Some thoughts

My back is still pretty sore, but it seems that I only pulled a muscle and it knotted up. It was loose for a couple days, but the tournament stressed it and, during last night's practice, I tweaked it again, trying to rush a backhand huck. I need a massage something terrible.

The tournament itself was about what I expected, although the team did not preform as well as I thought it would. We talked a lot about working on fundamentals and having no expectations for winning games, but I feel like that limited us a little bit. We had two close games that were definitely within reach, and in one way or another we threw them both away. The handlers were less cohesive than I hoped for, and it was a little frustrating to not be able to improve that situation myself, since I was a cutter. Overall, I think I played well--I had a couple drops, but I made up for them with a number of d's, a fair number of assists and several scores. I kinda wish we videotaped the games, or at least kept stats, but whatever.

As a team, we definitely improved. I've always felt that tournaments are the best way to practice, for many reasons: the intensity of having back-to-back games, the increased stress and pressure, and the difficulty of adjusting to another team's playing style. Of course, without team practices we would never be able to function well over a season. Practices, indeed, have been going well. The tournament at Penn State should be telling, but I'm a little worried--at practice last night, after I tweaked my back, I couldn't really cover anybody in the drill, and it sucks not being able to sprint on defense. Hopefully it will be fine by Sunday night, and I can shut down my man properly.

Running Scared

I may have a repeated-stress injury from ultimate. I developed a pain in my lower back, right side near my spine, which feels muscular in nature (possibly erector spinae? or maybe the one that twists the torso). At first, it was a minor twinge whenever I tried to huck, possibly originating at States back in June. It bothered me off and on during the summer, but now that I've been practicing, I feel it whenever I huck. Yesterday was the worst it has ever been, where I felt pain during running, changing direction, etc...it probably did not help that yesterday was the first time we practiced marking and pivoting. It still hurts, and my hamstrings are crazy tight. So I'm worried.

I did a little research, and my guess--essentially based on where I think it hurts and a google search--is that I might have degenerative disc disease. I'm going to the sports-medicine doctor at Hurtado on Wednesday, but the Rutgers home tournament is the Sat-Sun immediately afterward.

I hope it's just a sore muscle, something that I can recover from with a little rest and exercise after the tournament.