Watch some soccer on TV!

If ESPN and the NCAA stick to their schedule the Women's division I Soccer final should be on ESPN this Friday evening, Dec. 4th, at 5:30. It's Stanford vs. UCLA. Try to get your player to watch at least a few minutes of the game.

Week Five: Smart Play

The highlights for me in each of the games this week were the moments when our teams showed some real "soccer I.Q." playing heads up on defense and cooperating smartly on offense.

For the Spiders it was Noah and Brennen leading the way with both of them playing very intelligently off of the ball. As Brennen's Dad put it after the game, you could see them "cutting off the angles" and anticipating where the ball was going next. That kind of thinking on defense always generates opportunities on offense and so we had a handful of goals again. Everyone else played well too. Xavier and Lucas really turned it on in the last quarter and Jill, again, was very close to having a shot on goal at least twice. She's improving very fast lately.

The key for the Seals was, as always, discipline. Our older U6 players are becoming very accustomed to playing the field as a team, working their positions and making great passes. Owen's goal this game was off a beautiful pass from Alex. Kaleb was solid in goal again and had great help on defense from Justin and Luke. Luke had one of those "I.Q." moments when he dropped back into defense as the other team was making a run along the wall. Rather than go directly to the ball Luke circled around to get in front of the oncoming player and was able to easily take the ball away and send it back into the other teams side. That was a really heads-up play. Kendall and Mac both had some good chances for shots on goal by being in the right place. Next time I just need to be sure that they are watching the ball.

The Bullets were, again, uneven. As with last week's game they seemed frequently to be playing in a panic on defense, sometimes chasing the ball wildly, sometimes standing frozen. Our offense, on the other hand, was very strong. I was really happy to see them running hard to get in position and, as I keep telling them, "taking their chances". Avery had both of our goals and the first was off of a perfect pass from Braden. The best part of that exchange was that Avery was calling loudly to Braden that she was open and he found her with the pass at just the right time. Avery also showed some very creative ball handling moves in the second half which demonstrated her incredible endurance. Erika and Lauren also played great in offense and I think Erika had at least four shots on goal, all of them well struck. Lauren took several hard spills and kept getting up and was even jawing at the opposition like an old veteran. "This isn't football, you know" she yelled at one boy who had bumped her hard. I love that.
Erin was our field general again, directing the ball into our offense and on several occasions sneaking up to take a shot when she could. Jake played courageously in goal again and even attempted a punt. I admire his chutzpah. Kyle D. was in as keeper in the second half and played very well and was especially smart on his throws and kicks.
Katherine played with great energy in defense and is still working hard at learning the game. David got to move up the field from fullback to midfield and he attacked the new position with great energy. Nicholas played both forward and fullback in this game and played both positions with impressive urgency. On offense especially, Nick was doing a good job of trying to stay in open space rather than chasing the ball. Jordan was great in defense, especially in the first half and, following Erin's lead she played so aggressively up the field that she seems to be begging to go in as a midfielder.
Helen had some great plays out of the defensive end and on two occasions took the ball out to the half line herself before passing. I'd love to see more of that. I'd love to see them all playing a little looser, enjoying the game as they play it. Parents, let me know if the kids think I'm too hard on them. It is a rec league after all and we're just here to have fun playing a game that they all already basically understand. My job is just to help them play it better if they want to, not demand that they get me some wins. I hope they all get that.

Week Four: Constant Improvement

The Spiders had a great game including an impressive hat-trick of goals for Brennen. Xavier was a bit confused at times as to who was on his team but he played hard. And keep watching Jill. She's going to break out with a goal soon.

The Seals played well against a tough opponent. Coach Jen's teams always play well and our games with them are always fun. Luckily we had outstanding goalie play from Kaleb that shut the light blue team down for a quarter. Alex had an incredibly long goal and then tried confusing the other team with his flying-shoe-kick. As in last week's game, the Seals did a good job of staying spread out and using the whole field.

I wasn't happy with the way the Bullets game went. They played really well for the first ten minutes or so but then began to break down and play in a panic. I hate to see that because it shows me that they still aren't playing as a team and trusting each other. So it was a tough loss and I had some tough talk for the team after the game. But there certainly were some highlights. Erin continues to develop her abilities as a midfielder and played very tough. Avery played with great energy again, as did Lauren. Braden attacked again and again and is never shy about trying to dribble around somebody. Erika showed great courage in her first game as keeper.
As individuals every member of the team is showing improvement. We just need to develop more team work on both ends of the field. We will practice Saturday at 12:00 and please try to be at Pleasure Isle by 4:30 Sunday so that we have plenty of time to talk and warm-up prior to the game.

Week Three Highlights

The Spiders faced a tough opponent this week so most of our best moments were on defense. Brennen, Noah, Lucas and Jill all showed great progress in knowing how to hustle back on defense to cover the goal. Xavier was a constant threat in offense again this week as was Noah. It was also great to see Jeremy back out on the field playing hard. Karolyn had a fabulous goal this week. Making a beautiful run from midfield, she out paced the defenders around her and put the ball right in the center of the goal.

I apologize to everyone for getting the start time for the U6 Seals wrong on my schedule. I'm double checking that schedule to make sure there are no other errors. Starting out the game down a few players didn't seem to upset the Seals at all. We had Kaleb in goal the first quarter with Alex and Justin on the wings and Owen and Kevin sharing the center position. They did a great job of maintaining their positions and the result was a barrage of goals. Alex had three goals total, his first off of a beautiful pass from Justin. After that goal Alex and Justin made sure I knew that Justin had made the pass. It's great to see that they are getting the thrill of working together.
Justin had a goal of his own and Owen and Kaleb had two and three goals respectively.
After Kaleb's first, a left footed tap-in which was the direct result of playing his position and being in the right place at the right time, Kaleb asked me if he could stop playing his position (left wing) and "just go wherever I want". When I said no his response was "aww maaan!" But then he went on to score two more goals.
Despite being in the thick of it constantly Kevin didn't come away with a goal but he did play really well. Once he gets the hang of playing away from the ball he'll be scoring more often. That is what I'll be working on with Maddie and Kendall too. They are both aggressively attacking the ball but they tend to get stuck in the pile. Kendall has made so much progress and she clearly loves to play. As I was setting the team up for the third quarter Kendall announced to everyone that "we're going to play like a team and use team work". Maddie was great during her stint in goal and made one very smart run out of the box to clear the ball away.

The Sapphire Bullets had a good game as a team in a 2-2 tie. Avery had both of our goals this game and I think one of them was even off of her left foot. Both goals were strong kicks from several yards out. We had really great play from everyone and I saw a lot of the ideas and techniques we had been working on in practice put into use in this game. Specifically I want to note Erika's play in defense where she did a great job of controlling the ball before clearing it out. Lauren was fabulous this game, dashing into the goal repeatedly and staying ahead of the ball just as we'd practiced. Jake was solid in goal for us the second half making several good stops. The goal Purple did put in against Jake was so high I couldn't have stopped it. I also want to mention Kathryn and David who have been playing mostly fullback for us. Before they got to go in in the first half they stood on the bench watching intently, comparing notes on how our defense should be playing and asking me lots of questions about how to play the position. As a coach you have to love having players like that on your team. Hopefully the weather will be good Saturday and we can get another practice in.

Week Two

The U4 Grey Spiders were down a player this week but still played strong. Among the highlights were two strong runs toward goal by Lucas Meagher. On his first run he ran past the ball a bit at the end and a defender was able to take it. On his second run Lucas was on a clear path to the goal with Xavier shadowing him on his left to help out when unexpectedly Lucas' shot was blocked by...an adult running around the field swinging their child like a hockey stick. No doubt the child/hockey stick learned a lot from that. I've seen coaches and parents attempt to get a recalcitrant child engaged in the game using that method before but I've never seen it have good results and it's unfair to the kids on the other team. They didn't sign up to play against child-wielding adults. If I see that happening again I'll talk to the Ref and get it stopped. At any rate Xavier was able to collect Lucas' blocked shot and put it in the goal. A very heads-up play. I should have had him run up to the Parent in question and do some sort of Ochocinco-like dance.
Jill and Karolyn both also had excellent games. And Brennen was very solid, mostly in defense, showing off that big kick of his.

The Seals were so fired-up during our practice time, cheering each other on, that I'm a little surprised they didn't dominate more during the game. I'm just thrilled with how tight these kids are as a team. They really like playing together and are learning quickly how to work as a team and rely on each other and that shows in the way we scored our goals this week. Our first was from Owen who was hanging out in front of the goal while Alex followed the ball into the corner. By keeping his distance Owen was in the right spot when Alex got the ball out and across the goal leaving Owen with an easy chip-in.
Our other goal was off of a beautiful set piece. On a hand-ball kick Madeline made a perfect pass to Kaleb who was waiting just to the left of the other team's defensive wall. Kaleb one-touched that pass right into the goal. I don't think the other coach had his team fully set up but Maddie was watching the Ref and the Ref said go. They weren't going to block that shot anyway.
The other highlight of the game was Justin's play. Justin took a ball to the face early in the third quarter and had to go off. When he came back in in the fourth he came in like a lion and seemed intent on dominating the field. He was showing speed and graceful ball handling that I haven't seen from him before. And everyone knows he has a strong kick. His shots didn't get through but it was still a great game for Justin. Kevin, Luke and Kendall all had excellent games too and Mac had a great first half.

The Sapphire Bullets had the game I thought they would after their last one and their last practice. They came out fired-up and focused and they played that first half with great intensity. In a very narrow 5 to 4 loss we had goals from Avery, Kyle K., Erin and Kyle D. Avery's goal was on a perfect pass and shoot combination with a nice assist from Erin whose pass threaded the defense and found Avery all alone in the box. Kyle K. was in the right place at the right time, crashing the box after a teammates' shot he was right there to put in the rebound. Erin had a lovely clean shot from some distance that was the one successful attempt out of what seemed like dozens of good shots. Kyle D. was in the scrum just in front of the goal after a free kick from Erin. As the ball got loose from the pile-up Kyle collected it and quickly pushed it in the goal.
Braden played some amazing offense, tirelessly attempting over and over again to penetrate the defense with his amazing footwork but just didn't get the chances on goal that he was working for. On the other side of the field Erika was again showing her speed and Helen and Lauren gave us excellent games in midfield. Lauren's instincts for the game are getting better every week. She had a great game. Jordan was great in defense and was playing so aggressively up the field that I may have to move her into midfield. David and Kathryn, our two rookies, were great in defense. David is getting the hang of it quickly and he's got a strong left foot. Seth was excellent in goal during the first half with help from Nicholas anchoring the defensive line for him. Jake came in as keeper in the second half and handled himself very well making some fearless stops. Unfortunately the rest of the defense left him in too many one on one situations which is what had happened in the previous game so we know what we have to work on in practice.
The weather for next Saturday looks great so I'm planning to hold practice at Richardson Road again, this time at 2:00 PM and we'll go for 90 minutes. See you there.
Parents, if you get a chance follow this link to view a training video that shows a player demonstrating good ball control skills. View the video with your player if you can. Watching this definitely helped get my kids more interested in developing their ball handling technique.

Teams Debut Strong in Week One

While we have many returning players on each team we also have a lot of new talent on the field so we needed new team names to go with our new colors, and so we are;

The U4 Grey Spiders!

The U6 Sapphire Seals!

The U10 Sapphire Bullets!

Here's a run-down of how everyone did this first week.

U4 is stronger than ever as The Spiders. Jill and Eileen ran a lot and Jill gets more involved in the game every week (and spends less time waving at her parents). Eileen, our youngest player was joined on the team by another youngster, Jeremy, whose brother plays on the U6 team. Jeremy had a great first game getting into the thick of the action right from the start. Lucas and Karolyn played hard too. Karolyn attacks the ball more aggressively each game. Noah had another strong showing with at least three goals. While he misses his partner from last session, Zach, Noah has two new players to work with; Brennen and Xavier. Xavier played with amazing energy for his first game, attacking the ball like a wild man. He had at least one goal, too! Our other new player Brennen has the same powerful right kick as his brother Alex who plays on the U6 team. With Brennen sending the ball up for them, Noah and Alex should be able to score often.

With the addition of Kevin, Luke and Carter U6 has become overwhelmingly strong. The Sapphire Seals were pretty much unstoppable once they got rolling with goals from Kevin, Owen, Kaleb and Alex. Justin was very strong in goal and in defense. We miss Ethan and Nate but Owen, Kaleb, Alex and Justin remembered how to stay spread out and work the ball in a triangle. We'll be working with Kevin, Carter and Luke on that too. Carter and Luke were also very solid in defense, stopping the blue team's attacks cold.
Kendall was great in goal and had a great game in the field, running with the ball and staying in the action. Maddie was good in goal and in the field but her most notable contribution is her attitude. Maddie is always so fired-up to play she can barely contain herself at kick-off. Our other new player, Mac, who played with us some sessions back had a good game too, staying more engaged in the action than ever before.

I knew the U10 game would be a tough one since most of the kids are new to each other and we haven't had much time to practice together but the Sapphire Bullets showed a lot of heart and toughness as well as some impressive skill and speed... lots of speed! In the second half Braden and Erika lead the attack with speed that seemed to really get the black team back on their heels. This lead to goals from Avery and Braden! If we can get Braden, Avery, Erika and the rest of our offense working on the same page we should be able to play with anybody. We also had great games from Helen, Erin and Kyle Duncan who played tirelessly and showed a lot of ball handling skill. Kyle Kruthoffer is our other speed merchant, zipping around on defense and darting up field for a little offense when needed. Nicholas had a tough time in goal in the first half facing a barrage of shots but his sense of the game is good and he's a hard worker in practice so I know he'll have better days. While we had great individual play from our defenders, including Jordan and Seth, we need to work on playing as a unit to contain the other side and protect our keeper from having to face so many one-on-ones. Seth was great in goal the second half, taking a charge on one play that, to me, looked like a yellow card offense. But Seth popped up smiling and put the ball back in play like it was all part of the plan. Jordan and Lauren played very well, crashing into the oncoming attack repeatedly. I know the score was lopsided but our defense stopped a lot of attacks. I was thrilled to see Jake have such a good game as he hasn't played in a while. And our defense is tough. Jake took a ball off the noggin in the second half and kept on going. Lauren took one in the gut and she kept going. Jordan was chasing and clearing fiercely and our two new defenders, Kathryn and David, had great games for kids new to the game.
So, while the score wasn't pretty I saw lots of potential. If everyone is interested in doing the work we'll keep practicing as long as the weather permits.

Code of conduct

If you have a player in the NKYA youth soccer league this session please take a moment to read the Parent/Spectator code of conduct. The indoor soccer session always seems to be a richer environment for contention between Parents, Coaches and Refs. Probably because the game is faster indoor, there is only one Referee on the field and the Parents are sitting so close together.
If you are new to the game yourself there are two aspects of the way games are refereed that you need to be aware of:
First,in NKYA youth soccer there are very few situations where a direct free kick would be allowed as the result of a penalty, such as a hand-ball, being called. Rather, when one team is called for a foul the opposing team will be awarded possession of the ball through an indirect free kick, meaning the ball must be touched by a second player before a goal could be allowed. Because of this rule penalties rarely result in goals and therefore the calls a referee makes, good, bad or indifferent, rarely affect the outcome of the game directly.
Second, Referees calling our games will identify fouls keeping both intent and advantage in mind. This means that if a Referee sees, for instance, a player touch the ball with his hand the Ref will hold off on calling a penalty if in the Ref's opinion the touch was unintentional/unavoidable. Even if the Ref believes the offense was committed intentionally he may still hold onto his whistle if it appears that the result of the offense, i.e., the direction the ball goes, is to the advantage of the opposing team. So if, for instance, little Timmy on the other team reaches out and knocks the ball down with his hand but the ball subsequently bounces right to one of our players' feet and our player then has a clear lane toward the other teams' goal, well, in this situation the Ref would correctly hold off on whistling the play dead since the foul committed by one team ended up being to the other teams advantage.