Monday, August 28, 2017

Girl Power Now

     When I write one of these posts I like to have my general observations of my team's play and development organized around some narrower observation, some small detail of a game or a training session that, I think, in turn will bring the overall picture of where the team is now into sharper focus. I'm not having much success though in finding such a theme for Girl Power right now.  The obvious observation is that not only is this a new season for Girl Power but this is in fact a new team, a team yet to develop a consistent style of play or character.  Among the players who left our roster last season there were a couple who really dominated our play, who set the tone for us as a high-energy attacking side.  As we saw in Saturday's game returning players like Jolie, and Zoe are happy to dash boldly into the space left open by those departures as are our new players like Sophia. But right now there's a quality of recklessness and exploration to all these efforts.  It will take time for this team to find it's rhythm and style, to get really acquainted with each other so that we can see better anticipation and cooperation.
     The team isn't without some continuity of character though thanks to our returning players.  Eileen, Ava and Peyton all know how to play that strong full-back wing role that I like and so our style of play will still tend towards a fully committed possession-dominant attack.  Natalie's casual confidence in the keeper spot helps us in that regard too as she knows our attack begins wherever we regain possession and that informs her style of play.  With the help of the core group of returning players I have no doubt that this new Girl Power will become a skillful, aggressively attacking side that plays with a real joy and creativity.  In fact we're already seeing that so I'll let that be the loose theme for these early observations: "joy and creativity".

     In no particular order:

>At training last week I worked with the team on a "pull-back-play-behind" move that is basically a combination of a pull-back with an immediate Cruyff turn.  Izzy's efforts at it were nearly flawless from the start so I made a point of telling her that if she could pull that off in game situations she'd be able to get around anyone.  I say that sort of thing to players all the time.  "Oh, you're so good at that...I want to see it in the next game...that's you're move!"  Sometimes they follow through...usually they need more prodding.  But Izzy got to Saturday's game itching to try her move.  She even asked me prior to kick off if it was okay for her to try it.  "What!  Of course it's okay.  I insist!"  Lucky for me I was just yards away from her when she did break that move out and she was nearly successful on that first try.  After the game her attitude was still overwhelmingly positive.  "I almost did it...the ball just got stuck on my heel."  That's the attitude we want to foster, that desire to play fearlessly and creatively, even to show off a bit.

>Jolie is joyfully imposing herself on the game, seemingly filled with energy following her long injury layoff.  For the first 20 minutes of Saturday's game she was everywhere across the attacking half, getting on the ball over and over again.  Watching her play you can clearly see how happy she is to be back on the field.

>Zoe is testing her ball striking.  It's been a long road to get her to the point where her technique is approaching an effective consistency but I think we're almost there and it was wonderful to see her making shot attempts from outside of ten yards Saturday.  I think we had her for three such attempts and while they weren't thunderous strikes they were solidly struck.  She's putting in the work.

>So much good communication going on on the field Saturday.  I love that and I'm really trying to consistently encourage the players to be constantly engaged with each other in the game, to chat, coach, admonish, demand, whatever, just be connected.  With Sophia and Lauren the team has two players who are never shy about communicating with their teammates.  Lauren is good at both letting her teammate with the ball know where she is and at delivering the ball when a teammate calls to her.  And with Sophia I think I have a true field general.  She's constantly offering direction to the team and doing so in the right "coach's" tone of voice.

>Julia, Kennedy and Jayden gives the team a defensive solidity we haven't had before and these are all players, along with Lauren and Sophia, who recognize the opportunities for creating attacking play that can be had when your central defenders can possess the ball rather than booting it.  That being said, I have to admit that Julia's ability to crush a moving ball has certainly saved our bacon a few times!

>Finally, I want to note, if it's not obvious from the parent's side, that the girls are really enjoying playing together.  They are working hard at training and playing hard for each other in games and they all show up just itching to play.  I'm a lucky coach.




Monday, August 14, 2017

The Percolators

     At a Fusion coach's meeting in the spring, right after tryout week, one of the other coaches commented to me that "Girl Power will probably be stronger than ever." I appreciated that but I also knew it probably wouldn't be true, at least not immediately. The players we were able to bring into the club after tryouts are all excellent prospects but soccer is a team sport and a team's quality is never just the sum of all the individual players' skills. A team has to develop a bond and an understanding of how to work in concert and that takes time and a lot of game experience. With that in mind it's obvious that Girl Power will need some time to figure themselves out.
      At that meeting the same coach then asked me about the Ninjas and without hesitation I replied that I thought they would probably come into the fall season as a very strong team. It's a squad filled with athletes and they have developed a wonderfully strong connection with each other. Their first appearances together in the spring season were a bit rough but by the end of the season they were looking like a real team. The individual commitment of players to developing their skills was showing results too and with the benefit of some game experience the Ninjas were starting to show that they could work together effectively. Also, they had become, by the end of the season, a really focused squad in training with a real desire to improve rapidly.
     So I wasn't entirely surprised that the Ninjas looked so strong in their first game. I wasn't even surprised that they were able to outplay Girl Power. What I didn't expect was the ferocity of their attack, the constant pressure they were putting on their opponent and the skill and intelligence with which they created so many scoring chances. The Ninjas were a multi-dimensional barrage of offense! Shots coming from everywhere! Well organized and energetic, their defensive play was outstanding too.
     The two teams had fared very differently against the ISC team we met for those friendly matches. Girl Power lost too but they kept the match much closer throughout and they did manage some goals. What so impressed me from the Ninjas Saturday was that they seemed to have really internalized everything they could learn from that friendly match and took the field against Girl Power and played like a new team. It was like something had suddenly switched on for them. Not only was their attacking play expansive and at a high tempo but their defense was intense, even imperious. They simply would not concede a goal without a fight.
      That is something I've experienced before in coaching, that sudden improvement in a player or team where different things they've been working on suddenly come together, suddenly become who they are. At halftime I told the Ninjas that they seemed to have been "percolating" on their skills over the summer months. Rather than coming back from the summer break needing to knock the rust off they actually seemed stronger than they were at the end of the spring season, like they'd all made some leap forward. I know there was some skills training and endurance work going on during that time for some of the players but the overall improvement in their performance was still amazing. As a coach I accept that a lot of the work I do with players requires me to patiently allow them to slowly build their skills. Progress on the technical side of things is necessarily incremental. But on the tactical side, in the players' ability to work effectively together, there can be sudden change as if many pieces of a puzzle had suddenly fallen together. That's what I felt I was seeing on Saturday from the Ninjas and it was awesome.
     While Charlie and Annabelle were setting the tone early, firing shots in at Beanie, it was Kylee who actually broke through with the first goal of the game.  She received a brilliant crossing pass from Cameron G. that found her practically standing on the penalty spot and from there she easily put it away.  That was followed by a goal for Annabelle and then one for Megan.  Mehrin and Charley combined for the real peach of the game when Mehrin sent a perfect corner kick right onto Charley's feet for an easy re-direction from just a yard or two out.  Erin put in the game capper off a nice pass from Charley.  Those are the scoring highlights but we had excellent play from everyone.  While Ashley, Addison and Ellie didn't get on the score sheet themselves they did amazing work just controlling our possession of the ball throughout the game and helping to create all those chances.  And our newest player, Jade, came up big on defense throughout the game and also was involved in some shooting chances.  Great first game for her.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

For my new players...a few notes on my approach.

Way back, twelve years ago now, when I first started coaching one of my kids in recreational league soccer it occurred to me that for some of the kids on the team the first step was not learning some basic soccer skill but rather just learning how to run or how to maintain their balance. This was U6 soccer so for some of them it was even questionable as to whether they understood the fundamental concept of "a game"  Based on these observations the guiding principle for all the coaching work I've done since has been “nothing is obvious”.  I try to pay close attention to every player during practices and games to assess where they each as individuals need help.  With some players I might be working on helping them to add a new deceptive move or sharpen their shooting skill.  But with some players it might be that we need to actually work on their posture or their running stride, something so basic that you might take it for granted. Some players might have some basic athletic ability but need lots of help learning how to actually understand the flow of a game.  With each basic skill that I try to teach, including the mental skills, I consider it important that I be able to break that skill down into smaller parts so that when necessary I can teach it gradually and in a way that will reach every player, not just the more advanced players.
    When I begin working with new players I need the player and the parent to buy in to what I’m doing.  What I need the players to get is that I’m going to be encouraging them to try new things, to struggle with new skills and to put those skills into play in games.  My attitude is always going to be “let’s play to win by just playing.”  In that way I want to foster an atmosphere of casualness about the game so that the kids feel free to try their skills without fear that I’ll be upset if we don’t win.  Then I have to sell the parents on this idea too since for most of them it will be hard if they see their kid’s team getting clobbered.   They’ll be yelling for me to keep them in position.   They’ll be yelling for the kids to “kick the ball” when that’s not what we really want.  We can set the kids up to play “effectively” as a team now so that they might get some wins but what happens when they reach the next age level or next competitive level and only a few kids on the team actually have real ball skills?
     As coaches and parents we do want them to compete and to love to do so but they need to know that the competition is its own reward regardless of outcome.  Some parents may hear this and think that I’m trying to teach their kids a wishy-washy “winning isn’t everything” point of view.  That’s not the case.  You compete to win.  But if you do not love the competition for itself you are not likely to stick with it when you aren’t earning victories.  I’ve heard many athletes, most notably Michael Jordan, say that if you are afraid to fail you’ll never win because the path to victory at the highest level leads through many small failures.  For players on Fusion teams those “small” failures begin in training settings where we challenge them to master difficult ball control skills, skills that they may not think are obviously valuable for game situations.  Then we’ll push our players to try to execute those same skills in actual game situations where they will most certainly fail many times.  Yet that is how they’ll learn to use those skills and how to win with them.   A critical factor though is that players trust their coaches and their parents to be proud of them for playing fearlessly and creatively, for struggling to put those difficult skills to use.  Players have to know that that’s what you’re looking for and that you really do think winning is secondary.   But again, not because winning isn’t important but rather because competing is more important.  I want them all to be unrepentant soccer field rats who’d take a pick-up game in a pouring rain if it was their only chance to play.

   With all of this in mind I have a few simple principles that guide my coaching approach:

1) Be Patient.   Obviously I try to be patient myself as a coach but I’m also trying to instill that willingness to be patient in the players and in their parents.  Learning a new skill can take time and many repetitions and a lot of failures.  It can be a struggle.  I try to show my players and their parents through my words, my attitude and my body language that I am patient and will work with them for as long as it takes.  I try to impress upon them that struggle is just part of the work and they shouldn’t waste time with any unrealistic expectations as to how fast they can master something or make any unfounded assumptions about what their “natural abilities” might be just because it’s taking a little while to learn a new skill.   Stay focused and be patient with yourself and remember why you’re working on developing new skills...so you can take them with you into the game.  

2) Nothing is obvious.  Take as much time as necessary to teach a skill and don’t hesitate to break it down into its smaller parts.  Don’t assume one way of demonstrating a skill will work with every player.  Observe the players closely and coach to their individual strengths while trying to expand their abilities. From the players' perspective this means never be afraid to raise your hand and ask for another demonstration or a clearer explanation.

3) Stick to Fundamentals.  The primary focus has always got to be on skill development with much less time spent on development of tactical understanding of the game.  Teach the kids how to control the ball first then put them in game situations and with a little guidance they’ll start getting the foundations of tactical understanding on their own.  With the younger age groups, U6 through U8, I generally avoid any sorts of passing drills or any other tactical drills and always favor practice work that gives the players lots of repeated touches on the ball. There is no doubt that at some point players reach a point where they can grow very rapidly in their understanding of the game, their field awareness and their ability to anticipate each other's movements. But if we jump into working in tactical training situations before most of the players have some basic ball competence then those training drills will be a mess and of little long term value.

4) Teach them to be unafraid of situational failures.  If we spend time in practice learning a new deceptive move I want them to feel free to try it in the very next game without worrying about when is the right time to use it or when it will work.  Only game experience can teach them how to use their skills effectively so I encourage them to just go into the competition committed to trying to use those new skills.  Let's say we work in training one week on doing a step-over combination. I could use a skill like that as a player in a game situation to actually win a 1v1 or maybe just to get a defender to hesitate for a moment, just long enough for one of my teammates to get open for a pass. Either way though, if I don't actually try to use that skill I'll never get a feel for when or how to use it effectively, and no doubt, the first time (and a lot of times after that) that I use that skill I'll use it ineffectively or just mess up technically. As a player I've got to feel that getting to the point where I can reliably use a skill under pressure is worth all the times I have to struggle just to get it right and for that I need to know that my Coach and my family have my back in the whole process.
As a parent you've got to really be prepared for what this means. What if your kid or one of their teammates decides the right time to try out their new skill is just as they are dribbling through our own penalty area...and they mess up and lose the ball...and the other team scores. Will your emotional response be "Oh no! Don't do that!" or will it be "I saw what you were doing! Try it again! Take it to 'em!"?

5) Keep the focus on playing.  A lot of what they need to learn as players they must learn through game experience so I try to keep a balance in my practices between focused technical work and teaching through playing games.   We spend half the practice working on a skill then the second half playing 1v1 or other small sided games where we try to put that new skill into action right away.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Time

    During the mid '90s Chris and I were living in Chicago and like everybody else there we were fans of the Bulls.  I hadn't followed basketball very closely before then but watching Michael Jordan could make anyone a fan.  While watching a Bulls playoff game during one of those championship years I had a realization that has stuck with me since and has informed a lot of what I try to do as a youth coach.  In this case it was a game situation that the Bulls and their fans were familiar with; less than twenty seconds on the clock, the Bulls tied or down by one or two and of course the play would be to get MJ the final shot.  As Jordan received the in-bounds pass you could see how relaxed he was, in no real hurry to take the ball up the court, just casually letting the seconds burn off.  He floated up the court drifting to his right then cutting left.  Just getting to the three point line he rises up and as he falls back away from the basket he lets the ball fly.  Bulls win.
     After the game in conversation with some friends I said out loud what I'd been thinking as I watched Jordan move toward that final shot.  "It's like to him, ten seconds is a long time, right?"  The moment was so tense for everyone watching but Michael seemed calm, as though the seconds we agonized over were actually stretching out for him, as though time were moving more slowly.  Every fan in Chicago was yelling at their TV screens "hurry, hurry!  Only ten seconds left!"  while in his own mind I imagine Jordan was thinking "relax, plenty of time."
     Think about it this way:  Looking at the clock as the game winds down you or I see 00:20:00 and think "twenty seconds! that's not enough time" because what we're really seeing is that twenty seconds is all that's left of the game.  This is the last twenty seconds.   But I tend to think that a supremely gifted and trained athlete like MJ or Lionel Messi or Megan Rapinoe would reply "yeah, but it is still twenty seconds and I can do a lot in twenty seconds." In other words it's a matter of perspective.  While I might panic in a late game situation and think 'I've only got twenty seconds to get the ball up field and create a shooting opportunity...that's only time for one try" one of the athletes mentioned above might reply "Yeah, but I only need one chance and twenty seconds is plenty of time for one chance."  That is, they go forward without a thought about the limit the situation places on them and rather embrace the opportunity the situation presents.  The pressure of a last minute game situation could be crushing if your mental focus is on the dwindling amount of time you have.  But a player of a resilient frame of mind is one who views the time remaining as just more time to act.
     My tendency to focus all of my team's training activities on fundamental skills is obviously informed by the fact that for high-level performers those fundamentals are indispensable.  No amount of tactical training can overcome poor technical execution so I think I need to devote the majority of my training sessions to skill development.  As all the players reach a higher level of broad technical competence we can then afford to devote more time to tactics.  I have begun introducing some tactical training exercises to my teams, especially Girl Power, as I think that these exercises help to drive them to improve their technique.  You can't effectively run a passing pattern drill if your first touch and passing stroke are not consistently good so my hope is that by being put under the pressure of running such drills my players will experience and internalize the necessity of technical excellence.  As Coach Eric used to say, "don't just practice until you get it right...practice until you can't get it wrong."
      And when you do that, when you make a set of skills so second-nature that you can't get them wrong, that's when game time starts to slow down for a player.  So that's the other reason for insisting on a focus on technical excellence.  When players can really rely on their skills under pressure then they are more mentally resilient.  They see pressure situations in games as opportunities rather than limits.
     I'm a little concerned that recently I've not properly helped my Girl Power team to remain focused on that long-term goal of skill development.  When they aren't having a good game it's easy to focus on the tactical shortcomings of the team, their failure to cooperate more.  Conversely, it's easy to overlook all the little technical mistakes and deficiencies, mostly because they pass by so quickly in games it's hard to even place them into the overall context of the flow of the game.  Maintaining a disciplined detachment regarding wins versus losses is difficult but necessary...assuming, that is, that the point really is to train them all to be the best player they can be.
   

Sunday, April 2, 2017

GP vs Nelson County, 4/1/2017

   



   
Nobody likes losing but I hope everyone can appreciate what a good game that was yesterday for Girl Power.  They played a good team that had a lot of very skillful players and they had a considerable size advantage too.  Girl Power never backed down, never fell into a panic defense, and they showed repeatedly how reliable dribble skills can be effective even when you're opponent is a little taller than you.  I hope everyone also noticed the team's efforts at moving the ball around more often with passing.
     At the end of my last post I highlighted a brief passing sequence involving Ava, Abby and Peyton.  I was trying to describe a moment where it was clear that the players involved were anticipating each other's movements in a way that allowed them to essentially decide what to do with the ball before they'd even received it.  In the situation I was describing from that game Peyton received a pass from Abby and made an immediate one touch pass back to Abby, not directly to her but rather to open space about five yards to Abby's right.  So before Peyton had received the ball she had already anticipated that possible pass, had already anticipated that Abby could follow a pass into open space past two defenders.
     The exercises we ran at training this week are meant to encourage more of that sort of thoughtful cooperative interplay between players.  We ran the familiar Hot Corners game and then we worked on learning a new pattern passing game that is somewhat more complicated than Hot Corners and that really emphasizes the concept of a "give and go" movement with the ball.  I'm very encouraged at the extent to which our players are picking up the idea of moving the ball cooperatively, especially their individual willingness to release the ball when their dribble options don't look so good.  Where we're lacking, and this showed in yesterday's game, is in their individual willingness to anticipate that a pass might be coming their way.
     A great example of what I mean happened right in front of me in the second half.  We were headed down hill in that half which I hoped would give us the same advantage it had clearly given the other team.  And it did as our attack certainly became faster and more penetrating.  So at one point Zoe is bringing the ball up the line after a brilliant tackle to repossess and she makes a beautiful hesitation move to dance around the biggest player on the other team.  But then as she continues her run along the touch line she looks up and sees three things: two more defenders closing on her; Peyton running with her about four yards to her right; wide open space up the line.  Zoe took one more dribble touch and to me her intentions seemed clear.  She was going to release the ball up the line for Peyton.  Zoe made that pass flawlessly with her left foot.  Well struck with just a little left to right hook on it so it hugged the line without going out.  Peyton made the effort to run onto the ball but unfortunately she had started about two steps too late.  She hadn't "read" Zoe's intentions early enough.
     That was typical of the whole team's performance yesterday and I don't want it to sound like a criticism.  Rather it's meant as an observation of how close they are to some really brilliant play.  There were many other instances of sequences of play where one or two of our players would demonstrate wonderful individual skill to regain and possess the ball.  We had lots of fantastic 1v1 victories.  But we also did have a lot of really great penetrating runs into the final third that did end with very smart through ball or crossing ball passes.  The problem was simply a matter of timing and of touch.  Sometimes the through ball was hit too hard and sometimes the intended target player hadn't taken off early enough.
     So I'm not disappointed by this performance in any way and as I told the team after the game I'm actually thrilled about the potential they're showing.  Their technical skills are solid and still improving so each of them is formidable in those 1v1 situations.  And now they're showing that on the tactical side, the cooperative aspect of the game, it's really just down to needing more experience so they can hone their timing.  Throughout the game yesterday I felt they were consistently only a knife-edge away from finding that first goal and they kept up the pressure right to the end.  We can go back to the training field knowing what we've got to focus on and knowing that we're at a point where a lot of what we're doing in training is fine tuning.



Monday, March 20, 2017

KSSL season opener for Girl Power.

     It is so hard to be focused when you're cold.  When you play in the heat you may be uncomfortable and it can sap your strength but you can have long stretches in a game where you're so caught up you just don't notice the weather.  But the cold nags at you, pulls you down, makes you feel smaller.  And it hurts.  In Saturday's KSSL season opener for Girl Power I saw girls with hands and ears as red as an apple but rather than being weighed down by that they played beautifully and energetically and with a wonderful gamer's attitude.
     Best of all, despite the cold and wind they largely did maintain their focus.  You've probably heard me say to them before that there are three things they have to know "where-it's-at" all the time in a game: the ball; the goals; the players (both teams).  That's a lot to keep in focus all at once and raw weather conditions make that even tougher but our girls were doing their best and it showed in their play.  Their defense was organized and smothering.  Their attack was a great combination of individual skill and cooperation.  It's been a long process to get to where they are as a team now and I'm really proud of their progress but in this last game I was most proud of their toughness and grit.  Despite the weather they came out anxious to play and they were upbeat and supportive of each other from start to finish.
    I was really happy to see that the FC Kentucky team we faced seems to have adopted a training strategy similar to ours.  When we faced them last season they were kicking the ball a lot but in Saturday's game I heard their coach frequently admonishing them to dribble rather than kick it away.  Possession of the ball certainly made the difference in the game and Girl Power's combination of good first touch and good dribble skill meant we had the ball more often than they did.  We only managed two goals, one for Hailey and one for Abby, but I feel like we had a ton of good chances.  Both the goals were the result of some really fabulous skill too.  Hailey beat a couple of defenders to get into the box and then held the ball right until the keeper stepped out for it then she took a calm touch to her right and put it away.  Abby's goal was off a corner kick and she received the ball with her back to goal then made a lovely turn to beat two players before firing the ball into the net.
     I also want to note a beautiful little passing sequence we saw in the first half where we had a throw-in from Ava to Abby who then made a quick pass up the line to Peyton.  Peyton then brilliantly one-touched the ball splitting two defenders to put Abby open and headed into the penalty area.  It happened too quickly for Peyton to have time to think about what to do with the ball after it came to her.  Rather she'd already seen the situation unfolding before Abby sent her that pass so when the ball arrived to her she'd already decided what to do next.  That ability to anticipate, to see the situation so that you know what you're going to do with the ball before you get it is something that will be a point of emphasis in our training this season.
 

Enjoy the wins, endure the losses and always love to compete.

     A few years back I started telling all of my players that there are three things they need to be aware of at all times while playing.  I introduce the concept by asking "what are the three things that you need to know where-it-is all the time while you're playing?"
     Players usually get the first one easily.  It's the ball.  The second is the goals.  That's your basic orientation for the play of the game so you've got to know all the time where the goals are and which end is which.
     The third "where-it-is-all-the-time" is the players...your team and the opponent.  So, as players we have to keep these three things in the front of our mind at all times.
   
     I have to know where the ball is, where the goals are and where all my teammates and my opponents are...all the time.  And my coach is yelling to me to remind me of that...and to remind me of what position I'm playing...and to remind me of what's behind me...and to demand that I use a particular skill.  And then it's cold...and snowing a bit...and windy.  Or it's hot and this one girl on the other team keeps grabbing my shirt from behind...and then there's my mom or my dad...what are they saying?  Are they mad?  Now, what was I supposed to be remembering all the time again?  

     It's a lot to ask of a ten year old to remain focused enough to be aware of all three of the where-it-is-all-the-time things simultaneously and the ultimate goal is to get them to have that focused awareness as their default position, as simply the way they approach the game naturally, reflexively.  It takes a lot of time, a lot of patient development to get players from their precocious "me and the ball" phase to a more subtle team oriented understanding of how to play.  Keeping in mind of course that as players develop more of a team mentality for the game they aren't shedding that early "me and the ball" selfishness but rather finding a way to incorporate that into the team effort.
     As with the players and their where-it-is-all-the-time attitude, the coach also has to have a sort of default position for approaching the game.  It's patience.  The arc of player development is long and there are no shortcuts.  Every minute of training and game time my players get is part of that development and it's all valuable, even the failures and at the most basic level a coach's job is to let the players have those experiences and then to let them "percolate" on them, as it were.
     So this past weekend one of my teams came away with a lot to percolate on.  Their opening game for the KSSL season was a tough one played in raw conditions.  Despite the score it was a good game for them and I was generally happy with the level of skillfulness and the overall commitment to energetic play.  Then in the evening they played their final indoor game of the season and, again, took a tough loss.   But again, they played with good energy the whole game, constantly pressing to come back.  And there was plenty of great skill on display.  The team had, throughout both games, what I'd call a "gamer's" attitude, meaning they played like they were there for the love of the competition, regardless of the outcome.  As a coach I can't ask for more.  If I watch them compete with real commitment and even some joy but they finish with a loss I cannot go into the post-match chat with them with anything but a positive attitude.  The moment the final whistle blows in a situation like that I have to immediately let go of any disappointment I might feel at the loss and begin thinking about how to talk to the team positively about how they played and how we can build on it.
     My comments to the team after that evening game ended with me telling them that I was glad to be their coach, that I love watching them play and I love training with them.  I told them that being a select player means you've made a commitment to the game, to your teammates and to your own longterm development.  "That development is a long arc" I said.  "And if you're committed to following it I'm committed to guiding you.  I'll be with you all the way."


Sunday, March 5, 2017

Spring 2017 training goals

One of the training goals I have for Ninjas and Girl Power this season is to help everyone perfect the "roll-over" dribble touch.



I think most of my players can execute this skill but very few of them will use it in games so that's what I'll be focusing on this season, getting them to adopt that skill as a regular part of their game.  This dribble skill is valuable for two reasons.  First it allows a player to move quickly with the ball in a way that keeps the ball moving at the same speed the player is running.  Secondly, it can be used as a simple and effective deceptive dribble skill too.


Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Tactical Thinking and the Three Questions

     I've been reading a wonderful little book on coaching called Soccer IQ by Dan Blank, a coach for the women's squad at the University of Georgia.  In each brief chapter of the book Coach Blank shares his observations on what constitutes the "soccer iq" that good players have in common.  You might think this "iq" would include a lot of technical skills, things like having a good passing stroke or having mastered some particular deceptive dribbling skills, the sorts of things I work the most on with my players.  But for Coach Blank those skills are the tools you have to have in order to make and execute tactical decisions in games and it's in that decision making that we find the soccer iq that separates great players from good ones.  It's qualities like speed of thought, empathy and anticipation and developing a habit of observing the game closely even as you're playing.
     For some time now anyone attending one of my teams' games would be able to hear me calling to my players to "use your eyes" as I encourage them to know what's going on around them.  So I was tickled to get to chapter 10 of Soccer IQ, and find Coach Blank emphasizing just how important it is for players to really learn to use their eyes.  Here are a few passages from the chapter which is entitled Three Questions:



     "A soccer player's most important body part is her pair of eyes.  Your eyes are your very best way of collecting information...Your eyes prepare you to make the decisions that enable you to play quickly and keep the ball for your team.  And too many players don't utilize them very well.
     In a ninety minute soccer game you will probably spend between two and three minutes on the ball.  That means that 87 minutes, roughly 96% of your day, is spent off the ball.  Smart players understand that when they don't have the ball, they've got to plan for those moments when the ball finds them.          

     A smart player is constantly asking herself, "What if?" and "What's next?"
     What if the ball comes to me?
     What's next when I get it?
     What if we give the ball back to them?  What's next?
     What if they give the ball back to us?  What's next?
     And she is always asking, "What's behind me?"
     
 
Average soccer players make their decisions after they've already received the ball. That's not a good thing...Smart players make 90% of their decisions before the ball ever gets to them.  Even if that decision is to face up a defender and take her on the dribble (1v1), the smart player already knows that's what she's going to do before the ball gets to her."

     Share that with your player if you can.  I think all of the players I coach are capable of understanding what this is about.  If you're interested in hearing more of Coach Blank's ideas on Soccer IQ you can go to his website www.soccerpoet.com and he's also got a SoccerPoet channel on YouTube where he actually talks through and illustrates some of the book's chapters.  Good stuff.

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Fusion Girls Are All About Attack!

     My Fusion U11 teams were in action for the kick-off of indoor season this Saturday and the two games, played back-to-back, were fantastic.  Most of the girls hadn't played since early November so while I'd expect them to be really anxious to take the field I wouldn't expect the quality of their play to be great.  A bit of kick-ball, at least in the opening half of each game wouldn't have been surprising.  The games we got though were far from that, featuring some really skillful individual play and a lot of great cooperative ball movement.   
     I've thought in the past that many players benefit from time away from the game in that it seems to give them a chance to "percolate" on what they learned in the previous training season.  I've seen players who had trouble with some particular skill at the end of one season show up for the next season with that same skill now being readily available to them as just part of their game.  There seemed to be plenty of examples of that sort of off-season development in the two games I saw Saturday.   Prior to the Ninjas game I let the players know that the two skills I'd be specifically looking for from them in the game would be their Cruyff turn and their roll-over touch.   I keep track of that sort of thing using what one of my players named "The Tallies".  Here is the tally sheet from the Ninjas game:


     I noted a few things on this tally sheet that I wanted to be sure to remember, like Kylee earning a new nickname.  "The General" was totally in charge when she was on the field and I think her ability to communicate clearly and in the right tone of voice to her teammates was a big factor in their ability to hit the ground running in this game.  In addition to putting the first goal in for us Kylee was setting a great example with the quality of her first touch on the ball.  In particular, she had two opportunities to trap balls out of the air and in each case she got the ball to the ground as smoothly as a pro would have.  I frequently say to my players in training that of all the skills we work on first touch is the most important, the most indispensable and you could see that in Kylee's performance.   
     The team as a whole seemed to have a really excellent first touch in this game and I hope that's a trend that they can maintain.  Every time you successfully trap a ball to maintain possession you're gaining time for creating shooting opportunities.   The other skills we work on are all important in this regard too.  To score you've got to have the ball so we should never take possession casually.   I would say that it was that overall attitude toward possession of the ball that impressed me most from the team.  Sometimes teams can be stuck in an attitude toward the game where they are content to keep trading possession, as though the two teams were taking turns.  But Saturday the Ninjas were playing with a more commanding attitude, owning the ball most of the time and pressing hard to win it back when they had to.   They were on the attack for the entire game and it was awesome.

     Girl Power managed a draw against a very tough opponent in their game and I was most impressed by how our girls were able to match the pace of play the other team was setting.  I've been planning on having "pace of play" be a theme during the upcoming training season and I'm happy to see that the Girl Power squad are ready for that.  We saw the sort of deft ball control skill we expect from this team but we also saw them much more willing as a group to attempt that sort of control in a higher gear.  
     One great example was Anna executing her typically smooth "scissors" move but at a faster speed than I think I've seen before.  Emily was using her roll-over touch faster.  Zoe was doing that crazy-legs step over of hers faster.  Ashley and Hailey were not only playing fast but also they seemed to have improved their timing on those subtle cut moves they prefer so that they would work even against taller, faster opponents.
     In the first half we had outstanding work in keeper from Natalie who even did the splits like a hockey goalie!  Then in the second half Eileen and Ava were rock solid under the pressure of facing a barrage of well struck shots.  Jolie got too goals for us in the first half, including one off her left foot (I know because she told me three times).  In both halves Abby and Olivia were tying our midfield together.  Olivia got loose down the sideline repeatedly and Abby was playing that field commander role I mentioned Kylee taking for the Ninjas...not as vocal but still in charge.  Our new team member, Payton, seemed most comfortable covering in defense the whole game but she wasn't shy about challenging hard to the ball and her play contributed a lot to the team's ability to frustrate what looked to be a very strong opponent.