I got up today at 9:15 am, tutored my ex-classmate/friend in mathematics until 12 pm. Then went online and downloaded some images to make my homepage more interesting. At 3 pm I left home to play hockey at Boundary Street.
Back on the hockey pitch again, training is tough, especially for my sore back, but training is good and useful. Somehow today I feel I talked too much, may be because ¥P¥J is here, and I'm used to teaching her. I really want to feed her all my concept of playing hockey while I still have the chance. After all, I asked her to be the next St. John's Hockey Team team captain! I want her to play better hockey quickly, so that she has the ability to lead the team to greater heights. But I know it's hard to push her so quickly, these things really takes time and persistence.
At training today, this little guy from primary school managed to get Lee Sir to raise his voice. The little guy pushed a ball wildly into someone, that girl nearly twisted her foot and fell, luckily she wasn't hurt. May be some people would wonder why Lee Sir would raise his voice at such incidence or at a kid, but he's right, discipline must be kept on the pitch, and it all starts off at training. If you don't have discipline at training, you'll never have discipline in a game! The move of the kid might be unintentional, but it was absolutely unnecessary! If he wasn't scolded, may be the next unintentional move he makes will put his teammates into great danger! As the coach of training, Lee Sir cannot afford to make that mistake, he must guarantee the safety of his players!
During the game Lee Sir passed me by pushing the balls through my legs, he said that letting people succeed in passing me this way is a 恥辱. When I think back about it, he's right. He has always insisted that we guard the space between our legs and to our right, be mobile and quick enough to guard our territory. That I really have to practice more!
Today Lee Sir announced that he has decided to charge the kids $5 per session and adults $10 per session from now on, well I think it's about time! Always giving out his money and letting everyone enjoy on the pitch has gone on for long enough. I mean, we're the ones using the pitch and learning his skills, he's not getting paid for it already, financing the pitch is the least we can do! That would not only be fair, but very reasonable as well!
After practice, Moe and I went out to throw softball, well sorry Moe, I've terrible eyes for aiming and my softball catching isn't up to standard yet! I think I ought to stick with the hockey stick! :) Softball---only a leisure for me! I must say sorry for the guy that I nearly killed too. I really didn't mean it! And Moe, my leg still hurts! So you better learn to throw the ball straight without as much force (just for me!). :)
Tonight, Lee Sir, Ah Yin and I went to 重慶大廈 to have dinner, just the three of us, that's when life began to change! Dinner with Lee Sir is always very meaningful and there's lots to learn from this man. Not only has he got lots of hockey experience to share, but talking to him really finds new meaning life and new ways to look at life! I don't know whether he had the intention of stimulating my thinking, but that's what he certainly did! There were many things he talked of tonight, and I really cannot remember all that I wanted to share in this homepage. I thought of lots to write on the way home on the bus, but it just seems to lose me right now. Well one thing he mentioned tonight was, that some people that appear to be very strong and abled are the people that we should be scared of, because these kind of people might be pressurised to behave in such a way and if these people crack up, they'll be the most dangerous! I really agree with him, and in some way I really used to be this kind of person. I appear very strong to most people and I really can get out of control when I crack under pressure, but I haven't to go a stage where I'd hurt other people, I'd just hurt myself. It is good to be able to find some ways to relax, act out of the ordinary and let the pressure out. It is very hard to stay sane and straight all the time, and I really need to find some ways to relax.
Just as we were about to part to go our separate ways home, Lee Sir praised me once again for my performance verses Beijing Youth team, making me think back to the game I played on the 24th and 26th. I thought about it on the bus, I too remembered that I played exceptionally well because even I didn't think I could play that well. I hadn't touched the hockey ball for two weeks before the 24th and so I thought that I'd be really unfit and would lose the ball very easily! For me it was a really good performance on the day, I was abled to break up Beijing's attacks and cleared many balls out of the D, but compared to other teammates, what I did was really nothing. I was unable to help attack, I just stablised the defence to give them better opportunity to attack. Now that I'm able to play well defensively I should also learn to play so that I can help to attack as well. That match was very weird actually, because while I was warming up I couldn't hit the ball, it was just impossible, the ball just wouldn't go in the direction I wanted to go! For those that watched the match, they would have realised that I never hit the ball that day, because, frankly, I just couldn't!
Well that was a really good match on the 24th, I would agree with Lee Sir that I played well that day. My performance on the 26th wasn't as well, mainly because I still hadn't recovered from the workout on the 24th! heehee...yes I'm not fit enough!
Playing with Beijing was really challenging, I'm starting to believe that I'm a little like 足球小將's main character, 戴志偉. The kind of hockey I play will never improve unless I go up against the people who are better than me, it's like 遇強越強. Lee Sir is right, when you don't try your best at training and worry about getting hurt all the time, you will never improve. So playing games against better and fitter teams are really good, that's when we can improve. I really feel that I play better when I'm under pressure, I'd be more aware of the opponents and be more alert.