Injured Reserve

I can't believe this. I've been waiting nine months for the co-ed soccer season to start, and now that it's here, I'm watching from the sideline because of my back. It's better -- much better -- but Pam, my trusted physical therapist, tells me there is no way I'm ready to play soccer. I actually know that, but wish it weren't so. She's given me a half-dozen exercises which I do every day, and which are bringing gradual relief, but I still have Motrin on board 24/7.

I watched my team play last night, which was immensely frustrating. I want to be out there!

I also keep lobbying for a year-round co-ed league. The men's league, women's league and national teams absorb the better players during the rest of the year, but there are plenty of us in the co-ed league that aren't competitive enough for those leagues. We want to be able to play soccer year round too. Come on, NMIFA, let this be the year-round league for the rest of us.

The Joy of Drugs

You never really appreciate the little things in life, like narcotics, until you really need them. I drove down to the football field on Monday to thank Jason for the opportunity to try out for the National Team, and to let him know that I was bowing out due to the injury, and the family needs. Mara bought ice cream in celebration of my "return."

By 9 PM I could not move my leg, and I stood with my head against a wall, tears streaming down my face from the pain. I'm reading a book right now by a Buddhist monk, and he says that even suffering has value if we use it to be more compassionate to others who are also suffering. It didn't take the edge off, but it was an interesting thought at the moment. I took some Tylenol with codeine and fell into a drug induced sleep.

I woke up yesterday morning, still with searing pain and drove to the ER to make sure nothing was broken. Nothing was broken. The doc told me to take anti-inflammatory pills every six hours no matter what, to try to quiet things down -- 800 mg of ibuprofen, for a total of 3200 mg a day. If this didn't work, the plan was to take oral steroids. I also got a prescription for some more Tylenol with codeine.

After 24 hours of the anti-inflammatory meds, I can walk with only a slight limp. It's really amazing, the power of modern pharmaceuticals. Someone who had sustained this injury 100 years ago would have been in pain for weeks. Heck, even now, someone who has no access to basic medicines suffer needlessly.

So it looks like this saga is coming to a close for me.

I ran into someone last night who said they heard about my injury and what a pity it was because the word was out that I had a good sense of the game and was a decent player. Now that was the most unexpected part of this whole thing for me, mostly because I disagree, but it was nice to receive the complement.

Sidelined

Well, it looks like my rise in National Football circles has come to a halt. Although my time on the field yesterday was rather tame, by the time I went to bed, I could barely move my right leg because of pain around my hip. I took Motrin through the night, and didn't sleep much, and hobbled around any time I got up. I was thinking of going to the ER, or at least finding a pair of crutches from somewhere.

After about an hour of limping around this morning, things seemed to feel a bit better, but I still had signifcant pain. I saw Michael Thomas this morning. He asked me where it hurt, I pointed, and he said, "Ah, yes. The psoas muscle." Apparently this is a common soccer injury since it's the muscle used for kicking and sprinting.

Now that I've been sitting again for a bit, I'm in excrutiating pain when I move. This feels like it's going to take a while to get better. I'm bummed.

Football Continues...

We had our third practice on Friday evening, which went well enough. There were no sprints.

Today we had our first game, playing against the Saipan Thai Team. We lost 1-2, but no goals were scored while I was on the field. We played three 30 minute periods and I was on for about 20 minutes. Nothing spectacular and nothing disastrous. I just wish I were quicker.

We have practice tomorrow evening and again on Thursday and at that time Jason will make the cuts to form the team. As much as I'd like to make the team, the reality is that it's hugely taxing on my family. Mara keeps encouraging me, saying that if I make the team, it's only a six week season. But I see the strain on her and the four kids, so I have a decision to make this week.

I will say that I think Jason is a great coach. He's firm and lays down the law when needed (like today), but he does it in a way that is respectful. He also encourages good play and brings out the best in everyone.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Football Tryouts Day 2

I made it throught the second practice, but it wasn't pretty.

The Good: I passed much better, with better form and technique. I scored a goal in our four member drills. I was able to execute the "thigh-thigh-foot-header" juggle drill twice. My stamina was decent.

The Bad: Dribbling. I still don't get those turns and fakes. I read something that if you didn't develop good dribbling skills by age 17, you're out of luck.

The Ugly: The sprints. Oh, it was ugly. I was a millimeter away from just sitting down and saying "thanks, but I'm done with this National Team thing." As I fell further behind, my stomach quesy and my heart pounding, there just wasn't enough air in the atmosphere to sustain me. I imagined laying face down on the ground sucking molecules of oxygen from the grass. One or two people were walking, and that inspired me to just keep going. I ran as fast as I could, which eventually slowed to just barely a jog, but I managed to keep going. I guess 3 mile runs in the morning now need to be supplemented with some sprints.

Tonight's another session, then exhibition game on Sunday at 4PM, and cuts after the game.

An Excellent Practice!

Tonight was the first practice/tryout for the NMIFA Men's National Football Team. After some mind bending warm ups, and dribbling drills, the visiting EAFF official from Japan put us through a couple of small team exercises (which probably saved us from sprints that Coach Higgins must have had planned). We finished up with the Tunnel of Love, which was rather enjoyable, and a nice alternative to the infamous Circle of Death. No one vomited. I like Coach Higgins. In addition to being a nice guy, he's a good teacher, and sane.

I had more stamina than I expected. Angelo and I have been running 3 miles every morning for the past week, so I chalk up my ability to make it through the practice to that little bit of training. We're off for our run again tomorrow morning at 6AM.

I'm a lousy dribbler, and the dribbling drills confused me. I need this stuff in slooooow motion.

Overall assessment: I made it through one practice! See you all on Thursday evening.

Editor's Note: I changed the title from the original one so as not to tempt the Fates. Happier now, Brad?

Tomorrow's the Big Day

At 5:00 PM, Monday, September 17, I, David Khorram, am going to walk onto a soccer field to try out for the Mariana Islands' Men's National Football Team. I've played an extraordinary 8 games of soccer in the last 20 years. But hey, this is Saipan. Anyone can do anything. My goal is to make it through the first practice. This really is the tryout for the National Team. And National Team really does mean National Team. Think "Team USA" or "Team Italia." (Or think Jamaican Bob Sled Team.)

My hope is to pick up some soccer skills over the one week tryouts to carry over into the rest of the season. It's taken quite a bit of arranging for me to get a pass for the Monday, Thursday and Friday evening practices. I would like to thank my lovely wife, Mara, for her never-ending support. (Though, if by some fluke I actually make the team, I'm sure the never-ending support will evaporate quicker than you can say, "But, Honey, I'm really enjoying it," at the prospect of having me away from home for three evenings a week.)

I have very little lung capacity, so I'm going to shave the two pounds of hair off of my legs to give me an aerodynamic edge.

Why do I feel kinda weird?

This here is a picture of my simian arm. I've never had a number on my arm until Saturday morning. You get a number on your arm if you run a race. That's how I got this number -- I was the 120th person to register for the annual SIS 5K run at Banzai Cliff. My first race ever.

I didn't think of doing this until Friday afternoon, when Russ mentioned it to me. He's got a gimpy hip, so he's down a few notches from his winning triathlete days, and I have a gimpy everything, so we decided to do the run together. It's the first time I've done one of these races. We ran a leisurely 10 minute mile pace, and finished in just under 30 minutes. I got to grab a cup of cold water from one of the race supporters, drink it down while running and throw the cup on the ground, just like on TV!

I never thought I'd be able to run like this. Since my early twenties, I've had problems with my shins. When I'd run more than 5 minutes, or even walk briskly, my shins would cramp up, blood flow would decrease to my feet, and I couldn't lift my feet at the ankles. They'd just sort of flop. I talked to an orthopedic surgeon who told me that the fascia (the sheath) around the muscles had gotten tight, and that if I wanted to run again, I'd have to have a fasciotomy -- splay the fascia open, like a fish (see post below). Recovery time: six months. Apparently, the last eight weeks or so of playing soccer must have loosened up the fascia, because I can run a few miles without any pain or flopping feet. Hooray for soccer. Soccer has given my life back to me. Now, I'm going to give my life to Soccer.

After the race, I came home to find that there was another power outage -- no shower available. So I got my cleats on and headed down for the "mix-up" co-ed soccer tournament. I opted to play forward, and got a few shots off on goal, but didn't manage to score. Our game finished around noon, and I ran out to pick up one of our kids who was in a class.

As I got home and drank some water, I realized that I felt kinda weird -- sort of in a daze. My vision was a bit blurred, sounds were a little distant. It couldn't have been the run, which wasn't too bad. And the soccer game wasn't unusual in any way. And then I realized: I forgot to eat breakfast this morning. This is the buzz of a hypoglycemic brain. I ate a bunch, but was out of sorts for most of the afternoon, even after eating two fistfuls of really good chocolate from Expressions. I hadn't eaten chocolate in about 3 years.

Oh, one very cool thing. Before the race, there were about a dozen dolphins swimming off of Banzai Cliff. They were entertaining the cheering racers, doing flips and everything. I ran over too late to see the flips, but it was a nice sight just seeing them bobbing in the water. It's the first time I'd seen dolphins in Saipan waters.

The end of summer

Well, this week marked the official end of summer for our family. Here on Saipan, I think that the only people that notice summer are teachers (who are off) and parents (who are on). It’s hard for me to believe that the weeks have passed so quickly, particularly when I think back to the post at the start of the summer.

So, Mara’s mother, Carol did arrive safely on Saipan to start her life here. Mara met her in Hawaii, and helped her get her five dogs and three cats smoothly through Japan and on to Saipan. Carol has settled into her house in San Vicente, and has been struck by how nice people are here. (That seems to be a recurring theme among visitors to the Marianas.)

The renovation of two buildings at Brilliant Star went smoothly. I really wasn’t as involved as I had expected because Rob was there every day and took care of everything. The contractor, USA Builders (formerly USA Fanter) did a good job, and I’d recommend them. They got everything done in 40 days, and Rob spent a lot of time trying to ensure that the CUC power hookup happened on time. It did – two days before the start of school. We scrambled on the last weekend to get the campus cleaned up, and with the help of these parent volunteers, school opened on Monday.

Our family celebrated two birthdays this summer. For Mara’s, we took advantage of the Sandcastle special and went, for the first time, to watch the show. It was good, and everyone enjoyed it. When I was growing up, I used to really like sleight of hand, and I learned to pull a coin out of the air, and make it disappear, and I could triple cut a deck of cards with one hand. But for the life of me, I just couldn’t figure out how these guys at Sandcastle could keep making live doves appear out of no where. It was a good show, and worth the $30 per adults (kids were free), though there was a little more flesh in the performance than I expected to see at a family show. What’s up with that?

We also celebrated Nava’s birthday with a trip to Managaha, a ride on the go-carts, and she, blowing out her candle at the exact moment she was born. This was important to her. Mara and I freaked out briefly when we realized that now that she’s nine, her time with us is half over. Nine more years, and she’s gone. That depresses me thinking about it. She does say that after college she wants to come back and live in Saipan. I would love to be able to spend the rest of my life around my kids and their families, like the way families are here. But the rest of the world is a mobile place. It’ll be nice to visit them all over the world too, if that’s where they end up.

The kids stayed busy and happy during the summer, and we stayed on Saipan. We had thought of taking a brief trip, maybe to Bali or Cairns, but, honestly, it ain’t easy traveling with four kids ranging in ages from 2-8. So, since they weren’t going crazy, we decided to just say put.

Other big news of the summer was that we got our daughter, Jaleh’s passport. Hooray! She now has proof of her US Citizenship, and it will be a lot easier to travel as a family now that we don’t have to apply for the visas for her Chinese passport. A big thank-you to attorneys Glen Jewel and Rex Kosack who helped us with the adoption, all pro bono.

As an aside, adoption is a very common thing here in Saipan. At our kids school, which has 100 or so kids, there are 10 kids that come to my mind immediately that are adopted. A few of the attorneys on the island have adopted kids, and as part of their community service, they help families with adoption legal work on a pro bono basis.

Soccer has been great, and from my other posts you know I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s also inspired me to get into better aerobic shape. Last week I did something I hadn’t done since college: I ran two miles. I hate hate hate running. But now that I’m doing it for a reason, I’m more willing to do it, even though I still hate it. I find running so boring that usually after 10 minutes, I just say, “okay, I’ve had enough.” It might help me to run with someone, just to have some conversation and keep my mind off the monotony. Anyone want to run in the mornings early?

Russ has offered to take me out biking, so as soon as my “form-enhancing” shorts arrive, we’re heading out. (No cameras allowed).

Work was good this summer too. Now that I’ve been focusing on seeing the patients who are the most complicated and those who are surgical patients (while Mark focuses on everyone else in our practice), I really look forward to going to work. I love operating. Bev asked me if she could come watch some surgery, and I’m happy to arrange it for any other friends.

That’s it. The summer was good. I’ll add some pictures to this post later.

Why I love my soccer team

It's been about four weeks now that the co-ed soccer season started, and I have to tell you, I love my team. We started off calling ourselves Guns n Roses, but the official name is now Taya Talent (taya is the Chamorro word for "nothing"). We have yet to win a game -- two ties and two loses. But it is actually the "nothing talent" that makes this such a great team. Brad and Angelo do a great job coaching and keeping everyone's spirits up. If I were on one of those teams that had a bunch of good players, I wouldn't be playing much. I played the entire 80 minutes of our last game!

When we go into our half-time huddles, Angelo and Brad give some pointers, but spend a lot of time encouraging us, telling us what we're doing well. They even say, "hey, we're playing a better team, so don't worry about the score." They don't yell or roll their eyes at missed kicks or bad plays. They're out there to have fun, which makes it all enjoyable.

In order to become a decent soccer player there are really only three things that I need to do: learn to dribble the ball, learn to kick the ball (preferably with some power) and gain some lung capacity. Just these three little things...

Now, on the other hand, I bring three things to my team. First, I'm lighter than most people on the field, which also makes me faster than most. Second, I don't give up on the ball. And, third, I'm fearless. During our last game, the opposing goalie punted the ball out to where I was standing at midfield, and by golly, I got under that thing and headed it. Never mind that I misjudged the distance a bit, so the ball caught me off balance, knocked me to the ground (like some kind of cartoon character getting hit by an anvil) and flew off in the wrong direction towards my own goal. Who cares! I'm fearless.

I'm having loads of fun, and getting into better shape. My legs hurt less now after practices. I can't say that I've gained any soccer skills, but I expect they'll come. This is the most enjoyable thing I've done in a long time.

Condoleeza Rice considering CNMI Soccer Coach position

According to an anonymous source close to the negotiations, the contract for a new soccer coach for the CNMI has not yet been signed. The same source confirmed that Condoleezza Rice and ED Hill are also considering the position.

Marianas Eye attempted to contact several NMIFA Board members through telepathy, but has not received a reply as of press time.

A former sports corresponent for the Saipan Tribune suggested the need to determine the toughness of a new coach by arranging a fist-fight with the former coach, Ziggy Somelongpolishname. None of the candidates commented on this suggestion, leaving room for speculation.

Stay tuned for updates.

New Soccer Coach for the CNMI

This was one of those "Saipan" set of circumstances. I never check the messages on my cell phone, but I did yesterday and there was a call from someone in Texas from last Saturday who wanted to get more information on our house which he saw online. I called him up. "What will be bringing you to Saipan?" I asked. "I'm going to be the new football coach." "'Football' as in 'soccer.'" "That's right." I was pretty excited to hear this. I was one of the founding members of the NMIFA Board (was that only two years ago?!), and even back then we recognized the need to recruit a great coach to really move the program forward. This is huge!

Jason Higgins and his wife (who is from London) arrive on August 1. Jason is currently an Assistant Coach at SMU in Texas. Here is is bio from the SMU website. It sounds like this will be a leap forward for our football (and soccer) program in the Mariana Islands. Welcome, Jason!

***

Jason Higgins begins his third season on staff, having come to the Hilltop in the spring of 2005. At SMU, Jason is heavily involved in all aspects of the program. In particular, he is responsible for all team travel arrangements, scouting of opponents, game administration, and office administration. Jason also be assists with recruiting, video and match analysis, on-field coaching, off-season conditioning, and summer camps.

Prior to his involvement with SMU, Jason served as the head assistant men's soccer coach at the University of Dayton in 2004-2005. During that season, Dayton compiled a 11-7-1 record, making a trip to the Atlantic 10 conference semi-finals. His responsibilities included but were not limited to: recruiting coordinator, scouting of opponents, practice and game management and travel arrangements. During his tenure in Ohio, Jason also was involved with the Olympic Development Program for the `86' Boys team.

Prior to his Dayton experience, Jason served as the Director of Operations at Rutgers University in 2003-04 when the Scarlet Knights were consistently ranked in the Top 25 in the nation. He was involved with all aspects of the program and enjoyed a trip to the second round of the NCAA Soccer Tournament His major responsibilities included but were not limited to: travel coordinator, film editing, game and practice management, and day to day office administration.

Higgins has also held the position of Head Coach at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas, for two seasons. There, he recruited and coached the American Southwest Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year. His initial season ended with a 4-15 record, but his squad rebounded to post an 11-5-2 mark in his second year, while consistently starting eight of his 17 recruited freshmen.

From 1999 to 2001, he was the assistant men's varsity soccer coach at his alma mater, Springfield College in Springfield, Mass. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Springfield in May 1999, and obtained his Master's degree in Education from the same college in May 2001.

Higgins holds a USSF "B" license and the Advanced National Coaching License.

Undefeated!

This may be the only week you'll see a photo of the undefeated Guns and Roses Football Team. We had a great game last night, and ended up in a 1-1 tie. It was fantastic to get out there and run around. I played midfield most of the game, so I did a lot of running, and only a little wheezing. My family was there, and someone commented that it's like I had a team of personal trainers. Every time I'd walk off the field, Nava would run up with water.

One of the younger players on the other team said that he was excited to play against me because "That's the doctor that took a BB out of my eye!"

Every microfibril of my quadriceps has been screaming for the past week since we started. Tear 'em down and build 'em back up -- that's muscle growth. It'll be nice when the pain subsides.

Wheezers and Geezers

Last night was the start of the co-ed summer soccer league practice. It was a blast. I haven't been on a soccer field to play since my medical school days. It felt great to get out and run and have some fun. We have a motley crew of wheezers and geezers.

I had a lot of goofed plays -- missed kicks, wayward passes, slowness. But I did have one huge highlight -- leaving Brad (Mr. CNMI-National-Football-Team-Triathalon-Man) in the dust on one play. I didn't know I had it in me. I'm just thankful he didn't cry.

My Summer

Renovation started yesterday at Brilliant Star School, and I’m leading the construction management of this project, along with Shazam’s Rob, and another of the school’s parents. We have forty days to renovate two of these old buildings and turn them into an upper elementary classroom and a primary (3-6 year old) classroom by August 3.

We're turning two of these:

Into a couple of these:

It may seem strange that I’m doing construction management, but I’ve done it before. I spent my summer doing the same thing six years ago, when we moved the school up to its Navy Hill campus. Mara and I started this school through a series of fortuitous events, never imagining that what started as a Toddler Enrichment Program for Nava when she was a year old, would become a world-class school with 100 students representing some 14 ethnicities, programs for kids from 18 months to 12 years old, a magnificent campus, six classroom buildings with 7500 square feet of space, a seven member Board of Trustees and something like 15 faculty and staff. We just learned along the way, and for many years now, we've been in the background, letting all the other talented people lead the institution.

Here are some of the Trustees at the last Board meeting.

My other primary activity of the summer will be driving. Too bad these guys can't drive yet.

Take tomorrow for example. I’m transporting my kids to or from events at the following times: 9 AM, 10 AM, 12 PM, 1 PM, 3 PM, 4 PM and 5 PM. They need to get to

Art classes





Eco Camp




And tennis lessons.

With gas at $3.54 a gallon now, I’m glad I drive a Prius.

The big, huge, humongous, stupendous event of the summer is that Mara’s mother, Carol, is moving to Saipan from Tucson. Mara is in Hawaii right now, awaiting her mom’s arrival from LA. They get to Saipan via Narita and Nagoya on Wednesday night. Mara has spent the better part of the last six months coordinating this move, which involves five dogs, two cats and a lifetime of personal effects. It’s a big move for Carol, and one taking a lot of courage. Here’s to family!

I'm looking forward to the start of the soccer season as a member of the acclaimed "Buns and Hoses" co-ed team. I haven't played since medical school, so I imagine I'll spend a fair bit of time just trying to breath. If you haven't joined a team yet, I think our team is still looking for some members. This is a laid back way to play on a fun team.

Oh, yeah, and I’ll be doing some eye surgery and stuff this summer too.

CNMI Men's National Football Team Enters the World Stage!

The CNMI Men's National Football Team won the admiration and respect of their nation and of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) this afternoon by playing competitively against Guam in the CNMI's first ever international match. Although Guam prevailed 3-2, the CNMI kept the match close, tying twice at 1-1 and then 2-2. Most remarkable is that the CNMI National Team has existed for only about six weeks, and the average age of the team is around 35, with the oldest player at 46. The oldest player on the Guam team is 25.

This was the first match in the East Asia Football Championships 2008. The team travels to Guam next week for the second qualifying match.

Congratulations to the CNMI Men's National Football Team, and to Coach Jeff "Ziggy" Korytoski! A national soccer team is born through Coach Ziggy's "Circle of Death". FIFA here we come.

(I took this photo from The Saipan Blogger . Visit his site to get a more personal view of the game. He's a starting member of the team.).