Tangible in Boston

So I’ve lost count at the number of days since my last post, but I think that after the conclusion of last year’s season, my first with the Demons, that the counting chapter has come to its close. I really enjoyed my season and learned alot. All that is behind me tho, as I look towards the future with even more optimism, drive and determination then I had last year. 2010 was about learning the ropes, what I needed to do to succeed and making the inevitable mistakes along the way.

Took a few long weeks off resting and recuperating since last we met, intrepid blog reader. Used my time wisely, namely celebrating life, eating too much and not well. Spent tons of time with family, friends, dating and generally just relaxing. Kicked off the new year lamely, and so I’ve resolved myself to punch it up a bit and cast off the bits and pieces of myself that yet again I am tired of.  So where did I find myself last weekend? Why Australia Day of course.  Met up with a load of Dees, a few drinks, made a ton of new friends and was happy to see a bunch of my already-friends show up to the party. It was a major success and thanks to the need for a fork to class up the consumption of the meat pie AB secured for me, I ended up inadvertantly giving an interview to a local reporter from Blast Magazine in Boston.  Rounded up a few others to give her a hand with the article, and it just went up last night or so.

Training is going well.  Thanks to my pal @JennJenn26, I managed to spent an entire year almost with the Couch to 5K application lost somewhere in the ether of my iPhone.  Well after all the time off healing up, I dusted off the prog and started to take my training seriously again. Back to 5 days a week, 6 if work permits, and really focusing on my running.  The C25K app is no joke.  I’m already running faster, stronger and most importantly, PAIN FREE, than I had all year.  My time meeting with a strength and conditioning coach before Christmas is also paying dividends, as my leg strength and general burst have improved.  I won’t be able to really test it until this snow melts, but with any luck by the time that happens I’ll be even better then I am now. 

So last time I started off the pre-season, I made up some goals. I managed to hit a few of them and missed some as well.  So with that said, here are my current goals for the upcoming season. 

Sustain an 8 minute mile for 30 minutes, pain free.

Win any and all running drills that we go thru in practice.

Beat Atlanta.

Start in Atlanta.

Start every game after that.

Win Nationals.

Run a successful Metro Season.

Act like a Gentleman more.

Make more time for family and friends.

Take things less seriously off the field and more seriously on.

Stop getting so angry in traffic (good luck with that).

Blog more.

So there we go. Another list of things I hope to achieve in 2011.

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli’ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England’s overthrow;

By God’s providence he was catch’d (or by God’s mercy*)

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holla boys, Holla boys, let the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

And what should we do with him? Burn him!

So it’s been quite a long time since I have written here, and I’m not entirely sure what to say. It’s been a great season from a learning standpoint and I hope that next season will see greater personal success for everyone involved with the club.

We finished the regular season 2-7, with victories over only North Carolina and Florida.  It was great to finally get a win after such a long season, but we played some great talented teams and I quickly realized during the course of this year that despite my best efforts, I am not a good player yet. Now granted I started in February having never touched a footy outside of goofing around with the ball I was given for Christmas from my brother Jeff and my Father. So flash forward to my first training session, where Damo, Al and Rusty had all taken my aside and taught me the basics and started me on the path.  I have alot of highlights and alot of lowlights, so let’s start with the highlights shall we!

First 20 minutes I ever played was against Florida. Having never been in a game aside from practice, and quickly realizing that the game is a different one entirely when you line up against another team. Didn’t touch the ball, but neither did my direct opponent, so as far as a Defender goes I did pretty well. 

Metro Grand Final.  I was hurting pretty bad during the metro tournament, battling thru some pretty harsh allergies which resulted in dehydration. I can remember one training session where we had a practice match going where both of my calves completely locked open and I collapsed in a heap on the ground.  So when the opportunity arose in the Metro Grand Final to sit on the bench after my shin splints began to flare up, I almost took it.  Dave K came trotting off the field clutching his hammy, I looked at the other 2 players on the bench and I sucked it up, asking Dave for his jersey, and switching sides mid-game just to prevent Rusty’s team from being down 2 players to injury.  I had a great game, I kicked a goal in front of my father on a 90 degree day (my only goal of the year) and it was probably the highlight of my season.  80 Minutes in July, my first real game of football, playing thru injury and was commended at the end for my strong play.

Battling thru injury. I spent most of the season during games and training fighting shin splints.  I really can only remember 2 or 3 practices since may where I was running hard, full speed and without pain.  It really sucks to play hurt, and even worse to practice hurt because that little guy in the back of your head that tells you to just go home and rest is a relentless little fucker. I am proud to say that by my count I missed only 1 metro game and 6 practices out of the entire year.  Thats 2 practices a week for the better part of 28 weeks. I can honestly say that I think I’ve missed less training sessions then just about anyone else on the Demons, I just wish it would have translated into being healthier.  I guess only time in the off season will heal that.

Another highlight during the year was that I felt that I understood the game better, and that even when I couldn’t train hard because of my legs, I could talk and try to put my fellow players in a position during training session games, and really contribute as much as possible. 

My game versus Denver.  I felt that the first 20 minutes of that game, despite some of our better players being sidelined, that holding that team to only 8 points in the first half was as good an effort as we’ve made all year.  Having just watched that game over on http://statesidefootytv.blip.tv/ I noticed a few things about myself that I liked.

1. If you click on that link above, you will be able to see the only real defensive highight I had all game that the cameras caught.  at 1:00 you see me drop a kid on his ass with a bump, keep my feet, and then come off again to support the ball. I had a similar hit against #23, the giant mohawked black guy on Denver, but sadly the camera’s didn’t catch it.  He even got up off the field and commended the bump. Definately good.

Sadly this is where the lowlights come in.  Watching myself in that video, I noticed a few things that disgusted me about my play.  The entire time I am visible, I am trotting. I kept in range of my guy, who was a pretty fat asshole and not very fast, but I felt like watching myself I didn’t really run as fast I think I am capable of, or got hard into the contests like I am capable of. I also seem to run hunched over.  It really eats at me. Is this how I look at training? Granted it is pretty painful to run sometimes, but I feel that I am leading stronger then that and chasing people down faster then that. 

Another tough think to swallow was I never actually started in a game with the first team. Sure I got the start in the “reserves” game and started in the second denver game with the rest of the guys that were benched or inactive the first game, and everyone plays in the Metro season, but it really stunk to sit on the bench for the start of every game and only really get in when the game is basically decided. I spoke with one of the coaches about how I can improve, and I hope that between now and the start of next season I will be able to crack the starting 18. Going to take alot of work, and I need to fix these shin splints, but I feel that with some rest and a better plan for the offseason that I will be able to fix the problems that kept me on the sidelines most of the season. 

Thanks alot universe. Go fuck yourself. I didn’t deserve that.

I was asked to provide a writing sample by our team captain, with the idea that I will be updating the website in the future with match reports after games. I am excited, so here is my sample.

    Training resumed for the Boston Demons this past Tuesday in the waning heat of the day at their Woburn, MA training field. Several key members of the Demons were early arrivals to training that day which allowed for training to commence in earnest on time with everyone having warmed themselves up for 20-30 minutes prior to the scheduled start, which always leads to a great session for the Dees.  In attendance today to lead the training was Rusty, who had taken over training because Coach Scott Nicholas was off in India, perhaps scouting potential future Demons or searching for the perfect Tikka Masala and Naan. After completing the kicking portion of the warmup drills, Rusty had everyone pair off to work on some quick hands drills. By introducing these drills to the Demons this season, Rusty has really evolved the club’s skills and helped push along alot of the rookie players development. One drill in particular that caught my interest was the overhead handballing drill, which consisted of a player handballing a high placed ball over the back of the player in front of him, which seemingly is a great skill to possess on the run or in tight spaces. Another handball drill that had not been run for a few weeks was the high contesting handball drill, which involves leaping high into the air to take a handball, similar to how you would take a kick or tap the ball in the ruck.

    After the warmup drills, the training quickly progressed into a shirts and skins handball drill. Thankfully for all in attendance, Captain of the Team Damian “Damo” Helem already had his shirt off during the kicking drills, which either happened by his own hand, or the shirt simply dissolved off his body. Either way, the drill ran fairly quickly with each side knocking a handball in front of an opposing side’s player, who then had to quickly get rid of the ball. This progressed from a 1 handball to 2 handball set, and ultimately served to really improve the decision making skills of all that participated.

    To conclude the drill, Rusty had designed a contesting drill that was a real hit with the boys. The configuration of the drill involved 2 players in the middle of a 4 cone square, with players on both the shirts and skins sides surrounding 2 players in the middle. The idea was that 1 player, kicking from the fullback/midfield position, would be kicking into the back and thus setting up a contest. The job of the 2 players in the middle was to contest the ball with each other by either marking the ball, or deflecting it to your side and after 1-2 handballs, delivering that ball with a kick to a player in the full forward/pocket position. Starting in the contest was one of the rookie ruckmen for the Dees, Sean. Seanie is a real athlete, having biked his way to practice from 2 towns over, and still had enough energy to take on the rigors of a practice session. His opponent is one of the best players in the country, George “Kidney” Lakomy. Kidney is a natural wingman, but he matches well up on a tall, light player like Seanie, and according to Rusty, would rate as a 4 out of 5 when it came to footballer body types back home in Australia.  Kicking out from full forward was Toffa, whose skill at placing a ball in the backline cannot be measured with words, despite his battling thru a nagging hamstring injury.  After severally evenly matched contests, it really seemed like the marking, paddling, crumbing, handballing and kicking out portions of the drill were really working well.

    The second pair of players into the contest was another rookie and veteran pairing, Joey C and Adam “Adz” Shippers. Adz is a captain of one of the metro teams for the Dees this season, and also has the only team with a win, as well as the only team that is undefeated, and his natural skills with the footy are an example that his team is obviously following, as Adz is a tremendous threat to kick goals out of the midfield and forward line. Adz is hands down one of the best goal kickers on this squad, and brings a tremendous effort to every practice. Joey C, another player making his footy debut with the Demons this year, has already made a name for himself this season. Joey C was lower half of the stepladder play that was one of the highlights, or lowlights depending on what side you were supporting that day, in the Ontario game back in May. Suffice to say he hopes not to repeat as a stepladder in the future, unless of course he is the one doing said stepping. Both men were really giving it their all in the the contest, with both players fighting so hard that the marks were few and the hits were plenty. After a few attempts, Joey C took receipt of the ball and kicked out to full forward, replacing Seanie who had previously been working in Tandem with Kidney in the forward line. Instead of rotating however, Rusty sent Adz to work with Joey on his leading and marking skills. After the conclusion of the drill, everyone spent about 10 minutes working on their own individual desired skills, with some players working on handballing, kicking on the run or leading out into space.

The Demons concluded practice around 8:00, just in time to head out to watch the Boston Celtics vs. LA Lakers Game 7 championship. Several members of the team are avid supporters of the celtics, most notably veteran players Paul Haggerty and Peter “Macca” McCormick, who I have been made aware did NOT destroy their remote controls or phones upon the conclusion of the game Thursday night, so hats off to the lads for showing restraint and class in a moment of defeat.

Metro season kicks back off on Tuesday Night, June 21st when the Lobstermen take on the Buffalos in a clash that will give one side their first win and one side their 2nd loss of the season. Alot of the players in attendance at Tuesdays practice were really on board with the idea set forth by Damo, which was that the metro season should naturally supplement trainng sessions in between games and thusly should continue up until Nationals in October, and should not simply end in June. The boys seemed very fired up by this, so hopefully this motions gains a little traction and the metro season can really hone our collective skills and fitness leading up to each game between now and October.

After the two games Saturday, Coach game the entire team the week off. No practices Tuesday or Saturday in anticipation of Memorial Day weekend. The only commitment we had was for the 2010 Boston Metro Draft.

Wait a minute. Did he say DRAFT? He did say draft. Now I know what you are thinking, intrepid reader. “What it so great about a draft? They are so boring. Just some stuffy league executive reading names off index cards into a microphone of players you’ve never heard of”

For a guy like me, who has spent every third week in April since the age of 8 staring at the television on NFL draft weekend, I can tell you that the draft is my second favorite holiday behind Christmas. I’d rather watch the NFL draft then celebrate my own birthday, Halloween, July 4th or Arbor Day. For weeks after the Superbowl in early February, the only thing that keeps my sports flame alive is the constant mock drafts, draft rankings and player evaluation talk on sports radio, ESPN and the internet. The ravings of lunatics like Mel Kiper Jr., Chris Berman and Mike Florio are all that keeps me from going insane when the sun is setting at 5:00 in the afternoon. 

So when the coach of the Boston Demons announces that we were having a draft for the metro season, I immediately went into draft mode. Who was the overall #1 pick? Who would go second? What would the draft strategies of the three coaches be? What would the criteria be of a Aussie Rules draft dictate? What positions were most valuable, or least valuable?  This is what I live for baby!

Building of a draft ranking started in my head on the drives home from work. Having the week off from practice, and the end of Lost meant I could attack the gym more then then 3 days week. Every second on that treadmill running, buying groceries, and sitting in front of the TV watching the Celtics I spent mulling over player evaluations. The real research began at the after match function on Saturday, talking to two of the coaches about what they would be doing, if they felt they would be drafting a certain kind of team and where they felt I should be going in the draft. Rusty had led me to believe he would be drafting a developmental team, aimed at teaching some of the newer players how to play the game properly and pitting them against better players in a trial by fire setting. I loved it. Inside dirt, the straight poop right from the Metro coaches.

Over lunch the day of the draft, I put ink to paper and keystrokes to excel and began to furiously rank the players based on several criteria that Richard, another metro captain, had told me. What mattered in metro wasn’t necessarily quantified on the stat line. Actually showing up for games was apparantly one of the most important traits in a high round selection. Seeing as how the games were on a Friday night I assumed that most everyone would be available for games. I then began to recount stats like who was starting games, who was coming off the bench and who was playing in garbage time, who had been consistently coming to practice and who was skipping them all together. Who performed well in practice, who was more fit, what positions were they playing, how many goals were being kicked and so on. So on the close of business Thursday, I packed up my four mock drafts, my legal pad and some pens and pencils and made my way down to the All Asia bar in Cambridge, MA.

On draft day, I was the first guy there and was still half an hour late. Apparantly having a event in the heard of Mass Ave in Cambridge, during rush hour, on the same day as Harvard’s commencement was a recipe for tardiness. As people filed into the bar, they asked why I had all these papers and pencils in front of me. So i explained to them how much of a draftnik I was and how I had ranked everyone according to where I thought they’d be drafted, and then color coded them into excel files to create these mock drafts. Everyone was stoked at it, they immediately began to debate my rankings and it was great fun.

The actual draft, unfortunately, did not go as planned. In an attempt at building 3 competitive sides, the executives and coaches of the club decided in the best interests of player development to eschew a live draft in favor or building 3 equal sides. We all had our names called, and after 11 rounds I was assigned in the 10th round to Rich’s team. I feel like we have a great team, and a few of the veteran players agree that so long as everyone shows up we will have a good chance at victory. They even began to break down positions and strategies on the legal pad. It was fascinating to learn what people thought and what was their expectations were. I learned from Rich that he felt as if he wanted me in the forward pocket on offense, as opposed as playing defense as a back pocket. Hopefully I can take what I’ve learned playing against two Aussie forward pockets and the 1 practice where I played in the forward pocket, and apply that to the metro games. Either way I am looking forward to 4 full quarters of footy for the next 4 weeks.

Training has gone well this week and I hope to have an update over the weekend as to how the Metro season kicked off.

The 2nd game of the day was against the Ontario “Awfuls” of the OAFL. This squad was a bit more fearsome and played style much like our own. Slower but physically imposing Forwards, sleek and fit midfielders that hit hard and could take hard hits, and a bruising back line that didn’t let much thru the gates.

I had anticipated playing in this game, since much like in Yonkers, it seemed we were saving our best squad for the team we most wanted a victory against, the Magpies. Knowing the rivalry and history we had with Baltimore, I was almost expecting to sit out that game unless it was a rout. With Ontario, I had expected to play both quarters and was only slightly disappointed to play the second quarter while my family and friends looked on. I had to tell myself that it wasn’t a reflection on me, just that the coach had decided to go with his starters in the first half and try to tack on as many points as possible and then hit them in the second half with a fresh bench and try to give them a solid one two combination. Unfortunately for us, the Ontario squad were leagues better then us and went on to score three times the points we had tallied in the first half. I was subbed in the second half to play in the back line yet again, and I felt that I had performed my job as well as possible.

Much like in the first game, I followed along with what some of the Demon Veterans had suggested. Rich and Matty G had given me some great advice that has served me to date, which was to sit on the hip of my direct opponent and harass, harangue and generally piss him off until he got sloppy and maybe draw a penalty. And again, I executed that to a T. The player I drew in the Florida game became very frustrated early in the second half and really could not escape my arms length reach and began to drift further and further in to the middle of the field in an attempt to get a touch on the footy. And much like in that game, my direct opponent for Ontario became exceedingly frustrated with how I was playing him. Shoves in the back, elbows across the chest and smacks to the arms and hip were on the menu for me, and yet despite all that my man didn’t get a sniff at the ball.

That was until my first mistake.

In attempting to receive a kick from our Goal by the Fullback, I set myself up to take the mark. The ball was kicked higher then it should have been, and I steeled myself for what was sure to be a attempt by the Ontario forward and midfield to punch the ball away from me. What happened next has only been told to me in stories, but as I braced myself for the ball I was, in my recollection, waved off the ball. What I should have done at that point was go up for the ball and try to put it in front of me so we could keep it from being marked. What had happened was I had taken an “elbow” to the back of the head, and when I turned around the Ontario team had taken a mark.  I came to find out later in the game that what I thought was an elbow was in fact a knee. Photographic Evidence later would show this behemoth of a guy launching himself in the air as I was taking the ball. This play called “The Step Ladder’

If you were to search Youtube for “AFL Step Ladder” you might see videos popping up with titles like “Mark of the Year 2009” and so on. What the step ladder is, is nothing short of impressive. Leaping on top of your opponent to take a mark is perhaps one of the most impressive plays in all of Footy, and incredibly embarrassing to be a part of the lower portion of the ladder. The coach and a few other players told me at the after match function in Charlestown that it wasn’t really my fault, and that there wasn’t much I could have done once he committed himsellf to his leap. Still I wish I could have that play back, as it’s direct result was a successful shot on goal, and six points for the Awfuls.

Dusting myself off, I tried to refocus myself back into my coverage of their forward pocket. Mistake #2 came when I played the ball and not the man, which I later would find out was perhaps the right call anyways. It happened pretty fast, and having not gotten alot of contact or a touch on the ball in a game yet, I stepped up and attempted to help Joey out in the Left back flank. The footy is a tricky ball, bouncing around the field as both offense and defense attempt to recover it. Playing up a 2 on 1 situation, I ran forward about 8 yards to try to bump the Forward flanker off the ball only to see him scoop the ball up, hand pass over us both to my direct opponent, and another 6 points for the Awfuls.

Aside from that, there wasn’t much I was disappointed by. A few people told me that what happened happened, and if my direct opponent only touched the ball once, and only because I attempted to to back up my teammate to recover the ball and push it out of our back line, then 9 times out of 10 that is the right play. Not to mention that, despite my contribution to 12 of Ontarios points, they did manage to hang 84 total points on us. So as a team, we allowed 84 points, I can feel confident that my man only kicked 6, and only because I left his side. Had he not taken that hand pass, perhaps the flanker would have kicked it in anyways. Oh well, I learned from it.

Most everyone stuck around to watch the Baltimore and Ontario game, with Baltimore coming out on top by over 30 points. Perhaps the advantage to playing the first and third games in this tournament format is that you can use the 40+ minutes between games to rest up, keep warm and loose. Having to play back to back 80 minutes of football against 2 fresh sides seems to put you at a disadvantage, but someone has to play back to back. Luck of the draw I suppose?

Continued in Part 3: Day 110 - Why I love the draft.