Soccer @ Oak Sq Y October 8 2012
Note: I myself dreamed up the names given the teams. Colors in names were based on color of jerseys the team started out wearing.
Oak Sq Y Soccer Tuesday October 8 2012 contains a table showing the soccer games played evening of Tuesday October 8. One can see looking at the table, that the Andre Blacks, one of 8 teams that participated, played in 6 of the 12 games played, which was twice as many games played as any of the other teams.
I now believe the number of games played per team can be made more just if: when a game is a tie, instead of both teams leaving the court, the team that was on the court in the game preceding the tied game, leaves the court.
Overall the Andre Blacks dominated the tourney, winning five, losing none, and tying one. The game they were tied, was their game against my team the Blues. My positioning, dribble-disruption, & shot-blocking on defense kept them at just 0 goals scored, despite completely crazy defensive positioning perpetrated by my team-mates. I played mostly defense, a little offense, and a little goalie during the three games I played in; my team allowed only 1 goal per game on average.
Today I was planning on doing 2.5 hours of soccer practice before the evening Oak Sq Y games, but I was too tired so the only practice was about 75 minutes at the Waltham Y after the Oak Sq Y games.
I was on a team designated the 'Blues'. But the only blue jersey was way too tight for me. I had not brought any blue shirt with me.
My first game with the Blues was the fourth five-minute game of the evening. We tied the Andre Blacks, 0-0, with me playing defense. I stole the ball from Andre, blocked an Andre shot. I deflected an incoming shot. A right-footed 45 foot chip pass I attempted was intercepted by Andre. A left-footed forward pass down the left-wing I attempted, was slightly deflected by a quick defender but made it to its target anyway. The 3 minutes or so I was out on defense seemed like an hour; it seemed as though I was accomplishing very little per minute. But actually in retrospect, I was deflecting about one shot per 1.5 minutes, & disrupting an opponent dribble (ball knocked away or stolen from opponent) about once per 1.5 minutes--a rate that computes to 60 shot deflections & 60 dribble disruptions per 90 minute game.
My second game was the eighth 5-minute game of the evening. This time the Andre Blacks beat us 2-0. I blocked shots. My fast 60-foot dribble the length of the court up the west wing just sort of swept by the defenders unchallenged, only to end when a 'team-mate', in the far left corner, simply waited in the corner as I dribbled towards him, and then sort of insisted on taking the ball away from me in a kind of of tackle-football-type hand-off. On another occasion, I dribbled up the middle and took a 45-foot left-footed shot with the toe; the ball reached an apex of about 3 feet as it curved about two-feet towards my right as I faced the 12-foot-wide goal; the ball was moving towards the goalie's left, towards the lower corner, but the goalie made a diving save, it would have gone in were it not for his hustle. Also, on a bouncer that came towards me as I was on defense, I kicked the bouncer with my right-foot, attempting to bounce the ball off the far wall and back out for my team-mates on offense to make use of. The ball moved about 80 feet on the fly & hit the opposite wall about 20 feet high, and bounced back out as I had intended; however my team-mate who was marked by one defender, was unable to make use of the rebounded ball. This game, they scored their one-touch-shot goals despite my presence as a defender in their proximity, by way of me the defender being left to mark two or three opponents all by myself right in front of the goal, when the opponents received a centering pass.
My third game was the twelfth and final game of the evening. All I remember about this game, was that I took about a 25 foot low backspinning shot with my left-foot, shooting the ball through a crowd of team-mates & opponents. I aimed for the corner to the goalie's lower right. The goalie had this corner blocked off, in a crouch, but due to all the team-mates & opponents hanging around (?!) in front of the opponent goal, that was the only spot I could aim for. I was sort of hoping that the goalie would not be able to catch the ball and the rebound off the goalie's hands would create an opportunity. The ball moved like a backspinning low line drive that never rose more than a foot above the ground towards the goalie. The goalie stopped the shot, but as hoped the ball rebounded off his hands. However, before anything could happen the goalie moved forwards to grab the ball.
Overall the usual tricks employed by perpetrators to negate competitor skill advantages seemed to be in effect. The ball was only at approx 2 PSI, not the approx 4 PSI it was at last week. This week the ball had a thick soft skin last week it did not. After the first three or so games, the players stopped bothering with colored jerseys and there were not enough colored jerseys that fit, available for the circumstances. This resulted for me in confusion regarding who was on my team, and who was on the other team. This confusion was aggravated by the fact that games only lasted 5 minutes, so by the time I was beginning to differentiate between teammate and opponent, the game was over. The confusion was exacerbated by the fact that I was playing on a team that was composed of persons who did not know each other, whereas several of the other teams were composed of cliques of friends who arrived at the gym having pre-decided who the members of their team would be.
Technical note re change of goalie during game: During my first game, with about 2 minute to go, the man we had in goal, the Zidane-type North African who calls himself 'Red', & who also played on another team who joined our team because we were short of players, simply ran away from the goal to play goalie; this forced me to play the last 2 minutes of the game in goalie, but unable to use my hands. Andre who was in charge of the games and also participating, agreed with me that the current rule is, that the organizer-ref has to be notified if there is a change in terms of who the goalie is, and until that notice is given, only the previously officially designated goalie can use his hands. In one of the games Andre moved out of goalie and I moved into goal to take his place and the only person notified was Andre himself. According to the N. Africans Marty etc., Andre proclaims the rule of official notification of goalie change as necessary, but in practice does not himself follow the rule. However I note that since Andre was the official ref and organizer in charge as well as a participant, sometimes the participant is the one notified of the goalie change. We need a clarification re what rules re goalie change we actually are going to play by.
Oak Sq Y Soccer Tuesday October 8 2012 contains a table showing the soccer games played evening of Tuesday October 8. One can see looking at the table, that the Andre Blacks, one of 8 teams that participated, played in 6 of the 12 games played, which was twice as many games played as any of the other teams.
I now believe the number of games played per team can be made more just if: when a game is a tie, instead of both teams leaving the court, the team that was on the court in the game preceding the tied game, leaves the court.
Overall the Andre Blacks dominated the tourney, winning five, losing none, and tying one. The game they were tied, was their game against my team the Blues. My positioning, dribble-disruption, & shot-blocking on defense kept them at just 0 goals scored, despite completely crazy defensive positioning perpetrated by my team-mates. I played mostly defense, a little offense, and a little goalie during the three games I played in; my team allowed only 1 goal per game on average.
Today I was planning on doing 2.5 hours of soccer practice before the evening Oak Sq Y games, but I was too tired so the only practice was about 75 minutes at the Waltham Y after the Oak Sq Y games.
I was on a team designated the 'Blues'. But the only blue jersey was way too tight for me. I had not brought any blue shirt with me.
My first game with the Blues was the fourth five-minute game of the evening. We tied the Andre Blacks, 0-0, with me playing defense. I stole the ball from Andre, blocked an Andre shot. I deflected an incoming shot. A right-footed 45 foot chip pass I attempted was intercepted by Andre. A left-footed forward pass down the left-wing I attempted, was slightly deflected by a quick defender but made it to its target anyway. The 3 minutes or so I was out on defense seemed like an hour; it seemed as though I was accomplishing very little per minute. But actually in retrospect, I was deflecting about one shot per 1.5 minutes, & disrupting an opponent dribble (ball knocked away or stolen from opponent) about once per 1.5 minutes--a rate that computes to 60 shot deflections & 60 dribble disruptions per 90 minute game.
My second game was the eighth 5-minute game of the evening. This time the Andre Blacks beat us 2-0. I blocked shots. My fast 60-foot dribble the length of the court up the west wing just sort of swept by the defenders unchallenged, only to end when a 'team-mate', in the far left corner, simply waited in the corner as I dribbled towards him, and then sort of insisted on taking the ball away from me in a kind of of tackle-football-type hand-off. On another occasion, I dribbled up the middle and took a 45-foot left-footed shot with the toe; the ball reached an apex of about 3 feet as it curved about two-feet towards my right as I faced the 12-foot-wide goal; the ball was moving towards the goalie's left, towards the lower corner, but the goalie made a diving save, it would have gone in were it not for his hustle. Also, on a bouncer that came towards me as I was on defense, I kicked the bouncer with my right-foot, attempting to bounce the ball off the far wall and back out for my team-mates on offense to make use of. The ball moved about 80 feet on the fly & hit the opposite wall about 20 feet high, and bounced back out as I had intended; however my team-mate who was marked by one defender, was unable to make use of the rebounded ball. This game, they scored their one-touch-shot goals despite my presence as a defender in their proximity, by way of me the defender being left to mark two or three opponents all by myself right in front of the goal, when the opponents received a centering pass.
My third game was the twelfth and final game of the evening. All I remember about this game, was that I took about a 25 foot low backspinning shot with my left-foot, shooting the ball through a crowd of team-mates & opponents. I aimed for the corner to the goalie's lower right. The goalie had this corner blocked off, in a crouch, but due to all the team-mates & opponents hanging around (?!) in front of the opponent goal, that was the only spot I could aim for. I was sort of hoping that the goalie would not be able to catch the ball and the rebound off the goalie's hands would create an opportunity. The ball moved like a backspinning low line drive that never rose more than a foot above the ground towards the goalie. The goalie stopped the shot, but as hoped the ball rebounded off his hands. However, before anything could happen the goalie moved forwards to grab the ball.
Overall the usual tricks employed by perpetrators to negate competitor skill advantages seemed to be in effect. The ball was only at approx 2 PSI, not the approx 4 PSI it was at last week. This week the ball had a thick soft skin last week it did not. After the first three or so games, the players stopped bothering with colored jerseys and there were not enough colored jerseys that fit, available for the circumstances. This resulted for me in confusion regarding who was on my team, and who was on the other team. This confusion was aggravated by the fact that games only lasted 5 minutes, so by the time I was beginning to differentiate between teammate and opponent, the game was over. The confusion was exacerbated by the fact that I was playing on a team that was composed of persons who did not know each other, whereas several of the other teams were composed of cliques of friends who arrived at the gym having pre-decided who the members of their team would be.
Technical note re change of goalie during game: During my first game, with about 2 minute to go, the man we had in goal, the Zidane-type North African who calls himself 'Red', & who also played on another team who joined our team because we were short of players, simply ran away from the goal to play goalie; this forced me to play the last 2 minutes of the game in goalie, but unable to use my hands. Andre who was in charge of the games and also participating, agreed with me that the current rule is, that the organizer-ref has to be notified if there is a change in terms of who the goalie is, and until that notice is given, only the previously officially designated goalie can use his hands. In one of the games Andre moved out of goalie and I moved into goal to take his place and the only person notified was Andre himself. According to the N. Africans Marty etc., Andre proclaims the rule of official notification of goalie change as necessary, but in practice does not himself follow the rule. However I note that since Andre was the official ref and organizer in charge as well as a participant, sometimes the participant is the one notified of the goalie change. We need a clarification re what rules re goalie change we actually are going to play by.
Labels: Oak Square YMCA, soccer
posted by David Virgil at 12:21 AM
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