At the footy!
Yesterday was a surreal day. Not only did I play in my first Aussie Rules Football match, I met a bunch of guys from the SportsLogos.net boards at the Phillies Game. That was pretty awesome. But that's for the next post.
The day started with us waking up early and frantically cleaning so that we could show the apartment to persepective cleaners. After getting the place cat/dog hair and crap free in less than an hour, I went down to FDR Park for the Philadelphia Hawks "Metro Footy" Game. If you remember, waaaay back in October I made a post about wanting to play Aussie Rules and how I was going to practice and eventually train with the Hawks. Well, it didn't exactly happen that way... with the way work went and my boss passing away and all of that, I wasn't able to be ready by the time training started on April 2nd. In fact, I hadn't touched my football since mid-January, and it was flat.
On Thursday, I got an e-mail (as I am on the mailing list) from the club regarding the Metro Footy game on Saturday. Metro Footy is a scaled down version of Aussie Rules -- usually 9- or 10-a-side instead of the customary 18-on-18. The Hawks take their team and divide them into two teams for what basically is a scrimage. The team takes this scrimmages seriously, though, they treat them like real matches. They have a guy who volunteers as an umpire (referee), and two goal umpires, again, both volutneers. Well, more on that in a minute.
I e-mailed the president of the club and asked him for directions to FDR, and he e-mailed me back, saying, "Bring some stuff to sweat in and some cleats and we'll get you into the action!"
So I go down there, and after standing on the sideline like a wallflower, the coach, Jon, comes up to me and asks if I want to play. I said that I'd be interested, but that I'd never done so before. He says that's okay, and he gives me a brief intro to how to kick and handball (pass) before introducing me to the club and telling me that I'd be on his team, the South Philly Whiz, for the match. This would be the second game of the five game series between the Whiz and our opponents, the Old City Benjamins. The Benjis won the first match, 80-51, so our team was looking to tie the series.
After warming up with the Whiz, Alex, the Hawks' president and my Whiz teammate, suggested that for the first half that I be a goal umpire so that I could get an idea of how the game would flow and so that I could watch and pick up on things. I was introduced to my counterpart, Larry, who showed me the basics. Having watching footy for over a decade, I had a good idea of what was done. The goal umpires signal with their fingers whether or not a team has scored a goal (6 points) or a behind (1 point) and then both goal umpires signal each other with a set of flags that are attached to the goal. Larry was impressed that I had known what the signals were ahead of time.
The first half was close, with the Whiz leading 24-9 at half time. I even managed to make it into a picture (I'm in the brown shirt). At half time, Jon came over and asked if I was ready to play, and I said that I'd give it a go. In the huddle, I was told that I'd be playing forward, given a big hand by the mates, and out I went.
Aussie Rules is a physical game. I am an utter wimp. From the first "ball up", I was nervous, but after a while I got into the flow of things, and basically tried to play my position as best as possible. Two minutes in I got elbowed in the stomach. Ow. But that was about it. I bumped into a few guys, which was fun. I was able to wriggle free and contest a few balls, which was good. I got my only touch of the ball late in the third quarter when I handballed a low pass to a teammate with two guys around me. I guess that was my highlight.
The 3rd Quarter ended after we had taken a huge lead -- we had kicked six goals in that quarter and lead by about thirty. I started the fourth quarter on the bench, and watched as the Benjamins made a comeback. I played a little bit in the fourth quarter, but when the whistle blew, we won 59-42.
Both coaches said that I had played well, and all of the players gave me a pat on the back. Alex said that it looked like I knew what was going on just from instinct, and he was impresed with the way I put myself in there. I even got a "good play" mention on the website. The team was really awesome, and I'm glad I finally was able to go out and play.
Training is on Wednesday nights, so I'm defintately going to come out and train with them so that I can get better. Their first real match as the Hawks is on June 7th in Raleigh, North Carolina. If I get a little bit more comfortable with the play, I'll go down with the team. But I still have a couple of weeks to decide that.
I leave you with the money shot. That's me, in the glasses. How like me. ^_^
The day started with us waking up early and frantically cleaning so that we could show the apartment to persepective cleaners. After getting the place cat/dog hair and crap free in less than an hour, I went down to FDR Park for the Philadelphia Hawks "Metro Footy" Game. If you remember, waaaay back in October I made a post about wanting to play Aussie Rules and how I was going to practice and eventually train with the Hawks. Well, it didn't exactly happen that way... with the way work went and my boss passing away and all of that, I wasn't able to be ready by the time training started on April 2nd. In fact, I hadn't touched my football since mid-January, and it was flat.
On Thursday, I got an e-mail (as I am on the mailing list) from the club regarding the Metro Footy game on Saturday. Metro Footy is a scaled down version of Aussie Rules -- usually 9- or 10-a-side instead of the customary 18-on-18. The Hawks take their team and divide them into two teams for what basically is a scrimage. The team takes this scrimmages seriously, though, they treat them like real matches. They have a guy who volunteers as an umpire (referee), and two goal umpires, again, both volutneers. Well, more on that in a minute.
I e-mailed the president of the club and asked him for directions to FDR, and he e-mailed me back, saying, "Bring some stuff to sweat in and some cleats and we'll get you into the action!"
So I go down there, and after standing on the sideline like a wallflower, the coach, Jon, comes up to me and asks if I want to play. I said that I'd be interested, but that I'd never done so before. He says that's okay, and he gives me a brief intro to how to kick and handball (pass) before introducing me to the club and telling me that I'd be on his team, the South Philly Whiz, for the match. This would be the second game of the five game series between the Whiz and our opponents, the Old City Benjamins. The Benjis won the first match, 80-51, so our team was looking to tie the series.
After warming up with the Whiz, Alex, the Hawks' president and my Whiz teammate, suggested that for the first half that I be a goal umpire so that I could get an idea of how the game would flow and so that I could watch and pick up on things. I was introduced to my counterpart, Larry, who showed me the basics. Having watching footy for over a decade, I had a good idea of what was done. The goal umpires signal with their fingers whether or not a team has scored a goal (6 points) or a behind (1 point) and then both goal umpires signal each other with a set of flags that are attached to the goal. Larry was impressed that I had known what the signals were ahead of time.
The first half was close, with the Whiz leading 24-9 at half time. I even managed to make it into a picture (I'm in the brown shirt). At half time, Jon came over and asked if I was ready to play, and I said that I'd give it a go. In the huddle, I was told that I'd be playing forward, given a big hand by the mates, and out I went.
Aussie Rules is a physical game. I am an utter wimp. From the first "ball up", I was nervous, but after a while I got into the flow of things, and basically tried to play my position as best as possible. Two minutes in I got elbowed in the stomach. Ow. But that was about it. I bumped into a few guys, which was fun. I was able to wriggle free and contest a few balls, which was good. I got my only touch of the ball late in the third quarter when I handballed a low pass to a teammate with two guys around me. I guess that was my highlight.
The 3rd Quarter ended after we had taken a huge lead -- we had kicked six goals in that quarter and lead by about thirty. I started the fourth quarter on the bench, and watched as the Benjamins made a comeback. I played a little bit in the fourth quarter, but when the whistle blew, we won 59-42.
Both coaches said that I had played well, and all of the players gave me a pat on the back. Alex said that it looked like I knew what was going on just from instinct, and he was impresed with the way I put myself in there. I even got a "good play" mention on the website. The team was really awesome, and I'm glad I finally was able to go out and play.
Training is on Wednesday nights, so I'm defintately going to come out and train with them so that I can get better. Their first real match as the Hawks is on June 7th in Raleigh, North Carolina. If I get a little bit more comfortable with the play, I'll go down with the team. But I still have a couple of weeks to decide that.
I leave you with the money shot. That's me, in the glasses. How like me. ^_^