Training and Gopher Game 9-14

The plan for today was to get in a light training session before the University of Minnesota's home opener against Dayton.

Training Session

For the session I wanted to focus on ball striking, timing, and the power of positive thinking. 

I had 15 girls at the session so we divided into three groups of 5 for the activity.

I let the girls go for 90 seconds and challenged them to reach different scores with their group.

Key Points:

-Locked ankle

-Good throw

-Quick feet

-Belief that you will hit a good volley.  If the ball comes to you and don't hit a solid volley because you are afraid to mess up, more often than not you will mess up.  You need to believe in your abilities.

-Ability to recover from a mistake and get back on track.

For fun and a challenge to end the training I had the girls attempt the rotation using only thier heads.  No hands.  We were able to get 6 headers in a row.  Pretty good.

U of M Game vs Dayton

After the session we walked over to the stadium to watch the U of M play Dayton.  We were having our Bangu Tsunami Club Night at the game and it was great to see so many Bangu girls out there.  The stands were filled and it must have energized the Gophers because they came out great and scored a nice early goal.  Dayton battled back to tie it before half but the Gophers took the early lead in the second half again only to see Dayton tie the game up in each half to go up by one goal.  But each half the Dayton team made adjustments and scored to tie the game up.  As the game headed to overtime many people got up to leave, but I was happy that our girls stuck around to see the end.  Dayton ended up scoring the winner on a set piece in the second overtime.   

The starting 11 for the Gophers looked really good when they were out there.  I hope to get out more and watch this group play some more this fall. 

Here is the remaining home schedule.  Go Gophers.

Fri, Sep 28

Michigan *

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

7 p.m.

Sun, Sep 30

Michigan State *

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

1 p.m.

Fri, Oct 19

Ohio State *

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

7 p.m.

Sun, Oct 21

Penn State *

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

11 a.m.

Fri, Nov 02

Iowa *

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

7 p.m.

Thu, Nov 08 -  Sun, Nov 11

Big Ten Tournament

Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium

TBA

Training -Sunday, August 9th

After a whole week off from soccer, it seems like forever, we were back at it.  We started off the session with our juggling challenge.  During the week off I sent the girls an email challenging the girls to be able to get 25 juggles with just their feet by a week from today's training.  Why just their feet?  Juggling with your thighs is fun and you can get a really high total that way so we encourage kids to start out by juggling with their thighs.  As you get more confident with your juggling it is important to do less with your thighs and more with your feet because it turns out that when you are playing soccer you end up using your feet quite a bit more than your thighs.  So it is important to develop your touch with your feet. 

Normally I don't like setting a goal for the entire group because each individual player is different, but this is a goal that is both crucial to our team and attainable for everyone if they choose to go after it.

During the week I had a couple of girls email me about how excited they were that they got over 25 with just their feet.  That was great, they were working on it.  In order to pass the challenge the girls have to juggle the 25 times in front of all their teammates at training.  Even though I know a lot of them can do over 25 with their feet it put a little pressure on them to do it in front of the group.  You have to learn to enjoy the stage and enjoy being put under a little pressure.  Hopefully the pressure sharpens your focus and improves your play.  We had two players pass the challenge a week early with Magic and Ricky eaching getting well over 30 juggles.

Now to the session:

Learning from the NSR event we are spending the next month, and probably the entire winter, working on being relaxed, quick, and aware on the ball.  We never want our girls to panic with the ball or be unaware of their surroundings. 

I. Footskills Warm Up:

15 minutes quick foot work combinations with the focus on keeping your head up and looking around the field while dribbling.  Each combo is to be done quickly while being relaxed on the ball with one foot then completed with the other foot.

Touch, Touch, Pull Inside

Touch, Touch, Pull Outside

Touch, Touch, Pull Cruyff

Touch, Touch, Cruyff

Touch, Touch, Step Over- Challenge them to think of as many ways to take the ball away from the turn as possible.

II.  Squash The Ball

We had 14 girls at training so I started out simple with just two squashers.  As the girls got better I added squashers and we played the game within the game of having each girl see how many nutmegs she could get each time.

III.  1v1 Turn Out Of Trouble

The first point of emphasis in this excersise is to teach the girls not to run straight forward, make one move on the defender and hope it works.  Instead we showed the girls how changing direction of the ball or by adding in a couple scissors or stepovers before you get to your defender can unbalance the defender and make it easier for you to get by her.  I encouraged the girls to try multiple moves and little changes of direction, while still moving forward quickly, and to watch the defender's feet as you are dribbling.

The second point of emphasis was realizing when we get into trouble and how to deal with it.  When we get in trouble, run out of space, we like to do one of two things; either a) Put our head down and try to run over the trouble, or b)Boot the ball up field and hope it goes to someone.  Neither of these are very good options.  This excersise works on realizing when you are in trouble and teaching you to play support or square out of trouble.

Same Set Up as 1v1 Stop It On The Line

The variation that we have now is that when you get into trouble, you now may turn and play the ball support  to
your teammate.  After you play it support you go back to the end of your line.
The idea is instead of losing the ball to the opponent, kicking it out of bounds, or just booting it forward, we want to
keep possession of the ball.

Variation:
After you pass the ball support you can stay on the field and make it a two on one against the defender. 
Ways to play:
-If the attacking team loses the ball only the person who lost the ball can defend
-Both attacking players can defend if they lose the ball
-Defender can play the ball support and make it a 2v2
-If ball goes out of bounds the play is dead and a new 1v1 is started

2v1 Restrictions:
Players can only pass the ball square or support in the two on one
-Players can only take two touches in the two on one
-Play the two on one with no restrictions.

III.  7v7 Scrimmage

I wanted the girls to value keeping possession of the ball and still be able to go forward so I implemented the restriction that if you pass it forward and the ball is stolen you have to take a knee for 10 seconds before rejoining the play.  I encouraged the girls to only play the "killer pass" if it was on.  If it was not on, keep the ball.

WWC Pickem' Tournament

Watching high level soccer is very important. The more you watch, the more you know what is going to happen in the games you are playing. If you already have seen the scenario before you can let your instincts take over and you don't have to waste time thinking about what to do. To help motivate the girls to watch high level soccer we will be having the girls participate in our WWC 2007 Pickem' Tournament.

To play simply print out this sheet and circle the winner of each game. If you think that it will be a tie game the circle the entire game. Each correct pick gets you one point. After the round robin games we will make a bracket for the quarterfinals through the finals with a place to pick the winner and the score of each game. Picking the winner right in the knockout stages gets you 2 points. Predicting the correct score gets you a bonus point.

We are also going to be doing a sort of fantasy league for the tournament. For this each girl will get to pick 5 field players and one goalie for the tournament. Each goal or assist that is scored is worth one point for the field players and every save recorded by the goalie is worth .25 points and a shut out is worth 2 points.

Research the teams and players, then make educated picks and sit back and watch your teams perform.

For standings, stats, and research go here and ESPN will give you all the info you need.

Good luck to everyone

(All games are on ESPN or ESPN2 and all times are AM so set your Tivo or VCR's to record the games if you can't get up that early . . . or stay up that late)

Group A

Match 1 Sept 10 Germany v Argentina
Match 2 Sept 11 Japan v Englan
Match 9 Sept 14 Argentina v Japan
Match 10 Sept 14 England v Germany
Match 17 Sept 17 Germany v Japan
Match 18 Sept 17 England v Argentina

Group B

Match 3 Sept 11 USA v Korea DPR
Match 4 Sept 11 Nigeria v Sweden
Match 11 Sept 14 Sweden v USA
Match 12 Sept 14 Korea DPR v Nigeria
Match 19 Sept 18 Nigeria v USA
Match 20 Sept 18 Korea DPR v Sweden

Group C

Match 5 Sept 12 Ghana v Australia
Match 6 Sept 12 Norway v Canada
Match 13 Sept 15 Canada v Ghana
Match 14 Sept 15 Australia v Norway
Match 21 Sept 19 Norway v Ghana
Match 22 Sept 19 Australia v Canada

Group D

Match 7 Sept 12 New Zealand v Brazil
Match 8 Sept 12 China PR v Denmark
Match 15 Sept 15 Denmark v New Zealand
Match 16 Sept 15 Brazil v China PR
Match 23 Sept 19 China PR v New Zealand
Match 24 Sept 19 Brazil v Denmark

Official FIFA Women's World Cup Website

NSR Cup Semifinal vs Grand Rapids Crew Jrs

It was nice to make it through to the semifinals as group winners. I had no idea what to expect from this Grand Rapids Crew Juniors team with their ridiculous scores during the group phase. I was happy with our group play because each game had challenged us. As we warmed up I looked over at their team doing some one touch passing and I was impressed that all of the girls were keeping the ball on the ground with their toe up and ankle locked on all the passes. These girls might be pretty good I thought to myself.

Have you ever seen Billy Madison? Where Adam Sandler goes back to school and has to pass each grade in 2 weeks in order to win his dad’s hotel chain from the evil Erik Gordon. It all ends up coming down to an academic decathlon and one of the events is music. Gordon does an incredible violin solo and Billy follows it by failing horribly to play the clarinet (or some kind of wind instrument, I’m not sure what it was.) After a couple of notes that sound like a mule calling for help Sandler stops playing, laughs and says “He’s Good.”

That is how I felt during this game. We were both trying to play the same instrument but they were so much better. They were under control, had great vision and they made great runs. They were better than us.

About five minutes in they worked the ball down our left side and our midfielders dropped back into our box and occupied the same space as our defenders, leaving their mids wide open on top of the box. Most teams wont look at the players on top of the box when they are crossing and they will just hit it into the box and hope it gets to someone. Not these girls. Before their winger crossed the ball she looked up and spotted their center mid wide open just outside of the box and played a perfect ball to her. She took a touch and shot. It was a shot that AJ would stop 99 times out of 100 but this one got through her hands and ended up in the back of the net. They definitely deserved the goal, but I felt bad for AJ because of how it went in.

Immediately after it went in I remembered a conversation I had with AJ after the Eclipse game where I told her that no matter how another team scores on her, a great shot or a bad one, how she reacts affects our team. Remembering those words AJ got up right away got the ball out of the net and back up to midfield. While I knew she was upset she didn’t show it to her teammates, she just gave the look of someone who despite what had just happened she was going to be ok and it wasn’t going to happen again.

We escaped to half time the score with the score at 1-0.

At half time we talked about this game being the reason we come down to these events. We want to see teams like Grand Rapids so we can judge where we are. We talked about how we were going to react to playing a good team. Were we going to give up and let them destroy us like they had every other team in the tournament up until this point or were we going to come out and battle? We needed to raise our level of play to match theirs.

I elected to keep us in our 4-4-2 starting the second half knowing that we still needed to score and we hadn’t created many chances with just two forwards. I wanted to go to our 3-4-3 but I didn’t think we could defend well enough with just 3 defenders against their attack so I was hoping we could keep the score close for the first 15 minutes and then change it up for the last 15.

The second half was dominated again by Grand Rapids. But to our girls credit they never stopped fighting. Even though Grand Rapids had the lion’s share of the possession we were doing well to not give them many good opportunities. Ten minutes in they got their second goal. We had possession in their half, but I told our center defender to get closer to our weak side defender because while our weak side defender is a good player, she is not going to win a foot race with Grand Rapids fast forwards. Our center defender could. But she did not move over quickly enough, we lost the ball and it was played long to their forward who raced by our weak side defender and put in the second goal. A great learning experience for our girls.

* * * *You have to know what your strength’s are and you cannot be afraid to ask for help from your teammates.

* * * *

20 minutes in they scored a great third goal that was the culmination of great off the ball movement and a finish that ended up in the roof of our net. Great goal.

We had switched to our 3-4-3 by that point and we were getting a couple shots from distance but nothing to spectacular. The game finished 3-0.

After the game we talked to the players and parents, reiterating the fact that this game is why we come down here. We need to see where we are at and be able to set goals to strive for. Winning tournaments is great, but losing some games seems to put a little more glare your weaknesses and in doing so it gives you good reminders of what we need to work on.

We predicted that Grand Rapids would end up winning the final by a score of 6-0 over the Strikers and we were close. It ended 5-0. Congrats to them on a great tournament.

Goals=Frustration

As I was putting the final revisions on our semifinal game against the Grand Rapids Crew I had the US Open on t.v.  Roger Federer, the #1 player in the world for the last 3 and 1/2 years, vs Andy Roddick, typically #3-5 in the world at any given point.  It was a big match.  Roddick is the US's best player and the US Open is his best event.  Federer is simply the best.  Possibly the best ever.  Besides the French open, where he loses in the final most of the time, he wins everything.  His record against Roddick is 13-1. 

* * * *

Watching the match it got me thinking about how you get better as a player.  Tennis is all about reacting to the challenge of your opponent and dealing with the ups and downs of a match.  It is just like goal setting.  You set a goal or give yourself a challenge.  Then you try to reach that goal and at first you will get frustrated. You will get frustrated because, if it is a worthy goal, you wont be able to achieve it without some effort and set backs.  The key is how you react to the frustration.  Frustration is good, it means you are challenged.  But you cannot remain in a state of frustration. Do you become discouraged and give up?  Or do you become more focussed and find the determination to achieve your goal?  Then when you achieve your goal you will find that you want to set new goals and reach new heights.

The formula goes:

Goal= Frustration= Determination (or discouragement)= Achievement of the Goal= Setting of a harder goal- Then Repeat.

* * * *

Roddick had prepared hard for this match.  This was the one he wanted to win, and it showed.  Roddick played brilliantly from the start.  His 146mph serves were flying in for points.  He was powerful, playing smart and sticking to his game plan, after points he would get pumped up and look excited.  He was into it.  The only issue was that for every great Roddick point or game, Federer would have a smooth and perfect response. 

It was fun to see the difference between the two players.  Roddick, the underdog, showed tons of energy, emotion and power.  He was going at 100mph the whole time.  Federer, the unquestioned champ, used a variety of shots, showing off his wide range of skill, he used power when he had to but it was not his only weapon.  The only emotion he showed was a mild sign of annoyance when one of his shots didn't go in.  He expected everything to drop for him.

Federer was challenged by Roddick in the match.  But with each game that Roddick won, Federer would simply answer back with a win of his own until he had to win the tie breaks, which he always won. 

Roddice was great to watch.  He gave all he had to give.  But, I loved watching Federer.  Through all the ups and downs of the match he remained cool and confident.  He didn't have to prove that he was powerful all the time.  He did not go at 100mph all the time.  Actually 146mph to be exact. Instead he did what each individual situation called for.  He read the game and he was able to do everything that the game asked of him. 

Roddick took the first two sets to tie breakers with Federer winning both of them and then Federer cruised in the 3rd set.  The underdog had given the champ everything he had and Federer showed why he was the champ by taking everything Roddick had and doing that little extra.  That little something special all through the match.  Then he advanced to the semifinal to face an opponent whom he is 9-0 against and replied to a question about his opponent by saying: ``I've got a pretty good record against him. Never lost,'' Federer said. ``But let's not get ahead of ourselves.''