Something strange happened before this week's game. As we were warming up Sam E. asked me who we were playing. I told him it would be the green team and his response was surprising. "Aw, this'll be easy." He didn't say it in a bragging way but rather with a tone of disappointment in his voice. The Sharks like winning but they've become so dominant against their competition that some of the kids are feeling a bit restless. I don't think our four goal keepers had more than six touches on the ball combined in this game.
Obviously the Sharks are a team with several very talented players up and down the line-up. Certainly we have players who can completely dominate a game when they are in, combining great ball skills, drive and field awareness. But beyond our team's individual talents what makes the Sharks so formidable is their teamwork. On offense the foundation of that teamwork is the team's general understanding that they need to stay spread out and trust each other to handle the ball. At the beginning of this game the threesome we had up front were bunching a bit but you expect that early in the game as the kids are so anxious to play. By the final quarter they were spreading the field beautifully and Sam looked like a Beckham back there in fullback distributing the ball to Elizabeth and Jackson on the wings. Even in the first quarter they had their tempo by the end of the period and Samuel and Diego were both keeping their distance from Sam and then dashing into position for shot opportunities. Samuel had a two goal day, in fact. The extent to which these kids "get it" already is remarkable.
more after the break
Despite all the goal scoring fireworks though it is on defense that the Sharks really control the game. That defense begins with the offensive front which, whoever the personnel are, never concedes the ball. Sam, Jackson, Austin, Elizabeth, Samuel, they'll all chase the ball back into midfield to recover. Then there is our midfield line, usually manned by Austin, Samuel, Mckenzie, Jagger or Karolyn. Every one of these players has a good fundamental understanding of how to maintain position between the ball and the goal and how to then get the ball out of our end and up to our strikers. You see it over and over again, the other team's fast break rejected easily, their attackers caught bunching in one corner by one of our defenders smartly switching fields.
I'm thinking about all of this right now because I know that after a game like this one it might be easy to assume that what made the difference was the overwhelming physical talents of some of our players. Certainly the parents of the other team might see it that way. And yes, Sam is graceful and powerful, Elizabeth is surefooted even when surrounded by defenders, Austin has a light touch and incredible speed and Jackson has the field awareness of Aaron Rodgers. But when you watch the game closely you see that what is really amazing is the extent to which all of our players are anticipating. That is the most important skill any of them can develop. I coach one U8 team and help out with another. I watch all of my daughter's U12 games. And in both situations you can't believe how many kids still only react to the action when it's already too late to be effective. They still don't know how to anticipate.
One specific game highlight I wanted to note was a new head-fake that Samuel has developed. I saw him use it early in the game and didn't really see it as anything intentional. He looked right while running with the ball and then cut left while still staring to his right. But when I saw him do it again in the final quarter I realized it was intentional. He was looking the defender off to the right, deceiving him with his eyes and then cutting left. Awesome.
Jagger was cracking me up too as he made some slick moves out there and then in each case he looked either at me or his Dad for acknowledgement. As I laughed at that the first time I was also calling to him, "why are you looking at me?" He's a hoot. Great game Sharks.
Addendum
Austin, Sam and Jackson played for one of my U8 teams Sunday evening. They were completely at home on the field and in some ways dominated the game. They certainly showed some of my U8 players how it's done. All three of them had excellent chances at goals and all three played with tireless energy. What a great game. Thanks to my son Owen and his teammate Bain for going out of their way to welcome the new players.
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