Near Post Blog

Another week, and another two training sessions, and here we are. The good news? I made the Revolver FC squad. The bad news? My knees look like I spent 2 days in a tanning bed, and they feel like badgers have been tearing at them for hours. I really need some training pants, but that’s my problem, not your’s. But, this week went much better than last week. I fully attribute it to me having knowledge of what I was getting myself in to. Last Saturday, I figured I wouldn’t really be “trying out” per se, but out to have a kick around and play a little scrimmage. But, if you read my post last week, you can find it here, you’ll know that wasn’t the case. So this week, I mentally prepared myself for what was going to happen, and I believe that was the reason I preformed better and I’m not nearly as sore as I was last Saturday.

So, let’s get to some specifics. Thursday night, we moved locations from where we had practice on Saturday, and I (stupidly) used mapquest to find my destination. Instead of winding up at a soccer field, I ended up in the middle of a brick-lined street with Christmas decorations everywhere. If practice would have been there, I would have been early by about 15 minutes. But, it wasn’t, and luckily my wife was near a computer and she directed me to where I needed to be, and I was 15 minutes late. It happens. Myself and another goalkeeper were worked for about an hour and fifteen minutes, and once again, it was rough. I strained my calf midway through the training, which is still bothering me, and it definitely slowed me down, but then a miracle occurred when I thought I was nearly dead. At about 9 o’clock, the team was getting ready to split into teams and scrimmage, but the lights majestically went out out the field. We had the field reserved until 10 pm, but I guess the city of Winter Park is having to scale back the budget, and Revolver FC had to suffer the consequences. So, I got to head home  a little earlier than expected, but I looked like a little kid’s finger painting, only I wasn’t covered in paint, I was covered in mud.

Today (Saturday), practice started for the goalkeepers at 8:30am, and Old Man Winter decided to show up in Central Florida. I’ve only been down here a little over two years, but my blood has become as thin as wet paper, and anything under 50 degrees feels like -50 degrees. I park my car in the garage and didn’t venture outside until I showed up at the fields. I expected the temperature to be 80 degrees (it’s Florida, right?), but it was in the mid-40’s, and my t-shirt and shorts didn’t do much to keep me warm. So, movement was the only way to stay warm, which tired me out more, and so on. Today, we had four goalkeepers working, so we had a bit more of a rest between drills, but it wasn’t much easier. Today’s drills consisted of quick movements and hitting the ground constantly, which is pretty common for goalkeeping drills, but my hips don’t realize that and they’re not happy. One drill in particular really smoked me. This one has one player on all fours, with another person actively diving over the guy on all fours making saves in a rapid-fire fashion. I haven’t done this one since I was playing for the Fayetteville Force back in 1998. And, when I hit the ground from being 3-4 feet in the air, it’s the equivalent to this. Sorry PETA.

But, after training was over, we scrimmaged and all the goalkeepers got about 30 minutes in the net. I didn’t have much to do, but it was the first time I’ve been in the net in an 11 v. 11 game since my senior year of college and it was good to my bearings again. Goalkeeping is all about positioning, and that only comes with playing.

Overall, this week was better than last, and at least I know what I’m up against each time we practice. I’m still super sore, but that’s the price you pay when you’re trying to get back in shape and you play a position that spends more time on the ground than a Duke University basketball player. I really like the players that made the team, and I think we’ll be extremely solid once we start playing matches in mid-February. Until then, I guess I’ll settle for scraped knees and swollen hips.

What I looked like after practice.