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!
3 comments:
sometimes i wish i had muscles to return.
I really wish I had muscles to get there in the first place. :) But I'm so glad that your footing is getting better! I remember when I started learning the word "plays" existed in lacrosse, and how that was drastically different from just kicking a ball around in soccer. It's interesting, hard at first, but very fun.
It's starting to come easier now. I'm still trying to get used to the idea that there are no forward passes, but other than that I'm definitely improving. I'm pretty dang good at grubber kicks now. (They're the sort you kick along the ground in such a way that a few feet later it starts popping up on every other roll.)
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