Big Weekend for Girl Power and Now the Dreaded "Tallys"

     Three games in three days for Girl Power and the first thing I have to say is "Wow, the weather."  Friday night was a warm, clear evening; the perfect weather for playing into the twilight.  Saturday we found ourselves in a cow pasture, playing a game that was as rough as a rodeo but the weather again was fantastic with bright sunshine and a cool breeze.  Luckily we were upwind from the grazing cattle.   And finally, a most excellent Sunday.  I started the day with a round of golf (75, tying my lowest round ever, thank you very much) then in the beautiful, crystalline sunshine of an amazing autumn afternoon I watched my girls play a game in which they were in full possession of all their soccer powers.  They were graceful, creative, brilliant and tough.  The ref was excellent.  The other team was gracious and their field was good.  What a day.
     The performance by the squad on Sunday was a real crescendo as they dominated the game in a way that no opposing team could complain about.  While they were aggressive in winning the ball they weren't overly so and for the most part kept their elbows to themselves.  It was their skills and their cool headedness that won the game for them as they possessed the ball for at least 80% of the game.  It was their ever developing cooperative play, especially in running what I've called "the Legends overlap", that got the opposing coach's attention.   A real "overlap" in soccer is sort of like a pick-and-roll where one player moves forward with the ball then dishes the ball deftly to a teammate who is "overlapping" their path. So, rather than being a long pass, it is usually just a little touch that deceives the opposition as they don't see that second player coming in to pick up the ball.  The Legends overlap is a somewhat accidental version of this tactic.  Obviously our players are always trying to dribble forward and win all the 1v1s they face but what usually happens is that as they persist in dribbling they pick up a second and then a third defender to the point where the path to goal does become impassable.  What drives other teams crazy though is that with a Legends squad there is usually one of our other players chasing right behind our player with the ball so when the defense knocks the ball loose then that second Legends player picks it up and starts the dribble dance all over.  The girls had this overlap working yesterday and I overheard the other coach commenting on it to his team.  "See how that girl was their to support her teammate and got the ball as soon as it came loose."
     After Saturday's game I spoke to the team about the need for all of them to realize how important playing defense is.  Up to that point there had always been a lot of grousing about being "stuck" in defense, most of the girls apparently seeing it as a sort of punishment or at best a secondary and unimportant role on the field.  Obviously the reality is that your defense is where your offense starts.  You regain possession of the ball in your own half and begin moving back up field with it.  Our defenders aren't there just to clear the ball out, they are there to initiate our attack.  So, on Saturday I asked the girls to please refrain from complaining about being in defense and to make an effort to see while on the field how important the role of defender is and how active a role it is.  We went over all of this again on Sunday pre-game and I think the subsequent performance demonstrated that the team had reached a new understanding of how the various parts or positions on the field can fit together.
     While Emily has been our leader in terms of developing an ease of communication on the field it was Olivia who led the way in Sunday's game in terms of making that defender or fullback position a dynamic one.  Not only was she stopping the other team's runs over and over but then she would immediately get into her dribble and find space, usually headed for a run up the touch line.  Once there she'd either keep taking space or make a beautiful pass to whichever forward teammate was waiting further up the pitch.  She looked like a pro.  Best of all, I think the other players were seeing the work Olivia was doing and they were learning from it.  Most of the training we do is incremental; little steps, building up repetition by repetition a player's confidence with a particular skill.  But sometimes what you need is a cognitive leap, a moment where all the little technical stuff suddenly falls into a larger context, a broader understanding of the field space and the ways they can cover it as a cohesive and cooperative unit rather than as individuals.  Maybe we had one of those leaps yesterday...we'll see.

     As promised, I reviewed Coach Ron's clip board work and with a few amendments here are the "Tallys" from the Sunday game.

Hailey led the scoring on the tally sheet with two goals in, multiple shots and three attempts at the "double move" or skill combinations that we were looking for in this game.  I was very happy to see every player attempt that sort of "double" at least once.  My goal in focusing on that is to get them to move more laterally from touchline to touchline rather than automatically running straight ahead into the defense.  As we saw in Saturday's game, sometimes the other team is just faster than you so running into them is ineffective no matter how good your moves are.  What I told the girls before the game is that I want them to use these double move combos so that they get more of a feel for how they can draw the defender with them and get them to chase the ball out of their position.  We saw some great examples of just that sort of thing.
     Even though she didn't score as high on the tally, Ava was clearly the most en fuego player of the match.  Her second goal was Messi-esque in it's delicacy as she wove through every defender they had to get face to face with the keeper.  As the goalie lunged forward for the ball Ava cleverly shifted it from her right to her left and with a deft tap she passed it into the net right under the keeper's outstretched hand.  Cool as the other side of the pillow.
     Ashley's goal was an impressive blast and a perfect exclamation point on a really great game for her.  She was dominant on her side of the field.
     Abby came up big for us in goal as she was the only keeper who faced a serious attack.  She had one punt that was at least thirty yards too.  Yikes!
     Anna has been very strong for us on attack recently, especially with some really spectacular passes.  She had one on Friday that showed amazing vision.  But on Sunday her contribution was really some stout play in defense.  She maintained great position on attacking players and then swiped the ball off their feet like a thief over and over again, getting our own attack re-started.
     Zoe's energy, along with Ava, in the first quarter of the game really set the tone for us.  It sort of knocked the other team on their heels and I don't think they ever recovered.  Zoe is just so persistent and tough.
     Emily had another great game of communicating and rotating positions smartly.  She had some very good runs too, coming all the way from our own box into the midfield and capped those with brilliant touches to lead teammates into shooting opportunities.
     Eileen played like herself again and I couldn't have been happier or prouder.  I try really hard not to over-coach her (dad/coach syndrome) so when she's gone through a period recently where she seems tentative on the field I've tried to be patient.  To see her back to herself, making those great deceptive first touches to switch fields while in defense and delivering those impressive free kicks and corners, well, I've got to crow a little bit.
     All the girls played with great skill and energy and our success was the result of all of that, not just the play of any one or two girls.  The tally sheet can look lopsided or even unfair sometimes but it's just a way to motivate and then measure for a few particular areas of interest to me.  In the heat of the game Coach Ron and I miss some things too so the tally sheet doesn't reflect anyone's overall performance.
    

Lessons Learned

     My Girl Power squad played in a tournament in Gatlinburg this Labor Day weekend and it was a great experience for everyone.  They had the opportunity to play against some fine competition on some really beautiful fields while also getting a three-night sleepover, parents and siblings included.  Thanks to the suggestion of our team manager we did the crazy thing and stayed all together in one huge house and it was simply delightful.  I try to mention frequently that I feel lucky to be coaching such a great group of kids but I need to also note that I'm lucky to know this group of parents.  What a lovely, good-humored and generous group of people!  Just hanging out with them at our chalet rental for meals was tremendous fun and we got to watch our kids play a sport we all love!  That was probably the best vacation I've ever had.
     We had three games over two days and the squad enjoyed themselves, embracing the atmosphere of pressure that comes with playing in a tournament rather than being overawed by it.  A crowded field complex on a tournament day is exciting, with parents cheering the games in action and teams walking around in their colors.  The intensity of it leaves you itching to play.  My girls jumped right into it and were their usual goofy selves but they were also displaying a developing sense of discipline and awareness of their own accomplishment.   They know they can hang with good teams and I'm proud of the fact that while they were excited to play they enjoyed the event for what it was...just another chance to play the game together.
     Our first game was a bit of a blow-out with the other team dropping ten on us, unanswered too.  The opponent we faced was a Knoxville team and they showed a lot of the typical qualities of well experienced teams: they were physical and aggressive, winning most of the 50/50 balls and pursuing us relentlessly.  I did see quite a few uncalled fouls in the first half and I (and the players) could hear the parents side complaining loudly to the referee.  But there was only one foul I saw that I'd call dirty.  It was a two handed push from behind and was actually egregious enough to deserve a card.  The referee seemed oblivious.    
     By halftime my team's mood was a bit down and their main complaint was that they felt they were getting hacked a lot.  My response to the team was simple.  "I can't change referees mid-game.  We've got to finish with this one even if he's missing a lot of stuff.  In this game right now the other team can get away with whatever the referee lets them get away with.  Play through it."  Ashley's response was interesting.  "Can we do it too?"  My reply was a definitive "No."  I went on to explain that I don't want to see them play that way because to me that sort of thing is just lazy and undisciplined.  Consider the example of the girl who committed the two handed push I mentioned above.  The reason she resorted to that sort of thing was that she was in a bad position.  She'd let one of our girls get past her and was now shielded off the ball so she responded petulantly.  I don't want that from my team.  I want my players to learn how to not get into a position where they are shielded off the ball.  I'm constantly admonishing them to think their way around the field, to anticipate and maintain an advantageous position.  If you get beat then hustle back to go at the ball again.  Pushing from behind though, that's letting the infantile part of your brain get the better of you, irrationally demanding that the reality of the situation be what you want it to be.  Just like a toddler, right?  A mature, disciplined player takes the situation for what it is and responds with skill and intellect.
     I'll admit that I am attempting in all of my training work with my teams to foster an attitude in them that reflects my own vision of an ideal player:  be cool headed, don't let emotion make you irrational or indecisive but at the same time do bring an intensity of focus to the game and be insistent about possessing the ball; be relentless on defense and energetic on attack without "running down hill";  be patient and take the long path to goal; trust your teammates.  Sometimes it may appear that my approach to my teams, especially while on the sideline during a game, is soft.  I do want them to play skillfully and with a joyful, creative flair.   But make no mistake, my goal is also to develop players who are disciplined, even cold blooded in their pursuit of victory.  So, when I discourage hacking and that sort of thing it is because I feel that ultimately, against a truly skilled and disciplined team that kind of undisciplined play is ineffective.  I'm not trying to teach our girls to just "take it" when hacking teams are dishing it out.  Rather, I want Girl Power to be the team that takes advantage of a hacking team and that lack of discipline.  I want our girls to gracefully disassemble our opponents.
     In the second half of that first game the girls came out and competed well with more energy and resolve.  They got into their groove and played with the skills they have and that's what I wanted to see.   In our team meeting afterwards I asked them what it was about the other team that made them so successful and of course "they fouled us a lot" was the first answer,  Then it was "they passed the ball a lot" and even "they took more shots" which is hard to argue with.  I told the girls that from my perspective on the sidelines it appeared that the real difference was that the other team had a much better first touch on the ball than we did.  They were very efficient with the ball, never wasting a touch by clumsily kicking it away.  That takes focus and a commitment to the importance of every touch you get.  I assured our girls that while they generally work hard at practice the drills we run for "first touch", like "hot corners" tend to be the ones that they lose interest in most quickly.  You can't expect to play skillfully in a game if you don't work at it in training.  "Remember that at our next practice" I said and left it at that.
     So we won the next one and tied the last game, missing the final by one goal on a tie breaker (goals allowed).  From a coaching point of view I felt good about getting the opportunity to guide the team through two very important "lessons" about the game: one, take the game you get, including the referee and figure out how to play through it;  two, having a good touch is critical so take it seriously in training.   After that it was all just fun, as it should be.  I used to come to practices with a plan that included, like, ten teaching points.  Now I look to just get them going through their dribble progressions, getting their touches on the ball and if I get one cogent teaching point in through the energetic din then it's been a good session.  Patience.

     As it turned out I had an opportunity to learn something at the tournament too.  I feel that my strengths as a coach are mostly on the training pitch.  As a sideline coach I don't like to yell a lot so I'm not much of a game manager.  However, there was a situation in our final game where, in retrospect, I realize that the girls really could have been helped by some guidance from me.  It was a free kick situation that I think even the ref would admit he screwed up.  In any case while I did question the ref's call and tried to get an explanation from him I then failed to give any guidance to the team as to how to deal with the situation as it was.  I was caught up in arguing with the official about what I thought the situation should be rather than helping the team to deal with the reality in front of them, which, by the way, was still an easy scoring opportunity.  I'll be looking for the next opportunity to get that sort of thing right.

Rec Season Kick-Off!

    The Juniors led the way this past Saturday, facing a Blessed Sacrament side on an unusually shaggy Children's Home field.  We had seen some really fine play from this group towards the end of last season but going into the fall season I was concerned about how they would adjust to the loss of two strong players in Evan and Zach who had aged up a year and moved over to the select squad.  Clearly I had no reason to be concerned.  Our newest teammates, Louis, Carter and Landon stepped in and made an impact right away while our returning players carried on like veterans, with skill and intensity but also with a very evident familiarity with the pressure of competition.
    The outcome was a satisfying 3-3 draw with the Juniors dominating possession of the ball for the entire game.  At the end of last season we were just starting to see the boys learn to use their developing skills in a more thoughtful or purposeful way, dribbling to find a path to goal rather than simply to keep possession.  This Saturday's game was even a step beyond what we'd seen in the spring, with players like Damon, Riley and Pierce finding that they can impose themselves on the opposition.  Riley in particular was a revelation in this game.  He was weaving in and out of traffic with amazing speed, refusing to be denied a path to goal.  The first shot he took, while a bit wide of the goal, was a stunning blast that sent a warning to the other team, "this kid has a foot!"  Moments later he delivered on that promise and buried one in the net from near the edge of the penalty area with a beautifully powerful stroke.
     We had goals from Parker and Carter too and both of those were beautiful efforts.  In Landon's first game with the squad he produced some fine saves in keeper and some very impressive punts too.
     I have to say the thing that impressed me most about the game was the level of energy throughout and the intense commitment to keeping the ball that the boys showed.  Damon, Louis, Riley and Colin seemed always to be on the ball or always pestering their opponent to regain it.  After the first six or seven minutes of the game it became apparent that, typical of Legends style soccer, the ball wasn't going to be going out of bounds very often and so subbing in players would be a challenge for the BSS coach.  He seemed a little put off by that.  Early in the game the Juniors really had the run of the field as the other team got winded, being forced to defend for so long with no stoppage of play.  That's Legends soccer though.  When you aren't just wildly booting the ball around it stays in bounds most of the time and the other team has to work harder.  It's not a tactic exactly, just a nice consequence of the way we ask our teams to play.
     Finally, you may have seen some glimpses of a passing attack developing with this team.  It will be fun to watch that evolve over the course of the season but I'd remind everyone that I want to see that aspect of the game develop naturally for the team.  I want it to be their own idea, their own creation to begin finding passing opportunities and I will continue to pressure them to dribble first and to win their 1v1s.  What I want to see is passing that is part of the overall attack, not passing that happens just to get out of a pressure situation; cool-headed, game-dominating passing rather than panicked passing.  With that in mind I'd remind everyone that while you should cheer for them as loud as possible, please resist the urge to yell out any specific instructions, other than "run faster".  That one I'm okay with.

     The second game of the day saw the Beechwood Boys taking on a huge squad from St. Agnes.  They must of have had twelve kids total.  So, of course, this turns out to be a day where we have no subs ourselves.  At game time we had six players so we'd have to manage to play the whole fifty minutes with no rest.  Our reputation proceeds us though and the other coach seemed giddy at the possibility that an easy win against a Legends team might be in hand.  In retrospect I think perhaps that coach might have come over and offered us the loan of one of his players.  He didn't, though and the game was probably a bit tense for him as it looked for most of the time like we might handle them anyway, subs or no.
     We started the game with Quinn in as keeper and I asked him to play with a very active "sweeper keeper" mentality in the position meaning that he should play high off his goal line and very aggressively advance on the ball when it was still outside the penalty area.  This would allow his full-backs in turn to play high up the field too.  It's a dangerous gamble because you can end up in some unwinnable one-on-one situations but if it works it keeps the ball and most of the other team in their own half, reducing the amount of running your team has to do.  Quinn pulled it off, coming out quickly for every ball he could reach and then distributing smartly to his teammates. 
     My other advice to the team was to remember to cover for each other on the field, to rotate positions when necessary to give each other a rest.  They did that very well most of the game and remained fairly fresh throughout.  I'm not sure how it looked from the parents' side of the field but to me it looked like our boys were actually pressing the St. Agnes team hard for most of the game.  Holden was amazingly fierce on the attack, showing an amazing confidence in his skills.  Matthew really impressed me in his first game with his excellent field awareness.  He's got the instincts of a natural mid-fielder and made some really lovely passes out of the middle to find his teammates. 
     Anes, Cole, Lucas and Quinn were trying to develop a unified attack throughout the game and I was really impressed at how they stayed aware of each other and looked for opportunities to cooperate.  In the end the final score of 2-4 in favor of St. Agnes was a victory for our boys.  They gave a magnificent effort in a situation where they might easily have packed it in at half time.   We had plenty of chances and plenty of shots on goal and the game might easily have gone the other way.  These Beechwood Boys are fierce competitors.
    

Some video from Saturday's titanic clash thanks to Coach Chris. 

I was really happy with how the scrimmage went.  It was just what our girls needed...a game against a skillful and physical team.  I thought they held their own very well.

Pre Season Work

The Stripes.

     Something happened to the U11 boys a couple of weeks ago.  We played in Richmond against a fine MUSA squad and despite taking a loss our boys suddenly seemed to find themselves as a team.  They played with a high level of energy and ,most importantly for me, with a high level of accountability.  That is, they played like they wanted to cover for each other, to do their various jobs for each other.  There was good communication and cooperation on the field and their was a generally relaxed attitude amongst the squad.  They were having fun playing.
     Coming into the games this past weekend, one of which was a rematch with MUSA, I was really hopeful that they would carry that attitude into competition again and they did not disappoint.  At the Saturday game vs MUSA on our home field the boys were full of energy and ready to play.  Both teams played beautifully and the result was a truly enjoyable game.  The goal keeping performances alone were spectacular.
     Then on Sunday we headed to Lexington to play on a really awful field (sorry CSC but it's true) and again the Stripes played beautiful, high energy soccer with an excellent combination of skill and cooperation.  They took a tough 2-3 loss but within minutes of the game ending their mood was great.  They knew they'd played well and that the game itself was a fun, energetic match full of quality play from both sides.
     I'm hoping that the team has turned a corner and we'll keep seeing this sort of play from them.  Coach Ben helped me capture some video from both games and I've roughly edited together some highlights.  Enjoy.

An Interesting Experiment

     The video above shows just a few highlights from the game the Girl Power squad had against Ludlow this past Saturday.  As you can see, the Ludlow team had a significant size advantage and yet that didn't slow our girls down. In the video you see some excellent ball work from Hailey, Eileen and Ava.  I wanted to particularly isolate the little move that Ava executes to split two defenders, a simple toe-tap then foundation touch combo that takes her through two players who are almost standing shoulder to shoulder.  That's a clip that I'd love for every player in our club to see as it demonstrates so clearly why our simple practice routine of doing toe-taps and foundations is more than just an aerobic exercise or even, as I'm sure some players see it, a kind of punishment.  Without hesitation Ava smoothly uses the two types of touch on the ball that we've practiced so often and gracefully creates an opening allowing her to leave two defenders completely behind.
     At the end of the clip you hear me saying "No, no" because Ava cut the ball back to the center rather than continuing to take the open space available along the touch line.  But when I watched the video myself I realized that you can see her just peeking up from the ball enough to see Hailey open in the middle and so while her pass wasn't hit well her intentions were good.  Her decision to pass there probably wasn't the best one for that situation but it wasn't an unreasonable one either and it clearly shows Ava was quickly seeing more than one possible way to advance the ball toward goal.  That's what we're looking for, that level of comfort over the ball that allows a player to consider, or better yet, instinctively feel the various opportunities on the field, the various paths leading to goal.
     Going into our next game, a match Wednesday evening with ISC, I was thinking about the extent to which the girls have been showing some tendency toward cooperative play.  I began wondering whether it would be useful to introduce them to at least one simple tactical concept, not in order to develop a tactical passing attack for the team but rather to take advantage of the fact that the team as a whole seems at the moment to be developing their field awareness just as rapidly as their ball skills.  What I had in mind was to show them a simple "wall pass" or "give and go" just before the game simply as a way to push them to continue expanding their field awareness.  A goal I've been setting for all of my teams lately is to have them show me some sort of fake or feint while dribbling, from an extravagant fake shot to a subtle head fake, anything where they intentionally try to freeze a defender or get them off balance.  Well, with that in mind I thought that a wall pass is a cooperative sort of deception where two players are working together to put a defender off balance.  If the girls could understand this concept then using it would require them to assess a broader situation on the field than just the position of the ball and the next defender ahead of them.  Again, I wanted to simply try showing them the basic concept just to see how they'd respond to it.  An experiment if you will.
     So, in pregame warm-ups Coach Ron and I did a quick demo.  The girls all seemed to clearly understand the idea of the "give and go" and when I told them that an attempt to execute this play would get both players involved two points on the "tally sheet", as Ashley calls it, they were all jumping with anticipation, noisily choosing partners to make their attempt with once the game started.  And then something interesting happened.
     The ISC team we played, as always seems to be the case with ISC, was loaded with big players.  I know we're a U8 team playing in U10 but still the size disparity continues to shock me and yet the girls seemed unconcerned.  They began pressing ISC back into their own eighteen immediately and spent most of the game there.  Coach Ron was furiously at work with the clip-board marking points for moves and shots  but as the minutes passed and the score mounted he never got to make a mark for a wall pass.  Nothing even close.  At half time I complimented the girls on the quality of their play so far;  diligent, stubborn ball possession with flourishes of brilliant skill;  tireless effort, especially in recovering the ball;  etc.  Then I very gently reminded them about that give and go play.  Will anyone try it in the second half, I asked.  Again they were very excited in their response.  Yes, I'm gonna do it, most of them replied.
     The second half came and went without a single attempt to use that give and go play.  The final score was 8-1 Girl Power with two additional goals taken back due to offsides and at least another eight shots on frame that got stopped.  In other words a dominating performance and an interesting outcome to my experiment.  The girls were completely open to the possibility of executing some passing but in real game situations the individual ball skills they've worked so hard to develop serve them so well that there is rarely sufficient pressure on them to where passing seems like a necessary option.  My conclusion:  I can teach them passing tactics, but at this point I'd have to force them to use those tactics in games since the way they like to play, which is to win all the 1v1s they see between them and the goal, is working so well for them.  Well I'm not going to do that.
     One final note:  I have found that using the game assessment sheet, the one on Coach Ron's clipboard, really helps to focus the players' efforts.  But I'm not sure the players themselves appreciate it.  As Ashley put it after the game "I don't like them talleys."