Sunday, January 13, 2008
Hockey
I finally went out and played hockey again this year. No I did not score 5 goals or anything like that. My expectations were quite a bit lower. Last year when I played a few games with these guys I was extremely frustrated trying to do things on the ice that just didn't work. I think I might have played better, probably because I was not trying as hard.
As I was driving to hockey I was thinking about what worked for me in Thunder Bay with the hockey there and why that did not work here. What I realized was that in Thunder Bay there was a group of us who all seemed to realize that we play better when we play as a team than we do when we try to play like the skilled guys that we really can't compete with on their game. We would generally try to form a line of just us and we would sometimes find our line as the stronger line, instead of the skilled line that made up the other group. We would work together and it was our intention.
I do not have that here, I do not know where the others are going, I do not know what they expect. For now I just need to play and skate, and see what happens. The other positive thing from tonight that I was not expecting is that I did not have the same trouble skating that I had last year. When I was playing I did not think about or notice my knee. I hurts right now a little, and it has been swelling a little all week (actually longer), but it did not change my skating stride while I was playing. My knee did inhibit me last year, I know I thought about what my stride should be while I was playing last year. Today I even had a hard skate to beat someone to the puck and I did it. I could not corner in the direction I wanted, as sharply as I wanted, so I passed the puck and cornered. I am happy I can skate again. I have always loved to skate and especially to get an opportunity to skate fast. Now I just have to work on my leg strength and my conditioning since I quit working out by the start of last summer.
As I was driving to hockey I was thinking about what worked for me in Thunder Bay with the hockey there and why that did not work here. What I realized was that in Thunder Bay there was a group of us who all seemed to realize that we play better when we play as a team than we do when we try to play like the skilled guys that we really can't compete with on their game. We would generally try to form a line of just us and we would sometimes find our line as the stronger line, instead of the skilled line that made up the other group. We would work together and it was our intention.
I do not have that here, I do not know where the others are going, I do not know what they expect. For now I just need to play and skate, and see what happens. The other positive thing from tonight that I was not expecting is that I did not have the same trouble skating that I had last year. When I was playing I did not think about or notice my knee. I hurts right now a little, and it has been swelling a little all week (actually longer), but it did not change my skating stride while I was playing. My knee did inhibit me last year, I know I thought about what my stride should be while I was playing last year. Today I even had a hard skate to beat someone to the puck and I did it. I could not corner in the direction I wanted, as sharply as I wanted, so I passed the puck and cornered. I am happy I can skate again. I have always loved to skate and especially to get an opportunity to skate fast. Now I just have to work on my leg strength and my conditioning since I quit working out by the start of last summer.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Happy New Year
I kind of missed the new year stuff already. I went to Thunder Bay for my second week of holiday and spent it recovering from an infection. I was on antibiotics all week and sleeping a lot. I did not go out much (but we still got in a number of visits with people in Thunder Bay). I did not go to the New Years Eve Party with Erica and the boys.
Christmas we spent at home, with some friends of ours (one of whom spent that week sick in bed instead of visiting). It was a fun Christmas and the boys are still playing with their presents.
I just discovered today that I got into another class for my program in Winnipeg. In February I will be traveling to Winnipeg on Mondays instead of Tuesdays as has been my regular trip. This class will be Assessing Addictions in the Family. Hopefully I will be able to continue the kinds of grades I have been getting in my last class. Right now I work on Mondays till 3:00 pm and class will start at 6:00 pm so basically I have no time to spare on Mondays. I'm not sure if we will be adjusting the schedule or not to help deal with that issue. The course is only a month so I'm not sure it is worth the effort to change.
Christmas we spent at home, with some friends of ours (one of whom spent that week sick in bed instead of visiting). It was a fun Christmas and the boys are still playing with their presents.
I just discovered today that I got into another class for my program in Winnipeg. In February I will be traveling to Winnipeg on Mondays instead of Tuesdays as has been my regular trip. This class will be Assessing Addictions in the Family. Hopefully I will be able to continue the kinds of grades I have been getting in my last class. Right now I work on Mondays till 3:00 pm and class will start at 6:00 pm so basically I have no time to spare on Mondays. I'm not sure if we will be adjusting the schedule or not to help deal with that issue. The course is only a month so I'm not sure it is worth the effort to change.
