Book Review: A Year of Sport Travel

It's been almost two months since I last posted - I can only offer excuses for being so time poor, despite no longer studying! It may not seem like much but football coaching, trying to train for the Around the Bay ride, feeling miserable because I hate work, hunting for and choosing between PhD projects and locations, purchasing and getting used to my new [manual] car have all taken their toll on me and my time! So much so that I've even downgraded my expectations for the Around the Bay from 210 km to 100 km. And as my head starts to clear re: work or study, and making decisions where I'll be next year (not in Melbourne by the looks of things) I can turn my attentions to the things that have fallen by the wayside.

One of them has been A Year of Sport Travel - a book that was sent to me by the lovely people at Lonely Planet because of this blog! So it's only fitting that I review it here.

It's the kind of book that I imagine the "typical" sport-loving Australian loving. We are a sport-obsessed nation, and given the increasing rates of obesity I suspect that we are really a sport-spectating-loving nation (unless we refer to the A-League, which seems to be having crowd number problems.) Organised in weekly intervals, A Year of Sport Travel offers four sports a week that one can choose from to watch (and even to participate if you are so inclined).

Naturally all the expected events are there - the World Cup, Olympics, World Athletics Championships (OK so it's not on everyone's radar but I care and it's my blog so there), Premier League and FA Cup. Also are other people's "expected events" - the Ashes (although given recent results, it may not be a suitable 'sport' to refer to), Dakar Rally, Tri-Nations Rugby, Tour de France, Winter Olympics, err... AFL's Grand Final, Wimbeldon, Boston Marathon, etc.

But the best part of the book is that it mixes the typical with the non-typical; this is why I really loved the book. And by organising the events by calendar, you are as likely to come up with something obscure when checking out the obvious events. Take the FA Cup - an event that happens in May each year and that I would expect any readers of this blog are familiar with. Turn the page over, and this week in May is shared with Indy 500 (meh), World Table Tennis Championships (meh - although it is a fun sport to play after a few drinks and hand-eye coordination has long gone) and CHEESE ROLLING! On the last Monday in May, a 7 pound circle of Double Gloustershire is rolled down a hill and people chase after it! With a seriously steep grade and multiple heats... well, check out the YouTube video for the fun that this event brings!

And if you thought cheese rolling looked dangerous, there's a hybrid event that could up it given Lennox Lewis describes both disciplines as "pretty violent"...

I tend to agree with the final comments of chess-boxing not yet the best of both worlds, or really the best of either - so when picking between the two I'd go the cheese rolling. I could stay in Europe for the following two months:

• early June - the Giostra Della Quintana in Italy with knights, lances and horses
  
• late June - Wimbeldon (if feeling civilised) or the Calcio Storico (if not feeling civilised and feeling like staying in Italy)
• early July - the Wife-Carrying Championships in Finland (where the wife doesn't necessarily have to be married to the carrier according to the rules)
• throughout July - the Tour de France throughout July (I had to have something normal)
• mid-August - the European Minigolf Championships
  
• late-August - I could come back to Wales for World Bog Snorkelling!

Definitely my kind of trip - something serious with enough zaniness to keep me hyper for a while!

The only downside to the book? Far too much cricket! The Ashes, the Cricket World Cup, and Indian Premier League! Although it's probably aimed at Australians... and they do have three football events - four if I include the Olympics!

Found myself a goalkeeper!

At the start of the season, I had a goalkeeper for the girls that I coach. Unfortunately the first team goalkeeper was injured so I lost mine. She has now played too many matches with the firsts, so I ended up without a goalkeeper. So I've been throwing randoms in there - some cope, some don't.

On the weekend I decided to use an U12 (Izzy) who plays on the pitch for her team and in goals for the U13s. She's not a tiny U12, so I figured she'd cope with the U16s.

Did she ever! All the other parents were impressed with her - I had the advantage of having spent time with her on Thursday nights where I help out with the U12 & U13 girls. It's one thing to see Izzy in her age group (where she mucks about a bit) and then to see her step up for the U16s in terms of her own performance but also the maturity to talk to the defence and claim the ball.

Looking at the U12, U13 and U16 fixtures... there's a chance I might be able to get her for most of the remaining games. I've put it all together in Excel, and calculated the travel time using Google Maps. Known as The Izzy Scheme, I've identified 7 of our 10 remaining matches where she has the time to make it to our matches (she could play 3 matches on one day on 3 of those days), and 2 where she'd have to decide between the 13s and 16s. Provided her parents are happy to drive about a bit, we may be able to cope without leaking goals for the rest of the season. It's just unfortunate that it took an injury and illness spree in the 16s to give me the opportunity/excuse to ask her to join us!

Back to Sunday - I had somewhat silly opposition. Their coach's excuse was that it was their first season. Heck, it's my excuse too - but I'd never use it! Anyway, we were a player short the whole time so I risked playing 3 defenders (vs. 3 strikers) the whole game as I noticed that when my defence pushed up to half-way, the strikers came up with them (expected). But when the wing-backs would push up past half-way, the strikers came up with them again! BONUS! Hee hee. :) I love stupid opposition. Or rather, stupid coaches who love to have excuses for poor performances. Unfortunately we couldn't score (and we definitely had our opportunities) so it ended up 0-0.

Hopefully with 11 players and perhaps some subs, we can get a result next week. :) I'll ask Izzy if she enjoyed herself on Sunday, and if so I'll ask her parents if they're happy with The Izzy Scheme. Now, here's hoping the 16As coach and player movement "manager" don't realise what I've found...

Round 5

Nearly 6 months into my grad job, and still struggling to find that work/life balance that is often spoken about - as a result I've fallen quite sick, and not had time to update the blog. I have made (most) training sessions - notable exceptions being at the height of my lethargy and one crazy week at work.

Nice and short today - I am leaving a comment that one of the most difficult things about coaching juniors is that you have to stay positive. We were leading 1-0 today, and ended up 1-1. It's only the second time we haven't lost, but frustrating nonetheless. The worst being when some of your players just don't have "it" but you need to maintain their enthusiasm and belief - even if you know that they're a liability for the team when on the park.

The junior season is kicking off!

So I have now accepted the role of being coach of the 2nd U16 girls team - which is a little off my plan of being an assistant coach, but should still be fun. That it's a second team means that the girls will still have training if work demands force me out of a training session here and there.

Got the fixture today, so it's time for me to start planning the rest of my life (whatever little there is anyway!) around the girls. I'm looking forward to the frustration, madness and general fun - I think it's safe to say that I missed coaching last year.

In my league is the club where I coached two years ago (while the junior part of the club was separate from the senior club that shared the grounds) and where I have played in the past (while the senior club was separate). Kinda looking forward to the 21st of June now - quite a few of my ex-teammates play at 1pm, and then my team will play their U16s at 3.15pm.

Not about football

Just a general post about things other than football right now. I have said it before, but there are so many A-League blogs out there that actually offer a proper analysis of the game and regular posts that I don't think I really need to stick to the topic here anymore! :)

So my final results came out yesterday - I have officially finished uni. My marks are also sufficiently high that I shouldn't have any issues applying for PhD scholarships when the time comes to do so if I wish to follow that path. It's hilarious how at the start of the year I didn't have the marks to confidently get a scholarship through the Australian Government - but then you meet a few lecturers who actually care about their research and are trying to find local PhD students (there are so many international post-grads in the school, it's funny to me, but perhaps embarrassing to the uni!)

Anyway, I ended up enjoying uni this year but opted to go into the workforce instead. So I've been in my new job for two weeks now... trying to get a feel of what my commitments are there. It's really difficult to tell as I am bored out of my mind but everyone tells me, "Enjoy it while it lasts." Until Friday I was actually quite miserable due to the boredom (Monday and Tuesday were particularly low points) so I don't understand why people tell me to enjoy it.

The good thing about working as opposed to further study is that I now have my weekends back. So I'm looking forward to winter, when I can actually get to a lot more VPL (Victorian Premier League) matches than I have been able to in the past. It also means that I have time to coach again. So I have started the hunt for coaching positions.

I don't particularly want to go back to where I was in 2007, as the junior club I was at was trying to affiliate themselves with a senior club I cannot stand. Unfortunately for me, they were the most convenient club! I have an interview with a junior club next week - which I am a bit nervous about as I have not coached for over a year now and my coaching books are not in my possession. People I have spoken to about this have laughed at me so I am in a bit of a state of mind that is, "Well fuck you too." So I am planning to stick to the VPL and avoiding VS - especially a particular team due to the whole laughter thing.

So now I have to organise a half-hour coaching session for the interview... and the only book I didn't lend was my goalkeeping training guide. LOL. I don't think forcing 12-15 year old girls to do goalkeeping training will win me any points!