Girl Power! rolls. Not much opportunity to work on defense after all.

     The Girl Power! squad made an impressive showing in their first game...in terms of scoring at least.  Our girls went out strong and really kept the play in the other team's half for the first five minutes or so.  Then on a lucky bounce the other team found themselves with the ball close to our goal and put one in past Eileen. That seemed to really light the fire for the Legends girls as they dominated possession of the ball for the remainder of the game and managed seven goals.  I should note that Eileen played very solidly in keeper for us that whole first half.  She really likes playing that position and she showed some good skill including at least one beautiful punt.
     I can't complain much about a seven goal performance but I will make some observations about the quality of play.  First though here's the rundown:

>Kennedy in her first game with the team put one in from the top of the penalty box when a shot rebounded off the keeper and came right to Kennedy's feet.  It pays to be in the right place and Kennedy had smartly moved out clear of the scrum to get a rebound opportunity.
>Hailey Hall came on strong in her second turn on the field of the first half and put one in.  Very strong shot.  She had a second goal that from my view looked like it might have come off her foot and Avery's at the same time.  We'll count that as one for both of them as either of them could have put it in.  Hailey went on to put in another two for an amazing showing from one of our youngest players.
>Kelsey had a nice goal which came after she accepted that she didn't have to hang back in defense the whole game.
>Ashley put one in too after taking several good shots including a powerful left-footer.

     I didn't see much in the way of deceptive dribbling in this game (I counted four pull-backs) but that doesn't mean that the Legends weren't showing some skill.  Being able to trap the ball at your own feet is a skill and all of our girls have that so even though they weren't doing enough purposeful dribbling they were definitely possessing the ball more effectively.  Our first touches on the ball were in general much more thoughtful and purposeful than the random kicking of the other team (One player on the other squad was even making a kind of "Hi-yah!" karate sound every time she kicked it).  That thoughtfulness became more apparent late in the second half as I saw many of our players make a first touch on loose balls that carried the ball into open space away from their opponents.  They played with great energy and it was their first game on this field and with several new players joining the mix so I'm not complaining about what I saw but I want to be sure that everyone else sees the potential that I see.
     I described in the previous post the points on defensive play that I'll be trying to make with the team through the season but obviously this first game didn't require much defense so we'll get back to that discussion later.  So here's what I'm looking for on the attacking side.  A coaching point that I try to repeat often with all of my teams is that you have to try to be aware of three things at all times while you are on the field:  Where the ball is; Where the goals are; Where the other players are.  Seems simple to an adult but when you watch the kids play it's clear to see how often they have a kind of tunnel vision on the ball and consequently they loose track of which direction they should be heading and where their teammates are.  They are all at an age right now where their ability to process what they are seeing in their peripheral vision is just developing so I don't expect anyone to have a better vision of the field right away.  We'll just keep talking about it and try to build on our playing experience.
     We do though have a few players on this team with some precocious field-vision abilities.  Ava and Abby seem the two most advanced right now at seeing openings and opportunities.  One highlight for me last night was a moment when Abby made a very good trap near the bench area then took just two dribble steps before shooting the ball diagonally across the center circle towards the other teams' eighteen (top of the penalty box).  Just as I was shouting to her "Abby, dribble that ball more next time" I realized that she'd made a perfect pass through a tight window that ended up right at Hailey H.'s feet, goal side, and led Hailey right into the penalty area.  I know Abby has the skills to dribble around anybody but she also has the vision to see opportunities and I can't argue with that.  That being said, my goal isn't to help them develop their view of the field so that they can all start making brilliant passes.  Right now what I want is for them to begin to see where the open space for themselves is, where they can dribble the ball and find a path to the goal on their own.
     Potential for improvement aside though, this was a very promising first effort for sure.