My Speed and Times for My Conditioning Drills

This evening, February 23, 2013, I timed my speed for some of my conditioning drills. My numbers showed that if I ran the 40 yard dash, I would run it in less than 4.8 seconds. See:

Sideways run with 180 Turns Drill Description and Times/Speeds

Backwards run with 180 Turns Drill Description and Times/Speeds

Forwards run with 180 Turns every 20' Drill Description and Times/Speeds

Forwards run with 180 Turns every 33' Drill Description and Times/Speeds 

The numbers showed that when I attempt to run the Sideways Drill at 67% of max effort, I run at 75% of max speed. When I attempt to run the Backwards Drill at 67% of max effort, I run at 76% of max speed. When I attempt to run the Forwards with 180 degree turns every 20' Drill at 67% of max effort, I run at 78% of max speed. When I attempt to run the Forwards with 180 degree turns every 33' Drill at 67% of max effort, I run at only 60% of max speed.

Soccer Futsal @ Waltham Y, Thursday Feb 21

We played from about 810-1000 PM. We used Paul's heavy Futsal ball. When I first showed up, I talked with Stefan. Stefan said to me regarding the 81' goal I scored the week before: "it was burned into my mind". There was confusion at first. I was on the sideline for three straight games while my team was playing, because first they put me on the gray team, then the red team, then the orange team. About five players who had not paid to participate in the league signed up, they wanted to let them play but all on one team, so there was this confusion. The goals used were6 feet wide and 4 feet high.

The situation with regards to wind-power type endurance was not good today, neither was the situation with regards to the pain I've been experiencing in my calves and in the soles of my feet. There are various possible reasons for this. The weather outdoors has prohibited outdoors conditioning work. There has been little open gym time at the Y (the gym has been occupied by basketball, volleyball, children's activities; the Group Exercise studio at the Oak Sq Y has been almost always in use for yoga etc.; the Waltham Y is not allowing persons who are not registered for specific groups that use their group exercise studio to use it). I did not exercise yesterday. I consumed my 'nutrients cocktail' today 14 hours before the game started instead of the usual 2 hours before the game started. I had only about one minute to warm up with the ball before the games started. I was not able to sleep well before the games, in part because my sleep was disturbed due to a very long, dramatic, seemingly supernaturally-inspired dream I had. I woke up only about 2.5 hours before the games started.

Notable events during the games:

Game 1: 1) I stopped the ball and then chipped it, the chip was short. 2) I made a good fast 1-touch right footed pass forwards 50' to team-mate, sending the ball back in the direction from which it came up the middle. 3) a left-footed inwards roller pass I made as short. 4) approx 6 times I blocked a shot or intercepted a pass or disrupted a dribble.

Game 2: I took a hard, in-swerving left-footed shot from 47 feet; the ball would have entered the upper corner of the goal to the goalie's right, but Jose, the no-hands goalie, stretched his right foot out and up and blocked the shot, this despite him being stocky and short. 2) I made a good 30' chip pass into the middle. 3) I got the ball on the left-wing, turned to face the defender, looked around to see where my team-mates are, made a short hesitant dribble, the defender stole the ball from me (seemed the simult combination of assessing the whereabouts of my team-mates and attempting to dribble by a defender was too much for me). 4) a right-footed clearance kick I made, travelled 50' and then hit the chest of an opponent player. 5) about 4 times, I blocked a shot, intercepted a pass, or disrupted an opponent dribble.

Game 3: I got the ball on the left wing, dribbled forwards at very fast speed, and took a very hard 31' shot while moving very fast; the ball missed diagonally outside the goalie's upper right corner by 2' (shot would have been a goal if we had been using standard size 10' x 7' Futsal goals, even Capt Stephen complimented me for this shot) . 2) I stopped the ball, dribbled it, and took a very long, but very hard left-footed 80' shot that hit the wall behind the goal hard; the ball missed diagonally outside the upper corner to the goalie's right by 6 feet (this shot would have been a goal if we had been using standard size outdoors 24'x8' goals). 3) I cut inwards on a dribble with the inside of my left foot and then accurately passed off up the middle to a team-mate. 4) on the left wing, I stopped the ball and made a good pass up the middle.

Game 4: 1) I made a good accurate 40'-distance chip into the middle on a corner kick. 2) I stopped the ball with my back to a peppy defender, cut inwards with my right-foot on a dribble, and passed accurately up the middle using my right-foot. 3) I stopped a ball with the inside of my left-foot and immediately sent a very accurate low 41' left-footed pass (in the 8:00 direction given 12:00 as the direction I was facing when I got the ball) up the middle to a team-mate who was able to shoot on the first touch and almost scored.

Game 5: 1) feeling tired, after getting the ball on the left-wing, I made a bad right-footed centering pass into the middle that went to the other team. 2) With time running out I made an accurate 70' left-footed chip pass from the right rear corner of the court to a player in the left forecourt.

General Notes:

1) I appointed Stephen to be captain and boss me around, when I finally landed on the orange-jerseyed team. I was shocked when at the end of the last game Stephen complained to me about not hustling back on defense. I told him that when I play wing, I play more defense than anybody. Seemed Stephen was imitating Manny who day before yesterday complained about my lack of hustle (before the games started I told Stephen about what Manny had said). I had been watching the 2012 Futsal World Cup videos on the internet on Youtube. I had noticed that the wings at the World Cup, would drop way back on defense when the players they were marking did not have the ball, and then move up to be about five feet away from the player they were marking when he got the ball, and I imitated them. The result was that I got alot of defensive action, and my team did well. The result also was that when I dropped back on defense when the man I was marking did not have the ball, a team-mate invariably took my place up on the left wing, forcing me to stay back on defense.

2) Often when the best option was to pass me the ball, my team-mate did something other than pass me the ball. Often my team-mates tried to pass me the ball but the passes were inaccurate and/or intercepted.

3) After the games, I interrogated Ian re his impressive dribbling. Unlike me, his father played alot of soccer and taught him. Unlike me, he grew up with a brother who liked soccer who he practiced soccer with. Ian even played on the Complutense College soccer team in Spain. Ian told me that his approach to dribbling is that before he starts a dribble, he sizes up a couple of different patterns to follow, one pattern if the defender will be nearby, another if he will be farther away; and then he implements the pattern. I had been wondering whether it is wise to preplan what kind of dribbling attack you are going to mount before going ahead with it. I now suspect that I have not been pre-determining dribbles enough. I have not even been predetermining whether I am going to attempt to dribble past the defender when I get the ball (last year I got in the habit of deciding to dribble past the defender aforehand, and then doing it, and eventually enjoyed plenty of dribbling success, beating the defender about 2/3rds of the time). And I have not been predetermining what kind of dribbling attack I am going to mount. I've been trying hard recently to be aware of where all my team-mates are all the time, this has impaired my dribbling, because it is difficult to size up where you team-mates are and then beat a defender on the dribble simult. Last year, when dribbling successfully, I forgot about where my team-mates were and just dribbled. Seems I've been trying too hard to be a good little coach's boy who always knows where all his team-mates are.

4) I forgot to remove the earplugs from my ears this game. I think removing the earplugs improves my play, because players use their ears to discern what is going on.

5) When I was asleep before today's games, I had an important, long, majestic, dramatic dream (see David Virgil's Blog: Being the modern Caesar-- a Dream). But my performance in soccer after the having the dream was not above average for me.

Being the modern Caesar-- a Dream

Morning of Thursday, February 21, I woke up at (according to my alarm clock) 1132 AM, after having slept for about two hours, and after having had an important, very long dream; upon waking I felt convinced that the dream was at least in part supernatural, inspired. By the time I was awake, I could only remember about 5-10% of the dream, but I could remember all of the concluding scenes of the dream.

The dream reminded me of the Book of Revelation. There were about 12 chapters in it. The chapters each consisted of a certain aspect of USA national society being corrected or improved by way of government. In each or most of the chapters of the dream: me and the group I was with, my little army, received miraculous power to correct a defect in USA government; this would be followed by some evil factor gadget or contraption negating the miraculous power; and then the negation would be followed by an almost accidental discovery of a way to conquer the negation.

Before going to bed, and about three hours before falling asleep, I consumed: one glass of distilled water, one 3 mg melatonin pill, two puffs on an organic-tobacco cigarette, 30 oz of 'Miller' brand beer, and my 'nutrients cocktail'. Evening after the dream, I played soccer in the Waltham Y league, strangely enough, my soccer performance was below average for me, I felt winded, I felt pain in the calves and soles of my feet.

The ending of the dream, which I remember in full:

There was a Greco-Roman style, white pillar, about six feet tall and two feet wide, that had some images carved into it. At the bottom of the pillar was an image of a bearded male head. The yellow cream used in Eclairs and Boston Cream donuts came out of the mouth of the bearded head, it tasted good. Some chocolate came out of the head at the bottom of the pillar also. The yellow cream and the chocolate had miraculous powers.

I was wearing a white 'toga'-like garment, like a long robe, and a crown of leaves (kotinos) of the type the Olympian victors wear. Magically, hundreds of men who were my twins, somehow issued forth from me. They were well-informed, well-intentioned, thoughtful types, the kind of men who used to attend Harvard College 30 years ago.

Next, I was walking up a wide, palatial, majestic indoor staircase, the carpet covering the staircase was orange. As I walked, mentally I was aware of two miracles: one, my writings on national and world government were all correct, or at least 99% correct; and, two- society had somehow become aware that I was Caesar and that none of the hundreds of my twins were Caesar, I alone was Caesar.

Next, I saw a tall pillar of Caesars. The pillar was at least 30 feet high, about 3 feet in diameter. It was painted an off-white color, like a light brown. The side of the pillar facing me was adorned with crimson or maroon colored rectangles. In each rectangle, was the name of a historic, good, well-behaved Caesar of the Roman Empire of old. The rectangle at the top of the pillar had the name of the first good Caesar-- during the dream I was unable to discern exactly what this name was, or I had forgotten what the name was by the time I woke up; when I first woke up, I was thinking that perhaps the name was Constantine. The crimson/maroon rectangle below the top rectangle contained the name of the second good Caesar of the Roman Empire; the crimson/maroon rectangle below the second rectangle contained the name of third good Caesar of the Roman Empire, and so on and so forth. The names were in white 3D lettering, the letters stood out from the pillar, in a font-style of the type you see used by Greek Restaurants, or in cartoons about Greece.

As I looked at the pillar, I felt convinced that I was at least spiritually and mentally descended from the good Caesars of the Roman Empire; and I felt that probably I was genetically descended from the first good Caesar or one of the good Caesars.

Beginning and middle parts of the dream, of which I remember only about 5-10 percent ( not listed in chronological order):

1. I was running down a street outdoors during the daylight. Sometimes I ran at supernatural speed; sometimes my speed was slow-- while running I was learning to run using a style of running that was new for me. This style of running involved me keeping my legs straight, and using just my calves and feet (during soccer games, I've had problems with the calves and soles of my feet). I was running away from someone who was chasing me.

2. I was pilot of a fighter plane attacking enemy territory, seemingly in one of the wars that the US has historically been engaged in. Something about this scene reminded me of Jimi Hendrix songs which are such that one can sometimes visually, with the mind's eye, see graphic representations of the sound of the music being performed.

3. I was operating a flame-thrower weapon, again it seemed to be in one of the wars that the US has been engaged in in the past. I was attacking enemy dug into the crimson or maroon-colored side or face of a cliff (the part of the cliff that faces open air and runs perpendicular to the ground). Cut into the side of the cliff, were rows in which people existed, one on top of the other, as one finds in tall buildings. With my flamethrower, I attacked the people in these rows. It was war, they were enemy.

4. During the fighter-pilot or flame-thrower segment, I realized that one of the levels or rows in the side of the cliff inhabited by 'enemy', had been wrongfully attacked by me or us, using the flame-thrower or the fighter-plane. This row had been inhabited by some small Slavic nation. We made reparations for our error.

5. The woman named 'Heather' who I first encountered at the bar called "Frosty's" on Moody St. in Waltham, was wearing a white robe and lying down on a white bench in a white room (in real-life, she knows Darren, who hangs out sometimes at Franco's on Moody Street). Her hair was shortish, straight and black as it was last time I saw her. I hugged her from behind. She was very thin-- she was starving. And she was a wife of mine.

6. There were some other women in the dream who were my concubines or wives also. I saw them as they were walking wearing white robes, I walked behind them. The one immediately in front of me had long wavy yellow hair. They were about my height (5' 10"). Though I saw them from behind somehow I knew they were pretty. They had strong athletic yet feminine bodies. Their level of intellectual attainment was beneath Doctor, lawyer, PhD, etc. But they knew right from wrong, they had understanding regarding sacred mysteries.

7. In one chapter my little army had acquired the power of being invisible. The enemy army could not see us. The enemy army was mostly white young men like my little army was, but they were not as handsome or nice looking as my army (I remember one face from my army, he was a nice looking clean shaven young man who had yellow or light brown hair. I also remember one face from the enemy army, he was a young clean shaven man with black hair and bushy black eyebrows). Despite our invisibility, the enemy had learned to track us by our footprints and almost caught me. Though we were invisible during this chapter, they could still track us by our footprints.

8. There was an altercation between a black man who was on our side, and a black man who was against us.

9. There was a table-like structure, it was like about five tables or five shelves one on top of the other. It was about five feet high, three feet wide, and four feet long. The surface of each table or shelf was covered by some felt-like substance; one of the lower shelves was covered in maroon or crimson colored felt. The top shelf was covered in green felt. On top of the gree nfelt, there were little objects that appeared to be miniature models of two tackle football teams opposing each other. This multi-level shelving or tables represented the USA nation.

10. Me and my little army had cans that sprayed a spray, similar to sprays like deodorant or cleaning sprays. We sprayed the spray on to the faces of these white young men. The spray had the effect of restoring intelligence and sanity to those whom it was sprayed upon.

11. One of the chapters featured my and my little army opposing so-called 'free-trade', and the enemy favoring it.

Dream about Greater Boston YMCA Executives

I have been feeling somewhat annoyed by the management of the Greater Boston Y. They oversee about a dozen YMCAs in the Boston area. I applied for a job as Exec Director of the Waltham Y and did not get it. I watched as they forgot about me and appointed someone half my age to get paid more than I have ever been paid to be their Membership Director, and gave him credit for things that happened on his watch, simply because the things happened on his watch. I have been somewhat unimpressed by the people they have appointed. I have noticed how apparently, they (seemingly almost superstitiously) tend to simplistically give credit for anything a YMCA accomplishes, to some executive who happened to be in place at the given Y at the time the Y achieved something. About a week ago, I had a dream about them.

In the dream, I was meeting with about ten of the top Greater Boston YMCA Executives; it was just me and them. Sr VP for Human Resources Paul Mantell was there (he decides who gets many of the top jobs at the YMCAs in the Greater Boston YMCA, he is the one who gave the Waltham Exec Director job to someone else). I have never seen Mantell or a photo of him. In the dream, Mantell was about six feet two inches tall; he was kind of stocky; he wore a plad Scottish-style shirt made of thick red and blue stripes; his hair was thick and brown and medium length; he was clean-shaven; and I think he wore spectacles. In the dream, during the meeting, I was feeling as if the Greater Boston YMCAs were boring people, and I felt irritated by them.

There are various problems with the obsession personnel officers have with experience. I wonder if they even realize, that an emphasis on how much experience a job candidate has, leads to a de-emphasis of important factors other than experience. I wonder if they realize, that half the jobs are placed by way of connections and many of the remainder are placed as a result of experience derived from connections. I wonder if they realize, that how much experience people have is determined by the decisions of the hiring managers of the marketplace, decisions that can tend to be merely of average quality, or even worse (plus every institution is unique, different from the marketplace at large). I wonder if they realize that obsession with how much experience job candidates have, results, demonically, in the perpetual punishment of those who early in life experienced bad luck or were the victims of sins or crimes.

When King David was appointed King by Saul, he was 'merely' an inexperienced shepherd. When St. Peter was appointed the human head of the Christian Church, he was 'merely' a fisherman. When St Paul first became a leader of the Christian Church, his 'experience' consisted simply of having been a leading persecutor of the Church.

For 20 years now, in the upper right hand corner, there has been a quotation, namely, 1 Timothy 6:17-19. Seems to me, that therefore, Ishould be treated well by an organization like the YMCA. I have suffered enough because of the quotation on my resume. It's as if, like a classic British Navy Captain, I'm 'going down with the ship' because of the quote on the resume. But it does'nt have to be that way.

Soccer Futsal @ Oak Square Y, Tuesday Feb 19-- I assist on a goal

We played a 40 minute game that started about 740 PM, the half-time intermission lasted 2 minutes. First game they used a soft deflated size 4 outdoor ball; second game, the game we played in, they used my Futsal ball.

Before the games, we had seven players; everybody had a red jersey except me; the only red jersey I could find was way too small for me; I was talking with the staff-types re what to do, they said tie the small kid's red jersey to the shoulder-strap of my sleeveless t-shirt; then during the first game (we played in the second), one of the Spanish-types on my team took off his red jersey and left it on the bench, I put it on, he played without a red jersey. He did this for me without drawing any attention to the fact he had done it for me. He seemed to realize that given that our team was Demetri the no-hands goalie, me (I am less than 5% Spanish, don't speak Spanish), and five Spanish-types, me being without a jersey was worse than one of the Spanish being without a jersey.

Reminds me of how the other day, I drove Nafis who goes to the Waltham-Y, to the nearby GameStop to return and pick up a game; Nafis was two dollars short; Nafis asked me for two dollars; a young Spanish-type man who did not know us who was there overheard and gave Nafis the two dollars he needed plus two dollars to buy a soda pop.

The first game, featured the Moroccans (plus some non-North Africans) against the Wheatonites (team composed mostly of ex-Wheaton College Varsity players). The North Africans won, 8-6.

The game we played in involved us, the Spanish Reds, against the Brazilian Big Boys (a team that has at least one Brazilian, three strong guys at least six feet tall, this is the 2nd year in a row they've been together). We won 7-4. Leo tells me that the Brazilian Big Boys had won nine in a row were considered the league's best team, and were the league champs before losing to us today.

I started out playing left wing for 3 minutes (score them 1 us 0 during this time). Then a team-mate, attempting to shoot the ball, was way off and fired the ball right into my groin. Then I left the game for 10 minutes (score them 1 us 0 during this time). Then I came back in for 7 minutes on defense (score us 2 them 0 during this time). Then the second half, I played the first ten and the last 5 minutes on defense (score us 4 them 2 during the 15 minutes I played defense during the 2nd half). Second half during the 5 minutes I was on the bench, the score was us 1 them 0.

Yet despite the fact that we dominated the allegedly best team in the league while I was playing defense, Manny, who I sort of appointed to be our defacto captain, and who said he was from Colombia, found fault with my defensive play (Manny's physical appearance= shortish, muscular, wearing a Boston College Sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off, mischeivous looking face). He felt I was not hustling enough. He said when an attacker had the ball, I should be right on top of him, pressuring him, like a foot away from him, jabbing at the ball.

I told Manny I had been watching videos of the 2012 Futsal World Championships-- and, the top defenders I watched ran to the man with the ball, and then stopped at a point between the goal and him, about five or six feet away from the player with the ball, facing the player with the ball. I told him the Moroccans thought I was 'very good' on defense, that I had played many games as a defender at the Oak Square Y, that I knew how to position myself.

At one point, Manny was up at center forward, I had dropped back to defense, Manny held up his hands, grimaced, looked at me, and said, 'I need you up here' (seemed he expects me to be offense and defense simult); I told him that I had dropped back to defense because he thought I was not hustling enough playing left wing at the beginning of the game.

Overall, we did most of our scoring when I was playing defense, we scored little when I was on the bench. The goals they scored when I was on defense were both flukes: one ball ricocheted off my arm into the goal, and then there was a fluky, slow, 40 foot shot that magically threaded itself through a crowd of about five players and into the side of our goal. Of course when this 2nd fluke happened, Manny threw up his hands, grimaced and stared at me, as if it was my fault (seemed Manny always thought it was my fault when things go wrong). But the goals the other team scored when I was on the bench or up at wing, those were not flukes.

On la bloody ofensiva, I 'ad wile playing defensa, an asistencia en un goal que accordin' ter Leo (goalie de los Norff Africanos), turned the tide for us, right, put us in the lead for the bleedin' first time, right, and swung the chuffin' momentum in us direccion (Leo felt I had produced this goal). I got the chuffin' bola in front of us goal, swang 'round counterclockwise about 90 degrees ter face the tall strong Brazileno defensor, moved towards 'im, right, moved me body as if I were gonna cut ter my left, right, cut forwards and ter my right past the defensor, dribbled up the centro, passed ter the chuffin' right win', ffen the right win' pasa into the centro and we scored.

After the game I said to Manny: every time something goes wrong, you blame me. And when another player on our team and me both slack off on defense when playing wing, you find fault with me but not with the other guy. He responded, 'no way!'. I told him, that at the beginning before our bodies had woken up (we had no pregame warmup) all the guys who were playing wing were slacking off on defense. In general, I was planning on dribbling the ball more this game, but Manny's critical attitude inhibited me, I did not dribble much.

On offense: I sent off an accurate long one-touch 55' chip pass to my left wing; I wheeled counterclockwise on a ball that had bounced once and set an accurate one-touch 55' right-footed pass that bounced once before reaching a team-mate playing center-forward; I sent a heel-pass backwards 25' when I was bottled up on the left-wing; I dribbled past a defender by cutting right and then passed a short roller to an opponent because he called for the ball (first time this trick has been played on me); and I made some unremarkable but accurate left-footed roller passes. I felt there were several times when my team-mates did something else when the better option would have been to pass to me. I suspect I have to get more vocal calling for the ball, instead of silently waiting for the ball to be sent my way. I noticed that the Moroccan Marty, who gets lots of good passes, calls for the ball alot.

On defense: I blocked shots; by my positioning I forced shots to miss wide; by harassing the attacker I forced him into runs into the corner which ended with us getting the ball; I sent a short slow roller pass to an opponent-- when my goalie called for the ball, without thinking I passed to a point in between where my goalie was and where I thought a non-goalie fellow-teammate would be, I suspect because I've never heard my goalie call for me to pass it to him before.

Conditioning: I admit Manny was somewhat justified in his criticism, because my wind-power was down again (I've been missing conditioning workouts I've scheduled myself for because the gym/aerobics-studio is so often occupied). But the pain in the soles of the feet and the calves situation was better than it has been-- the only pain I felt was moderate pain in the soles of the feet towards the end of the game, which is a big step forwards compared to last season when I used to have to sit out or play goalie after just 3 or 4 minutes of running around, due to the pain in the calves/soles. I attribute this improvement (in terms of pain) to one or all of the following: my 'nutrients cocktail'; doing calf-raise type weightlifting exercises, lots of reps at low weights; swimming; stretching; and, conditioning drills. I find that although I have progressed rapidly in the past week or so in terms of swimming endurance, there has not been a parallel improvement in soccer-endurance; seems the swimming has left me with less energy for soccer. Oak Square Y soccer is always more tiring for me, compared to Waltham Y soccer. At the Oak Sq gym/basketball-court: a constant mechanical humming noise, the relatively dim lighting, and the echoes produced by every sound make me feel tired and sleepy; the playing court is 44% bigger than at the Waltham Y; there is no out of bounds line so play continues at a fast pace constantly as in ice hockey.

Soccer Futsal @ Waltham Y, Thursday Feb 14-- I score 2 goles

We played from 810-1000 PM. There were four teams: the orange, the green, the red, and the grays; I was on the grays. I felt that we had the worst players. That could be because our players have not practiced as much or worked as much on their fitness, but the fact remains. In fact, seems I always end up on the team with the worst players, the team which features the lowest level in terms of how well the players know each other. That's because usually, most of the teams are composed of pre-existing cliques of friends who knew each other before signing up for the soccer, and then there is one team composed of stray cats like me who signed up as individuals and who never knew any of the other players in the league, before the league started.

We played five minute games, I played in nine of them. The goals were 6 feet wide and 4 feet high. The court was approx 50' wide and 94' long. The ball used, was a heavy Futsal ball.

For angles at which the ball moved to me and away from me, I use here fighter-pilot lingo, based on how a clock looks. 12:00 means straight ahead; 3:oo means from my right; 6:00 means from behind me; 9:00 defines a point to my exact left.

Game 1:

I were at the chuffin' left-win' posicion, right, as I were in outdoors futbol in secundaria school. Right. A passe came me way from about 4:30. Yer can't 'ave a knees-up wivout a joanna. I dribbled the bola forwards towards the opponent end-linea once, right, and then took an 'ard left-footed 40' shot. The bleedin' ballon entered the chuffin' goal at a point aproximadamente 1 foot inside del bloomin' post ter the goalie's right, right, about 3 feet 'igh, it were a goal, on mi first posesion de la evenin'.

Also: a right-footed short-distance shot of mine missed the upper corner to the goalie's right by 2'; a passer telegraphed his intent to pass me the ball long before he passed it, the pass was behind me, I stretched out my right-foot backwards, I was not being peppy, the defender stripped the ball away.

Game 2:

I chased down a pass that bounced once before I shot it, the hard low 28' shot was 8 feet wide of the post to the goalie's right, my team-mate told me that I had time to control the ball first. I made a perfect chip on a corner kick, the ball reached an apex of 14', landed at the feet of a team-mate 40' away, he shot it drop-kick style. A hard low one-touch shot I took missed outside the goalie's left goalpost by 1'. A long roller pass came to me from 5:00, the defender was right on top of me, on the first touch I moved the ball a short distance in the 1:00 direction, the defender got the ball.

Game 3:

A pass came to me from 5:00, I dribbled forward once Y made a short accurate roller pass to 11:00. A roller pass came from 5:00, I made a good one-touch roller pass inwards to 3:00. A ball rolled slowly my way from 2:00, I took an extremely hard, low 1-touch right-footed shot 36' from the goal, the ball missed outside the post to the goalie's left by 1 foot, Jose who works for the company that makes passports complimented me on the shot, gave me a high-five for it.

Game 4:

Several bad decisions by team-mates resulted in me not getting a pass. A slow roller came my way in front of the enemy goal, for some reason I leaned backwards as the ball came to me, my one-touch right-footed shot missed outside the upper corner to the goalie's left by 2'. I ran a slant in the 1:00 direction, an excellent low roller pass came my way, on the first touch I dribbled it forwards well and simult controlled it on the first touch, but the goalie was right there, very close to me, and knocked it away, my collision with him accidentally caused him to scream in pain.

Game 5:

My team's defacto captain was Carlos from Peru. He is the Y-volunteer who organized the soccer league. I get the feeling that he is not happy that Director Bautz allowed me to sign up for the league late after I wrote Director Bautz a long letter. This Capitan Carlos De Peru, told me to drop back to play defensively and that we would then counter-attack. I obeyed him. Then I saw little action. I blocked a shot, kicked away an enemy pass that came my way. I dribbled a defender by stopping a lead pass that came from 4:30 with the sole of my left-foot, the defender flew by me, I had him completely dribbled, there was a hoot of approval from a player on the sideline, but then I passed off.

Games 6 & 7 (two games played in a row):

A couple of my attempts at long chip-passes both went astray-- the ball came my way, I stopped it, then attempted to chip it, but the chips never reached an altitude of more than 3; I think both errors were due to me becoming fatigued and rushing the chip attempts. Towards the end of game 6 Captain Carlos moved me back to play no-hands goalie; Capt Carlos was talking and acting as if our defeats were my fault, and that the solution was to move me back. I felt that actually, the only times when we had had a chance to win, were the times when I was playing left-wing and shooting (majority of my shots were missing by 1 or 2 feet but such is the roll of the dice). I told Carlos (correctly), that we had been losing because players on our  team repeatedly made bad decisions re where to pass. Often I was wide open but did not get passed to, the ball being passed to some less open person in a less advantageous position instead. Often though I was wide open, the player with the ball dribbled instead, the end result being simply the other team getting the ball.

Games 8 & 9 (two games played in a row):

I dribbled three defenders in a row-- first I cut past one defender inwards at a 45 degree angle; then I cut past a second defender to the defender's right, by cutting towards the goal; then I dribbled past a third defender, to the defender's left (I sort of threaded the needle between the 2nd and 3rd defenders); but the dribble that pushed the ball by the third defender pushed the ball too hard-- I felt the mistake was a result of fatigue. A chip pass I made got to the receiver because he hustled hard to reach it, but it was went about 15' to the right of where I wanted ot to go.

Then I scored the most incredible gol of the entire season. I were in the bleedin' middle of the bleedin' corte, in front of me goal, right, and 81 feet from the bloomin' enemy goal. An aereo bola came mi way. Right. I 'ad the mockers put on it wiv me chest, right, so that it bounced at me feet. I'll get out me spoons. At aproximadamente the chuffin' same time that it bounced, I lofted a long 81' chip-shot towards the bloomin' enemiga goal. The bleedin' bola reached an apex of 23', sailed over the bloomin' goalie's surprised 'ead, and entered the enemiga goal at a point just below the 4' 'igh crossbar, for a gol. I'll get out me spoons. The bloody bola did wot I intended it ter do on this shot, right, but I felt afortunado because the bola almost 'it the ventilation pipes at the bleedin' ceilin' and then on its way dahn, right, almost 'it the basketball 'oop that were above the bloody enemiga goal.


General Notes:

1) Seems that watching the Futsal videos, has resulted in me shooting too quickly and not dribbling enough. The top-level Futsal in the videos is such that one has to rush things because the defenders are quick and professional.

2) When I am tired and rush a chip-pass, I tend to kick the ball too hard, while at the same time I kick it improperly.

3) I felt this game illustrated how I am the best shooter in the league: my left-footed shots are harder and more accurate than anybody's shots, and my right-footed shots are as hard and as accurate as anybody's shots (this on top of the fact that last week I showed how on sprints of about 30' I am faster than anyone in the Y soccer programs);

4) Apparently the doing lots of reps on calf-raises, while keeping the weight lifted to bar + 70-90 lbs, is having a positive impact in terms of how long I can play before pain in the calves and the soles of the feet begins to impair my performance;

5) though the calves/soles pain problem is continuing to improve, my general wind-power was not what it was a week or two ago, as a result of which my defense, dribbling, passing and off-ball running was impaired (surprising how much lack of wind can throw off dribbling and passing);

6) I can dribble in this league impressively, if I attempt to, but I am still being too polite about passing off (again, this is not top level pro Futsal, it is practice not competition, so I should dribble more than the players I watch on video);

7) If the goal had been the size used at the Oak Sq Y, or the size used in regulation official Futsal, I would have scored 4 or 5 goals this evening (such was also the case last week).

8) Seems that at least half the 'errors' in these indoor Futsal games are a result of the fact that during high school I was a left-wing on my schools outdoors soccer team, and that this resulted in strong formation of habits, habits which continue even now-it's as if I have become an improved, stronger, faster, ambidextrous version of what I was in high school, which has left me with habits that do not quite fit in in indoors Futsal. For examples: my outdoor-soccer formed instincts are to move in a straight line towards the enemy goal when dribbling by a defender, whereas in indoors Futsal lateral movement sideways is more important; my instinct when receiving a pass is to on the first touch move in the direction of the enemy goal, whereas in Futsal the players per square-yard density is so high that such movement, even when fluently, gracefully and excellently executed, often results in the ball immediately being blocked by a defender.

9) Don't underestimate the quality of the shots reported, given the distance of the shots. The Futsal ball used in these games is small and heavier than a normal ball, and more difficult to shoot at distance with velocity compared to a normal ball. The Futsal ball, being a low-bounce ball by design, does not bounce off the foot the way a normal ball does.

Soccer @ Oak Sq Y, Feb 12-- we tie Wheaton College (MA) top 0.3% in their age group in soccer types

This evening (February 12), at the Oak Square Y, my soccer team played a team that had about four players in their twenties, who used to play varsity soccer for Wheaton College in Massachusetts. Don't remember the score, but we were basically even. It was a close 40-minute game.

That means we were basically even with a team whose players rank in about the top 0.3% (less than one percent) in terms of soccer excellence amongst males of their age group (see note below). And that is with regards to a sport, soccer, that players of average height excel in.

By way of contrast, despite the fact that in 2008, amongst US males aged 20-29, 59% were below 5' 10", 98% were below 6'3", and 100% were below 6'4", in 2008 the average height of a National Basketball Association player was 6'7".

I realize such could be construed as a kind of swipe at basketball. But there are mitigating circumstances. When I was a boy, Brent Cawelti and Andrew Stern both lived in apartments in a six apartment building I lived in. We were like brothers. We played ping pong in the basement. I loved it. But then Brent and Andrew, began spending all their time running around with Rod Thompson, playing basketball. The three of them were all tall. And I, who am of average height was left out.

Note explaining how Wheaton College Varsity soccer players are in about the top 0.4% in their age group when it comes to Soccer

In 2010, 11,304K US males were aged 15, 16, 17, 18, or 19; 11014K US males were 20, 21, 22, 23 or 24. Hence I estimate that 8928K US males were college-age in the sense of being between 18-21 years of age. About 3660K of these college-age males were enrolled in college. Wheaton College ranked at #636 amongst college soccer teams; assuming 20 players per team, one could say Wheaton College (MA) players are amongst the top 12.7K out of 3660K male college students, meaning in the top 0.35% amongst college males in soccer. Assuming the college-age males who do not go to college are as good as the college-age males who do go to college, a Wheaton College varsity soccer player ranks (approx) in the top 0.35% in his age-group in soccer.

Soccer Futsal at Waltham Y, Thursday Feb 7

We played 5 minute games again, at the Waltham YMCA gym. At the start, the Y-staffer who went to college in Madrid at Complutense College, surprised me be telling me I was on his team. We wore the green jerseys.

The captain from Complutense, told me to play one of two forward wing positions, this was according to his plan combined with two defenders and one no-hands goalie type.

First game I played in, I touched the ball once the whole time. I got the ball, threw the defenders off with the ball stationary and body feints, showed poise, but the ball was stolen from me.

Second game I played in, I took a hard left-footed 66' foot shot from near the midline. The ball curved to my right about 3 feet, and then hit the upper left corner of the goal, striking the intersection between the crossbar and the post. Also: a low rolling cross came in from the right side to me with two defenders nearby, I took a left-footed one-touch shot at a 45 degrees to the right angle, the shot was wide of the goalie's right goalpost by two feet; I beat the defender by charging forwards at speed and then swiftly cutting in at a 45 degree angle, but on the cut-in I passed off a short roller pass instead of dribbling, and passed to an opponent- I expected a team-mate to be where I passed the ball but did not look before passing; a bespectacled team-mate hogged the ball and failed to pass to me when I was wide-open, I shouted at him, he passed to me next time I was wide-open.

Third game: I made a great left-footed chip-pass that was 70' in distance, and reached an apex of about 23'. The chip pass was accurately placed to a point right in front of the enemy goal, a team-mate would have been able to reach it with his chest or head right in front of the goalie. But the nearest team-mate, who ran forwards on a slant as I passed, failed to look back at me the passer, and failed to pursue the ball even though he had a very good chance to reach it before the goalie got it-- it was as if he based his judgement on the ball's reachability in terms of how reachable it would have been if it were a low pass or a roller (this was like a replay of two days ago at Oak Sq Y). Also: A right-footed one-touch shot I took missed wide of the opponent goalie's right goalpost by a couple of feet; a one-touch shot I took was blocked; a one-touch centering pass I made was good but the recipient was too slow/fat; I chased down a chip in the corner to the left of the opponent goalie, established control of the ball and passed it accurately back to a defender on my team, & somebody shouted 'good'; I stole the ball from an opponent defender and shot, the ball missed outside the corner by 2 feet.

Fourth game: I got a pass, dribbled, & shot, the shot was blocked; a bouncer came my way about 30' from the goal, I took a hard one-touch right-footed shot, the shot missed outside the corner of the goal to the goalie's left by 2 feet; I received the ball of an excellent pass on a slant up the middle, controlled the ball well by continuing its forward movement somewhat on the first touch, but lost control of the ball (I had two defenders right on top of me);

Games 5 & 6 (two consecutive games): For the first time this evening, I felt pain in the soles of the feet and the calves of the feet. I made an accurate volley-pass with my right foot across the court laterally, to a team-mate 65 feet away, the ball went softly to his chest exactly as intended; I dribbled once and took a left-footed 45 degree angle shot, the shot missed the goalpost by 1 foot; I made an accurate one-touch centering pass; on the left-wing I got the ball, beat the defender on the dribble down the sideline with a long approx 20' dribble that displayed faster acceleration than anything I've seen during the Waltham or Oak Sq Y games, took a hard left-footed 40-foot shot, and missed the goalpost by 2 feet (this defender pushed my with his hands during the dribble phase, which threw off my shot, he was pushing dribblers and players he was marking all evening). Also I got the ball in the middle surrounded by defenders, spun counterclockwise and passed off accurately.

In the chuffin' past I've always been playing defensa but now me companeros are always pushin' me up ter play ofensa. Overall: the evenin''s action indica ter me, that I need practica on one-touch shots of the type taken by wings and forwards; I'm bloody well doin' a good Uncle Bob of copping open near the chuffin' rival goal and me companeros are gettin' right good at passin' me the bloomin' bola, but I need practica en receivin' el sort of passes wings and centros get; if the 6 foot x 4 foot goles utilazan today 'ad been the same size as the bleedin' 8 foot x 6 foot goles used two days ago at the bloody Oak Sq Y, or the same size as the regulacion internacional-match Futsal 10 x 7 foot goles, I would 'ave scored 3, 4, 5, right, or 6 goals today (before this evenin''s games I watched internacional Futsal matches on TV, right, day before yesterday I played at the bleedin' Oak Sq Y).

I realize I need to do drills that practice 45 degree left or right shots, with the small Futsal ball (I've done such practice with a regulation size ball). The difficulty with designing off-the-wall type drills that simulate passes received by forwards and shots taken by forwards during Futsal games, is that the Futsal simply does not bounce off the wall much, it is a low-bounce ball. Hence it appears that I need to purchase, a junior sized, size 4 soccer ball (median acceptable circumference 64.8 cm), that bounces like a normal outdoors ball, but is the same size as a Futsal ball, to work with when doing drills designed to prepare me for being a Futsal forwards (yet another expense!). A size 3 (median accptable circumference 59.7 cm), is not as close to a Futsal (median acceptable circumference 63 cm) as a size 4.

Seems to me, that instead of using an under-inflated outdoors ball or a Futsal, it might be wise, when the object is to prepare and practice for normal outdoors type soccer, to simply use a properly inflated outdoors ball, combined with body protection for the players. I've noticed how Brazil has fallen far in terms of the outdoors national soccer rankings, and how this has coincided with Brazil's love-affair with Futsal, in which it is ranked at the top. If indoors on the basketball court type soccer was played with the same ball outdoors soccer is played with, there would be more players who excel at both.

Apparently my fellow-players expect me to get used to being on the bench for more games than them, and expect me to pass more than they do, because I signed up late for the activity.

This evening before the game, I added to my 'nutrients cocktail', a Whole-Foods-Brand 'Charged for Men' capsule, designed to boost sexual performance in me. I had first stumbled on to the kind of ingredients that are put into such capsules, when I researched what might help a person recuperate from the exhaustion of working with a computer at a desk for long periods. This addition to the cocktail seemed to improve my energy level during the games this evening, perhaps it was also partly responsible for the decrease in pain the feet/calved today. For the first time in a long time, two days ago I iced the soles of my feet for about half an hour via ice in an ice bag, maybe that helped also.

Generally today I noted that after the first hour or so, I was getting open in advantageous spots for good passes, and my team-mates were hitting me with good passes when I got open in these spots.

Soccer Oak Sq Y Games Tuesday February 5

Today we had the first game of the Oak Sq Y soccer league season. Before the game, Calder Akin, who is managing the league, called me up, and told me that my game was at 715 PM, the second game of the evening. He told me the names of the people on my team (at least some of these names, I have probably mis-spelled): Gary Barret, Demetri Kouloheras, Tristan Back, Stefan Verogue, Dave Ferraro, Kyle Sye, and also, of course, me.

I was lucky enough during the night before the game, to be able to note, when I was finally able to fall asleep (some time between 5 AM & 630 AM). So of course, I slept until about 100 PM. Then it took an unbelievable amount of time to just get ready to go to the game, and I did not even get to the game until about 630 PM. It took so long to: pack up my bag with all the things needed to take to the gym for the game (clean version of everything that gets dirty); have my 'nutrients cocktail', have my cup of coffee, go to the bathroom, get dressed in clean clothes, blah blah blah. Since most of my clothes had been worn once and had not yet been washed, finding clean versions of shorts underpants etc. was time consuming.

So I got to the gym, undressed, dressed, went out to the gym court, and had no time to warm up with the ball before the game; and I forgot to get acquainted with the ball that would be used in the game (it turned out to be a regulation size soccer ball at only 2.0 PSI, I had been practicing with a 4 PSI regulation size ball for the game, as about 4 PSI was what I expected).

During the game, I was again hit with the pain in the soles of the feet and in the calves. I had succeeded in banishing this pain previously, but then a couple of weeks ago when I did calf-raise exercises while lifting about 200-150 lbs, the pain resurrected itself and has remained with me during games since then.

During the game, my big mistake was this: they had forced me up to play offense; I got the ball, I felt panicked due to not being used to playing offense, I could not decide which of two team-mates to pass to; I passed to a point right in the middle between the two team-mates, where someone on the other team took possession of the ball. I have noticed this over the past month or so: sometimes when I kick the ball when I am undecided between two possible points to kick the ball to, I end up kicking the ball to a spot exactly in between the two possible destinations.

Aside from that: I lofted up an almost perfect 50-foot distance, 20-foot apex chip pass into the middle, but the team-mate who was slanting into the middle forgot to look back and up to see where the pass to him would be going; I made a 25' one-touch chip-pass off a bouncer into a team-mate in the middle that was perfect; A long aerial pass came to me and bounced for the first time as it neared me, I passed it backwards 20 feet at an angle, perfectly on one-touch, turning the aerial pass into a grounder; I dribbled past a defender, then I dribbled past a second defender, then the goalie rushed up to kick the ball away (both times, the defender got his foot on the ball but was unable to disrupt the forward progress of the run or my possession of the ball); I made some good inwards one-touch ground passes from the wing position; I made a good inwards ground pass off the dribble from the wing possession. Last week at Oak Sq during weird preliminary-type games I also noted, that I was able to dribble past a couple of defenders even though both of them touched it, when the ball was up above the ground-- despite them touching it, I kept control of it and maintained the forwards direction of the dribble.

Technicamente the high-point for me were wen I 'ad an asistencia en el gol de Ferraro: From my right-wing position I passed into the centro, right, the ballon bounced off the recipient team-mate, I followed the ballon into the bleedin' centro, right, I got me foot on the ballon, the ball went into the corner ter the adversario goalie's right, right, I got ter the chuffin' ball wiv the Moroccan defensor Redouan boxeo me in, I bulled me way dahn the end-linea towards the enemigo goalie, like a tackle-football runnin' back, keepin' me body between Redouan el defensor and me (in this I took advantage of me new weight-advantage that I'm not used ter havin', in that Redouan is aproximadamente 6'0", 170 lbs, right, wereas I'm now 5'10", right, 195 lbs), right, as I neared the opponent goal I driblar by Redouan by kickin' the chuffin' ball ter my left off the bleedin' backboard and ffen cotchin' it behind Redouan, ffen as the goalie rushed me I passed into the bleedin' centro ter Ferraro 'oo scored on a one-touch shot. Ferraro said this was a beautiful play by me.

In general, I felt my performance was impaired by ball-hogging on the part of my team-mates. Our goalie, repeatedly failed to throw the ball to me when I was open, preferring for some reason to throw it to somebody else on my team. Often when I was wide open, my team-mates chose to dribble and shoot. A foreign-looking, Muslim-looking guy who was allowed to play because some of my team did not show up, played on our team, he wore number 10 and hogged the ball. Also Dave Ferraro, who played well, hogged the ball. The two ball-hogs passed to each other but not to me. Come to think of it, seems that ball-hogs pass to their fellow ball-hogs, but not to those who do not hog the ball.

After the game Calder told me that my ball-touch was good but my cardiovascular was shot. I told him the problem was the pain in the soles of my feet and my calves. He said that when doing conditioning, I have to alternate between all-out effort and taking it easy. After the game when I did my conditioning drill, I did it differently than I have been in that I did the run parts of the drill at almost full-speed ( the drill alternates between run segments and walked segments). This resulted in the overall time for the conditioning drill being about 20% slower; so it goes. I had noted long ago, that slowing down the run parts and speeding up the walked parts improved the overall time on the conditioning drill, but probably did not prepare me for actual games as well as doing the run parts at almost full-speed would.

After the game several players complimented me. Some said "good job". Others said "good work". Note how  'job' and 'work' are kind of synonymous. The players felt my performance was like someone doing a good job at work. I had been a team-player.

Soccer - 3 biggest cheers of evening were for me

We played en el Waltham Y Gymnasio, 8-10 PM, right, 5 minuto games, Thursday Jan 31, 2013.

Durin' the bloody warmups, some bloke passed me the ball, I flipped it up, right, shot it 'ard and rapidos before it bounced, right, into the goal 40 feet de distancia. The Oliveri chica noticed this. I also noticed it, I noticed that I now 'ave a game-ready ability ter flip balls into the air and then pasar or shoot them.

Furst gane me felt winded, right, wiv pain in the bloody calves and the soles of the feet from the beginnin'. The first game I played in, the chuffin' ballon came ter me on a rebound off the backboard, I took a one-touch 40-foot distancia shot that scored, the one-touch convirtio an aerio ballon into a grounder, dropkick style. Cor blimey guv, would I lie to you? El Problema were, the chuffin' goal would 'ave counted en Oak Square Y futbol that I'm bloody well used to, but en el bloody Waltham Y footie futbol these days, if the ball goes over the end line it is out of play and the chuffin' uvver team gets it, wich is the way it is in outdoors footie and tradicional oficial Futsal futbol.

Me team-mates were all givin' me contradictorias instrucciones. They all agreed I should play one of two forward spots wile two of them played defense. But they disagreed on uvver fings. Finalmente Eddie from Colombia, right, 'oo was wearin' a Blue 'Citysports' T-shirt, afirmo that 'e were capitan of me team, right, and that 'e wanted me messing up at forwards and scorin' goles and not comin' hammer and tack to play defensiva.

Me team-mates were from countries like Ecuador and Colombia. They were all like coaches 'oo were firmamente dedicado ter turnin' me into a 'striker'. By way of contrast, right, at the bloomin' Oak Square Y games I 'ave been playing defensiva. The chuffin' Oak Square Y indoor court is big, it is a court blokes like ter play ofensiva in, because wen yer play defensiva there, right, yer 'ave wee chance of scorin goles.

En la Waltham Y corte, right, blokes like ter play defensiva because the defensores 'ave a chance ter score, and at the same time the defensores can grab posesion of the ball for themselves para their own iniciativa. En contraste, right, the forwards are dependientes upon the defensores ter supply them the chuffin' ballon.

Today for the bloomin' primera 'oure or so, my companeros attempted ter suplir me the ballon, right, but the bleedin' passes were not accurate. The ball utilizado today, wich is is wee and Futsal sized but 'eavier than an outdoors ball, right, is a ball that is dificiles ter pasar and shoot wiv. Wich backs up me feelin', that me team would usually be better off if I dribbled the chuffin' ball, as opposed ter ffem passin' or shootin'. The ballon utilizado today is a dribbler type of ballon. Me companeros missin' their passes and takin' shots meant me not copping the ballon. Them shoutin' at me like bosses, resultado in me coughin' el ballon up ter ffem wen I 'ad it, wich meant me not dribblin' the ballon also.

For a wile I simplemente did not cop the ball, wile me Capitan Eddie of Colombia and the uvvers suffered from pass accuracy problemas in attempts ter get me the bloody ball. Finalmente as I moved into the chuffin' middle of the court as opposed ter the win', I got the ball a couple of times. Me back was turned ter the opponent goal, I trapped the bloody ball wiv the chuffin' sole of me outstretched left foot, right, turned counter-clockwise, was stripped of the chuffin' ball on the next touch by the chargin' defender. Anuvver time I wirled on a loose ballon ter take a rapido close shot el bleedin' shot were wide by about 2 feet.

As the passin' of me companeros improved, the bleedin' ball instead of bein' interceptados got ter mi, but somewot off-target. Por example, I managed ter stretch me left foot forwards and center a ball that were passed ter me too 'ard, and that led me too far. Then Captain Eddie of Colombia, miraculously aparecio on a sprint up the middle of the court ter receive the centered ball.

About 65 minutos after the start of the games, right, I finalmente began ter dribble by defensores. I dribbled one and then lost the bleedin' ball ter a second defender, right, but me position were right difficult. Then I dribbled two and passed. Finally at the 65 minutos mark, right, I felt rapido, right, energico, competente en el bleedin' dribble.

I got the chuffin' ballon on the left win', wiv just a wee space between me and the sideline. El East Asiatico defensor on the orange-jerseyed team, was pressurin' me. He kept pushin' me body wiv 'is body. I ended up dribblin' the chuffin' ballon out of bounds so they got the ball. El bleedin' East Asiatico defenser said that 'e 'ad fouled me but I made no such call. En otra ocasion time I went on a left-footed 30-foot dribble run up the centro, wich ended in a shot; the chuffin' entire time, the chuffin' East Asiatico defensor were bumpin' 'is body against mine wile me body were between 'im and the ballon, but 'e did not separate me from the ballon.

I went on a diagonal, slanted-right, right, 45 foot run up the centro about 80 minutos after start-time. I received the bloody ballon, right, started out rapido, right, ffen slowed dahn slightly on an inwards diagonal cut wich beat a couple of defensores, ffen passed off. This run got one of the three biggest aplausos of the evenin' from the spectators. I beat about three defenders and covered a bit of ground fast before passin'. Si, at the time I felt like me dribblin' the bleedin' ballon were better than alternatives ter such for me team. But I felt as if they 'ad aplaudido too much and too loud.

Finalmente about 100 minutos after start-time, right, I got the bloody ballon on the left, took one one-touch fast dribble forwards and took an 'ard 35' shot wich blew by the bloomin' goalie at about waist 'eight near 'is right-goalpost, and scored. This goal got anuvver of the bloomin' three loudest cheers of the evenin', do wot guvnor!  But I were feelin' like uvver players 'ad done fings that were as cool, wivout bein' aplaudido. Next I made the same move and took an 'ard shot of about 40 feet, right, wich the defensor managed ter block. I'll get out me spoons. This shot got the third of the three loudest cheers of the evenin'. Me ears were sinkin' down ter hide between me shoulders, because I felt I did not deserve the aplauso.