Week one is in the books and what a great kick-off to the Fall session it was! I'm working with four different teams this session and they all had great games in this first week. In U4 we have the Tigers and in U6 we have the Polar Bears, the Thunder and, of course, the Sharks. To avoid having these game recap posts become too long I might in the future devote this space to the Sharks and then cover the other teams on separate blogs.
The Sharks came back to the pitch already on fire and playing like they hadn't taken the Summer off. Our returning players were joined by four new teammates, Diego, Jagger, Trey and Austin (Staton) and the rookies got right into the groove. Diego and Jagger just moved up from U4 and so they are the youngest on the team. Diego has a calm tenaciousness with the ball that you'd expect from an older player. He'll fit right in with the rest of our offense. He was tough as nails in his first game playing up with the bigger kids and had a couple of good runs where he made great moves to get around the opposition. Austin Staton played up front with Sam A. and Jackson and was a big help in keeping the ball pinned in the opposing team's side. He stayed right in the thick of the action the whole game. Trey played well in his first game as a Shark and showed his best work while in as keeper. He was tough and made some great outlet passes and goal kicks. You put Trey together with Jackson and Elizabeth and suddenly the Sharks are really stacked at the keeper position. And we haven't even talked about Jagger yet. Houston, we have a goalie! Jagger volunteered to give goal keeping a try and in his very first appearance he was amazing, giving no ground, attacking the ball and then making some great outlet passes. Just amazing for such a young player.
We started the game with Austin Seng, Sam E. and Elizabeth up front and they dominated as usual with Sam in particular showing that he's missed being away from the game by basically going crazy and scoring at will. I expect Coach Klinsman to call at any moment. All three of these players show amazing speed and instincts for the game. As you'd expect for the first game, they were a bit undisciplined and got in each other's way a few times but that didn't prevent them from scoring. Elizabeth was displaying an interesting tendency to want to hang back in the midfield area waiting a bit to see how things would work out. I see good midfielder instincts there. Austin was showing amazing bursts of speed and his signature move now is a little stutter step that gets his opponent flat footed followed by a quick step to get past them.
I wasn't sure what the offense would be like with those three off the field. I knew Jackson would be his usual self, driving the ball forward and shooting sure-footedly but it was great to see that Samuel and Sam A. could team up with Jackson and do so well in that second quarter offense. Samuel had a goal early in the second that was off of a beautifully stubborn solo run. He pushed through nearly every kid on the other team to get to the goal and then calmly put the shot in the net. Sam A. also had a great run through traffic to get to the goal and his shot, which actually got well airborne, was probably headed in just inside the left post but Jackson was hanging out right there and wisely chose to make sure the ball got in the net. He caught Sam's shot in midair with his right foot and drove it into the top of the net. The look of complete confidence on Jackson's face after that shot was priceless, a sort of "yeah, I did that" smile covering his face.
In the fourth we brought Samuel and Austin Seng in together and they made a great team too. Austin had a solo goal and then made a beautiful pass from the right just off the end line across to Samuel who deftly touched it into the goal. This team is deep!
McKenzie and Luke gave us some good play too, always staying in the action even if they didn't get a lot of touches. Great game Sharks!
The Thunder had a great first game and I was happy to see that we have some strong leaders on the team who can take over the offense duties. Parker, Carson and Brooke were fabulous up front. They managed a few goals and I was really impressed by their tenaciousness in traffic, especially Brooke. Mya is also showing great potential as a smart ball handler and when she and the other three learn to work together they will be formidable. Juan and Abraham showed some flashes of brilliance and I expect both of them to improve quickly. Maddie was invaluable in defense and gave us some very strong free kicks. Molly showed her toughness by taking a hard fall and then coming right back into the game. Anna took a turn at keeper and played the position bravely. I admire her willingness to give everything her best effort. Great game Thunder!
The Polar Bears were actually dominant in their game which was a great surprise as they have five players who have just moved up from U4. Mason, Carson and Noah were leading the attack for us and managed several goals. We had great work in goal from Ava Grace, Jeremy, Dylan and Ashley. Jeremy showed some surprising punting skill! A complete bonus for goalies in this age group. Dylan was tough and aggressive in goal and then while in the field he had two assists. One of those was a beautiful crossing pass that Eileen found at her feet and then drove it firmly into the net. Carson had at least one goal, probably more...I loose track. Lincoln and Micah were both doing great work too, staying in the action consistently. Lincoln had the beginnings of a great solo run too. At one point Coach Chris was reminding Lincoln to be looking at the ball all the time and asked him "Link, where's the ball?" Lincoln looked at her and calmly said with a shrug "I don't have it". Excellent work Polar Bears.
The Tigers' U4 game probably looked like complete chaos from the outside. It was. But this is all part of the process. Obviously we have a few kids who are closer to getting it. Bennett and Austin will be the leaders on this team and as the season goes on the other kids will see what they are doing and start to follow suit. I've seen it work this way several times. The real highlight of the game was a comment from Ava. Early in the game she ran off the field to her mom crying that "they're fighting" when she saw the other kids jostling to get the ball. This is part of the process too. Initially many of the kids are offended by the physical contact that is part of the game and by the fact that other players might try to take the ball away from them. You probably heard me explaining to the kids in practice that once the whistle blows to start a game we don't take turns anymore and the ball is always "my ball". It takes a while to get this part of it but they will get it. I know it's embarrassing and frustrating to have your kid clinging to you in an apparent effort to drive you crazy but they get over that too. I've seen it happen. Therefore, I recommend patience.
See you all at practice this week.
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