Back in the fall the Girl Power squad had an interesting experience after a game against a VHSC squad early in the season. That was just the first session of play for the Girl Power group in their current form and while they were already a hard working group with a lot of natural ability and a love of the game they were also still at the stage where they would get in each others' way a lot, crowding the ball and often playing without a lot of field awareness. But they were already a team that was committed to dribbling rather than kicking and in that particular game the VHSC coach was very impressed with them. Our girls took a real thumping in that game but they picked the ball up and ran to the center circle after every goal, always ready to play some more. I know that at the time I was telling parents and other coaches that the team's real character could be seen in that; in their desire to just keep playing regardless of the score; in their joy for the game. When the VHSC coach came over to me after the game the first thing she wanted to compliment the team on was their indefatigable attitude. Even as the score of the game became hopelessly lopsided my girls would just sprint to the center circle, usually giggling about some silliness that only they understood, and on the whistle they'd kick off and go at it again.
The VHSC coach asked if she could speak to the team and when they were gathered around her she first complimented them on their impressive skills. Then she asked them how old they were. "Six!" was the response except for a defiant "I"m five" from Hailey H. "Wow" the coach said. "And y'all are so good already!" She continued, "Now my girls are all on the upper side of the age group so they've played in U8 a lot longer than you have." I wasn't sure the girls understood exactly what she meant but she went on to explain to them that they could all keep playing U8 for more than another year and eventually they would be one of the oldest teams in the league. "Whoo! Then everybody else look out!" she concluded. Well the girls got that and they were all excited about it and I recall that over the next few weeks the subject of their age and where they'd be next year came up quite a bit.
I really appreciated that other coach coming over to talk to them and I think she found the right way to help me deal with a lopsided defeat. I've coached plenty of games where my team was getting thumped and I know from experience that there is nothing the other coach can do during the game to make the defeat less uncomfortable. When my team is getting beat I expect the other coach to just let their players play. It's my job to keep my kids in the game and with Girl Power I've always found that rather easy. They just love to play.
Now the girls have come full circle. They deal out the drubbings now and yet they are about a year ahead of schedule. They're still one of the youngest teams in the division. So what happened? What I see is that their commitment to possessing and dribbling the ball has only strengthened but now we're also benefiting from much better field awareness and some early efforts at cooperative play.
In Saturday's game the other coach commented to Coach Chris (thanks for covering for me!) that our girls had "an interesting formation" in that they didn't seem to be playing any set positions. Coach Chris responded with the party line: "yeah, we don't work on that." Brilliant! But even though they aren't stuck in specific positions the girls are getting much better at assessing the situation on the field themselves and dealing with it accordingly. They don't crowd the ball so much and they are getting noticeably better at anticipating the need to break off and get back on defense. They're a smart group of girls.
As we go forward I expect we'll have some games where opposing coaches and parents will resent our girls and think they're playing in the wrong league. Let's be patient with them. We know how far our girls have come and they've earned their success.
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