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.