Highlight-free game

Well...we did have a very good pre-game practice. And then there was that one kid on the Orange team who had a great game. And then everybody had a snack, which was nice. (Thanks to Cole's parents for that). So not a bad day really.
After the game the coach of the Orange team apologized for leaving the scoring-machine kid out on the field so much. Orange was a few players short so the coach figured he'd let the kid (Logan) get some extra playing time. I told him "it's cool. Facing a better opponent isn't going to hurt anybody." Some of the kids will be moving up to U7 soon so they will be seeing a lot of that sort of thing. Aside from a slight size advantage, what makes a player like Logan stand out is his single mindedness when it comes to what to do with the ball. We have that on out team in the form of Nate and Mason. When Nate has the ball he is frantic in his effort to get to the goal but he doesn't panic when he's in close contact with the opposition. I saw him twice step gracefully over the ball to shield it from the opposition and start moving toward their goal. He keeps his head under pressure. I ask the kids every week before the game starts "who's ball is it?" and I expect them to answer "mine!" I never have to ask Nate twice.
And every week Mason shows a better understanding of where he needs to position himself off the ball to defend effectively. He has a great sense of the field.
I should also note that Annie played some fierce defense when she was in goal. And Kendall Romito now has a baby brother, Gabriel.
Everyone is making steady progress and it's been a good season despite our over-crowded bench. Next week is the last game of the season. Camden's mom will be picking-up the snack. See you then.

Playing like a team

The level of "team" play in this week's game was excellent. In our first quarter line-up we had great goal coverage from Kaleb which allowed Mason, Nate, Owen and Camden (!) to really attack the other goal. They combined for two great goals and we saw lots of cooperative play with good passing and a lot of talk.
On the second quarter team it was Chase who took charge of the goal coming up with some excellent stops and allowing Annie, Ethan, Maddie and Max to keep pushing into the other team's side. In the fourth quarter Annie and Chase switched. Annie made some good defensive stops and Chase had some good shots on goal.
Two games left on the 8th and 15th. Sign-ups for next session going on now if you're interested.

World Cup Qulifying

The US national team plays its next World Cup qualifying match on March 28th at 9:00 PM, live on ESPN2. That's a Saturday so everyone can stay up for at least the first half.

Great Game!

What a great game today! We got our roster back in order, the Romitos came through in picking-up the snack and Nate and Owen executed a perfect pass-and-shoot just the way we'd done it in practice. Other highlights were: two very energetic "own goals" by Camden, an impressive defensive stop by Kendall (with happy dance), a fantastic "heel" pass by Kaleb and a couple of great defensive plays by Mason. Kaleb was great in goal, especially during the fourth quarter, nearly taking the ball from our end to theirs for one more goal. Ethan showed some amazing improvement today. He was really in the game.
Sign-ups for the next session are going on now. If you're interested I will be coaching U5 again, assuming we get enough kids signed up to make a team.

How could we not win? Our team has like a million kids on it!

We faced this same team a few weeks back and in that game their strongest player kind of dominated the Apples, mostly by liberal use of his elbows. This week we kept him in check with some very good defensive play. We especially had some very good goal coverage from Chase in the third Quarter. I saw several of the kids beginning to get the idea of converging on our goal to defend when needed. That's great and our offense can build off of that.
We had a goal from Mason and another one shared by Mason and Nate. Nate also went for an own-goal but was, luckily, stopped by Owen. This week we switched sides at the half for the first time and some of the kids were clearly disoriented. Maddie got so close to putting in our third goal but then got confused as to which goal was the right one. Next week she'll get one.
Thanks again for everyone's patience, especially Caleb's dad. He was ready to provide the snack after this week's game only to discover that the parents of our surprise 13th (!!!) player had also picked-up the snack. I'm trying to find out where this new player came from. If she wasn't actually signed up by the league administrator I'll have to tell her folks she can't play, obviously.
See you all next week.

Good practice, not-so-good game.

Practice went very well with everyone really paying attention and working hard. Most of the kids are developing a very solid kick with at least one foot. I pulled out some of the older kids to work specifically on passing. I don't know that it helped but we'll keep working on it
Once we got to game time there was suddenly a lot of timidity about going to the ball. Everybody wanted to be goalie but nobody wanted to actually block a shot. Not everybody, of course. Nate played like a crazy person as usual and Mason showed some Premier League quality defensive play including a slightly illegal but nonetheless beautiful slide tackle. His dad taught him that.

Super Sunday

Only one goal today, this one from Owen on an easy breakaway. But the low score wasn't for lack of trying. Nate ran himself ragged trying to get one but was just a bit unlucky. Next week when we have Mason back we'll try to work more on passing so that we get more shots on goal.
Cole, Ethan and Maddie had their best games yet. At one point Cole played some very solid defense and surely saved a goal. Kendall came tantalizingly close (again!) to scoring as did Caleb, both of them swinging just a fraction too late. Max played hard. Chase started slow then really got going. And Annie had another good game although by the end she had decided that she might prefer Karate.
Thanks to the Ramsdell's for the snack. See you Sunday.