Getting Out There
Right, so today was all about trying to smack that ball into the top corner. You know, the kind of goal that looks dead good on the telly. Felt like I needed to actually practice something specific instead of just booting the ball around like usual. So, I grabbed my old ball, the slightly scuffed one, and headed down to the local park.
The Setup (or lack of it)
Didn’t have proper goals, obviously. Just used a couple of trees as posts, like we always did as kids. Marked out a rough spot to shoot from, not too far, not too close. The ground was a bit lumpy, which already felt like excuse number one brewing in my head. But whatever, gotta start somewhere, right?
Kicking Off
First few shots? Rubbish. Honestly, all over the place.
- One went so high it nearly cleared the trees completely.
- Another dribbled pathetically towards the ‘goal’.
- A few sliced way off to the side, almost hitting a dog walker (sorry!).
It’s funny, you watch the pros do it and think, “yeah, just gotta hit it right”. But actually doing it? Whole different story. My technique felt clumsy. Was I leaning back too much? Kicking with the wrong part of my foot? Who knows. Just kept hoofing it.
The Grind
Spent a good hour just doing the same thing over and over. Fetch the ball, place it, run up, kick, fetch again. It gets boring, man. And frustrating. You start thinking about other stuff, like what’s for dinner, or that annoying email from work yesterday. That’s the problem, my focus drifts. I kept telling myself, “Just aim for that top bit, that branch!” but the ball just wouldn’t listen.
Tried adjusting stuff. Took a longer run-up. Took a shorter one. Tried to curl it. Tried to blast it. Nothing seemed to click consistently. Got one or two that were close, hit the ‘post’ (the tree trunk), which just made me more annoyed, really. It’s like, almost there, but still not good enough. Reminds me of trying to fix that leaky tap last week – felt like I was making progress, then bam, still dripping. Same feeling.
Any Luck?
After what felt like ages, and my leg starting to feel a bit tired, I focused one last time. Really tried to picture it going in. Took my run-up, connected… and it actually went where I wanted! Flew straight, dipped just right, and nestled into the top corner between the branches. Well, maybe ‘nestled’ is generous, it smacked a branch on the way in, but it went in the right spot!
Just the one, mind you. Tried a few more after that to see if I’d cracked it, but nope, back to the usual wild shots. Still, getting that one felt pretty good. A small win.
Wrapping Up
So yeah, that was the session. One decent top corner shot out of maybe fifty? Sixty? Not great odds, but better than none. Packed up, feeling knackered but slightly satisfied. It’s clear this needs way more work. Maybe next time I’ll try from a different angle or something. Or maybe I’ll just go back to blasting it aimlessly. We’ll see.
