way too early

[tielan]

So, we lost the Grand Final - in Penalty Time.

We played 70 minutes of game, 15 minutes of Extra Time and then went to a Penalty shoot-out. And their goalie is really good. (Ours is solid, but...not as good as theirs.)

*sigh*

It's a nasty way to not be Premiers - especially after we held them off and dominated the field for the better part of the 85 minutes.

And there are team troubles again, related to how much field time some people got vs. others. It circles around one player - ironically, not one of the two women who had the issue last time. She's played with the club for several years, though, and she's one of our solid players and only got 20 minutes of play. She was not happy at all after the game. And quite understandably: if I'd only gotten 20 minutes then I wouldn't be happy either.

Anyway, that's something we're going to have to address among the club hockey team committee the next time we meet. The coach is great at tactics and training; not so good with the equal subbing of players. And we're a social team, not a competitive one, so...that's probably going to have to change.

I hope T comes back, though. From the sound of it (one of the women who's been her friend for years went around to her place after the game before coming out to drinks), she was really angry about the inequalities of the subbing.

*sigh*

--

Go-live this morning. Up at 4am, into work by 5am. Two coffees before 7am. (One's a mocha, but still...)

It's gonna be a long day.

Comments

[skieswideopen]

Oh, I'm sorry! That's a really unsatisfying way to lose.

How often do you sub players in field hockey? I'm assuming your shift probably run a little longer than the less-than-two-minute shifts in ice hockey...

[tielan]

It's not as fast as ice hockey, so there's no regulated length of game - it pretty much depends on what position you play and how fast you tire. In a team of 11-15 players, you might get 10 minutes off for a break. We used to do our own subbing, calling people off if it was necessary, but now we have a coach we kind of expected him to do it.

Unfortunately the coach does play favourites with certain players - they are the best players in the team, sure, but we're not a team in the competitive professional sense - I think we'd rather play a satisfying game that has everyone happy than win.

The coach has done a grand job of bringing up our skills - no question about that. But I think that, if we ask him back next year (assuming he wants to come back) then he might have to adjust to the way our club plays: that winning be less important than people getting a fair run on the field. That might be a difficult one to adjust to - especially if tensions run high.

[skieswideopen]

I can understand your coach's impulse to have the best players play more, but it is unfortunate given that you're a social team.

I hope next year goes more smoothly.

[tielan]

He's pretty young - 23 or so. We tend to forget that when he's giving us running orders. And as we've found out, he's not very good at remembering who's had time off. :/

[skieswideopen]

That is quite young. So maybe there's hope! :D