Month: November 2011

mma

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 14, Episode 7: Ground and … hey! Hold still!

Posted on by Beau Dure

Roland Delorme’s foot looks nasty, and he’s despondent. He’s supposed to be getting ready for a fight against TJ Dillashaw.

Chute Boxe pioneer Rafael Cordeiro comes in to join Mayhem’s training. John Dodson in particular seems entranced as he watches Cordeiro teach.

Bisping brings in a special guest of his own — Tito Ortiz. Akira is thrilled. Ortiz gives a speech that seems geared toward elementary school students, but then he gives a ground-and-pound lesson. Marcus Brimage is stunned that Tito has such a big head. He means that literally.

Akira and Diego Brandao, both Bisping featherweights, decide to teach “draft-dodger” TJ Dillashaw a lesson in training. Diego gets TJ in some nasty submissions, including a kneebar. Akira gets a little rough in sparring, which TJ avenges with a nice slam. Marcus wasn’t initially involved, but he gets ticked when TJ starts roughing him up.

“I didn’t know there was a deeper reason,” Bisping says of the rough stuff. Akira tells him later the plan was to knock TJ out, which Bisping does not appreciate. The coach gives TJ a night off.

Delorme gets cleared to fight. And some good news — having an infection helped him keep his weight down, so he won’t have to cut as much before facing TJ.

Prank time! Somehow, Mayhem gets a road crew to put jersey walls around the Escalade of Bisping assistant Tiki Ghosn. Mayhem spray-paints a couple of red Ms to get the point across. He also paints 12-3-2011 — the date he’ll face Bisping.

The weigh-in is sponsored by the Harold and Kumar 3D film.

We learn more about Roland. He sold a restaurant outside Winnipeg. Not mentioned: He impressed at his audition by cussing out the producers.

TJ was a college wrestler at Cal State Fullerton. We aren’t told anything particularly interesting about him. That might not be an editing oversight.

Steve Mazzagatti is our ref, and off we go. TJ takes him down right away, but Roland surprisingly gets back up right away. TJ goes again, and Roland goes for a guillotine. That’s a miscalculation that allows TJ go get on top. TJ quickly passes to side control, and the chances of an upset are dimming. But Roland escapes again. TJ throws a hard uppercut. But he prefers takedowns, and he drags Roland down against the cage, taking his back in the process. TJ starts to go for the rear naked choke, but Roland fends that off and flips to his back, keeping TJ in half-guard. TJ does some ground-and-pound, though not with much authority. They scramble again, and TJ goes for a difficult choke from a strange angle. Roland gets up once again and lands a decent combo, then fends off another takedown attempt. TJ trips him into a scramble and again winds up on top at the end of a round he won rather easily, even if he pounded the mat more often than his opponent.

Round 2 starts with a TJ knockdown off a powerful right hand. Roland tries to recover, and TJ again goes for a fancy choke before settling on the devastating technique known as “laying on someone.” But he progresses to the side and rakes a few elbows on Roland’s face, which is finally starting to show some wear. TJ finally gets a more conventional rear naked choke. Roland was never in it, and the side of his face is swollen pretty badly.

For once, we have no shenanigans in the cage after a Bisping victory. We go straight to semifinal picks, where they bring in the fighters. Bedford wants Dodson to pay him back for his treachery. The editors don’t spend much time on the featherweights.

The coaches actually agree on the picks, continuing the most subdued showing from Bisping all season. Maybe his most subdued showing in three seasons as a coach and fighter.

The picks are:

TJ Dillashaw vs. Dustin Pague

John Dodson vs. Johnny Bedford – Dodson says Bedford is too lanky to deal with him. Bedford has been ripping Dodson at USA TODAY all season.

Akira Corassani vs. Dennis Bermudez – Akira says Dennis is a wrestler who’s scared of his standup. Yeah, Dennis is going to walk through him. And Akira seems a little less popular in the house these days.

Diego Brandao vs. Bryan Caraway – the phenom vs. the veteran.

Next week, we see Akira get his comeuppance. Maybe. This isn’t scripted, you know.

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soccer

Single-Digit Soccer: Specializing too soon?

Posted on by Beau Dure

One thing I’ve heard from Brandi Chastain on occasion is that she thinks growing up playing multiple sports helped her in her soccer career. She stayed active, stayed refreshed and translated certain skills like anticipating a fly ball in softball.

Think that’s a thing of the past, only applicable to previous generations? Alex Morgan would say no. Until high school, she was in AYSO, not intense club soccer.

SoccerAmerica – Becoming Alex Morgan: Rising star reflects on youth game (Part 1) 11/02/2011.

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soccer

Single-Digit Soccer: Early and late bloomers

Posted on by Beau Dure

Good read on the advantages and disadvantages of showing athletic talent early or late.

The early bloomers get confidence and a quick pass to advanced coaching, but if they fail to meet expectations, that confidence can be easily crushed.

Late bloomers have a harder time getting that coaching.

Early bloomers also can be incredibly rude to Matt Saracen and then lash out when Coach Taylor benches them in the state final. But I digress.

Early and Late Bloomers in Youth Sports: Lessons for Parents | MomsTeam.

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soccer

Single-Digit Soccer: Hey! Get out of the woods!

Posted on by Beau Dure

So I’ve got Nicky and Mikey back on defense, Pedro and Paulie are up front … we’re just about ready … hey! Andy! ANDY! ANNNNDDDDYYYY!!!!!!

(Names changed to protect the innocent and the kid who has just wandered into the woods.)

We had a discussion among a few coaches recently about quality of play. I raised the point that one difficulty we had was that some players weren’t particularly interested in being there. If you’ve ever coached, you know the type — picking at the grass, playing with the net, perhaps even going on what Crocodile Dundee would call a walkabout.

I got a bit of a smackdown in response. We should NEVER turn our backs on such players. Perhaps that player will be the next Steve Jobs.

OK. Fair enough, I suppose. Not really saying we should ignore such players. Just saying it’s a challenge.

And there’s a fundamental issue of fairness here. If you spend a whole practice session or game trying to coax a reluctant player into playing, you’re not coaching the rest of the team. At some levels, perhaps that’s OK. Kids who have soccer aptitude, speed or strength might not need a parent volunteer’s help to develop their skills at this stage. Our club offers additional training for serious players at a small cost, so they can always take advantage of that. But the dominant players deserve — and need — a bit of attention as well. Some of them need to dial it back a bit. Some need to pass the ball once in a while. Some need to quit picking on the kids who aren’t interested.

And frankly, I feel better equipped to deal with those kids. I can communicate with them. Most of them want to get better. If they misbehave, they’re in trouble with me and their parents. In three years or so of coaching, I can honestly say I’ve made a difference for several talented players, encouraging them to round out their skills and learn teamwork.

The disinterested kids are more difficult. Their parents might be able to get through, but more often than not, they’re hoping a new voice — that of a coach — will help coax them out of their shells.

It’s safe to say these challenges have stretched my creativity. I asked one player who was always smiling but never playing if he had a favorite superhero. He said Batman. I said, “OK, pretend you’re Batman. Gotham City needs your help! Your teammates are in danger!”

Nah. Didn’t work.

Being raised on old-school YMCA sports, the only model I have to follow is yelling. Then yelling louder. Modern-day child psychology frowns on belittling, so there’s not much left from the old school.

So what do you do? Seriously — I don’t know. Any ideas?

That’s not to say I’ve been totally unsuccessful. I’ve seen a couple of players progress with a bit of patience. I just managed to hold the door open long enough that they eventually wandered through. But I’d love to be able to do it more consistently.

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