Recognition

Because my life in Australia has been uneventful over the past two weeks, I would like to recognize one of my very good friends for his outstanding achievements.

A new ESPN website launched this week, Grantland.com, which will feature one of my oldest friends, Robert Mays, as a writer. This is an incredible opportunity for Robert to display his unique writing talents and insights, and I would encourage everyone to visit Grantland.com when they have the time, just be sure to visit his columns frequently so that he can get a pay raise soon.

Robert chose to pursue his dreams of being a sports columnist because he idolized Bill Simmons, a popular ESPN columnist, who is now his boss. I know that Robert has worked incredibly hard to achieve his dreams, although being paid to attend sporting events hardly seems like difficult work. His strength of will and exceptional talent as a writer helped him to accomplish his goals much quicker than I think even he would have though possible. Because of his successes I am reminded of the rewards you receive for putting in the extra work that is necessary to accomplish your goals, his successes give me hope that I will soon be achieving my dreams in becoming a professional soccer player in a top division.

I would also like to say happy birthday/ happy father’s day to my dad. His presence in my life is another constant reminder that hard work and dedication are important traits if you hope to be successful and happy with your life. Now, if only you would teach me how to grow a half decent moustache! I love you Dad!

Moving on to soccer, we have played in two matches since my last blog, winning both games. We won our big match against Rochedale 3-0, I hope everyone caught the highlights on the washingline.com.au, and we won our game last Saturday against Easts 2-0. I am very happy with keeping two straight clean sheets and looking forward to having our squad back to full strength this weekend as we match up against Easts again. I’m also itching to end my 2 match scoreless streak! This game will be taped so highlights should be available on thewashingline.com.au a day after the match.

In other soccer news, 5 guys from our team should be getting called in for trials with Gold Coast United in a fortnight, so hopefully that is the start of more opportunities for myself and a few of the other deserved players on Wolves.

Fastest Team to 50 goals

As the title suggests, Wolves recently became the quickest team in Brisbane Premier League history to score 50 goals! Now if only we could keep that elusive clean sheet. Since my last post we have played 3 matches, winning our 2 league fixtures against North Pine and Mt. Gravatt 3-1 and 9-1 respectively. We also had a Canale Cup match against Capalaba and won that game 5-2. As you can see we certainly don’t struggle to find goals but we haven’t been keeping other teams out of the back of the net like we need to. Some of the goals have been unlucky, but we are at times letting our opponents dictate the flow of the game for 10 or 15 minute spells, something that we need to remedy to reclaim our dominant form. Obviously, considering the results we have had I’m nitpicking, but as a defender I really want to keep a clean sheet, regardless of how many goals we score.

I bring up our “poor” defensive form because our next match is against Rochedale. If you have been an avid reader of my blog from the beginning you will recognize Rochedale as the traditional power of the league, so this is the biggest game of the year. This is also a huge rivalry game, both teams hate each other, so I can’t wait to step on the field and feel the atmosphere, knowing that everybody in the stadium wants us to lose (it's an away game). I know that our entire team feels the same way and we are going to have a good week of training leading up to the match to make sure that we are sharp for the kickoff. The game will be recorded so highlights will be available by Sunday morning back in the states on Thewashingline.com.au

Outside of soccer I recently found myself a job as a waiter at an upscale seafood restaurant, of all things. Now, when I think about your typical waiter, I’m imagining an outgoing and talkative person who converses easily with others. Obviously, if you were asked to describe me I doubt that any of those traits would be at the tip of your tongue. But, hey, it will put me out of my comfort zone and force me to work on those things. So maybe the next time you all see me I’ll be super outgoing, doubtful ha.

Either way it will allow me to make some money so I can start knocking off more items on my bucket list.

Although I have already fulfilled my quota of waterfalls I took a trip down the coast to Springbrook National Park early last week to see probably the most stunning waterfall I have witnessed yet. The 4k trail led you down a rainforest covered mountain to the base of the waterfall, where you are then taken under the falls before continuing out the other side back up the side of the mountain and finally ended with a great view over the falls looking west. However, there is a spur in the trail before you go under the falls that leads you down further into the valley, following a small river that eventually pools about 1k from the falls. The boulder strewn river bed offers a great opportunity to engage in some extracurricular off-trail hiking and both Pat and I were happy to take that opportunity to explore some more of the rainforest before returning back to the main trail to complete the hike. Both Pat and I are hoping to return to this hike soon so that we can take in a sunset over the falls that I’m sure will be spectacular.

Anyways, that’s all for now, hopefully the Bulls can pull things together in this next game, play within themselves, and stop turning the ball over at critical points of the game. I think they will! Lets Go Bulls!

Oh, I forgot to mention that I’m second in the league in goals. I now have 9 from 10 games. This is getting absurd but I hope it continues at least one more week. Go Wolves!

Late Night Soccer Games

I’m sitting here watching the Manchester United vs. Chelsea game at 2 am after the completion of my usual janitorial duties at Moreton Bay Sports Club, and decided it would be a good idea to update my blog now that we have started games up again.

However, I’d like to start out by saying happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers that are reading. I wouldn’t have been able to pursue a career as a professional soccer player without the love and encouragement that my mother has always given me. Also, happy 6-month anniversary to my sister Katie and her husband Eddie.

But on to more important matters, the resumption of league fixtures after a 2-week break.Things have gotten pretty bad down here in Australia in the last two weeks, the weather has deteriorated so much that we had rain for 5 straight days and the temperature is only reaching the mid 70’s! I’m really concerned that I might get the flu or something from the cold weather, actually, the only unfortunate occurrence (other than it no longer being pineapple season) was the public distribution of this ridiculous picture of my roommate, Pat McMahon and myself that was taken for an article written about us in the local paper.

The other interesting development is my changing diet over the past few weeks. I already mentioned my love affair with iced coffee, but I have begun to notice that vegetables are making a startlingly frequent appearance in all of my meals recently, not to mention I have started to cook myself stir-fry. That’s right me, taking the time to cook a meal for myself that is much more vegetable than protein. I apologize to anyone who has wagered on me eventually reaching the 400-pound club.

We played 4^th place Redlands last night, which are having a pretty good season so far and have a very talented side. Since it had been 3 weeks to the day since our last game I was expecting us to come out sluggish, but we came out firing and dominated the opening 25 minutes, although we had nothing to show for it, hitting 2 posts and having 2 headers cleared off the line. We ended up finding the back of the net twice before halftime but then conceded a late goal, going into the break 2-1 up. We were confident talking things over at half and knew that if we put the next goal away we could easily rattle off three or four more. We ended up doing just that winning the game handily 6-1. I netted the 4^th goal, making my goal tally 6 from 8 games. I have no idea what’s going on but somehow I’m just finding myself in good spots and the ball is coming to me, so I hope it continues because scoring this many goals is a lot of fun.

I hope everyone has/ had a good mother’s day and I’ll be sure to update everyone again soon.

I Love you mom!

Easter Break

Well it’s been over 2 weeks since I last posted, sorry about the delay but for a few days I was actually busy and didn’t have time to write anything for the blog.

We had our big game against Olympic a week and half ago and played Peninsula Power last Saturday and were able to come away with victories in both games.

In our game against Olympic, the second place team, we won 7-3. It was a great game against a very good side. We went up 2-0 early, I scored the first, and then we missed a penalty kick around the 30^th minute that probably would have put the game away for good. However, the miss gave Olympic a glimmer of hope and they stole a goal before the half and continued pushing for the equalizer after the break, which they got early in the second half. Unfortunately for them we came roaring back, scoring 60 seconds later and securing 4 unanswered goals (I doubled my tally with the 6^th) before Olympic got a consolation 3^rd goal and Steffen completed his hat trick.

In the past round of games against Peninsula we weren’t at full strength, missing our starting goalie and one of our central midfielders. We started out playing well but after we bagged our first goal were unable to pull away like usual. The absence of our full strength side was beginning to show, even though their replacements both played admirably, and the rest of the team looked sluggish going into the break. After halftime we were still unable to find our form but kept Peninsula from finding the back of the net, which was enough to secure the 3 points. In the locker room after the game it felt more like a loss than a victory, and we all expect a better performance even though we were able to grind out 3 points away from home against a talented side. Highlights from the game can be found here.

Outside of soccer we made a trip down the coast to Lamington National Park to do some hiking. The park is south and west of Brisbane and driving there is a bit of an adventure because as you travel inland the roadways aren’t very well developed. There was only one road going up the mountain, but that road was one and a half lanes with numerous switchbacks and blind corners, so it is slow going once off the motorway. The hike we chose to go on was 10.5 kilometers and took us through very thick rain forest, down into a gorge between two mountains and along a river that had 6 or 7 waterfalls varying in height from 8 or 9 meters tall to 25 meters tall (Bucket list: Waterfalls, complete). I tried taking pictures but most didn’t turn out because it started pouring rain about 30 minutes into our 3 hour hike! At the conclusion of the hike we came across a wallaby, which while not a kangaroo or koala bear was still pretty cool.

We won’t have another game until May 7 so I’m hoping to do a little more traveling next week when everybody goes back to work after the Easter/ Anzac day holidays. I’ll be sure to have some good pictures to share then!

Hope all is well back home!

The Fruit Barn and a Goal Extravaganza

Although I have been in Australia 2 months, I am just beginning to discover some of the benefits of living in a tropical climate. In the past two weeks my roommates and I have been enjoying the overwhelming selection of fresh, in season fruit that we can find at local produce stores. Fresh watermelons (49 cents a kg), pineapples (2 for $5), pears, and any number of other fruits have become a staple of every meal, as well as a source of pride amongst the roommates for who can produce the best looking selection. I have been mowing down 2 pineapples a week, and the only problem with the fruit selection down here has been the insane price of bananas ($12 a kg) because the crop got wiped out in the floods. I love having such a great selection of fresh fruit readily available from fruit stands close by.

Although my love of food is well documented what I have been enjoying the turn of the seasons from summer to fall even more, (although there is hardly a difference) the weather has been absolutely perfect. The high everyday hovers in the low 80’s, making everyday activities much more enjoyable. The mornings and evenings are cool, a long sleeve t-shirt is enough to take in the sunrise or enjoy the great view we have of the southern stars from our back yard. I have been enjoying both of these frequently, especially a good jog at sunrise. It is a quick 10 minute drive out to the ocean to watch the sunrise, and because of the low tide there is a sand bar that runs from the shore out to a small island about 1 km out into the ocean (pictured above), what is really cool about this is the sand bar cuts a perfect trail through the water right out to the island. It was hard to motivate myself to get up early enough to take in the sunrise but the discovery of this run is making it so much easier. That, and I have recently been enjoying the benefits of iced coffee, the world seems so much brighter with a little coffee in my system.

However, everything else that takes up my time is made better by Wolves continued run of good form in the early stages of the league. We won our last two games against University of Queensland and Taringa 2-0 and 11-1 respectively. University gave us a very good game making it difficult for us to play by competing with us better than any team has so far. The Taringa game was different altogether, they actually scored the first goal, against the run of play, and they were ecstatic after scoring but we quickly responded and put the game out of reach, we really could have ended up scoring 20. Needless to say that result, combined with our other 4 victories, is turning a lot of heads. Our upcoming game against Olympic, one of the traditional powers in our league, is an absolutely massive fixture for us. We are looking forward to having a good week of training to take us into the game ready to go and continue our fine form.

Highlights from our last two games can be found at http://vimeo.com/21865245 (Taringa) and http://vimeo.com/21575932 (University), and I think that the game this weekend will be taped again so highlights should be available, and I’ll be checking in to see if the game can be found streamed live as well.

Hope all is well back home!

My First Goal...

I want to start off by wishing my sister Mo a happy birthday! Gosh you are so old now! I’m just kidding you definitely are not and I hope you have an awesome day!

Since my last update we have had 2 games, winning both. We won our games against South’s and Brisbane City 2-0 and 5-0 respectively.

I think I need to give some of the history of Wolves so people can understand what our games have been like to play in so far. Until 3 years ago Wolves had never won a single trophy usually finishing near the middle of the table in the league. However, since our current coach came to the club 3 years ago we have finished 4^th, 3^rd, and 2^nd in the league and won back-to-back Grand Finals (which is like winning the playoffs). So this year we have seen ourselves go from the hunters to the hunted, meaning we are now getting every team’s best game.

Getting back to our recent games, we were considerably better than both teams, although South’s certainly played very well against us, and all we need is to find that first goal and usually we will end up scoring a bunch. That’s what happened in our game against Brisbane City. I hope that these teams can continue to give us their best effort because it will make us that much better when we play against one of the other top teams in the league.

I am glad that we have been able to score so many goals (11 in 3 games) but what I am most excited about is that we have only conceded 1 goal so far this year. Our defense has been playing very well, and we hope that as we grow more familiar with each other we will be even harder to break down. I was also able to record my first goal of the season, scoring the first, or more importantly the winner, in our game against City. I say finally because I have had 2 headers cleared off the line and gone close with a couple of other headers so far in the season. Although the goal I scored wasn’t a header, it was a shot from the top of the 18 (maybe that will convince my coaches to put me back at forward where I belong, Ha).

Other than my soccer responsibilities I have only had time to go on one adventure in the past two weeks. Steffen, Pat, and I took a ferry to a small island just off the coast and engaged in some sea kayaking. We were able to rent the kayaks rather cheaply and took a trip around the island, which has a lot of beaches, mangroves, and a little bit of coral reef. The kayaking was awesome until the last half hour when we had to fight a stiff breeze to complete our trip around the island, we couldn’t move our arms for days after that adventure.

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to nail down a part time job soon so that I have more disposable cash to spend on trips. Until that happens though I am just sticking to soccer and making sure that we continue our hot start to the campaign.

Until next time…

Start of the Season

Hello all,

It has been a little over a week since my last update and a lot has happened since then.

The most important event being the start of the Wolves 2011 campaign, and what a start it was. We beat Capalaba, who are supposed to be one of the top 5 teams in our league, 4-1. The win was significant for a couple of reasons, other than just getting off to a winning start. As a club over the past 3 years Wolves have struggled in the start of the season, usually finding themselves in the bottom 3 or 4 of the league after 5 games. However, we are determined to avoid that this year, and a 4-1 win is a very good beginning (although I am pretty upset we didn’t keep the shutout). W were able to do this while missing 3 impact starters, although Steffen Vroom did come in after 60 minutes and ended up scoring. The guys who did step in and play for our suspended players did very well so we are expecting to have strength in our depth this year, although we are pretty excited to play with our entire first choice squad. You can watch highlights of the game on Thewashingline.com.au just search for Wolves vs. Capalaba in the recent updates.

As for how I played, my distribution was garbage but my defending was pretty good. I need to play significantly better in our next game.

The other exciting thing is that I now have 2 roommates, Steffen Vroom (who played with me at DePaul for four years) and Pat McMahon, who played at UIC and trained with me for the past year and a half. It is really nice having them down here so that we can train together in our spare time, do a little exploring, and just have some guys to hang out with. In fact yesterday we did go on an adventure, traveling down the coast a little ways to Mt. Tamborine…

This trip helped me make some headway on my bucket list! We did a few things while we were up there. The first was a hike that took us through the rainforest and past a pretty cool waterfall (2/3 waterfalls complete). Hiking through the rainforest is a pretty cool experience, because of all the shade it stays cool on the forest floor and only a few shafts of light find their way through the canopy. This yielded some awesome pictures. After completing the hike we walked around a little tourist town with a bunch of gift shops and vineyards/wineries. We then drove around the mountain a little bit stopping at a few lookouts that had great views of Gold Coast and the surrounding countryside. We ended our trip with a stop at the rainforest skywalk (on my bucket list) to do some recon for our next stop on the mountain.

That’s all I have time to write about for now. We have another game this Saturday, so we are preparing to continue the good start to our season.

Hope everyone is well back home!