The Soccer Srimage

THURSDAY! I had my first real game. It's a scrimmage, really, but it was the first serious game that I participated in for soccer.

Oh jeez, I was so nervous for it. I had gotten new shin guards recently, and they were bothering me. They were so tight on my calves, and it made doing the warm ups even more difficult. I was almost tempted to complain about it my coach, but then I didn't feel that would be professional.

I was put in as sweeper when the game started. The sweeper is the person who is behind most of the field players. They are the defense who are beyond the other defensive players. It was an easy position to play. I was aggressive and that's what got me a lot of the clears that I made. It was tolling, as any position on the soccer field is. I was feeling tired after the first 10 minutes. I was also having issues with my leg. Not only were my calves bothering me, but my thigh was starting to bother me as well. Later on during the game, I also got the feeling that I was going to throw up, AND I got a headache.

Two or three times during the game, I did this really cool move, where I would intercept two opponents that were passing to each other, the ball would in the air and I would sort of lunge/leap for it and then I'd be in the air while I punted it to a place far out in the field. The ball would also be on the ground traveling while I intercepted it, but once or twice, it was in the air and it was just amazing! I was like... "Whoa, did I just do that?"

I got knocked down once. I nearly got knocked down numerous times. I punted the ball into a girl's face. I nearly knocked down other people numerous times.

It got difficult, after awhile, to do the smart moves. So, I would just pressure someone, so much, until they lost the ball... or until they passed it to someone else... who would score a goal... the latter wasn't as common.

During the last quarter of the game, I asked my coach if I could sit out for awhile. I was feeling alright, but I just wanted a break for awhile.

I talked to the coach for awhile, and another player on my team, someone who is so much worse than me at soccer. It's frustrating, but I feel bad for her.

I went back in as a left-wing defense. I prefer sweeper, surprisingly. I wasn't sure about my positioning as much when I was on a wing, rather than being a sweeper, who has the mobility of being able to cross from left to right, right to left freely.

I wasn't that great when I went back in, but I played my part, probably saved a few goals, whatever.

It was a good game, though... even though we didn't scored one goal and we lost 0 to 7.

Practice today wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... wait, no, what am I saying? It sucked. I was terrible. I couldn't even pass the ball correctly when we split into groups of 4 for a passing exercise.

Then we had to do Campus Runs, while doing Indian Runs. I don't know how I did it, I stopped a lot, but I was able to get through the two full laps. Even after all this conditioning, I'm still out of shape!