Whenever Legends coaches get a chance to debrief about a game, the question always is "How'd your team do this weekend?"
We usually go right into the players' effort, how the competition was, what players may have accomplished, and ultimately the final score as an after thought. This past Saturday our new Academy group took to the pitch for their first match together and came out where I expected them to with quite a few unexpected surprises.
What to expect is really the same every match. Coach Pat posted this in his blog recently and I couldn't have put it any better,
..."We insist on ball control and stubborn ball possession and all of our coaches try to discourage players from defending by wildly kicking the ball. We don't call for clearing kicks or teach our players to boot the ball out of bounds. Everyone on the field has the same job wherever they are: have a soft touch on the ball, use your moves to get into space and head toward the goal."...
I know several Legends parents actually approached and admitted how frustrating it has become to see an opponent continually as a matter of habit, or coach direction, kick the ball out of bounds while our players will go out of their way to stop a ball on their own back line so they can dribble it up the field.
My unexpected surprises came from the newest members to Legends SC. The players who have been with me and the club know we expect up and back play and are always on the attack, which is why we mostly have our players in the other team's attacking half. This is why we are always susceptible to counter attacks, but I would rather have ball and goal hungry players pressing forward than players lounging in goal box recliners.
Our new teammates fell right in line to the team's style of play, most notably one of our game ball recipients, Isabella.
I remember Isabella from tryouts and specifically hearing during one scrimmage that four letter word, which is most terrible to hear...pass. I told her at that time she would never hear me as her coach ask her to do that and however long she wanted to hold onto the ball that was her business. She has taken this to heart and was putting on some footwork displays, which she didn't even remember doing. Lots of her own creativity, which for her and others only can come from really working on our homework assignments.
Our other game ball went to Karolyn. She, along with a few others, is a Legends veteran, beginning her days three years ago in HappyFeet and having already played in the Academy. This group often doesn't get highlighted because they have a bit higher bar now, but she had some really nice 1v1 battles against opponents, which left them on their figurative rears.
So how do we measure a win?
Well, when we play like Legends:
-When we dominate possession
-When we blow away the opponent with touches on the ball
-When the match ends and our players are upset because they don't get to play anymore
-When there isn't one player on the field the other team can say, "let's take the ball towards them because we can beat them or they'll give up
-When there isn't one player on the field the other team can say, "Oh, here she comes, this one is easy to take the ball away from."
-When the other team walks through the line after they've won and there is no life in their "good game"
-When we walk through the line after a loss and there is life in our "good game"
-When coaches from the other team compliment us on what great skills and footwork our players have
-When parents from the other team exclaim, "Wow, what was that move!" or "How did she just do that!"
-When we just plain have more fun
We usually go right into the players' effort, how the competition was, what players may have accomplished, and ultimately the final score as an after thought. This past Saturday our new Academy group took to the pitch for their first match together and came out where I expected them to with quite a few unexpected surprises.
What to expect is really the same every match. Coach Pat posted this in his blog recently and I couldn't have put it any better,
..."We insist on ball control and stubborn ball possession and all of our coaches try to discourage players from defending by wildly kicking the ball. We don't call for clearing kicks or teach our players to boot the ball out of bounds. Everyone on the field has the same job wherever they are: have a soft touch on the ball, use your moves to get into space and head toward the goal."...
I know several Legends parents actually approached and admitted how frustrating it has become to see an opponent continually as a matter of habit, or coach direction, kick the ball out of bounds while our players will go out of their way to stop a ball on their own back line so they can dribble it up the field.
My unexpected surprises came from the newest members to Legends SC. The players who have been with me and the club know we expect up and back play and are always on the attack, which is why we mostly have our players in the other team's attacking half. This is why we are always susceptible to counter attacks, but I would rather have ball and goal hungry players pressing forward than players lounging in goal box recliners.
Our new teammates fell right in line to the team's style of play, most notably one of our game ball recipients, Isabella.
I remember Isabella from tryouts and specifically hearing during one scrimmage that four letter word, which is most terrible to hear...pass. I told her at that time she would never hear me as her coach ask her to do that and however long she wanted to hold onto the ball that was her business. She has taken this to heart and was putting on some footwork displays, which she didn't even remember doing. Lots of her own creativity, which for her and others only can come from really working on our homework assignments.
Our other game ball went to Karolyn. She, along with a few others, is a Legends veteran, beginning her days three years ago in HappyFeet and having already played in the Academy. This group often doesn't get highlighted because they have a bit higher bar now, but she had some really nice 1v1 battles against opponents, which left them on their figurative rears.
So how do we measure a win?
Well, when we play like Legends:
-When we dominate possession
-When we blow away the opponent with touches on the ball
-When the match ends and our players are upset because they don't get to play anymore
-When there isn't one player on the field the other team can say, "let's take the ball towards them because we can beat them or they'll give up
-When there isn't one player on the field the other team can say, "Oh, here she comes, this one is easy to take the ball away from."
-When the other team walks through the line after they've won and there is no life in their "good game"
-When we walk through the line after a loss and there is life in our "good game"
-When coaches from the other team compliment us on what great skills and footwork our players have
-When parents from the other team exclaim, "Wow, what was that move!" or "How did she just do that!"
-When we just plain have more fun
No comments:
Post a Comment