Tag Archives: Sport

Weekend of football

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Oh boy, what a most awesome weekend ahead.

Tonight, as I write this post I am watching the Adelaide v Melbourne game in the A-League (I only cheer for Harry Kewell tho). Tomorrow morning I head to the beach for 5 hours of lifesaving patrol, before watching Brisbane take on Sydney in the soccer again.

Sunday we have the Trans-Tasman test (Australia v New Zealand) in the Rugby League before the same two nations go head-to-head again in the Rugby Union World Cup semi final. Important bragging rights there! Those two games will be viewed in amongst a BBQ at C’s house with friends.

So yes, it’s definitely the weekend of football!! I guess I will need to get my rest when I can; I’ve got lots of cheering to do! Go Harry/Brisbane/Australia/Australia!!!

Possibly brilliant, possibly dumb: I’m going back to netball

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Let me take you back to a time…a time long, long ago. Where a girl called Kelly freely roamed the netball court, playing up to 5 games a week. A time where she was able to jump, catch, stop, turn, pass and run without a care in the world. A time where she had only a week before played in the biggest game of her life, a superleague grand final (losing the final but still being thrilled with 2nd place for the season). A time when nothing held her back.

And then this happened:

Last Thursday I was unlucky enough to bust my knee during a game of Netball. I’m not sure what happened exactly, if it dislocated or not, but it felt like my knee went one way and my body went another. Long story short and two days later I am on crutches with a big puffy knee that I can’t put much pressure on.

Three months later, it was followed by this:

My knee just after my knee reconstruction surgery

That was in December of 2008. After 2.5 years I’m finally making my way back to the netball court, under the blessings of my physio. I should point out this is also NOT under the blessings of my sister or one of my best mates. I believe their statements were along the lines of “you’re a dickhead”.

I won’t lie to you all. I’m scared, very scared. I don’t want to hurt myself, and I know that I run the risk of doing so by stepping back onto the court. Realistically though, every single person who partakes in any sport is taking a risk, and it would be foolish to believe otherwise. I’ve been doing my exercises and I’ve put in the hard yards with the physio. My body is as ready as it’s ever going to be.

I’ll also confess and say that it wasn’t my idea to get back out there. Truth be told, I probably wouldn’t be out there if C hadn’t asked me to join his team. I’ve had a few offers from friends and I’ve turned them down because it was easy to ignore them, but when C challenged me I accepted. He’d timed it perfectly.

I’ve had the craving to play again before but I’d always been able to push the thought to the back of my mind. A few weeks ago I watched the final between Australia and New Zealand, and was literally standing in the middle of the living room screaming at the defence to get an intercept. I felt the rush of the game come flooding back, and I wanted to play. C saw that, asked, and I accepted. I know I’m not doing this under any pressure from him at all, I’m going back because I want to. I’m scared, but I’m also nervously excited.

The most important thing is that I need to have realistic expectations for myself so I don’t get frustrated. I need to understand and accept that I’m not going to be as fast as I used to be, or that I won’t be able to move my feet as quickly as I could. I need to realise that it’s OK that I’m going to be afraid on the court the first time, and that I won’t be playing like a superstar (not that I ever did in the first place). I can only do my best and be proud of myself for being brave enough to get out there. I’m not sure how I’ll respond when I get out there; whether I’ll be afraid of people coming near me or if I’ll just stay rooted to the same spot for fear of moving. I might also go to the completely opposite end of the scale, and feel my competitive nature come flooding back as I play harder than I’ve ever played before.

I believe there will be some huge benefits in it for me. By playing again and seeing that my knee holds up I won’t be afraid of doing a fitness test anymore, one that I’ve been putting off for about a year now. That more than anything has really held me back; it’s the dark black thought niggling at the back of my mind saying “you’re afraid, you’re so pathetic, you’re afraid”. It’s true; I’ve been afraid to put my knee under the strain of the test, which meant that I wasn’t able to apply for the police service (I need to pass the beep test as part of the application process). My physio believes that while my knee is ready to return, he thinks I’ll psych myself out. I think that once again he’s spot on. Time to be brave and overcome my fears.

Wish me luck. I’m afraid, but I’m excited.

Kelsbells the netballer is back.

 

Just one of the boys

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Last night I went to a friend’s house for a few drinks for his birthday. There was about 15 – 20 people there, we played music, ordered pizza for dinner and generally passed the time chatting. It was a bit of a quiet one, but after the last few drunken weekends I’ve had recently I certainly welcomed the sobriety.

I met a guy there who was interested in soccer, which unfortunately that’s a rarity for me – the Sunshine Coast is very much an NRL based town. Ee spent about 20mins chatting about the game, when suddenly he said:

You really do know about sport don’t you? You’re just one of the boys!

That kinda got me thinking.

I have been told I’m one of the boys on more than one occasion (due to my love for camping and non-fussed attitude to getting dirty) but it was kind of a shock to really see it picked up upon by a stranger so fast. I still find it incredible that a woman being interested in sport is so unique. For state of origin my housemates and I organised a gathering of friends, and I was one of the ones up front yelling for most of the game. In comparison, I had female friends on facebook updating their status with notices that they were boycotting the game, and did any other girls want to join them?

Hell no!

In response I wrote this tweet, which was picked up pretty quickly by the people that follow me on twitter and re-tweeted numerous times:

I have played a lot of sport in my life, so I’m certainly no stranger to the thrill of a good game. I have felt passion for the industry on more than one occasion during important games – grand finals etc. As a spectator, it is still so easy for me to become so caught up in a game and really get excited about it. I lost my voice for three days after the Brisbane Roar grand final, and when I was 7 I bawled my eyes out thinking that the Maroons losing the state of origin series meant it was the end of the world!

I challenge you to watch that video of the last 5mins of the grand final and not get excited. Being at that game is something I will treasure for the rest of my life, it was magical! You can actually see me in the crowd at 4mins 08sec jumping up and down screaming after Erik’s goal that brought the Roar back even with Central Coast Mariners at 2-0 and forced it into a penalty shoot-out. If you listen to the sound of the crowd, you can also see why I lost my voice.

Going back to what was said about me being one of the boys, I think that’s one of the trait’s that I most like about myself (I’m only just coming to appreciate myself as a person). I’m not a girly girl by any means – I can think of a lot better things to do with my time than go and get a manicure/pedicure and talk about the latest happenings on some soap opera on tv (although no offense to those that do get enjoyment from that sort of thing). I don’t like dresses, and you’re more likely to find me in a sports stadium than a shopping centre, but hey? If it means that I can sit down and have a conversation with interesting people that I’ve only just met, then what could possibly be the downside in that?

I’m one of the boys, and I’m proud of it.

**Update**

I think I went entirely in the wrong direction with this post, and wasn’t very clear at all. I guess the points I wanted to make were:

  1. Why is it still surprising when women know something about sport?
  2. There are still a lot of people that just don’t see the magic of sport (and I know I’m being biased against them, but that’s because I love sports. I also incorrectly made this a gender issue, and I shouldn’t have)
  3. I’m a tomboy at heart :-)

Apologies for the original and confusing post!

First post as an assistant coach

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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?

New car – Suzuki Swift Sport

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New Suzuki swiftRecently Mat and I decided we would jump in head first and actually admit we’re a couple by doing something couples do – putting funds together. To reward ourselves we would invest in a new car, something we had been pining after since having so many recent problems with my own Suzuki Vitara and his Patrol. We needed something to run around town, to look nice, and take us the distance when needed as well. It had to be comfortable, it had to be the kind of car that wouldn’t need Mat to modify it in ANY way once we purchased it, and it had to be absolutely awesome.

The Suzuki Sport immediately jumped out at us.

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