Tigers Game Two

Well, we did make some progress today. We had Austin back and yet the dream line-up we've been waiting for, Austin with Bennett, didn't happen as the other team needed some subs so we loaned them Austin and Jenna. In the first quarter those two could not be stopped. They headed straight for the goal! Bennett did his best to stand up to them and did manage a goal of his own but he was sort of playing alone most of the game. Hopefully next week we'll get Austin, Jenna and Bennett all on the same side of the ball and that should be the beginnings of a very strong team. Rocco made some good efforts but was still feeling put-out by the jostling. Riley stayed on the field most of the game but is still hesitant about the whole thing. Kate, Shawn, Ava and Chad were in and out of the game intermittently. I blame the Kona Ice guy.
See you all at practice Tuesday.

Fall Session: Week One

Week one is in the books and what a great kick-off to the Fall session it was! I'm working with four different teams this session and they all had great games in this first week. In U4 we have the Tigers and in U6 we have the Polar Bears, the Thunder and, of course, the Sharks. To avoid having these game recap posts become too long I might in the future devote this space to the Sharks and then cover the other teams on separate blogs.

The Sharks came back to the pitch already on fire and playing like they hadn't taken the Summer off. Our returning players were joined by four new teammates, Diego, Jagger, Trey and Austin (Staton) and the rookies got right into the groove. Diego and Jagger just moved up from U4 and so they are the youngest on the team. Diego has a calm tenaciousness with the ball that you'd expect from an older player. He'll fit right in with the rest of our offense. He was tough as nails in his first game playing up with the bigger kids and had a couple of good runs where he made great moves to get around the opposition. Austin Staton played up front with Sam A. and Jackson and was a big help in keeping the ball pinned in the opposing team's side. He stayed right in the thick of the action the whole game. Trey played well in his first game as a Shark and showed his best work while in as keeper. He was tough and made some great outlet passes and goal kicks. You put Trey together with Jackson and Elizabeth and suddenly the Sharks are really stacked at the keeper position. And we haven't even talked about Jagger yet. Houston, we have a goalie! Jagger volunteered to give goal keeping a try and in his very first appearance he was amazing, giving no ground, attacking the ball and then making some great outlet passes. Just amazing for such a young player.

We started the game with Austin Seng, Sam E. and Elizabeth up front and they dominated as usual with Sam in particular showing that he's missed being away from the game by basically going crazy and scoring at will. I expect Coach Klinsman to call at any moment. All three of these players show amazing speed and instincts for the game. As you'd expect for the first game, they were a bit undisciplined and got in each other's way a few times but that didn't prevent them from scoring. Elizabeth was displaying an interesting tendency to want to hang back in the midfield area waiting a bit to see how things would work out. I see good midfielder instincts there. Austin was showing amazing bursts of speed and his signature move now is a little stutter step that gets his opponent flat footed followed by a quick step to get past them.

I wasn't sure what the offense would be like with those three off the field. I knew Jackson would be his usual self, driving the ball forward and shooting sure-footedly but it was great to see that Samuel and Sam A. could team up with Jackson and do so well in that second quarter offense. Samuel had a goal early in the second that was off of a beautifully stubborn solo run. He pushed through nearly every kid on the other team to get to the goal and then calmly put the shot in the net. Sam A. also had a great run through traffic to get to the goal and his shot, which actually got well airborne, was probably headed in just inside the left post but Jackson was hanging out right there and wisely chose to make sure the ball got in the net. He caught Sam's shot in midair with his right foot and drove it into the top of the net. The look of complete confidence on Jackson's face after that shot was priceless, a sort of "yeah, I did that" smile covering his face.

In the fourth we brought Samuel and Austin Seng in together and they made a great team too. Austin had a solo goal and then made a beautiful pass from the right just off the end line across to Samuel who deftly touched it into the goal. This team is deep!
McKenzie and Luke gave us some good play too, always staying in the action even if they didn't get a lot of touches. Great game Sharks!

The Thunder had a great first game and I was happy to see that we have some strong leaders on the team who can take over the offense duties. Parker, Carson and Brooke were fabulous up front. They managed a few goals and I was really impressed by their tenaciousness in traffic, especially Brooke. Mya is also showing great potential as a smart ball handler and when she and the other three learn to work together they will be formidable. Juan and Abraham showed some flashes of brilliance and I expect both of them to improve quickly. Maddie was invaluable in defense and gave us some very strong free kicks. Molly showed her toughness by taking a hard fall and then coming right back into the game. Anna took a turn at keeper and played the position bravely. I admire her willingness to give everything her best effort. Great game Thunder!

The Polar Bears were actually dominant in their game which was a great surprise as they have five players who have just moved up from U4. Mason, Carson and Noah were leading the attack for us and managed several goals. We had great work in goal from Ava Grace, Jeremy, Dylan and Ashley. Jeremy showed some surprising punting skill! A complete bonus for goalies in this age group. Dylan was tough and aggressive in goal and then while in the field he had two assists. One of those was a beautiful crossing pass that Eileen found at her feet and then drove it firmly into the net. Carson had at least one goal, probably more...I loose track. Lincoln and Micah were both doing great work too, staying in the action consistently. Lincoln had the beginnings of a great solo run too. At one point Coach Chris was reminding Lincoln to be looking at the ball all the time and asked him "Link, where's the ball?" Lincoln looked at her and calmly said with a shrug "I don't have it". Excellent work Polar Bears.

The Tigers' U4 game probably looked like complete chaos from the outside. It was. But this is all part of the process. Obviously we have a few kids who are closer to getting it. Bennett and Austin will be the leaders on this team and as the season goes on the other kids will see what they are doing and start to follow suit. I've seen it work this way several times. The real highlight of the game was a comment from Ava. Early in the game she ran off the field to her mom crying that "they're fighting" when she saw the other kids jostling to get the ball. This is part of the process too. Initially many of the kids are offended by the physical contact that is part of the game and by the fact that other players might try to take the ball away from them. You probably heard me explaining to the kids in practice that once the whistle blows to start a game we don't take turns anymore and the ball is always "my ball". It takes a while to get this part of it but they will get it. I know it's embarrassing and frustrating to have your kid clinging to you in an apparent effort to drive you crazy but they get over that too. I've seen it happen. Therefore, I recommend patience.

See you all at practice this week.

The Season Begins.

The Sharks and the newly named Thunder had excellent second practices this week. I'm very impressed with the overall level of discipline among the kids. I try to be realistic about the available attention span in a group of four and five year olds but I do like to see the kids staying focused on the game as opposed to wrestling or tickling or generally goofing off. What I say to them in practice is "we are here to play and have fun but we're here to have fun playing what?" I expect "soccer" to be the answer and for the most part that's what I get. As the weeks go by I will be working to accustom the kids to a particular practice routine for working on their fundamental skills. The more accustomed they become to the routine the more efficient that part of practice will be. But I will always try to save some time at the end of practice for some fun.

First Practice

All I can say is that I was thrilled. It's a real pleasure to work with a group that is so anxious to do the work. What great kids you all have.

The Game Schedule is posted and there is a link in the list to the right that leads there.

See you Thursday at practice.

Fall Session is Starting.

Hey soccer fans. We are less than two weeks away from our kick-off weekend so I thought I should go over the basics again for any new players we have.

Our games and practices are all at Richardson Road Park. To the right you see a list of links and one of those is to a map of the Park. The U4 and U6 fields are set up closer to the Park Shelter side of the Park so you will want to park in that lot.

If your player is new to the game you will need the following:

-Comfortable shoes to run in. They don't have to be soccer cleats. They can not wear baseball/football cleats, that is, any shoe that has a toe cleat right at the tip. If you do have a pair of those that your player likes you can simply cut the tip cleat off.

-Shin guards. These need to be properly fit. That means that they should be small enough that they don't touch your child's foot and knee-cap at the same time.

-Soccer socks that completely cover the shin guards. Shin guards must be worn under the socks, no exceptions. The socks can be the color of your choice.

-Soccer shorts, any color.

If you want to get a ball to practice with at home remember that U4, U6 and U8 all use a #3 size ball.

All of the equipment can be found at Dick's, Wal-Mart, Target and Play it Again Sports.

To the right you will also see links for some basic technique tips and drills. Check those out if you can for some ideas on what to do while practicing at home.

See you all on the pitch soon!

USA in World Cup Semifinal.

After successfully defeating both the Brazilian side and the officiating crew in their quarterfinal match the USA Women move on to face France in the semifinal at the World Cup in Germany. Megan Rapinoe's left footed crossing pass to Abby Wambach may be the greatest pass in the history of the beautiful game. And Wambach's header was a blow right to the gut of the Brazilians who shamelessly tried to run the clock out near the end of overtime.
The match versus France is on ESPN at 11:30 AM Wednesday. Do not miss it!

Sharks and Slime Win. Wave Make Tournament Run.

Before I get to the game highlights let me start by saying thanks. Like most Coaches I got started in this out of necessity. My own kids wanted to play and their teams needed a Coach so I was a Coach. With no training in coaching I just began to pay attention to the kids and see if I could figure out what they needed, what would work best for them. The first thing I noticed was that the majority of the kids playing in U6 and below had yet to get a handle on what a "game" actually is. Repeatedly I would see kids, whose parents swore that they were fiercely aggressive while playing with a ball in the back yard, who would show up at games and be timid, outright frightened or even just disinterested. I started thinking, Okay, the first thing we have to do is to start introducing them to the concepts of the game little by little rather than simply throwing them out there and yelling at them to "go get the ball!"

As I gained more experience I began to adhere to two mantras: "patience" and "nothing is obvious". I try to always be patient with the kids and to allow them to repeat things as many times as they need in order to "get it". I talk to the parents and ask them to be patient and to keep in mind that the kids are learning the skills of the game but most importantly they are learning what a game is and that's not easy. I tell the kids to be patient with themselves when I'm asking them to learn a new skill. "Nothing is obvious" means that you have to be willing to break everything down into smaller parts and spend time on the parts and then put it back together. I learned how to teach good kick technique by watching my son, Owen, kick. He always made such good contact with the ball because he ran up on it so close that by the time he made contact he had to use the top of his foot, he was too close to kick with his toe. So, I made that into a drill, getting the kids to run through the ball to kick. That didn't work for some so I started rolling the ball away from them, like reverse kick-ball. For a few that still didn't work because of the way they ran so we worked on their running, on getting them to stay up on their toes. Nothing is obvious. Some kids are naturals but they can all be taught and you just have to be willing to teach even the stuff that seems like it should be obvious.

I learned all this while working with your kids. They're always showing me something new and it's a joy to work with them. So now, beyond the necessity of coaching for my own kids' sake I just love coaching. I love Saturday mornings. I'm taking over as head administrator for NKYA soccer and I'm doing so because I want to share what I've learned with other Coaches so that we can build a tradition at NKYA of excellent amateur instruction. I'm proud of the work NKYA does and I'm excited about what we can accomplish in the future. And, again, I got to here because of what I learned working with your kids. So, thanks.

What I have learned from working with the Sharks is this: basic technical practice combined with some simple but persistent game situation practice can result in remarkable leaps forward in team play. Watching the individual kids who have such great natural gifts is wonderful. Sam E's ball handling and speed, Jackson's sure handedness in goal, Elizabeth's powerful kick and Austin's great sense of the whole field, all of these are amazing and a joy to watch. But seeing them play as a team, as they did again this weekend, is just impossibly awesome. With any team you might occasionally see a shot miss and then another player who happens to be in the right spot puts in the rebound and you call that an assist and a goal but there was a lot of luck there too. The Sharks don't accidentally put together a few passes and then get a shot, they do that intentionally. They communicate, they anticipate, they cover for each other. It's amazing. Obviously some of the kids are farther along but all of the others have made huge leaps forward because they are trying to play up to that level, because they want to be part of the team. Brandon is a great example. He has a strong kick with both feet and can run all day but he has in the past been unable to resist chasing the ball all over the field. In Saturday's game he started to really play his position and was in the right spot repeatedly. The result was a beautiful goal, a chip shot really, that floated over the goalie's shoulder from ten yards out and into the net. Jackson had picked-up the ball in the center then saw Brandon open on his left, made a pass, and boom! Teamwork!
Kendall made a similar brilliant pass that got us a goal and she did so after collecting the ball in the corner and making a really graceful turnaround that left two defenders behind. Her pass across the face of the goal made for an easy shot for Jackson. (We needed that from Kendall as I had asked her to fill in for Elizabeth. She really stepped up!) Austin made a great turn in close to the goal in the midst of heavy traffic. Receiving the ball with his back to the goal, he made a graceful two step turn to bring the ball toward the center then turned and fired. He get's more and more patient and cool-headed with the ball at his feet all the time, as does Jackson. Luke had a goal and played what I thought was his best game ever. Everyone played well. They started in warm-ups to crowd around me telling me about how they'd been practicing at home, trying to one-up each other with their at-home work. Well, it shows. Sharks rule!

The Slime were awesome too and we had the goals to prove it. Lincoln had his best game yet and was a swing and a miss away from a goal. Mason was speedy as usual and Diego was just amazingly patient with the ball. He has great confidence in his ability to posses the ball and so he's never in a particular hurry. He reminds me of Dimitar Berpatov. Our girls played well with Ashley controlling the ball a lot and Eileen managing a goal at the buzzer. Delaney had a great warm-up but was a little behind the action in the game. Maddox was the star this week. He had one goal but his real contribution was his tireless defense. He got back on D so many times, running the whole field to do it, I was amazed. Great work Slime.


The Green Wave made a spectacular run in their season ending tournament. Their first opponent was the Green team which features two "select" quality players, players with real ball skills. But the Wave played loose and used their amazing speed to dominate the game. With Zach and Logan holding midfield most of the game our forwards were free to roam about in the Green half and as a result we had a lot of shots. Two shots that found the goal were from Morgan and they were both left footers. That's huge! Gabby and Kylie took turns in as keeper and were both excellent.
In game two we faced the Orange team and their best player is a big kid who has a few pounds and inches even on Zach but the Wave held their own again and again they played loose and played with great speed. That is the teams strength really, their speed. Gabby may be the fastest kid I've ever coached and Zach and Kylie aren't far behind. Lydia is quick with the ball, as is Jake. Jake has really stepped his game up this session and he showed that in this game by putting in two goals. One was a tap in off of a rebound from a shot from Lydia. The other was a pure blast from the near left side that he got in after some nice dribbling.
Sunday's game was a slightly different story. We played Black and the Wave were all thrilled that we didn't have to face the Red team. But once they saw the Black team's star player, Alex, in action they tightened up and slowed down just the way they would have against the Red team. It was tough to watch. When the Wave plays with speed and energy they can overcome most of their technical weaknesses by simply covering the whole field so effectively. But in this game they were all playing as though they were afraid to let Alex get past them or, worse, hit them with a shot (my thanks to Gabby for enduring just that and doing so with great courage). By the end of the game things were a bit out of hand emotionally with players on both teams loosing their tempers. That was actually the highlight of the game, that despite their fears, many of the Wave stood up to Alex repeatedly and tried their best to stop him. Zach obviously gave him a hard time from start to finish. It was like watching Neo and Smith in the Matrix seeing those two crash into each other repeatedly then regroup and go at it again. Ashley, too, was on Alex and pressing him and Logan had a few good stops too. But on the whole the Wave were forced into playing constant defense and so we didn't manage much in the way of shots on goal. Morgan and Lydia had some flashes of brilliance but just couldn't get past that last line of defenders. So the game didn't go our way and the Wave were really devastated. I honestly think they came into the game thinking they could win. Coach Dave gave them a great, moving pep-talk before kick-off and they were all excited and anxious to play. Oh, well.
I'm proud of them, as Coach Dave is. They were a great group to work with, especially in practice, where they really did work very hard every week. It was an honor to coach you Wave! Finishing second in a tournament with so many talented opponents is a great accomplishment and you should be proud. Congratulations on the amazing finish.