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Quite a good turnout at rollersoccer yesterday. I got two more rollerbasketball players to join in. More might join later, drawn by the possibility to be in the Dutch team for the San Fransisco rollersoccer tournament in August. There is a good chance there’ll be some rollerbasketball action going on as well.

After playing I went out for a drink with some of the guys and Annemieke. Didn’t stay long though. Too hip for me, I guess :-)

This morning I was checking some of the NBA All-stars videos. Loved the dunking competition!

The All-Star Game is on tonight. Don’t think I’ll stay up to watch it (I’d have to get up at two in the morning, and I do have a job!) so I’ll have to make do with highlights the next morning.

Lately I’ve been giving basketball training at our weekly rollerbasketball session in the Van Hogendorphal.

It’s a case of one-eye leading the blind (well, one eye squinting). All that’s different between most of my fellow players and myself is that I’ve received basketball training while they haven’t. There is a difference between receiving training and giving it though.

Not everybody is ecstatic with this development but most seem to feel a need for it. Some are very enthousiastic and come up with their own theories of how the game should be played.

My own focus is on teaching some basketball fundamentals that are sorely lacking in our game. Mostly picks (aka screens). It’s tough to teach because our game is usually very dynamic with people moving all over the place to try to get free and receive the ball. Picks require at least some of the players to stay in one place for a bit. Picks also require a great deal of team play and coordination, while mostly we tend to play solo, dribble endlessly, skate around to free spots, or even attempt to set a pick (hardly ever do I see someone attempting to receive one!) and of course go for crazy solo shots.

The site coachesclipboard.net has been a great resource for me.

Every week I spend about an hour preparing for the training session, reading up on theory, thinking of how to adapt it to rollerbasketball (having four instead of five players makes mindless applications of shoe-basketball strategies impossible) and of particular drills we could try. I hope there’s going to be a positive result at some near point in the future, that will vindicate all the time we spend on this (while we could have just been playing games).

Technorati Tags: rollerbasketball

On Autovrije Zondag (September 23rd) the Friday Night Skate violated their name and organised a tour on Sunday afternoon. The weather was lovely. Here’s a photoset.

Here’s a video of me almost killing myself. I crashed into a parked bike to avoid an oncoming bike going against the traffic. Luckily I only hurt myself. My camera was fine :-) I don’t think the film can be used as evidence. You can’t really see the bike or its rider in question. Plus, I was being a bit crazy and not very safe.

I was surprised how many cars were on the road that day. Worse, the FNS was headed by a van, playing really awful music. Why? Couldn’t they have rented a bakfiets to bring the drinks?

My first goal at RSWC 2007 in Paris ( I had two):

Assist by Joost. We went on to win the game. And the second one against the Brits.

Technorati Tags: rollersoccer

November 3rd, 2007. A black day in the history of Dutch rollerbasketball. The Berliners had organised their yearly tournament so we went, confident and with a seven man strong team. We hadn’t gone last year because of our Pakistan trip (better then than now,eh?).

First Berlin beat us. Just by a single point, but still. Then it was Hamburg’s turn, who humiliated us with a 26-9 score. 12-9 at half time, so we scored zero points in the second half.

Shame on us. We did have some criticism of the types of play allowed, but I have to concede: we had strong opposition! A lot of teams were playing zone defense, and the amount of travelling was abominable, but still: back to the drawing board, rethink our strategy!

Technorati Tags: rollerbasketball

Really cool pics of RSWC 2007 (Rollersoccer World Cup): http://blackghhost.blogspot.com/…. If the right weren’t reserved, I’d love to repost some here. Check out the Marseillans! O the memories!

Technorati Tags: rollersoccer

Just got back last Sunday from the Paris rollersoccer world cup. The Dutch team, of which I was a part made it to the quarter finals but were beaten by Belgium (4-2), whose team had a twelve year old skating prodigy! The shame!

We played two real games (and one friendly) on Friday. One against the U.S.A. (2-1 for us) and one against England (5-2 for us). Things were looking pretty good at that point.

I was in goal most of the time but when I wasn’t I managed to put myself in the right spot to score. Max and I, both rollerbasketball as opposed to rollersoccer players, scored the only goals in the matches against the U.S.A. and against Belgium. The guys who gave the rock-solid passes were more responsible for those goals though.

On Saturday, after we’d been eliminated, I went to see Mike, Marine’s dad, in town. I skated to his place from the youth hostel where we were staying. Paris is such a great skating city! I love skating there! Greg and Caroline also joined us for a bit. Good to see everybody. I’ll see Greg again this weekend when I’m in Bretagne, celebrating Greg and Marine’s grandma’s birthday. My French is gonna be tested to the limit!

After dinner I joined up with my team and those of the Americans near Châtelet. They took the metro home, I skated. Beat them by five minutes!

Sunday we stayed on to watch the finals. Marseille-Germany was an amazing game to watch! It was 0-0 at half-time but Marseille beat Germany in the second half. Kudos to their skating skills. Quick as lightning, precise passing, huge amounts of energy, a real pleasure to watch.

Technorati Tags: rollersoccer

I’ve been skating five days this past week. Rollersoccer yesterday. Feel on my ass, bad. Still hurts now. Ouch. I tried to kick at a ball but lost my balance. It’s not just my ass that hurts, my pride has also taken a beating ;-)

Joost pulled a muscle trying to stretch too far. I Hope we’ll be in one piece come the World Cup!

A world premiere! The first time a full game of rollerbasketball is available online, on the web, for your enjoyment!

This game was between the team of Bremen and the ultimately victorious team from Amsterdam at the wonderful Koblenz tournament this April. We had equal scores at half time. Partly due to a lack of good defense on my part: my opponent was tall and high scoring. We beat them in the end though.

First half:

Second half:

Some of the rollerbasketball players have been asked to join the Dutch team at the Rollersoccer World Championships in Paris this year. They’re short some players. Even though I’ve only ever played it once, I’m going! We practiced for the first time last Thursday. We should practice more as it’s coming up soon!

It’s a fun game actually, although a bit harder than rollerbasketball. At least with rollerbasketball you can control the ball pretty well, ‘cos your hands are free. Not the case with rollersoccer! The good thing as well is that you can wear wrist protection, which I’m definitely gonna buy soon!

The Dutch team won the World Cup once, so the pressure is on: