December 14th

In practice before the game we worked on trying to play as pairs or teams within the team. They all just liked the sound of this, clamoring "I wanna be a team! Who's on my team!" I was happy with how the kids took to that and during the game they really showed some great progress in understanding how to work together to move the ball around. We had good success in getting most of the kids to move to positions away from the ball so as to set up for shots. We'll keep focusing on this in the last practice/game. We always want to be working on ball skills but once the kids get the basic idea of the game the next big hurdle is helping them develop a sense for how the game moves on the field and how they can use the field, that is, how they can take advantage of the open space.
Whitney had what may be the longest goal shot on record. Luke and Mason had nice goals and Owen and Kendall both had nice assists.

December 7th

Great game today! I'm starting to see some really smart play from everybody with several of the kids getting the idea of how to play "away from the ball". Our Defense was very strong thanks to Riley.
We had goals from Whitney, Mason and Luke. Kendall had an assist! Next week we'll try to work on getting everyone into position to take a shot on goal.

Here are the Blue Blueberries ready to kick-off in the second quarter of Sunday's game. As with every kick-off, the in-huddle conversation was about who was kicking off with everyone certain that it's their turn. They worked it out.
We had goals from Whitney (2) and Owen (3) with assists from Luke and Mason. Luke has turned into some kind of serious player. Mason adopted a cherry-picking strategy that didn't work out this week but maybe next game. Everybody was really into the game with especially good touches from Collen and Kendall. Thanks to the Romitos for the snack.
Next week's game is at 2:00 PM on field B. The Jones family will be providing the snack.

Shooting Gallery game

This is video of my son, Owen, playing a game he calls "shooting gallery". You set up a goal and then roll the ball across the face of the goal so that the kid has to run in and intercept the ball to knock it in. This is a great drill as it teaches them to get the feel of intercepting rather than chasing the ball. And it's fun.

Another good game with lots of participation from everyone. We had goals from Owen, Whitney and Mason with an assist from Riley. Sarah liked kicking off. Collin ran so much he got sweaty. Kendall ran like a cheetah. And Mac is still inspecting the turf closely for us. Thanks to everyone for arriving early for practice. Every bit helps.

The Romitos will be providing the snack next week and our game is at 2:00. See you then.

Great first game! The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves. We had no meltdowns. There was lots of action. And, if we were counting, but who's counting, we had about 5 goals with a lot of near misses. Congrats to Whitney Lind for two fabulous unassisted goals.
We have the post-game snacks covered for the next 5 games (thanks folks) leaving just the final game on Dec. 21st open. If anyone is interested in taking that game let me know.
My thanks to Roy Jones, Sarah's dad, for helping out on the bench. Any parent who'd like to take a turn hanging out with the kids in the bench area during a game, let me know. It's a neat way to see a game and I can always use a little help. Also my thanks to my daughter, Helen, for her help getting the team warmed up and managing the bench.
I'm also hoping to get game photos up on this blog. I forgot to get out my own camera this past game so I don't have any to post but if any of you have pictures from the game you'd like to share you could e-mail them to me and I'll post them here.
Next game: Nov. 9th at 3:00 PM, field A. Try to arrive by 2:55 so we can get in a little extra practice time. The Jones family will be providing the snack. Thanks.

See you Sunday!

NKYA U5 Blue Team

Coach Pat Michels
727-2284
513-608-6777
nkyacoachpat@gmail.com


All games on Sundays this session. You can sign up to provide a post-game snack if you like. Unfortunately all snacks must be purchased at Pleasure Isle.


Game /Snack

Nov. 2nd 2:00PM field A

Nov. 9th 3:00PM field A /Jones

Nov. 16th 2:00PM field B /Romito

Nov. 23rd 2:00PM field B/ Johnson

Nov. 30th NO GAMES

Dec. 7th 1:00PM field A /Hammons

Dec. 14th 2:00PM field A /Lind

Dec. 21st 1:00PM field A

The scheduled game time includes 15 minutes of practice time before each game and we can usually start practice a few minutes earlier than that so if you want to get in a little extra field time try to arrive a few minutes early. I'll be there.