Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Panthers. Continuous improvement.

In week four the Panthers got their first win and played beautifully doing it. The one area in which they showed the most improvement was in their passing and it wasn't in the quality of their passes that they improved but in the shear quantity. Over and over again the Panthers passed the ball from the walls to the middle at an angle toward the goal. This resulted in numerous good attempts on goal and two winners including a beautiful little dink from the left side by Alex. One of the toughest lessons to teach a young team is that in order to move the ball quickly up field they need to pass quickly even before they know they have a team mate in place to receive the pass. This is the beginning of playing in unison, anticipating each other's moves in the way that makes team sports so thrilling. We had tireless play in our win from everyone on the field but I want to single out Ryder C. and Dakota who probably put the most total miles in.

In week five the Panthers took a loss but their effort was still strong. And once again their strong suit was lots of purposeful passing. While Alex held down the defensive end for us and blasted some astounding clearing kicks Ryder C., Ryder, Ethan and Kyle penetrated toward the other goal repeatedly and had lots of good chances. The highlight of the game for me was an outlet punt from the other goalie that Ethan intercepted by very cleverly darting from one side of the field to the other while reading the goalies eyes the whole time. That is huge.

Great work Panthers!

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