Fifty - Fifty Ball

Sunday, October 7, 2007

NC High School News, 10/8

North Stanly’s Ben Williams battles in midfield with Mt. Pleasant defender in Monday’s 2-2 tie in OT.

Crazy year in RRC continues

Gray Stone’s Patrick Sullivan (21) sprints downfield while controlling the ball in the Knights’ upset win over Monroe last week.

Athletes, teams of the week(Asheville Citizen-Times)

Watauga’s David Risher goes pursues the ball Wednesday. Photo by Marie Freeman

Pioneers KO Spartans 4-0

Staff photo by Chris Seward
Chapel Hill's Chipper Root celebrates with teammates Brian Miller (20), Matt Gallagher (3) and Marshall Wright (7) after he scored the winning goal in the second overtime period.

Tigers take their shot
Photo Gallery of Game

Hobbton soccer team get nine straight

High school scoreboard (Greensboro News-record)

The first two steps are in your head (pt 3)

Visualization or Guided Imagery
How easy is this! Mental practice. Just imagine yourself in a game situation,play it over and over in your mind and you will perform better. Can this work? Absolutely! Most if not all top athletes have it as part of their training regimen (Check out the Nike commercial with LT below).

[REMEMBER:VISUALIZE IN REAL TIME]

It obviously can't take the place of physical practice but it is another piece to the puzzle. Just as physical practice trains your
muscles how to react, guided imagery trains your mind how to react. Research is finding that both physical and psychological reactions in certain situations can be improved with visualization. Such repeated imagery can build both experience and confidence in an athlete's ability to perform certain skills under pressure, or in a variety of possible situations.

Of course it is just like physical practice; results will depend on how much effort you put into it. The key is using all of your senses.They can be visual (images and pictures), kinesthetic (how the body feels), or auditory (the roar of the crowd). The more real you can make it in your mind the better your results will be.

Here are the key points:

Visualizing an activity uses the same parts of your brain as actually doing the activity.

The more detailed your visualizations are, the more effective they will be in helping you improve your game.

Keep your sports visualizations as specific and detail-oriented as you can.(In other words, not you making All-State, but performing that step over successfully)

For best results make your visualizations happen in real time.

Start out slowly since it can be mentally tiring to really focus on your visualizations. As you get better you can visualize for longer times.

Include those real life distractions in your visualization.

If you are having a problem with a specific move, focus on it in your visualization. Visualize doing it correctly, over and over again.

Proper visualization can even increase your heart rate.

Remember all stress is not bad. Distress is bad-- anxiety, fear and that voice in your head telling you that you can't do it. Eustress is good-- it comes from a challenge and pumps you up.

Visualization is an effective tool even if you're laid up with a sports injury. If you're too hurt to make practice, you can at least picture yourself going through the motions. It might even speed your recovery.

Friday, October 5, 2007

DCU 1, Kansas City 1, 12 Game unbeaten streak

Congratulations to Kansas City's FO. Like any organization at this time of the year they are doing what it takes to ensure their team makes the playoff. After diligent scouting of DC United's game, just 3 days and a six hour flight earlier, they decided that they would use CD Guadalajara's game plan to defeat the Black and Red. FREE TICKETS! According to KansasCity.com:

"The Kansas City Wizards prepared for tonight’s regular-season home finale by canvassing the city Thursday with thousands of free tickets for schoolchildren."

Unfortunately the doubling of the Cauldron's size, with the fifty tickets that they were able to give away to kids[the announced attendance was 14,353and I have no idea how many were given away] , was not enough to put the Wizards over the top.

Gomez was able to bring home a point for us knotting the score in the 56' with a great individual effort after a great ball splitting the defenders from Marc Burch.

The good news: Tom Soehn learned his lesson about Moreno and Olsen and kept one on the field all night.

The bad news: When the bloogers start getting tired,(read DCenter's First Impressions)where does that leave the players? Oh yea you can find this action shot over at BobbyBoswell.com:

Robinho Lesson #2, Juggling

The single easiest and best thing to do to improve your touch on the ball. No nets, no cones, no pinnies, no coaches...just you and a soccer ball.
Why I'll never juggle in a game.
It's not about the juggling, it's about your ability to make the ball do what you want it to. It's all about touch, your ability to control the ball with different parts of your body. It's about balance while playing with the ball. Here's Robinho's tips, I'll add a few more after the videos.

Just take ten to twenty minutes a day, the pay back will be huge.

Remember to use all parts of your body and please work with the non-dominant side of your body.

Plug in your ear buds and get into a rythm with the ball, remember, "you can't just play...you got to have the sway".

When you start feeling a little cocky go look at youtube to find some new tricks and a little humility.

NC High School News, 10/5

Tigers, Cougars battle to draw

Lawrence's goal enough for Providence

Starmount soccer blitzes Forbush 6-0

Big second half lifts Eastern Wayne over Southern Wayne

High school scoreboard(Greensboro N&R)

Prep roundup(Hendersonville News)

Jacksonville, White Oak video (Jacksonville Daily News)

High School Results(Raleigh N&O)

Early barrage dooms Raiders

Telegram photo/Alan Campbell
Gryphons score first goal, but Knights force draw at home

Viking keeper Travis Frazier is the new North Carolina high school boys' soccer record holder for career shutouts.

Levey photo
Pirate booters win two ECC matches

O.T. for Golden Eagles again

East booters remain undefeated

Soccer team falls by 1 to East Wilkes

Panthers remember Richardson with emotional win vs. Rosewood

For the Record(W-S Journal)

Harbin's Hat-trick...

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Robinho Lesson #1-"Futebol moleque"- video

"Man, you can't just play football, you've got to have the sway!"

You know if you need someone to give you some soccer lessons, you can't beat somebody with one name, especially if it ends with 'inho'. Thanks to Nike we've got Robinho sharing his skill and knowledge.In this video we see him playing Futsal with Falcao and imparting some wisdom such as:

"futebol moleque": "is to play with joy and love...respecting your opponent but always with boldness."

On size: " I think football players are becoming bigger over all. But I think strength will never beat intelligence. If you're smart the defense will never stop you."