Skills

My U10 boys are off this week. Which is good because it will give them time to master a couple of moves. If you look to the right you will see a link to Coach Ben's moves page. The boys should pick a couple of moves to work on during the week. If there isn't a good place to have a soccer ball indoors maybe they could use a tennis ball or a balled up pair of socks. Come the 22nd the boys will be able to put their hard work to the test. If you look at my other posts, you will see a skill tracker. These are all the skills that we will be teaching the players to master. First as individual moves and then as combinations. This is a good place for the players to look to be reminded of the moves they know.

Toughness

While watching the game yesterday morning I heard the announcer talking about Hazard getting fouled and I thought it related very well to our Legends players.  Our moves tend to draw the ire of other players.  They have been taught to go hard to/through the ball.  When our players move the ball quickly to one side or behind a leg we tend to get hit and kicked, fouled.  This will always be the way.  Right now, most of this is unintentional hard play.  As they get older these fouls will become more strategic, allowing the other teams time to get their defense into position.  On our side, the Legends have to learn to deal with the fouls and not look for calls.  They have to play to the whistle and learn to use the other teams aggression to their favor.  This is yet another step in the growth of our players.

Skill Tracking

This was sent out by Coach Eric. I think it is a good tool, not just for the coach but also for the parents and players alike. It is always important to remember at this stage of the player's development that winning is not the goal. It is always nice if it happens but it is not the goal. Their goal should be mastery of their moves. They should be the one to initiate the moves, not the coach or the parent yelling for the move from the sideline. The moves should become second nature to the player. Since, we have only have about 2.5 hours to practice during the week it is imperative that the player should be practicing at the home. Remember to keep track of "homework" on the tracking sheet so that the player can earn his skill bands. If you need another copy of the skill band log just email me and I will send it to you.

First touch.

The game is much easier if you don't have to chase down the ball after your first touch.  Watch Ronaldinho show us how to do that.

Ice Ice Baby

Well the ice storm took a toll on our numbers today at indoor.  We had 4 Legends players and St. Agnes was nice enough to lend us a couple players so the game could go on. 

We got off to a rocky start ball possession wise.  We played a little bit of kick ball and we did some chasing.  I will say that some of the chasing that was done today was out of confusion.  It seemed hard for both our players and the guest players to keep  track of who was on whose team.  Over the course of the game we settled down and started to control the ball and try to keep it close.  I would have liked to see some more "moves"  but dribbling and keeping it close is always preferable to kickball.  I do believe I saw every player on the Legends side possess the ball and dribble out of the back.

 Lucas had several runs down the middle, penetrating the defense.  He was rewarded with his perseverance by finding the back of the net.  He was also on the side of a little bad luck.  He had a strike that hit both "posts" but didn't cross the goal line :( .  He played with his usual aggressive attitude but I was impressed at how he adjusted his stride while going into the boards and more often than not he took possession of the ball.  Lucas' first touch can be heavy at times and we will continue to address it because is a very dangerous player when he keeps the ball close. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention his awesome save in goal where he sacrificed his body to dive on the ball. Nice job.

Gavin prefers defense.  That is not a shock to anyone.  I am going to continue to push him forward and get him out of his comfort zone.  I saw him dribble forward on numerous occasions.  At least on one occasion I saw him positioned perfectly for a "poach" goal.  I will continually talk to all the boys about these situational positions.  These are the areas that are the most beneficial to their teammates.  We are an offensive team and these are prime scoring areas for players that don't have the ball.  All year Gavin bemoaned being put in goal, so I hadn't put him in.  With only 4 players everyone took their turn.  Gavin played very  well.  I was impressed with his decision making about when to come out and when to stay in.  Very smart play.  He also had a great assist.  A fantastic soccer play on all counts.  Gavin punted the ball down just shy of 3 lines, it bounced once and Logan hit a half-volley into the back of the net. 

Logan played well today.  He started off a little shaky, a little too many clearing kicks and not enough dribbling.  Once out of defense, he started keeping the ball close and making some runs.  As I said before he had a great half-volley goal and also a goal off of a free kick.  It was beautifully placed. He also assumed good position on offense in support of the ball carrier.   Logan's shooting strike has been progressing all year.  It is very fun to watch. 

At times it was a little trying playing with guest players.  On more than one occasion we had a guest player steal a ball from us, trying to clear it. From the start of the game I tried to explain to these guys that it was okay to dribble, but old habits die hard.  Overall, the boys played well. All of our Legends players played the entire game, and every one of them improved their play over the course of the game.    

We play again on the 18th on the large field where our ball possession style will work in our favor and it will be much more difficult for other teams to beat us with kickball. I can't wait.