2/23 Field Training: Keep Your Head Up

Apparent disorder is a product of control.
-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

0-10 Tennis Ball Work
QB and Receiver against a Corner Back.  Working on the Corner Back being able to track the receiver and still make a play on the ball.  At the same time we are working on the timing of the pass between the QB and the receiver.

10-20 Footskills Routine

20-30 Receiving Technique

30-55 3 Color Keep Away
For today's session we continued to work on keeping our head up while we play.  The big point I'm trying to get across to the girls is to talk to the people around you before they get the ball.  Keep looking and talking so everyone has the full picture in their head.

-We had 18 players so we divided into three teams of 6 players each.
-Orange and Yellow were on offense first against the Pink team. 
-The offense scored a point for making 4 passes in a row.
-The defense scored a point if they could intercept the ball and put their foot on top of the ball to control it.
-For the first couple of games the teams on offense could pass to either the people with the same color pinney as them or the other color. 
-As we became better I put in the restriction that you could not pass the ball to someone wearing the same color as you.  So Orange had to pass to yellow.

The idea of the game is simple but the execution becomes tough when players are trying to look around before they get the ball and still take a good first touch. 

Most players were did one of two things.  1) They kept their head down and only worried about the ball as it came to them so they controlled their first touch well, but they did not know where to go with the ball so they lost it or held onto it for way too long.  2) They kept looking around for who to pass to next and they did not concentrate on their first touch because they were thinking about the next play so they would take a poor first touch.  It was like the saying in football that "You've got to catch the ball before you can run with it."

This game was a really good reminder to all of the kids that we still need to keep concentrating on making our first touch better.  It should become good enough where you don't have to think about your technique.

55-75 Scrimmage

Ball Striking 2/19 Receive, Relax, and Shoot

One thing I know is that I don't have all the answers.  That's why I'm always asking questions, and why I tell my team that smart people need tutors.
-Roy Williams

Today I wanted to work on having the girls be able to run onto a pass, take a good first touch, relax and take a long shot.  During our game against Dakota Rev we were in this situation a lot and we seemed to rush a little bit.  We shot hard, but not as accurate as we could have because we were to excited to get our shot off.  So today we were going to stress taking a good first touch followed by a look up and relaxing before you unload the shot.

I set up a simple exercise where one player would dribble diagonal and play the runner the ball.  The runner would take a touch, look up, relax, and shoot.  I wanted the dribbler to be going at full speed and the runner to go at full speed until she received the ball to make the situation game like and work on us playing at speed. 

Things did not go well.  We were slow and our passes lacked accuracy.  The girls were messing around in line and could not remember where to run after they played the ball.  Part way through the exercise I called the girls in and we talked about whether or not we could do a little better and hold ourselves to a higher standard.  The girls agreed we could and went back and picked it up a little bit, but not much.

I called the ball striking early and told the girls to get a drink, leave the last 20 minutes behind and be ready to play well in the scrimmage.  The scrimmage started and we continued our poor play.  By the end of the session I had put on the restriction that they had to complete a back heel pass before they could go to goal.  I figured that if we were going to mess around and not look sharp we could at least start to look for the pass to the player who is behind us.  This seemed to work well and there was lots of laughing as they attempted various types of back heels.

* * * *

One of the reasons why I enjoy writing this journal is because it forces me to reflect on our sessions and games thus making me a better coach.  While writing I can determine what worked well and what I can change to make things better.  As I reflect about tonight's session I was upset with myself.  I had not designed a good session.  While the ideas were good, the timing of the session was not right.  This was the fourth day of soccer in a row for the girls and today was the start of their third phase of SPAT training which involved a lot of quick sprinting and agility work that they were not used to so they were a bit tired.  Looking back I should have done a fun shooting competition session or some different types of volleys.

There are times when I get frustrated when a drill is not working how I had imagined it and I ask myself, "How are they not getting this?  It is so simple."  When I am doing a good job of coaching this question never pops into my head because I have already seen how to adjust the drill or talked to the players to make it run smoother.  Today I was not doing a great job since the question came up and I could not make the drill work as well as I wanted it. 

Then we got to the scrimmage and the girls were messing around for the most part and I was getting more frustrated because I knew they could play better.  But then things turned around when I stopped thinking about how the shooting drill had not gone well and how I was upset that they were not going 100% in our Street Soccer game because I kept hearing the girls laugh.   

The session turned on it's head when I realized that almost all of them were consistently laughing, smiling and having a good time.  I felt pretty dumb when I thought about how much more important it was, after 3 days of hard games and a hard SPAT workout, that they were still having fun and enjoying the game rather than grudgingly going through the motions.  This reminded me of something that our U15 and U18 coach Eric Singer always makes sure he emphasizes with his teams.  Having fun.  He tells his teams that;  "If you are ever not having fun let me know and I will do a better job of coaching."  Great advice.

Dakota Rev U13 7v7 Tournament

Dakota Rev Soccer Club Presents
t h e  1 s t  A n n u a l
2008 PRESIDENT'S DAY
W E E K E N D   I N D O O R   T O U R N A M E N T

This weekend while I was in Madison the girls were playing in the U13 Dakota Rev 7v7 tournament.  Mark was coaching the team for the Saturday and Sunday games but we knew that if both the U11's and U12's advanced in their respective divisions that I would need to get back for the championship game on Monday since the U11's would be playing at the same time. 

Both teams advanced so I left Madison at 4:30am on Monday morning to make it back in time for the game.  I had planned on leaving the night before but ice storms had caused portions of I94 to be shut down so I had to load up on SoBe No Fear Sugar Free Energy drinks and leave early in the morning. I arrived to the field about 20 minutes before the start of the 11:00am game.  The other guys on my team still in Madison said I was crazy driving back that early . . . they are probably right.  But I was glad I was there for the game.

In the girls first game of the tournament the girls had tied Wayzata Wizards 0-0.  Unfortunately I heard nothing good about this game.  All the reports I heard said that we were flat and that we had played poorly.  The girls bounced back the next game and beat the Lakeville Attack 3-0.  We played Dakota Rev's U12 team in our last game of the round robin and we needed a win or a tie to advance to the final.  Dakota Rev had already beaten both Wayzata and Lakeville so they were already through.  We prevailed in a very close game by winning 2-1.  With the win we would play Dakota Rev again in the Final.

Before the game I emphasized how important the first 5 minutes of the game would be.  We needed to get the ball in their end and keep it there to set the tone for the game.  If we can do it via dribbling and passing our way into their half that is great.  If we have to play the ball long and put lots of defensive pressure on them to keep it there, that is fine also.  I also reminded them to shoot whenever we got the chance.  I wanted the girls to continue to grow in confidence and feel that they are a threat to score anytime they are in our attacking half.

The game started out and we played the first five minutes in their half.  It wasn't very pretty but we worked hard and everyone was looking to shoot when they got the ball.  The entire game was played at a fast pace and it was fun to watch both teams working on different things.  Dakota Rev did a nice job of moving the ball in the back and tried to keep it until they could go forward.  We were looking to win the ball, combine and get a shot off. 

Throughout the first half Sprout was created a number of chances by using her quickness on the ball to beat defenders 1v1 and set up her teammates for shots.  Dakota Rev had their best chances off of 3 corners and a couple of free kicks.  They have a couple of girls who can really strike the ball well and their free kicks put us under a lot of pressure.  The girls did not crack and we created a number of chances but the half ended tied at 0-0.

During half-time we talked about how we should defend as a team when their defenders had the ball.  We have been talking over the past couple of weeks about when a player from the other team is not in a dangerous position that we don't need to rush to pressure her.  With this idea in mind, I told the girls, that when their outside defenders have the ball stay marked up on their mids and forwards.  Don't leave your girl to go pressure the ball.  Instead I wanted our forward to simply cut off the pass back to the other defender and force their outside defender to either dribble or pass into where we had set up defensively.  This is a pretty advanced topic for young players, but I really felt that they were tuned in today and they could learn this and remember it for future use.

We also talked about the need to keep defending their set pieces well along with making an effort not to give up any more corner kicks.  Offensively I told them that they were doing a great job.  If they continued combining and looking to shoot and the goal would come.  Last thing I told them was to enjoy the game.  It's always fun to play against Dakota Rev because they are a skilled team and the games are always close. 

The second half started and the girls immediately started to pressure the ball as a team and we created a lot of turn overs because our forwards were working hard to pressure their defenders and everyone else was in great position to intercept the passes or tackle the ball.  I was very impressed. 

Fifteen minutes in our pressure led to a turnover in their end and the ball came to Jordy.  Jordy took on to defenders in the box, laid the ball back to Blitz and she roofed the ball into the top of the net.

Later in the half AJ made one of the smartest plays from goalie that I had seen a U12 goalie make to keep us in the lead.  We were pressuring but Rev played a great ball in behind our defenders down the side line to one of their speedy forwards.  If the forward got to the ball she would be in on a break away.  Just before she got to the ball AJ ran in, stole the ball, and dribbled by the girl to clear the ball out of danger.  The awareness that she showed on that play was outstanding since she won the ball 15 yards outside of the box on the side line.

During the closing minutes everyone on the field continued to work extremely hard led by Mack up front putting tons of pressure on their defenders.  When the final whistle blew we had won 1-0.

It was another great game with Rev and we look forward to scrimmaging them at the end of the month 11v11.

Since the girls had not done MVP's for the first games of the tournament we added a couple to today's MVP's:
AJ for her great work in goal and heads up play.
Blitz for scoring another goal against Rev.  She scored all 3 goals against them this weekend.
Mack for playing as hard as we've ever seen her play and using her skill at forward.
Ricky for playing super hard at forward and good passes.
LP for playing awesome defense the entire tournament.

Other Notes:
We had our U11 Boys and our U11 Blue girls in the tournament as well and they both did very well.  The U11 Blue Girls won the U12 division.  The U11 boys lost in the final 2-3 to the PSA Eagles who they had beaten 7-5 earlier in the tournament.  Lots of positive comments about the skill levels of both teams and how fun the games were to watch.

There Are So Many Levels Out There

Anyone who says that playing with boards doesn't involve as much skill has never been to Madison United's President's Day tournament.  For the last four years I have played in the tournament and each year I am amazed at the level of skill that the players involved  in the tournament possess. 

The tournament draws teams from all over the midwest.  The top teams are comprised of former Division 1 and professional players.  As far as my play is concerned, I'm just happy I didn't injure myself and I made it back in one piece. 

We lost in the quarter-finals to the team that knocked us out in the same stage last year, the Madison United Dinosaurs, who went on to win the tournament by beating the Bavarians in the final.  The Dinosaurs had 3 players who had played in the MLS.  During the game I kept thinking "Man, these guys are good and they aren't even in the MLS anymore.  How good are the guys in the MLS?  How good are the guys in Europe?" 

It's one thing to watch players on T.V. and say this player is good and this player is not, but when you actually see them play against you and the competition you play against, you are amazed at how good everyone has to be at those levels.  It really opens your eyes.  This is the big reason to take teams to tournaments and try to educate people that the soccer world is much bigger than your state, region, or country.  There are so many different levels of skill out there that you can always find someone who is better than you to challenge you to improve.  Or in my case, wait until you qualify to play in the over 30 bracket:)