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Two games, very tired by the second one, but still managing to keep in there for most of it - at least until the late 2nd half when I was just not quite managing to be there. (I think that was happening for a few of the players, actually.)
Game 1: C-grade (mixed C & D grade teams), playing a top-C-grade team.
We did solidly; not well, but solidly. Good play, I ended up in the half-line at least once. Got a few opportunities there, but couldn't quite make it work.
A free hit smacked me on the shin, and now I have a really impressive bruise. It would have been a broken shin but for the shinpads that we have to wear. Swelling has gone down some since last night, but it's still kind of colourful.
Anyway, I came up against the player in the A-grade game that followed and said "I hope you're going to be playing in this grade and not that one". She didn't give a very definitive answer!
We lost, but, like I said, we played solidly - just couldn't get our goal attempts in.
Game 2: A/B-grade team, playing one of the upper A-grade teams.
This was a lot more stretchy than last week, in skills and interceptions and fitness. We lost the game by running all over each other and not talking enough, but they also played very cohesively - excellent passing - and aggressively in a way that one or two of our players weren't quite prepared for. Apparently they're one of the stronger A-grade teams. We were definitely outmatched, but not in a 'we were terrible' way, just in a 'we weren't quite ready for that' way.
Like I think I've said before, I could probably play A-grade, but it'd be a push every week. B-grade is a solid challenge, and C-grade is comfortable.
A couple of years ago, I was really struggling in the team where I'd been assigned (2019, I think it was) - D-grade, when most of my friends had gone up a grade. In part my disappointment was because I'd hoped to go up to the next grade and so when I was graded back down to D-grade I was absolutely shattered. All the more because the implications made were that I wasn't good enough for the C-grade team. It probably didn't help that someone on another team expressed surprise that I wasn't in a higher-grade team over the summer competition. Anyway, I took 2019 off, played goalie for the shortened season of 2020, went back to field-and-goalie in 2021, and played mostly field in 2022 (was willing to play goalie for team 3, but ended up not needing to most of the time).
I'm a bit more sanguine about it now; C-grade is the lowest grade and they have more strikers than they know what to do with, so I'll end up playing fullback and halfback and inner a lot. Apparently we have ZERO backs in this grade anymore, so the halves and the more experienced players will be taking a turn in the defence. Which I'm fine with - I'm just not a very good fullback.
Anyway, we have a couple of weeks off training since we don't have games until the week after school goes back. Ack, I probably need to change up the day I'm going to get my tattoo touched up. It was going to be on Friday but I wanted to play the Sunday games, and now I've managed to land it on the weekend before our first season games.
That's assuming I have time in between the windows. Still haven't heard from the windows guy or the installer...
Game 1: C-grade (mixed C & D grade teams), playing a top-C-grade team.
We did solidly; not well, but solidly. Good play, I ended up in the half-line at least once. Got a few opportunities there, but couldn't quite make it work.
A free hit smacked me on the shin, and now I have a really impressive bruise. It would have been a broken shin but for the shinpads that we have to wear. Swelling has gone down some since last night, but it's still kind of colourful.
Anyway, I came up against the player in the A-grade game that followed and said "I hope you're going to be playing in this grade and not that one". She didn't give a very definitive answer!
We lost, but, like I said, we played solidly - just couldn't get our goal attempts in.
Game 2: A/B-grade team, playing one of the upper A-grade teams.
This was a lot more stretchy than last week, in skills and interceptions and fitness. We lost the game by running all over each other and not talking enough, but they also played very cohesively - excellent passing - and aggressively in a way that one or two of our players weren't quite prepared for. Apparently they're one of the stronger A-grade teams. We were definitely outmatched, but not in a 'we were terrible' way, just in a 'we weren't quite ready for that' way.
Like I think I've said before, I could probably play A-grade, but it'd be a push every week. B-grade is a solid challenge, and C-grade is comfortable.
A couple of years ago, I was really struggling in the team where I'd been assigned (2019, I think it was) - D-grade, when most of my friends had gone up a grade. In part my disappointment was because I'd hoped to go up to the next grade and so when I was graded back down to D-grade I was absolutely shattered. All the more because the implications made were that I wasn't good enough for the C-grade team. It probably didn't help that someone on another team expressed surprise that I wasn't in a higher-grade team over the summer competition. Anyway, I took 2019 off, played goalie for the shortened season of 2020, went back to field-and-goalie in 2021, and played mostly field in 2022 (was willing to play goalie for team 3, but ended up not needing to most of the time).
I'm a bit more sanguine about it now; C-grade is the lowest grade and they have more strikers than they know what to do with, so I'll end up playing fullback and halfback and inner a lot. Apparently we have ZERO backs in this grade anymore, so the halves and the more experienced players will be taking a turn in the defence. Which I'm fine with - I'm just not a very good fullback.
Anyway, we have a couple of weeks off training since we don't have games until the week after school goes back. Ack, I probably need to change up the day I'm going to get my tattoo touched up. It was going to be on Friday but I wanted to play the Sunday games, and now I've managed to land it on the weekend before our first season games.
That's assuming I have time in between the windows. Still haven't heard from the windows guy or the installer...
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Most of our players come to hockey either having playing at school (some stopped after school or university, some stopped for families or left another club and have since moved location or want to play with a different team) or else come to it from our 'summer comp' - a no-stakes, fun set of games on a half-field (played across the the field rather than down the length) with half a team.
Whether you can just go in without experience largely depends on the club (but also a little on you). We make a point of being a social club - that is, we'll accept any level of skill and experience. We're a suburban, amateur club that wants to play for fun, friendship, and general health. That said, not all clubs will want players 'right off the street' so to speak, and not all players will want a club that isn't competitive, so it's a case of matching the player to the club.
In Australia, at least, we don't have a really big professional network of sports. In most sports, we have our state and international rep teams, and then it's pretty much a lot of amateur clubs and associations (the level where the seasons and games are organised). But there's little to no pro-sport in Australia, which is why many of our big sportspeople go out of the country to professional competitions. But it also means that 'local sport' is a fairly thriving thing - a lot of people enjoy getting out and doing social sport. Some are more competitive than others, but if all you want is a chance to stretch your legs and play on a team, there are options.