We lucked out with the weather on Saturday and had a perfect window for a rain free soccer match. That was our best defensive play all season, even though the final score did not reflect this. Everyone was running to shut down their dribbling and passing, then once we regained possession we spread out and our own attack. That was a very high energy match and we had a good chance against the top team in our league (helped by their lack of substitutes). I have been working with the kids on crossing the ball from the wings into the center where it is to be one touched into the back of the net--we gave ourselves several opportunities to do this, but didn't quite connect. Please work with your players on running to meet a moving ball and either trap or kick the ball against a target. Dribbling with the head up will also create more scoring opportunities--we have a couple of the best ball handlers in the league, so we have no problem dribbling circles around the other teams, but then need to look up and find the open player who can set up a good shot on goal. Hats off to Nick for his third goal of the season! It was a great come back goal to keep the match tied all first half. Some of the most tenacious defense came in the second half with Ben setting the example of "not in my half of the field". He cleared every ball that came near him--it was a solid defensive stand. Other than a few miscommunications we played our best game. I will pull players out after mistakes so I can go over the play with them on the side line and give them a chance to refocus. I'll also continue to substitute players into the games based on their effort and improvement in practices and games. We'll be half-way through the Fall season with our next game on Wed. The first half has been good with 1 win, 2 losses, and 2 ties. We'll aim to set the stats at 2:2:2 after Wed!
Thanks for your support of a great bunch of kids!
Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment