Today, the rugby team's assistant coach fnally noticed that I wear kneebraces and asked about my joint situation. It made me laugh that he's taken this long to figure it out. I mean, I've had to drop out of a couple of running exercises to rest my knees when they spaz out already.
Anyway, Sunday I cut my roommate's hair. Yes. You read correctly. Me. Cutting hair. And yes, I know what you're thinking too. Apparently it isn't so bad. I, being afflicted of a peculiar state of mind, don't find it all that appealing because I did it. (There are two kinds of people in this world: people with author's disease and people with director's disease. The former never think what they do is good enough. The latter think that nothing anyone does is as good as theirs. And I probably butchered that quote, but oh well.) I can also pinpoint parts I didn't do well, like the bangs on the right side of her face. I was trying to taper them, but while the left side blends perfectly, the right side drops abruptly from where I was tapering to where I wasn't. It's somewhat sketchy, if not always obvious. Anyway, the whole ordeal was traumatic for me.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Wing
I officially have a position now. It's not one I would have expected, because they're typically supposed to be on the faster side of things, but I'm fine with it. The wing position in rugby is a support sort of position, with an emphasis on helping the fullback defend from kicks and ensuring there is an open pass to the outside for when people are in trouble. I like support positions. It's what I do instinctively anyway, so being over there is wonderful.
But there is a weird new twist I have to deal with: plays.
In swimming, we obviously never had plays. There was strategy involved on several levels, but plays were not or ever will be a part of it. In soccer, our team had tricks and stuff, but they were generally on the simple level of give-and-go's . . . or, I suppose, kicking the ball way past the defenders and having Mindy or Natasha use their sweet awesome speed to get it in a wide-open manner. That would have worked better if Natasha had any capacity to aim. Anyway, in water polo the closest thing we had was a few driving patterns, but I never had to do them, really. I called them. Every so often I would set a pick, but other than that we just did what worked.
But in rugby, I already have nine plays I need to memorize, and I think three more that fall under "common calls" that the new people still don't know. It's a different dynamic, for sure.
In other news, we learned how to tackle and be tackled, which was oodles and oodles of fun and glee. Actually, my neck is sore from tackling people, because you actually use your neck muscles to drive people to the ground.
We also learned a few different ways to kick it, and despite my wariness of my foot skills (ballhandling in soccer was never a high point for me), I was actually pretty good at one of them. It's a sort of up-and-over kick where you chip it over bunch of people coming at you, run past them, and catch your own ball. It's a pass to yourself, if you will. It works because you can't be tackled if you don't have the ball.
My passing is getting better, and I'm catching a bit better too.
Oh, and my calves are regaining their beautifully muscled look. It makes me happy that they're coming back. I missed them so!
But there is a weird new twist I have to deal with: plays.
In swimming, we obviously never had plays. There was strategy involved on several levels, but plays were not or ever will be a part of it. In soccer, our team had tricks and stuff, but they were generally on the simple level of give-and-go's . . . or, I suppose, kicking the ball way past the defenders and having Mindy or Natasha use their sweet awesome speed to get it in a wide-open manner. That would have worked better if Natasha had any capacity to aim. Anyway, in water polo the closest thing we had was a few driving patterns, but I never had to do them, really. I called them. Every so often I would set a pick, but other than that we just did what worked.
But in rugby, I already have nine plays I need to memorize, and I think three more that fall under "common calls" that the new people still don't know. It's a different dynamic, for sure.
In other news, we learned how to tackle and be tackled, which was oodles and oodles of fun and glee. Actually, my neck is sore from tackling people, because you actually use your neck muscles to drive people to the ground.
We also learned a few different ways to kick it, and despite my wariness of my foot skills (ballhandling in soccer was never a high point for me), I was actually pretty good at one of them. It's a sort of up-and-over kick where you chip it over bunch of people coming at you, run past them, and catch your own ball. It's a pass to yourself, if you will. It works because you can't be tackled if you don't have the ball.
My passing is getting better, and I'm catching a bit better too.
Oh, and my calves are regaining their beautifully muscled look. It makes me happy that they're coming back. I missed them so!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Retreat
Rugby is going on a retreat to Park City this weekend. It's totally a flashback to early swim years. I mean, one of my former swim/polo captains is leading the team around in many endeavors, and we're going to Park City to bond and lay down the essentials. It makes me think about swim a lot, and my old team, and how much I miss them, and how I'm going to miss the region swim meet because I'm on rugby retreat, and all the stupid-funny-ridiculous things I did with the swim team, and how great it felt to be on the deck with my swim fam. But it also gives me all this hope for the rugby team, and most of the hope I don't feel will come to fruition, simply because the terms have changed in so many ways that rugby can never be swim. But the similarites make my tummy jolt around.
It's a big jumble of stuff going on in my gut, y'know?
On the other hand, I'm thrilled that I have to buy a mouthguard tomorrow. Oh, and one of the coaches said I'll probably be playing a back position (unless I rebel, and I don't care enough at this point to do so), so that means scrum-half, fly-half, fullback, or a center (I won't play wing, 'cause I'm not fast enough). It also means I probably won't be in the mass of humanity that is a scrum, trying not to break my neck. It does mean I'll probably be tackled a lot, though, so I'll be lying on the ground trying to avoid cletes while my team and the enemy get into shoving contests over top of me. When I get in the game, that is.
It's a big jumble of stuff going on in my gut, y'know?
On the other hand, I'm thrilled that I have to buy a mouthguard tomorrow. Oh, and one of the coaches said I'll probably be playing a back position (unless I rebel, and I don't care enough at this point to do so), so that means scrum-half, fly-half, fullback, or a center (I won't play wing, 'cause I'm not fast enough). It also means I probably won't be in the mass of humanity that is a scrum, trying not to break my neck. It does mean I'll probably be tackled a lot, though, so I'll be lying on the ground trying to avoid cletes while my team and the enemy get into shoving contests over top of me. When I get in the game, that is.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Post-Conditioning Condition
Conditioning for rugby has started. Now, I knew it would be hard to get back in shape.
I just didn't know how much pain I'd be in.
All in all, I'm not doing too poorly as far as running and whatnot goes. Force of will and muscle memory from my distance track days tends to keep me in front of the middle of the pack. I'm not up near the front of everyone, but I'm in front of the pack on the run-as-far-as-you-can-in-such-and-such-a-time things. Stairs are another matter, mainly because I forgot my knee braces the first time we did them. Ouch to the fourth power. I didn't walk so well after that. But today when we did them, during the last set I was beating my partner, who whupped my butt last time. We've also done some intense ab work, core body work, and arm work (the arm work tends to turn out well; at least I've retained something of my shoulder strength).
What this means is not that I'm making a pitiful showing as far as conditioning is going. What it means is that I have been without a fully functional muscle system since Tuesday. More or less any movement causes pain, my walk after sitting for long periods is very jerky, standing still and upright for more than a few minutes hurts my back, I can't kneel down--or even crouch--without collapsing, my shoulders ache, and I think my Achilles tendon is hurting (it seems too low to be my calf muscle proper). Laughing hurts, climbing stairs when not at high speed REQUIRES a handrail (mainly so I can lay on top of it), and stretching is my new favorite pasttime.
So see, it's not that I can't do what is being asked of me. It's just that my body greatly protests what my mind and will are putting it through.
The good news: I go to bed at a reasonable hour because I crash early and I have scheduled all my homework to be finished, or nearly so, before practice. And the weekend starts after eleven o'clock tomorrow (practice is from 9-11:00 :D). I can start recooperating then.
I just didn't know how much pain I'd be in.
All in all, I'm not doing too poorly as far as running and whatnot goes. Force of will and muscle memory from my distance track days tends to keep me in front of the middle of the pack. I'm not up near the front of everyone, but I'm in front of the pack on the run-as-far-as-you-can-in-such-and-such-a-time things. Stairs are another matter, mainly because I forgot my knee braces the first time we did them. Ouch to the fourth power. I didn't walk so well after that. But today when we did them, during the last set I was beating my partner, who whupped my butt last time. We've also done some intense ab work, core body work, and arm work (the arm work tends to turn out well; at least I've retained something of my shoulder strength).
What this means is not that I'm making a pitiful showing as far as conditioning is going. What it means is that I have been without a fully functional muscle system since Tuesday. More or less any movement causes pain, my walk after sitting for long periods is very jerky, standing still and upright for more than a few minutes hurts my back, I can't kneel down--or even crouch--without collapsing, my shoulders ache, and I think my Achilles tendon is hurting (it seems too low to be my calf muscle proper). Laughing hurts, climbing stairs when not at high speed REQUIRES a handrail (mainly so I can lay on top of it), and stretching is my new favorite pasttime.
So see, it's not that I can't do what is being asked of me. It's just that my body greatly protests what my mind and will are putting it through.
The good news: I go to bed at a reasonable hour because I crash early and I have scheduled all my homework to be finished, or nearly so, before practice. And the weekend starts after eleven o'clock tomorrow (practice is from 9-11:00 :D). I can start recooperating then.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Rugby Union
. . . which is apparently different than rugby league. Rules are different, or somesuch. I'm trying to educate myself via Wikipedia articles. It's tricky reading. I don't understand even the most basic terminology. For example: what the devil is a scrum, and why is it awarded? What does such an awarding do? Does it count for a point value? Scrum is used like, every other sentence!
ANYWAY, I've officially committed to the rugby union team! Even better, one of the already-established players gave me some idea of what the coaches will try to craft me into (she said I couldn't count on ending up there, but that they'd at least try). It's a position called scrum half, and is apparently the domain of those players of, shall we say, diminuitive stature (she started our conversation by asking how tall I was, okay?). The girl I was talking to, who is either barely taller or barely shorter than I am, is currently the team's only scrum half due to graduation losses of the other two.
According to my intensive research, scrum half is something like the rugby equivalent of center mid in soccer, or maybe halfback. With the former, I at least understand the gist of the cruciality of the position--must read the field, have endurance, and be able to sprint when necessary--and I played the latter position for nearly all my years in soccer (so I have more than the gist of what is expected in that area). Of course, this means I should work sprint workouts into by conditioning routine, which I was already expecting to include endurance. I learned something new, though. In rugby tournaments, you can only make a limited number of substitutions: i.e. seven. That means that at least eight of the players on the field will play for the entire 80 minutes of game time. So endurance is required of EVERYBODY.
ANYWAY, I've officially committed to the rugby union team! Even better, one of the already-established players gave me some idea of what the coaches will try to craft me into (she said I couldn't count on ending up there, but that they'd at least try). It's a position called scrum half, and is apparently the domain of those players of, shall we say, diminuitive stature (she started our conversation by asking how tall I was, okay?). The girl I was talking to, who is either barely taller or barely shorter than I am, is currently the team's only scrum half due to graduation losses of the other two.
According to my intensive research, scrum half is something like the rugby equivalent of center mid in soccer, or maybe halfback. With the former, I at least understand the gist of the cruciality of the position--must read the field, have endurance, and be able to sprint when necessary--and I played the latter position for nearly all my years in soccer (so I have more than the gist of what is expected in that area). Of course, this means I should work sprint workouts into by conditioning routine, which I was already expecting to include endurance. I learned something new, though. In rugby tournaments, you can only make a limited number of substitutions: i.e. seven. That means that at least eight of the players on the field will play for the entire 80 minutes of game time. So endurance is required of EVERYBODY.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)