2012-366 Day 30 – Soccer Evaluation Day

Is it weird for a 31 year old to be trying a sport for the first time? I’ll tell you one thing, it certainly felt a little weird, to the point where I was actively questioning what I was doing while waiting for the evaluation process to begin.

I arrived at the field a little early, owing to the fact that my softball team had been knocked out before the title game, so I didn’t have to rush over to make it at the start. I sat down for a minute to watch the current goings on, the women having their evaluation drills, then got up to figure out what I had to do to get registered. As I walked towards the office that seemed to be the right location, one of the women stopped me and asked if I had signed up with anyone or was joining solo. Apparently I look like I know what I’m doing? Anyway, I told her I had just signed up by myself, and she asked if I wanted to be on her team. Considering I have no expectations for this year and don’t particularly care what team I’m on, I said sure. I went in the office, got my number for evaluation (56, the guys started at 50 so I was sixth in line to try everything, and there ended up being about 22 guys there for the evaluation, plus one woman who came late that we’ll meet later), and got my home and away jerseys (I told them I figured number 21 was long gone, but lo, there it was lying right on top in my size). I headed back out to the field to get ready for the evaluation.

The first drill required we run to midfield, settle a pass, pass it back, run around a cone back to midfield, settle another pass, then run around a far cone, get a long pass and take a shot on goal. Outside of the fact that I settled both passes by stepping on them, rather than corralling them with the side of my foot, and took the final shot with my left foot instead of my right (it was the one closest when I was running in stride), I think I did okay on this one.

The second drill required us to do some tight slalom dribbling, then pass to the middle who would then set us up for a one-time shot (there might have been another slalom drill between these two, but I don’t remember it). The ball got away from me a little bit, but I got it back and managed to complete the slalom without too much more difficulty. Had to chase down the ensuing pass, and my shot was wide.

During that drill they asked if anyone was interested in playing goalie, there was one guy who brought gloves and was hoping to primarily be a goalie, and I wanted to at least try, so he played goalie for the first half of the people and I played for the second half. I stopped all the shots sent my way but the last two, one of which was a wicked shot by the woman who had come late and had obviously played before. The shot bent right around me, and was really impressive. Don’t know that I made all that great an impression, since most of the shots I stopped were right at or around me, but at least I tried.

The third drill lined us up on two sides, having the first side pass to the second, and the second side pass back to the first for the shot. I started on the first side, passed across fairly accurately, and received the return pass a little deep and got off a semi-decent shot. I moved across to the other side and sent my pass too deep when it was my turn to be the second side.

The final drill had us go from the 3/4’s of the way across the field, track down a long pass, and then take a shot. I did as well as I could on exhausted legs and again, don’t think I looked too bad.

In all I’d say I played very average, which I suppose is not bad for someone who hasn’t played a lick of soccer in his life. The areas I can most greatly improve in are my ball handling (which is pretty non-existent at the moment) and just getting some practice in with my shots, which should give me better directionality. I imagine that with a little experience, I should be at least passable as a soccer player. No games next week (“Why?” I thought. “Oh yeah, Super Bowl.”), so my first game should be February 12th.

Weight: 236.4 Max: 240 Min: 234.4 Body Fat %: 24.9
Yearly Mileage: 8.5 miles
Current Belt: Purple – Next Belt: Orange (Blue?) – Next Test Date: 3/12
Fitocracy Level: 11 (11821 points, 471/2500 to next level) – ID: disciplev1