Resilience

   Before the Girl Power game this past Saturday I put two "restrictions" in place for the team.  Firstly, any of them playing keeper would only be allowed to throw the ball.  No punts.  Secondly, during the second half I would expect each player at some point to dribble the ball into the other team's final third then take the ball back out past the half line before being allowed to turn back toward goal to find a shot.
    Part of my reasoning for restricting the punting is that I wanted to force them while in as keepers to have to think more about how to get the ball out in a way that would re-start our attack.  Once a player has developed a good punt then it becomes their automatic go-to skill whenever they get their hands on the ball.  And why not?  They know it's impressive and it seems to be what their teammates and the crowd want, right?  But a punt can be just a very long turn over if it's not placed thoughtfully and so by taking that tool away in this game I hoped to force both the keeper and the field players to find other ways to solve the problem of how to get the ball out.
     My thinking in asking players to dribble in then out of the attacking half was similarly based on a need to force players to experience the game in a particular way.  I'd watched a couple of USWNT games and one Premier League game recently where the team with the better skills and attacking tactics was managing to produce a lot of shooting opportunities but no goals for long periods of the game.  It was a game between Everton and West Bromwich Albion of the English Premier League that really got me thinking about this.  Everton had ball possession for an overwhelming 70% of the game and took an astounding 33 shots on goal without scoring even once.  West Brom on the other hand managed one goal on a corner kick early in the game and held that lead to the end.
     What I noticed watching that game was that while Everton had gotten into a beautiful rhythm, attacking West Brom's goal in wave after wave, West Brom had also developed a rhythm in their defense and were stoutly absorbing the Everton attack.  It began to look like a sort of football version of the rope-a-dope.
     Later in the week I saw a USWNT Olympic qualifier vs Mexico in which they seemed to be having the same issue.  They possessed the ball and attacked furiously while the other team simply absorbed the pressure, never trying to mount much of an attack of their own.  The US team finally broke through and it seemed to me that what changed for them was that they altered the tempo of the game just slightly by actually bypassing a few shooting opportunities and bringing the ball back out into midfield to begin their attack again.  By doing this the US Women were able to patiently draw the defending team out just enough to create some space in front of goal.  They managed one goal but it was enough and Mexico were certainly the toughest side they faced before meeting Canada in the final.
     So, what I hoped to achieve by having players double up on their dribbling work by going in then out of the other half wasn't just to force them to increase the number of 1v1s they could face.  Rather my main goal was to get them to realize that they can use their skills and the whole field space to alter the tempo of the game and that one player who moves the ball thoughtfully and with some patience can move the other team's defense around to our advantage.  As good as Girl Power has become at creating opportunities for shots they are still often moving at a break-neck pace as they approach goal.  While I don't want them to cut back on the quantity of shots they take I'd like them to slow down enough to take the extra touches necessary to increase the quality of the shots they take.  By taking 'extra touches' I mean that they often make a great move to win an opening but then rush into that space so fast, even recklessly, that they aren't able to get off a good shot.
     As it turned out our opponent on Saturday gave us exactly the sort of game I was describing.  In the first minute of play Abby threw every move at them she had and I think I could hear the other Coach groaning.  Everyone else on the squad was anxious to show their moves too and I saw some really jaw dropping stuff.  At one point early on Zoe did a pull-and-play-behind at full running stride so smooth and fast that I suspect the opposing player who was on her may have thought Zoe simply evaporated with the ball.  In response to all this ball control skill the other team was mostly kicking at the ball.  To her credit, the other Coach was repeatedly pleading with her team to dribble more but only getting a positive response from one player.  Girl Power managed at least 60% ball possession and took an insane 36 shots with an impressive 19 of those being on frame.  But with 1:29 left to play only 4 of those had found the net and we were down 5-4.
     Late in the second half the other team had managed to equalize and then take a one goal lead thanks to that one committed ball hog they had.  As we took the kick-off after she put in goal number five I was concerned that our girls were a bit shell-shocked.  I could see them all look up at the clock and I was worried they might panic but at the whistle they took a good small touch, one player to another, moving the ball laterally to Ashley.  As she dribbled past our bench I called out to her "there's time, take it easy and find your shot".  Ashley had been having a great game showing some of her best dribbling work this session and she was sure footed this time as she moved into the corner on the keeper's right.  She drove right into the defender on that side then pulled the ball back out and turned toward the center.  One soft touch to set it up and she blasted the ball high and into the top corner, far post.  As cool as you please and with time to spare.
     At about the 1:00 mark the other team took their places around the ball to kick-off.  One player was on the ball but her nearest teammates were three yards or more to either side.  What happened next was truly amazing and shows the way Girl Power are developing not only their ball skills but their game IQ.  With the one opposing player standing over the ball for kick-off and no one else close by to take a short pass I hear Hailey and Olivia both call to their teammates "they're just going to kick it."  I think they both sounded a bit incredulous, like, "wow, they're just going to give us the ball"  which is exactly what they did as their center player tried to toe poke the ball straight through our front line.  I think Hailey ended up making the final run along the wall to the keeper's left and after digging the ball out of the corner she got it across the goal to Ashley who tried to put it right back in.  The keeper deflected it but Olivia was waiting about two yards out and tapped it in for the winner with only seconds left.
     It was a thrilling ending and what impressed me the most was that while the girls were playing energetically in those final moments they were also playing with confidence and self-assurance.  There wasn't enough time left for a lot of chances but there was time left for two or three attempts and Girl Power played like they knew that was enough.
     My plan to get them to dribble in and out of the attacking half didn't work out as the pace of the game in the second half kind of took over but the way the game ended was the right lesson in itself.  It showed them that they can play with urgency without being in a panic, that they can play skillfully even when time is limited.
     The restriction on the keeper punting was a success I think in that it did put a lot of pressure on our keepers and defenders.  The keepers had to assess and think a bit before distributing the ball and the defenders had to be moving to stay available.  I know that seeing our players play the ball at their feet out of our own third of the field can be stressful but we'll probably keep that rule in place the remainder of the session.