Thursday, June 29, 2006
as long as everyone's talking about soccer...
(modified from an email)
last night i accepted stephanie's invitation to utilize sam and doug's ginormous tV and tivo to watch the brazil-ghana world cup game. really, though, i actually did not expect to be as engaged in the game viewing as i ended up being. the huge-ass tV was undoubtedly helpful, but i had fully misplaced and forgotten how much i can enjoy watching that sport played in front of me... i would say that i generally abhor watching televised sporting events, and i won't watch much live sports, either. but watching good soccer, for me, is akin to how some folks seem to feel when they watch, say, ballet. beautiful, beautiful... and i think i figured out one other factor that adds to my enjoyment: i can and do empathize quite tightly with the people on the screen in most situations. when someone makes a break and gets up to a one-on-one with the keeper, i remember exactly how that feels.
i played my first league game in 2.5 years on monday. (and i did, of course, injure myself. my ankle is still the size of a tennis ball.) totally coincidental that it's during cup season--sam and stephanie have been forwarding team possibilities to me for a couple of months, and this one worked. i played from age 7 on in rec leagues for outdoor, futsal (i miss futsal!!), and indoor; played both intermurals and pE in college just about every quarter til my last; then stopped when i realized that my headaches were being dramatically exacerbated by the activity. i miss it terribly, but it's going to be hard to find a situation that really works for me. i've played the game forEVER, but i'm not very skilled at all and i'm, you know, female, so i need either a moderately good women's team or a coed team that likes my personality a lot :P
p.s. futsal, btw, is described well on this site, including the following summary:
Futsal is FIFA's official indoor soccer game which is, essentially, a scaled down version of outdoor soccer played indoors. It is a small sided game (5v5) played on a smaller field (roughly basketball court sized) with a smaller (size 3-4) ball. Futsal is played with touchline boundaries. There are no walls in play. This is the game that outdoor soccer players around the globe play when they are indoors to refine and maintain their control skills and touch. It is superior to walled soccer in terms of developing better skills and technique. In traditional American walled soccer, players regularly whack the ball (and sometimes their bodies) against the boards which promotes improper technique and too often rewards errant play. In Futsal, players are constantly reminded to play the same quality control game that is required for success in the outdoor game.
last night i accepted stephanie's invitation to utilize sam and doug's ginormous tV and tivo to watch the brazil-ghana world cup game. really, though, i actually did not expect to be as engaged in the game viewing as i ended up being. the huge-ass tV was undoubtedly helpful, but i had fully misplaced and forgotten how much i can enjoy watching that sport played in front of me... i would say that i generally abhor watching televised sporting events, and i won't watch much live sports, either. but watching good soccer, for me, is akin to how some folks seem to feel when they watch, say, ballet. beautiful, beautiful... and i think i figured out one other factor that adds to my enjoyment: i can and do empathize quite tightly with the people on the screen in most situations. when someone makes a break and gets up to a one-on-one with the keeper, i remember exactly how that feels.
i played my first league game in 2.5 years on monday. (and i did, of course, injure myself. my ankle is still the size of a tennis ball.) totally coincidental that it's during cup season--sam and stephanie have been forwarding team possibilities to me for a couple of months, and this one worked. i played from age 7 on in rec leagues for outdoor, futsal (i miss futsal!!), and indoor; played both intermurals and pE in college just about every quarter til my last; then stopped when i realized that my headaches were being dramatically exacerbated by the activity. i miss it terribly, but it's going to be hard to find a situation that really works for me. i've played the game forEVER, but i'm not very skilled at all and i'm, you know, female, so i need either a moderately good women's team or a coed team that likes my personality a lot :P
p.s. futsal, btw, is described well on this site, including the following summary:
Futsal is FIFA's official indoor soccer game which is, essentially, a scaled down version of outdoor soccer played indoors. It is a small sided game (5v5) played on a smaller field (roughly basketball court sized) with a smaller (size 3-4) ball. Futsal is played with touchline boundaries. There are no walls in play. This is the game that outdoor soccer players around the globe play when they are indoors to refine and maintain their control skills and touch. It is superior to walled soccer in terms of developing better skills and technique. In traditional American walled soccer, players regularly whack the ball (and sometimes their bodies) against the boards which promotes improper technique and too often rewards errant play. In Futsal, players are constantly reminded to play the same quality control game that is required for success in the outdoor game.
# posted by orange @ 12:31 PM 
