For the U6 teams the schedule worked out perfectly with a session start playing each other. Both teams remained committed throughout the game to the sort of quality play we want to see. I saw a lot of ball control on first touches and in dribbling, a lot of clever ball movement, and a lot of thoughtful play off the ball as well. With that observation I should take a moment to clarify again what I'll be looking for the players to be working on this session as in every session.
When I mention "first touch" you should think of situations where a loose ball comes bouncing to one of our players and they have to get control of it somehow. At first for most players their instinct is to just kick at the ball. Where we try to go from there is to first teach them some basic techniques for trapping the ball, catching it with their feet or bodies and getting it settled at their feet. Then we are working on getting them to be thoughtful about their next step, to anticipate what to do with the ball once it's trapped. I think most of the kids on both rosters are at a point where they can be trusted to trap the ball, make a good first touch, rather than kick it away. And now I'm seeing the development of that next level of play moving like a wave through the roster too. This past Saturday we saw some great examples of players making smooth traps to control the ball while already anticipating their next step, their get-away step. Maddox had a couple of brilliant moments like that where he made a quick trap of the ball and then looked up to find the right direction to go, eluding the first opponent who got to him. With Diego and to some extent Ava, Abby and Ashley, you can even see players who are learning to make a little hesitation move part of that get-away step. More than once in this game I saw Diego trap the ball then hold it under one toe waiting for the nearest opponent to make a decisive move to the ball. Watching them out of the corner of his eye he'd hold the ball till they took that step then make a quick pull-back move to leave them behind. Beautiful, clever and startlingly competent for one so young!
Another thing we work on in practice is trying to develop good habits of posture both away from and over the ball. Too many kids play with a very upright and stiff posture so we work on getting them to be in a flexible "ready" position when away from the ball, like a baseball infielder, and to be in a low position when they have the ball. Knees bent, butt down, shoulders over the ball. The great practitioner of that skill so far is Jagger who demonstrated repeatedly this past week his ability to trap and possess the ball in a way that resembles a basketball player's "box-out" technique. I saw Jagger several times get to a loose ball then step over it, taking possession and immediately getting his body between his opponent and the ball. It's simple, it's tenacious and it is the perfect technical demonstration of that attitude we want all the kids to have..."it's my ball." Hailey's got a good version of this same box-out move as does Micah and all three are rapidly developing their peripheral vision, allowing them to establish possession then find the right get-away direction.
It was great to have Luke E. joining us, a very energetic player with a lot of confidence in his skills. And I was very happy with everyone else too. Ava B. was fully engaged in the game as was William. We are fortunate to have a core group of players who already have that killer instinct to get the ball and find the goal. They set a great example for our other players who have a great work ethic in practice but still need to get that in-game feeling of playing with a purpose and with real intensity. Overall the progress is wonderful to see and I'm thrilled to continue working with these great kids.
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