A Storm of Lightning Strikes to finish out the season

The picture above is what would seem to be a goal celebration, but that’s our team’s goalie right behind them.  It wasn’t a goal scoring celebration, it was a goal saving celebration.  It highlights Lightning Storm and Lightning Strike’s growth this season as a group. 

The U10 Select girls’ goals for the season were communication and role responsibilities.  Certainly, we pushed them hard on learning new deceptive skills and began working on high touch ball movement work between players to level up their offensive and defensive awareness, but every drill in training we asked them to talk to one another, before each game we asked them to not only warm up their bodies, but their voices as well and in every game opportunity we pushed them to move up and down and back and forth across the field to stay with the direction of play and assume specific responsibilities when they were off the ball.

I am happy to say they nailed it.

The photo above captures how these girls have gone from watching the game, and thinking someone else will take care of a problem for them, to anticipating what’s going to happen and taking care of what they are owners of on the field.  In this particular instance, a quick counter attack by the opposing team resulted in one defender moving to the corner to intercept the play while the other defender shifted to center along with the goalie who moved toward the post nearest the play.  

The initial defender was beat so the second defender moved in to intercept, which left the middle open for a second attacker who moved into the space.  It was a clear easy goal opportunity, which the attacker with the ball took and moved the ball to center to surprise the goalie who had her back to the play.  The shot came off and you could hear the goal cheers starting, but out of nowhere the second defender had quickly turned and flew in to punch the ball right off the top of the goal line to the far side of the field and out of bounds.  Cheers quickly switched from one side to the other.

This ownership of the space and awareness of the game is a critical leap for girls who last spring (4 ½ months ago) were content with the game primarily being just them and the ball for as long as they could have it and then once it was gone, well, it was up to the next person to have their chance.

We saw this ownership and awareness blossom all season long as players on both Storm and Strike began intuitively swapping space as play shifted allowing a back player, who had the ball moving toward them, to make quick counter attacks while the top player moved past them settled into a defensive role.  It was noticed by quite a few opposing coaches because it was always as if we had an available defender on any change of possession.

This past weekend during our final season tournament Storm and Strike put it all on display and Coach David and I couldn't have been prouder of the results of the Lightning group and each player.  It showcased to teams in upper divisions and in other clubs, who had not heard of us, what the future holds.  When we return in the spring, we’ll enjoy the knowledge that when we show up in our colors, stake down our tent…and take up most of the sidelines with our cadre of supporters…those other teams and clubs will have already been talking about us.

Capping off the season

The fall season is coming to a screeching halt this weekend with the teams I have coached or worked with having their final training sessions and games and it is always pleasing to see the looks of disappointment on their faces when you tell them.

I can say for certain, every player I have worked with is a better player in some form over the last three months we have been together.  As we have said in the past, at the club, for these young players, their development changes by leaps and bounds in the matter of a small period, which for adults seems like the blink of an eye and sometimes we don’t always see the changes as they happen.  I recap after each game with parents calling out so many little things I see, which are different week to week for each player and parents consistently ask, “How do you see all of that?”  Simple answer is, I am watching.

I believe Coach Pat highlighted it all in good manner again with his statement about his U9 group,

“…our Girl Power squad is now one hundred and eight months old.  This means that the last three months of soccer represent more than 1% of her total life experience.  In most contexts 1% of anything doesn't seem like a significant amount but think of how long three months is if you've only been alive for one hundred and five months.  Think of how many things you would be doing in those three months that would be completely new to you, how many new experiences you'd be having and how much you'd be learning.  When you're eight or nine years old one soccer season is a long time.”

NKLegends SC Blog - Perspective

For the U8 group under Coach Brad and me, it has been eye opening for them to be the two teams who were just turning 6 and played in the lowest division of recreational play last spring (D4).  They were annihilated continuously and this season, only a few months after spring, they are going around their peers with Maradonas, Stop Hops, and carryover dribbling, as if they standing still.

For the U9 Academy and U10 Jrs, it was all about lots of new faces and watching them all erase, then embrace confident and deceptive ball skills.  Their enjoyment of the game increased and more times than not, for the U10 Jrs, they were asking me at the end what the score was and if they won.  They had no idea because they were enjoying themselves too much.

For the U12 Jrs, there were also a bunch of new faces, but many old ones.  The old ones had the skill background, but had to come to grips with whole new teams and work to understand one another while continuing to master individual skills and spatial awareness.  Their biggest realization was they were now old enough to understand they could learn and apply new concepts about the latter at the same time.

Each of these groups will have some time off, but I can’t to see what they have in store for next season.

U12 Getting it Together

It's been a rocky season so far if you look at the end game point total for Coach Pat's and my U12 team.  However, speaking for myself, I am very impressed with with how much this group has come together over the last 3-4 games.  There has been so much effort to learn, individual skill and collaboration in these few games it has been fun to watch.

Certainly, I bark a lot at them on the sideline to help them see the things I do, but at the end of the day, I love watching them play and have those explosions of working together and realizations of individual confidence.

Coach Mark was able to get some video from this past Saturday's match and he and Coach Pat shared it with the players yesterday.  While there were teaching moments, it was a great review and really highlighted how much more skill they have compared to their peers.  If you have a chance to watch it, remember it is the first half when I as a coach felt a little like we were on our heels until we took over and dominated in the second half...but the video shows how much better we actually were. https://youtu.be/-0D-wEHf12g

Similarly tonight, we poured on some serious skill versus an ISC team who probably has been flirting with select play for some time.  Why would I say that?  Because of the things I overheard the coach and team say like yelling at their teammates to stop playing kickball (sound familiar) or their coach commenting to his players on how well we were able to individually beat their players in every 1v1 situation (good teams and coaches appreciate their opponents).  The only reason they had the drop on us a couple times was because we either collapsed on ourselves with too many players in the same space, vacated space and all moved to the ball versus having patient discipline to maintain our positions, and lastly understanding the need to move with the play as it begins to change direction rather than try and catch up.

Individually, I was really proud of how well Camryn and Morgan our youngest (from time with Legends) played tonight.  Camryn showed so much confidence with the ball at her feet tonight and such presence of mind to slow herself down and beat her opposing defenders, I had little butterflies in my stomach watching her.  Morgan has become so much more aware of where she is on the field and how she can get the ball to stay at her feet without feeling she needs to give it up immediately.  It was apparent how far she has come this season when she showed up to my U10 Jrs training and I could tell was a little disappointed with their work ethic and the ability to challenge her even though she is under a year older than most of them.

I'd also like to recognize how much Mary has begun feeling her groove on this team.  Early on she was having trouble understanding her role on a team who's skill matches her own and now is becoming fluid with every play and back to her aggressive self, which I have come to know over the past few years.

Our communication was a bit soft tonight, but like his dad, I can always count on Kaleb to bark out where he is, if he can effectively help his team, and where his teammates should move to on the field.  Kudos too on his two great grabs to bring opposing high flying keeper punts out of the air and right to his feet; it even got the bench excited.

So many other goods things from this evening happened, Maddie B pushing through the middle toward the goal, crashing the net (and goalie) continuously and ultimately being in place to pop one in...Madison M manhandling players and causing havoc with her graceful footskill...Isabella always being right where she needs to capture the ball and begin a counter attack...Abby's relentless ability to fear no player regardless of size and bump them off of the ball...Drew's crazy unpredictable skilled nutmeg...Owen's cool confidence, analysis of his opponent and desire to not only beat them, but try to make them hang their heads once he's done...and lastly Nick, the silent Ninja, who's size is dwarfed by his soft touch and newly found desire to want to score every time he has the ball now.

I know we don't recap much, but again I wanted to let you know how pleased I am with the progression of this team this season and how much we need to pay attention to and appreciate the small steps which occur in such a short period of time for these young players.

Short staffed U8 starts slow, but pours on the heat

I was really impressed with my Future Legends U8 Girls this past weekend.  Ella H, Reegan, Ava and Finleigh played mostly non-stop since our team was short staffed.  We picked up a couple boys to help out playing 4v4, but they were clearly thinking, "What is going on with these girls and their crazy skills.  Why aren't they just flying in, swinging their leg and giving their best karate board breaking pose after it?"

They began a bit timid as they do against the boys, trying to figure out how much abuse they'll be taking, but the opportunity to be on the field for such a long period with just the four of them seemed to build some great fluidity.  What was a competitive match soon turned into a ball possession and goal scoring route.

-Reegan is certainly not the fastest at this point, but she was tirelessly working on her ability to hold the ball away from her in a shielding position to bait the other players and allow her to turn on them or doing hop backs to give her enough space to work the ball to the left or right.

-Ella H was trying to take after her older brother's fleetness of feet with what can only be described as occasional modified Matthews moves, where she is hopping to the left to get the defender to move with her, then moving her right foot from the right side to the left side of the ball (without it touching the ground) and springing back to the right, and launching some great strikes on goal.

-Ava was working hard to listen for my directions, moving to be ready into space, even though the action may not be near her yet and it paid off more than once as a loose ball moved away and she was able to capture to keep possession for her team.  She was also very unselfish in her efforts to give the ball to her teammates, of which one was a good field change to Ella.  Of course, I would like to see her work a bit more on being selfish and using the skills she demonstrates in training against other teams.

-Diminutive, just turned five, Finleigh has quietly become one of the toughest players on the field despite the worried muffled cries I hear from the parents and she is dedicated to trying nutmeg, stop hop and scissor moves at game speed.  The first nutmeg move she did in the game was so perfect two of the other team ran past her as she turned, which garnered cheers from all the parents.

This week I am challenging the whole team with more of the same as they look to strut their newly learned Maradona turn.

Expectations

This past weekend was the first weekend of fall soccer and like many parents, coaches, and players, I had certain expectations for what I thought I should expect from the teams and players.  What I should know by now, but seemingly fail to keep in place, is my only expectation should be no expectations.

When I throw away any thought of expectations, I am able to be at my best for my players.

I unknowingly was spot on for our U10 Girls Jr Legends for the first match of the day.  This was a brand new group made from a few players who have been in the program a season or two and the remainder are brand new and going through a lot of retooling being new to Legends.

The grass needed to be cut and the ball was tacky.  I had a brief warm up and gave them some basic pregame instructions, then let them play.  They did all I asked of them, keeping the ball close, listening, and implementing my one challenge move for the day; a self-nutmeg, which led them past their own dribble bringing defenders with them while they themselves quickly turned back to the ball to dribble on.

The next match of the day was our U12 Mixed Jr Legends and boy did I come in with expectations for them.  Both U12 teams had been looking sharp in training working hard, picking up things quickly and both had a good amount of returning talent.  The fields were just like the earlier game; long grass and a real tacky ball…but this match ended up being brutally lethargic for our players with them tripping over the ball as it got stuck to their feet and then running into each other at every corner of the field.
  
What I forgot in my jubilance, over where I expected them to be, is that they were also a new group of players running together for their first time trying to figure out their roles and how best to support one another.  It was clear how quickly they were able to adapt in one game as with about ten minutes to go, they began truly dominating possession and putting the other team on their heels.

Fortunately, I had the evening and the next morning to reflect before going into the third game of the weekend with our U10 Girls Select group.  There are two teams in the group who have trained and played together for a couple seasons and are by far the group I have the most time vested in so one would expect I would be looking for a lot of them.  Thankfully, the U12 experience brought me back to reality to realize there were a multitude of new things happening here, the least of which was their first foray into select play.  I set aside my expectations for the group and committed to working for them and with only a few minutes into the match, I could tell my coaching partner was there too.

In the end, it was a match where I had to go back and review to remember what the actual result was and while this is a necessary evil now with select play, it was good to enjoy the girls’ performance rather than for them to fulfill an expectation of mine.

Asking for Success

I watched some great work this weekend by a number of our teams and the end result was not always in their favor, but what I did get to enjoy was some crazy work by kids testing the limits of what they are capable of, but what is a bit saddening recently is hearing of parents talk a good game about wanting their players to develop, but who haven't yet fully embraced what it means to become the best one can be, not THE best, but the best one YOU can be.

As a parent, would you ever have the temerity to go to your child's teacher and ask this from them, "Hey, you know Billy/Susie has never had an A on a test.  Would you mind if on the next big test you gave them an A?"

Of course you wouldn't, that's absolutely absurd.  Then why, as a parent, are you willing to seek out the right league, the right team, or the right tournament just to allow them to artificially succeed?

Why wouldn't you do the exact same thing you would do for them in sports that you would do in school, "Hey Billie/Susie, you know in order to get that A, you're going to really put in some effort.  No one's just going to give you an A."

Would you ever say to your child. "Hey, you know As are the only thing that matters and if you don't get As, then you're really not successful."

Of course you wouldn't, that's absolutely absurd.  Then why, as a parent, are you willing to look at your child and tell them winning is the only thing, which is important in competition, not the act of competition itself or testing the limits of where you are as an individual?

Stop asking for success for your child.  Look at the body of their work, their effort to achieve it and support them all the way.  Everyone wants to be victorious, but NO child determines that winning is the end all of competition without help from those who are teaching them.  If your child walks off the field believing they have failed only because the net result wasn't in their favor, then you might want to start asking someone to give you some As in parenting because you aren't putting in the effort right now to earn them.

Changing Expectations

Over the last two weeks all of our U9 girls teams have been really "clicking".  They have been clicking so well, it has been one of those occasions where the coaches become a spectator of sort.  The one thing which becomes a problem when you become a spectator is you begin to get caught up in fandom and forget who you are watching play.

This Saturday I had to put down the clipboard, stop tracking all those things, which the girls normally get excited about and become their coach and most understanding supporter again; they just weren't living up to those expectations I was beginning to have for them.  It's something we as coaches and parents of young players must constantly keep in mind as we go through the ups and downs of the growth of these little people.

We were in a match, this Saturday, which I knew we should easily have navigated, but it was like everything blew up and everything they knew went out the door.  It was less than five minutes into the match, while I was chatting with the opposing club coordinator, that I decided to lay down the clipboard and start doing my best to cheer them on.  Things ended up not in our favor and as we moved immediately on to our next match, I talked to a parent who saw what I saw and I had already made my choice that it was just going to be one of those days and we should all wipe away any expectations and just work to make sure the girls did their best and continued to pump them up.

Funny thing happened, the next game, they did what kids do, completely flipped their switch and played incredibly against an opponent who was more talented, more physical, and one who a few years ago annihilated us...one of those clubs who when I mentioned them later anecdotally to another parent, who wasn't there, rolled their eyes way to the side and said, "Ohhhh, that club...".

Final was a 1-1 draw and both girls teams knew it as they came up to the line to shake hands.  My comment to our girls, "We ended in a draw, it must've been a good game."

I always like these moments of clarity, which remind me what we're doing here every weekend.  It's not for us, it's to let them play for better or worse and to make sure there's an appreciative smile waiting for them.  Of course I was honest with them and let them know what I saw, which was they looked a little off and a little tired, but that I was okay with that.  If I were to come down on them, like I have seen so many other coaches and parents do, what would it have served other than to drown their desire to play again and enjoy the game.

I can only hope as I continue to grow with this group, I never forget why I am here, what I am doing with them, and have the ability to change my expectations to whatever these great kids are giving to me every time they play.

Tough Girls

Reasons why shinguards are important and why we tell our players, "Yes, in our style of play, you will get kicked."

The purple spot and center knot was with shinguard protection from this past weekend, which she didn't tell me about until tonight...of course it didn't stop this girl from playing this evening and continuing to smile with her teammates.  She even began anticipating those "Karate Kicks", as I call them, and tip toeing over them to follow the ball; something we've been working on, moving the ball forward away from them, but to where they want it, leaving it go, and coming back to it...getting away from having soccer ball separation anxiety; seems to happen to our Legends players for some reason.  :-)

Digression aside, I suspect more of our players have a few knots of their own to show from that match.  The girls grumbled a little bit coming off at half time, but before they could get too far down that path, I asked them, "What are we here to do?" and the team consensus reply was, "To play soccer!" and that's what they and the rest of the girls Academy group have been doing.

Coach David, Pat, myself and some of our aspiring "Sub" coaches have really enjoyed watching them play with skill, toughness, and a relentless desire to get our there and just play soccer so far this season.

Culture Change

Great article from 6 1/2 years ago and it looks like we're still trying to get past this hurdle.  A testament to how long it takes to change culture when you're going against what's deeply established not only in a sport, but in our very nature.

http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/1/15/ItsWonderfulToWin.pdf

Setting the Stage – U8 Young-in’s

My first note to a new U8 group...boy are they in for it!...............

If me talking too long wasn’t enough, sometimes I type too much…not all the time do I do this, but my time here is my response to your trust in me as this team’s coach and teacher (it’s also not always so soon afterwards)….

Every once in a while I read a book then get to see a movie about it and I’m like, “What the heck happened here?  This is nothing like the book.”  I used to have this same notion after seeing my son and daughter play before moving up to the next age bracket for the first time or beginning to play at the next level and then get to their first game and pffttttttt…I was like, “what happened?”  Well, nothing and many things happened at the same time.  To begin with, they were in new environment and overwhelmed, but really trying to do everything they knew how to do…unfortunately, the competition was bigger, got there faster, and was more physical.

Why do I point this out?

Well, I received a lot of initial information about this wonderful group of girls coming out of HappyFeet from Eric.  Enough in fact to inflate my pride and I am not even one of their parents, but one of the wonderful things about my decision to coach/teach at the U8 level is every time I have a new team, I have never read the book and pay no attention to the press no matter how glowing.

After a couple training sessions and tonight’s match, I can clearly say this is an amazing group of young players.  My early assessment is:

>Players who like to play, not because they are told, but because they want to play.  After every goal, they lived up to that expectation; hustle back to center and get right back to playing again.

>Players with attention to the game.  This is THE youngest U8 team in the league, all true U6 but one.  We will continue to play teams older and more physical than us.  Only until we play another Legends team we structured in a similar fashion will we play another team in our same age banding.

Facts about tonight’s match, which I don’t put out there to explain what happened, but to show how well our girls met this challenge:

>The other team played in the top division during the fall season out of 4 divisions.  They had to go up against our two strongest and most veteran U8 teams…and were squashed; the older and more senior of those two teams deciding to take a risk of their own and move to U9/U10 competition.

>If you couldn’t tell, the parents were okay with their goal-goal-goal play until they realized in the second half they were the team they didn’t care for and then began analyzing the game and seeing who they were truly playing rather than being bent on payback.

>The opposing coach realized earlier than the parents they may have moved waayyy to far down and apologized for things.  My response, “Keep playing, I am not upset”.  It is MY job to know what I have on MY bench as a coach and it is MY job during those challenges to keep MY team motivated and engaged.  Even with all those goals coming, I had to push back the girls who wanted to play goalie and there were always smiles going on and off the field.

I won’t always be your daughter’s coach and they won’t always play for Legends, but one thing you should always look for in a coach is how they can challenge a player and keep them in the game when things aren’t going their way AND even more importantly when things are going to easily.

The opposing coach was a nice gent, but he did eventually suffer from how to engage his players.  Obviously this is my own perception and analysis, but he ended up forcibly slowing his players down rather than providing some simple ways to take risks.  Not to put him down, but one problem with a win over development attitude is the inability for the coach to be a risk taker.  His goal was to keep shooting but from further out and inadvertently ended up punishing a player to the point of tears and taking her out of the game for not doing what he had asked rather than creating the trust that if they failed in their task they would not be to blame...meaning, they were still required to score, but from further out…not “hey everyone, I challenge each of you to see who can shoot from the farthest out in the attacking half.”  See the difference in approach…pay attention as your player gets older.

Game play for the remainder of the season (Pay special attention here because my approach will NOT change):

>Goalies:  As the girls get older we will incorporate goalies into 1v1 play, which greatly enhances keeper play, but no one will explicitly be positioned or sorted out to play goalie.  Typically, I identify those with an aptitude for this role and give them additional opportunities for the job, but in reality, those same individuals end up being really good field players.   Ella J even noticed, she asked me, “Why is that girl playing goalie the whole time?”…I don’t know why Ella?  What fun is that?

From a match perspective, if a goalie doesn’t want to use their hands, I won’t ask them to use their hands…you put your hands down in front of an out of control 7 year old karate kick!  If we end up on the low end of the score, you will see me ask a keeper to become an additional field player.  We will give up the goal for a player to get additional touches on the ball so don’t ask them to get back or fret over another ball going in to the net.

>Positions and five up front:  Everyone asks it, “When do we learn positions?”  Answer, when all players have mastered ball control and 1v1 play.  Then we move to a 2v2 concept; 1^st attacker/2^nd attacker or 1^st defender/2^nd defender…when is this?  Probably U10…and besides, we do play positions, we play a 0-0-5. J Eventually, as I do with my U9 group, I start them in a 2-3, but where they end up is up to them.  My expectation right now is 5 attackers and 5 hustle back defenders.

>Bunching:  “It’s U8 soccer” is the common retort and is true for the most part.  The truth is you are paying for us to create dominant ball hogs and when you ask 6 players to go on the field and possess the ball, what do you think you’ll get?  Our training throws them into these situations with their own ball every week and eventually they begin to see the tiniest spaces and react to them.  I will put incentives in place to reward not taking the ball from one another and these little steps will get them to start looking around for who has the same jersey as theirs.

>Shooting and scoring: The only way to score is to shoot and as we move along with our goal of complete ball control, I will ask the girls to shoot whenever possible, when they are in the attacking half.  It only takes the tiniest of a moment after creating space to shoot.

Final snapshot for this season:  Encouragement and ZERO expectations every match and look for something new each game each player did differently from the last and celebrate it.

Spotlight on coaches: Coach Rick Rocks!

I love to see our coaches put out game recaps, which really help get our new and incumbent parents engaged and entrenched in what we are trying to teach.

My spotlight is Coach Rick, who's girls are playing some local U10 recreational and went from almost not having a team this season to a team filled with 4 returning players, 1 moving up from our U8 group and 7 brand new to the program Legends players.

They had 2 training sessions together before beginning the season.  I was able to hang with them as a facilitator during their first training together.  Great group of girls and very interested in learning.  Here's a great recap from Coach Rick on their first match together:

Legends,

Not a bad start to the season.  With many new faces I was pleasantly surprised with the effort and quick adaptation to what we are emphasizing.  We had many subs - some of the girls are playing in two leagues so we won't always have a full 12 person roster but after watching some girls get extremely winded after 8 minutes playing it was good to have the subs.  We rotated everyone out every 8 minutes so everyone should have played right about 50% of the game - as close as I could make it.

I put a challenge to the girls to attempt the Puskas move.  Many accomplished the goal however a few didn't and were a little disappointed after.  That's ok because they are learning what to expect and what we are looking for.  I'm sure the focus and determination next time will certainly be there.  
Overall I saw several moves - combinations of reverses, cuts, Maradonna turns, Cruyff moves, stop and go's from some returning players.  I also saw some reverse turns, Puskas moves and some great aggressiveness with some newer players.

We will continue to work on footwork and ball handling skills in the practices to come.  I know some of the girls have historically been taught to pass when the opportunities come about rather than use their dribbling skill to beat an opponent - or kick the ball clear when on defense - I even had one girl, when I asked her to not just kick the ball downfield but instead try dribbling it - even all the way to the goal and shoot, ask if that was even allowed if playing defense :)

In the upcoming games I will be asking the goalkeepers to punt the ball rather than throw it.  It may be a disaster at times, but its a quick way to get the hang of it - consequently throwing it out isn't necessarily a sure thing either.  If we give up some silly goals because of an errant punt - it's ok.  It's not about the score but what we can learn and develop.  

As we continue, I'll be asking the girls to try performing a move every time they get the ball and look forward to the excitement of their accomplishments and the confidence to come.

Well done Coach Rick!

Academy Spring 2015 Opener

Splitting Them Up

Spring season opened with a WOW! for our Academy girls group.  Most played indoor with us over the winter, but it's a different game and we never really practiced or asked for homework, just went out on the field for some dull winter days fun so I was really impressed with how well we suited up after only a few training sessions together.

The host club asked if we could split our girls up to match up against their players in a more competitive fashion and I was plain stumped.  Not only was it our first match of the season, but I really have a high level of confidence in every one of our player's ability to play up to any competition with which they come into contact.

Skill, skill, skill

We implemented our new point based tracking for players and it really has them excited; they get points for things like attempted shots, attempted moves, defensive stop, which gains possession, successful move to beat a defender 1v1, etc.  They aren't looking at the score of the match, all they ask when they come off the field is "How many points do I have?" and "Did I beat my first half score?"  I myself was skeptical at first, but this approach has truly taken them away from thinking about the outcome and put them into a contest of skill.

In my Black Lightning group, our senior players from before last fall (Payton, Karolyn, Caitlyn, Lillian) really showed off great vision and multiple move combinations, which continuously tired the other teams out to the point where they were kicking the ball out of bounds for a break.  Our recent fall additions (Maryah and Isabella) were driving themselves to look for and engage in 1v1 and 2v1 opportunities.  Maryah attempted at one point to engage a defender and when they wouldn't, she stopped mid-stride at midfield, kept the ball moving around and waited for the defender to come after her.  All the while, she looked at her with an eye that said, "Come on, let's play!"

...And then our newest and youngest additions (Anna, Ava, Kelcey, and Ellise) showed what a bit of peer pressure and competition can do to bring out the same desire as our more experienced players.  All four showed a very high level of confidence and cool heads as defenders pressured in on them.

I was really impressed with how Ellise (still 6) who in just this spring had only one speed and direction (very fast and downhill) was able to receive a ball, look up for space and then change direction rather than trying to run through the player.  Kelcey (also still 6) was shaking off some of our senior players who seemed to tag along every time she had the ball, as if to say, "No, that's cool, I got it."

Ava, who I had to beg to give me some effort when I was teaching her during fall U8 recreational, exploded with aggressiveness, especially in her eleven minutes as keeper.  Last but not least, Anna, it seems, is really trying to get every Legends move down in what seems like a week.  She immediately goes into deceptive dribbling mode as soon as the ball hits her feet.

Those who have played for a season together continue to show how their soccer brains are beginning to work.  Caitlyn, Isabella and Maryah had a brilliant sequence of passing (yes, passing) to open up space for Maryah to take the ball deeper into the attacking half.  Why was it brilliant?  It wasn't coached, it was their decision because they saw the opportunity to create space...and they were able to confidently control the ball until they were ready to open up space with the pass as defenders closed in on them.  I talked to Caitlyn after the game and she remembered that specific part of the match (soccer brain) and said, "Yes, we got into a triangle space like you showed us how to do." (soccer brain)...I use the triangle only verbally to reinforce spacing on the field right now, but not yet from a specific tactical perspective.

It was all great and the feedback from Coach Pat and Coach Dave mirrored my thoughts on the day as well.  We love watching their soccer brains start to click at so young an age and I can't wait to see what the entire Academy looks like by mid-season!

It comes naturally

We started our spring training last Monday and the group of players I had for indoor training had not played together, for the most part, since last fall.

What was most delightful to see was not the great footwork I've been accustomed to seeing, but the teamwork exhibited during some 3v3 play at the end of training.  We don't run it as a standard, but it's as close as we get sometimes to scrimmaging in indoor and is sort of a reward for their effort.

Karolyn, Isabella, and Caitlyn started out together and as soon as I said go they went right into a triangle formation and maintained it for two matches. They shifted around between up and back, left to right, and 1st/2nd attacker/defender roles and more importantly talked to one another to adjust their shape and spacing, not for the sake of "I want the ball, you stay back" or "I don't trust you with the ball, get away", but to make sure they were each available for on another and to create space when they received the ball.

Have I coached this?  Well, I have asked in the past to stay spread out and think about it, but never the complexity they were exhibiting.  Well the how did it come about?...Naturally, of course!

Spending all our time building each player to be a total individual with superior on the ball confidence and skill is starting to rear its toothy head.  All three of those girls who we've taught to be ball hogs have total confidence in not only themselves, but their teammates as well.

It would have been nice to have caught those 6 minutes on camera to show some of our new players, parents and those with lingering doubts as to why continued patience building up each player wins out and everything starts coming along naturally.

Just play

It continues to blow my mind, during this recreational indoor season, many coaches are still focused on seeing how many points they can put up.  So much so, they are asking the ref what the real score was at the end of the game because the facility where we play only has the score on the board up to a plus five advantage.

If you have to ask what the score was because of this, it is obvious your team won.  On a field in which U8 players can throw the ball past midfield and players through U16 play on, it's no surprise the ball can go in a lot because of a good amount of boom ball and nine foot high goals.

Regardless of our teams' goose egg in the win column, it is clear every time we are on the field, our kids are having more fun.  They are joking around, kidding each other when a ball goes in off of their own teammate, and chatting it up on the bench because they know, and the expectation was set, that they are there just to play.

Sure I have things to teach as they go along to spark some of their awareness of the game and sure I give them challenges to see how well they can succeed in making them work in a game situation, but when it comes down to it, they never go away with their heads down and are always looking forward to playing again.  Even my daughter who is on the very competitive side wanted to get out there this weekend despite the snow and ice, which shut down the facility.

The greatest reason for this is, while the scoreboard indicates dominance on points, our girls are still getting dominance in possession.  Teams don't let up on us because they always believe we are in the game and I bet sometimes they or their coaches are looking at us and thinking, "What's wrong with them? Why are they still working so hard?  There's no way they'll catch up" and I say to this, "No, they are playing hard because that's what kids do when they are having fun."

Area Rug

"...but Mom and Dad won't let me do soccer in the house!"

I hear this quite a bit, but man it's cold outside mom and dad and our players need to get some touches on the ball!  Here's a nice series of touches on the ball, which are low key and can be done on the size of small area rug with no need to remove all the breakables from the room.

Sideline Folk

I am nowhere near to saying goodbye to the sideline.  Heck, once my kids are grown, I am sure I'll be there for many other players and parents until hopefully one day I can coach my grand kids, but until then it's nice to know I have been blessed with parents who exemplify the many things I read in the following article Saying Goodbye Sideline, which I found via Changing the Game Project.

You know who you are out there with your blankets and hand warmers or jug of water, which doubled as an extra seat for our overcrowded bench.  Those who jump in to warm up players, coach and pay a ref fee while coach rushes to make it from one team and game to the next.  

Maybe you missed a move or two from your daughter to capture many team moments as our unofficial photographer, or bring something extra to eat between matches because you paid enough attention to know some of the players don't really want our "between the game bahnanananas"...and sometimes...sometimes, your sideline hot chocolate is warmer than expected.  

Thanks to you all and I love our growing Legends family!

Coaching to play

If coaches coach to play, players will like earning a win, but they will always enjoy the opportunity they had to play.

Our U8 Buzz girls took a beating this past week.  They probably had 20 goals scored on them, but 20 times they grabbed the ball out of the goal, ran it back up, and were waiting for the ref to blow the whistle to start again...waiting to play.

The hand your dealt

I have come to the realization my U8 girls will most likely not come out on top in any match this winter indoor session.  I take the blame for this as I chose a level of play, at which I truly believed this group of girls would be competitive, this level being upper recreational and is 3rd on the scale of level of play choices.

What I didn't realize was out of 21 teams, only five others chose upper rec or greater.  This decision reminds me my perception is not always that of those around me so I need to take measures like adding a note in the registration to say, "Hey, if 70% of the teams sign up at the lowest level, let me know!"  So now we are faced with the hand that was dealt to us.

For parents, this is a great opportunity to really evaluate their coach because they'll obviously see the overwhelming challenge being faced too.  Will their coach find opportunities to inspire individual players?  Will they keep it fun? Will they be able to continue to teach, challenge and get their players to take risks in the face of overwhelming adversity?  Or will they start blaming the players for the situation in which they have been placed?  Will the shouts of encouragement turn to a tone of disappointment?

For myself, I really enjoy coaching in these situations because it continues to erode the years of my own childhood experiences, which were driven on a culture of winning at all cost and of finger pointing at players.  So, I am okay with the hand we have been dealt this session and know, at the end of it, I'll have grown, our players will all be better for the adversity faced and they'll all still be in love with playing.

Patience Rules

First week of the winter indoor session in the books and we had varying outcomes for the U8 and U10 squads.  The overriding commonality for all three teams was a never give up attitude and sticking to what they've been taught no matter what the score board says.

I wasn't fortunate enough to catch the U8 Buzz play, but received reports from three reliable sources to piece things together.  First, they had a good time, second our parents are one heck of a supportive group when it comes to what they are cheering for, the effort, not the result and third we have a group of girls who have not played as a unit before and were having some first game overlapping play, which goes away with familiarity.  I'll be challenging them a lot on being a very patient second attacker/defender, which should keep them from getting tired and provide them with many more opportunities for 1v1 situations, at which I know they all can excel.

Our U10 Lightning (Orange) under Coach Dave had to wake up early for their first game, which can go anyway.  They certainly seemed to have no cobwebs clouding their minds for the 7:50 AM match, which saw a brilliantly skillful and disciplined group.

One thing some of our players can struggle with is everyone wanting to be the first attacker all at the same time.  They're not all necessarily on top of the ball, but it's what they're all focused on most of the time. Lightning (Orange) was a adept at keeping one 1st attacker/defender and a supporting group of 2nd attackers/defenders at all times.  I tell players when they don't have the ball at their feet, their job is to know where every other player is on the field and use this information to be in the best spot available to help out.

Kelsey and Payton played very skillful games.  Payton had an aggressive mind, soft touch and light feet every time she had the ball (play behinds, cryuffs and a sweet 1v1 against the keeper), but she also was charging back to the lower third to help on defense.  Kelsey's first half was probably the most skillful I have seen her play.  She had great downfield vision and was moving in and out of players before even they knew which way they wanted to go.  I need to give one more accolade out to Elissa H who played a great first half in goal and made the "woo-hoo!" move of the game; a double scissors down in her own defensive end, which allowed her to create just enough space among heavy traffic to dribble further down field.

Lightning (Yellow) finished out the day with a tough match.  It was the most lopsided they have ever had against them, which was tough for some.  We became a little impatient and all became a little to ball focused trying to make things happen, which created some open opportunities for the other team, but the girls all still stuck to it and never gave up regardless of the pressure.  Olivia had a heck of a game pushing down field and making her way back to help out.  Karolyn, Ellis, Maryah and Mariyah played aggressively in goal despite the final outcome.  Our two new Legends players Anna and Harper did great in their first time out.  

I could tell Harper was unsure of her role on the team, which is, it is the same as everyone else, get the ball and skillfully make your way to the goal.  When she did get the ball, she was very patient and I could see her thinking of where to go and what to do.  Anna really took to our style of ball play and she had a good number or drives moving through players.  She took it on so much she actually grabbed the ball from her teammates a couple times, but what it is great about all of our girls is they never grumbled about it they just let her go with it and readied themselves for the next opportunity.

I will give some lighthearted grief to our Beechwood crew who are still in the midst of basketball season and could be seen defensively positioning themselves up almost as if they were waiting to block a jump shot.  Maryah could even be heard at one point saying, "It's only the second period, we have two more."  To which I believe Ellis said, "No Maryah!  That's basketball!"

No matter what happens, they all make me smile.

Reminder as we Fall from Winter to Spring

The following is a note I sent to all of our girls' parents (U08-U12) at the end of our recent season and I feel it is appropriate to remind myself of our goals as a program as we go through winter indoor and head barreling into spring soccer.
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As we close out the fall season, I want to thank all the coaches, parents, and especially our players for their effort and dedication.

I have been able to work with almost all of our players this season and have kept in touch as I could with your coaches to see how things were going and it's been great to hear of all their successes, failures and growth.

My favorite age group to work with this season, and most seasons, has been the U8 players.  They mostly come in with no pre-programming on how they are supposed to play the game and quickly adapt.  In fact, the two teams I specifically trained had several girls who either turned six during the season or aren't even six yet.

The first few games and practices seemed like a giggling chaos of swarming bees.  Many ​have never even played organized soccer, played outside soccer before, or even heard a referee blow a whistle.  They would just keep running with the ball then look around in wonder as to why everyone else had stopped playing.  By the end of 8 weeks, they were attacking as a unit, running back on defense and coming over to the sideline during substitutions or quarters asking if I saw them do a Rivelino, Stop Hop, or Maradona.

They didn't care about the score ever, only seeing how long they could possess the ball.  There were always smiles during games and at practice...and disappointment when practices ended.  They even were the first group I've coached who cheered when they got to play 1v1 at practice.
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This is the kind of passion your coaches are trying to instill in all of your players and, as you continue with Legends, be sure to support them and your players.

Our teaching and style of play is still unconventional and due to this other teams can be either frustrated or slightly mocking depending on how well our players and teams have mastered the concepts, but in the end after a few seasons with us, your players will walk away with more confidence, enjoyment of the game, less mocking, more frustration from opponents, and in some cases actual admiration and compliments from parents and coaches.  I can't tell you how many times this year and last I have heard in victory or defeat, "Coach, your girls have really good ball handling skills", "Wow, did you see that move!", or "Did she really just do a Maradona turn?!"

In order to accomplish this level of confidence with the ball, come Spring, you will still not be hearing your coaches say, "today we are working on positions" or "today we are working on passing" so please, don't ask them about it.  We teach players to be ball hogs and if you actually ask them if they'd rather keep the ball until they lose it or just kick it once and be done, they'll always tell you they want to keep it.

All those other things will come as they mentally mature and begin to see the game and when those first "thoughtful passes" (as I call them) come, they'll be at the right time and as a coach and parent it will be a 'Wow!' moment just like when they spin around on a Maradona turn for the first time.

Until then, enjoy the off-season and whatever ventures you have planned; be it family time, holidays, or other sports/activities, etc.