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.