Posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Welcome to the summer blog for all you newbies or welcome back if you are regular readers. This is where you can read about the exciting lives of your favourite Giants player (me) and your second favourite Giants player (David Phillips). And you will only hear about Davie if I decide to write about him! I was thinking about changing the name of the blog, I find it hard to call it a “Summer blog” seeing as it is raining here almost every day, so maybe we shall make it the “Off Season Blog”. I know everyone told me not to stay here in the summer and that the weather is rubbish, but come on, mix in some sun please!
So, life with Mr Phillips, what is that like? I know you are all dying to know. It has been a learning experience shall we say. There is a little age difference between young David and myself, 7 years to be exact! I have lived away from home for 15 years, David has lived away from Hull for 1. I know how to wash dishes, hoover and dust, need I say anymore? haha In all honesty though, it has been a blast so far. Davie has a great view on life and is a lot of fun to hang out with. I have some classic stories already but you are going to have to ask me about those in person, there is a word limit on these blogs!
We have been very busy the last 3 weeks doing school fitness visits. The visits have been sponsored by Spar (in case anyone was going out for some milk or bread tonight!) without them they would not be possible. We have been to about 12 schools so far, teaching fitness and coaching the youngsters in some of the basic hockey skills with the plastic uni hockey sticks. It has been a lot of fun so far and it”’’s nice to offer a different sport option to the kids that they may not normally have had. Some of the kids have played field hockey before and have some good stick skills already. Even the others that have never even held a hockey stick seem to pick it up very quickly.
Our summer off ice gym training started a couple weeks ago (Esporta in case anyone was looking for a new gym!) It has just been Mr Phillips and myself for now, although we have seen some older guys such as Coach Thornton and Assistant Coach Johnson hanging around the gym too. It is always nice to get back in the gym at the start of the summer, but not good the next day as you are usually very stiff from not lifting weights during the season. We are going about 4 or 5 days a week right now, doing weights, cardio and some basic strength exercises. In July we will mix in some more speed drills, some sprints and circuits preparing us for getting back on the ice in August.
In finishing, I really like the way the team is coming together. I think we have made some great signings so far, Steve and Todd have done a great job as usual bringing in quality players and people to the organization. Murphy will do an excellent job replacing Stevie Lyle and it is like having an extra import when you can add a Brit of that standard to your line up. I think we can build on the great season we had last year and add some more hardware again this year.
I hope everyone is enjoying the off season so far. If you ever see us about town be sure and stop us for a chat, I am always up for some good summer hockey banter!
Shieldsy
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