Thursday, April 05, 2007
My com got fuxin screwed a few days ago so i have to use the old one. The old one had the numlock jammed and some of th buttons werent working so it was terribly frustrating but somehow its righted itself now.
I just love playing football. When i receive the ball and try to look for options, its a challenge to thread a perfectly-weighted pass. I get a tremendous buzz when dribbling past people. its like a duel when you face off directly, a duel of wits, anticipation, reactions and skill. I always enjoy these kinds of duels, doesn't matter if im the one defending or the one attacking. When attacking, its a test of skill, a coordination of the body with feints and fakes. Either you draw or force the defender to commit, completely fake him out, dribble such that the defender doesn't know how to react, freezing, or a mixture of the three. As a defender, the challenge is to anticipate what the attacker is thinking of, to keep your eyes on the ball, to not get suckered into committing, to be able to react appropriately and go in firmly to win the ball when the opportunity arises.
The other dribbling scenario is the less direct confrontation, where the attacker is running at pace and the defenders scramble to stop him. The attacker has the advantage of switching directions, forcing the momentum of the rnning defenders against them. He can still throw in the same feints and fakes, but doing so can sacrifice the advantage of momentum he has. Often, he only needs good close control, the ability to cut the ball away as a defender lunges desperately from the side. He constantly has options to shoot or pass, options whch he can mislead the defender into thinking that he is going to take.The defender has the handicap in this scenario, and needs all the wits, balance, speed, and agility he can muster to smother the attacker. He needs to try to force the attacker to slow down or stop, or force the attacker into an error, but these options are not always available. The defender needs to make the right decision within that split second, whether to slide to the ground and attempt to block a shot from the striker and risk the striker pulling the ball back instead.
It's all very much a mental and physical game for the defender. The attacker of course needs to have the technical ability, but as some sort of trade-off, in a direct or indirect confrontation he always holds the initiative.
I like doing both. Dribbling is more fun, because it allows me to decide what to do and express myself, to combine my creativity, anticipation and skill to get past defender. when people foul me, i don't feel anger rising in me. Instead, i get the satisfaction that they had to use unfair means to stop me, the satisfaction that i have come out the victor of this terribly fun duel. Defending on the other hand, is a much more secure role because i have to react to the attacker, i don't need to ensure my technical skills are up to par, and i can focus solely on denying the attacker from getting past me. I seem to leave free space on one side that the dribbler can push the ball and sprint into, but its actually a trap i placed and im already half-anticipating that move, so i'm always half a metre in front. The satisfaction is in denying and frustrating the attacker, winning possession back for the team.
Anyway, when people talk about talent in football, i think its not so simple as that. There's physical talent, a person's innate body figure thats suited for speed and height. There's technical talent, probably meaning a person can learn and pick up ball skills quickly. Then there's mental aspect, the ability to anticipate and read the game. I think i have lots of mental talent, and quite a bit of technical talent. Physically, im not extremely fast but I think i have enough speed to cope with most situations, and my height is about average.
Actually, i think technical and mental talent are closely linked to IQ, but other mental attrbutes such as determination and teamwork are obviously not. A lot of areas in football can be drastically improved through hardwork, and that's where the beauty of football lies. It's an intricate, elegant mix of your different talents, your mindsets of determination, focus, teamwork, etc, and your physical abilities. If you can't anticipate and read the game well, you can always make it up with mproving your speed and tackling. If you're less technically gifted, you still can achieve the same standards simply by putting in more practice than the technically gifted ones. If you're slow, you can make it up by reading the game well, intercepting the passes instead of chasing down the people that the passes were meant for.
It's all so dynamic, so beautiful
silverletal [Simple and Clean] 7:43 AM