What Girl Power does to dominate games is as plain as day. What our girls do is simple; they possess the ball. They come and get it, they dribble and dribble some more and when they can see the goal they shoot. No passing, no clearing kicks, no fancy overlaps (yet!). They play with complete commitment to their skills and with complete confidence in their ability to win every one-v-one they go into...and it works...over and over again. They are, in the words of Hailey's dad, straight up ballers!
And yet what I hear from the other bench is always the same: Pass the ball up...clear the ball out...kick it! I walk away from a game like Saturday's really puzzled. Can't they see what we're doing? I hope they do, honestly. I hope our girls are setting an example that others will want to emulate.
I tried in this game to give each of the girls very specific challenges that I wanted to see them meet on the field. They were all playing with such amazing grace, creativity and energy it seemed like a great opportunity to present them each with a challenge based on what I was seeing in the game. I asked all of them to try a Puskas move and a Cruyff turn. I saw lots of Cruyffs. They love that one. Not so many Puskas though. That's a tougher one and I think the fake shot component is something they may be a little embarrassed about using. It can seem a little theatrical.
I also asked them to use that carry-over dribble touch we've been working on. I was really happy with how willing they were to give it a try in the game.
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