Girl Power Strong in Academy Debut!

    

Legends U9 Academy, Spring 2015

     What a great day for two games and a Girl Power debut in the Academy!  Thanks to everyone for dealing with the traffic hassles to get to Lexington for our season opener.  The girls had a great time and they played so beautifully, showing no signs of being overwhelmed by the new level of competition.
     Of the two LFC teams we faced, the first was considered by their Academy director to be their least experienced team.  That showed as they did have trouble dealing with the level of skill Girl Power brought to the game.  As usual we were seeing opposing players get frustrated with our ability to possess the ball for long stretches.  Using their ball control skills Girl Power really dictates the pace of play even if it appears sometimes that the other team is playing frantically, fouling our girls repeatedly to get to the ball.  Of course the girls were talking to me on the sidelines about that fouling but as I explained to them, they've got to expect to see a lot of that as usually other teams don't know how to respond to our style of play other than to start grabbing at us from behind.  So long as they have to foul us from behind like that I know we've got them where we want them...on the wrong side of the ball.  This issue of fouls and poor officiating will continue to be something they have to learn to deal with and my goal will be to instill in them a certain sense of indifference to it.  So long as all we have to deal with is an occasional high elbow or shirt-grab from behind I'll be happy to see the girls just play through it and so I'll try to maintain a very even temper in my responses on the sideline, both to what happens on the field and to how the referee deals with that.
     Anyway, the girls were annoyed by the physical play of LFC but they were not intimidated.  That team had a serious height advantage on us but our girls handled the situation with their usual energy and creativity.  If we were keeping score, and we don't at Academy dates, I imagine the result would show that we had dominated the game, although I can't say for sure as the score may have been six to nothing or maybe not...who knows;)
    As for the second game, I have to tell you that I heard from Coach Ben that the team we faced in that one is the one that LFC considers their number one group.  And yet, our girls controlled that game throughout too, again, through skillful ball control, and an amazing combination of patience and tenacity.  They were patient as they probed the LFC defense over and over again, 1v1, looking for an opening and resisting the urge to just kick it and run.  They did this even though the team they were facing was physically imposing, aggressive and, to some degree, skillful.  Girl Power were tenacious in that they never conceded possession and never allowed them a clean break-away or counter attack.  Zoe personally must have chased down their lead runner six or seven times, deftly taking the ball off them running straight into our own goal before making a quick turn out to safety.  Man, she must have been annoying the heck out of them.  She's the most tenacious defender I've ever coached.  And how many times did you see one of our players confidently dribble out of trouble in our penalty area by crossing our own goal?  Does that make you nervous?  Of course it does, but it also demonstrates their confidence in their skills and I love it.
     On the flipside you could see how our girls can wear another team out.  From my spot on the other side I noticed so many instances in the first half of the second game where LFC players would pursue one of our girls for five yards or so and then just give up.  Again, it's about skillful ball control.  Keeping the ball tight under pressure is hard work but the payoff is that defending against that sort of control is even harder work and when Abby or Anna or Ava have pulled and spun and faked a few times in a row most defenders are just worn out and they back off.
     Jokes about score keeping aside, that one ended in a tie and I couldn't be happier with that.  We had them down for 3/4 of the game and the quality of our goals was spectacular including left footed shots from Olivia and Abby.  That gave Olivia a hat trick on the day and Abby had two total in that second game.  I'm really happy that Olivia has been able to jump in with the team with such grace.  Everyone played beautifully and I could isolate moments for every player showing their skillful play.  The thing is though that they all play so skillfully now that every touch on the ball is a highlight.  Seriously.  Coach Ben talked to the LFC director and she was just stunned at the quality of our players' skills.  That's how the Legends girls roll.
  
     The girls sounded a bit nervous before the start of the first game, asking me a couple of times how old the girls on the other team were.  I made the mistake of saying, "Oh, they're all just like you, you know, eight year olds."  "We're not all eight!" Ashley protested.  "Yeah, I'm not eight yet and Abby's not eight!"  Emily chimed in.  Then I remembered that Olivia isn't eight until June.  And of course Hailey just sort of glared at me.  "Okay", I said, "they're a little older."  "But you guys are pretty good.  I think you can handle it."  Their body language and expressions made it clear that they were grousing about the age difference just as a way to pass the time before the ref whistled them onto the field for kick-off.  The fact was that they were itching to play and they knew they'd be fine.   And were they ever.