Everything Hurts

Last night I joined Uni Southampton's American football team for their practice--I'm so sore today. First time I've worn shoulder pads and a helmet to play football though. Tackling people hurts a lot less with them on. I trained with their linemen. I've never had formal instruction on how to block or tackle, so I've already learned a lot.

The team, the Stags, was national champion a couple years ago, but last year the league broke the team into two (separating players from another uni, Solent), and they seem to be having dedication problems. Looks like the Stags could be good, except a lot of players didn't show up to practice last night. They're 1-4, but apparently had a tough beginning of the schedule.

Despite sore muscles everywhere, I went out to play with the NOC rugby team this afternoon. The game seems like a lot of fun, but comparisons to American football are hard to make--it's pretty different. I think I'm picking it up, but I had trouble figuring out where to be on the field for much of today. You can't pass forward, so there's little advantage in being in front of the player with the ball, which is something that takes getting used to.

I found a local bus to the New Forest, a national park about 15 miles from Southampton. Hopefully I'll get out there to check it out this weekend.