My thanks to everyone on the U4 team for enduring the early start this week and my thanks to everyone on the U6 team for enduring the ridiculous parking situation at Pleasure Isle. Hopefully when the side lot isn't covered with snow the parking will be better.
The U4 team called themselves the Ghosts last session (it was a Halloween thing) and elected to keep that name again. The Sapphire Ghosts got off to a great start for the session with a total of seven goals. Lucas had two goals and two assists and Noah put in five goals of his own. Eleen and Jill played with great energy and our two new players, Will and Sam, attacked the ball tirelessly.
Jill's mom and dad got the snack this week. If you're interested in taking a week on the U4 snack schedule shoot me an e-mail.
The U6 Sapphire Seals welcomed some new players and some old friends as well as a graduate from the U4 team. Nate, Mason and Collin were back after taking a few sessions off. Nate was his old mercurial self, dashing all over the field and talking to his teammates like an old pro. Peyton and McKinley are new to the team but not to soccer and both had a great impact in the first game. McKinley was especially impressive in goal and Peyton showed some great soccer IQ. And finally Brennen DeMann moved up from U4 to join his brother Alex with the Seals. Brennen has an amazing sense of the game for a player so young and, like his brother, he's got a killer right foot. Owen and Alex did a good job leading our offense and certainly had some great chances on goal but overall they looked a bit rusty compared to their strong finish last session. With Nate, Peyton and McKinley helping them up front I know they'll get that triangle working again. Kendall was making great strides again, staying in the thick of it. Collin had a very respectable first try at playing keeper. That position is a great place for young players to start to get a sense of the whole field.
The Sapphire Bullets were definitely rusty after a long layoff but they still played with the intensity and confidence they were showing at the end of last session. Liz was back with us after a few sessions off and we were joined by two new players, Nick and Nate Dinkens. Despite going a few goals down early on the Bullets kept plugging away and in the second half they put in three great goals. Lauren had the first on a rebound tap in off a shot from Avery and then Braden and Avery each had goals on very strong kicks from close in. Avery's shot came as she crossed the penalty area in front of the goal from her left to her right. Picking up the ball as it popped out of a scrum she took one dribble step to clear a defender, drilled a shot with her right into the corner of the goal and then circled up to the center line to start again, all without breaking stride.
It was great to see Braden's patience rewarded with a goal as he had picked away at the other team's defense tirelessly, always trying to dribble through their lines and never getting discouraged if he lost the ball and had to circle back for another try. I want to see all the kids develop that sort of tenacity.
We had great stints in keeper from Kyle and Nicholas. In the second half Kyle was a great asset in midfield. Like Braden, he always tries to dribble rather than just kicking away and today he attempted a little step-over move against a player almost twice his size. I'm sure he gets that from his big brother.
Everyone else had great games too. As we go on we just need to work on being more patient with the ball and developing those ball handling skills. My mantra this session is going to be "know where your teammates are, know what your options are".
Great first weekend everybody! See you next week!
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