Well, we all managed to get to the end of the season – relatively in tact!  we’re on a shutdown at the moment, and the season has ended, so it’s quite nice to kind of get our weekends back!  I think we only had 4 completely free weekends during last season – which isn’t much!  It’s amazing how much the house work / DIY jobs have fallen along the wayside. 

Well, Ice-T (my little man), survived an entire season as the U10′s goalie, and… surprisingly, he’s up for another season!  Next week, he’ll be off to the Nathan Craze Elite Goaltending Camp which he’s been looking forward to for months (also taken me months to gather up enough money for it too!  These things all cost so much!)

Ice hockey really isn’t a cheap option, what with subs, kit, travelling to games, food when travelling to games, extra training camps, off ice training, it all adds up.  If I’d had known at the start just how much it was all going to cost – we probably wouldn’t have even started it!  But, once you do, you kind of get HOOKED!!!

Back at the end of last year, I suffered an injury, from which I still haven’t quite recovered – that’s aside from the whiplash & concussion previously – which I still don’t think I’ve ever recovered from!  Memory totally shot nowadays.

Well, last week at the little one’s training he pulled a muscle somewhere delicate – so we were worried that he wouldn’t be fit enough to do his goalie camp – fingers crossed he seems to be ok – and keeps telling us that it doesn’t hurt any more! I hope so for his sake!

This coming season, I decided to become the U12 manager (am wondering whether I’m totally insane!), as invariably, due to numbers my Ice-T will have to play up and be the U12 goalie – which I’m not quite sure I’m totally happy about – but if I’m manager then I have a bit of a say in things.  Hopefully!  So, I’ve been busy trying to get things organised ahead of the season start.  Sorting out shirts, gathering contact details, sorting out registrations – or at least ensuring all my guys are actually registered – which they are!  Yay! I have some shirt issues which I need to address – perhaps get some re-numbered etc.  I’ve been trying my hand out with the game clock & dj box on our mini tournament sessions during the ungodly o’clock session on a Sunday morning at 7am!  I’ve been spending many an hour into the early morning mixing up music tracks to help get them all going during their warm ups!  (Yes I’m sad!)  It’s got to be fun for the parents as well as the kids – especially at that time of the day!

The mini tournaments seemed to go down well with both the kids and the parents – with lots of support all round – which is good!

Let’s hope the enthusiasm continues throughout the season.  I’m sure I’ll have a fairly steep learning curve this year.  It’s one thing being a senior assistnat manager – but something else being a Junkior Manager!  I have a good assistant manager – so I think that will help considerably

Well, as I have another life – outside of Ice Hockey – yes really!  I’ve now been elected / voted in as the new Chair of Governors at my son’s school.  He’s quite chuffed about this and thinks I can sack all the teachers he doesn’t like!  Not sure it works quite like that though!  (*lol*).

I’ve also taken up another new hobby – Choi Kwang Do – what is that? I hear you ask!  Well, it’s one of the fastest grwing martial arts in the UK.  I came across this, when Ice-T’s Sei Bu Kan Karate class closed down during last half term – with no warning, and I searched for another karate club that was close by.  This isn’t karate as such, but it s influences of martial arts but without impacting the joints etc., which for me at my age and Ice-T as a goalie it’s incredibly important.  It not only helps with fitness, confidence, flexibility, agility & speed it also tackles self defence as well.  So it’s perfect for both me & Ice-T.  we can only go once a week, as it clashes with our Ice Hockey night – but I’ve already seen benefits for Ice-T and his goalieing skills.

Well, I think that’s just about as much of a catch-up I can do for now.  I’m enjoying the club shut down, and making themost of the hockey down time!  Thoughsaying that, both me & my hubby played in a friendly scrimmage – against each other – this last sunday which was rather fun – though, after two months of no training or games on my part – oh my word, I re-discovered muscles i’d completely forgotten about – even hurt to sneeze!  I think I’ve sprained my ankle slightly which is a bit of a nuisance, but it only seems to hurt when foot put in certain positions.  Other than that it was great fun – and if I don’t re-register this year I know I am going to seriously miss playing the game.  But equally, I know that if I do get injured, I’m not going to heal as quickly as I used to!  But we will see, watch this space!

Well, that’s enough of my ramblings for a little while.  I’ll let you know how our little Ice_t gets on at his goalie camp – though I’m only going to be there for a couple of days, dad is going to be in attendance.  We don’t quite know how these things work out – but there’s a first time for everything!  I really hope Thomas thoroughly enjoys it, and can keep up the pace.

So that’s it for me for the moment – catch you soon!

Happy Summer Holidays! 

Well, it’s almost the end of the hockey season.  My team has only three (away) games left, and little’n has two (away) games left.  It’s been a bumpy old ride for both of us this season.  With it being Thomas’s first season as the U10 goalie, he’s been blowing really hot & cold this time round.  He says he doesn’t like it, then he does, very up & down.  He so wants to be able to score a goal I think, and that’s not something that you can kind of do much when you’re a goalie – though I know it has been done – NHL goalies have done this during a game!  But, when confronted that someone else might like to do the job – then he’s very protective of the fact that he’s the main goalie for the team.

Saying all this though, he’s extremely excited about going to his first ever  goalie camp (http://www.crazegoaltending.co.uk/), I must have done a good sell job on him – as he’s really really keen!  I guess it makes a difference when it’s all goalies, and you’re not just target practice during training.

I on the other hand am still striving for that illusive goal, or even an assist.  With only three games left this season, time is running out.  With various injuries this season, it’s been a bit of a rough ride.  Not being able to play for about 2 or three months was the pits.  I’m beginning to think I may perhaps be getting to old – but it’s such good fun!  And I’m not really into getting old gracefully – by a long shot!

Training last night – which I was seriously looking forward to, as I didn’t have one of my tremendous headaches – which seems to be a regular occurence these days, and we’d had a fab game at the weekend – but unfortunately my training had to be  cut short as my sciatica based ailments became a right pain and I couldn’t continue.  Unfortunately that seemed to kick off a whole heap of emotions (have a feeling that other hormonal things are kicking in as well at the moment – which isn’t helping!), and rendered me pretty useless for the rest of the session.  Not good!

So this weekend, little’n has a double header – a game in basingstoke on Saturday and all the way over to Chelmsford on Sunday – though they’ve already lost the game as we don’t have enough players – which is a shame really but hey – it can get expensive doing all these long distance gigs.  I have three more myself and not sure if I’ll have enough money to cover the petrol for those yet and pay for food.  Things are getting tighter all round – and hockey certainly isn’t getting any cheaper.

So, let’s see how my sciatica things hold out for the long drives this weekend – it doesn’t normally take too kindly for sitting down in one place for too long.  And then how training goes next week in readiness for our Easter Sunday game in Bristol.  I hope things straighten themselves out otherwise I’ll be a blubbering useless wreck again!  I am still surprised that at 48 I am playing Ice hockey!  I wouldn’t have believed it myself – I still can’t!  *lol*

So, for all of you with games this weekend – have a good one.  Enjoy it – it’s fun!

If anyone has any fixes for sciatica related things – please let me know!

Speak soon.  Oh, and yes it has been a while – been a busy bee!

Anyway – three weeks ago I managed to finally get back to training!  It was fabulous to get back onto the ice.  And I think I did incredibly well considering I hadn’t been able to do much – I had to wait to see a physiotherapist and get the go ahead from him.  Which I did – do my stretches etc.  Apparently it’s to do with my sciatic nerves – though I think personally I could have gotten over-crunched at my last osteopath visit.  I’m sure a few more training sessions will loosen things up a bit more and I’ll get properly back to normal.  It still feels incredibly uncomfortable if I sit or walk for too long, or have to do lots of gear changes in the car.  I can’t over stretch too much on the ice as I feel it pulling really uncomfortably down the back of my leg.

Last week I couldn’t make it to training as I had a stonking migraine headache and the only way to get rid of it was to fall asleep on the sofa around 7pm and then went to bed at 9 pm that day.  It took two more days before the headache completely disappeared.  So was a bit nasty that one!

Last weekend was our first game of the year against a new team we hadn’t played before – they were previously a premier league team – so it was a tricky game – but our team certainly gave them a run for their money!  I suspect they probably thought we were going to be a bit of a pushover – boy didn’t they get a surprise!  Unfortunately I wasn’t played which was a shame as I was sooooo looking forward to playing after having been away for so long, but the coaches decided they didn’t want to risk me getting re-injured just yet having only just managed to get b ack to training.  After having watched the game – which was fast & furious, I was somewhat relieved I hadn’t played to be honest!  We only lost 3-2 – with their last goal in the last 2 minuues of the game.  The first period was 0-0.  Not bad really for our second season – as we’re at the top of our division – we were at the bottom this time last year!

I made it to tonight’s training session.  There was only a few of us tonight – but it was great fun and hard work all at the same time!  I think I’m getting a bit faster and bit more confident and even more determined to get the damn puck & get a goal!    I think I did my skates up too tight though as I could hardly feel my feet  tonight!  It was a great session.

Well, I’m pretty pooped!  It’s been a manic week and it’s not finished yet – got lots to cram in between tonight & Sunday!  My little one’s got a game on Sunday – he’s the U10 goalie – and if his training session on Tuesday was anything to go by he will be steaming!  So fingers crossed he enjoys it and does well.

Please come by again – now I’m back on the ice again

I’m trying to get ahead of myself today and work out content for our home game programmes – I didn’t get to make one for this game – just ran out of time & content was scarce.  Need to get act together!  Also need to get arse in gear and make a concerted effort at finishing off the website (though to be honest, a website is never ‘finished’ as content is being added all the time!)
Check it out if you like:  www.solenticehockey.net

Well, it’s U10′s training tomorrow – so i wonder if my U10 is going to want to go as a player or a goalie.  He doesn’t want to practice being a goalie,  but is rather defensive over the fact that the IS THE U10′s GOALIE!  Can’t win!  we will see.  He doesn’t understand he needs to practice to become good or even better!  Practice practice practice.

After all my continuing ailments I am wondering whether I should actually continue.  Will be gutted if I have to stop as I totally enjoy it, but, long term, I don’t want to cause injuries such it affects my health & wellbeing when I’m another 10 years further down the line.  I guess that’s the trouble of starting late… or maybe not.  If i were younger I’m sure I would bounce back quicker – but then, I may run the risk of pushing myself too hard & causing untold damage that would be irrepairable at a young age.  In two years  time I’ll be 50 – (scary fact), and if I’m not careful I’ll be needing a hip replacement or some other horrible thing which I don’t really fancy the prospect of.  Ho Hum.

Quite depressing really.  Not my usual jolly self.  Don’t like it when I don’t feel 100% or even 90%.  Makes me feel my age !!

And so on that note, we’re off to the rink a little later to wish a little girl (who’s turning 10 today), a very happy birthday – a future Amazon I hope

Well, we played a fantastic game.  Kept them on their toes.  Our new goalie got a turn on the ice today too which was cool.  She got to see some action & incorporated a really good save too.
I think our spectators today got alot more than they bargained for!  Our next game is in a couple of weeks against a london team – so that could be a harsh game too – but we’ll be ready for them.
I managed to twist my already uncomfortable ankle – goodness knows how – I was after the puck – managed to stop it which was good.  Had a few tackles, and managed to slow down some of the opposition players – or make them lose the puck
Well, I’m going to have to rest my poor old ankle now and hope it’s up to scratch in time for the next game!
Sorry I’ve not written too much tonight – very tired and need to rest!

As our fixtures come out so late (last of all the leagues), we didn’t have much time to worry or panic about our first game against a rather good team!  But, we did our stuff, and fended them off and managed to only let them win by 2 goals!  Our final score was a loss of 3-1 – but it was a very honourable loss as they are one of the teams that are in a premier club.  It was a well played game.  It was an away game which is always strange.  The rink was so hot!  Even out on the ice it was incredibly warm – to the point, even if you were just sat on the bench you were sweating buckets!  I was parched and I only was on the ice for a handful of shifts.

Just two weeks later and our second game against our closest rivals ensued.  And my word, what a game!  Amazingly physical at times – but an awesom game.  A highly rspectable draw – 5-5.  we really couldn’t let this team win.  Someone i was speaking to today said that we played like two different teams.  The first period and the first half of the second period, we were rather laid back.  The rest of the game, however, was a complete contrast.  We were playing to win!  Were we ever!  This was the team that challenged us at the start of last season – and we kept them at the bottom of the league!  Our aim is to do the same again this season.

I was wondering whether I’d be able to play in the game as I seem to be suffering from a whole host of physical niggles!  Saying that though, on the Sunday morning (the day of the game), whilst pulling the curtains in my little boy’s room, something clicked rather loudly, and from that point on, things kind of felt ok again!  It seemed to fix a bit of whatever was out – and I was able to manage the game!  Which was great.

We have another home game this weekend, against our first away team – so that will be a hard one or a veyr close game!

Will keep you posted!

Oh, I’ve since launched our club website – although there are a few blanks as yet – just not enough hours in the day.  Have a sneaky peek if you want! (website)

Somehow,  I have a feeling that this week I’m not likely to get it wrong!

With littlen’s first game of the season looming next weekend, I think he’s getting a little panicky as he is the only goalie for the U10′s.  I’m worried too that he may just storm off in the middle of a game – which would not be good.  It’s a hard season I think, as they only have 4 home games – which seems a tad unfair.  But hopefully he’ll  hang on in there and survive this season.  He has come on in leaps and bounds and I’m really proud of him – it’s not a job I’d like to be doing!  Being a Forward is more than enough for me!    We will see how he fares in training tomorrow night – hopefully, with the leg pads secured the correct way round – it may be easier !

Last Sunday – my team got to play against the local recreational team – in an attempt to warm us up for our first league game of the season which happens next week.  Unfortunately, they have improved considerably, and were marking our hottest players and we lost 13-3.  It was a flippin’ good game though – and as we had newer players join us for this game, and therefore we were all getting re-accustomed to playing in our lines – I think we did pretty well.  It never ceases to amaze me though, how I manage to survive an entire game!  I also managed the odd pivot this time too!  Wouldn’t have happened this time last year I can assure you!   So improvements abound.

Training was awesome this week, with a whole host of new drills – once I’d got the hang of them, I can see how they’d work in a game too – so even better!  May have to swot my drill books though so I can attempt to remember them better.

I’ve been subscribing to a coaching programme from the states which shows some awesome stick handling drills, so I must practice those as well at home or work – and who knows, I may pull off a fantastic move & get to score that illusive goal this season. 

Well, this week I’m taking littlen away to the big smoke for a few days – give him a chance to chill before going back to school, and the start of our hectic hockey season – we both have a game this coming weekend, me on Saturday evening, and him on Sunday afternoon – both away games – so not an easy start!  Fingers crossed that we both do well.

Oh – and my exciting piece of news – having made a comment on facebook re inviting a certain female hockey coach over from Canada to the UK – it was picked up upon and so – I am working hard behind the scenes to make it happen!  All I nee dis between 40 & 60 ladies / girls and some ice & off ice facilities – and ‘bob’s your uncle’ as they say!  Hockey camp!    So, watch this space – December could be a fantastic month for hockey here on the south coast of England! 

So, it’s goodnight for the moment – hopefully the old goalie kit will go on properly tomorrow & our first games of the league / season get off to a good start!

Come back soon 
Thank you for dropping by.

This week I managed to get my goldfish bowl visor/cage combination switched back to my cage – which – even though i absolutely adored the combination one – really didn’t work for me.  My coach re-set my cage for me and hey presto – felt so much better and more comfortable – the chin rest on the other one just wasn’t right – and was really irritating and just not in the right place!  Cage one is a perfect fit.  No stinging eyes today – so lovely!

We had lots of new drills today which were good.  I actually took them all in and managed to work them all!  Amazing!  I normally can’t remember them even though they’ve just been explained!  Late night training & old age I think!  But joking aside – they were really good and I can see how they would work in game situations.  I just need to get my speed up whilst skating with the puck – but I’m sure it will come.  To think, a year an a half ago I couldn’t skate – this year I’ve managed to survive a whole season, skating far more confident that I’d ever have thought (even though it’s not brilliant by a long shot – it’s million times better than this time last year!)

My skates were feeling a bit bambi’ish today – could just be lack of skating for a while or I just need to get them re-done.  The drills were brill and I hope we have another session like that again.  I need to work on speed, and skating with the puck & being able to keep looking where I’m going instead of looking down on the ice!  I’m sure it will come.  I’m certrainly hitting the puck harder – which is good   I also got a couple of goals in too today – which is even better!  Just need to do it in a game!  Talking of which, we have our first friendly scrimmage weekend after next (22nd August), so that will be a good warm up for us before the start of the season.  We’re currently still waiting for our fixtures – we get ours last unfortunately but hopefully they should be out soon.  Just hope there’s no clashies with Under 10′s as it’s my little’ns first season as a goalie  bless him and i don’t want to miss any of his games.  A tough choice methinks.

Well, I think I am going to ache a bit tomorrow – my elbo / arm is causing me a little bit of grief now after training – it’s been fine the last few weeks when I haven’t done any hockey – so i guess that will get fixed slowly.

I must try and get a bit of practice in between now & next week – a bit of off ice – somehow, somewhere, some when!!  Not enough hours to fit everything in – and lots to do – website needs sorting / finalising for the new season.  I have my manual for Drupal coding (yes i’m a bit of a geek who likes fiddling with code!) but still not decided as to which way I will go with the website this time round.  I also need to have  athink on sponsorships again – as I’ve been re-elected as club Sponsorship seccy – let’s hope I do a better job than last year!!  Last year was a learning curve I think this year things will happen

Right – my feet are aching and I’m shattered – it’s been a long week – though it’s good to get back on the ice again!

Well done to all our new ladies, and returning ladies.  It’s going to be a fantastic season this year.

Come back again soon and find out how we do with next weeks training and our first friendly scrimmage!

I work better on a certain amount of stress, but today I actually felt my old stress aches returning, which is a definite sign that I’m doing too much.  Fortunately the club shuts down in a week for a couple of weeks, which hopefully will give me time to rest and/or get on top of things in the house – which seems to be an uphill struggle these days!

I have made a decision about my lovely Itech visor/cage combo – I have to go back to my cage.  I can’t cope with the stinging eyes – I can’t seem to find a wide hairband to wear to stop the sweat running down my face – and ultimately into my eyes, and with the visor in place, the draft from skating around doesn’t seem to get in & help cool me down!    So I need to get that changed back again – such a shame as it’s such a cool visor and I hate the cage as the lines seem to just get in the way – but hey – I may feel a bit cooler!

We did a new drill today and some old ones – which was good – though I was definitely the slowest   But then I wasn’t on top form today.  Perhaps I need to get my roller blades and take them to work & skate around the car parks!!  Just to get some stamina up, some strength and some speed.  Just need to work out how to stop!

Well, we had a good turn out tonight – almost a full quota which was nice – a couple of our girls are off to their  Czheck hockey camp so next week they will come back all enthused and hopefully with lots of ideas they can pass on to us

We have a charity match lined up fo rthe 22nd of August – not sure who we’re playing as yet but watch this space.
I need to work on my conditioning.  Which, funnily enough I came across another hockey coach online the other day via a friend on facebook – and he may just have the right idea.  I will work through some of it and let you know how I do!  here’s no point in my kidding myself I will ever be top notch and national standard – I just want to have a bit of fun and prove I can actually do something sports related – and improve upon it.  I need to be able to set an example to my son in order to help encourage him – I’ve got to go through and be seen to practice what I preach – or it’s not really fair otherwise.  It’s his first season as a goalie.  he’s only been training in earnest for the last three months or so.  no-one else in the team really seem to be up for it, or even have the concentration span enough to cope with a whole game – but he’s giving it his best shot.  There are times when he is so tired bless him (he’s only 7 – nearly 8 ) – especially on the  sessions on a sunday morning when we have to get him up at 5.15 in order to get him up and dressed and at the rink by 7am.  So, I can relate to some of what he goes through.

Well, it’s late – I’ve had a hectic day, again, I’m just finishing my cup of tea – I’m going to check out some videos on hockey conditioning and an article by Kim McCullough on slapshots – as I can’t get the hang of those!  Oh, I surprised our goalie today by almost getting a sneaky goal in!  My shots are getting harder I do believe!    So here’s to that illusive goal this next season! 

Drop by again.

I was feeling incredibly knackered before I got to training tonight – it’s been unusually hot over here in the UK this week, and as each day is going on it seems to be getting even hotter!  After a full day in the office in this heat I guess it’s drained me somewhat.  Combine that with not having had too much food today – it’s too hot to eat – and that equals no energy.   I did try to perk myself up with a coffee – though with the cafe shut at the rink, i had to resort to one out of the machine… BIG mistake, seriously BIGGGGG mistake!  I chose a latte – as I don’t drink strong coffee – I normally only have about half a teaspoons worth of coffee in my cup when I make it, so I thought a latte would be ok.  Not too strong.  Well… I was struggling to find any coffee in this one!  Anaemic comes to mind.  Very milky – with a slight hint of coffeeness – smelled like coffee, but certainly didn’t taste it.  Not very nice at all.  In fact, it made me feel quite yuck – which isn’t a good thing just before training!

Well, it took me ages to get kitted up – seem to have lost the flow & order – or just too busy having a giggle & chatting in the changing rooms!  Our changing rooms are so hot.  The radiator is belting out full blast & when you’re putting on sweats & kit – it’s just unbearable!  Not at all comfortable.  But hey, the ice cut was nice though

I finally managed to get my skates sharpened the other day, I couldn’t get to my usual sharpener – so I entrusted them to my coach to sharpen.  He did a very nice job – though I did find it hard to stop nicely initially!  Seemed that the ice was alot harder than usual.  There have been a few problems at our little rink, with the ice either being soaked or too hard!  No happy medium at the moment.

We did a few warm up drills, though it took a couple of attempts for us to get the hang of it!    I really struggle retaining instructions so late at night!  It’s hard enough normally (think it’s an age thing!  *lol*)  But I managed to pick up the next couple of drills reasonably well so all was not lost!  We did some interesting ones today – but I  need to work on my backwards skating / backwards crossovers, and being able to switch from skating forward to backwards.  I can do backwards to forwards easily enough – but the other way just doesn’t want to happen!

Some of us who are still really learning to skate at the same time – had a separate session to help us get the backwards crossover bit sorted out.  I can kind of do it when I don’t have a hockey stick in my hand – but put the stick in my hands and I’m all over the place!  Plus really sharp skates didn’t help much today as I nearly went over!

We finished off  with a mighty long scrimmage – it felt like an eternity – but it was good.  I managed to do a few passes and a couple of shots on goal – so all was good.

After getting home – my face looked like I’d been out in the sun wayyyy too long!  Really red in the face.  So a flippin good work out.  Though I do feel incredibly unfit – must be those packets of biscuits that seem to have been rather irresistible this last couple of weeks!

I need to brave my inlines & skate around some of the work car parks i think – that may help – get some stamina going and help with the skating – though I am rather worried about stopping in them – as I can’t!  Yet!

So, last week I registered for the next season – which is looming upon us.  Hopefully we won’t be last to receive our fixtures like we were last year.  Will be interesting with lots of new teams to play against.  So, here’s to next weeks training.

Oh, I think I have decided that I may have to switch my half visor/ half guard back to a full face guard.  I love my visor, but my eyes really sting when I’m wearing it.  I get so much hotter as I don’t have the nice breeze on my face.  I may see if I can get a silver one face cage instead of the black one in the hopes that my eyes don’t get too bugged by it.  Shame really as I love the split visor / cage.

So, that’s it for this week.  We’re up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning to get littlen to his hockey training – starting on the ice at 7am – which means we really have to get him up at 5.30am bless him in order to get him up / awake / fed a bit / and kitted out for goalie.  I dare say I will be donning my skates & jersey to  help out with them – got to start learning how to coach somehow!

Please drop by again.

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