The Blue Jays had to go a few players short yesterday but they had a great game just the same. A great game but also a comical one as most of the other team's goals were the result of "assists" from some of our players. I feel very fortunate with this team in that I don't have any problems getting the kids to focus on playing rather than crying, wandering around the field, rolling on the field, playing tag, etc. Even the youngest of our players, Diego, Eileen and Wyatt consistently follow the action. Diego aggressively attacks the ball and has multiple goals this session. Eileen and Wyatt have both mastered the concept of cherry-picking and regularly station themselves in front of the opposition goal waiting for a chance at a shot. I have Austin who has good ball handling skill and can deliver with either foot. I have Ashley, Dominic and Ethan who all play so aggressively that they usually account for a bunch of goals in any given game. And finally we have Samuel who's lightness of touch on the ball is beautiful and who has a great understanding of the field and the flow of the game. So, with this embarrassment of talent we've handled every team we've faced easily. Then we have yesterday's strange game where we faced a team that had one player who knew what was going on while the rest of her team spent the game rolling around on the carpet and despite that the Blue Jays were dramatically out-scored. Over and over again our kids were bringing the ball back from the other side's goal all the way to our goal and basically teeing it up for a shot from the other team. Each time I gently reminded the team that we needed to keep the ball at the other end but as it continued to happen it did start to seem funny, like it was just one of those days when things are going to go strangely. Despite the score this was a really good day for the Blue Jays because while they were delivering the ball to the opposition for easy shots they were doing it while trying to control the ball, while trying to dribble. In each case where one of our kids got turned around and brought the ball from the other end down to ours they were just doing what I've asked them to do, which is to try to carry the ball out of the crowd into the open and then find the goal. I hope they all maintain that frame of mind (dribble first, clear second) as they go on. If they do they'll be a step ahead of most players they face.
What a day for the Sharks! I had anticipated that Coach Benson's team would be the toughest challenge the Sharks would face all session. I get to watch a lot of games and I'd seen the White team deal with all of their opponents as handily as our Sharks have. With that in mind I talked to the team before the game and tried to impress on them that this team we were facing was going to be tough to beat and so they all needed to stay focused on the ball throughout the game. Man, did they! I believe the final score was six to four and in the last quarter our defense really saved us as Coach Benson's son Nico seemed poised to go on a tear, but with Austin in goal the Sharks all fell into defense mode and held them off. Our first goal came from Sam who persisted in trying to beat Nico off the dribble and despite the size difference between the two of them Sam resisted the urge to start trading elbows and instead kept "playing skinny" trying to slip around the taller players and never conceding the ball. We also had a great blast from Noah R. that threaded through the other side to find the net. Austin had his second goal of the session and is now a genuine midfielder, harassing the opposition at both ends of the field. That brings us to the Star of the Game, Elizabeth, who had a fantastic hat-trick of goals (3) that were all put in at close range and with authority. Elizabeth isn't always the most graceful ball handler but she is so tenacious and more and more plays with a great understanding of the flow of the game and with great anticipation of where she needs to be.
We had such good play from everyone in this game! Noah S. was all over the field and certainly assisted on at least one of Elizabeth's goals. Noah has great understanding of how the players need to stay spread out rather than chasing the ball. Aiden was great, especially in defense for us as were Kendall and Collin. Collin did his best job yet of staying focused on the game and Kendall was very tough for us in goalie, facing down some hard shots. Karolyn played beautifully in defense despite her complaints that she doesn't like playing defense and Jackson had developed his own style as a sort of sweeping midfielder. He likes to hang out at the 18 and keep the ball contained near the other side's goal. He doesn't get as many shots as I'd like but it's clear that he's thinking about where he needs to be to be effective.
Great work Sharks! One game to go!
Real Madrid v. Sevilla, Sunday at 2:50 PM on ESPN2.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. Be safe.
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