Here are some photos from Monday evening's footsal session.
It's the second Monday evening in a row I've joined the group - they are very welcoming and encouraging. Well, they need a spare body to make up the numbers and that's where I fit in more or less!
In the team photo, I'm flashing the victory sign because I was still just about #alive after the TWO HOUR session!
This session was the most gruelling of all the ones I've joined - the three times I played in the summer, last week's and this week's. In the summer we had three teams so I had more time to rest and recover - but I also suffered much more from cramp in those warm summer evenings.
This week, just like last week, my best performance was in goal, particularly in one game where I made a lot of saves, helping us to win the game.
We rotated goalkeepers and when I was not in goal I played in defence as much as possible - I like getting in the way and tackling much more than running with the ball. I did have one good shot on goal though... but sad to say, it was saved by the goalie! Here I am playing in defence:
And here, where I've turned to block a shot that wasn't executed as the player passed the ball across the goal instead.
And one more...
Until these footsal sessions, I hadn't played a game since 2016 when I joined in a friendly chess-players' kick around in a park in Bournemouth, U.K. during the British Chess Championships. That was a fun game of "oldies" versus youngsters in which we oldies managed to win before heading off to the pub to recover. That day, I believe I did better playing football than playing chess.
The last time I played in a team was when I was at the age of 48 way back in 2011, playing for an English school team in the City League in Hiroshima. In that very last city league game I did okay but only lasted for about 20 minutes in the first half!
In those days I played either in goal or as right or left back or sometimes right or left midfield - which was tough indeed. Here's a photo of me back in the day (circa 2007) as the goalie with my two English pals and our youthful Japanese teamates:
You can get a flavour of how things were back in the first decade of the 2000s, and also way back in the mid 1990s playing footie in Hiroshima via this post on my personal blog:
https://davidhurleyinjapan.com/uncategorized/sunday-20th-may-victory-for-hiroshima/
Ah, those were the days!
Anyway, back to Monday evening. By the end of the session I could hardly run at all and barely had any strength left to kick the ball if I got possession. I'm not the oldest player in the group, but certainly the least in shape for this sort of thing!
Thinking about it later, back in the day we never played for that long. City league games were 70 minute affairs and if there were more than 11 players I'd be more than happy to be a substitute.
The heartening news is that after Monday's game, although I was exhausted I didn't suffer from much cramp and the aches and stiffness I had the next day felt "good" if you know what I mean. Not quite #aliveandthriving but feeling the benefit of having had a workout. And I feel that I am recovering faster and better than after last week's game...
The other good news is that the team manager invited me back again!
Well, I get a break next week as I'll be in Nagasaki helping my daughter move from her university dorm to an apartment near the university, but if all goes well, I'll get to play footsal a few more times during the college vacation.
Cheers!
David Hurley
#InspiredFocus