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.
