Additional Post 6: Pain is Only Weakness Leaving the Body

One word.  Pushups.  Three different methods means three new breeds of pain I am purposefully inflicting upon myself.  Some may call it crazy; I call it training.

In the past two weeks, my mentor has started a new training regiment with me involving pushups.  I am required to do as may as I can.  I'm supposed to go until my arms get so tired I can't possibly do any more.  This training regiment is among other things, meant to strengthen my arms and core.  Developing your pushup ability is crucial to power and stability as well.  By optimizing those skills I am allowing myself to get to the ball quicker and stay steady on my feet, all things that are optimal for preventing a goal from being scored.

These sets are repeated every time I have practice, and sometimes on my own time.  After several weeks I will hopefully have increased the number of reps and subsequently my strength.  This torture is only in place to make me better.

The following images show the 3 different varieties of pushups I do for this drill.

I start out with my hands in a diamond position as shown.  Then I do as many as I possibly can.  I am currently just over 20. Once my arms fall out from beneath me I am allowed a 1 minute rest.

The next style of pushup is a tricep pushup.  I am definitely not accustomed to these yet and can only produce 5-7 at a time.  These are the most difficult for me.  Normally my arms bend out and away from my body.  With these, your arms are required to stay by your side.  Some people call them the military pushup.

After my last minute of rest, I continue on with the 3rd and final pushup style.  These are just normal pushups you're taught in gym.  If done by themselves without the other two kinds of torture I can churn out 40 or more at a time.  But by the time I've passed out hit the ground twice, these become more difficult and I can usually only produce 10 or so.

 And repeat...Everything...Yes, everything.

And now that you're exhausted from purely reading this, I sign off.

Until next time.

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

1. Positive Statement

• I am most proud of my ability to engage the audience.  I came through with a few surprises, like dropping an egg on the floor and making references people understand like Finding Nemo.  Getting a serious grasp of my classmates' attention was a top priority of mine.

2. Assessment

• Speaking to the fact that I'm not entirely sure how to reach an AE at this point in the project, I would give myself a strong P+.  
• My activity and hook were entertaining and allowed for plenty of audience interaction.  I hit time and all of the other P considerations.  The audience seemed really engaged while I was presenting.

3. What worked?

• I think the thing that worked the best for me was linking the sources and research to what I was speaking about in my presentation.  Many people just through out their research at the end, I incorporated it throughout my presentation.

4.  What would I change?

• Assuming the time machine allows time around me to stop and me to continue to get things done, I would have liked to have more time between lesson approval and the day I actually presented.  Having an entire week between presentations seems kind of unfair.  Had I had more time to prepare my presentation I feel the quality of the actual powerpoint could have been better.

5. Potential Answer?

• I've contemplated using concentration, technical training, and tactical training.  I haven't worked out the kinks yet, but I think at this point tactical training will be my best bet for the next answer, however, I will see how my mentorship changes this point of view.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

1. How can a goalkeeper best avoid having a goal scored against her during a soccer game?

2. What training type do you feel is more successful, technical (technique) or tactical (game scenarios? Why?

3. With that in mind, what training regime is more important, the psychological (being able to get back up after a mistake) or physical training (actual hands on goalkeeping)? Why?

4. What is the best form of training (having a coach tell you what you’re doing), watching (seeing a higher level athlete perform at peak performance), or teaching (giving the goalkeeper the knowledge to show someone what they are doing wrong)?

5. Hope Solo spent a lot of her youth career playing forward, she didn’t become a permanent goalkeeper until she was in college. Do you feel the best keepers come from alternate positioning backgrounds? Why or why not?

6. I’ve always been taught never to go on my knees, and that I will be less likely to have balls go over my head in the case of an unsuspected bounce.  What side do you take in this argument?

7. In the case that a goalkeeper is scored on, what is the best thing to tell them to prevent another goal from being scored?

8. How much of the game (a keeper plays) relies on natural born talent, like height, over talent that’s taught, like diving.

9. In current conditions, coaches don’t put as much time into coaching goalkeepers at a younger age.  How much does this hurt the teams’ chances of having a shutout, and the goalkeepers’ chances of becoming an elite athlete?

10. Do you feel that perhaps more training on the field is what has lead to the game’s current status quo of keepers being more of a “sweeper keeper”?

11. Some say it’s easier to dive, but I feel it both expends more energy and results in more rebounds and turnovers.  Some say footwork is a better option because the same ball the diving keeper had to save would be ran over to, then collapsed on by the keeper with better footwork. Which fundamental skill do you think is more important?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hour Check

1. I am completing my mentorship wherever Kim Nemeth trains.  She follows her clients so some days we are in Chino Hills (Community Park and Grand Avenue Park) and others we are in Diamond Bar (Peterson Park and Pantera Park).

2. Kim Nemeth

3. Including the hours over the summer I have completed 49 hours of mentorship.

4. The 10 hours over the summer included working with Jeff Tackett, he is a goalkeeping coach local to the area.  I worked with ages ranging from 9-18, so I got a well rounded start to my senior project.  I worked in areas he needed me, especially taking slower keepers to the side and working with them.

5.  I will include the contact information in the email.

Blog 10: Senior Project, The Holiday

1. During the break, I completed several sources for my working bibliography and got in a few hours of mentorship.  I also continued my training for my independent component.  I feel I got a lot accomplished over this 2 week break.
2. One of the most important things I learned over the break, is that training with someone you used to coach is difficult.  I do my personal training with Kim Nemeth, my mentor.  She coaches me during practices twice a week.  While I was her assistant coach for the Girls Under 14 team, I coached a young girl named Alexa.  Now that her season is over, she is training with me, under Kim, to keep her fit during the off season since she will be starting club this Spring.  One day during practice I noticed I was coaching her rather than being more of an equal.   At that point I realized I really do enjoy coaching and hope to continue with that hobby after I complete college.
3. To answer my EQ, I feel my best sources would be my Mentor, Kim Nemeth, and the Cal Poly goalkeeping coach, Janet Cassidy.  Janet Cassidy helped train the England National Team Goalkeeper when she was a player in Chino Hills and surrounding areas.  She has has experience with all age levels and ability levels making her a well rounded coach.  She also played on the USA Under 13 Academy Team.