Additional Post:2 Soccer Wednesday

"The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching." -Anson Dorrance  

(In the picture to the left: I made my break away from the defender. I had already passed her up and the only way she would be able to stop me would've been a slide tackle, to regain possession of the ball. As I ran passed her she slid and was only able to get my feet causing me to trip and fall badly. The ref called it a foul because the defender did not go for the ball but for my feet instead. As a result I was full of dirt.)

Two weeks ago, my team (Spain) and I had a game, if we won we would make it to the finals. It was a tough battle as you can see in the picture to the left. We all had the determination to win. My team and I had so many chances to score, but as the minutes grew less and less, we finally scored a goal......winning the game!! 

Last Sunday we lost to the top team on our league, Chelsea. It was unfortunate, but we have to learn from our mistakes. We know what we have to work on coming into the finals, like finalizing or first and last touches and practice goal scoring plays.

               

    On Wednesday I had soccer practice with the Southlands Girls and Boys Soccer Team. We train together. In our practices we focus on training and conditioning. We started practice running to an adjecent soccer park from Southlands a couple of miles away.(but it felt like a 3 mile run.) As we arrived to our destination ( the soccer field) we did 5 sets of sprints, back and forth from the width of the field. To top it off we had to run back to Southlands and continued our exercise. We did 3 sets of suicides, which are sprinting as fast as you can from cone A  to Cone B, then back to cone A to cone C. All the way to the furthest cone. That's a set. We had to do about 3 sets.We then did lunges from the closest cone to the farthest cone. My mentor Coach Tipton, wants us to be fit and able to last all 90 minutes on the field. We will be doing conditioning/sprinting exercises for practice this month, before we get touches on the ball. I have learned the types of exercises I could do to become faster and being able to last 90 minutes in a soccer game. I will use it to my advantage and keep practicing for my team.                      

          

We practice with the guys...it makes us more aggressive

That same Wednesday, I had soccer practice with my other soccer team Spain. We practiced on changing direction quickly with and without a ball. Then we had a scrimmage with the guys. It was a challenge! My team ended up winning, I scored one of the goals. Every Wednesday my day will consist of two soccer practices for mentorship that will help my team and I improve.

Now on to the finals...(:

Blog 6: Second Interview

Content:

1. I'm still looking for a mentor. I wanted to adjust my topic a little bit, instead of doing athletic training I was thinking of changing it to improving or becoming a better soccer team. My mentor would be my soccer coach Jaime Fuentes. He has a team named Spain in the Pomona United League that plays every Sunday.

2. Questions I would ask for my interview 2 would be:

• What got you interested in coaching an all-girls soccer team?
• What process did you take to become a certified soccer coach?
• What do you like best of coaching a soccer team? What would you change, if you could?
• What is your coaching philosophy? How does it differ from other soccer coaches?
• What is your most rewarding moment as a soccer coach?
• What lessons do you try and teach your players to take off the field?

Blog 5: Project Reflection and Working EQ

Content:

1. One of the most positive things that happened was that I am now have some knowledge of what ligaments my sister tore from her injury and how that injury happened. She torn a little bit of her ACL and her meniscus which causes her knee to be locked when trying to straighten it. Everything I have learned is really interesting and I want to know more about my topic. The research I have found has helped me know the different types of injuries a soccer player can get.

2. One piece of research that has really helped is the book by Ronald P. Pfeiffer called Concepts of Athletic Training. It has helped me because it's everything you need to know about an athletic trainer, for example knowing the human anatomy, the laws of sports injury and evaluation. I haven't finished reading the book, but so far it's a good book.

3. What has worked for me so far in the senior project is finding good research every week and my topic in general because it is something I am planning on doing as a career.

4. Unfortunately what hasn't worked for me is finding an athletic trainer as a mentor. Also it's slightly hard to find research that doesn't involve trials or just reports. I have to go more in depth with my research which is good so it evens out.

5. Working EQ

•  What is the best way for an athletic trainer to treat soccer injuries among athletes?
• For mentorship I am trying to contact the athletic trainer from Diamond Ranch High School. Mr. Paulson also holds classes for students that are interested in Athletic Training or Sports Medicine, so it wouldn't be too impossible to volunteer there. If that doesn't work out as planned then I would ask the Athletic Trainer of Ganesha High School if it would be possible.

The Life of A Recovering Athlete

As I was researching about my topic, Gohan showed me this video about how Stuart Holden, U.S. MNT midfielder, starts his recovery from an ACL injury against Manchester United. I thought these videos were really helpful because it showed me that you have to be in a positive mind set to recover and just the process in general of rehabilitation. This video also showed me some of the machines and exercises he had to use on a regular basis in order to regain strength in his knee. The process may take a long time but it's not impossible to overcome. #NOHOLDENBACK!

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1. For my first interview I plan on interviewing my soccer coach Jaime Fuentes because he suffered an injury himself and I wanted to know his experience of recovering to continue to play soccer. He also has knowledge of different exercises to prevent soccer injuries that he incorporates in our soccer practice drills. Scheduling an appointment for the interview won't be that difficult because I am best friends with his daughter and I live about 3 to 4 blocks away from them.  


2. Additional Questions

• What are some of the drills you incorporate in soccer practice to prevent soccer injuries? How effective are they?
• What is one piece of advice you would give an athlete recovering from an injury?
• What mentality should you have while in the process of recovering from a soccer injury?

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Semester 1 ESLR Goals

1.  My topic is soccer. I want to focus more on prevention and recovering from a soccer injury or just the fitness. I'm still undecided if I should just do soccer in general. I want to choose soccer as my topic because I want to become an Athletic Trainer and because it helped my overcome many things, like making new friends, expressing who I am without hesitation and not being as shy as I was before. If I were to focus on preventing and recovering from a soccer injury it would really help me prepare for college to major in Athletic Trainer, Kinesiology, or Sports Medicine.

2.

•  iPoly Citizen- Throughout my senior year I plan to finish my community service hours and all that is necessary to graduate. I plan to always be on time to school and committed to taking responsibility for my own actions. At soccer practice if any one is late they have to run more laps. I never show up late. I know there is always consequences for coming late.  I plan to be a good example for my peers by helping and listening to them and just being a good leader. Respect is one of the things I have for everyone and always will no matter what. 

• Effective Learner- How I intend to grow this year is by doing all my research for my senior project. I want to become an expert on my topic. Researching by myself would make my responsible to learn on my own. This should be easy because my topic is something I love to do and interested in learning all there is about soccer.

• Effective User of Technology- What I plan to grow in this year is to improve in my computer skills. I feel like I am at basic knowledge, or what I should know. I want to learn the advanced stuff. So I could use them during core class. Especially during my 2 hour presentation. 

• Effective Communicator-  For me this is the most important one because you always have to have a respective way of talking to people whether it being you just giving them your divided attention. I really want to be able to have a good friendship with everyone and just communicate with people this year. For example like ASB, we have to be able to work together in order to make great events and senior events.

Blog 2: Summer Mentorship Component

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvXSr6lr8H8tdHlMWVFScjNFXy1FWGNEWDlCa1pua0E#gid=0

2. What is the contact name & number of where you volunteered?       
        Jaime Fuentes (909) 821-0632
3. (Need to know) What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience?  List them.     

•  What were the main things that would help us win games?
•  How do you prevent yourself from getting injured on the field?
•  How do you improve your soccer skills?
• What drills are more effective to prevent injury?

Interpretive

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
     The most important thing I gained from this experience is that communication skills are very important on the pitch because you have to be able to talk to your teammates in order for you to receive the ball. If you don't speak up you will never get the ball in good opportunities. Also practicing with your team gains more trust among each other. You know get to know each others strengths and weaknesses. Like our first few games we had no trust because we didn't know each other, some of us were strangers, so we wouldn't do good in our passing or communicating overall. Now we are communicating more and winning games.

Applied
 
5. How did what you did help you choose a topic?  Please explain.
       It helped me because I really like soccer. I've been playing soccer for a while now and I just really want to improve my soccer skills.  I also want to learn more of preventing and recovering from a soccer injury