start of the season

[tielan]

So, I told them that I wasn't going to play - the foot's been too much trouble in the last six months to a year. I was going to be a kind of 'wandering coach' - helping out at training, running side drills, etc.

However, we were down players last night, and I'd paid rego, so I turned up with my gear and everything. Although the coach had asked three players from one of the earlier teams to come along, so that was a little awkward, but he gave me a run anyway - I think I might have spent equal time on the field to one of the newbies, who has enthusiasm and teachability, but not the skillset yet. That's one of the things I'm going to be doing for the club - bringing the newbies/inexperienced players up to speed on the rules and their basic skills, while our team coaches do the team management, and our training coaches help the players master more complex skills and game plays on the field.

Our striker line (centre forward, wings) was (apart from me) pretty much completely new to their position. Two were accustomed to playing half-back, so they kept on running back and had to be called into place. And the third was the newbie (she was in the right place so she'd been watching how play went, but she didn't always have the skills to pick up the ball and get going).

Our inners are not very strong, and we'll definitely miss the two women who could play inner who went up to Div B. One of them was an inner/halfback, the other was an inner/striker, and they were both solid players, well deserving of going up. We'll miss them all the same! If I get the chance to work with our two at any stage, I might get them to practice stopping, controlling the ball, and moving with it, instead of trying to pass it straight on.

I was an assist on at least one of our goals, scored by a woman who dropped from Div A (she asked to come down) - short corner, I passed out to her, she stopped it and did the quick-flick into the backboard. The other one was from newbie, who went in there, stuck her stick in, and it rolled behind the goalie and over the line. Not fast and dramatic like the other goal, but we'll take it!

Hairy moment, when the (inexperienced) umpire called a short corner against us and blew the whistle, a second before one of the opposition hit the ball into the goal and he called it as a goal. He kept calling it as a goal for the next twenty seconds, until the other umpire stopped play, called him over and explained it. Once the ump has blown the whistle, that's the call. It doesn't matter if a goal is scored, the play stopped the instant the ump blew the whistle, and the call made must be played out. He had to reverse his decision. But, yeah, that was never going to pass muster.

I got some good runs in, didn't have to play the full game, and my foot is not going to be happy with me for a while yet.

Ultimately, I didn't want to join a team and then be unreliable b/c of health. I can play a full game, I'm just not sure my foot can recover regularly in a week. In the end, though, we have 16 players per team, which is a good number, because there's always vacations, family events, and a bunch of other things. And if they need a player in support, I'm happy to play half a game, keep my fitness in, and socialise.

Next weekend, with more players down and our goalie off watching the commonwealth games (currently on in Brisbane), I'll be in goals...