Navel-gazing, and Ultimate Training

You all love me right now. You don't know you do, but you do. You love me for my "NO POSTING FOR 24 HRS AFTER A BAD GAME!!!!" policy. Because that policy saved you from having to read some really whiny, self-doubting, depressing, melodramatic bitching and moaning about how much I suck. See? Aren't you glad I have that policy? Because I almost broke it. I almost came home from a 7-1 Hawks loss (on the heels of a 3-2 Quarry Cats loss that I beat myself up over too) and posted "Ok you know what this is how I really feel..." Cue spewage.

But I've had a day to brood, which has actually been kind of productive because I've managed to do some decent analyzing. I really think I'm starting to hate the number 7, which used to be a favorite, because that seems to be the magic number in terms of goals against. Disgusting, I know. But, I tried to objectively figure out what was going wrong, and what I came up with was this- it seems like a lot of goals are a result of rebounds going back out in front or weird bounces. And when I say weird bounces I mean it goes in off me. I make the save initially but it bounces off me (arm, glove, poorly angled stick) and into the net. So I know what I need to work on, and am getting some help from the good folks over at the boards on GoalieCrease.net.

That lopsided loss somewhat dampened my excitement over Something Really Cool, or I would have been blogging about that a day ago too. Right before we left for the game I discovered I had won a copy of Ultimate Goalie Training.... the training program I've been coveting since I found out it existed. Huge goalie bear-hugs to Maria, who picked me as one of the winners for the Butterfly Widening Challenge. (I gained 5 inches, in case anyone was wondering. Which doesn't seem like much, but as we have been snickering about on the boards, who doesn't want an extra 5 inches?) The prize was none other than UGT, and I was ecstatic. I've downloaded all the videos and printed all the handbooks (thank you, work, for the use of your color copier... shhhh....) and am kind of overwhelmed by how comprehensive it seems. I have a LOT of reading to do before I even get started. Yes, I'm one of those "read the instructions first" types of people. I want to read through everything, watch all the videos to familiarize myself with the exercises, and map out a plan to get started.

I absolutely love that all this can be done at home and does not require a gym membership. I need to pick up a few simple things (dumb-bells, a bungee, and a mirror so I can make sure my form is right), but I think this is going to be really fantastic. I have to be honest, I'm pretty intimidated. But I need to do this. I need to be disciplined and do this. So if any of you want to harass me from time to time and make sure I'm sticking to my schedule, feel free.

Twelve weeks. Twelve weeks to being a better goalie. I do have to be realistic- due to work and game schedules it might take slightly longer than 12 weeks. But I'm going to do it, and try not to let the schedule get screwed up too much. Yikes. Here goes nothing!