I didn't play today. I passed a bit with one of the freshman, which was good bonding, because I hadn't warmed up with her before. I was able to pass a bit with my right foot, but I was only wearing an ace bandage on my ankle, so that hurt sometimes. Most of the time I worked on passing with my left foot, which has always been a big weakness for me. I found that the more I focused on aiming at Sara (my partner), by pointing my right foot where I wanted the ball to go, the more accurate my left-footed passes became. After a while, I didn't have to concentrate as much at aiming, because it was becoming a habit, and so I was able to pass more comfortably with my left foot. I'll consider this a new skill acquired! Especially because previously, my left-footed passes were all over the place so often that I never wanted to practice them, for fear of making my partner run all over the place, and believing I couldn't get any better.
The only downside to passing before the game is that it made my ankle pretty sore. It wasn't too bad, until we had to do our stretching warm-up, and it hurt to do high-knees and butt-kicks, because the landing was hard. So I didn't end up playing in the game, but it still felt really good to get my foot on the ball again, as I had been feeling pretty restless at practices and games because I couldn't get involved.
I think the team played pretty well. We're kicking almost no long balls to the goalie, and doing a spectacular job at passing back, especially the defenders passing back to Rachel, our goalie. Passing back is really helpful because it allows us to make more accurate passes, and generally control the ball better, and keep possession, because we can pass the ball back to someone facing forward, who can send the ball pretty far forward. I think the most important thing the team needs to work on is staying pushed up, so that not only can we get more off-side calls in our favor, but so that we put more pressure on the opposing team to play in less space, and they are therefore more likely to make mistakes. Coach discussed this with us a little bit on Friday after the game, and already I can see the team working on it, although sometimes, when the play gets going, some team members seem to forget this and drop too far back.
At this point, I know I won't be playing in the game on Wednesday, because I will have only participated in one practice in three weeks, and Cape Cod Academy is a tough team. I think I'll pass at the before the CCA game, but not try to warm up again, so that I don't hurt my ankle by accident, and so that I don't stretch my muscles out, just to not use them, and accidentlly pull something.
No comments:
Post a Comment