Football - Leg Breaking, Rib Cracking, Gum Splitting Fun
Today was one of them defining moments in a football players career. This morning, looking forward to my lunchtime game, I had to search to the back of the medicine cabinet to find ibuprofen, the magic painkiller tablet. Actually anything would have sufficed but ibuprofen was the painkiller of choice at all my old football clubs, so habits die-hard.
I needed it because my back/ribs and my body were generally hurting from a little game I had during the week. But a Sunday game was too much too resist, so out came the painkillers. 2 x 200mg did the trick.
Oh for the days when my enthusiasm and a bit of arm twisting by the coach meant I would play with a broken foot, cracked ribs, and half my lip hanging off!
West Bromwich Albion was the scene of my three heroic injury ravaged games. The first was when Paul Mardon tackled me in a training session on a Monday. All week I received treatment for the excruciating pain in my foot. No chance of playing on Saturday, I thought to myself. Friday, the boss asked me to do a fitness test. Our physiotherapist watched me hobble around the field 3 times.
“How is it”? He asked me.
“Very painful”, I told him.
“You will be ok though for tomorrow”
I looked at him in disbelief. “You’re kidding”, I said
But he wasn’t. The next day I sat in the spacious home dressing room at West Bromwich Albion, wondering how on earth I could play a professional game of Football with a limp. The physio called me into his treatment room and out came the doctor and a needle. They pumped something into the side of my bony foot and a few minutes later I could have run the marathon. The injection got me through 25 minutes of the first half before the pain started to creep back into my foot. By the end of the first half I could hardly walk straight. Half time arrived and I thought I would finally get my relief. Not so, as I was given a second injection. This was getting a bit crazy, as there was definitely something wrong with my foot. I played for a short time in the second half before having to come off. The club sent me to the Hospital for x-rays, which revealed a broken metatarsal.
What is a Broken Metatarsal?
The next injury was playing with a cracked rib. Ugo Ehiogu had elbowed me in a pre-season game against Aston Villa, and cracked my rib. Apart from being extremely painful it is possible to play with this injury. The consensus of opinion at the time was that as long as you can handle the pain, then you could play. A few hefty doses (2 x 600mg) of ibuprofen and I was able to continue playing.
The last of my injury woes was splitting my bottom lip open v Halifax, away at their stadium, live on T/V, with West Bromwich Albion succumbing to the unfortunate 1st round cup exit syndrome that afflicts all Professional Teams.
I met a cross at the near post and scored. In doing so, the defender had headed my bottom jaw and knocked my top teeth into the flesh of the inside of my mouth and bottom lip. There was blood everywhere, and no chance to be substituted as we had used all of our players. We were losing so the only choice was to carry on. I held some gauze over the chunk of flesh that was hanging out of my lip and played on. The final whistle confirmed our cup exit and I was sent to the physiotherapist room to have my mouth stitched up. I always felt bad when I lost a game, but this was a shock cup exit (us being the Golliath) and a smashed up mouth. The weekend was not a good one....
Which brings me to this very funny video I found on You Tube.
Football Injury Training
Football Injury Treatment
I needed it because my back/ribs and my body were generally hurting from a little game I had during the week. But a Sunday game was too much too resist, so out came the painkillers. 2 x 200mg did the trick.
Oh for the days when my enthusiasm and a bit of arm twisting by the coach meant I would play with a broken foot, cracked ribs, and half my lip hanging off!
West Bromwich Albion was the scene of my three heroic injury ravaged games. The first was when Paul Mardon tackled me in a training session on a Monday. All week I received treatment for the excruciating pain in my foot. No chance of playing on Saturday, I thought to myself. Friday, the boss asked me to do a fitness test. Our physiotherapist watched me hobble around the field 3 times.“How is it”? He asked me.
“Very painful”, I told him.
“You will be ok though for tomorrow”
I looked at him in disbelief. “You’re kidding”, I said
But he wasn’t. The next day I sat in the spacious home dressing room at West Bromwich Albion, wondering how on earth I could play a professional game of Football with a limp. The physio called me into his treatment room and out came the doctor and a needle. They pumped something into the side of my bony foot and a few minutes later I could have run the marathon. The injection got me through 25 minutes of the first half before the pain started to creep back into my foot. By the end of the first half I could hardly walk straight. Half time arrived and I thought I would finally get my relief. Not so, as I was given a second injection. This was getting a bit crazy, as there was definitely something wrong with my foot. I played for a short time in the second half before having to come off. The club sent me to the Hospital for x-rays, which revealed a broken metatarsal.
What is a Broken Metatarsal?
The next injury was playing with a cracked rib. Ugo Ehiogu had elbowed me in a pre-season game against Aston Villa, and cracked my rib. Apart from being extremely painful it is possible to play with this injury. The consensus of opinion at the time was that as long as you can handle the pain, then you could play. A few hefty doses (2 x 600mg) of ibuprofen and I was able to continue playing.The last of my injury woes was splitting my bottom lip open v Halifax, away at their stadium, live on T/V, with West Bromwich Albion succumbing to the unfortunate 1st round cup exit syndrome that afflicts all Professional Teams.
I met a cross at the near post and scored. In doing so, the defender had headed my bottom jaw and knocked my top teeth into the flesh of the inside of my mouth and bottom lip. There was blood everywhere, and no chance to be substituted as we had used all of our players. We were losing so the only choice was to carry on. I held some gauze over the chunk of flesh that was hanging out of my lip and played on. The final whistle confirmed our cup exit and I was sent to the physiotherapist room to have my mouth stitched up. I always felt bad when I lost a game, but this was a shock cup exit (us being the Golliath) and a smashed up mouth. The weekend was not a good one....
Which brings me to this very funny video I found on You Tube.
Football Penalty Masterclass
I took quite a few penalties during my career and only missed a couple. I spent countless hours on the training ground practicing the execution of the penalty kick. A lot of this time was without the goalkeeper in the net. My theory was that if the ball was accurate enough the keeper would be unable to get the ball regardless of whether he dived the correct way. Therefore I struck 1,000s of Footballs into both corners of the net until I felt so comfortable doing this that the day of reckoning (a penalty on match day) would be relatively easy (that's the theory).
What I was not able to do, which Cantona does so well in this video is predict which way the keeper was going to dive and then decide a split second later to strike the ball into the opposite corner of the goal.
I would pick my corner before taking the kick and focus all my thoughts and energy into placing the ball in that place. Most athletes use this kind of technique (visualization) to enable themselves to focus and not to be distracted.
Visualization :
Visualization is the process of creating a mental image or intention, of what you want to happen or to feel. An athlete can use this technique to 'intend' an outcome of a race, training session or simply rest in a feeling of calm and well-being. Or in this instance a Penalty Kick in a game of Football. By imagining a scene, complete with images or movies, of a previous best performance or a new desired outcome, the athlete will simply 'step into' that feeling. It is a common technique and proven to be very successful for many top athletes.
Cantonas high level of prediction and split second timing is phenomenal. He is not even visualizing where he is going to strike the ball, although I am sure he is visualizing a positive outcome. I believe what he is doing is waiting for the keeper to move or show him a sign in which direction he is going to dive. Up until that point Cantona has no pre-conceived idea of where he will place the ball. Cantonas approach is very straight to the ball, allowing himself to open up his body and right foot at the last minute and place the ball to the right of the keeper, or continue the more natural strike of the ball to the left of the keeper.
It's a fantastic skill and if you don't believe me try it in the park. Get a friend to go in goal and wait for him/her to move and see if you are able to place the ball with ease in the other corner.....
What I was not able to do, which Cantona does so well in this video is predict which way the keeper was going to dive and then decide a split second later to strike the ball into the opposite corner of the goal.
I would pick my corner before taking the kick and focus all my thoughts and energy into placing the ball in that place. Most athletes use this kind of technique (visualization) to enable themselves to focus and not to be distracted.
Visualization :
Visualization is the process of creating a mental image or intention, of what you want to happen or to feel. An athlete can use this technique to 'intend' an outcome of a race, training session or simply rest in a feeling of calm and well-being. Or in this instance a Penalty Kick in a game of Football. By imagining a scene, complete with images or movies, of a previous best performance or a new desired outcome, the athlete will simply 'step into' that feeling. It is a common technique and proven to be very successful for many top athletes.
Cantonas high level of prediction and split second timing is phenomenal. He is not even visualizing where he is going to strike the ball, although I am sure he is visualizing a positive outcome. I believe what he is doing is waiting for the keeper to move or show him a sign in which direction he is going to dive. Up until that point Cantona has no pre-conceived idea of where he will place the ball. Cantonas approach is very straight to the ball, allowing himself to open up his body and right foot at the last minute and place the ball to the right of the keeper, or continue the more natural strike of the ball to the left of the keeper.
It's a fantastic skill and if you don't believe me try it in the park. Get a friend to go in goal and wait for him/her to move and see if you are able to place the ball with ease in the other corner.....
Football Review - Premier League
Just got back from a relaxing Sunday league game of Football In Belize. Still able to play 90 minutes, although in 85F heat it's a bit of a stroll for me these days. I know we all complain about referees and linesman, but today I was strangled around the neck (no penalty - in fact the foul was given against me), had a header cleared off the line with a hand (no penalty - and it wasn't the goalkeepers hand) and was given offside almost every time the ball was cleared up-field to me. I really enjoyed the game though and don't get too stressed about these issues anymore..I even had a laugh and a joke with the Referee about the awful decisions, although for some reason he told me he is a coffin maker (during the half time break), which kind of threw me a bit. Not sure if he was suggesting I shut up and leave him alone.
Best to leave the stresses and pressures to the Premier league managers and players. Fox Sports TV our American Channel that shows the Premier League has just had the EPL premier league review, which I tuned into at the Belize Jungle Dome.
Thierry Henrys 1st goal today against Reading looked so simple but I just want to comment on the quality of Henry. His composure was so perfect before he slotted the ball home, it bordered on arrogance. Many players would have snatched at the shot and pulled it wide of the goal or more commonly lashed it high over the bar. Not Henry. He just calmly placed it first time into the bottom corner and the Reading Goalkeeper did not even move. Sheer Class.
After a shaky start it looks like Arsenal are firing on all cylinders now. With their game in hand over Manchester United and Chelsea and 5 straight wins, I think this year is going to be a cracking Premier League Football season. Hopefully right to the wire.
As for my old Football Clubs, Charlton and Newcastle United do not seem to be in for a good season. Charlton especially must be getting a bit nervous now, after missing out on 3 points against Watford. Amazing to think that with such a poor start to the season, Darren Bent is the joint second top scorer in the Premier League. He is undoubtedly a great talent and it won't be long before Charlton start fending off phone calls enquiring about him. If they can't start picking some wins up then keeping Bent could be tricky, especially now he has England credentials.
The Geordies will also be getting nervous and extremely disappointed as another year of failure looms. With the size of their stadium and transfer budget, anything less than top 6 is unacceptable.
Congratulations to West Bromwich Albion Football Club, who won the Black Country Derby. I played in many of these games and know that tomorrow morning the Baggies faithful will be happy to tease their Wolverhampton counterparts at work. Looks like the Baggies are marching back to the Premier League.
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