Sparks, confidence and effort

One really great thing about being a coach is the opportunity to get to know each one of your players; where they are when they showed up at your first training session until the last day they part from your tutelage.

Watching them progress from the bench and the training field and then catching the little glimpses and sparks of applying what they've learned, being imaginative, and growing self confidence are wonderful.

Sparks

Last week, I watched Brooklyn have a break out game.  Her head was up looking at defenders almost asking for them to come at her.  She kept the ball at her feet and was throwing out a few head fakes and stutter steps with her dribble.  Normally, her first instinct is to kick the ball forward and follow.  I was blown away by the performance.  

And having Mrs Coach Ben on the parent side is a great thing because she is really seeing these things now.  She too saw Brooklyn on top of her game and pointed it out to Mom and Dad Wagner.  I am not sure they realized how big of deal it was even after she grabbed a game ball for her effort.

Confidence

Lillian didn't grab a game ball, but she showed growth in a different way last game and I wanted to point it out.  She is excellent at shielding the ball and always refuses to let the other team get the ball from her.  So much so, she tends to carry the ball backwards all the way into our defensive third.  Going backwards to go forwards is a great step forward in any player because it show the ability to think about moving the ball in more than one direction. 

Her growth in the game was however the ability to take direction from me before the game started, and not only remember it, but put it into play when faced with the pressures of a game situation.  I told her taking it backwards was absolutely fine, but she needed to make a decision before she got to our 18 yard line, or defensive third, on what to do with it; turn it back up the field or try to find green space.  She applied our talk and multiple times was able to take it back and turn it towards open green space.  One of those times it was in the attacking half of the field and she almost had herself in position for a scoring chance after she completed the run.

Effort

It is rather hard as a coach and parent to analyze the efforts of your own soccer player on the field and it usually ends up where you never call out what they do.  Karolyn has made it a point so far this session to really make sure she is getting back into the play.  Having coached her for a few years now, I know this has not been the case.  Normally, it has been make the run with the ball and if it gets taken away, well, it's just the other person's turn with the ball or an "I really don't want to try" attitude.  Not giving up is something we try to impart to all players and as much as coaches try to get them back in the play, it is up to the players to accept they can and want to, which makes it work.

In all cases, no goals were scored on these efforts.  It was however the continued desire to become better soccer players, which made this a treat to watch for their coach.