Handball Update

So I started off at a club called Valur. Locals told us that it is the best club in town. The coaches are best, ex-Olympians, and due to the house I was supposed to be at that was the closest club. Therefore, I would be playing with Valur. So the club facilities are really nice. Fun atmosphere and all that good stuff. Really cool place. Great teams. My team was the Division 3 ('93-'91) and the girls did not impress me all that much. Started off with not a warm welcoming at all. But that's ok, some aren't good at first impressions. The first practice was so lame. Basically walked around the whole time, scrimmaged (slow as malicious pace) and then slight conditioning at the end. And I OWNED that cause those girls were so outta shape. I couldn't believe it. But I decided to stick it out. So I went there rest of the week to Valur. The coach did not talk to me that much. All my directions and awarness to anything had to go through the girls. Most of them, I could tell, didn't really enjoy explaining stuff in English to me so I kinda felt bad asking. So I just kinda hid in the shadows until I knew what I was doing. Although, there was one girl there - Este maybe - who was super nice to me. She was easily the best on the team and you could see her genuine heart and friendly personality. So she was definitely my go-to girl!

Anyway, I started attending some of the Division 4 ('94-'95) practices to get a full load and as much possible in. That coach was really awesome. Spoke more English than the D3 coach and the girls were really young, but funny. The practices went a lot better too. They were working on tactics so even though I couldn't understand a thing, the coach was moving around and using great tone and actions so I could follow a lot easier. I learned a lot about defensive positioning. Which is good! I had no idea about any of that! ha.

Ok, moving on with the week, Callie got a phone call from one for the boy's houses and they decided they really wanted to take a girl. So with my original family still outta town I went to meet them one night, and moved in the next day. I was kinda upset about it at first because I was going to be an hr bus ride from Valur. Not fun with 930 practices... So, after I moved in I went to Valur twice and said I have got to find a closer club. And in Hofnarfjordur there are two, and one happens to be about a 5 min walk and 2 min bike ride from my house. It is called Hauker. So i called that coach and explained everything and why I was here, he loved it. I met him the next day at his younger boys team, watched that practice, then practiced with the girls D3 team on Sunday. The girls were SO excited to have me! All introduced themselves (still have no idea how to say over half their names) and I can tell they are eager to help me learn.

The first practices Coach Kathy actually got to come watch and we did some drills then worked on 1v1 moves. So unlucky for Karin, she got stuck with me. But lucky for me, she was SOOO helpful. We were working on the swim move. She taught me o so much- footwork, steps, arm position, a ton. And the coach was very positive and talkative. He explains stuff in Icelandic, then asks if I understand, usually I say no, then he tells me in simpler terms, aka English.

My average week will look like this (I am in the middle of my first week with Hauker so it could be different) but sundays is a slower practice were we work on 1v1 stuff. Mondays are weights. Tuesdays we work on tactics and different plays. Wed we do shooting. Thurs is the only off day. Fridays we play in friendlies. Sat I'm not sure what we will do. Then we shall start it all over again.

Monday was really fun because we were all in the weight room, no coach, just lifting weights and talking. I finally asked if they could have an English speaking contest so that I could know what the heck they were talking about! lol. So they laughed and it definitely broke the ice. They started involving me in more conversations and asking questions about me and stuff. A great way to start off everything. Learned a lot about them and stuff. That was cool.

So far my favorite drill has been a game we played to warm up. I would classify it as a dodgeball type game, but maybe not. So everyone gets inside the 6m and there is one ball. If you have the ball you don't have any steps and you have to hit someone. If you get hit, remember who it you and sit down. If the person who hit you gets hit and sits down, you get to stand up. The objective is to get everyone down. p.s. I won! haha.

Tonight was one of my favorite practices. Started off with an awesome bike ride in the rain through puddles to the gym! It was the shooting type practice tonight and I learned so much. I learned the proper way to fake a shot and drop it behind me. I have been playing center back and learning SO much. It is the play maker position so I have to keep up. But it took a little bit of watching and a few attempts to get it, but I am doing better. Then we did some shooting stuff, and I asked if coach could help me improve my shot. So while the team was doing the drill, he took me against a wall and helped me. He is way awesome. Totally wants me to improve...get quality of a good coach. Then I jumped back in line and did a lot better. After practice he stayed just 5 min extra with me and improved it even more ( I need to jump UP and not in, its a difficult task. Soccer skills do not mix with handball, I'll tell you that much).

Anyway, I love Hauker. It is just all around a better place for me to be. We play a friendly match on Fri night at 6. Not sure if I'll play, but I will definitely keep you updated. The girls all added me on facebook! and they want to do a team dinner or something to get to know me... I love those girls. Stay updated. I may do like a once a week handball blog. Maybe. This will most definitely be the longest, sorry about that! :)