Training - Wednesday, Apr 9

5v5 to Targets

Repetition Shooting

4v4 to Goal - Defensive Clearances 

Training - Monday, Apr 7

Technical Passing

Speed Work

One Touch Give & Go

Reverse Give & Go

Partner Give & Go

3-Man Combination 

Defensive Clearances

3-Team Finishing 

Let the Postings Begin... Hopefully

So I'm watching Good Morning America, or some show like that, this morning when I'm fixing Emmri (my 18 month old girl) her favorite breakfast of strawberries, bananas, and multi-grain waffles, and I see a piece on people who blog for a living.  They say that these dedicated bloggers are coming down with illnesses due to lack of sleep, exercise, etc.  This poor guy conferenced in via webcam looked like the walking dead, with a wall full of empty Red Bull cans as his back drop.  8 million viewers daily to his site. 

I can relate in a way.  It's tough for me to find time to update this site this year and I know that I won't be able to give the detail I did last year with the girls training sessions as it takes me a lot of time to design the graphics.  I will do my best to once again provide insight though as we look to kick off our spring outdoor soccer season here in MN.

I'd like to welcome our readers from the great state of Washington, from Chicago-land, and from the St Louis area.  I know you've found this site through your own local blogs and coaching websites, and I REALLY, REALLY appreciate the nearly 100 emails submitted in the last few months expressing support for what some of us are trying to do here in MN.  It means a lot to me to hear about the all-too-common battles that parents, coaches, club directors, and state level volunteers deal with when trying to address the development of the higher level athletes.  I know many of you have used this site as a resource and I've done my best to reply to every email submitted.  Trust me when I say the last few months have been a whirlwind in my soccer life, and as I've mentioned to many of you, though I haven't posted into the public domain everything that has been happening, interested readers can buy the book when it comes out :)  I'm not kidding.

Regardless, I'll do my best to keep up with updates this spring/summer.  Wish me luck. 

It's been a long winter.

Finishing Up in Vegas

Game #4 vs Real Colorado

Cold, wet morning in Vegas.  Woke up to the early morning sounds of rain pelting my window, knew it was going to be cold and windy as well.  Tough conditions for a game, especially one on a hard, fast turf field.

Luckily, the rain swept past us and the game was going to be a dry one.  Still lots of wind though, and 45 degrees.  

We arrived at the field to find the park locked.  Perfect.  It wouldn’t have surprised us much to find out that the tournament officials had neglected to inform the park that there were games moved to that site.  Cook called Saeed, amazingly enough got an answer (not a message saying the voice mailbox was full), and Saeed let us know someone was coming to open the gates to the complex.  Odd were still long that we'd see a ref crew this morning

We finally got in around 7:30AM for an 8:00AM kick off.  Ohio Premier was already on site.  Their opponents (Utah Avalanche) and our opponents (Real Colorado) were no where to be seen.  Our thought was that they both went to the other soccer complex where the games were initially scheduled for 6PM last night.  

Utah eventually rolled into the parking lot at 7:35AM, with Real Colorado in five minutes later.  We saw a handful of officials as well, so we settled in to prepare for the contest.  

We started in a 4-4-2 Diamond that had proven highly effective for us in the last game and a half.  We had the wind behind us in the first half and looked to press the attack with the advantage.  

The girls played some of their best soccer to date, and Real, Colorado State Cup finalists to the Colorado Rush who impressed me in our game in Arizona a few months ago, were no slouches.  But full of confidence from yesterday afternoon’s result against FC Penn, the Goo Girls kept possession of the ball very well, stringing numerous passes together, working the ball from side to side on the field.  Obviously, the possession play helped us in these conditions as most balls over the top would have had to have been played nearly perfectly to pass the Real defenders, yet be weighted well enough to give our forwards a chance of tracking the balls down.   

We got on the scoreboard about 3 minutes from the end of the half.  After about 7 or 8 passes down our left flank, in to our forwards, and back through our midfield, the ball was eventually swung out to Meagan (RD) attacking down the right touchline.  Meg took a good first touch, beat her marking defender with a stutter step, then sent in a great low, hard cross that Bidi (RM) slid at at the near post to deflect past the Real GK.  Great goal for us at an opportune moment.  

Second half, though against the wind, the girls continued to play well.  Real was dangerous on some of their corner kicks, but other than that, we actually still continued to have a lot of the play.  Game ended 1-0 good guys in a well played game, all things considered.

* * * * *

Decent finish to a tough event.  Tough Friday games as we looked to adapt to the conditions (as all teams did), very good battle against the Region I champs yesterday FC Penn, and a solid team performance today to end it all.

FC Penn would go on to beat Sereno (AZ) in the final to take the Vegas championship.  I saw Sereno play twice in Arizona in January, but FC Penn was, to me, the better team.  

Now off to the Luxor poker room to try and make up for my weekend expenses!