I apologize to everyone on the Polar Bears and Tigers teams for not being at the games. I was covering for another Coach who had to be out of town. My thanks to Coach Mike Seng and Coach Chris for covering for me. I heard the Tigers game was a great success but that the Polar Bears were a bit disorganized, especially the boys. Coach Chris is suggesting that for the next game we start all the girls together for a quarter to see if they can teach the boys a thing or two.
The Thunder had another great game with continued improvement, especially on defense, where the work they've done in practice is really paying off. So many of the kids are developing a good sense of where they are on the field in relation to the goals and the ball. As a result they are more effective on defense because they know where to position themselves. We had great work in keeper again from Maddie, Zychik, Parker and Logan. Logan was especially tough and really picked-up the pace, getting his outlet passes and goal kicks off in a real hurry. The Thunder are still trying to find their rhythm on offense although they may have added a few new weapons this week. Molly is suddenly showing herself to be an aggressive player with a strong desire to get to the goal. Christian was also showing some good focus and really has surprisingly good ball control. If these two can begin to cooperate with Brooke and Carson we might get something going.
The Sharks had a fabulous game and I have to say that I really like getting to watch video of the games because it allows me to see things that I might have missed at the time. Case in point: the startling revelation that McKenzie has suddenly turned into a real player! She nearly had a goal early on and then later in the game she made a great save that nearly led to a goal and then had another great shot of her own that was a brilliant "turn and shoot". She probably got that move from Jackson since, as you'll see, he seems now to have made that sort back-to-the-goal shot his specialty. Watching the video I also got to see that Luke seems to have taken some of our work in practice very seriously. We've been working a lot on running sideways (shuffling, as Coach Mike says) so that the kids can move laterally while still keeping themselves facing the ball. Apparently Luke likes this mode of movement so much he just wants to use it for every situation. You'll see that early in the video. Jackson had two goals. Elizabeth had one and two assists. Austin was awesome although his best shots didn't find the net. Diego got a goal (one that McKenzie would have put in if Diego hadn't been there). Sam had a great goal on a little cut move he made to get to the open side of the net. That one should count as an assist for McKenzie since the save she made set it all up. Samuel played brilliantly. Trey was great, although he didn't get challenged much while in at keeper. Sam Atkins was playing some great defense. He has a unique way of playing so as to avoid any pushing and shoving and handball calls. You'll see that in the video too. About halfway through look for an amazing move that Sam A. makes to collect the ball and then turn and shoot quickly. Jackson intercepts that pass and then tries to make a shot of it himself. It all happens very fast and is amazing.
Well, enough talk. Let's roll the tape.
See everyone this week at practice. Let's hope the weather is good. Dress warm!
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