Indoor Season Begins for Girl Power

     It was so good to be back on the bench with my Girl Power squad yesterday.  Their enthusiasm for the game is just a delight every time we go into a match and yesterday they were all clearly thrilled to be getting back to playing.
     The new shirts looked great as they took the field and after a few minutes of calmly absorbing the ISC side's initial burst of energy they began pressing into the other half.  By the time Girl Power had scored their first goal it was clear they were going to dominate possession of the ball throughout.  The score was lopsided despite our playing down, first one player then two. 
     Our "Scout", Ava, wasn't feeling her best and that hurt us a bit.  A consistent characteristic of this team's style of play is an ability to build their attack patiently from their own defensive third and Ava is typically the leader in that respect.  With a skillful first touch on a loose ball or a deft tackle and steal Ava so often gets the ball and then thoughtfully makes a move into open space, finding a lane for herself or a smart pass.  A lot of our goals are the cap on sequences of possession that begin with Ava calmly retaking the ball.  It's one thing about this team that so impresses me, that at their age they've already realized how often their attack can and should begin with their defense.  All the girls could see that Ava wasn't at her best so it was wonderful to see them step up to cover for her with Emily and Zoe in particular doing brilliant work filling that sweeper role for us.
     Given that it was our first game in a while I'm happy with the level of dribbling skill we saw.  Not too many fancy moves, though Abby did bring out her scissors a couple of times.  Anyone watching the girls play can see that with each game they display more cooperative play, they pass the ball more.  I'm glad to see that but my point of emphasis when talking with them on the bench will still be to encourage them to take on their one v ones and to test their skill, to use dribble moves they aren't so confident with.  The ISC team we faced did have plenty of players who were attacking the ball quickly rather than giving us lots of space.  That's good but we'll eventually face teams that are even quicker to the ball and more forceful when they arrive.  I want to be sure that we are ready for that with a set of dribbling skills that is reliable under pressure.