When my son Owen was able to walk he was able to kick a ball. We went on our annual family reunion vacation that year with my wife's family, when he was about sixteen months old, and I remember Chris' brother Dan saying to his eight year old sons "why don't you kick like that?" So Owen started playing U4 when he was about two and of course the first thing that happened was that the game of soccer got in the way of him doing what he liked, which was kicking. Kicking is about enjoying that drum-thump of the ball off of your shoe laces and the bang! of the ball off the wall. But soccer is all about shuffling scrums of snarling kids and their flying elbows and those kids getting in the way when you want to kick the ball.
Owen had a rough time from his second year of U4 through his first year of U6 and we weren't sure we should keep trying. He seemed to just hate having to run into a crowd to get the ball and having other kids bouncing off of him. Then one day in a U6 game he seemed to just get tired of me yelling at him to "get in there and get the ball" and so he did run into the crowd, stole the ball and then arced around the field towards the other team's goal. He cleared the last defender just as he ran perpendicular to the goal and so when he took his shot he had to sort of go into a half slide and kick the ball back across his own body. He nailed it and the net barely held the ball. I think afterwards he was in tears both because he was so thrilled with what he'd done and mad at me for pushing him to do it. He got over being mad at me but from that day on he was hooked on the thrill of trying to get around other players to get to that shot. If anything now he's too casual about being in a crowd with the ball and often seems to be anything but in a hurry. That's fine. It's another stage and right now he's sort of enamored with the "small" aspects of the game, the close-in foot-work. He doesn't always play as fast as I'd like but he's full of confidence in his ability to control the ball and that's all you could want to see.
This weekend was all about kids making that leap from being kickers to being players. Hunter, William H. and Will Z. in the U4 are, from whistle to whistle, totally focused on the work of getting the ball to the net. There were great moments for their teammates, including some very good work from Payton, but the highlights were all those moments where those three showed that wherever they were on the field, they knew where the goal was and they headed towards it fearlessly. William H. made an incredible spin move to get clear of traffic coming off of the bumpers that showed just amazing awareness of his body, the ball and the field. He over-ran the ball heading along the bumpers toward the other goal and then quickly adjusted his step to pull the ball off the bumper with his left foot. From there he had to spin to his left to follow the ball then tap the ball back toward the goal with his right. A few steps later he was in front of the goal and shooting. It was beautiful. For Hunter it was all about his amazing stutter step. He gets up to full speed with the ball but then knows to go into a tip-toed stutter step that allows him to touch the ball lightly and keep it close. Hunter repeatedly got out ahead of the other team with the ball and then kept it close with that light touch so that he could put it into the net with ease. And Will Z. has that light touch too and an amazing sense of where to go with the ball. Once he finds the goal he finishes with a left-footed blast that seems impossible from such small feet.
The U6 Sharks were, as a team, playing with confident ball control and sureness about finding the goal. Crashing into other players and contesting for the ball is just part of the game for these players now. Contact is normal...if you want to get to where you can take a shot you've got to accept the contact. Jackson and Jagger really lead the way in this regard. These two clearly see the best way around defenders as being the shortest way, i.e., through them. I mentioned to Jagger that he hadn't had a goal in quite a while and sure enough he got one a few moments later after rambling and bouncing through the defense, never giving up the ball and just trudging along till he got in close for his shot. Then we have Ashley and Micah who are working so diligently at bringing their best change-of-direction moves to the game. Carson has those moves too but is still at this point kind of in love with his own kick but I know he'll have days where he puts his head down and drives through the box rather than just shooting from distance. Ava was incredible again in defense and also threatened on offense a few times. Her sense of what is happening on the field is amazing and she anticipates the action so well. Karolyn does that too and her first goal in this game came on an opportunity that unfolded so quickly I can't believe she saw it. The ball was coming out of the left corner along the bumpers and Ashley (I think) managed to get the ball out of the crowd and headed across the goal. Karolyn was at least ten yards out from the goal when that ball came loose but she covered those yards in a flash and easily tapped it in. Crazy!
At practice with the U8 Sharks this week we started out working on some basic ball control technique and then moved into some situational work. Mike and I were trying to get the kids to see the importance of maintaining their spacing and not fighting each other for the ball. At one point as the kids were resting I asked them if they could remember to take what we'd been working on to the game with them. "Can you remember to look around and see each other and not steal the ball from each other?"
Sam E. looked at me and said "Coach, in the game I always try to dribble the ball and Jackson always tries to steal it from me." Even Jackson found that too ridiculous to respond to. He just looked at Sam then at me.
"Sam" I said, "Jackson doesn't steal the ball from you. You steal it from him cause you're a ball-hog."
"No, Jackson's a ball-hog" Sam replied through a grin.
"Dude, you are the world's biggest ball-hog."
"You are, Sam" said Austin. "You are" Elizabeth chimed in. "Yep" concluded Jackson. Then they all laughed.
In the game they did maintain their spacing fairly well and they did trust their skills. Elizabeth got the scoring started with a pair of goals. Drew had four thanks to his persistent ball control! Austin had his first in U8 and Sam had another. We had great play from everyone. Zachary was fantastic, again after a bit of a slow start. Jackson was not moving at full speed much of the game but he continued to trust his skills and always was in control of the ball rather than just kicking at it. The whole team played with a good amount of finesse and with no fear of contact.
The Sharks were joined by a new player today, Daylan, a friend of Sam's. Daylan's skill level for a new player is amazing and I can't wait to see how he'll progress.
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