Developing that soft touch

I had my first one on one soccer lesson. Hurray. It was all I had hoped, except for duration (8 minutes short of the full hour).

My favorite part was "body blocks." Here, my coach tossed the ball at various parts of my anatomy, and I returned it while back peddling. It was only 3/4^th of the way through that she explained I was supposed to return the ball on the ground.

I was given homework: develop a soft touch suitable for dribbling the ball on a basketball court. My main advice on this was to pass the ball hard and straight against a wall. I'm not quite sure how this will help with the soft touch.

Twenty four hours later my better half and I had a kick on the front lawn. I tried passing with a locked ankle on the top half of the ball. I found that my passes were slightly crisper and spent more time on the ground. (Ankle locked in an up position.)

Previously, I had tried hitting the ball dead center and frequently found my passes a few inches off the ground. This may be a breakthrough. In the past, when I needed an accurate and friendly pass, I always used my laces--like a very gentle shot. This hurts my shins. Developing a proper pass with the inside of my foot (like everyone else) will go along way towards--well towards good things.

Happy With the Status Quo?

I reached the mini milestone of 25 lbs lost (though not by a moving average measurement). My most recent game went well: I scored a brace and spent plenty of time on the ball. However, my shins and knees are acting up, and a little break seems just about right.

On one hand, my body needs a rest--especially my overuse injuries. On the other, I'm finally starting to make some serious progress. At the same time, my weight training, interval training, and pilates have slipped. In the case of the latter I've missed three weeks due to a holiday, doctor restrictions, and a personal training session. Nonetheless, it is three weeks without a serious instructor led core/flexibility session. I'm lethargic and tight.
They're expecting rain for the next few days, and then I'm off to the city for the weekend. Next week, I suppose, will be a return to full training.

Areas of improvement

As an out of shape beginner, I've found that I need to improve in several areas. Some I can work on at the gym or at home: endurance, fitness, and running with the ball.

Others require playing more: game awareness, reaction time, and positioning.

There is one more class, which I think requires actual team practice rather than more game play or gym time: dribbling, ball skills, and tackling.

For instance, I can execute a Maradona spin move at moderate pace on my front lawn, but I have trouble with basic cuts under game type pressure.



Finding a practice group is much harder than finding a game. I've been unable to arrange a practice time with my team. Part of that is time commitment and part of it is due to the expense of finding a practice space in the winter. My attempts to "be an extra body at practice" with some of the teams from a very organized region wide adult league also failed. That leaves adult clinics.

These are a sorry state in my neck of the woods. There are at least two women's only clinics within driving distance (ok, one would be a bit of a drive). There is also one half-assed coed clinic about 75 minutes away, but that is the subject of a future rant.

The outdoor game

Frankly, I'm having trouble adjusting to the outdoor game. I believe that the formation we typically use is 1-3-4-4, which means 12 players on the field. This is confusing. The alternative description of our formation would be "complete chaos." In general, I never know where I need to be or where to put the ball. The general tenants of "pass to a teammate or into open space" seem to be failing. This implies that my timing is poor and my accuracy is worse.

The fitness requirements are also somewhat different. I plan on working on this particular aspect via interval training.

Shin Splints

We had a two week layoff around Christmas. Upon returning, and only playing a half due to traffic, I felt that I was up for a bigger challenge. I found a mid week game and an "adult clinic" to attend (just 12 hours after my normal game). For good measure, I threw in a leg weight training session 2 days before playing. After the first week of this, I knew something was up. The second week, I limped off the field and collapsed in the bench area--except there was no bench, only wet cement. Not good.


I don't recommend the above treatment, but I've tried it. I think that I kinda sorta have them beat, but I'll get to that later.