As has often been said at Centre meetings “it is those little things that make all the difference at the very top level”. We have coaches who work on tactics, individual skills and fitness, physiotherapists who put you all back together when you have been injured, sports scientists who monitor nutrition, hydration and physical condition, the FA who apply the rules and create the pathways that allow you to progress from U10’s through to the England team, and then there are people like me.
I have decided that my role in the whole set-up is to provide you with access to the most useless and inconsequential research that may just make that 0.0001% improvement in your game. It is my duty to provide you with at least a thousand bits of utterly fascinating bits of information that, when added together, may just about make a very, very important 0.1% difference to your games.
So to begin with, believe it or not, there is a website that tells you how to lace up your boots properly as there is, apparently, a right and a wrong way to do it. One way encourages the laces to loosen as you play and one uses the tension created to tighten the knot.
The gentleman who created the site, Ian Fieggen, is quoted in the April 2009 edition of Runner’s World as saying that he left his full-time job in 2007 to devote his life to teaching people how to tie their shoes, and specifically to create a shoelace handbook, Laces, that he published later that year (and you thought I was bad!!).
His body of work is available on his website and I suggest that you all check out the “Slipping Laces” section immediately. The website can be accessed by clicking the title of this article "Dad, my boot laces keep coming undone" above.
The full Runner’s World article is available at http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?uan=482 but you may need to subscribe to the site to access it.
Now then, is it right over left or left over right?
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Everton Shirt
As part of our fundraising initiative we have managed to acquire a signed, and fully authenticated, Everton shirt.
If you fancy lodging a bid for the shirt then drop me an e-mail. We have placed an undisclosed reserve on this fabulous piece of football memerobilia but, if our reserve is not met, we will put it up for auction at our Race Night at Curzon Ashton on 7th March 2009.
If you fancy lodging a bid for the shirt then drop me an e-mail. We have placed an undisclosed reserve on this fabulous piece of football memerobilia but, if our reserve is not met, we will put it up for auction at our Race Night at Curzon Ashton on 7th March 2009.
Monday, 19 January 2009
Throw Ins
Recently I have found myself smiling at all the fuss that Stoke City’s Rory Delap has caused with his thunderbolt throw-ins. His ability to hurl the ball into the penalty area has had managers and players bleating on about how ugly and unfair it is of the Potters to do it. The fuss made seemed to be in direct relation to the havoc that had been caused by this simplest of tactics. It ‘aint pretty but how unsettled have the Premiership big boys been by it all?
'The human sling', was how Everton manager David Moyes described Delap after Everton won 3-2 at Stoke despite twice succumbing to the midfielder's long throw-ins.
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill looked bewildered as he tried to explain how you defend the missile that led to Stoke's last-minute winner.
“I have never seen anything like this in my life,” said Chelsea’s manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who professed to be less concerned by the aesthetics of the Republic of Ireland midfielder’s throw than by its effectiveness and consistent threat. “If you are making goals, it’s more beautiful than not making goals,” the pragmatic Brazilian said.
It is certainly not a new tactic. Tranmere Rovers had a player called Dave Challinor (who went on to captain Bury ;-)) and it was reported in 2000, by the BBC, that he hurled the ball a world record distance of 46.34m. Over 46m!!! In reality that is much further than the majority of us could kick the ball and would, in effect, mean that just about any throw-in conceded in the opposition half could be chucked into the area like a corner kick. Just imagine being able to throw the ball from the goal line pretty much to the half way line.
One of the major problems for defenders is that their opponents cannot be given offside from a throw-in and as such they can pack the six yard area and prevent the goalkeeper from coming out to collect the ball. This means that, inevitably, the ball is bouncing around in a very dangerous area and often goals are conceded from chaotic passages of play.
Law 15 states
A throw-in is a method of restarting play.
A throw-in is awarded to the opponents of the player who last touched the ball when the whole of the ball crosses the touch line, either on the ground or in the air.
A goal cannot be scored directly from a throw-in.
Procedure
At the moment of delivering the ball, the thrower:
• faces the field of play
• has part of each foot either on the touch line or on the ground outside the touch line
• holds the ball with both hands
• delivers the ball from behind and over his head
• delivers the ball from the point where it left the field of play
It also states that if an opponent unfairly distracts or impedes the thrower then he should be cautioned for unsporting behaviour and that all opponents must stand no less than 2m from the point at which the throw-in is taken. In reality this means that the throw cannot be blocked and, if it is, it is an automatic yellow card. However, if you are thinking of always jumping up in the way of a throw, click onto the link below……still wanna block it?
http://footballinfinland.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/great-throw-ins-of-our-time/
'The human sling', was how Everton manager David Moyes described Delap after Everton won 3-2 at Stoke despite twice succumbing to the midfielder's long throw-ins.
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill looked bewildered as he tried to explain how you defend the missile that led to Stoke's last-minute winner.
“I have never seen anything like this in my life,” said Chelsea’s manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who professed to be less concerned by the aesthetics of the Republic of Ireland midfielder’s throw than by its effectiveness and consistent threat. “If you are making goals, it’s more beautiful than not making goals,” the pragmatic Brazilian said.
It is certainly not a new tactic. Tranmere Rovers had a player called Dave Challinor (who went on to captain Bury ;-)) and it was reported in 2000, by the BBC, that he hurled the ball a world record distance of 46.34m. Over 46m!!! In reality that is much further than the majority of us could kick the ball and would, in effect, mean that just about any throw-in conceded in the opposition half could be chucked into the area like a corner kick. Just imagine being able to throw the ball from the goal line pretty much to the half way line.
One of the major problems for defenders is that their opponents cannot be given offside from a throw-in and as such they can pack the six yard area and prevent the goalkeeper from coming out to collect the ball. This means that, inevitably, the ball is bouncing around in a very dangerous area and often goals are conceded from chaotic passages of play.
Law 15 states
A throw-in is a method of restarting play.
A throw-in is awarded to the opponents of the player who last touched the ball when the whole of the ball crosses the touch line, either on the ground or in the air.
A goal cannot be scored directly from a throw-in.
Procedure
At the moment of delivering the ball, the thrower:
• faces the field of play
• has part of each foot either on the touch line or on the ground outside the touch line
• holds the ball with both hands
• delivers the ball from behind and over his head
• delivers the ball from the point where it left the field of play
It also states that if an opponent unfairly distracts or impedes the thrower then he should be cautioned for unsporting behaviour and that all opponents must stand no less than 2m from the point at which the throw-in is taken. In reality this means that the throw cannot be blocked and, if it is, it is an automatic yellow card. However, if you are thinking of always jumping up in the way of a throw, click onto the link below……still wanna block it?
http://footballinfinland.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/great-throw-ins-of-our-time/
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Barnoldswick
Did anyone else spot the electronic speed indicator (I am sure there is a much more technical phrase for it than that!) on the road out of Barnoldswick yesterday? It showed a smiley face if you were doing less than 30 miles an hour and a sad face face if you were going faster than that (erm........so someone else told me Mr. Policeman). It amused me anyway.
Trivia alert 1: Did you know that Barnoldswick is one of the longest place names in the UK that does not have any repeating letters in its name?
Triva alert 2 : Barnoldswick is often cited as being one of the largest towns in the UK not to be served by A-roads!
Trivia alert 1: Did you know that Barnoldswick is one of the longest place names in the UK that does not have any repeating letters in its name?
Triva alert 2 : Barnoldswick is often cited as being one of the largest towns in the UK not to be served by A-roads!
Women's U20's World Cup
The England U17s team finished 4th in the World Cup and now the Under 20's are competing in their World Cup in Chile.
England beat the hosts Chile 2-0 in the opening game and drew 1-1 with Nigeria to stay top of their group.
Their final group game is on the 26th November against New Zealand in Santiago.
Should they qualify for the quarter-finals then they will be playing on November 30th.
The games are being shown live on Eurosport so try and catch them if you can.
To follow their progress please click on the title "Womens's U20 World Cup" at the top of this post for a link to the official FA site for the tournament. (See, you are never too old to learn something new!!)
England beat the hosts Chile 2-0 in the opening game and drew 1-1 with Nigeria to stay top of their group.
Their final group game is on the 26th November against New Zealand in Santiago.
Should they qualify for the quarter-finals then they will be playing on November 30th.
The games are being shown live on Eurosport so try and catch them if you can.
To follow their progress please click on the title "Womens's U20 World Cup" at the top of this post for a link to the official FA site for the tournament. (See, you are never too old to learn something new!!)
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Women's U17's World Cup
Don't forget to send your support out to the girls in New Zealand. They have managed to battle their way into the World Cup semi-finals and are playing North Korea tomorrow morning(13th November). North Korea beat Denmark 4-0 in the quarter finals so England have another tough game on their hands.
Come on England.
Come on England.
Saturday, 1 November 2008
Women's U17's World Cup
The U17 Women's World Cup has started in New Zealand. England were completely dominant in their opening fixture and ran out easy 3-0 winners against Brazil. In the England starting line up was Jessica Holbrook who used to be a member of the Old Stockport Centre of Excellence and played against our U16's last season in the Centre of Excellence programme!!
England's next group games are against Nigeria on the 2nd November and South Korea on the 5th before, hopefully, taking their place in the quarter final line up on the 8th November.
The games are being televised on Eurosport and it is a real shame that there has been so little coverage of it in the media. Maybe they will pay more attention when the girls progress in the tournament. One thing for sure is that if they continue to produce such high quality performances then they have the potential to go a long, long way.
Come on England!
England's next group games are against Nigeria on the 2nd November and South Korea on the 5th before, hopefully, taking their place in the quarter final line up on the 8th November.
The games are being televised on Eurosport and it is a real shame that there has been so little coverage of it in the media. Maybe they will pay more attention when the girls progress in the tournament. One thing for sure is that if they continue to produce such high quality performances then they have the potential to go a long, long way.
Come on England!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)