee. I'm sure there are those reading that will feel like berating me for such a blasphemous comment. And in response, all I can say is...you're right.
Why all this talk of practices in the rain? It's because tonight's middle school practice occured in the rain. And it was awesome. Now, we're not allowed to use the fields when it rains, so we couldn't do any type of diving/tackling practice, but we did play on the tennis courts and enjoyed some fine running. And by we, I mean myself included. I figure, at this age, it was always easier for me to run if our coach ran with us, so why not. It was a good work-out for me anyway. We played my soccer version of king of the hill, which is essentially a drill to get the team talking, working together, and understanding the importance of ball movement, while it gives people on defense the chance to completely own the offense and make them do push-ups/sit-ups/running/whatever punishment you can think of when the defense holds the ball for more than 5 seconds. It also teaches team defense, and that when you turn the ball over, your one goal should be to get it back as quickly as possible, which for this age group seems to not be something they're too concerned about.
All in all, it was good stuff. Makes me miss the days when all I had to worry about was soccer practice, my piano lesson and a little homework. I've got myself a job interview tomorrow, which should be interesting to say the least, since it's more geared toward engineers, which I'm certainly not. It should be good experience anyway. And I'm still waiting on that pros/cons view of soccer Luke.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Jump Start
Since Paul has kick started me on this thing again, I figured that I should post something since it has once again been quite a while since I wrote anything. There were nights when I told myself that I should put up something since there have been some pretty good stories from the first few weeks of soccer practice at the middle school and such, but I never got around to it. So here they are.
I went skiing this weekend at Winterplace with some people from my church, which ended up being pretty interesting in itself. I did the usual skiing, another girl tried skiing for the first time, and the other 3 people all went for the snowboard. Needless to say, I had myself quite the time watching the first-time snow-boarders bite it hard when they were first trying to learn how to walk with the board, and then how to go down a hill. It's kinda like what Paul says about thing that are always funny, and certainly people falling down while attempting to ski/snowboard should be one of the things on that list. I think the best crash that I witnessed was this one girl, who clearly had no idea how to ski properly, starts down this diamond hill attempting to snow plow her way straight down. All you hear is her screaming, "LOOK OUT!!!! AHH!!!!!", and then you see some poor person in front of her skiing correctly, and she catches her skis on the front of that person's board. She looses both her skis and continues most of the way down the hill while he stays upright perfectly fine on his board and continues on down the hill. The last I saw as I went over the ridge on the lift was her attempting to walk back up the mountain and failing miserably. Myself and these two boys next to me from a random church group got a good laugh out of it.
Now for the soccer stories. Today's classic moment as I was breaking up half of the kids for our first large scrimmage on an actual field:
Me: "Alright guys, what positions to you play normally?"
Them: "Defense, midfield, forward, whatever."
Me to an extremely small (barely 4 foot) kid who hadn't said anything: "How about you man, where do you play?"
Him: "I've never played soccer before...what's a forward?"
Me: "...um...just...go up there..."
I've also ended up having to play on a team the past two practices either from odd numbers or from someone getting hurt. It's funny, cause I'll get on the field, and whoever's team it is will be all excited cause they get the "coach" on their team, and then get upset with me cause I won't just go score goals for them. I have to say, I'm having to kind of relearn the game myself, because things that have become intuitive to me (like positioning, simple passing/trapping, soccer-talk) are completely foreign to these boys. I've not had to yell this much this consistently since I quit having to play as a sweeper in my competitive days. But I have to be on their case pretty often, telling people where they should be making runs, when they can turn or have a man-on, all sorts of stuff. Some people are slowly starting to get the hang out of talking with their team, but it is really slow going. The thing that gets me the most is that there is no concept of team defense. Someone will turn the ball over, the person with the ball will be all of 5 feet in front of them, and they'll just stand there and not even go after the ball. It kills me. They'll pick it up quick here now that we've split up teams now though. At least, they better pick it up quick.
I went skiing this weekend at Winterplace with some people from my church, which ended up being pretty interesting in itself. I did the usual skiing, another girl tried skiing for the first time, and the other 3 people all went for the snowboard. Needless to say, I had myself quite the time watching the first-time snow-boarders bite it hard when they were first trying to learn how to walk with the board, and then how to go down a hill. It's kinda like what Paul says about thing that are always funny, and certainly people falling down while attempting to ski/snowboard should be one of the things on that list. I think the best crash that I witnessed was this one girl, who clearly had no idea how to ski properly, starts down this diamond hill attempting to snow plow her way straight down. All you hear is her screaming, "LOOK OUT!!!! AHH!!!!!", and then you see some poor person in front of her skiing correctly, and she catches her skis on the front of that person's board. She looses both her skis and continues most of the way down the hill while he stays upright perfectly fine on his board and continues on down the hill. The last I saw as I went over the ridge on the lift was her attempting to walk back up the mountain and failing miserably. Myself and these two boys next to me from a random church group got a good laugh out of it.
Now for the soccer stories. Today's classic moment as I was breaking up half of the kids for our first large scrimmage on an actual field:
Me: "Alright guys, what positions to you play normally?"
Them: "Defense, midfield, forward, whatever."
Me to an extremely small (barely 4 foot) kid who hadn't said anything: "How about you man, where do you play?"
Him: "I've never played soccer before...what's a forward?"
Me: "...um...just...go up there..."
I've also ended up having to play on a team the past two practices either from odd numbers or from someone getting hurt. It's funny, cause I'll get on the field, and whoever's team it is will be all excited cause they get the "coach" on their team, and then get upset with me cause I won't just go score goals for them. I have to say, I'm having to kind of relearn the game myself, because things that have become intuitive to me (like positioning, simple passing/trapping, soccer-talk) are completely foreign to these boys. I've not had to yell this much this consistently since I quit having to play as a sweeper in my competitive days. But I have to be on their case pretty often, telling people where they should be making runs, when they can turn or have a man-on, all sorts of stuff. Some people are slowly starting to get the hang out of talking with their team, but it is really slow going. The thing that gets me the most is that there is no concept of team defense. Someone will turn the ball over, the person with the ball will be all of 5 feet in front of them, and they'll just stand there and not even go after the ball. It kills me. They'll pick it up quick here now that we've split up teams now though. At least, they better pick it up quick.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Kicking and Screaming
So...it's been a while. Again. Oh well. It's been a busy week here, with coaching starting, astronomy observation sessions going on, and it being bitter cold. Especially while up on the roof until 10:30 at night. Even more so when you've forgotten a hat and gloves. Which I did each time. I'm a moron.
So, as some of you may know, the title of this post comes from the Will Ferrell movie kicking and screaming in which he becomes the coach of a team so that his son can play after Will Ferrell's dad (played by Robert Duvall) benches his grandson and doesn't let him play at all while his team goes on to win the championship. It's been a while since I saw it, but it did have its funny moments, and the usual Ferrell over-the-top antics and yelling, but it was funny at times. Of course, there are the usual stereotypes on the team - the son, who does something amazing to beat the team he used to be on; the short, dorky asian kid, complete with glasses; the giant kid who is 6 feet tall (or something ridiculous like that...), the star Italian soccer players who can't play because their uncle or someone wants them working in their families slaughter-house... - you get the point. And of course, they start off being the worst team ever, but after some yelling, practice, yelling, the team getting a surprise victory, yelling, the Italians making everyone look silly with their amazing skill, yelling, the son becoming angry at the dad, yelling, the Italians not being able to make a game, yelling, the team still pulling out a victory even with all the odds stacked against them, reconciliation, they are ultimately able to finally win the championship game against the "evil" team coached by the grandfather. Mike Ditka stops by for some pretty funny moments as well. Not bad if you've got an hour and a half to waste. Certainly not the pinnacle of entertainment though.
At any rate, the current middle school team that I am coaching doesn't quite compare to this movie. Not only do we not have any Italians, Asians, or really any other ethnicity, but we do have a few players that actually surprised me with their skill. Of course, there are plenty that surprise me with their lack of skill. We're trying to get up to 30 players so that we don't have to cut anyone...cause that would be plain awful if we ended up needing to cut players. We had 25 tonight, with the promise of a few more, so I think we'll be alright.
The first two practices have been ok. We've done the usual stuff just to see how they are with a ball. We'll do the usual toe-tapping on top of the ball, and boxing the ball back and forth between the feet, and then move on to a drill that I did for the last 5 years of my competitive soccer career which involved dribbling the ball in a 10 X 10 square with everyone else and having to keep control and do moves while dribbling, all while touching the ball with every step. It works well to improve your ball control and dribbling ability, if you do it right, since it's definately hard to keep solid control when you're in a small box with 20 other people.
We've also done 3 vs. 3 small-sided games, and a 4 vs. 4 keep-away game to see how they work together, how their sense of positioning is, and how well they can control and pass a ball in tight situations. Needless to say, there is a lot of work that needs to be done in that respect with all but a small number of them. It seems as if many of them don't play any type of competitive club soccer, and that a majority of them haven't really played all that seriously yet. Hopefully we'll be able to help them improve their skills...but there's really only so much we can do in 3 hours a week. We're planning on having a scrimmage in the next couple weeks just to get them in a game and see how they do. It's been fun so far though. Except for how much they talk and joke and don't listen...but I guess that's to be expected from 6-8 graders.
Only time will tell how this team will do together. I guess I figure if we can get the solid players to work together we can work in the people with lesser skill and in the process improve them as well. I'm glad I'm doing this, as I think it will be good experience, and maybe I'll be able to coach more in the future. We'll see how it goes though.
So, as some of you may know, the title of this post comes from the Will Ferrell movie kicking and screaming in which he becomes the coach of a team so that his son can play after Will Ferrell's dad (played by Robert Duvall) benches his grandson and doesn't let him play at all while his team goes on to win the championship. It's been a while since I saw it, but it did have its funny moments, and the usual Ferrell over-the-top antics and yelling, but it was funny at times. Of course, there are the usual stereotypes on the team - the son, who does something amazing to beat the team he used to be on; the short, dorky asian kid, complete with glasses; the giant kid who is 6 feet tall (or something ridiculous like that...), the star Italian soccer players who can't play because their uncle or someone wants them working in their families slaughter-house... - you get the point. And of course, they start off being the worst team ever, but after some yelling, practice, yelling, the team getting a surprise victory, yelling, the Italians making everyone look silly with their amazing skill, yelling, the son becoming angry at the dad, yelling, the Italians not being able to make a game, yelling, the team still pulling out a victory even with all the odds stacked against them, reconciliation, they are ultimately able to finally win the championship game against the "evil" team coached by the grandfather. Mike Ditka stops by for some pretty funny moments as well. Not bad if you've got an hour and a half to waste. Certainly not the pinnacle of entertainment though.
At any rate, the current middle school team that I am coaching doesn't quite compare to this movie. Not only do we not have any Italians, Asians, or really any other ethnicity, but we do have a few players that actually surprised me with their skill. Of course, there are plenty that surprise me with their lack of skill. We're trying to get up to 30 players so that we don't have to cut anyone...cause that would be plain awful if we ended up needing to cut players. We had 25 tonight, with the promise of a few more, so I think we'll be alright.
The first two practices have been ok. We've done the usual stuff just to see how they are with a ball. We'll do the usual toe-tapping on top of the ball, and boxing the ball back and forth between the feet, and then move on to a drill that I did for the last 5 years of my competitive soccer career which involved dribbling the ball in a 10 X 10 square with everyone else and having to keep control and do moves while dribbling, all while touching the ball with every step. It works well to improve your ball control and dribbling ability, if you do it right, since it's definately hard to keep solid control when you're in a small box with 20 other people.
We've also done 3 vs. 3 small-sided games, and a 4 vs. 4 keep-away game to see how they work together, how their sense of positioning is, and how well they can control and pass a ball in tight situations. Needless to say, there is a lot of work that needs to be done in that respect with all but a small number of them. It seems as if many of them don't play any type of competitive club soccer, and that a majority of them haven't really played all that seriously yet. Hopefully we'll be able to help them improve their skills...but there's really only so much we can do in 3 hours a week. We're planning on having a scrimmage in the next couple weeks just to get them in a game and see how they do. It's been fun so far though. Except for how much they talk and joke and don't listen...but I guess that's to be expected from 6-8 graders.
Only time will tell how this team will do together. I guess I figure if we can get the solid players to work together we can work in the people with lesser skill and in the process improve them as well. I'm glad I'm doing this, as I think it will be good experience, and maybe I'll be able to coach more in the future. We'll see how it goes though.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Oil and Water
Soccer is back. Wednesday night at 9 PM eastern on ESPN 2 the USMNT plays Mexico out in Arizona in probably one of the most heated national sports rivalries. The U.S. has recently been dominating Mexico, going 7-2-1 against Mexico since 2000. Both losses have been at away games, notably in the intimidating Mexico City stadium where few teams ever beat them. At home, the Americans are 6-0-1 with an 11-0 goal differential. Of course, some can wonder why, having only played 9 times in 6 years, there can be any type of rivalry. North American sports has saturated the idea since most "major" sports end up playing their rival at least once a year, if not more. There is so much more to a rivalry than simply playing each other every few weeks and having some people from each team trash talking. In the case of the US and Mexico, there is national pride, and regional dominance of the soccer world. The Mexican country expects their team to beat the US. They see themselves as superior to us in all things related to soccer. It's an embarassment to them to lose to us, and they have been embarassed a number of times, most memorably the 2002 World Cup Round of 16 where the US beat them 2-0 and knocked them out of the tournament. They still seek revenge for that game every time they meet. World Cup qualifying begins in a year, and usually the team of the two that comes out on top during the qualifying session has a chance at being put in the pot as one of the top seeded teams, meaning they have a better chance to avoid big names in the tournament. Mexico was given the last top seed at the '06 WC, and received a relatively easy group compared to the US.
At any rate, tomorrow's game does not necessarily carry the burden of qualifying for the World Cup. It does, however, mark the debut for the new Mexican National Team coach, and the 2nd game in charge for the interim US coach. A win for either will boost their standing considerably, while a loss will be devastating to the morale and future of both coaches. In addition, both teams are fielding relatively young teams. The new WC cycle brings about a necessity to have new faces fill the voids. The US team for sure has voids to fill with Brian McBride, Claudio Reyna and Eddie Pope all retiring from national team duties. That trio has essentially formed the spine of the national team for the past decade, from forward to defense respectively, and finding people to fill their shoes is of the utmost priority. It won't be an easy task, and although there are people that are promising in those positions, the reason they were around for so long is that nobody in the past decade was able to challenge them for their positions.
If you don't normally watch soccer because you find it boring, I think that this might be the best chance to "entertain" you. For sure when there is world cup qualification on the line, there isn't a whole lot better in our neck of the woods than US vs. Mexico. The teams despise each other and bragging rights go to the winner...at least for another 6 months or so. What more could you want in a game? If you have a minute, tune in and watch, cause I know I will be.
At any rate, tomorrow's game does not necessarily carry the burden of qualifying for the World Cup. It does, however, mark the debut for the new Mexican National Team coach, and the 2nd game in charge for the interim US coach. A win for either will boost their standing considerably, while a loss will be devastating to the morale and future of both coaches. In addition, both teams are fielding relatively young teams. The new WC cycle brings about a necessity to have new faces fill the voids. The US team for sure has voids to fill with Brian McBride, Claudio Reyna and Eddie Pope all retiring from national team duties. That trio has essentially formed the spine of the national team for the past decade, from forward to defense respectively, and finding people to fill their shoes is of the utmost priority. It won't be an easy task, and although there are people that are promising in those positions, the reason they were around for so long is that nobody in the past decade was able to challenge them for their positions.
If you don't normally watch soccer because you find it boring, I think that this might be the best chance to "entertain" you. For sure when there is world cup qualification on the line, there isn't a whole lot better in our neck of the woods than US vs. Mexico. The teams despise each other and bragging rights go to the winner...at least for another 6 months or so. What more could you want in a game? If you have a minute, tune in and watch, cause I know I will be.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Snow?
Well, it's now the 1st of February, and there has been snowfall in the East Tennessee area. Maybe a quarter inch at the most. It was amusing watching the news last night how everyone was completely freaked out, the stores had been rushed, the shelves were empty, schools even cancelled the night before just on the threat of snow. Nobody here can handle anything with even the slightest bit of snow on the ground. I'm sure our counterparts in the north mock us mercilessly whenever they happen to hear about schools in the southern states getting closed for a "snow day". It's alright though, cause I took the fact that Knox County schools were closed as a reason to not drive to Oak Ridge and therefore stay at home and work when I feel like it.
In other news, I will be coaching a middle school soccer team this spring. Mandi had told me at the end of the summer that I should coach a team, but it didn't look like it would happen since the coordinator that I knew for the coaching positions in AYSO moved away shortly after. I got a call late last week from a parent at church that helps run our small group that her son's school needed a coach and asked whether I'd be interested. So I said yes. I don't know the full details and we're having a meeting on Saturday to discuss how to get things going, but I'll be coaching a Varsity and JV soccer team at Cedar Bluff Middle School (I think) from later this month through the middle of May. I think it'll be pretty cool. Now I'll get to see if all those years spent complaining about coaches not knowing what they were doing when I was watching other teams play comes back to bite me.
In other news, I will be coaching a middle school soccer team this spring. Mandi had told me at the end of the summer that I should coach a team, but it didn't look like it would happen since the coordinator that I knew for the coaching positions in AYSO moved away shortly after. I got a call late last week from a parent at church that helps run our small group that her son's school needed a coach and asked whether I'd be interested. So I said yes. I don't know the full details and we're having a meeting on Saturday to discuss how to get things going, but I'll be coaching a Varsity and JV soccer team at Cedar Bluff Middle School (I think) from later this month through the middle of May. I think it'll be pretty cool. Now I'll get to see if all those years spent complaining about coaches not knowing what they were doing when I was watching other teams play comes back to bite me.
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