Week Three.

The U4 Green Slime were getting in their own way a lot this week as evidenced by the three own-goals they put in. The whole game had a strange feel to it. The kids seemed glad to be out and running around but they weren't, as a group, very intent on working together to score. There were some flashes of brilliance though, including Diego's three goals and some good ball handling by Mason. But there was also a lot of random running and Green on Green ball theft.

The two things I talk to the kids most about on the field are the tendency some of them have to run around sort of blindly without knowing where the ball is. I'm glad they're running and getting some exercise but I want them to be more constantly involved in the game as we go week to week. It's a slow process and I know that at this point some of the kids still don't fully grasp the concept of the game so patience is the thing. The other issue is the tendency all players have to get tunnel vision when they are close to the ball and fail to notice that their own teammates may already be on the ball or may even be on track to take a shot. We had a lot of this in this week's game with several of our runs and shots being blocked by our own players. This type of situational awareness takes a long time to develop and it's an issue that I've had to work on with kids all the way up to the U12 level. I've come to think that the thing that will really help players get past this phase is watching more soccer being played. This gives them the chance to see how a team stays spread out while still attacking. If you see a game on TV try to get your player to watch a few minutes and talk to them about what they are seeing if you can.

The Sharks had a similarly disorganized game and with this team it's really frustrating because I have gotten used to seeing them play as a team. The game as a whole had a weird feel to it and of course we had the strange coincidence of hitting two different goalies in the face with shots. I think that threw me off a bit but didn't bother the kids at all. Oh well, we aren't going to be sharp every game. Like the U4 team, the Sharks seemed very energetic but not particularly focused. It was good to have Jackson and Elizabeth back. They played beautifully and I'll have a better line-up worked out for next week that takes better advantage of having those two back on the field. Sam and Elizabeth managed the goals for us.

While the Green Wave took a loss they played well and with lots of energy. They executed most of what they had worked on in practice and I was really happy to see that. The forward line was especially improved as they stayed spread out and consistently worked to make good passes in to the middle. It seemed that in the fourth quarter Gabby, Logan and Kylie had about a dozen chances in the middle but not a lot of luck. I was also very happy to see some players beginning to attempt to carry the ball around the defense rather than simply kicking it away. Logan and Jake were particularly tenacious in that respect with Jake realizing how to use the wall to his advantage and Logan developing a little slant move that got him into the open a couple of times. That was a good game really and the kids never gave in. I think we'll devote some time to defense at this week's practice.