Session Finale.

The Black Berries finished on a very high note, playing so well that the coach of the other team suspected that we might actually be a U6 team. Obviously the truth is that this just happens to be a very good group of three and four year olds. They love to play so I don't have to chase them all over the field begging them to get up off the floor. They actually pay attention, especially in our practices, and they actually learn and improve week to week. It's just luck that all of these talented kids ended up on the same team but I do feel that they've done good work taking advantage of that luck and every player has shown that they can understand some of the basic concepts of team play.

Samuel was our leader in this game, repeatedly bringing the ball up-field and delivering either shots or passes that resulted in shots. He's a tireless, confident and unselfish ball handler. As usual he had Diego, Dominic and Ethan flanking him and they did their usual great work staying spread out from the ball. Dominic obviously has the best understanding of where to be on the field when he doesn't have the ball and was always out ahead of Samuel and Ethan to get in position for a pass. Diego, too, was in the right place to pick up a goal and he ran back to the circle with his hands in the air shouting "Goal!" Ethan was playing with his usual energy and, like Samuel, he has a strong urge to have the ball and so was caught chasing after Sam a lot. I tried to talk him into staying on the opposite side of the field but he just wants to get to the ball so bad.

Our other line had a great game too with Carson acting as our point. Like Samuel, he consistently finds the ball and then brings it up-field for us. His partners have been Jagger, Austin, Ashley and Eileen. Eileen managed a goal yesterday off a pass from Carson and this time it was no accident. She saw the pass coming and stepped into it to drive the ball in. Beautiful. Ashley showed some of her great foot work again in this game but couldn't get headed toward the goal often enough. I see flashes of real brilliance from her though. She has a great natural stride with the ball and knows to keep it close under her all the time so that she can turn sharply. She's going to be breaking ankles soon.

Jagger had a couple of nice assists and a goal followed by a little tussle with an opponent who wanted to talk a little trash. Jagger wasn't having it. While Jag gets distracted sometimes he is a very tough player who doesn't get easily offended by the pushing and shoving of a scrum. Austin had a great game and was really starting here to bring his ball handling skills, which he shows off all the time in practice, to the game. On his best run of the day he brought the ball down the left side through a couple of defenders and then very consciously looked up briefly to see where the goal was and where his teammates were before running a few more steps then shooting. He looked totally in control there. After the game, as we lined up to shake hands, the Black Berries were, as always, gracious in victory and the credit for that goes to their parents. These are all really great kids and it's an honor to be able to work with them. Thanks.


The Sharks got knocked back on their heels a bit to start this game, with the Red team driving to the goal hard the first quarter. Their best player, Camden, has great help from a couple of other good ball handlers and then they have those big twins in defense so they are a tough team to beat. But while they managed one goal early they couldn't get it past our keepers again. Jackson and Elizabeth were so solid in the first half and made some really tough stops. Elizabeth was fearlessly diving onto the ball, cleats flying all around her, and saved at least three goals. She and Jackson both do so well at feeding the ball out to their team that a stop with them in goal always turns into an offensive drive for the Sharks.

Both units played well for the Sharks with lots of good ball movement, some sustained dribbling and lots of very smart movement off of the ball. Kendall was taking yet another leap forward in her game, playing with grit and energy and, as last week, really trying to possess the ball more. McKenzie was also playing with lots of determination but not so much grit. She seems to enjoy playing so much and to be so tickled with her performance that she kind of giggles the whole time she's playing. Whenever I would lean over to give her some advice on where to be moving she would respond with a laugh and then take off to where she needed to go! Xavier and Brennan were solid as usual although I didn't get Xavier into goal this week so we didn't have a chance to catch up on "Wipeout!" (P.S. Xavier, my son Owen and I like the spring course. We thought the winter course was just too brutal and unfair.)

The other unit featured Sam E. and Austin working together and they are formidable. They didn't get sufficiently organized to really dismantle the Red team's defense but they were strong enough to get through for a couple of goals. Actually I should say that they got through for one goal. The other goal from Sam was a strong shot from so far out that it basically went over the defense. Sam's ability to hit the ball hard at a right angle (or better) to the direction he's running is really precocious. Every time he does it I can hear the opposing Coaches say "what the...". Austin and Sam work really well together because Austin anticipates Sam so well. Mike and I kept shouting to Austin to get into the middle whenever Sam had the ball but Austin had his own ideas about what to do. He stayed close to Sam, about five yards away and a little behind, but not because he was chasing the ball. Rather he seemed aware that Sam was getting stopped a lot in this game and consequently the ball might be coming out and he wanted to be in position to pick it up. His instincts were good in this case and in retrospect I wish I'd set them up from the start to work in a more vertical set up with Austin more of a sweeping midfield than as another wing. We'll work on that next session.

It has been another great session with the Sharks and I can't tell you how rewarding it has been to work with this group. My thanks to Mike Seng for his help coaching. My thanks to all of the parents for your support. We can hear you cheering. And my thanks to all the Sharks. I'm a lucky coach to have a team like you.