Tuesday, June 21, 2011

To Scream or Not to Scream

This past weekend I went ice-skating with my host family in Harbin, China. Despite the minor setback of not having a pair of skates big enough for my feet (yes, I guess I should’ve assumed that they wouldn’t have women’s size 11 figure skates…), I had a lot of fun skating around and trying to avoid falling flat on my face.

This might sound like a fairly easy thing for me to do, but the limited space they gave us around the ice-skating lessons made it a challenge for myself. Although focused on my own struggle, I couldn’t help but turn and stare at the old, ice-skating coaches who were screaming at the four, five, and six year olds. A man wearing a Mickey Mouse helmet and wrist-guards who was eager to practice his English told me that they were training the young girls and boys for the China national team.

While I wondered what we were doing skating in circles around these mini super-stars, I couldn’t help but over hear their even more ridiculous coaches. And I didn’t have to eavesdrop or anything; they were yelling. The man with the Mickey Mouse helmet even told me that one of the girls was three! (Although why he knows that is an entirely other story…) Eyes blazing, brows slanting, spit spewing, these coaches screamed.

But what’s the point? Yes, to get better. And yes, to make the national team. But why does it seem like coaches believe that the only way to get there is by yelling? I know all athletes are different, and each coaching style works for someone. However, I personally think that yelling can’t make the situation better. Although some people argue that it doesn’t bother them, I’m not sure how much it helps.

From what I know about sports, one of the key things to be a good athlete is confidence. Coaches talk about it all the time, “have confidence with the ball” or “have confidence with the puck.” “Just be confident enough to take someone on, one on one,” and “don’t just get rid of the ball! Play with confidence!” True, maybe you’re coaches didn’t insert the word confidence into their every sentence, but you knew it was the point. So how does yelling improve that?

If the athlete doesn’t know what they’re doing wrong, that’s a different thing. But if you’ve ever had a coach who yells at you when you make a mistake and doesn’t tell you how to avoid it the next time, then you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t agree, no worries. I’ve heard the other argument before. But watching a three year old get yelled at for falling while attempting a spin that I could never do, I can’t think it’s helpful. Then, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Tangent: LeBron James?

Now I know that I am high school sports blogger (because that’s what it says in my bio, and of course, bios are always right). But being a Clevelander, a Cavaliers fan (duh), an athlete—but not a basketball player… whatever, and an average American, I can’t help but talk about the NBA Finals. Not that I like tangents (which I hope to avoid, but admit will definitely plague my blog once in a blue moon), but I felt this deserved one.

I am sure that most of you reading this will know more about pro-sports and basketball in general than I will ever know, or ever plan to know. All I know is that LeBron choked. Being a high school athlete, like many other teenagers out there, I’ve obviously had my bouts of choking. But since girl’s high school soccer and track aren’t followed by the nation, let alone the world, I’m sure my experiences cannot compare to his. Not that I’m defending him, because I’m glad that Dallas won (go Mavericks!) and love to witness the king in his new castle. But knowing the pressure I feel playing/ running against another high school team, I can’t begin to imagine what it’s like to play in the NBA.

Of course, I want to reiterate that I don’t know much about professional basketball. I know everyone out there has their own take on the situation, so if you’d like to share, I’m a good listener. But if you’re out there, reading this, and don’t really know enough about it to say anything, I feel ya. Or if you’re looking for a quick laugh, this article had me giggling—and I’m not even an NBA fan. Check it out, and let me know what you think!
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=6661570

Monday, June 13, 2011

Agility

Today, I worked on my agility. Now I don’t know if any of you reading this have ever been to China, but for those of you who haven’t, imagine a place where traffic laws are not obeyed. Imagine a place where pedestrians don’t have the right of way, turning signals aren’t used, and red lights are ignored. Then, you are in China.

Being a driver, these rules, or lack there of, can be considered an advantage. But being a pedestrian, you consider it a lucky day when you’ve crossed the street without getting in the way of a speeding bus or taxi. As for the native Chinese people, everyday is their lucky day. Their ability to stop as a car whizzes by, and then quickly dart across the road astounds me. Only with the help of my Chinese teacher can I be so lucky.

After crossing the street a final time today (and after uncrossing my fingers that were held behind my back), I thought about how all of this stopping and starting I was doing was improving my agility. Agility is important in every sport. The ability to stop quickly, turn around, and run at full speed in the other direction is a necessary skill that improves your game, whether it be football, basketball, soccer or lacrosse.

But what about those of you who don’t have a major Chinese city at your disposal? What can you do? Well, don’t fear my worried readers, there are plenty of things you can do. One exercise I’ve found particularly helpful, which I’m sure many of you would know, is running through the flimsy ladder that’s been laid flat on the floor. By stepping each foot into every square as quickly as you can, you get a good work out while focusing on your quickness and agility. Also, jumping rope and short suicides can improve your dexterity as well.

You could even work on your agility by playing red light green light. Yes, you might be too old for this game. But if you get your younger siblings, cousins, or even neighbors to play with you, you won’t feel as stupid or childish. You might even enjoy it, remembering why you liked the game so much when you were younger (although you would never admit it).

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Packing

           Today, I leave for China on a school trip. Now being me, I left all of my packing to the last minute. Major mistake. Thankfully, after jumping up and down on the top of my suitcase a few times, and then getting my brother to sit on it, I finally got it zipped and ready to go (after frantically throwing my things inside, crinkling my shirts, shorts, and skirts with care).
            Because I'm going to be away for 5 weeks, I packed tons and tons of clothes. Now you're probably wondering, why is she telling me this? Why do I care? Isn't this blog supposed to be about sports? Well, try to be a bit more patient. I promise, I'll get to the point.
            Bringing tons and tons of clothes means that my soccer ball and cleats sadly just couldn't fit. (Which makes me feel oddly guilty, because after recently watching Toy Story 3 on Demand, I've started having this reluctance to leave behind inanimate objects.)Yes, I did get my running shoes smooshed in the bottom, and a few pairs of socks, so I should be able to work out and get ready for my season fitness-wise. But what about my foot skills?
            If any of you find yourself in the same boat, don't fear. We won't sink. Because I thought of a solution. If you aren't a soccer player, I'm sorry if this doesn't apply. But I decided to bring a hacky sack. Hacky sacks are much easier to squeeze into my already bloated suitcase, and I can hacky sack pretty much in any setting in order to work on my foot skills.
            For those of you who don't play soccer, there's also another solution. See if there's a sports store where you're staying. And then, I would recommend buying your football or basketball there. It'll be much easier on your pack-mule of a suitcase, and you'll still be able to get in your training before the season starts.

Monday, June 6, 2011

A Very Long Jump


This past weekend, I went with my Hawken track team down to the Jessie Owens stadium for the State meet. Due to pesky shin splints, I went down to Columbus to support my friends and cheer them on as they ran the girl’s 4 by 8 and the 1600. (Yes, I’m assuming that all of you know what that means. Because us track runners like to think we’re cool when we speak in our secret code of numbers. And we like to think we’re twice as cool when we measure things in meters instead of the friendly American yards.)

However, as I got distracted while at the track (partially due to my short attention span, and partially due to the angry glares I got from the people around me as a incessantly cheered for the girl’s 4 by 8 warm up laps), I found myself somehow at the long jump pit. Now I don’t know how I had managed to get over there, if I had walked or scootered or floated or flew, but I was suddenly watching the Division I boy’s long jumpers as they got ready to mark up the perfectly-groomed bed of sand. I felt like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, clearly not in Kansas anymore (although, to clarify, I never was in Kansas. I’ve actually never been to Kansas).

These boys flew. And I’m not exaggerating or emphasizing. These boys ran down the runway, leapt into the air, and flew. When spectators do what they do at track meets (spectate, of course), each person ends up being fascinated by a different event. True, at the State meet each event is spectacular in its own way, but there’s always that one event that a person walks away from the track thinking, How? And for me, this event is long jump.


Now I didn’t tell you all this to make you jealous, or to make you feel guilty for not making the trek to Columbus on the first weekend of June. So here’s a video for you of some insane long-jumping! And of course, if I’m going to show you long jumping, than I’m going to show you some of the best long jumping in the history of track and field. This is a video of Bob Beaman, the U.S. olympian who held the world record for long jump until 1991, achieved in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Let me know if you feel the same way about long jump that I do! (And feel free to secretly enjoy the British narration just like I did when I watched this video for the first time.)

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Juggling


For those of you who don’t play soccer, I apologize for the specificity of this following entry. Now, I’m not trying to discriminate, or play favorites among the sports, but juggling really only applies to soccer. (Although, it might improve your general quickness, because it requires quick feet. And quick feet make for a quick person, you know.)

Juggling is not the circus act of tossing big red balls into the air and trying to catch them at the same time, without letting anything drop (or tossing and catching oranges, if I’m reenacting it in my kitchen. However, I wouldn’t recommend doing so, unless you like eating bruised fruits). Nor is it the metaphorical term used when busy moms worry about getting little Timmy to baseball practice by 5 and little Tammy to ballet by 5:30. Juggling, or at least the soccer player’s definition of juggling, is keeping a soccer ball off of the ground by tapping it up with your foot or thigh (or, for the more adventurous of us, with your head, shoulder, foot, or thigh).

Although you will never really use juggling in a game (but if you’ve proven me wrong by juggling the ball up the field in a game before, props), juggling has helped me a lot with my quickness with the ball and my foot skills. Now I’m sure I still have a lot of room for improvement, but juggling has helped me tremendously when trying to control the ball and move it up the field. It’s also something you can do when you don’t have a lot of space, and when you don’t have a lot of time. You could even try hacky-sacking (which I have to say, is really really fun) to work on the same skill sets when you’re nervous about breaking something with your giant soccer ball in the only-for-nice-occasions dining room (although I would never recommend juggling there in the first place, much too risky).

And for those of you playing other sports, I’m sorry I don’t have much advice to give. You are always welcome to try juggling (although it might be a bit difficult with a football or hockey puck). Above is a video of some pretty insane juggling. Enjoy! (With some practice, you might even be able to make some money as a street performer like this guy! Gotta love Iya Traore.)

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Nicknames

Trying out for my high school soccer team as a freshman in 2009, I was nervous and scared and excited all at once. Those of you who have been freshmen before will understand. And those of you who are going to be freshmen in the fall, I promise the butterflies go away.


Early on, in our pre-pre-season captain’s practices, one of the leading seniors on the team gave me my nickname. Now I know goober is probably not the first choice anyone would pick to be known by for the rest of their high school careers. However, I have come to love my nickname and like when people call me by it (of course, I was trying to push the nickname Super Star instead, or Princess Awesomeness, but this seemed to reconfirm my identity as Goo). I love it because nicknames always make people feel like their part of the team. They make everyone feel different and unique, and even helped me make friends once the school year started (because as my soccer teammates introduced me as Goo, people always laughed and asked why I’m called that. If nicknames aren’t anything else, they’re definitely a conversation starter!).


Nicknames don’t even have to be creative. They can be a shortened version of the person’s last name, or a play on one of their physical features that makes them stand out. (For example, in grade school I was often called carrot-top. Which, although I wouldn’t recommend it as a nickname for a high-schooler, was slightly endearing.)


Mine gave me the confidence to start going to a new school and make new friends (because with a name like Goo, you have to be a bit confident). On my first day of school, I felt like I owned the place. However, as a freshman I was quickly reminded that, as the popular saying goes, I was at the bottom of the totem pole.


But my nickname made being at the bottom of the totem pole a bit easier and a whole lot of fun.