omg…

Had a brill training session tonight – though I’m feeling totally knackered, out of condition, and like I should have done much better!

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.

~~

Season end, presentations, tournaments, a break…

Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve written anything here!  So much has gone on – hopefully I can remember everything!!

Way back in May, we played our last few games.  May was a pretty full on month, with up to 3 games on a weekend split between me and my boy’s games.  So weekends didn’t really exist in the true sense of the word!  The Amazons had a fantastic end of season.  Having been injured and on the bench for a little while, being forced into a game due to lack of numbers, and then going on to win that game – was ‘sweet’!  We then went on to win a couple more.  We ended up in our league second from last – which isn’t bad for a newly formed women’s team, when for most of the games we only just made two lines!    An awesome season, which we definitely finished on a high.

My little boy’s team worked so hard and did manage to win a couple of their games – finally!  Bless them.  They always seem to come unstuck, as we do have a higher number of under 7′s in the team, which is normally significantly higher than our opposition teams, and works out quite a bit of a disadvantage.  But credit to the third line – they play an awesome defensive game!    So, they too came second to last in their division too – which is brilliant for them.  They have now lost their first line – with their mates having moved up to the U12′s – so it will be quite strange period for them getting re-acclimatized to their team.

Our club had it’s presentation evening – and there were lots of trophies and awards given out.  It was the first time that the entire club were at a presentation in one hit – i.e. both the junior section & the senior sections attending.  I think this is so important for the younger ones to see / look up to the older ones – in the hopes that it inspires them & encourages them to work hard.  It was a great night.  Both myself and my little boy received our first ever sports trophies.  The club also, is now in no doubt that a women’s team exists – and we’re here to stay! 

A couple of weekends ago, I was initiated to my first tournament in Sheffield (over 4 hours away) – where I was stand-in manager for the U10′s, where my little one had his first ‘outing’ as the new U10′s goalie.  It was a stressful, mad, exciting, crazy few days!  Ensuring everyone’s in the right place at the right time.  Ensuring little’n is kitted up and fed.  It’s so hard to eat normally at these kinds of events!  On their first day, the development team (which I was helping look after), had 7 games with the first one happening at 8am on the first of the two days.  It was a hard game against one of the host ice hockey club’s teams – and our team had a huge defeat.  Thomas (my little one), came off the ice in tears stating ‘I don’t want to be a goalie any more’ – ‘well sorry, but I haven’t brought your player kit with us!’  (what a mean mummy!)  Needless to say, after we fed him up a bit, and he woke up a bit more, he went back on and did some awesome saves going on to, in one game, to have a 76% save rate.  Not bad for a complete newbie!  He was so much improved by the end of the day.  Even if he was completely tired.  Working the bench was quite an eye opener.  It’s amazing quite how much lip & back chat you can get from 5 to 10 year olds!!!  ‘I haven’t been on the ice for two minutes’ – yes you have ‘no i haven’t, the others have been on for longer’ – no you haven’t everyone is on the ice the same amount of time.  Grrrrrrrrr!!  What with the back chat, and yelling to get the people off the ice at the buzzer change – I’m surprised I had a voice left at the end of it all!  We had made for our U10′s some fantastic new shirts specially for the tournament weekend.  A kind of pink camouflage set up.  It went down a storm with the compere really playing with us – so the ice rink ended up ringing to the chants of ‘ who’s army?’ / ‘who are we?’ ‘the Pink Army!’  It was brilliant!!  The Solent & Gosport U10′s certainly left their mark.  After a long weekend the development team came in 4th position out of 6.  An excellent achievement for all our littlies! 

After the presentation the club had a shutdown for two weeks (though with the tournament looming the U10′s didn’t get any respite), the women’s team took a three week break.  Oh my goodness – what a long time three weeks can be!  Going up the stairs was such a task after not training for 2 weeks!  I know I should be doing off ice type training when not doing on-ice training – but I just haven’t had the time to squeeze anything in – as I’ve been trying to catch up with a huge backlog of all the other stuff that’s non-hockey related – plus work had been rather manic.  It was quite hard going back on the ice – fortunately our first session back was more fun-based to break us back in gently!

So, our training is back to normal now, the three women’s divisions have now merged into two divisions – north & south, so that means we may potentially get 22 games next season – eeek!  I hope too many don’t clash with the U10′s games or I will be really disappointed.  We have more ladies who are coming on board – which is fantastic – if we could have three lines this season that would be soooooo wonderful.  I’ve registered again for next season – so hopefully I’ll actually get that illusive goal!  Provided health issues stay in the background – then I will be looking forward to a fantastic second season for the Amazons! 

Well, I think that’s pretty much all of the catch-up!  I’ve got some work to do to tidy up / streamline the club website over the summer in readiness for the next season.  It will be interesting to play some new teams who we’ve never seen before!  We will be travelling a bit further afield this time around – so that will be interesting!

Here’s to the 2010/2011 season.

See you again soon

Back on the ice!

Well folks, it’s taken a little while – but last Friday on the public session I felt much more confident on the ice.  Arm was still hurting but as long as I didn’t fall on it – that was ok!  It was a great session.  Our ever growing ‘hockey’ crowd – which is always good.  We all get to practice & swap notes and try things out.  I actually managed to do a kind of side stoppy pivoty thing!    (I know what I mean!)

I’d watched the girls training again the night before – feeling pretty narked that i still didn’t feel confident / arm hurting etc, and couldn’t go on.  It was a great training session and I was busy taking note of how some of our more star skaters were doing things.

This last weekend was quite a busy one – as for the second weekend on the trot, we had three ice hockey matches between me & my little boy!  Yup!  Crazy!  It’s as though the under 10′s and womens just get slung in at the end rather than get spread evenly across the season – but hey – we’re nearly there now!

Our game was against our closest rival – the team who had thrown the gauntlet down at the start of the season and challenged us!  I’d seen them play a little of their game the day before after the Under 10′s game so make a few mental notes.  The team they were against though were almost top of the league, so it was a tough one for them – but, credit to them, they held their own & only lost 9-0.

Well, I decided to join in with the drills and see how my arm was going to cope as I was considering having to sit on the bench and be used in an emergency.  As it turned out, my arm seemed to hold out.  It’s the tiny motions it can’t cope with, the little outward turns – but hitting the puck etc., seemed to be ok.  I must say, it was so nice to be back on the ice – feeling the cool air running through my face guard.  I had no nerves – as I wasn’t expecting to be played.  As my arm didn’t seem to  hurt much I let the coach know and said I was happy to go on if he wante me to.  And that was that!  I ended up playing the whole game – though not having trained in some 5 weeks did take a bit of a toll on my poor legs!  Jeez.  I was allowed to sit out every other shift so that helped.  Legs were like jelly by the third period!  Need to get the strength back into them!

It was a great game.  Not too much pushing & shoving & no one coming up from behind me that i wasn’t aware of – so that was a relief!  I managed to get the puck out of our end a few times – which is always good.  What impressed me the most was that I managed to skate more or less parallel with one of our best forwards as she had a breakaway.  Awesome!  Goodness knows where that bit of speed came from!  I kept trying to remember what I’d been taught during various sessions – keeping low & doing longer strides – so i guess it worked! 

Well, after the first period I was shaking like a leaf – adrenalin & energy usage – but I kept going.  Just as well that I could really, as we were a person down (they were supposed to be there but the manager’s hadn’t been told) fortunately we’d already applied for dispensation for our numbers (if we go under 11 we have to ask for special permission so we don’t give the game up as a challenge game) – so we could play for a true result.  If I had to sit on the bench – then several others would have had to double shift and that would have been hard work.  Though we rarely seem to manage a full two lines!  We seriously need more recruits!!

Well, after some intensive work, some great defence and a couple of fantastic goals – we came out the winners!!!  2-1.  This win was sweet.  Our opposition just moved back down to the bottom of the league – which was where we were just 45 minutes previous!  Not bad for a new development team where half of us were learning to skate at the same time as learning to play hockey just a year ago!

So, anything is possible if you put your mind to it!  Our initial goal at the outset was to win at least one game.  Which we have – two wins & two draws.  Pretty good for the new kids on the block!

I still can’t beliebe that I am doing this.  I absolutely hate sport.  Yet here I am, playing in a Division 1 women’s team – giving it 200% no matter how knackered or ill I’m feeling when it comes to game time, as do some of the other girls in the team.  We are a hardy bunch – and we will keep giving it our all, regardless.

We have one more game left this coming weekend.  It’s another away game – but we will have fun out there, and do our damnest to try and win – at very least get a goal in!  I am still waiting for that inevitable goal score – but… it will come… I know it will!

Well, that’s it for the moment.  My arm is still hurting at the moment – I had some good work done on it though this week – had the best massage I’ve had in a very very long time – and being a holistic therapist myself (yes I have a few hidden talents) – have always struggled trying to find people who can give a firm massage – I need a firm massage to get rid of heaps of tension & knots – though they are more like ball bearings in my shoulders!  (for a whole afternoon there was no discomfort – was lovely) – and it’s just settling down from that.  Something is trapped – but I suspect it may need a few more sessions & some rest in order to get completely fixed.  (For those that live in the UK, nr to Southampton / Winchester / Fareham – then do check out this lady for a fantastic treatment.  Equilibrium. I am not one for plugging things / people / services etc, unless I have actually tried/used/experienced it myself.  So anything I plug comes with a high recommendation.)

Well, that’s it from me for today.  I am going to get an early night tonight (yes it’s before midnight!).

I was lovely to get back on the ice & play!!

See you soon!

Non-checking – my arse!

Ok – well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I wrote anything on here – but with good reason!

It was any usual game day, though I hadn’t had a chance to get those tummy nerves, as it was a bit chaotic due to changing room shananigans – two senior away teams, two senio home teams, and only 3 changing rooms!  Fun!  I thought I’d sussed out a plan – but it wasn’t the right one – but am sure it would have worked nevertheless!  After our frenzied transferal of kit from one changing room to another, and a very straggled getting on the ice for our warm up, it was just like any other game.

The first period was tough – but it was apparent that the opposition weren’t as friendly on the ice as they were off!  I certainly got shoved out of the way (from behind) several times.  They weren’t gentle taps, but quite hefty shoves.  Got quite fed up with that after a while.  We held our ground well however.  I took a hardish fall on my dodgy hip side (the wonders of getting older!), which felt a bit uncomfortable and sore at the time – but I carried on – as one does

Second period, the opposition team were ahead of us, it was a pretty hard game but then we knew it wouldn’t be easy, but we weren’t going to let them walk over us either!  During one of my shifts – where I’d managed to get the puck quite a few times, half way through, I was kindly run into from behind (by number 23, who was about twice my size.  There I was busy concentrating on the puck (I think!), and then the next thing I know, I’ve hit the ice with an almighty whack.  I must admit I kind of freaked out and was desperate to get my helmet off.  Fortunately one of our girls on the team is an Accident & Emergency nurse and was able to carry out all the necessary checks on me.  I had hit the ice rather hard.  With the person coming in from behind – I didn’t have a clue – my feet went up and I fell backwards, hitting the ice hard.  Your automatic reaction is to rub your head – which is why I wanted to take the helmet off – but I could hear in the background – instructions to the guys around me not to remove my helmet.  Once my neck was checked for any injuries, no disturbed vision etc., I was helped up – to the usual applause to ‘fallen players’.  I do believe that player no. 23 was given 2 minutes for ‘roughing’.  In my mind it was a bit more than just roughing!  But anyway, after a couple of shifts sat on the bench I did venture out again a couple more times before the end of the second period, though I was feeling a little wobbly and somewhat wary!  Can’t think why!

The third period is now a bit of a blur – but suffice it to say, the league leaders won – but 10 – 0.  Which for us newbies to hold them off I think is an incredible feat, as they have been known to slaughter teams to 20+ goals.  So we did well   It was though our first game where we were unable to score a single goal.  But hey, our defence is obviously extremely strong

Once the game was over, I stayed a little bit to watch the senior mens game – but was feeling rather sore so decided to head home and have a soak in a hot bath and get some rest.  Strangely enough though, I didn’t have a headache… for a change!

Well, the next day was interesting!  I could hardly get out of bed.  You never realise just how much you need to use your neck muscles until you can’t!  Where i’d fallen in such a violent way, I’d managed to pull the muscles at the front of my neck – they are still slightly tender now as I am typing.  Man, did they hurt.  I couldn’t eat comfortably, and to cough or sneeze, well!  Painful!  I decided to get checked out at our local hospital (minor injuries clinic), but as it was a head injury over so many hours ago, I had to see a doctor, only that would have been 3 hours later!!  I had a pounding headache now and it wasn’t going away.  I decided to go back home, and called the out of hours service, and a doctor called me back, and confirmed that I probably had concussion, and that I should have total bed rest, no tv, no reading, no fizzy drinks, and take some paracetamol.  So that’s what I did!  I slept all afternoon.  Though the headache didn’t really disappear much, and the neck seemed to hurt even more.  Fortunately we had a bank holiday that week, but hubby had to take time off to ensure that I was ok – someone had to look after little’n!

The next day I managed to get an appointment to see my own doctor.  I don’t feel comfortable speaking to someone over the phone about symptoms.  So, I got checked out and he confirmed concussion & whiplash!  Again, suggested that I just take paracetamol – so it doesn’t mask anything – and just rest – not so easy with a 7 year old on school holidays and a busy work schedule to try and complete before going on holiday for a week!  Aaarghh!

Well, two days off sick from work, and another two days having to work from home as there was no way I was able to drive.  Head was feeling quite fuzzy for a couple of days, and the neck was causing lots of grief.  Not easy sitting at a computer all day either with whiplash.  suffice it to say I couldn’t do any training that week.  Terrible headache all week – which slowly disappeared.

Fortunately we had a week away on Holiday last week down in Cornwall which seemed to help a bit.  No sitting in front of a computer, no usual dashing around all over the place.

Somehow though, between holiday and this Sunday just gone – our next game, my hip managed to feel even more out of place, back was really sore, and my left arm was twingeing rather painfully – so much so, I couldn’t even hold my nice light hockey stick with that hand.   Bad times…. as they say these days!

I asked to be put on the bench for this one – though I did join in in the warm ups before the game.  Now that was a silly move!  I was feeling a bit out of kilter anyway and rather wary of falling over – but managed the drills kind of ok, but when it came to stick / puck drills – arm was not good.  As I was sat / stood on the bench, my back was getting stiffer, my arm really hurting and my  hip really uncomfortable.  At the end of the game I went out to do the handshakes etc., but slipped / fell somehow, and landed a bit awkardly – I think that jarred things again a bit further.  I felt really bad that I couldn’t play, especially as one of our team took a fall straight into the boards head first, but come yesterday and today, I am very sure that I made the right decision, as if I’d have  played – I’d have been in a much worse state than I am at the moment.  My neck was slowly seizing up throughout the day yesterday, my arm I could hardly move.  Not nice.

I’ve managed to make an apointment for tomorrow to see my lovely Osteopath – I haven’t seen him for well over a year I think – but boy, is he going to have is work cut out tomorrow!

I can honestly say that in this instance, falling over on the ice – or rather being run into on the ice by a larger player than myself – was a seriously freaky experience.  I hope it doesn’t put me off playing against bigger players than myself for too long!  I have a feeling that I won’t be up to a game for a couple more weeks after I get crunched tomorrow – as it takes a few days to all settle down and I can’t afford to have everything all go back out of plcae again – so feeling rather guilty about that one – but I have to allow my poor old bones / joints / muscles heal properly – or else it could lead to further damage which I don’t really want to have to suffer!  It’s not so easy to bounce back the older you get!

Ok, that’s enough of my ramblings for tonight – I’ve been at the computer way too long today and neck is stiff and arms are stiffer – so off for a soak in one of those lovely radox muscle soak bubble baths in the hopes that it helps loosen things up a bit.

Drop by again soon!

Oh, this weeks game we managed to draw 3-3 – against one of the other top team in the division – so awesome result! 

The morning after…

Well, I just couldn’t work on my blog last night as I got caught up in other things.  Suffice it to say though, my legs are really aching today!  Combining a game, training & too many late nights this week – my legs really hurt!  My feet hurt too – as my wide feet don’t take too kindly to being squashed into ice skates.  Especially last night when my toes were numb for the last 10 minutes or so – so I think I may have just tied them up a bit too tight yesterday!

Well, despite feeling tired before I even started, although being helped with a glass of champagne from lunch time (I went to a friend’s retirement dinner – so many early retirements taking place where I work – it’s like a culling of anyone over 50 it seems – and met up with another very dear friend)  seemed to help me a bit!  Training took a slightly different format last night – as we didn’t have so many people around as some of our girls were off to Sheffield for the South of England vs North of England game which takes place today.   Go girls!!    They will go far

Training this week consisted of some new drills – i think I just about got them sussed by the end of each one!  I don’t know – brain just doesn’t  want to or can’t work too hard after 10 at night!  In my junior school reports i remember one teacher saying that when I learnt things I was ‘slow but sure’ – which I guess still holds true today.  I’d rather make sure I learnt it properly and get it right even if it means taking a little bit of time in the first instance.  Not always easy with Ice hockey though as it is, by it’s nature, flippin’ fast!   Well, we did skating drills, (lots of them), skating drills with pucks – which is always good as I certainly need to work on this and gain momentum.  I do think we’re getting the hang of it   Bit of skating backwards & receiving a puck (which is ok if you’re in the right direction with your stick – back handed receiving though is a bit trickier though!).

The hardest part of the training though was our scrimmage – 5 on 5, but two 10 minute sessions!  10 minutes is a very long time on the ice chasing after a puck!  Hopefully Sunday’s game with 1 – 2 minute line changes should seem so much more manageable, even with only two lines – stil only equates to 7 and a half minutes per line each period!!

So, this morning, after another late night to bed (2am), my legs still haven’t quite recovered, and they are hurting as are my feet – or rather right foot in particular.  So, hopefully after two sleeps I’ll be all rested and raring to go come Sunday at 4.30pm!    So, if you’re in the vicinity of Gosport Ice Rink – at say 4pmish – then why not drop by & say hello   After us this week we have the Senior men’s team – which is alot more physical than ours and a bit faster – but we certainly won’t be a complete walk over!

See you soon!

Oh, and Happy Easter!

Game night!

Well, it was my turn to train with the rec team tonight – but it was a chance for some of us to have a game with the Navy ‘B’ team – bit like a scrimmage – but game conditions – though the periods were a little different 2 x 15 and 1 x 20.

Don’t know why, by my stomach has been churning all day leadin gup to this one.  Don’t know why as when I’m on the ice the nerves soon disappear once i’m re concentrating on what’s going on, where the puck is and the person who I’m supposed to be marking etc!  I guess it could just be that i don’t train as often as i should with them – I do alternate weeks with my other half – but if I get ill or overtired then it’s a month in effect before I can make training again.

Well, once nerves were calmed – and lines sorted – the game got going.  Within seconds unfortunately a goal from the opposition snuck in!  But our guys put up a sterling fight and we lost a respectable 1-4.
I had an opportunity to put my new visor guard into action during a game.  I took delivery of a special solution that’s supposed to help demist / de fog the visor.  It was ok until I started dashing around on the ice.  Then it started steaming up.  Perhaps I didn’t put enough stuff on the visor – i don’t know.  Flippin nuisance it was.  I also decided to wear a headband too in an attempt to eliminate some of the sweat to minimise fogging up.  Third period – it started sliding down my forehead into my eyes so i could hardly see anything.  So that, combined with the steamed up visor – not a good combination at all!!!  So I’ve tried washing up liquid, special liquid – so, I guess it’s the turn of the shower gel tomorrow!  see if that makes any difference.  Hoe come the olympic girls visors didn’t fog up?!  Don’t they get all hot & steaming?!  the headband did help a bit in as much as sweat wasn’t running down my face & into my eyes making them sting!  I think I may have to get a change of hairbands  one for every period!

Well, back to the game – I managed to get the puck a few times.  Unfortunately didn’t get any goals.  That illusive goal.  I will though!  I managed to get in the way of the opposition a few times.  Swiped the puck off them a few times.  Caught my passes.  And sent a few passes – sometimes to the right place!  At least though I didn’t send it up the wrong end – which is good.

My legs now are feeling rather drained & jelly like – so I gues i must have put some effort into it!  This is now my third late night on the trot – all hockey based!  Monday night – sorting out game day programme for Sunday’s home game against Chelmsford Cobras.  Will be a tough game – but we will give it our all, even though i think we only have two lines.  Yesterday I watched the other half of the spartans play the navy team – so that was a late night finishing at gone midnight but geting to bed around 1.30/2am!  Tonight is going to be another late one as it always takes a little while to ‘come down’ from a game or training session.  And then there’s tomorrow night, which is training night for the Amazons!  Thank goodness Friday is a bank holiday here in the UK.  Will have a couple of days to recover!  Then, Sunday it’s game day – Easter Sunday.  Will be good.  And another day to recover on monday as another bank holiday

Well, kit is all drying (hopefully) in time for tomorrow’s training.  I’m all showered, watching Pitsburg Penguins vs Tampa Lightning, had my cup of tea & something nice to eat (slice of lemon meringue pie – yum yum!).  Since taking up hockey I get so hungry!!

Well I guess i’d better get to bed – I have a nice day tomorrow – going to a friends retirement dinner – though he’s way to young to be retiring, and working from a different location where I’ll be able to catch up with some very dear friends.

So, come by again if you can.

x

my achey achey legs…

Well, it was training night again today.  Second week now on our new day – I think it works out much better than on a monday night – as monday’s are always chaotic – being  Monday – and you start the week being rather knackered instead of at the end of the week – so I think this one’s a winner.

Well, we had another new lady tonight – and she did really well.  She could skate so that was an extra bonus – and she didn’t fall over when hitting the puck for the very first time.  I believe she enjoyed herself and will be coming back next week   Awesome!

Well, we had a bit of disappointing news tonight – we were all looking forward to taking part in what I think is probably the only women’s tournament in the South of England at Swindon.  Unfortunately all the slots have been allocated and therefore we are second on the wait list.  Shame.  we were all up for that.  We will have to come up with our own instead! 

Tonight we started with a fun warm up – shooting goals at the goalie and working on rebounds again.  Works quite well, just need to remember to do it in a game

We did some practice with shooting and passing which was really good.  I managed to get a whole heap of goals today – which was really cool!  Again, I need to translate that to within a game!  You never know – I may get one before the end of the season.  That would be fantastic !  We did another drill when you receive as you’re skating backwards.  That one’s a little harder – so still need to work on that one.  Apparently my stick handling is coming on better – which is good.  During our scrimmage i did manage to run with the puck (if a little slowly), for a change – so that was good

Talking to one of the other club coaches before our training session – he thought it was great that our enthusiasm showed through – especially having to train so late at night – and still be able to have fun and enjoy the game.  That was nice

After training today I had to stop off at our local supermarket to get milk (and some new work clothes – all reduced!), so that put off my nice soak in the bath / shower so now my legs are really hurting   my Rheumatismy kind of ache that I tend to get if I over exert my poor old pins.  Hopefully a few hours sleep (as it will only be a few hours by the time I get to bed), and they should be ok by the morning.  Fingers crossed!

Well, our next game is coming up on Easter Sunday – a double header with the womens team followed by the Senior mens ENL team.  it should be a fantastic night – especially as littlen doesn’t need to go to school the following day and I don’t need to get to work either!  Woohoo!  Before then though, there is a game with the rec team that I think I may have a go at.  Get a bit more practice – though I do tend to shy away from either training or other games just before one of our women’s matches.  But hey – I haven’t been for ages and I could do with the extra practice.  So, some good nutrition this week, some early nights at the beginning of next week – and I should be fit to go! 

So, public session tomorrow if work doesn’t get in the way – as it’s been rather manic this week and it’s not going to diminish for at least a couple more weeks and probably not until the end of the month to be honest!

So, please drop by again for another installment.  Two more months and it will be a whole year since I started writing this blog and training.  I think I’ve come a long way.  I must try to dig out some old film footage to remind me of how terrible I was! 

I’m going to ache tomorrow!

Well, we changed our training nights from a Monday to Thursday’s – and this is the first training session on our new night.

It felt very weird on Monday night with no dashing about from work – after a hectic Monday, and then starting the week being completely knackered!  Though this Monday was different anyway, as it was my birthday – so it had to be a little different.  But my mobile’s calender reminder went off at 9pm reminding me that training was on in an hour’s time!  (I’ve changed it now!)

So, after a pretty busy week at work, and other things going on, loads of stress in one form or another, and running out of energy as it’s nearly the end of the week – i made it to training!  Was a bit tentative as I had a horrible headache once more late afternoon – but fotuneately it seemed to disappear in time – though I did end up feeling rather queasy a few times.  But hey, managed to be at the ferry on time to  pick up our Isle of Wight girls (3 of them), which was good as it was raining so they didn’t get very wet

At the rink, we caught the senior ENL team (Solent Devils) doing their training.  It’s fast!  Very fast!

Today was the first outing for my new half visor & half cage, face guard.  I bought it months ago on EBay as they had said it would fit a CCM helmet – it’s an Itech face guard.  Could I get the wretched thing to fit?  Several people had various attempts in trying to sort it for me – but to no avail.  Until that is, last Sunday when one of our club’s coaches promised that he’d be able to sort it for me.  And, so he did!  Took a little while, and new hocks & spacers had to be fitted but it’s on!  When wearing it tonight – it kept being referred to as my goldfish bowl!  *lol*

Now I was told that if you rub on a bit of washing up liquid, and then buff it up, it should stop the visor from steaming up etc.  I did this at the weekend, but half way through training the visor element was getting somewhat condensated up – I do seem to get very hot when training.  I must try to use a hairband I think – see if that makes any difference – as my eyes ended up stinging too.  But despite blurry vision, and stingy eyes, during the drills I did actually manage to get three goals in!  (Note to self:  try getting one of these in during a game!  )

One of the drills was rather hard & confusing tonight – not sure I actually got the hang of it at all – will need to consult my drill book I think and try to set it in my poor head!  Not enough space I think these days, too much multitasking – so much so, it really can’t cope with new drills late at night!

I learnt tonight that one of our new ladies, who’s resurrecting her goalie skills, had been in a wheelchair with a broken back for some years – but loves the sport so much has decided to come back to it!  (Her injury was during a hockey game.)  How is that for dedication – though some may say somewhat crazy!  You’ve got to do what you’ve gotta do I guess   All credit to her.

During our scrimmage tonight – I did actually kind of score a goal – i hit the puck & it bounced off the opposition’s stick & straight in behind the goalie!     I did also manage to send someone flying (not intentionally I hasten to add! But it did stop them getting the puck!  *lol*)

We did an interesting exercise tonight – working on rebounds – which is where – if you watch the nhl games, or if you managed to watch the womens ice hockey games at the olympics, is how they managed to score alot of their goals.  REBOUNDS.  Just being in the right place at just the right time can make such a difference.

Last week I did make some progress in practicing my backwards crossover’s.  Wasn’t so confident to try them out tonight though – will have to do more practice on that tomorrow at our usual public session.  I sooooo want to be able to do them & make them look as effortless as the others that can do these!

I am starting, finally, to feel a bit more confident on the ice – though always tend to feel much more confident when kitted up!

Well, training session over – girls dropped back to the ferry, home & showered, a nice cup of tea & something to eat.  I get so hungry after training.  I don’t think I drank as much as i should have.  I normally do, but didn’t tonight.  So I must remember to ensure I drink plenty tomorrow.  On the hockey mentorship programme that I follow – there was a fantastic equation for working out how much water you should have in a day based upon your own weight etc., and then how much extra water you need to have when training.  Jeez!  It was quite a shock to the system.  I really need to up my levels of water during the daytime.  (My husband was so pleased when he knew that I was finally taking this advice !)  I drink plenty of tea, and perhaps a couple cups of coffee max in a day (can’t drink very much at all or I get the shakes).  But anyway, where was I, i need to drink a minimum of i think it was 5 of those 250ml bottles a day.  I must admit though I don’t like drinking plain water during the day time – during training – i can handle – it’s absolutely essential as I get so flippin hot & thirsty.  But during the day, well, not so good.  I think it may take me a little while to get up to speed on that one.  I will persevere though it will be good for me in the long run.  I don’t after all, want to end up like an old wrinkly!!  I may be getting on a bit now (47), but I’m not THAT old!  Plenty of life in me yet!

Well, on that note, it’s now 1.30am – always takes a while to ‘come down’ from training  & wind down a little.  Fortunately I think I will be working from home tomorrow so I won’t have to drive the 20 miles to work feeling over tired.

There will be an interesting game this weekend, our two local recreational teams – one which is normally full contact and have been playing for yonks, and our newest one on the block who have really only been training since summer / autumn last year who are non contact.  I train with this other non-contact rec team when I’m not feeling ill, or don’t have a game at the weekend (don’t want to cause myself any injuries before a game).  I will register with them but I can’t at the moment due to cash flow.  Have you seen the price of petrol these days in the UK?!  Thank goodness I switched to a diesel car – i’m getting almost double miles for the same amount of fuel I was before.  Even though my mileage has gone up with the travelling to games etc., my overall costs have only gone up slightly now.  I would have been seriously bankrupt if I’d not had my accident and was forced to get a different car!  (Every cloud they say has a silver lining – and in this instance I think they may be right!)

That’s something else you tend to forget in costing out a hobby like ice hockey – the travel costs getting to all the different ice rinks for all the away games!

Well, my arm’s aching for some reason – I can’t seem to hold it out straight – hurting somewhere near the elbow – but it’s not the elbow – outside edge somewhere i think.  Hard to tell!  Rather uncomfortable.  Probably just as well I won’t be driving in to work tomorrow !  top of my leg is hurting  intermittently, but that started to feel odd before training.    Back is feeling rather sore – didn’t go flying or anything – hopefully a good night’s sleep should help all of these ‘ailments’!

Thank you for reading, and please drop by again soon.  Our next game is in a couple of weeks – we did have a game this weekend and next but we’ve asked to re-schedule one and the other we have forfeited – which is fine as we’d probably have been annialiated by them anyway so it works out well.

We WON!!!!

Well, yesterday we played another home game – against the first team we ever played.  With special dispensation for having low numbers (two lines), we actually managed to win – 5-2.  It was awesome.  A fantastic feeling after that game!  The first game we have won.  We all worked so hard.  We had a hatrick and a first goal amongst the five.  Some double shifting had to go on (for those not in the know or up with terminology, it’s when a player has to play two shifts on the trot – which can be quite tiring).  Perhaps because we were low on numbers and we’re beginning to gel as a team, we worked really hard & came away with big smiles

This time I managed to get a couple of shots on goal – and didn’t shoot down the wrong end!  Amazing!  Did have a run in with one of the linesmen though and ended up flat on the ice!  I managed to be in the right kind of places at the right kind of times – blocking opposition players, and able to pass to stronger players.  So actually felt useful!   We all played really well.  Though the offside element kept throwing me off – as I couldn’t always see when the puck had gone back into the neutral zone (I think i got that right), or back over the blue line – so there were a lot of shouts of – ‘out, out’ going on!  Jeez it’s hard to keep up sometimes!   Neverthless it was a brilliant game, and even more so for us winning.   All we need is another repeat performance for a couple more games and that w ould be so good.  I was working out the other day we haven’t even been going for a year yet.  We started training in May last year.  It’s  only March now.  We’re doing ok

Well our next couple of games look as though they won’t be happening, due to lack of number / game clashes / and no ice to re-schedule – but that will give us time to get prepared for our hardest game against one of the London teams.  We may have to toughen up a little for that one!  Oh, and note to self – check out a coach or minibus – as we probably don’t want to be driving there or we may not find our cars in one piece!  Apparently it’s not the easiest of places to get to either.

Well, we did training again tonight – though I didn’t last much further than about 20 minutes due to a head bursting one-sided headache.  Painkillers didn’t kick in until I was almost home – so had to sit out the rest of the training session.  Was not happy with that.  Did manage to make some kind of headway into some backwards skating.  Needs lots & lots of practice though!  But will get there – i’m kind of ok on crossovers now – though doing them at speed is still a little scary!  Hopefully, by this time next year it may all come alot more naturally!

So, here’s to our next training session – we’ve changed to Thursday nights now from next week – which is rather cool as it means it’s not too hectic on a monday night any more!  Plus I don’t have to train on my birthday next week

Well, it’s been an awesome weekend.  Friday was the finalising of a surprise party for a friend’s birthday, Saturday was a U10′s jamboree – so we spent some 5 hours on the ice.  I was standing in as a manager for one of the teams.  It was hard work but quite good fun.  My little one I think had fun, though he was so tired bless him.  Long day for a 7 year old.  All the kids did really well, and hopefully all had some fun.  Would be so cool if things like that could be done for the adults.  Fun & enjoyment being the main aim of the day.  And then our game on Sunday.  Oh, and by the way, did I mention…

we won!! 

Drills, drills, drills…

A very hectic day today – missed lunch, didn’t get any tea / dinner due to a club managers meeting, and in light of the car accident on the motorway home – I had to go straight to it from work without going home – then after meeting – quick dash home pack up kit – grab a quick bite of yesterday’s waffles & head out to training!  Crazy day!

Once I got there I could relax a little bit.  We had three new ladies tonight plus our new one from last week – so – looking good on numbers   Finally.  It will be brilliant if we can have a few more Amazon ladies – it’s hard work playing games with just two lines.

We did lots of drills today, some new, some not so new – but can i grasp them still?!  There are a couple of illusive ones I just can’t seem to grasp – and when I do just about get it – we change!  I will have to check out my  hockey drill books to see if I can find them so that I can commit them to a slow incubation period into my memory banks!!  After one of the drills – that I just couldn’t seem to get – not sure if it’s my age, or just tired after a long & busy day- i got pretty annoyed with myself and wacked an extremely hard attempt at the goal.  They are definitely getting harder – finally!

I’m not sure I’d even be able to describe a couple of the drills – very complicated.  We did some full ice horseshoe drills – which I still managed to mess up!  Ended up aiming in the wrong goal!  Doh!  Hopeless really! 

Our new ladies did really well – a couple of them weren’t newbies and have already played or currently play.  Hopefully they will all come back next week!  It was all in all a good session.

When it came to our scrimmage – these can get incredibly confusing if we don’t have training bibs on or two sets of shirts – I think I managed to do some decent blocking & general getting in the way of the opposition (one of the coaches), didn’t get a goal however – that is still yet to come.  But I will!  I may not be fast, I may not be able to grasp it all as quickly as I may have done 20 years ago – but I’ll give it a damn good shot!  I’m still enjoying it, even though at times I do seriously wonder why on earth I am doing this – never having been into sport into any shape or form – who’d have thought it!  I don’t think my daughters can really believe I do this!  They have yet to see me play – so hopefully by then I’ll have improved a bit more – may actually get a goal (positioning myself hopefully in the right place to do so!), but at least lok like a know what I’m doing!

Well tomorrow is littlen’s training session – so we’ll see if he wants to train as a goalie again – he had mixed feelings last week – so we will see!  I think he did remarkably well – knee pads that were a bit too big for him, regular skates – enormous damaged gloves etc., and a stick that was curved the wrong way.  I’ll also be ensuring I take my skates with me to work so that I can hopefully help out with the newbie skaters at the beginners hockey session tomorrow.  I may have to do some negotiating on the work front if I want to do this though.

While I’m writing this I’m watching Canada vs Finland women’s semi final game – not sure I dare stay up for the third period as I do have work tomorrow!  I actually have shadows under my eyes due to the lack of sleep due mainly to watching so many late night hockey games over the past week!  It is such a shame that they don’t televise more of the Women’s hockey.  So it’s a case of grab it while you can!  They are very different games to the men’s games – and these are the first games I have actually ever seen – apart from our own games played – so it’s quite nice to see.

Well, that’s it from me, I will dig out my drill book tomorrow and try to track down tonights efforts in the hope that I can memorise them properly.  And later in the week – skating practice – backwards, pivots and a little bit more speed!

So, a big thank you to our coaches tonight as always, and well done to our new ladies.