Reflection

As I wrap up this blogging project, the last post on this blog will be about how I've changed over the course of the last year. I've changed a bit in the last year. I've become more proactive in the last year. Before I would always procrastinate everything. I was really lazy, if I could wait to do something, I would wait until the last possible minute to do it. Now I've done a better job with my time management and getting stuff done on time. Now I have more free time than I did before and the quality of what I do has improved. Also the amount of effort I put into things has increased. Before I would do things halfway and then just give up a lot. I wouldn't really finish things that I started. Also in sports I wouldn't put in as much effort as I could and now I've been putting more effort into what I do.

Image courtesy of The Shot Doctor

I've gotten bigger, faster, stronger over the course of the last year. I've started going to the gym and have been training a lot harder. Last year I couldn't last an entire game. If we were playing a good team I would be done by the half. Now I've been able to last longer. Not the entire game yet, but I can swim harder, longer and that has made me a better player. I've also developed a lot of my skills. My overall fitness level has increased as well as my health. This blogging project has also given me a new perspective on writing and I've learned a lot about this type of writing. Blogging isn't the same as writing an essay. It's a completely different style and requires a lot more creativity to write. I found that it can actually be kind of fun. 

3rd Best Team in the State

We played what a team that many people considered to the third best team in the state. They had some really big kids on their team. At least 2 of them were 6'4 and they had a few others that were almost as tall. We knew it was going to be a hard game. The first quarter didn't go so well. We were down 5 to 1 at the end of it. Their counter attacks were just too good for our defense. That was the only way the scored goals. When they set up their offense, they couldn't score on us. The second quarter went a lot better. We started to play better and stop their counters. At the half the score was 6 to 3. The come back was real.

Image courtesy of Telegraf

At half time we really thought that we could come back and win the game. In the middle of the third quarter we were only down by 2. The score was 9 to 7. But then, things started to go downhill and by the end of the third they pulled ahead to make it 12 to 8. It just kept getting worse from their. They scored a quick goal at the start of the fourth and then coach took out half of the starters and left me in with most of the second team. I had no idea what he was doing and by the end of the game the score was 16 to 8. We let them score 4 more goals in the fourth. It was a really close game at one point, but we just let it go. It was a game we could have one, and I think that if we play them again, we have an actual chance at winning.

First Game of The Season

Last week, we had our first game of the season. The team we played was really bad, and after the first quarter we were up 9 to 0. I scored 3 of those 9 and after the first quarter he took out everyone that was starting and put the newer kids in. It was a good opportunity for them to get some game time against a team that wasn't very good. They did a really good job, and at half time the score was 16 to 1. I played for most of the third quarter, but I didn't play for any of the fourth. The final score of the game was 23 to 9. The same guy scored all of the other teams 9 points. He wasn't even good. I played defense on him in the first half and he would try to shoot from 7 meters and I stuffed him almost every time. He would also try to kick me in the face every time we were swimming down. After a while it got really annoying, and I wanted to straight up hit him in the face. He never actually hit me, so I wasn't that mad about it, but it was still getting on my nerves.  

Image courtesy of RTS

Overall, the game went really well and it was a good way to start out the season. Lots of the newer players got game time and we stomped the other team. They shouldn't of scored 9 goals. They really shouldn't of scored at all. We lots of games coming up and I can't wait to see how good we are going to get this season. 

Practice Again

Water Polo practice finally started agian and I am really excited about the upcoming season. High School swimming ended and we had the State swim meet. We won the meet by a lot. The other teams weren't even close and it was a good way to end my first year of high school swimming. Now I can switch to my main focus, which is water polo. We've had practice for a week now, and it feels great to get back into the swing of things. So far we've only been going over the basics, but I can't wait until we get into some new stuff. Our first game is this week and it'll be interesting how well we do. We have some knew people and our coach isn't very good at explaining things, so I don't know if they actually understand anying.

Image courtesy of Water Polo Planet

We have a lot of games this week, and many more to come. I think that we have at least one every week and somethimes even 2. This will go on all the way to May. That is when state championships are. I'm just really happy that swimming finaly ended and water polo started. I'm ready to see all the people I hated in the fall again and beat them. I'm not gonna lost to Pork Chop again.

Too Many Swim Meets

For the past 2 weeks we have had a swim meet every week and we have 2 more in the next 2 weeks. It just too many. I don't understand why there is a swim meet every single week. It's pointless. I'm not gonna go any faster than I did the week before. There is no reason to have a swim meet every week. The only good thing that comes out of it is that we get to miss practice once a week. Normally swim meets are on a Wednesday and that is distance day. I hate distance. So that makes it a little bit better, but one every week is still way too many. One time we had 2 swim meets in one week. One was on Wednesday and the other was on Friday. Why? There is no reason to have them 2 days apart. There should be maybe 2 meets a month. Not 2 a week.

Image courtesy of The Epoch Times

One more problem with swim meets is that you get home a lot later than when you get home from practice. The worst are away meets. I get home really late, and then have to do homework and other stuff and it's really annoying. Even home meets. They take too long. Also they are right after school and I just don't feel like I can swim fast right after school. High school swimming will be over soon, and I'll go back to club swimming, where we only have 1 or 2 a month, which is a lot better.

Practice

Last Saturday, we had a random practice. I thought it would be fun, but some guys from a different team showed up, and I have no idea why. They were really annoying. There was one kid there that thought he was hot stuff. He was a big dude, not fat, but really beefy. He acted like he was the boss of all of us and we were all so done with him and the 2 other guys he brought with him. I don't even know who invited them. I showed up and was like,"Who the hell are these random kids". I was pissed off from the start and that kid just made it worse. 

Image courtesy of Water Polo

At the start of practice we did some swimming drills and he started talking about how fast he is at swimming and stuff. He told me his times, and it turns out that he actaully sucks. He was at one of our high school swim meets and his stroke was the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life. It was so bad. After that, we started to play a game. In the middle of the game, the coach stopped it to talk about something and coach said that someone needed to get to a certain position and that kid said, "like that'll happen". That pissed me off, and probably even more my teammate who was guarding him. 

New Years

So this post is a little off topic and a little late, but I want to talk about new years and all the great things upcoming in 2015. The first thing I want to talk about though, isn't so great. Its about all the people that when you show up to school again after the new year and they say, "I haven't seen you since last year". It is actually the most annoying thing and I want to punch the kid in the face when they say that. Its just like "stop". We all get it. Its a new year, but it doesn't mean you have to get even more annoying. The next thing is that I'm still gonna be writing 14 on all my papers for the next 4 months until I finally get it right. I just got used to writing the year, and now it changes. Also my sleep schedule is so messed up. I've been staying up untill 2 am all break and sleeping till 10. Now I have to wake up at 6 and on the first day back, it was the hardest thing. I'm so tired right now.

Image courtesy of water polo world

Swim practice over the break was also a lot better. There were only about 10 people that showed up, so almost everyone got their own lane, which was really nice. I hate it when there are a lot of people in the lane. It's just too crowded and you can't swim the way you want too. Now that normal high school practice is back, there are at least 7 people in each lane, and in many there are more. It is so much better when you have your own lane. On a positive note, the water polo season starts in about a month and a half and I am so excited for it to start. We are a 3A school so at state we don't play any of the really good teams that have destroyed us in the past, so we have a shot at winning state this year. It would be awesome to win state and I'm just ready to play water polo agian. Swimmings fun, but Its just not the same.

Another Game

So last weekend we had 2 games against kearns. We hadn't practiced in over 2 months so no one expected to do very well, but it was more just for fun. The first game we played was the JV game. It went a lot better than I thought it would. There was some kid that played with us who was visiting Park City, and he helped out a lot. He was pretty good. I had a good game, especially for not playing the past 2 months. I scored 3 goals and one of them was the 2nd best goal I have ever scored. I swam down the middle of the pool and my defender was on my feet. There was also one to my left and one more behind the person chasing me. I got the ball, turned around doged the person behind me. Then the two other people came at me and I went right between them and shot it. It looked a lot more epic then it sounds. Trust me, you had to be there. In the end we won the game by one point. It was a really close game and really fun to play in.

Image courtesy of  water polo world

The second game didn't go as well. It was a varsity game and we were playing the team that one state 16-2. Some of their starters weren't there, but still. They are a really good team. The first quarter wasn't too bad, we were only down by 3. The second quarter however was a total slaughter. They just destroyed us. They were up by 6 at the end of the half. Our excuse was that we haven't played in 2 months, but it was a really bad quarter. The second half went better. We both scored 6 points in the second half, but I think it was more because they stopped trying than us actually playing better. They had some really big guys on that team. Some were definatly double my body wieght. It wasn't that good of a game, but it was just fun to be playing water polo agian. The seasons starts up agian in February and I am so excited for that.

People Need To Swim

There are not many swimmers on our water polo team. There a couple football player, a hockey player and some people that just joined and don't play any other sports. The biggest problem we have is that There are only 3 people that are on the swim team. One of them just joined, and he is not that fast. So really there are only 2 people that are fast on our team. Other teams can destroy us on counters, because their guys can out swim most of our guys. When we set up our defense is really good, but our transition defense is really bad. We need more people to start swimming. It would help us so much if everyone on the team could out swim everyone on the other team. I need to get the team to be on the swim team, or just swim in general, because they are really bad. I can get 3 body lengths on basically everyone on the team and there is one kid thats faster than me. He is our sprinter and we haven't lost a sprint since he joined the team. The rest of our team on the other hand, has to swim. Also our counter attacks are pretty bad.  Luckily that's like the only thing we have been working on in practice the last week.

Image courtesy of JeffCable

The people on my team are kind of clueless when it comes to counter attacks. We go over it a lot in practice, but when it comes to a game it just doesn't happen. Everyone forgets what we did all week in practice and they all just swim straight to the goal. There is no organization. Nothing. Everyone is just swimming around like a chicken with its head cut off. It gets real old real fast having to yell at everyone to go where they are supposed to every time there is a turn over.

Image courtesy of NeslsonNDHS

Except in practice when we are doing a counter attack drill, we can do it perfectly fine. I just don't get it. In a game no one can do a counter attack right, but in practice we can. Does everyone else on the team just like freak out and just start swimming to the goal during the game? or what? I makes no sense to me. How do you do something perfectly in practice, but then when it comes to game time we just forget everything and do it all wrong? We have championships in two weeks and I hope we can get it together before then so that we can win our game.