USA Women's Soccer V China

Tonight you can watch the US Women play against the Chinese National side on ESPN2 at 7:00 PM. Of course you shouldn't switch over to the soccer until the Reds have finished beating the Phillies.

Week Seven: Fall Weather, Great Soccer

Sorry I missed updating the blog last week. My schedule has been very hectic.
We had really perfect weather for soccer this week and everybody played with a lot of energy. I want to remind everyone that registration for the first indoor session has started and you can sign up on line or in person this coming week at Richardson Road. I will be coaching U4, U6 and U8 again. I'm not sure yet about U12/13.

The U4 Blueberries had their best game yet with the most consistent level of participation we've seen. Everyone stayed involved the entire game. Carson was our most active player and he had a couple of goals, including one off of a nice corner kick from Eileen. Carson will be missing the last game. Good luck, Carson!

The Sharks had their best game of the session with strong performances from everyone. We had excellent play in at goal from Elizabeth and Kendall among others. Out in the field Kendall had a bit of a breakthrough game, playing with more determination than ever before. She finally started to bring some of the great skill she shows at practice to the game. Kendall had at least three genuine chances on goal but each time was a bit unlucky.
Sam E. had his best game since moving up to U6 and after three straight goals plus another couple of good attempts I actually had to take him off the field to let the other team get back on their feet. Sam has been doing such a good job of bringing everything we work on in practice to the games and it seems like every week he adds some new move to his repertoire. Sam Atkins had a great game for us too, taking on most of the striking duties while Sam E. was on the bench. Sam A. is still working on his ball handling but he already has a huge kick.
Finally, I'm thrilled to say that the Sharks were jubilant and gracious in victory sharing a sincere hand-shake with the other team at the end of the game.

The Warriors got their groove back playing against the Light Blue side this week. Nate and Will combined for our first goal and from then on the Warriors kept the pressure on most of the game. It was a good return to form but I tried to remind the team after the game that while they are playing with a lot of energy and a lot of good communication they still aren't being patient enough with the ball. We spend almost all of our practice time working on ball control and yet as a team they rarely manage to execute that basic skill. There is far too much "kick-ball", where they wildly kick the ball away as soon as they get near it. We'll just keep plugging away at that at practice.

The Strikers had a fantastic game as a team coming up just short in a 1-2 loss. The star of the game was Isabel who scored our lone goal and who has dialed her game up several notches since the beginning of the session. Iz shows amazing confidence now while dribbling the ball and seems confident that she can get around anyone. Lydia is another player who has really turned her game up lately, playing with great energy throughout the game.
It was great to have Meaghan back from her injury lay-off. She played wonderfully, like she hadn't lost a step. Sam was great in defense for us showing great patience and poise handling first touch and then moving the ball forward for her team mates. Everyone else played really well too. They played as a team and were really working to back each other up. Great work strikers!

Week Five

Pictures are behind us. Thank you all for your patience. NKYA has begun registration for the fall indoor session which will begin in mid-October. I anticipate coaching U4, U6 and U8 again. You can register online at NKYA.com or on Saturdays at the games through October 9th.

The Blueberries had a good game this week, as usual. Madison was particularly sharp this week and Carson and Austin were also very much in the game. Eileen made a great corner kick that led to a goal from either Carson or Madison, not sure who touched the ball last.
I want to assure all the parents at the U4 level that we are just taking the first steps toward learning the game and having your kid get spooked and not want to come out onto the field, even for game after game, is not unusual. The whole point of the U4 division is to just get the kids used to the idea of playing soccer, get them used to wearing the gear and being on or at least near the field. At this age level there is no pressure on the kids to play competitively even though you may see a kid or two on each team who appears to "get it" more than the others. It's all part of the process, so just keep showing up and eventually even the most recalcitrant kid sees the other kids having fun and, naturally, wants to join in.

Your U6 Sharks were positively on fire this week. We had early goals from the two Sams and lots of great play from everyone else. After his first goal Sam E., who had received the ball on a nice pass from Jackson, came back to the circle and told Jackson "this time I'll pass it to you so you can kick it in." That's a big step and I was glad to see it
We had good turns in goal from Sam A., Luke, Kendall and Jackson. The highlight of the game was a simple play on defense by Karolyn. At one point the opposing team got the ball and headed down the side line into our end. Karolyn turned immediately and sprinted back toward our goal, not toward the ball, and without ever taking her eyes off the ball got into position to help the goalie defend. Brilliant stuff!

The Warriors played to yet another tie and currently are in a tie for second in their division. From my perspective it looked like the Warriors were in control of the ball most of the game but we did catch a break when the other team's one good shot on goal bounced off the post. As for our own shots, while there were a lot of them none were very convincing. At practice we will definitely work on being more patient and taking a few more steps toward the goal before shooting. Will was the star of the game with two excellent quarters in as keeper. Kaleb's turn in as keeper was also a brilliant display. Kudos to Kaleb and Justin both for taking balls off the nose and managing to keep on playing.

I'm always very pleased with the intensity of my practices with the U13 Strikers. The kids always work hard and seem to improve on their fundamentals every week. But in the games we don't get consistent intensity from everyone. I'm not sure what the problem is but we'll just keep working in practice to develop those fundamental skills and hopefully we'll have a game soon where everyone is in sync.

See you all Saturday.

September 11th, Picture Day Schedule

This week is picture week and here is the schedule:

U6 Sharks Photo at 8:30 AM Game at 9:00 AM

U4 Blueberries Photo at 9:45 AM Game at 10:00 AM

U8 Warriors Photo at 10:55 AM Game at 12:00 PM

U13 Strikers Photo at 11:50 AM Game at 1:00 PM

As you can see there will be some overlap for me and so I will be needing help from everyone to make this run smoothly.

Change of Direction Drill

Here is video of kids working on the change of direction drill that we've been using in our practices.

Week Three

I was worried that last week's loss would be a tough one to come back from for the Strikers but on Tuesday they practiced well and seemed in really good spirits and on Saturday they showed up ready to play and anxious to get on the field. Samantha arrived with a new set of goalie gloves and was ready to get in there and try it again. She did a great job in the first half and then spent the rest of the game in at fullback and did some really great work there, especially with some great throw-ins.
The Strikers found the goal early off a great set piece from the corner in which Helen put a fabulous kick right in front of the goal where Taylor could step to it and drive it in. Later in the first half we got our second goal from Bryce who was showing off his ball handling in this game.
We had great play in goal from Keegan who made some fierce diving saves for us. Despite the fact that we lost our defense was really the highlight of the game as the Strikers managed to play with a lot of poise and composure, maintaining their positions and working solidly as a team. Isabel, Meighan and Hailey got the defensive play started in the first half and were great together. Meighan is a tough competitor who doesn't give ground easily. Isabel is tireless and has a great ability to anticipate where the ball will be moving. She seemed always to be in the right position. Lydia gave us great play in defense and, especially in the second half, dealt with some fierce elbow throwing from the Red team. She handled it with a cool head. Anna was strong for us both in offense and defense. In the first half she got close to the goal a couple of times and had a few shots go wide. She runs with the ball with such confidence I know another multi-goal game is coming up for her.
Meighan took a spill in the first half and landed on her right hand awkwardly. Her wrist started swelling immediately and so she sat out the rest of the game and left early so her Dad could take her to get that wrist looked at. I haven't heard from him yet how she's doing. I want to say that I was impressed with how Meighan handled the whole thing. Given the amount of swelling I would guess that her wrist was really hurting but she seemed as calm as she could be about it. Tough kid.

Practice for the Sharks on Monday prior to this week's game did not go smoothly. The kids showed up with lots of energy but very little focus. Probably because the weather was so good and they'd all been in school that day they just had energy to burn. After some stern warnings that I might have to separate them into two teams, the real Sharks and the goofball Sharks, they settled down a bit and got some good work done. Then on Saturday only real Sharks showed up and they played beautifully.
Austin lead the way on kick-off with a lot of energy and determination to get to the goal but some confusion as to which goal he needed to get to. I was thrilled to see him so engaged. He has a great kick and will easily score some goals if he keeps his head in the game. We had two goals from Sam E. early on with lots of energetic support from everyone on the field, especially Karolyn who continues to play like a tasmanian devil, crashing into the action fearlessly. We had good goalie play from Elizabeth in the first quarter and she had one really good stop to save a goal. In the second quarter Braden came in and led the Sharks in their now trademark huddle. Their strategizing didn't lead to a goal but they certainly had a lot of good attempts including a shot from Sam A. that went wide left by less than a ball's width. Brandon was great in goalie making a couple of really good stops.
Luke was in goal for us in the third quarter and he held his own making at least on solid stop when challenged. Jeremy, like Karolyn surprises you with his fearlessness and he always stays close to the action. And at the start of every quarter he always wants in. Jackson was good in the field for a couple of quarters but when he came in at keeper in the fourth he was brilliant. He had three great stops where he really had to take the ball right off the attacking player's foot. Then on the last of those he made a beautiful outlet pass right down the middle of the field that really should have lead to a goal. Great work all around for the Sharks. See you at practice Monday.

The Blueberries had their best game yet with lots of engaged play from everyone (despite the presence of the Kona Ice truck). Carson was the star with a long run down field to make a goal. I know there is a lot of running on and off the field and the kids rarely look like they get the whole picture of what the game involves but this group is doing just fine. That includes the kids who aren't even sure they want to be on the field. Just showing up every week with the gear on is part of the process.

After a wonderful practice session early in the week I was expecting the Warriors to come out with an impressive performance and they did not disappoint. Before noting the individual highlights I want to say that every player brought great enthusiasm and energy to the game Saturday and that is a carry-over from their practice. These kids, as a group, are a more serious team at practice than any I've coached. They really know how to get to work.
Whitney lead us off with an early goal to get things rolling. Not long after Will nearly put in an incredible header for a goal. Missing just wide left, Will got enough on the ball from some twenty feet out to have easily put it in the back of the net. It was a great shot.
Nate delivered our second goal when, in the second half, he recovered his feet and the ball after getting knocked down using a move that looked part ninja, part break-dancer then dribbled to his left and kicked a low shot that the goalie did grab but then fell across the line with. Great effort on the goalie's part but also a great goal for Nate.
Dakota was fabulous for us in keeper during the last quarter, making some great stops and delivering a couple of really well placed goal kicks to get the offense re-started.
The big highlight of the game was a play involving Olivia and Whitney and you may not have even noticed it. Both girls play with a tireless energy although Whitney has been playing since she could walk and Olivia is new to the game. In the last quarter, when some of the Warriors were getting heavy feet Whit and Olivia were still going strong. We had a couple of throw-ins in a row where Whitney couldn't find an open teammate to get the ball in to. On the next ball out Olivia, unprompted by me, ran to the touch line and took the ball from Whitney then told her to go down the line. Olivia then made a quick throw-in that landed right where Whitney needed it. It didn't lead to a goal but that heads-up play easily could have. I would say that in every practice we work on two things. One is some basic set of ball handling skills which we work on till the kids are bored with it. The other is developing in them the ability to see the whole field as they play, to know where the ball, their teammates and their opponents are. It looked to me Saturday like Olivia may have taken a huge step forward in that area.

No games next Saturday. Enjoy the Holiday.

Strategy Frenzy - The Sharks Make a Plan

Thanks to Kori Blackburn, Braden's mom, we have photo documentation of the Sharks attempting to "out-plan" their opponents. This could be this session's moment of Soccer Zen: we begin to learn how to do a thing by pretending to do it.