Of course, the Sharks had another good game and I'll talk about that in detail in a moment but first I've got to nitpick a little bit. Two things were happening during this game that I don't like. First, I heard that there was some trash talking going on. Second, as the game went on they got to be kind of sloppy on their throw-ins and corner kicks. I'll work on that second problem at practice by covering the basics of those situations again. As for the trash talking, I want to talk to them and nip that in the bud. Here is what I love about these kids: they play with shear joy. They love the game and as someone who still plays soccer too I have thought while watching them sometimes that nothing could be more fun than to be five again and get to play with this team. So, given that that is the character of this team, that they trust each other and play more freely and cooperatively as a team than even most of the U8 and U10 teams I have coached, I want very much to guard against any kind of arrogance creeping in. Here is what I will say to them at practice this week regarding having respect for their opponents:
Sometimes when we talk about playing the game we say "that team really gave us a game" or "we really gave that other team a game this week". Now, think about what that means, that "they gave us a game." When we face another team on the field and they play hard they are giving you something, a great gift, a game of soccer, which is something you really love, right? The other team did not come here to stand around while you put on a show. They didn't walk onto the field to simply hand you a victory. They came to play and they love the game too and they will play you hard even if they lose. They are giving you a game without caring about the outcome and that's something you should be grateful for and should respect. When we walk through the line at the end of the game and say "good game" you should mean it and you should be thinking "thanks for playing. I love playing so thanks for playing with us."
I don't know for sure which of the Sharks were doing the talking and it doesn't matter since, given their dominance of the competition, this thing is bound to appear sometimes. I'll let you all know how my conversation with them regarding this goes. Both of these little issues point toward what we need to be re-enforcing for the future development of this team. In less than a year most of them will move up to U8 and will suddenly be facing kids who are more than a year older than them. If they are going to continue to compete well they will need to be disciplined as a team and they will have to be at times precise and at other times creative to make up for what they will suddenly lack in size and speed. They are as a group already years ahead of schedule in terms of understanding the nuances of how the game flows and what to do on restarts like throw-ins and other set pieces. Samuel had an easy goal in this last game because he understood what was happening on a throw-in for the other team better than the players on that team did. That sort of thing will continue to be an advantage for the Sharks when they face competition that is physically tougher. So, that's why I'm nitpicking. I don't want them to rest on their laurels and then find themselves next August having to catch up to the teams they face. I want this entire Fall/Winter season to be about preparing for the move up.
Now we can get on to the game highlights. The first thing I noticed was that no one complained about the weather. I'd just come from coaching a U8 game where I thought some of the players, boys included, were going to cry if they had to play in the rain. Ridiculous. The Sharks were, as usual, ready to play. Next, during warm-ups something interesting happened. I had them in the circle ready to take some warm up kicks and I noticed that they were huddling together and talking a bit and then suddenly everyone was tucking in their shirts. Not everyone went along but most did and suddenly they looked like a professional side. I suspect it was Elizabeth who suggested this "tidying-up". Finally, as I was getting the starters on the field with Jagger in keeper first Jackson turned to me as he was heading to the bench and, sounding very much like Arthur Fonzarelli, he tapped his hands on his chest and said "Jagger? What about the professional goalie?" Coolest kid in the room, no doubt.
They did play very well and there was lots of ball movement, lots of great spacing and position play. Sam E. and Elizabeth were making brilliant moves with the ball. Sam A. and Austin were just impassable when they dropped into defense. I mentioned Samuel's easy goal off that throw in. Diego had a goal too and so did Jagger! That's three goals from our four year-olds! What impressed me the most, as it always does, is the extent to which the kids cooperate and anticipate each other. We still have instances of them fighting each other for the ball and that sort of thing but overall they all seem to be headed in the same direction. Again, looking to the future, that ability to cooperate is what will separate them from other teams.
Anyway, listening to them talk and joke with each other prior to the game and then seeing how they play as a team, it's just such a weird contrast. They are at times just normal little kids and then they are strangely mature in the way they play as a unit. At practice this week when we broke up into teams to scrimmage Jackson announced that his team was Team USA and he would be Tim Howard. Thinking about that and thinking about how these kids are so advanced and yet still just kids playing a game made me think of this:
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