Final Titans Game a Storm of Offense.

The Titans were a force of nature yesterday and they simply overwhelmed their opponent.  Morgan and Drew were unstoppable up front and combined for at least six of our goals I think.  Justin was excellent in keeper as usual and was also attacking from that position.  Will and Owen both filled in at keeper very solidly too.  Will was a big part of the offense too. 
In that first half Karah and Danielle were so good on defense that the other team could never get anything started.  And that spill Karah took?  She is tough as nails!  Ryder was playing tough against players twice his size.  Kaylie played some key defense late in the second half and really shut the other team down.
This was their best showing yet.  Thanks for the great game Titans.

Indoor Season Comes to an End.

I'd like to keep it simple this week as I think the sparkling play of the Sharks speaks for itself.  They played beautiful and imaginative soccer.  They played with fire and determination.  Most importantly, they played with a clear love of the game.  I'm proud to be their coach and I feel lucky for the opportunity.   I love to watch them play.

Thanks coach Sharon for all of your help and camaraderie on the bench.

The Awkwardness of Being Deceptive.

    When you are coaching U4 and U6 players you notice that many of them have difficulty at first understanding how the conventions of a game or sport are different from the social conventions they've been learning at home and school.  At home you're taught to be polite and to be honest.  At school you're taught to take turns and be considerate of others.  Don't bump into other kids.  Respect their space.  But a game, especially in a team sport, is a very different social situation.  We don't take turns, the ball is mine as much as it is yours and within the rules I'll take it from you if I can.  We'll bump and jostle to get the ball and it's nothing personal. Most importantly, I don't have to be honest or polite all the time.  I can fake going left then go right.  I can pretend I'm going to pass the ball but then keep it and shoot.  I can make you think I'm going to kick the ball right at you but then make a move to one side to get open.  In short I can be deceptive and within the context of the game that's acceptable and even normal.
    It takes some kids a while to get to the point where they are comfortable with being a real player, with being the sort of person who will bump into someone else intentionally, who will steal the ball, who will intentionally deceive.  But they do get there eventually.
     Before the start of the Sharks game Sunday I was watching another U8 game and one player in particular got my attention.  I've coached him some before and he's got very good skill and a good awareness of the field but as I watched him working with the ball in the game I noticed that while he was making a good effort to control the ball and attack he was also frequently giving up on his dribble.  It was like sometimes he was letting the ball get a step too far away and he'd just let it go assuming that the other team would get to it first. A couple of times I saw him make one good move to get clear of a defender but when it didn't shake them completely he'd hesitate before trying another move.  I kept thinking, I've seen him in practice and I know he has the skills to dribble around every one out there, he just doesn't know it himself yet.
     Then in the Sharks game I was able to see the same sort of player, our own Zachary, have that epiphany, that eureka moment where he realizes that all the skills he's been developing the last year or so will actually work against good players.  Zach had two amazing runs in the game where he carried the ball for more than half the field and each time he beat at least two defenders with his dribble move.  And to add to the achievement the moves he was using were more than just simple zig-zags and speed bursts.  He was breaking out some really deft Puskas moves, it's a sort of fake pull-back.  He was using his speed but in combination with a really delicate touch on the ball.  As he ran off the field at the end of that quarter I said to him "you are putting on a clinic today!"  I asked him to remember from now on that he can dribble around anybody, from one end to the other.  That's how I'd like to see it go for all of the kids, that they should have a game where they realize "hey, I can do this."  Well done, Zach.

    The rest of the Sharks were playing very well too.  I was so proud to see them playing the trap-and-dribble game that we always talk about in practice because, again, the idea is for them to learn that the moves we work on in practice will work in game situations if they will just let themselves try it.  McKenzie was a particular stand out in this game in that regard.  I know she was aware of the quality of the team we were playing but she still played with great discipline, staying in control when the ball came to her, trapping and dribbling.
     Of course we have a few kids on the team who have already crossed over into being confident players, and at least one who seems to have just been born that way (Jackson).  Sam A. and Samuel were showing their amazing skills throughout.  Sam's got some really crazy footwork lately and Samuel, again, showed that incredible gift he has for stealing the ball right off someone else's feet.  Wyatt stepped up as keeper and was astonishingly good.  His reflexes are so fast he was able to win in two separate one-vs-one situations where I thought we were giving up a goal for sure.  Tyler, Lillian, Braden and Brandon all played very well too and it was a beautifully played game from start to finish.  The score aside, when I see them playing with control and trusting themselves to carry the ball on their feet, that is when I know they're playing well.

   

Sharks Bonus Game! Scrimmaging with Sam E. and Austin.

     The U8 Sharks had a great opportunity to play against a very skilled team in an impromptu Saturday afternoon scrimmage and I was very happy to see the quality of play from the team.  We faced Benson FC which features Sam Eppley and Austin Seng, former Sharks, a team that is very deep in terms of skill and playing with a lot of discipline.  With some of the current Sharks absent we picked up a few players for this friendly match and they were a great help.  The Louden brothers, Finn (5) and Owen (7) helped out and Owen was fantastic in at keeper, as always.  Andrew Willis of coach Lighthall's black team came out too and he was showing some great drive and some good skill.  He and Wyatt teamed up for our only goal and it was a beauty.  After a nice touch from Andrew from the corner Wyatt turned the ball in to the goal and nutmegged the keeper.
     Benson FC played with a lot of skill on display, especially Sam, who continues to amaze.  Just ridiculous talent.  I actually feel the Sharks did well to hold them to only eight or so goals as that team has so many powerful shooters.  By the end the Sharks were starting to wear out and to collapse into a defensive wall in front of the goal.  Instinctive but ineffective.  Overall though there were plenty of moments of good skill work and the teams' attitude was upbeat throughout.  They all seemed glad to get to play, even against such a tough opponent.
     I have to single out Lillian for her performance in keeper.  I wasn't sure I should let her go in there given how hard Sam and his teammates were bringing their shots.  I said to Lillian, you know these guys are hitting it really hard and I'm worried that if you aren't watching the ball you might get hit.  "I'm used to that" she said.  "I've been hit in the face a bunch of times."  Well, okay then.  So in she went and she played beautifully, aggressively going to the ball.  I'll work with her on her punting to round off that part of her game and she will make for a very good keeper I think.
     

Week Eight. What We Were Working on in U6.

     The video above shows the basics of the move we were working on before the games yesterday.  I was trying to teach it to the kids as something they'd use in combination with their pull-back move and my goal yesterday was just to get them to start trying this move in the most basic way.  I was happy to see that everyone seemed to get it in practice and they were all making good attempts at it.  Hailey tried to execute the move in the Bats' game but she was the only one.  The hurdle to get over with any of these new moves is convincing the kids that if they perfect the move it can be useful in a game situation.  So both teams worked at it diligently in practice but I could sense that they were skeptical as to why we're doing it. 
     Spectators at the Bats' game may have noticed that we were playing down a player much of the game.  I decided to do that when it became apparent in practice time that the Bats were very excited about playing the purple team as they were assuming we'd win easily.  Confidence is good and I want them to play with a desire to win but I think it's important to make sure they are always being challenged.  Playing one player down forced the Bats to work a little harder and it opened up the field for them a bit, giving them each more opportunities to carry the ball for longer runs.  Ultimately the purple side was no push-over either, with two of their girls, Hajar and McKayla, playing very strong in keeper.

     The Lions had a good workout in practice but not such a good game.  This was another one of those lazy days where most of the team seemed to have checked out early.  The issue I think, and I've got to figure out how to deal with this as a coach, is that most of the players sort of assess the opposition team based on size and make a pregame decision as to what our chances are.  The yellow team has a couple of very tall players and one of them is very fast.  It looked to me like the Lions as a whole had just decided that they weren't going to get past those big kids so they'd just play defense all game.  Not all of them fell into this though.  William and Ava don't seem impressed by anyone's size or skill.  They just go hard to the ball for the whole game.  I love that the two youngest players are setting the example for the whole team.

Week Seven. U6 Goals and Assissts and Assists to the Assists.

It was a big week for Jackson of the U6 Lions and the video below tells the story.

     That was one of three for Jackson and it had been a long dry-spell before this game.  He was on fire this time though and hopefully he's realized he can do that as often as he likes if he'll go hard for the ball and trust his skills.  Boot it to lose it. Keep it to shoot it!
      I was coaching the Bats when the Lions were playing but Coach Chris told me I've got to be sure to mention Carson's admirable play in the sort of center mid position.  His ability to regain or keep possession of the ball for his team makes for a lot of assists or even pre-assists.  He's not scoring any goals lately but Coach Chris says that the team would not have been so successful this week if Carson wasn't in there doing his part to keep the attack alive.
     Ava is in the same spot with the Bats.  She wants to be up as a shooter but her instincts are so good she can't resist falling back into a defensive position, trapping the ball then trying to move up with it.  As a result she's usually in a better position to get an assist than to get a shot on goal herself.  I hope she and Carson both realize how valuable their play is even if they aren't putting up big scoring numbers every week.

Defending to Attack...

     Today I went to watch a U8 game in another indoor league and I noticed how often the offensive attack from the stronger team began in their own half with solid play from their defense.  The stronger team's fullbacks were consistently either trapping and moving with the ball before passing it up or they were making controlled first touches into open space before attempting to clear the ball.  The affect was that this team possessed the ball for much more of the game with their defensive play leading directly into their attack. 
     I try to encourage that sort of play with my own teams by giving every player who goes into a defense position specific instructions that they are to always attempt to trap and move into open space with the ball rather than simply trying to make a big clearing kick.  Does that occasionally result in an easy shot on goal for the other team when our defender muffs the attempt?  Yes, it does.  That doesn't matter though.  If I don't encourage my players to test their abilities in pressure situations they won't improve and those same skills of trapping and first touch that you need for defense you also need for offense so I want the kids to see even their job in defense as being part of the attack.  Besides, if you watch a lot of soccer you see, at any age level, that the kid's instinct to make as big a kick as possible at every ball they get near just does not make for good defense...unless the other team is playing the same way I suppose.
     I wish we could record a new stat for good defense that tracked the way a player can help keep the attack alive by playing from the back-field with control.  Kids and parents probably see the obvious successes in defense, when a player stops an attacking player, stealing the ball away.  But how often do we connect a great shot on goal with the defensive play that initiated the whole sequence?  Of course we record the assists along with the goals but what about the assist to the assist?  The smooth trap and dribble that gets the ball up to midfield which then leads to a run inside, a shot, a rebound and a goal?  Even if there is no stat for this it is what I'm coaching them to do so if you see your kid back in our own half and the ball comes to them with a little space in front of them don't start yelling "kick it!" because what I've instructed them to do is to keep cool and play the ball smartly.  It may make you crazy at first but keep watching.  They'll get better at it and it will translate into confident play everywhere on the field.  I've seen it work.
   

Week Seven. The U4 Curve.

     There is a funny learning curve that is typical for U4 players.  The players are all close in age to each other yet they are all at different stages in their physical and mental development.  They each come to the game with a different set of, let's say, capacities.   Some have the physical capacities of speed and agility pretty early, some have the mental capacity to understand the basic concept of the game and many have some combination of both.  But we also see lots of beginners who need time to develop their running stride or their balance or who don't yet understand what the game (or any game) is about.  With that in mind what I tell parents and coaches at the beginning of each new U4 season is that it's not really about playing soccer games yet and it certainly isn't about teams winning and losing.  Right now at the U4 stage it's just about letting them have the experience, letting them learn how to run and keep their balance; learn how to be in proximity to other kids, even getting bumped and jostled, all without being offended (that's a big step for many kids); learning the rhythm and flow of the game and the social conventions that are part of a team sport.  We give them time and space to experience all that in the context of weekly practices/games where we just work on the same basic skills over and over again: control the ball with your toes, keep your balance, look around.
     What's funny about the curve of this learning experience is that at some point most kids reach a sort of critical mass of physical and mental familiarity with the game and suddenly they can't play U4 anymore.  It's just not a real challenge for them.  It's like they suddenly become a different sort of animal from the other players, a shark among a school of fish.  The fish stay together but they don't know where they're going or why.  The shark knows exactly what he's doing.  And in my experience it can be any kid at any point in their development, the quick ones and the slow ones, the ones who can stand on one foot and the ones who seem to stumble more than they run, any kid can have that sudden epiphany where the whole situation makes sense and from then on they are predators among prey.  The ball becomes My ball to them and their whole attitude changes.



     So, the thing with U4 players is that just when they seem to really get the game you have to think of pulling them out and moving them into U6 for their own sake and for the sake of the other players who are still developing.  With the U4 Yankees it's about half the team that needs to move on to U6.  Will and Damien have clearly outgrown U4.  Damien had, what, three goals yesterday and would have had more if he'd been in longer. They both are so completely engaged in the game and have such a clear understanding of what they need to do that the game has gotten somewhat easy for them.  They've earned that through diligent work on their skills but they need more of a challenge now and more playing time.  By the way, Will had the longest goal I've ever seen in U4 that wasn't an accident.  He took a shot from about eighteen yards and he knew when he hit it that he was wide open and could make it.
     Caroline has made a leap too and is now totally committed as a player.  She never concedes possession of the ball and she uses her body to shield players off the ball.  That's a big step as it shows that she's now completely comfortable with the contact typical of the game.  That's a hurdle that takes many kids a long time to get over, well into U8 or even U10.
     And finally, Ethan (E.J.), as little as he is, is just running circles around everyone else in U4.  In yesterday's game he got clear on a breakaway from our end and with a beautiful controlled dribble he darted up the field.  At about the half line, with the ball rolling just a step ahead of him, he looked up from the ball for I think a full second or more to see where the next defender was.  He was so confident in his skills right then, he looked like a much older player.  Fantastic.
    So we'll figure out what the next step for these kids will be but it's a lot of fun coaching them right now.  And everyone else on the team is coming along nicely too.  Dakota had his best day yet yesterday and I expect him to cross that threshold to being a real predator soon.