Kelly's World

It’s been fairly well documented on my blog that I suffered a knee injury late last year, resulting in a knee reconstruction in December. I was playing netball at the time of the injury, and currently it’s still up in the air on whether I will be returning to the sport I love to play.

Normally I would play Mondays and Thursdays (occasionally Wednesdays), and when the Superleague season was on I would also play Saturday nights. It was a lot, but I just couldn’t get enough of it. Going back and watching some games has been bittersweet; it’s great to still catch up with my friends on all my teams, but so very painful to not be able to join in. All that changed this year when I was asked to become an assistant coach.

Originally I was merely joining my friend Adam with Mix C but in a minor role; I would chip in when he wasn’t able to be there (if he was playing at the same time for instance). It was a no pressure job, and if I had something else that I needed to do that night, he understood (like if I had to work for Ravesafe at another music festival). Then Shane asked if I would help him coach Ladies B.

I’ve tried several ways of explaining why coaching with Shane made me more nervous than it did with Adam. I think I felt like I was able to take a backseat more than I would be with Shane; Adam would be dominant as the coach and I truly was only there on the off chance I was needed. With Shane, it almost felt like I was being groomed for a more serious role. I eventually agreed to coach with Shane, but only after really thinking it through. I found I just couldn’t pass on being more involved with netball. I was scared, but after the first night of coaching with Shane I knew that I shouldn’t have been so worried.

Adam and I haven’t had a chance to work together so it’s not fair to say it won’t be the same with him. I’m truly guessing. But after the first night with Shane, I feel like my eyes have been completely reopened to the sport. I’ve played netball for about 5- 6 years, so it’s not like I’m a stranger to the game. Yet listening to Shane talk and explain things to me, bad habits players had, things the attacking/defense were doing wrong, I was in shock. How did I miss all of this before? I’d like to give myself the benefit of the doubt and say that it was because I was too focused on my own performance to really be concerned about anyone else.

At the end of the night any questions I had about returning to netball had been answered. My mind has been made up not to play ever again – I just don’t want to risk another injury. But I’m really quite excited about this year – it feels like being an assistant coach will fulfil all my needs from the sport. I’ll be part of the team again, and will be able to work towards achieving the best possible result. All of this while I get to sit on the sidelines and know that I don’t have to worry about remembering to pack my knee and ankle guards. It’s perfect! So, another drink anyone?

The furtherest any of the superleague teams I have played for have ever made it before are the semis. And even then we didn’t have a chance of winning. Until now.

Tonight, my superleague division 2 mixed b team from kawana will front browns plains for the title of winner. I have never had that within my reach before and I am so damn nervous.

A few years back the kawana mens a team made it through to the final (when we were still in division 1) and all of us girlsl showed up with banners and horns and everything loud (there are pics on facebook, we even had painted faces). We screamed and cheered the boys on. It was a HUGE deal, and we were such loud supporters the other teams didn’t have a chance to make a peep. I don’t know how the boys managed under such pressure, but they did and came up with the goods.

Now it’s my turn. This year kawana has 4 teams that made the finals, and one of the other teams play at the same time as us. This means the cheering will be spread, but there will still be an audience.

So why am I nervous? I want to play at my absolute best, I don’t want to say at the end of the game that I let anyone down. I want to be the best damn defence out there. So at the moment all I can do is to be positive, have faith in my abilities, stay on my toes, and get out there and do what my coaches have trained me to do.

Damn I hope we win.

What a weekend! Saturday was pretty much chilling out at home in the morning before heading to caboolture for my Netball superleague semi finals.

When we got there I realized just how nervous I was, but it was coupled with a feeling of excitement. I just couldn’t wait to get out on court and play!

As it was I played quite well. I was talking well to Francis, telling him where the ball was and where he should be positioning himself, and damn he ha a great game. He was so quick and got a great deal of intercepts, it was fantastic. I am happy to report I got my fair share too, one of which I intercepted with my face and promptly caught. Proud but painful moment.

We lead the game for most of the way but only by a few goals at the most. It was a vey close game. We had a few hiccups and with five mins to go were down by three. We got a crucial intercept courtesy of Francis after which the WA on the opposing team dived holding her head but no one had touched her! Their team came together and we heard one of them clearly say “if we can get one more injury we have won this.” finally the WA could continue and the game went on. We scored the goal and were down by two.

The ball came back down their attacking end and we got another turnover. Then suddenly their GS was on the ground writhing in pain with a back injury. After the clock had counted down to only one minute left on the clock and he still hadn’t gotten up we knew it was over. Without those injuries I know we would have had them.

Thankfully because we finished 2nd on the ladder we have a second chance and play the winner of 3rd vs 4th who also faced off last night. That match is next weekend. I hope we win then we can meet the team from last night who resemble the Italian soccer team, damn divers.

Ever since we’d bought Mat some awesome new cross trainers for netball and the gym, I’d been highly jealous. I love new things (yet go out of my way to get them rarely) and it had been a year and a half since I’d purchased a new pair of trainers for myself. But, I’d promised myself I would be patient, and only buy a pair when necessary.

Then I was rewarded. The sides of my shoes opened to form a gaping hole for the side of my big toe, and a new pair of shoes because a necessity rather than a want. I waited until pay day, then no sooner had the clock struck 5pm and I had finished work for the day that I was headed out the door to Rebel Sports.

I thought I would be just doing the exact same as what I’d done back at the start of 2007. Look at the Asics Netburner range, look for the most expensive, and somehow convince myself expensive meant great (although my last shoes WERE pretty awesome). But this time I had an additional requirement – they had to be good for running too. So through the process of evolution I now needed a pair of x trainers, not just shoes to be used exclusively for netball. This whole area was new for me, I was in foreign territory.

I consulted with the footwear assistant on my dilemma. He confirmed running shoes were out, as were netball shoes. Then he got technical, which I’d never had before. I stripped for him (just my shoes – get your mind out of the gutter!) and paraded up and down the catwalk, I mean, store, in just socks. At first I was comfortable with it, but then during later discussions I decided I was never doing that again. He had observed everything I hate about my feet.

He pointed out that:

1. I have extremely wide feet at the front
2. I have a normal sized heel; and
3. Therefore I don’t have a normal shaped/size woman’s foot.

I asked if that meant I should be looking at men’s shoes, and he said while they had other women that did that (and I could if I wanted to) he thought I should still aim for the women’s shoes, but that my range was now limited. By a lot. In fact, to 4 pairs of shoes out of the total store. I could have added more, but he echoed my thoughts when he said it’s not worth going for the cheap shoes – with footwear you truly are paying for quality.

My choices were limited to a pair of each of the following brands: New Balance, Brooks, Nike (although grudingly, he said they were more designed for fashion than for serious stability), and some other brand that was obviously not very good because I can’t remember it. Now I should confess here and say I’m a HUGE brand snob when it comes to my trainers. I’m usually a 3 brand girl – Asics, Adidas and Nike. And giving his pain in recommending the NIke, that one was out. The other one I can’t remember why I didn’t choose it, but it was out too.

Which left me with the New Balance and Brooks. I’ve always always always thought in my mind they were both crap brands. But I wanted new shoes, and was willing to give them a chance. We measured up my feet, where we found I also had a massive foot. 10 1/2 in women’s shoes, holy moly! He went out the back to get the sizes while I sat down with a foot complex.

He came back and explained he’d forgotten they didn’t have 1/2 size shoes when you get up to the 10’s and so on with women’s shoes, so it was 10 or 11. I tried on the size 10 of the new balance (purple and very girly) and found my toe was touching the end, it was too small. Size 11 it was (FAR OUT!). Unfortunately they didn’t have a size 11 in the New Balance either, so if I didn’t like the Brooks then it was no go for me. I tried it on, and found that surprisingly it felt pretty damn good!

New Brooks x trainers

I went for a walk in it, he pointed out the benefits of the shoes, and I tried blocking out the brand and focusing on the feel. They were light, they felt supportive, and very very stable. I was sold, and was more keen than ever to replace my current shoes with this new pair. He escorted me up the front where I paid for them (scoring a 5% discount courtesy of my gym membership thank you very much) and made my way home. As I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve actually been wearing the shoes and occasionally looking down at them. There’s just so much silver!!

The technology section on the Brooks site sounds pretty impressive. MoGo etc etc. On the back of the shoe (you can’t really see it in that picture) is a bit of plastic that has the words “HydroFlow” on it. I couldn’t find anything on the internet, but on the label it says the shoe has a “Patented silicon-based system engineered to dampen shock at impact. Dynamically disperses fluid around the heel (huh?! Cool!). Never wears out, outlives the life of the shoe). Wow!

So tonight I crossed a new path – I’ve shrugged off the brand snob label and giving a new brand a go. In just under an hour I’ll be playing my first game of netball in them, and will have to give you an update of how they went. I have a feeling I’ll be very very happy.

So Ladies C had their first win at superleague this weekend, with a strong victory over Beenleigh. Unfortunately I didn’t catch the final score, but last I’d checked it was us mid 40’s, them mid 30’s. The gap was at least 10 goals anyway. It was a great game by the girls, very patient, quick when we needed to be, and the defence was going off with lots of turnovers. Our shooters had their eyes in and it was difficult for them to miss.

But I thought I would share a story with you all, of an exciting moment for me in the last quarter. I was GK (Goal Keeper) and a rather largish girl was GS (Goal Shooter). She had been defence for their team right up until this point. So the ball comes down to the Beenleigh shooting end for the first time, and Toni was defending the GA (Goal Attack) as she took her first shot. I was standing in front of the GS, not touching but very close, getting ready to jump in case of a rebound. The very next moment, I felt her push right up into my backside in an attempt to make me step forward, and out of position. Normally I don’t mind a little bit of contact, but this was a very hard shove. So, I pushed back.

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