In a Fog

Sorry for the long silence here; I'd intended to post right after the first practice of the NEW SEASON(!), but as those of you who read my avocado8 blog have probably figured out, I've been in the middle of a perfect storm of responsibilities and demands on my time. Whether those things led to the downward spiral in the self-confidence department or whether that downward spiral was just part of the storm, I have no idea; all I know is that it's been a struggle lately. The good news is that hockey—and, I suspect, writing about it—pulled me out of my last major depression (in 2000), so I have every incentive to play and to write about it here.

Despite walking/running in the mornings for over a month and feeling like I was in decent shape cardiovascularly, I found myself out of hockey shape when I took the ice for our first practice on September 24. I felt a big sluggish, and the quickness I'd started to see the first signs of at the end of last season was completely absent. I could get a bit of speed going now and then, however, which was nice.

It was great to see so many women come out to play, several for the first time. We'll be having two squads this year—a UWHL C team, which will consist mostly of players from last year's UWHL D team, and a non-league developmental team—and we're sharing the practice ice to save a little dosh. We did a few drills all together, and then we split up roughly into our squads (which weren't actually decided at that point; the split was based more on whether you wanted to work on basic skating and hockey skills or slightly more advanced team drills).