Big Weekend for Girl Power and Now the Dreaded "Tallys"

     Three games in three days for Girl Power and the first thing I have to say is "Wow, the weather."  Friday night was a warm, clear evening; the perfect weather for playing into the twilight.  Saturday we found ourselves in a cow pasture, playing a game that was as rough as a rodeo but the weather again was fantastic with bright sunshine and a cool breeze.  Luckily we were upwind from the grazing cattle.   And finally, a most excellent Sunday.  I started the day with a round of golf (75, tying my lowest round ever, thank you very much) then in the beautiful, crystalline sunshine of an amazing autumn afternoon I watched my girls play a game in which they were in full possession of all their soccer powers.  They were graceful, creative, brilliant and tough.  The ref was excellent.  The other team was gracious and their field was good.  What a day.
     The performance by the squad on Sunday was a real crescendo as they dominated the game in a way that no opposing team could complain about.  While they were aggressive in winning the ball they weren't overly so and for the most part kept their elbows to themselves.  It was their skills and their cool headedness that won the game for them as they possessed the ball for at least 80% of the game.  It was their ever developing cooperative play, especially in running what I've called "the Legends overlap", that got the opposing coach's attention.   A real "overlap" in soccer is sort of like a pick-and-roll where one player moves forward with the ball then dishes the ball deftly to a teammate who is "overlapping" their path. So, rather than being a long pass, it is usually just a little touch that deceives the opposition as they don't see that second player coming in to pick up the ball.  The Legends overlap is a somewhat accidental version of this tactic.  Obviously our players are always trying to dribble forward and win all the 1v1s they face but what usually happens is that as they persist in dribbling they pick up a second and then a third defender to the point where the path to goal does become impassable.  What drives other teams crazy though is that with a Legends squad there is usually one of our other players chasing right behind our player with the ball so when the defense knocks the ball loose then that second Legends player picks it up and starts the dribble dance all over.  The girls had this overlap working yesterday and I overheard the other coach commenting on it to his team.  "See how that girl was their to support her teammate and got the ball as soon as it came loose."
     After Saturday's game I spoke to the team about the need for all of them to realize how important playing defense is.  Up to that point there had always been a lot of grousing about being "stuck" in defense, most of the girls apparently seeing it as a sort of punishment or at best a secondary and unimportant role on the field.  Obviously the reality is that your defense is where your offense starts.  You regain possession of the ball in your own half and begin moving back up field with it.  Our defenders aren't there just to clear the ball out, they are there to initiate our attack.  So, on Saturday I asked the girls to please refrain from complaining about being in defense and to make an effort to see while on the field how important the role of defender is and how active a role it is.  We went over all of this again on Sunday pre-game and I think the subsequent performance demonstrated that the team had reached a new understanding of how the various parts or positions on the field can fit together.
     While Emily has been our leader in terms of developing an ease of communication on the field it was Olivia who led the way in Sunday's game in terms of making that defender or fullback position a dynamic one.  Not only was she stopping the other team's runs over and over but then she would immediately get into her dribble and find space, usually headed for a run up the touch line.  Once there she'd either keep taking space or make a beautiful pass to whichever forward teammate was waiting further up the pitch.  She looked like a pro.  Best of all, I think the other players were seeing the work Olivia was doing and they were learning from it.  Most of the training we do is incremental; little steps, building up repetition by repetition a player's confidence with a particular skill.  But sometimes what you need is a cognitive leap, a moment where all the little technical stuff suddenly falls into a larger context, a broader understanding of the field space and the ways they can cover it as a cohesive and cooperative unit rather than as individuals.  Maybe we had one of those leaps yesterday...we'll see.

     As promised, I reviewed Coach Ron's clip board work and with a few amendments here are the "Tallys" from the Sunday game.

Hailey led the scoring on the tally sheet with two goals in, multiple shots and three attempts at the "double move" or skill combinations that we were looking for in this game.  I was very happy to see every player attempt that sort of "double" at least once.  My goal in focusing on that is to get them to move more laterally from touchline to touchline rather than automatically running straight ahead into the defense.  As we saw in Saturday's game, sometimes the other team is just faster than you so running into them is ineffective no matter how good your moves are.  What I told the girls before the game is that I want them to use these double move combos so that they get more of a feel for how they can draw the defender with them and get them to chase the ball out of their position.  We saw some great examples of just that sort of thing.
     Even though she didn't score as high on the tally, Ava was clearly the most en fuego player of the match.  Her second goal was Messi-esque in it's delicacy as she wove through every defender they had to get face to face with the keeper.  As the goalie lunged forward for the ball Ava cleverly shifted it from her right to her left and with a deft tap she passed it into the net right under the keeper's outstretched hand.  Cool as the other side of the pillow.
     Ashley's goal was an impressive blast and a perfect exclamation point on a really great game for her.  She was dominant on her side of the field.
     Abby came up big for us in goal as she was the only keeper who faced a serious attack.  She had one punt that was at least thirty yards too.  Yikes!
     Anna has been very strong for us on attack recently, especially with some really spectacular passes.  She had one on Friday that showed amazing vision.  But on Sunday her contribution was really some stout play in defense.  She maintained great position on attacking players and then swiped the ball off their feet like a thief over and over again, getting our own attack re-started.
     Zoe's energy, along with Ava, in the first quarter of the game really set the tone for us.  It sort of knocked the other team on their heels and I don't think they ever recovered.  Zoe is just so persistent and tough.
     Emily had another great game of communicating and rotating positions smartly.  She had some very good runs too, coming all the way from our own box into the midfield and capped those with brilliant touches to lead teammates into shooting opportunities.
     Eileen played like herself again and I couldn't have been happier or prouder.  I try really hard not to over-coach her (dad/coach syndrome) so when she's gone through a period recently where she seems tentative on the field I've tried to be patient.  To see her back to herself, making those great deceptive first touches to switch fields while in defense and delivering those impressive free kicks and corners, well, I've got to crow a little bit.
     All the girls played with great skill and energy and our success was the result of all of that, not just the play of any one or two girls.  The tally sheet can look lopsided or even unfair sometimes but it's just a way to motivate and then measure for a few particular areas of interest to me.  In the heat of the game Coach Ron and I miss some things too so the tally sheet doesn't reflect anyone's overall performance.