Girl Power Skills

     Here is some video of Girl Power facing an ISC team this weekend.  It was an impressive performance and there was plenty of skillful play from everyone.


   
     As a parent it was wonderful after the game to hear the pride and, most importantly, the shear delight in the voices of all our team parents.  To be able to watch them play, to see them play with such joy... it's a gift,  especially moments like the one you see at 0:39 where Anna has just scored and you see her turn immediately to find Hailey because she knows that Hailey set that shot up for her.  They high five and say something that makes them both giggle before huddling together with the whole team.  That camaraderie is as impressive and beautiful as their soccer skills.
     
    

Homework!

Olivia joins Girl Power for "The Big Game"

     You might have noticed that I had a clipboard in my hand the entire game Thursday as Girl Power faced TC Fire for the second time.  I was using a "Match Analysis" form to track player performance throughout the game.  You can see it there on the left.  The basic idea is that I choose a small set of skills or tasks that I want to see the players execute during the game and I keep track of their performance by awarding points for each attempt, whether they're successful or not.
     Using the form will take some getting used to.  As you can see I continued to mark points in the "First Half" section throughout the game.  You can also easily see that I probably missed a lot.  It's simply not possible that Zoe and Olivia's scores reflect their actual performance.  They were both great in this game.  Even if I do get the hang of keeping track of games this way I'm not sure I'll like it in the long run.  I felt like I was too busy keeping score to do what I normally do on the bench which is to engage the players there with me in a running conversation about what we're seeing on the field.  The clipboard and pencil kind of cramped my style.
     I do have to admit though that this method had an immediate affect on the girls.  You could clearly see that they were attempting to accumulate points by executing the moves and skills I had listed for them.  Sometimes that probably took them out of the game in a way and probably caused us to either give up goals or miss opportunities to score them.  Even if that is the case though they did play better against the Fire than in the last game.  On score alone, 12-6 this time compared to 13-5 last time, they improved.  They were also much more casual about the loss this time and clearly enjoyed the game despite the outcome.  They knew they had played well but had simply faced a very tough opponent.  
     Personally, I was nervous about this game all day Thursday.  I thought after our last game with TC Fire that we could have won despite the score because we seemed to possess the ball so much more and we allowed them so many easy goals when our defense fell apart.  And of course I couldn't help but be aware of the league standings.  If we beat them we'd win the league.  I think that as it turned out, using the Match Analysis form was actually as important for me as it was for the team as it allowed me to focus on the small details of their individual performances rather than the game outcome.  Rather than arriving at the game and trying to cram hours of coaching into a four minute pre-game talk, rather than trying to tell them how they could win if they would do this and this and this and...instead of that I spent a few minutes showing them the form on the clipboard and talking with them about the items on the "to do" list.  They were excited about it and they ran onto the field in great spirits, ready to go.
     Of course Girl Power still wanted to win and they played really hard.  They were aggressive and tough against a skillful opponent that played with a high level of intensity throughout the game.  That level of intensity on TC Fire's side is something we can take as a compliment.  The Fire played to the end like they thought we were still threatening to catch them.  They never acted like they thought they'd put Girl Power away. 
     I do think the use of the match analysis form was a good thing for the girls.  I certainly saw something new from everyone in terms of their effort to use moves that they hadn't tried before or use moves in combinations.  So here are the game highlights for me:

-Anna is top of the list with a beautiful "step-over" move that she pulled off, with pace, while squared up on two defenders.  Simply awesome.
-Zoe played fiercely in the field as she always does and she really sets the tone for the team in terms of being very casual about the intensity level of the other team.  She's not very impressed by high-elbows anymore.  Her big moment though was that one-handed stop she made while in at keeper.  The Fire had put in at least four of their goals with high shots like that and it was great to see one of our keepers slap one away.
-Next up is Ashley who finally took my advice and put her foot on top of the ball a few times in an effort to change direction and pace.  I'd pointed out to her that her first touch on the ball was always great but her second was usually a little too firm and so she gives the ball away too often.  I asked her to get back in the game and try using some sort of change of pace move, like a stop-hop or puskas, when she got past the first defender.  That way she would be able to slow the ball down to set up the next defender.  She went in and made it work beautifully the first time.
-Abby and Hailey, as you can see in the photo, were vying for the most points.  You'd expect Abby to score high as she loves using her skills more than she loves scoring goals.  In this game she was using her pull-back-play-behind and puskas so smoothly that the other team was getting very frustrated with her.  Hailey was mostly doing pull-backs and double pull-backs in the midfield but then still sticking with her amazingly deft cut moves when she headed toward the goal.  She did however have a couple of runs where she headed into the left corner and managed to get turned back into open space by using a pull-back or cruyff.  That's what I'm looking for from Hailey, an expansion of her repertoire.
-Ava played wonderfully throughout the game and frustrated her number one fan a few times by fearlessly carrying the ball across our own goal to get into space.  Her solo effort goal was just fantastic.
-Emily was, as usual, spinning and spinning throughout the game.  She and Eileen both seemed really keen on getting those points for dribbling out of our own half.  In her first turn on the field Emily was the epitome of what I think if as our "rotation" style of play.  She would collect the ball in our defensive end then dribble up field, winning a couple of 1v1's in a row.  Then when she finally lost the ball she'd hustle back to start again in the defensive half.   And all of the girls were working in that rotation form so we played much better defense than in our previous meeting with this team.
-Finally, I'm so glad we had Olivia with us.  She played beautifully with great patience and a deft touch.  She brings speed to the team too and I can't wait to see her get into position to show everyone that powerful right foot of hers.

Legends players can be strong in ways you wouldn't expect.

     Yesterday I filled in for Coach Gibson as his U8 boys took on a T&C team that seemed to have been hand selected for their birth dates.  Big kids.
     I was really thrilled with how our boys just went at them with no regard for their size.  I saw some really excellent efforts to play skillfully from every player.  Just little flashes but they're on the right path and all the minutes of experience they get, even in games like this will add up eventually.
     Late in the first half I had Johnny Yeager on the bench with me and I was enjoying his running commentary on the game.  While listening to Johnny I apparently missed an incident on the field where our player Ian got hit by the ball.  The referee came toward the bench and said "coach, you might want to get number four off...he got hit...you know...and he's looking a little green."  I waved for Ian to come off and by the way he was sort of bent over as he ran I had a pretty good idea where he got hit.
    He seemed okay once he caught his breath and I joked with him a bit, saying "you're not gonna throw up in here on the bench are you?  Cause if you are I'm getting out of here."  He grinned and said, no, he'd be alright.
     Johnny took my joke a bit more seriously though.  "I was sick last week" he said.  "And I felt one time like I was gonna throw up.  It got up to here."  At that point he touched his hand to his adam's apple.  "And then I just pushed it back down."  Totally deadpan.  Just a sort of wide-eyed  yep-that's-how-I did-it look on his face.
     "So you were gonna throw up but you swallowed it back down?"
     "Yeah" he replied.  Ian was right behind Johnny and he's looking at me with an expression that says "oooh, no, what?"
     "You sir, are a man!" I say.
     "Yes" he says then he turns his attention back to the game.  Outstanding.

Skills still come first for Girl Power.

     So why did I start the girls out in "positions" last night.  Am I finally going to start working with them on developing a passing game?  No.  Girl Power plays with a lot of skill but they still tend to crowd the ball and what I want to encourage them to do is to have a better sense of the whole field rather than simply being fixated on the ball.  I was hoping to use that "position" set-up as a way to force them to stay far enough away from the ball sometimes that they'd actually have a better view of what was happening all over the field.
     In the video above you see a recent match between Barcelona and Espanol. With Messi, Neymar and Suarez Barcelona have three of the best one-v-one dribblers in the world and you do see some of that skill on plain display when Messi takes that delicate first touch from Suarez' pass and with a little flick-on past the defender creates space for a shot where there had been none. We're used to seeing that from Lionel but what's fascinating here is that you see from all three players a brilliant display of awareness and anticipation. Neymar sees that Luis Suarez is in a position where a good pass to him will put him one-v-one with the right back. As the pass comes to Suarez he has so much space you might expect him to take on that back and go for the goal himself but he control's Neymar's pass so deftly that he has plenty of time to look up and assess his options. And what does he see? Messi, suddenly streaking toward the top of the box. Messi sees the possibility at the same time Suarez does and without hesitation Suarez makes that beautiful chip over a defender and right to Leo's feet. These are three of the most accomplished ball control players in the world and that control gives them the ability to look up from the ball and see the possibilities, to anticipate.
     In order to play cooperatively like that and to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves players must be able to assess the situations they're in.  They've got to see the whole field and know in an instant where they are, where their teammates and the opposition are.  What we see at the highest level in the game are players who have the experience and skill to act in concert.  We see the passing and, like an alley-oop in basketball, the effortless quality that sort of combination play has is just astounding.  But we must not take for granted what players need before they can get anywhere close to that sort of cooperative play.  They need ball skills, obviously.  But they also need vision.
     Many a coach get's enamored of that sort of combination play and they want their young soccer players to start passing right away to create that beautiful weaving of movement to the goal.  What they get is a lot of kicking instead and if you have a couple of stout defenders with big legs and at least one rabbit to play up top you can have some early, if ugly, success.  But a true passing attack is a tactic that requires a lot of individual technique to execute.  Without the technique (skills) tactics are pointless.  With the Legends approach we know that we can't put the cart before the horse.  First and most importantly we've got to put players on a path to developing their individual dribbling and ball control skills, a path that encourages creativity and fearlessness, that values effort and real joy in play over game outcomes.  With Girl Power I'm lucky to have the most committed group of dribblers and ball-hogs I've ever coached and do they love to play!  Last night's performance was really special.  I had asked them before the game to be sure to keep away from the walls and always try to dribble into open space in the middle of the field.  I suggested to them that to do that they would need to use moves other than the simple cuts and zig-zags I'd seen so much of recently.  "Get your foot on top of the ball and show me those Maradonas and play-behinds.  Show me those Cruyff turns."  Wow, did they ever come out ready to put on a show.
     On Eileen's first possession she started her dribble with a little carry-over touch coming from her right into the middle of the field.  As the first opposition player came toward her she quickly stopped the ball with her right foot then spun counter clock-wise to make a perfect little pull-back with her left foot that took her right past the defender.  After that great start everyone got on board and started trying all their skills.  Abby had some beautiful play-behinds but last night she broke out a new move, a sort of step-over, that she used to weave across and back over the field until she found a seam to exploit.  The pull-back and play-behind was Anna's move too and she used it to great affect repeatedly.
     Zoe and Ava were showing off the great Cruyff turn move they both have nailed down in practice.  My thought watching them both was "finally!" as they both can do that move so fast in practice but they rarely bring it out in games.  I assume that's because they don't always realize it when they are in a situation where that skill is just what's called for.  And that's why it's so important for me to keep encouraging them to attempt to use those skills and forget the score.  Only by trying the skills in a game situation can they develop a sense of when to use a particular move.  That was what I said to Emily as she took a break on the bench after making a great run where she did three Cruyffs in a row.  She actually does a sort of Maradona/Cruyff combo move where she reaches out to pull the ball back under herself then executes a quick left-footed pull-back to get turned around.  She didn't make much progress up field on that particular run as she went into the move each time a little early, before the defender was really engaged.  But she kept the ball, possessing it for at least five seconds.  If you watch a game closely to see how long any one possession lasts I can assure you that you'll see that anything over three seconds is atypical, even for a team like ours.
     I was really happy to see both Hailey and Ashley attempt some more complex moves in this game.  I've been a little concerned lately that the two of them have been too reliant on their current strengths; a delicate touch for Hailey and overwhelming speed for Ashley.  For both of them it can often seem that they don't need anything else.  Hailey can move so quickly with the ball and has such delicate control, even in a crowd, that she is often very successful taking a direct path to the goal.  Similarly, Ashley is so fast and so sure-footed on her shot (with either foot) that she can usually beat the last defender by making a big touch to one side and simply outrunning them to get to the ball.
     Last night both girls had moments where they not only changed direction but also changed pace, using moves that require them to actually stop the ball momentarily and hopefully what they learned was that in doing that you can use a defending players inertia against them, drawing them one way with speed then changing pace and direction to get them to over-run you.  That's how Abby's step over works.  She dribbles straight ahead then sort of runs past the ball and then turns full on it to reverse direction.  That step-over past the ball always tricks a defender into taking another step too and so when Abby turns back she's gained at least two steps of space.
    With all of the girls performances last night I think what was most apparent to me was that often unappreciated affect that using these sorts of "toe-on-the-ball" moves has: this type of dribbling requires patience and a willingness to take a longer path to the goal and so it usually results in longer stretches of tenacious ball possession.

   

The loss we'd been waiting for.

     That was a great game last night.  Really enjoyable, skillful soccer.  And in that game Girl Power finally got challenged by a team that had more than a physical advantage over them.  TC Fire played skillfully throughout and most if not all of their players showed a very good first touch on the ball and their movement up field was mostly achieved with very deft dribbling.  They passed the ball a bit more regularly than we would with only a few of their players seeming to look for one-v-one chances but those players were up to it and did win a lot of those match-ups.  And, of course, they had a couple of players who had real power in their shooting strokes giving them a real advantage in our half even as Girl Power valiantly repelled one attack after another. 
     I feel that our girls needed this sort of challenge.  They need to see a team that does everything they do in terms of commitment to skillful play and yet simply does it all a tick faster.  Our girls have played against weaker competition for so long that their dribbling has taken on a sort of languid pace.  They've spent so much time playing teams that won't vigorously challenge for the ball that they've always had time to work with the ball casually, and in those fall games when we did lose the ball it was always due to some wild, kicking sort of attack and the result of that was just that one of our girls farther back in the field would pick the ball up and start the whole attack over again.  What they saw last night were defenders who, like Girl Power themselves, go into challenges to steal the ball, to come away with it.  So, the girls faced the sort of defensive pressure they have only seen recently from the White Tigers but in this case from a team that had more sure footed finishers.
     This past fall was the first season in which Legends fielded select level teams.  The one that I coach, my son's U11 team, is made up of players who came out of their final season of U10 recreational (last spring) having reached a point in their development where few rec teams could challenge them.  Naturally most of my players came into their first select season with a mixture of excited anticipation of the new competition and confidence in their own abilities.  What they found at their first match was that the team we faced was playing at what seemed to my boys a bewilderingly faster pace.  My boys complained of being roughed up and pushed around.  They complained about the officiating.  But when the game was over and they'd calmed down I was able to explain to them that the other team wasn't really particularly rough, they just played the game faster.  They closed to challenge faster.  They closed on loose balls faster.  They got up to full speed on their dribble more quickly.  They pulled the trigger on their shots faster and earlier.
     By our very next game my U11 boys had begun to pick up their pace and adjust.  The pressure of better competition had very quickly started to help them find speed they didn't know they had and now that higher pace is normal.  I'm sure our girls will respond the same way.  They've been shown by another team that you can play with skill and speed and I'm sure that they'll simply accelerate to match that.
     As far as individual play, I can only compliment everyone on their performance.  My only post game note for the girls was that I'd like to see them using the "Cruyff" turn skill more and I'd like to see them get their foot on top of the ball while dribbling more often as well as more moves that involve that sort of touch (maradonna, pull-backs, etc).  Zoe was using that sort of "carry over" touch a lot and it was very effective.  Other than that what I saw was a lot of very good first touches, a lot of every effective basic dribbling and a much improved sense of how to cover the field.
And as for the TC Fire?  Well, I think we can get them next time.

What they're up to in Kansas City.

Coach Eric is out in KC hanging with other Legends coaches for an annual meeting and he sent back some video of one of the local KC Legends teams working out at their indoor training space.  Check out the mad skills on these U9 players!  And it's a co-ed team!