James Brunmeier's Diary Continues

November 30, 2006

 The arms begin to go numb around the 200 push-up mark. The day is Wednesday, which means skills training with light fitness. Light except for the push-ups that is. Each lap we take between kicking drills we have to do 100 push-ups. I have never had to do this many push-ups and it shows.

Training had started about an hour ago with a warm-up lap, stretching and light run-throughs. From that we went into a simple handball drill which incorporated high handballs and handballs along the ground. After our first lap and 100 push-ups we went into a kicking drill with eight groups set up in a small oval kicking to the group across from them. Every few minutes we rotated counterclockwise so that we kicked from every station.

The lap after the kicking drill is where I find myself in a world of hurt. I decide I will run sprints over push-ups any time. After that second lap we launch into another kicking drill that utilizes longer kicks. So the night continues. Kicking drill, lap, push-ups, pain, push-ups, kicking drill, lap, push-ups, more pain, more push-ups. We end up doing somewhere around 400 push-ups. By the end of training I can barely lift my arms above my head. But as the lads say, “It’s money in the bank!”

Jared and I are now coming to the end of our second week of training with West Perth. Early last week Jared received the title of skinniest player. Everyone had to submit to a skin fold test. This test measures seven skin folds on your body including the oblique, triceps, quadriceps and calf. Jared scored a 38. I was the next closest score with 50.5. The third place had a score of 55.5. Needless to say Jared is doing everything he can to gain weight.
Last Wednesday brought a little excitement as well. Network Ten brought a camera crew to interview Jared and me. Americans playing footy seems to be novelty here in Western Australia. This news crew was trying to get an angle on why we were playing and what our goals were. The interviewer even asked what it would be like if we both made it pro and ended up playing each other. That is one big IF.

After the interview the news crew wanted to get some film of us kicking and handballing to each other. Gulp. To the delight of the team hollering away behind us my first kick sailed over Jared’s head. Hmmm, must have been the wind. A few kicks later I managed to get one into Jared’s hands. To Jared’s surprise the ball went right through his hands, hit him square in the nose and bounced straight up in the air.
At the end of practice, the film crew asked me to do a little tackling for the camera. Tim, a teammate, volunteered to be the tackle dummy. We lined up a short distance from each other. I handballed it to him and then tackled him. We did this three times and the team loved it. They were all standing back watching and laughing. Tim could not have played the role better. When I came close he would lift his arms and jump ever so slightly so that I could put my shoulder square into his chest, lift him up and drive him into the ground.
This is what piques the team’s interest, our tackling. They want to see how much we differ from them in game situations. Thankfully we have a few months before our first scrimmage to get our skills up to par to complement the tackling.

- James Brunmeier
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