Soccer at Obsidian

[J.E. Sawyer]

I wonder if any of you folks it the 'enforcer' type - plays and tackles hard, crunchy crunch?

No slide tackling in this league, but J.R. has been carded a few times this season for hackin' dudes.

[mkreku]

No tackling makes mkreku a sad boy

 

Probably why I prefer hockey to football (soccer).

[Tigranes]

Hockey's probably a nice game, I just never had a chance to really get into it. Now football, I used to play it back in the Korean elementary schools.

 

Our periods are organised in terms of 50 minute lesson + 10 minute break, for 6 lessons, and one lunchtime. That means we used to have 4 ten-minute games and one hour-long game of football, every day.

 

Sand field, too (as overcrowded as Seoul is, grass fields are not always available). One tackle and your knees would look like a fried donkey's face.

[Pidesco]

I played on asphalt when I was a kid, and it wasn't the particularly smooth kind. Pants were necessitiy, and even then there was a large chance of you getting skinned when falling. I still have a scar on my shoulder from an especially nasty spill.

[Wombat]

I wonder if any of you folks it the 'enforcer' type - plays and tackles hard, crunchy crunch?

No slide tackling in this league, but J.R. has been carded a few times this season for hackin' dudes.

Oh, don't be silly. You wouldn't like to make someone/yourself hurt in recreation. That's not necessary risk and injury can be severe. Also, sliding tackle, although it may look cool, is rather a gamble than a basic block tackle. Missing the ball leaves the opponent free. Jockeying is often enough to distract attackers since not so many people feel confident in dealing with balls in small spaces. :) After all, unlike role-playing sessions, it's not your characters but you who are risking injuries.

[Tigranes]

I was talking more about someone who's willing to get into a bit of shoulder barging rather than tentatively stick out a leg, hound opposition players on the ball relentlessly and not back out of a fair challenge for the ball - none of this really requires the kind of silly and risky hollywood sliding tackles. It's more about the approach, and not how hard you hit them.

 

Of course, I don't really need to control myself, because basically everybody's fifty pounds heavier and half a foot taller than me.

[mkreku]

You don't really have to actually hit with the sliding tackle for it to be effective. If you do a sliding tackle on someone and miss, that guy is subconsciously going to know you're a danger to him the next time he has the ball. It's the same in every sports. A player with a doubt in his mind is going to be less effective than a player full of confidence.

[Guest The Architect]

The evasion of a sliding tackle won't necessarily weaken your confidence with the player whose slide tackle against you missed.

[mkreku]

But you will keep an eye on him the next time you have the ball near his position. You don't want to turn your back against him. It does limit you. No matter how small, it does disrupt your game. Some players are more susceptible to this, others less, but it does have a psychological effect.

[AnthonyD]

No lie about JR. I almost threw down on some dude that was coming after JR because, hey you gotta watch out for each other, right?

 

Turns out JR *DID* try and trip the dude...plus that dude was HUGE and would have killed me.

 

 

I've been out of the games for a while now because of a lung infection and because I am in a community theater show. However, in about 2 weeks the A-Train will be leaving the station, destination...PAIN*!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*probably my pain, but hey, I'm an old man now.

[Joseph Bulock]

The team's short guys tonight, I'm coming out of retirement! Due to the fact that my kicking leg is badly injured, it may be less than glorious.

[Wombat]

Of course, I don't really need to control myself, because basically everybody's fifty pounds heavier and half a foot taller than me.

Oh, from a new zealander and connection with All Blacks, I naively imagined you differently.

 

But you will keep an eye on him the next time you have the ball near his position. You don't want to turn your back against him. It does limit you. No matter how small, it does disrupt your game. Some players are more susceptible to this, others less, but it does have a psychological effect.

Seriously, never attempt sliding tackle from behind since it can cause severe injuries. When tackling, you should always go for the ball. Also, if you annoy the attackers enough, you can get a similar psychological effect. If you began to see "you-again" expressions on the opponents' faces, it means you are doing good in defense. I wonder if this is something to do with my inclination to rogue type characters in RPG. Thinking of that, I created a rogue with mobility feat in MotB... I don't do "sneak attack" but join offense when I see the opponent become exhausted and less effective since it is easier to see the movements of each player from behind: It's good to keep low profile till tactically important moment comes.

 

Turns out JR *DID* try and trip the dude...plus that dude was HUGE and would have killed me.

Friendly fire?

Seriously, sorry for your pain, AnthonyD. In any case, assuming we are doing sports for recreation, it is important to make sure nobody is injured.

[Tigranes]

I'm Asian, remember?

 

Sliding tackle from behind is valid in one instance - when you are outrunning the guy very comfortably, and loop your legs around to snatch the ball away. In outdoor football I've saved a few goals like this. However, if you get it wrong you can trip the guy up at best, or smash into his legs from the side (not from the behind). I only do it when I am very sure I am going ridiculously faster than him (say, he's stopping to shoot) and I am not going 'full in'.

 

Generally, I think the direction of the tackle is not so much a problem if you are a proper footballer; the problem is the way you tackle. I never tackle with my studs up - in fact, I am often tackling in a way so that the opponent, if he clashes with me, clashes with my shoelaces and never my studs or the tip of my toes.

 

But I agree that sliding tackle is often a last-minute measure (duh, you can't get back up) - shadowing the opponent is generally the way to go.

[Wombat]

I'm Asian, remember?

Actually, it's news to me. As far as I know, among Asians, Koreans are traditionally known for hard but clean defense, though.

 

Sliding tackle from behind is valid in one instance - when you are outrunning the guy very comfortably, and loop your legs around to snatch the ball away. In outdoor football I've saved a few goals like this. However, if you get it wrong you can trip the guy up at best, or smash into his legs from the side (not from the behind). I only do it when I am very sure I am going ridiculously faster than him (say, he's stopping to shoot) and I am not going 'full in'.

 

Generally, I think the direction of the tackle is not so much a problem if you are a proper footballer; the problem is the way you tackle. I never tackle with my studs up - in fact, I am often tackling in a way so that the opponent, if he clashes with me, clashes with my shoelaces and never my studs or the tip of my toes.

 

But I agree that sliding tackle is often a last-minute measure (duh, you can't get back up) - shadowing the opponent is generally the way to go.

If you are confident with what you are doing, I don't think the caution above would be applied to you. In my personal case, I find my strength is stamina and I keep in mind a piece of advice from Rommnel: "Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains saves both." I'm quite persistent, too.

[Adam Brennecke]

We just won our first game this season 2-1. A two goal game by J.E. Sawyer!

 

The All Black's roster this time were completely filled with Obsidian people (no friends & no pickup people) and against a really good opponent. Josh scored early on a miraculous backwards header from a throw-in by me. In the second half, the opposing team scored midway through to tie it up. Soon after, Josh scored on a breakaway from a pass by (I believe) Kevin Spangler. We played some really tight defense through the entire game and counter attacked when appropriate. It was a sweet victory!

 

Game Roster: J.E. Sawyer (Forward), Noah Evans (Forward), Adam Brennecke (Mid), Shon Stewart (D-Back), Kevin Spangler (D-Back), Andy Woo (D-Back), Joe Bulock (Sweeper) & Ben "Toben"-"Woebtz"-"The Living Legend" Ma (D-Sub)

 

Cheers!

-Brennecke

[J.E. Sawyer]

The third season of the Obsidian All-Blacks started... not well. JR, Trent Campbell, and Mark Bremerkamp (Obsidian folks and All-Black team founders) left the team with All-Black non-Obsidianites Martin, Mario, Raj, and Stefan. These individuals represented most of our best players. They went to form an A1 league team, leaving the B2 team with a much smaller and less experienced roster.

 

Our first game of the season was a super slam, 8-0. We only had seven players for the game, no subs. This week, the lineup was mostly the same, but we had a few different players and a total of eight people for the game (one rotating sub). We also had a new Obsidian team member, Kevin, playing defense. Kevin did a great job, as did everyone else. Our defense was very strong, shutting down the middle. The other team consisted of a bunch of guys from an 11 v. 11 team, and they just couldn't manage to get any shots in on the small goals from the outside. They had one extra sub. We managed to keep them to one goal for the game, and we won in the end, 2-1!

[H]

Well played, guys. Keep up the good work, and Obsidian will have the most feared football team in Orange County by the end of the season. Or soccer team, or whatever funny word you use for it at the other side of the ocean.

[Tigranes]

Wombat: I was talking more about the NZ connection, but sure.

 

Josh, the 8-0 to Obsidian? Now that's something unbelievable.

 

Lots of training? Lots of red bull? Feargie the Motivator?

[J.E. Sawyer]

No, we lost 8-0. Q__Q

[H]

Ouch. And here we thought that through some heroic effort you managed to crush the bastards, despite having only 7 players on the team. Try to compensate for your lack of practice by, I dunno, making your writers to demoralize the enemy with witticisms next time. In soccer and war...

[Guest The Architect]

No, we lost 8-0. Q__Q

 

Lol.

[Xard]

pwned!

 

... so now you guys have two teams or what? I didn't understand clearly

[J.E. Sawyer]

pwned!

 

... so now you guys have two teams or what? I didn't understand clearly

No, we have one team that is about half the size of the old one. The "new team" is half Obsidian guys, half guys who played for Obsidian but were just dudes we met at the soccer field.

[Xard]

Ah, I see

[J.R. Vosovic]

The OEI A-Team recorded its first victory against 'Somebody's Got to Lose' on Tuesday.

The team consisted of high school girls and 40-somethings, probably their dads.

 

Not kidding.

 

The race for worst record is on!

 

=P