Community footy writer, Beth Newman, added some different elements to her footy routine this week.
Coming back to footy was a heck of a lot better than I’d imagined.
After three weeks with no games, I was really pumped to get a chance to play a game.
One of the major lessons I got out of it, though, was there’s no substitute for match fitness.
I’ve trained regularly over the last three weeks but it was still a brutal introduction back into the game.
We played 16 a-side against Caboolture, which played into our hands a little bit, given our fitness.
I changed up my routine this week, and added a triple-shot coffee pre-game.
In the Queensland ‘winter’ weather, it was pretty warm and after a couple of run throughs, I was kind of regretting having caffeine, and dairy, just before the match.
But it turned out to be exactly what I needed (or just a happy coincidence, really).
I think the extra energy may have improved my intensity at the ball – whether that is good or bad, remains to be seen.
What followed was one of our best games of the season – we kicked 10.2 and 8.0 to start with, and ran out to our second win of the season.
Not only are we now well and truly off the bottom of the ladder, but we are also finalists in our competition – the SEQAFL Women’s League Division 2.
With one more home and away game to go, it’s pretty exciting to think we’ve already gotten ourselves into September (or August, as the case may be).
Another interesting turn of events this week, was a shake up to my raining schedule.
With the NEAFL Super Round, I have to work during our normal Friday night training, so I went to one of the club’s guys teams’ training, on Thursday night.
I hope it was worth it, because my body is certainly paying for it a bit today.
It’s not the first time I’ve done this, and a number of the other girls also go, but every time it opens my eyes a bit to the different approaches of guys to girls.
While the skills aren’t necessarily the best, given that the guys are playing in Division 3 and 4 and many are relatively new to footy, there is still continuation.
All of the guys back each other up and talk to each other throughout drills and that ensures they don’t’ just stop halfway through.
It also makes you pick your skills up and keep going.
To be fair, there are more people in each drill and therefore more rest time, but it was a different experience to train with the boys, for sure.
The more I train, the more I realise how much it affects you on game day.
The mistakes that I make in training are generally the same ones that happen during a game, so for the last fortnight (or more, depending on how long the season lasts), I’m doing everything I can to commit at training and improve on game day.
