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.