Winter Finals.

You'll have to forgive me for not posting sooner after the weekend's games.  I was really happy with how everyone played in the final game of the session but I'm a little busy with organizing the next session and managing what's left of the tournament so I didn't get to put down my thoughts on the teams right away.

In the U4 game William and Hunter both managed goals.  Real goals.  Not accidental goals.  In each case they got possession of the ball, kept it close and moved through traffic toward the goal and in the end finished with a tap in.  I tried to impress on them both that what they'd done looked easy, like they should do it all the time.  Keep your fingers crossed.
We were shorthanded in that game and so William and Hunter, Ruby, Sammy and Ava had to play the whole game.  That seemed to be good for them.  Hopefully this next session all of our U4 teams will be smaller.  The more playing time the better.  Ruby was dominant, always possessing the ball rather than kicking it.  She'll be moving up to U6 now.  I don't think she'll have too much trouble there either.

In the titanic struggle between the Sharks and Polar Bears we tried mixing the teams a bit at first by putting Samuel in as keeper for the Bears.  He was great about doing that for me, a real good sport.  And he's an amazing keeper too.  In the next quarter Zychick came in and played beautifully.  He gets right down on the ball to make those stops and seems unafraid of the players charging in at him.
We saw lots of good ball movement from the Sharks with some crazy good dribbling from Samuel and Diego.  Ashley and Abby tried to get some of that going too and they played well.  The overall highlight of the game was a break-away goal by Micah.  He got into the clear from the Bears' side of the field and headed toward the other goal with no one in front of him but the keeper.  The beautiful thing was that even though he took off at full speed he made nice soft touches on the ball to keep it close to him.  When he reached the penalty box he was flying but the ball was right at his feet so it was an easy thing to zip a low shot to the keeper's left and into the net.  That was his best moment of the session and I hope he can carry that with him into the next.

The U8 Sharks played valiantly against an incredibly tough opponent and managed one goal, Conner's with an assist from Sam E, I think.  We had very good play in keeper from Nathan and Zachary against an opponent that had many players who could shoot with power.  The overall effort from everyone of the Sharks was really good and I was happy with the spirit they showed.  They never let up in that game and there was plenty of quality play.  That's all I need to see.  Just keep trying to do the things that we've worked on and don't fall into playing in a panic.  It'll all come together eventually.

This has been a great session and I want to thank all the players for the hard work they've done.

To win you have to show up.

     Final score aside that was a great game for the U8 Sharks.  The first quarter was a little bit like last week's game but then they came alive and played with energy.  Sam E. was clearly setting the tone for the team and he was relentless in his attempts to possess the ball.  He was also fierce on the attack when the other team had the ball and that was a great improvement over last week.  And he had his first goal from the field.  He was hitting the ball hard all game and finally got one to go in.
     My plan for the game was to focus on defense with our older players, Owen, Conner and Nathan, and keep the younger kids up in offense as much as possible.  Coach Cook's team is very disciplined about staying in their positions so I figured that if Sam, Elizabeth, Austin and Jackson could get into their space with the ball they'd have some room to work and probably be facing a lot of one-on-one situations.  Their team also has a couple of really skilled players who'd like nothing more than to have you crowd your whole team into one corner chasing the ball on defense so it was best for us to have Owen and Conner back there alone facing them one-on-one.  Before kick-off I told Austin, Sam and Elizabeth that they should not go back into defense but should try to stay up the field all the time, save their energy for attacking and trust Owen and Conner to get them the ball.  Sam bought in right away but the other two seemed skeptical and couldn't help but chase the ball all the way back to our goal repeatedly.  As a result, whenever Sam did make a few moves and get out into the open in the other team's side he had no help and so ended up taking good shots from too far out.  I do think that by the end of the game Austin and Elizabeth were starting to get what I was asking them to do so we'll see what happens next week.



     Jackson bought in right away too and as always was showing amazing field awareness and making good decisions.  He really gets that maintaining your spacing makes it possible to move the ball quickly in the right direction.  So many of the kids, even the older ones, still get too focused on the ball and don't think about where they need to go with it or even when it's best for them to just get out of the way.  But they played better this week.  There was more "touching" the ball for control rather than wildly kicking at it, although there was still some of that.
     Nathan was solid in keeper again and was great about playing in there an extra quarter with Kaleb and Addie out for the game.  He also showed a lot of hustle on offense.  Owen and Conner did play some good defense in that two-back scheme but the other team was swarming the goal a lot and they couldn't help but get overwhelmed a few times.  Conner played with great energy and had a few break-aways that he wanted to take all the way up field.  I'll let him know next week that he is welcome to do that.  Owen was bravely using some moves late in the game to try and get some offense going.  I like seeing that kind of play.   It was good to have Zach back this week although it took him a few quarters to warm up and show his usual speed.
     One funny story from the game: in the second quarter I put Nathan up front and as we are walking onto the field he asks me where he's playing.  At that moment I was saying to Owen that he should play the "left" side.  Nathan says "Aww, I wanna play left field.  Can I play left field?"  I looked at Owen then at Nathan and said "sure".  "Okay, where is that?"  I looked at Owen again and winked.  "Left field is right behind the short stop, okay?" I said as I walked off the field to which Nathan replied "Got it."

     Those U6 Sharks were back in the groove this week and despite having to manage without Ava they played very well.  There was much quality play and I think overall they did much better this week staying out of each other's way.  Samuel was working the ball beautifully in and out of traffic and he and Diego had so many attempts on goal that I lost count.  Karolyn was fabulous in defense for the most part although she and a few other players showed a strange tendency to stand back and let the other team's better players take shots.  Still though I was very happy with the way everyone played.

     The Bears played like they'd all been up late the night before.  The other team has some kids who have really blossomed into good players with good basic ball skills and I think after a few minutes of that the Bears were, as a whole, resigned to the outcome.  So, they played in slow motion for a while.  Zychick played his best game yet in some ways and was more actively engaged than he has been.  He continues to be a very solid keeper.  Jackson was the one player who played with endless energy and I wish the others had followed his example.  Maybe next week.

Week Six.

I didn't like what I saw on the field from the U8 Sharks yesterday.  I don't know yet what I should have done differently to motivate them but I know I didn't get the best out of them.  The kids were very energetic when they took the field.  The bench was lively.  But by the middle of the second quarter it was clear that something was wrong.  The kids seemed to generally be having fun all game.  There was lots of laughing and talking on the field and the bench which is good but there was still a lot of timid and disorganized play.  It's puzzling.  I made it as clear as I could to the Sharks after the game that I'm not concerned about the score.  What I want to see is quality play.  I want to see them committed to the game and to each other.  But yesterday each group on the field looked like seven individuals most of the time.   Maybe yesterday should just be filed under "experience" and let go.

There were moments:
Addie was great in goal.  We asked her at the start to remember to look for Conner on one side whenever she needed to get the ball out and she did that consistently.  They worked that very well together, with Addie even pausing to direct Conner into position at one point.  And all of the kids did have moments where they bravely tried to use their skills to possess the ball rather than just kicking at it.  Jaden was tremendously tough, coming back into the game after taking a brutal shot to the nose.  She set a good example for her team and they should be proud of her.

The U4 and U6 teams played well this week and everyone was making some visible progress.   Small steps.

Week Five. Learning to Read a Map.

From outside the glass the path to the goal is usually obvious.  You can see all the open space and you can, as an adult, anticipate which direction might make for the easiest route to either get around the defense or intercept the ball.  Everything I practice with the kids as far as basic techniques for kicking and controlling the ball is ultimately aimed at getting these young players to develop the ability to see the field as clearly while in the game as someone outside the game does.  It's like teaching them how to read a map only the map has to be in their head.  Think about this; to be effective players the kids need to be able to spin around, fall, get up and run, track the ball and, all the while, know where the two goals are.  And then we also want them to know where their teammates and opponents are.  That doesn't come quickly.  But they can all get it with time.

In the U4 game there was a moment when Ruby and Lauren were chasing the ball into the bumpers.  Ruby got their first and turned to be on the back of the ball so she was facing the goal.  As Lauren caught up to her she realized that she was now in Ruby's way so she stepped away from the bumper to let her pass.  That was amazing and both girls were demonstrating there that they are developing that map in their heads, they do know where they are on the field.
The other Lakers played well too.  Emma was really trying hard to control the ball and she brought the moves she had shown in practice right into the game.  Very impressive.  Hunter had a couple of goals this game and is getting more focused every week.  Sammy was very much involved this week too and I'm glad to see that.  William and Ava both played well but are still working on staying focused on the ball.  They'll get it.


In the U6 Bears game we had simply stellar keeper play from Zychick and Micah.  Micah was especially fierce and dove on the ball repeatedly, saving his team a lot of goals.  Jackson and Kalib were trying to develop into something of a tandem attack and they had some very good runs.  Everyone practiced very hard prior to the game and I'm really happy with the effort they are all putting in.  They seem to be having fun too and don't seem overly concerned with the score.  I can hear everyone yelling "pass it...  pass it" from beyond the glass.  You should know that I don't focus on that with the kids much.  I talk to them about keeping the ball close and about trying to always look around to see where everyone is and where the goals are.  I encourage them to simply take the ball to the goal themselves and I tell them that if they don't have the ball but a teammate does they should take a short cut to the goal to help out.  You can see, little by little that they are working that map out in their heads.  Eileen and Avari both had moments where they broke for that short cut and tried to be in front of the goal rather than just chasing the ball.  That's a big development.

The U6 Sharks were a well oiled machine again with Karolyn back.  Abby played some amazing keeper, as did Ava and everyone was playing with real anticipation, patience and creativity.  McKenzie had an amazing run where she was in control of the ball in the midst of heavy traffic for at least 15 seconds.  That was tenacious!  I saw Trey and Jagger both try some tricky pull-back moves just like we'd worked on in practice.  Samuel and Diego were playing in beautiful slow motion, always dribbling first, kicking second.  Diego had three goals I think.  Ava, Karolyn and Ashley were all showing some very good field awareness, sweeping back and forth, anticipating without chasing.  You could especially see that from Ashley when we played the last quarter without a keeper.  She was keeping one eye on the goal the whole time while pushing up into the other team's half. Great stuff.  And little Austin, who just came up from U4.  He got his first goal and it came after some brilliant ball movement.  He knows how to cut hard like a down-hill skier and leave those defenders behind!  And finally Luke was as fully engaged in this game as he has ever been.  He is catching up to his teammates fast and I expect we'll see him contesting for the ball more and more each week.

I mentioned a few weeks back that Jackson owns the keeper area like it's part of his house.  This week Nathan of the U8 Sharks was showing some of that casual confidence.  He had a great quarter.  Addie followed him in the second and was very courageous, making some beautiful stops as the attacking team was charging into her.  Jackson was solid in his quarter in keeper and then in the last Sam A. held strong too.  We missed Kaleb but our other keepers were admirably tough.
The first quarter saw a goal from Owen, a bomb from 15 yards or so, that I though would set the tone for the game.  But from then on it was mostly confused, out of control play from the Sharks.  Too much kicking and not enough touch on the ball.  Jackson and Sam were solid in the field, trying their hardest to show the rest of the team how to take possession of the ball.
One highlight of the game for long-time Shark fans was the play of Noah Steinman on Coach Zachary's team.  Noah played briefly with Sam, Elizabeth, Jackson and Sam A. back in the U4 days.  He's got a foot!  And like our youngest players, Noah still has that confidence that he can get around the big kids.
I've been talking with Sam E. week after week about him staying patient and continuing to try his moves until he figures out how to get around those bigger kids and this week he was really working hard.  He seemed to be trying to incorporate more pull-backs and spins in order to get clear and he did get open enough for a couple of great shots late in the game.
It was a good game and they played with a lot of energy but as the game tape will show there was just a little too much kicking.  But I know they'll figure it out.  Use those skills Sharks!

Week Four.

The U4 team had a pretty good game really.  All of the kids did very well in practice and were very attentive.  Sammy was more involved in the game than ever before and Hunter got a goal, so that was a great game.  One thing I spoke to the team about after the game was, again, to remember to be looking at the ball all the time.  I think a major hurdle for many kids to get over when learning a team sport is that they have to resist their natural urge to make eye contact with other kids when they are close to them.  It seems like their natural instinct to treat their collisions on the field like any other social interaction gets in the way of them being able to learn how a game flows.  When they form a scrum over the ball in one of the corners invariably only a few, if any, of the kids are actually looking down at the ball.  Most of them are looking at each other.  It's comical because often times the expression on their faces seems to be saying "why are we doing this?"  I'm not sure that anything that I might say to them about this would make any sense so we just have to be patient and let them figure it out on their own.

The U6 Bears had a great practice, really focused.  Then they had a weirdly disjointed game.  Zychick was really focused in as keeper and did great work and there were flashes of brilliance from everyone but there was also a lot of aimless jogging around the field.  I didn't expect that given how well they had focused in practice.  Oh well.
My highlight of the game was Cole holding his keeper pose, like some sort of ninja awaiting an attack.  That's how Ava got started in keeper and she turned into a good one, so keep an eye on Cole.

The U6 Sharks were also just a bit less than sharp this week, maybe because they were missing Karolyn.  Diego did manage a goal and Trey continued his trend of playing with more and more confidence.  He put a few moves on this week including a nice pull-back that showed how he is beginning to trust his skills.  Samuel came in as keeper for the first time and was crazy good.  He's too good in the field to ever specialize as a keeper but wow! is he fearless.

For the U8 Sharks it was a reversal of their fortunes from the week before.  In last week's game they were the dominant team and they were able to stretch out and play a more controlled type of soccer.  This week they faced a team that was bigger and more skilled and in response the Sharks seemed to fall into a panic mode right from the start.  By the third quarter though they were getting their groove back and they finished the game with some excellent play.
Here's video from the game.  I tried putting notes in the video...we'll see how that works.




When you're watching this with your player be sure to point out all of the times you see one of the Sharks basically standing still while the other team takes control of the ball.  That was a big problem in this game.

Find Your Rhythm.

Next time you're practicing your foot work at home try working to some music.  It seems to help.

Week Three. Seeing it All.

     Sorry we had to miss the U4 games this week but the conditions early Saturday were just too slippery to risk it.  That cancelation did create a unique opportunity though;  Ruby, of the U4 Lakers,  got the chance to play up with one of the U6 teams.  Zychik had to miss his game with the Bears due to the weather so Ruby came out to cover for him and get a feel for what U6 is like.  For her it was like every other soccer game...you take the ball to the goal.  Ruby's instincts and natural skills are fantastic and she was a great addition to the team for this game.  Jackson and Micah were on the attack all game too and so the Bears put on their most impressive performance yet.  As a group, the Bears played well but they are still a team that sees the entire game through the ball.   The next big step for all of these players is to begin to see the game as it happens all over the field, not just around the ball.   We'll be on the lookout for that development.
 
      The U6 Sharks were showing in this week's game how a team can take that next step.  They are all developing rapidly in terms of their skills and with greater confidence in their skills comes an ability to anticipate the action in the game.  Three of the Sharks had real break-out games this week.  Trey simply had his best game ever.  He got a goal, which was a beauty on a short pass across the middle from Karolyn, but his performance overall was marked by great patience and imagination with the ball.  He was possessing the ball, not just kicking it and as a result he had repeated runs toward the goal that could all have ended in scores.  McKenzie showed some great anticipation on the field.  In her best moment I saw her run back into a defensive position when the other team got a break-away opportunity.  She didn't chase the ball but rather took the shortcut toward the goal so as to cut-off the attack and as she fell into position she kept her eye on the ball, turning to take her last few steps backward so as to be ready.  She looked like a pro right then.  And finally we had Ava back from a week off and she was amazing.  She wanted to start out in defense and the way she played across the field, keeping herself between the ball and the goal, never getting trapped into chasing the ball, was just brilliant.  She played with so much intelligence and anticipation, and then, when the opportunity presented itself, with such fierce determination that she really was controlling the flow of the game from that full-back position.  It occurs to me now that if we play her and Karolyn in the right positions in each game we should be able to hold every opponent scoreless.
     Diego and Samuel led the attack, as usual, and they are both rapidly developing their ball skills now that the team has to rely on them so much.  Diego had his goals and then Samuel made a few slick moves with the ball that were fantastic.  I see Ashley beginning to follow their lead and I'm sure she'll be in the scoring mix soon.  Great work from everyone this week.




     They call it the beautiful game and the U8 Sharks showed us why this week.  The first quarter line-up was all speed and power with Kaleb in at keeper setting his teammates up for attacking with some beautiful punts.  Conner, Addie and Aiden were in the lead up front with Zach holding the middle while Jaden and Nathan covered on defense.  That line-up was very effective.  Conner and Aiden both scored.  Conner had three goals.  Addie was playing with great patience on the ball, possessing it and trying out her moves.  Zach smothered nearly every breakaway the other team got and did great work distributing the ball up to the front three.   He is so fast and runs into the crowd so fearlessly I'm sure the other team was really annoyed by him.  Nathan and Jaden were solid in defense with Nathan especially taking control of the field and making some very smart plays, even settling the ball a few times before clearing it out.  I love seeing that sort of confidence.  It was a great start to the game.
     Then in the second quarter things changed.  In the first the Sharks were all speed.  In the second they were all grace, poise and control.  Sam E., Austin and Elizabeth were up front.  Sam A. and Jackson were in mid and Owen was holding the line as sweeper.  Right from the start they seemed to be playing in slow motion, settling the ball, looking around, moving confidently then passing sharply.  It was beautiful to watch.  Elizabeth managed two goals in that quarter, one of which was a powerful strike on a ball that came loose in the penalty area.  Jackson was dribbling in close and had a good chance but one of the defenders stepped up to strip the ball away.  Elizabeth saw the chance and streaked in from behind Jackson and blasted the ball right off the defender's feet and into the net.
     Sam A. was holding firm in the mid and over and over again he collected the ball and brought it confidently out into the open before delivering his pass.  Austin and Sam E. did great work maintaining their spacing and both of them fearlessly tried to get their dribbling moves working.  Owen was the anchor for this line-up and I was so proud of the way he calmly controlled the flow of the game,  looking up before settling the ball then making smart passes off the dribble.
    On the bench we tried to get the rest of the Sharks to see how their teammates were playing and they did take that to heart.  They came back out in the third and with Kaleb now in the field that group, too, showed some great patience and imagination, confidently possessing the ball more often than they were kicking it away.  Nathan managed his first goal!  Then they were saved from a few defensive blunders by the wonderfully tough goal-keeping of Addie.
    When the second line came back in the fourth it was finally time for Sam E. to get that first U8 goal.  Jackson was holding things down in defense as keeper and even on the bigger field showed all of his typical confidence.  He strolls around the box like it's his living room.  Owen was up in front with Sam E. and Austin and Sam A. and Elizabeth were in mid.  Sam E. got the chance to make one run after another into the other team's goal and he never gave up on trying to use his skills to get around other players.  There was a great moment where Sam had made a few moves to get around two defenders then as he entered the penalty area he ran into the other team's tallest player.  He tried a shot but she blocked it and then he hilariously strolled out of the box alongside her, talking to her about how she'd just blocked his shot.  The height difference between them was such that Sam had to practically look straight up to see her.  A few minutes later he charged in again and made the moves he needed to get around the defense, took his shot and put it in the net.  Seeing him and Elizabeth get those first goals was spectacular.  I'm sure that Sam A, Austin and Jackson will all get theirs too soon.