Offtopic/fun » classical music, the appreciation of these variati

The Canadian Soccer Association announced on Friday that Benito Floro is the new head coach of Canadas mens national team. Floro takes over the reigns from Stephen Hart, who resigned after Canadas 8-1 loss to Honduras in World Cup qualifying in October 2012. Floro has over 30 years of coaching experience, including a stint in charge of Real Madrid from 1992-94, and will bring with him a wealth of knowledge gained from around the world. His career has taken him from clubs at the highest level of Spanish football, to coaching positions abroad at clubs in Japan, Mexico, Ecuador and Morocco. Critics of this hire will point to the fact that this will be Floros first job coaching a national team; that he has never had to prepare a team to compete without the relative luxury of the daily contact that is afforded to coaches at the club level. I dont believe that this argument carries much weight; an experienced coach like Floro will be able to adapt to the intricacies of international football with relative ease. In my opinion, his strengths – decades of coaching experience, multi-lingualism (this is a big plus, given the multicultural nature of our country) and a wealth of experience as a coach educator – far outweigh this weakness. Victor Montagliani, President of the CSA, told me this: "Its not just about the 20 or so guys he will be coaching at any point in time on the mens team. He is one of the top coach educators in Spain. While that is not going to be his mandate, he is going to be a fantastic resource for Tony Fonseca in coach education. "He has a presence. Certain guys, when they walk in the room, you take notice. Benito Floro has presence." The presence that Montagliani refers to will help Floro when it comes to coaching the mens team, but I believe that his background in coach education could be where Canadian soccer will see its biggest gain. Floro will be restricted to working with "what he has" on the mens national team, as he will not be in a position to develop players quickly enough to affect qualifying for the World Cup in 2018. He will, however, be in a position to leave a legacy behind if he can also play a role in developing the next generation of Canadian coaches. It is this area where his knowledge and experience will be a considerable asset to Tony Fonseca, the CSAs Technical Director, as Fonseca looks to improve the CSAs coach education program. A key component of that program will be a brand new national curriculum - something that is currently being assembled, and should be fully completed by the end of the calendar year. This is big news. Canada has never had a national curriculum – a resource for coaches across the country to use in training and developing the next generation of Canadian players. All that is about to change. Up until now, player development in Canada has been by chance, not by design. Players had to fight their way through a broken, fractured mess of a development system, which saw too many talented youngsters slip through the cracks. With a national curriculum in place - coupled with the implementation of high-performance youth leagues in our major provinces (to begin with) - we may finally start to see Canadian players being developed by design, rather than hoping for the best. What I like about the way Fonseca is assembling the national curriculum is this: it is being done collaboratively. Fonseca is not force-feeding a document to the provincial associations that was developed in secrecy. Instead, he has enlisted the provincial association technical directors to help write the content. He will have final approval over that content, but much of the workload in creating the curriculum is being shared by the provincial TDs. This allows the provincial associations to take ownership of the document, knowing that their technical staff played a big role in its creation. It also makes it far easier to implement, as the provincial associations will be much more inclined to buy in to something that they played a direct role in creating. The hiring of Benito Floro and the creation of a new national curriculum are positive moves from the CSA, but it is important to take a long-term approach when measuring the benefits of those moves. No one – including Floro – can solve all of our problems overnight. But on Friday, Canadian soccer took a big step forward. And for that, the CSA should be applauded.USA Soccer Shirts .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Fake USA Soccer Jerseys . According to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace former DC Rich Stubler with defensive backs coach Mark Washington. https://www.cheapusasoccer.com/ . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Stitched USA Soccer Jerseys .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. USA Soccer Pro Shop . The injury bothered Bledsoe in the Suns victory over the Clippers on Monday and he sat out the teams home loss to Memphis on Thursday night.Hindustani classical music - the millennia-old premier art form of the subcontinent - is almost impossible to appreciate without understanding its meanings and symbols. For anyone ignorant of that context, the form can be both aesthetically confusing and fundamentally boring.I began thinking about the subtle difference between something that one person might find boring and another would view as a work of art, while watching the fourth day of the third Test between England and Pakistan.Pakistan had taken two quick wickets and were bowling wide of the stumps with a spread field. All over TV and social media, people complained of how boring it was. Could a little context have provided greater appreciation?Let us return to our analogy. Understanding the context, and purpose, of classical music is almost essential to be able to enjoy it. It has been often posited that Hindustani classical music was developed to embody the concept of time as held in Hinduism: time is understood to be cyclical, not just at the level of days and seasons but also at the level of the universe, with long cycles of change. Cycles are understood to repeat, yet also not be exactly similar to each other.About seven centuries ago the influence of Sufi Muslim thought on Hindustani classical music began to show. The Sufi musician Hazrat Inayat Khan wrote that the whole universe is a single mechanism working by the law of rhythm […] cycles of rhythm with major cycles and minor cycles interpenetrating uphold the whole creation in their swing. Musically, then, the idea developed of repeating cycles with subtle changes of rhythm within them serving as a theme of expression for the artist.In a way, Michael Holding, Shane Warne and perhaps millions of others were subjected to a similar performance at Edgbaston. Both the former bowlers, who were commentating when Rahat Ali embarked on a series of maidens against Joe Root, were aghast at Pakistans tactics. To them it seemed like an admission of defeat right when Pakistan looked strongest. The ESPNcricinfo commentary team agreed.52.4 Rahat Ali to Root, no run, too wide once again, not entirely sure what the tactic is... but Misbah gives his man a big clap for his determined widthEven when Pakistans negative tactics are explained, as Nasser Hussain did in the commentary box right after, they are explained within the framework of pragmatism and conservatism. There is very little understanding of why they do what they do. At the heart of these tactics is the belief that modern batting has changed irrevocably.dddddddddddd After almost two decades of neo-liberal Australianism in which Test batting sped up considerably and players started playing shorter formats more often, cricket has come to a precipice. Unlike before, where perhaps a batsman needed a vacant cover to be tempted into a drive, modern batsmen now play shots compulsively, particularly their go-to shots. Even if a fielder is present, they need to play that shot just to feel in control.The trick, then, is to make them wait for it, and to force them to lash out eventually and make a mistake. So the plan is to repeat cycles of the same bowling line, using subtle changes in length and movement to serve as the rhythm. After a couple of overs of dot-balls, Rahats changes began to entrap Root.54.3 Rahat Ali to Root, no run, thats sharp again, a bit of extra nip from a good length, and the angle brings the edge of Roots bat into peril. Gets away with it 54.5 Rahat Ali to Root, no run, good probing line, swinging late, outside off, and Root is lured by this one. The pressure is starting to tell...54.6 Rahat Ali to Root, no run, that is a very fine over, the fourth maiden in a row, as Root is once again forced to make a decision outside off, and just about keeps his bat out of harms wayMuch like with Hindustani classical music, the appreciation of these variations is not possible if one expects a basic, linear narrative. Ideas recur but in subtly different ways. Bowl wide and sometimes get one to seam, or to swing, or to roll by innocuously. Like notes in classical music, none of the variations are out of place or without purpose. Instead, they keep building, note by note, ball by ball, towards the same cycles, similar yet apart.My favourite performer in this entire spell was Root, who knew of the trap that was being laid for him, and yet also realised that his only purpose was to play a single note. Eventually he played his part, only for Mohammad Hafeez to destroy the entire spell by failing to hold on to the catch.It would be unfair to say Pakistan lost the Test due to Hafeezs dropped catch. The poor bowling later that day, and the collapse the day after, were more immediate causes. But that passage of play on day four was the moment that a team that has forged its identity in crickets backwaters composed its own virtuoso performance. It is an eternal shame that it fell apart right when it was hitting its peak. ' ' '