3 posts tagged “indoor soccer”

Played two games on Saturday, lost both.  I played sweeper for a bit of the first, and then in the second half just got surprised with the ferocity of the players and got scored upon with relative ease.  The second game was in an upper league and I was substituting for their keeper.  I got scored on in the first 15 seconds, because they kicked off and proceeded to show me how a titan kicks a ball.  I was just playing sloppy, and it bothered me.  It took me too long to get my mind into the game.

Then came the second goal.  Very fast paced team, they get it down and attempt a shot, I deflect the ball and then dive down to grab it.  I get possession, and no sooner than one of the girls on their team leaps forward and proceeds to kick my hands, and therefor the ball, right into the goal.  Hands included, too.  I'm not going to whine, and if the ref didn't see it, the ref didn't see it but that seriously pissed me off.  I'm thankful it was a girl, as I had a stressful weekend and if it were a man I likely would have blown up over it.  I went behind the field, swore a little bit and came back out ready to play.

Lesson of the day: keepers don't have to avoid the other players while diving for the ball.  If you dive, get the ball, and roll right through them then it is their fault for being in your way.  It's my key, not theirs.

Secondary Lesson: Some girls play dirtier than the guys.  Stop thinking all girls on the field have a high degree of sportsmanship (even though she was the first who played that way, I'm sure she won't be the last)

And the most important lesson learned is that somethings are just wrong.  Like our team captain's injury to his ankle.  Seriously and utterly wrong.

Last Saturday we had another game.  I'm starting to get back into the groove of playing soccer, learning how to control my feet against the ball and that.  After 10 years, things come back slower than I would want and I still end up having a hard time with my ball control but it is improving.  When I am fully in control, and not defending, I feel very good but how often does that happen when you are a defender in a soccer game.  Indoor, at that.  The indoor field is much smaller (our field is actually a revamped Hockey arena) and much faster paced... sometimes.  What I'm starting to learn, now that I have 4 games under my belt, is that each team in the recreation league tends to have some trait that distinguishes them from the other teams.  I've been invited to play in a men's league, which is much more competitive so I'm eager to see if this holds true there, as well.

The first game I was really overwhelmed with the experience so my thought into the structure of the game was limited.  The second game was very intense.  The other team played very hard and very very fast.  As soon as they got possession of the ball, they immediately got into position to attempt a goal shot.  At the time, this was a very exhausting game but looking back it was an easier game to defend against.  Most of the players had the same strategy, and even though they were good and accurate the shots tended to be the same so it made blocking them much easier.  The game after that I was thoroughly exhausted (already wrote about that) but the lesson from that team was that patience really does pay off.  Aside from one player, who danced like a ballerina the whole game, they really would work on the setup.  Since our team was pretty tired, this paid off very well for them.  I really wish that we weren't so tired, it would have really been a better game.

The fourth game, last Saturday, was another team with some unique merit that is helping me get better.  This team had really fantastic teamwork compared to the other teams.  They had several rehearsed plays that really prompted us to create a thorough defense, which sadly we didn't but we still won.  They did outplay us, but our individual players were better and could even over-come their developed teamwork.  They had one play that they constantly used against me, and had success with it 3 times.  When I had the sweepers in place, it was easy to defend against but otherwise it was nearly impossible.

The lessons I should take away from this game are to be more vocal and tell my sweepers where to be.  I'm the one in charge of the goal and need to be more vocal; I have a hard time doing this because I still don't feel comfortable in the position and team.  I've only played 4 games, hopefully it gets better but I need to start practicing.  A part of me just assumes the sweepers know better than me, but really, they have a more limited view point than I since they're actually running up and down the field a bit.  The other lesson is to be a touch more assertive in defending.  There are two parts to goalkeeping: blocking a shot, and preventing the shot from even being taken.  I tend to be more reserved and I need to come out and prevent the shot.  To get more confident in this, I need to enhance and practice my foot work.  I worry that if I do come out and get possession, my lacking ball control will just let the other team steal it back and get an easy goal while I recover.

Other miscellaneous notes:

1. When diving in to grab the ball away, after you get possession rotate your body to prevent an incoming attacker from kicking you in the head.
2. Women players are seemingly more patient, and tend to be more accurate.
3. Exhaust the overly assertive players.  If they are playing a fullback position, it seems that by throwing the ball downfield to the player they're on more frequently they'll chase after them with a mad sprint.  If you put good spin on the throw, you can throw their sprint off.  This requires coordination with the player I'm throwing to, but seems to work really well.  Sometimes they even fall over.
4. Jump forward into the ball if you are catching.  Still lamenting over getting knocked over and through the goal.  Stupid me.
   

A friend of ours plays indoor soccer.  This is one of those sports that I never really thought much about, but as I've been increasingly sedentary since becoming a parent I've been dying to partake in some physical activity.  I have an ankle issue that makes it risky to run, so things like soccer (which I really do enjoy playing) aren't really feasible.  Well, this indoor soccer team had a need for a dedicated goalkeeper.  In my youth, I enjoyed playing an overly aggressive sweeper.  I'm not exceptionally large (186cm/6'1" at 80kg/175lbs) but I do know how to kick people (see previous activities that centered around kicking people, such as choy lay fut and tae kwon do)... er, kick balls that people are trying to protect.  The nice thing about playing a sweeper position is that you don't necessarily have to be accurate with where it goes, just that you get it in a general direction.  I can't shoot a goal to save my life, really.  I can pass it down field pretty well.

Unfortunately for me, being a sweeper requires running.  Quickly, usually.  Given my ankle problems, I can't really do much there.  Goalkeeping is probably the next best thing, albeit with more restrictions.  I was worried at first that I wouldn't get sufficient exercise being a goalkeeper, but as I soon learned indoor soccer is much faster paced than outdoor regulation soccer, where the field is large enough for the goalkeeper to take a brief nap before the ball goes from one end to the other.  Just to give you an idea, a keeper who isn't careful will easily kick or throw the ball all the way down to the other keeper.  It's pretty amusing, almost like playing keep away with the other players on the field.

Our league plays on Saturdays, and last Saturday was my second day with the team.  It also was a double header.  My fears and thoughts about lacking enough exercise were completely unwarranted.  By the end of the first, extremely intense game my legs were already feeling the burn.  I had franticly dove towards the ball no less than 7 times.  There were 2 girls on the team that were very very good.  We're just in a recreation league, which has restrictions on men can only score two goals, and after that they don't count and girls are the only ones who can kick the ball in.  These two girls were lethal.  One of them kicked the ball so hard that it actually knocked me backwards (on my ass, much to my surprise).  At least I caught it.  Unfortunately, I slid backwards through the goal.  I forgot the key lesson is that you jump forward into the ball, not just catch it.  Looks are deceiving.

We won the first game with an amazing down-to-the-buzzer goal.  3 seconds left on the clock, and then it was over.  It felt great, although I am still lamenting over how many goals I did give up.  I need to get back in practice, but given not only how active it is and how cheap it is, I'm thinking I found a wonderful new sport I can really dedicate myself to.  Here's a short and uneventful video of me blocking a shot.  The girl running down is the one who can kick like a mule.  Seriously... I'm still feeling some of her shots (took one right in the nipple!)