William’s Blog

This will be the final blog I will post about my project. I have accomplished so much during this project improving my ball control by a lot. I have decided I will try to continue my schedule even after the project, so I can improve it further. I have seen my dribbling go from easy to defend to abusing physicality and skill to my advantage. My first touch has gone from barely being able to stop the ball to stopping mid air kicks. I haven’t also seen a lot of struggles throughout the project, like my left foot being way weaker than my right making dribbling/kicking the ball a massive struggle compared to my right foot, or my flexibility not being well enough causing it to be harder to reach the ball for control over it. These struggles were set backs, and made me want to give up, however I didn’t improving each time.

This week I accomplished improving my passing, and receiving through first touch. I improved my outside, and inside my foot passes. I also worked on first touch receiving, and passing. I still struggle with doing anything that involves my weaker foot, although some improvements have been made my weaker foot is still way farther behind than my right foot. I am barely able to dribble with my left foot only let alone to kick it with the amount of power I use with my right foot. I haven’t really adjusted anything this week, everything is the same as last week’s schedule. Next week I am planning on continuing to improve both my dribbling, and passing. I will continue my schedule of Dribbling on Mondays, and Fridays, stretching on Tuesdays, and Thursdays, and passing around on Wednesdays. This should help me improve everything including my weak foot. I have seen a lot of progress in stretching, so I will continue stretches.

I have had a few memorable moments in 7th grade, and some come to mind. The first memory was when we were taking a test in core, and my friend had finished. He was going through a blooket phase, so he decided to open it to play during the test since he had finished, however his volume was all the way up. The blooket music was blasting, and I had to hold my laugh in. He ended up getting in trouble, and now he usually checks his volume before doing anything on the iPad. This was a funny memory that made it memorable. My second and more recent moment was with a different friend. We were kicking a soccer ball around during lunch, and just messing around. He went to kick it full power to show off how strong his shots are, however the ball still has a slight spin on it. He went to kick it, and missed. He tripped on the air falling straight onto his legs. After that he usually is more careful after kicking full power. This was just a funny overall moment, and I couldn’t stop laughing. My final memory was less funny, but still a pretty cool moment. My friends were playing soccer. It was 2 on 2’s when my teammate who is insane at doing flashy skill moves did a heel flick. He kicked down on the bouncing ball to make it bounce higher then he hit it over the opposing teams head by kicking it up with his heel. This was memorable due to it being a real cool moment.

This week was week four of the project. I worked on my first touch by passing it back and forth with my dad, I worked on dribbling by putting the cones down in different patterns, and I did different hamstring and calve stretches the other days. I did notice I am improving my flexibility, and ball control by a lot. I am able to stop faster passes, and able to control the ball easier when dribbling in smaller gaps. I have been struggling a lot with my weaker foot. I am not able to do fast passes, or able to dribble with my left foot. Every single time I try to dribble with my left foot I use either too little or too much power to control the ball. My right foot is doing pretty well with ball control, and passing, however both of my legs are very tight. I have adjusted my schedule very slightly with how it plays out. On Monday/Friday I dribble, on Tuesday/Thursday I stretch, and on Wednesdays I work on first touch.

In the month of April I read the series “The Wild Robot” by Peter Brown.

It is about a robot who lives in a forest, and meets tons of animals. She tries to take care of a baby bird that she found. She takes care of it for years, watching it, and helping it. She saves many animals becoming more and more human as the days past.

I really liked this book since it had a great ending, and a great plot. It was a very fun read I enjoyed reading it. The story wasn’t very predictable which made it even more fun.

Roz was very caring this was shown in quotes like “are you okay my son?” As her son the bird had gotten hurt she really did care, and asked if he was okay. This is why she is my favorite character.

My favorite quote is “Your son will be fine.” This showed change from the animals. They no longer saw Roz as a monster, and saw her as a living thing even though she isn’t.

My mom has done a lot for me. She plans a lot of the events we do, she has supported me through tons of stuff, she works hard, and she cares a lot. I remember when I broke my leg she was there many times to help me for simple things. She taught me how to use crutches, she brought me dinner into my room, and ate with me. She is always there to help me. Whenever I was scared as a child she was there for me. She has always been there for me.

This week I decided to change from juggling a soccer ball to ball control in general. This would include dribbling, first touch, and foot stalls. I made a new schedule for it today. On Mondays I will do foot stalls, on Tuesdays I will do stretches, on Wednesdays I will work on first touch, on Thursdays I will dribble, and on Fridays I will stretch again. I found some drills, and stretches for me to do at home. I can put down some cones, and dribble around them, and my dad will help me pass back and forth for first touch. I have seen some improvement with my weak foot, but I still struggle to use it as well as my right foot. Next week I should see some improvement with my weak foot since I am getting help from my dad, and my friend with dribbling, and first touch.

This week I worked on proper form when doing a foot stall. I seem to struggle to get past 7 seconds. Stretching has helped, however I still seem to struggle with balancing. I have adjusted to controlling the ball more. Not only has this improved my balance with the ball, but also my dribbling. I have seen tons of improvement through both of my feet, however my left foot which is my weak foot is still far behind than my right foot. Next week I will improve my first touch which is stopping the ball in one touch, and improve my flexibility. My calves are very tight which causes issues when trying to balance with the ball on top of my foot for a foot stall. It isn’t too hard for me to consistently get around 5 seconds when foot stalling. The same with juggling, which shows improvement in both skills for me.

My favorite room in my house would be my own room. There are many reasons for liking my room. Personally I find it the best mostly due to all the decorations. I have tons of cool soccer decor, and cool little stuff. I also have a big monitor, and tv. Another reason would be due to having its own bathroom. I can easily go to the restroom without waiting on people. My room is a comfortable place for me to relax. I usually stay in there most of the time so it is my favorite room in the house for those three reasons.

For the 20% project I chose to improve my ball control with a soccer ball mostly juggling a soccer ball. I decided this due to finding soccer fun, yet challenging at times. Soccer is very enjoyable for me to play, and I am trying to learn cool tricks. This week was a bit of a struggle. My right foot learned fast, however my left foot struggled since it is my weak foot. Foot stalls which is keeping the ball balanced on top of your foot wasn’t too hard for my right foot. With my left foot it still instantly fell off my foot after trying for 10 minutes. I also attempted do improve juggling the soccer ball. This went decently well, however I must work on my form. I should get used to bending my knees when putting my legs up, hitting the part of my foot where my laces go, and hitting the middle of the ball. I have started stretching my legs more since my calves are very tight making juggling the ball back and forth harder to do. In all I have had a lot of improvement.