Week Two

The U4 Ghosts were a real treat to watch this week. Lucas, Noah and Sam all have a single-minded determination to get the ball to the goal that makes them, at this age group, unstoppable. Before the game Sam informed me that he'd "left my hands at home today." Then he asked when we could play that "run around with the ball everywhere game" by which I assume he meant soccer. True to his word Sam kept his hands off the ball and consequently managed to score at least four goals. Noah had five and Lucas had another two. Noah and Lucas are both transitioning quickly from simply focusing on the ball to being able to be aware of their teammates. I saw them both make nice efforts at passing the ball ahead and they both know what it means to "get to the goal" to be in position to take a pass. That sort of field awareness is a big step and really helps them when they move up an age group. Noah made one great pass across the goal that I thought for sure would lead to Jill's first goal but she was a half-step late. She'll get one soon.
The highlight of the game was a run that Sam and Noah were making up the right side. When I yelled out that someone needed to get to the goal both boys simultaneously left the ball and headed up field to the other goal. The other team totally bought the play and followed our boys down field, ignoring the ball. I was fooled too and had no idea where the ball was for a moment. The other coach and I agreed we'd never seen that before.
Thanks to the Epley's for the snack. Noah's mom is up next week for snack duty.

The final score of the U6 Angel's game was kind of a surprise as it felt like we controlled the ball most of the time. We had goals from McKinley and Nate, our two most energetic players and several good shots from Owen and Alex. But in the end the other team had managed three goals. Two of them were shots that were very tough to defend as in each case our keeper's view was blocked by the crowd until the ball was already on him. The kids seemed to really enjoy the game. It was a good, even match-up. Prior to kick-off I talked to them about remembering to stay spread out and try to work "the triangle" which is a simple offense concept where your three forward players try to maintain their spacing between each other and the goal. Well they did get it working and we saw some beautiful passing and dribbling drives. Owen and Alex typically play in middle looking to direct the ball to either Nate or McKinley who, sort of naturally, play as strikers, crashing into the defense directly and frequently dragging the ball with them. If you watch Nate you see that his best chance of getting through the defense is if he faces more than one player. If there is only one defender Nate has to go around and his size can work against him in that case. But if there are two defenders he just crashes through the middle, pulling the ball along with him.
We had great play from Brennen who, in case you didn't know, is Alex's little brother and could still be playing U4. Brennen's feel for the field and where the players are makes him naturally inclined to play that same distributor or "point guard" role that Alex and Owen like and he did jump into that spot several times in this game. Twice in this game I saw him take balls that popped out from a scrum against the wall and re-direct them toward the center. Most kids instinctively kick the ball right back where it came from but I watched Brennen let those two balls roll past him just a bit so that he could then send them up field toward the goal. Good stuff.
Cody joined us this week and had a great stint in goal. He especially liked getting the ball and throwing it out to his team. He has his arm a little high when he throws, like a young Kurt Warner, but we can work on that.


The Bullets played with intensity again and that's all I can ask from them. So many of them are still so new to the game and still developing some basic skills. But so far they show up each week ready to play and they play hard the whole game. We had great stints in goal again from Nicholas and Kyle. Nick and Nate proved to be a very effective fullback tandem and I was honestly hesitant to take them out of there though I know they'd like to try something else occasionally. We missed having Lauren and Liz helping out on offense which showed in the number of times we got the ball into the other team's side only to have no one on hand to take it to the goal.
Some stand out players this week were: Katherine, who plays with great intensity for someone who is only in their third session ever of soccer. Nicholas who persistently made a very deliberate effort while in fullback to try to move the ball out of traffic before attempting a clearing kick. Erin who was so solid in defense the first half. And Helen who had to cover a lot of ground in midfield with Lauren, her normal partner, out for the week.
We could have hung with that team better but for some mistakes on defense in the second half that were more errors of communication than anything else. The effort was there, though, for sure. Good game Bullets.