A New Idea for the Spring

(The picture on the left is a cute one. One of our customers sent it to us. It makes me think how fast our own little girl is growing up.)

For the team's first 4 years, I've emphasized dribbling over passing. I think the younger years are the best chance these kids will get to gain confidence with the ball at their feet. This was their chance to learn to beat a defender 1 v 1 (or v 2 or v 3). As the players grew, they learned to pass at the right time with very little input from me.

We lost a lot of experienced players last summer and I didn't adapt my coaching to the new situation. I continued to primarily emphasize the individual skills and didn't really work on passing tactics. I expected them to develop naturally as they had in the past. They didn't. As a result, we had very little passing. Our team relied primarily on our most experienced player to do most of the offensive work. The newer players didn't really understand where to go when they didn't have the ball and I'm not one to micromanage the situation.

I have an idea for teaching the girls how to move off the ball. I'm really looking forward to trying it out, but we won't start practicing for several more weeks. The key to the idea is that there is an obvious trigger point. In other words, I'm trying to keep it very simple. I'm thinking the girls are mature enough to understand there should be a "V" with the player with the ball at the bottom and a player at each tip. When the ball is passed forward, a new "V" must be formed. If the player that initiated the forward pass runs to the missing spot in the new V, we should get some good off the ball movement. The trigger is, "If you pass the ball forward, run forward." In other words, "Give and go." It sounds simple, but I'm sure it'll be much more challenging in real life. Right now, we usually pass and watch. Hopefully by emphasizing that she should run forward after every pass, even if she's not sure where to go, we'll get some good off the ball movement and get to see more time on the ball in open space where they can use those individual skills we've been working on.

-Bill

An Example of Creativity in a 5 year old

Again this season, we will focus on fun and development. If you're interested in learning about the coaching approach I try to use, a good article that you can read in just a couple of minutes is here: http://footy4kids.co.uk/developing_skilful_players.htm

An example of what I hope to cultivate happened just this week. The kids and I were playing "PIG" (like HORSE in basketball) in the backyard with the soccer ball. The "shot" was to touch the ball around a big toy and shoot it at the "goal" with your left foot. Well Justin (just turned 5) decided he would go over the toy instead of around it. He flicked it over the toy and into the goal. He looked at me to see if it was ok. Of course, I said, "Yes." He then said while pointing to his head, "I used my brain!" I just laughed and told him he was absolutely right. This is the creativity and skill we want from all of our players.

Player development using Guided Discovery takes time, but leads to true understanding. Understanding feeds confidence which in turn feeds creativity. These unexpected moments of creativity are a big part of what makes soccer the "Beautiful Game" to me.

See you soon,
Bill

P.S. If your daughter wants to play goal keeper, practice punting!!!

Game 3 Notes

Parents,

 

Once again, I'm very proud of the way our girls played.  We are showing tremendous progress.  I can't tell you how proud I am of the intelligence with which our girls are playing.  They are making so many good decisions.  With a little more improvement in technical skills (which are improving rapidly), we should break through some scoring barriers.  Once we start scoring more, that will be fuel for their tanks.

 

One way you can help our team is to emphasize to your daughters the importance of preparation.  They need to understand that preparation is an integral part of any activity we pursue.  They should savor preparation knowing that they are doing everything they can to do their best every time they play the game.  Like pouring chocolate syrup into your milk, you smile while doing it because you know its going to taste so good.  We must support them in this. 

 

This may seem like a small thing, but it brings the point home.  One way you can help is to make sure your daughter's shoestrings are double knotted for every practice and game.  If they are too short, buy longer ones.  If they won't stay tied, buy new ones.  Shoes coming untied while we're playing is a real sign of a lack of preparation.  Please help with this.  Tying a shoestring in practice or a game should be a very rare event.

 

If you'd like to take it one step further, working with your girls to improve technical skills (dribbling, kicking, receiving, anything involving her and the ball) would be great.  Even if it's just kicking the ball around with good form for 5 minutes an evening, the brain will "chew" on these physical motions overnight and her skill will improve quickly. 

 

Finally, please DO NOT help your players with tactical skills (positioning, where / when to pass or dribble, etc).  I firmly believe these tactical skills are best learned at practice with a method called Guided Discovery.  You cannot teach these things with words or diagrams; the girls must learn these through experience.  If you try to teach your daughters tactics, it will only place doubt in their mind, lessen their self confidence and will cause them to hesitate on the field.

 

One more thing.  I will aim to end the Wed practice no later than 6:30 (starting at 5:30 of course).  Since this is a school night, I don't want things going too late.

 

Thanks,

Bill

 

Superstars 2008 Fall Game 1

Parents,

I do want to note a couple of things from game 1. First, I've very pleased to see that girls having such a good time. This is our # 1 objective. Second, I was very pleased with how hard the girls played the entire game. Third, while many children in this league have played upwards of 50, 60, 70+ games in their lives (it was Cassie's 80th MSA game), over half of our team had yet to reach the 10 game mark. For 3 of our players, this was their very first game. Clearly we have a lot of room for technical and tactical improvement (including the head coach), however, we are most certainly at the bottom of a very steep learning curve where rapid improvement will occur.

If we keep it fun and encourage preparation and effort, results will follow. Focus on the positive. Don't focus on the score even if we win. Ask the girls what they liked the best. Tell them you're proud when you see them try something difficult, especially if it didn't work. Ask them what they plan to work on and accept their answer even if you think it should be something else. This is all part of keeping it fun and allowing them to express themselves through the sport. This will keep them playing soccer for years and years.

Thanks,
Bill

Some Great Things

Just have to say, we had the boys 3rd practice today. We started it off with a game which I could have called "Send it into Space". I took each boys ball and kicked it as high as I could. With each kick, the boy would give a cheer and go running off after his ball. Of course, he had to dribble it back to me if he wanted me to kick it again. I've never seen so much fast dribbling. They had a blast.

However, the next event is the thing I really wanted to write about. We got all 6 boys on the field with one ball, two teams, and two goals. The next event was the miracle; they played soccer. I couldn't believe it. We had dribbling and tackling. We had goals and own-goals. We had goal kicks and kick-ins. It was so encouraging and they were so proud of themselves. I think they could sense that they had come together and done a good thing and had a ton of fun doing it.

Another encouraging thing was finding out what some of my girls did on the first day of school. Many of them made "me bags". I didn't know what that was, but apparently its a thing they decorate with their favorite things and store some of their favorite things in it. I'm still not 100% clear, but several of our players, including our newest players, girls that have only been to 2 practices and no games, chose soccer as their theme. I'm so thrilled that even with such a small experience base, they've enjoyed the sport so much that it is one of their favorite things.

-Bill

Let the Fall Season Begin

I've coached my daughter's team for 4 years now and we're moving into our 5th year. With 4 years of coaching experience, I felt pretty well prepared to coach a 2nd team, my twin boys' brand new U5 team. As you may guess, I could not have been more wrong. It was a complete disaster.

Perhaps it was the 100 degree temperature (though it didn't feel that bad). Perhaps the kids were tired from staying up too late on these long summer days. Perhaps 4 year old boys are just completely different than 4 year old girls. To say the least, practice did not go as planned.

I called the boys together to start of practice. I kept the talking really short (as any "good" coach would) and we got right down to the business of kicking the ball around.

Lesson # 1: Make the box bigger.
After showing them a couple of ways to dribble the ball, we did the classic dribble around the box drill. Six boys just learning to dribble needed a little more space than I expected. What happened next was a little unexpected. When they dribbled the ball out of the box on accident, instead of just dribbling back in, they started throwing fits. I guess we're a team of perfectionists. Well, not everyone. We had one that just decided it was too hot and he needed to go sit in the shade. I think another one joined him, but I was so busy trying to explain that "you just keep trying when things don't go right," I lost track. I had parents helping all over the place. There was very little soccer going on.

Lesson #2: No box is big enough.
OK, we'll get rid of the box and do some wide open dribbling. Well the boys tended to cluster anyway and boy1 would kick boy2's ball and here we go to "fit land" again. For the few that survived long enough to get near a goal, when they missed the goal this too was cause for whining and crying. Water break!

Lesson #3: No activity is safe.
"Alright boys, come over here and sit down. We need to settle down a bit. Let's get to know each other." Well this activity was actually going well. No one was crying. Everyone was present. Then all of the sudden we realize the recent rain as brought out the fire ants and they're attacking us! Luckily, I think I'm the only one that got bitten, but once again parents and kids were all over the place picking fire ants off of our little soccer players.

We never did play any soccer. All I could do was laugh and tell the boys that it was time to go play in the water (there was a water park where we practiced and the plan was to play there afterwards). I'm sure the parents are wondering what they've signed their boys up for, but they did laugh with me and assure me things would go better (because they couldn't get any worse).

We practice again next Monday. My mother has said she'll pray for me. I think I will need a miracle.

-Bill

The Approaching Season

The fall season is approaching and, as usual, I can't wait. I just completed the class to get my coach's "F" license. We spent several hours outdoors doing drills and games. The sun was beating down and there wasn't a breeze to speak of. The temperature peaked at 106 while we were out there. I'm pretty used to the heat from playing with the kiddos, but I have to confess that it was "hot". I also have to say our instructor is one tough dude. He was certainly the oldest person out there and he was working just as hard as we were. By the way, I had a blast playing the small-sided games.

We found out that our league has decided to better comply with the US Youth Soccer suggestions for playing rules for the younger kids. This will mean smaller teams (than expected for the new year), smaller fields, and bigger goals. I think its great. (You'd think from the way some of the coaches reacted that we were banning soccer in our town; I think they were more concerned about how the changes affect them rather than what's best for the kids.) The field sizes will be significantly shorter which will encourage having kids play both offense and defense. It will also encourage better ball control as opposed to the kick and chase tactic. The kids will get more touches and have to make more decisions. Its going to be more fun than ever. Fun is the big advantage recreational soccer has over club soccer. We really need to keep this in mind as coaches.

While there were many important points in the class, I wanted to make a special note about this point: we should coach the kids in terms of 1st defender / 2nd defender and 1st attacker / 2nd attacker rather than positions. The players should not feel constrained to certain locations on the field. Instead, they should "read the game" and do what needs to be done. That may mean supporting an attack, applying pressure, covering for the 1st defender, or any of a number of different things. I'll experiment with this and see what happens. I've always struggled getting my backs to better support attacks; this may address that. By playing on smaller fields, we will better enable this type of play. I think it will be even more fun too.

How to Pass the Soccer Ball

I think many of our girls really need to spend some time (it takes time to learn some things) practicing the most fundamental skill in soccer, kicking the ball. It really just takes practice, practice, practice. If you can spend some time with them kicking it back and forth or setup a kicking wall, I think you could see some significant improvements in a short period of time. There are several different kinds of kicks. Here are some key points to making a successful passing kick. A good pass will roll along the ground with some top-spin as opposed to popping-up in the air and bouncing toward the target.

Here are the key points:

• She should start with a little pass to herself; just a light touch on the ball to get it out in front of her. (She should use a similar touch when receiving a pass; keep the ball and her feet moving.)
  
• She should pick her target.
• She should draw an imaginary line from the target through the center of the ball.
• She then looks at the little spot on the back of the ball where she will kick it.
  
• Her left foot should plant beside the ball (not behind it). If the ball is rolling away from her, she'll need to aim to put her left foot a little in front of the ball.
  
• Her left toe should point where she wants the ball to go.
  
• She should drive her right foot through the center of the ball using the inside part of her foot with her ankle locked and her toe up (to make the ball roll on the ground).
  
• Her follow-through should go toward their target. She should maintain good balance through entire the kick.
  

And you thought kicking the ball was simple....

Licorice (Black) Sports Jersey Comments

Please post any comments on this jersey. Hopefully there will be lots of good things, but tell us the bad as well so we can improve.

Our First Game of the Season

Let the season begin. It was a beautiful Saturday for early March. It was warm enough to work up a sweat, but not hot by any means.

We had lots of "firsts". It was actually the first time we've had all 10 kids together at one time this season. For 3 of our players, it was their first game ever. For 3 other players, it was the first time they'd played goalkeeper. One of them punted the ball like she'd never done in practice.

Our midfielders really hustled and "crashed the goal" very effectively. Our backs had some excellent passes from the back to the front which created some good scoring opportunities. Our forwards used their moves to get some great shots on goal. There's certainly plenty of stuff we need to practice, but Saturday's results were excellent.

And didn't the uniforms turn out nice. I think the girls loved them.

Youth Long-sleeve Mock Tee

Purplicious Sports Jersey

Razzle Dazzle Sports Jersey

Youth Soccer Socks

Girls Soccer Skort

Stars Print Sports Jersey

Cheetah Print Jersey Comments

Please post any comments on this jersey. Hopefully there will be lots of good things, but tell us the bad as well so we can improve.

A Pre-season Message to the Team

(While I can't wait to see the new uniforms and will add an entry as soon as I see them (after all, this is a blog affiliated with Breakaway Fashions), the message below is one I send to the team at least once a year. Hopefully it gets better every year...)

You've heard it from me before and you'll hear it again, but it's really important. We coach the girls to learn the game in practice. What I mean by "learn" is understanding the goals, rules, and tactics of the game. The match is a chance for the girls to test their skills and see what we need to practice. In order for the girls to gain real understanding, they must:

• Experience soccer situations,
• Incorporate that experience into their personal model of the world,
• Figure out which new experiences can be used to make the model better,
• Try something new and build upon that model with another round of experience. (They're motivation to improve technical skills comes from this; they see the tactical need for a skill and realize they must practice that skill.)

Honestly, no amount of "directing" (i.e. words) from adults will do much to help them gain true understanding. Even more importantly, direction from adults almost always has the "feeling" of disapproval ("You weren't doing what you should have been doing.") This hurts their confidence and subsequently makes them less likely to try knew things because they want to avoid disapproval; this translates to a fear of failure. They should not fear failure because every mistake they make is a step closer to success. Success is not in the opposite direction as failure; success is on the other side of failure. We need to embrace their failures as long as it was their best effort (no excuses for quitting). You have to go through failure to reach success. Let these girls fail. Cheer them on for their great effort. Have fun and the kids will too. Let their tactical and technical blunders go unnoticed or if it was a brave effort, give them a congratulations for trying. So if your daughter seems out of position, that's ok; in her mind, it's the best place she could be. If there is a glaring weakness, we'll work on it in practice with a well designed game. If your daughter is dribbling instead of passing, congratulate her for her courage; the risks of dribbling the ball are far greater than passing it. (I found an interesting quote on this topic (see below) from arguably the best current player on the U.S. National Team.)

So before the game, during the game, and after the game, focus 3 things. They need to do only these 3 things to succeed on this team:

1. Try their hardest all the time.
2. Play with a smile.
3. Take care of their teammates (good sportsmanship).

From us, no criticism & no coaching. Just enjoy seeing them put forth their best effort.

"As a kid you need to touch the ball as much as you can. You should always be with the ball. You should have a feeling that wherever the ball is, you can do anything with it. No matter where it is, where it is on your body, how it's spinning, how it's coming at you, the speed it's coming at you, anything. You can learn the tactical side of the game later. It's amazing to me that people put so much emphasis on trying to be tactical and worry about winning when it doesn't matter when you're 12 years old. We're going to have big, strong, fast players. We're Americans, we're athletes. But if we never learn at an early age to be good on the ball, then it's just useless."
- Landon Donovan, USA World Cup hero, in Soccer America, July 2002

The Jerseys are Arriving

The solid jerseys are arriving at Breakaway Fashion's office (the prints aren't far behind). The first teams to get their uniforms (jerseys, skorts, and socks) will be in Frisco since their games start this Saturday. (Maybe not looking at the forecast...). Our team's uniforms should be right behind them, but I still need to get sizes! I guess we'll have to make some phone calls; the email replys are not pouring in.

As for the coaching update, I'm simplifying the 2 v 2 game even more...way more...and it's working. I setup a wide field (30 yards, but in hindsight I'll go to 40 yards next time) with a wide goal (4 - 5 yards). I told the girls the only rule is that they start with their ball in the corner (like a corner kick). The girls raced (one from each corner) to get their ball in the goal.

It was good dribbling practice, but that wasn't really my intention. I told them to think about the objective and rules of the game. One girl figured out she could do a pass to herself rather than dribbling to the goal, but with the dead grass on the field this time of year, that was a difficult strategy to execute.

Eventually one girl hesitantly asked me if she could get a teammate to help her. I said yes, that it was not against the rules. So pretty soon she and a teammate were easily the fastest to score because they would put one girl in front of the goal and the other would kick it to her from the corner instead of dribbling. They reinvented the corner kick!

It wasn’t instant success; they took a few iterations to work out exactly where to stand. They also struggled a little with the timing of kicking a ball moving perpendicular to the line they needed to kick it into the goal. Most surprising to me is how long it took the other girls to start communicating with other and use a similar strategy. Even this game is showing an abundance of opportunities for improvement in some of the most important areas.

They still haven’t figured out that even more girls helping in front of the goal would allow them to do a very hard corner kick and score even faster. Maybe they’ll figure that out next week.

After we play this game for a while, we’ll extrapolate this lesson to let them figure out the best way to score after moving the ball up the sideline and deep into the corner. (Does this sound familiar?) It seems obvious to us adults what needs to be done, but I think the girls really enjoy the challenge and are very proud of themselves for optimizing these situations. It takes leadership and communication to put the plan together and pull it off. That sure beats having the coach tell them what to do. Best of all, they’re gaining true understanding of the game which will allow for more creativity in the matches. Their creativity is what makes it the beautiful game.

-Bill

2 v 2 - It's a Good One

Well, we met half of our new girls at this practice and should meet the rest at the next one. They were real enthusiastic. If the other new girls are equally enthused, we're in for a really fun season. One of the new dads offerred to pay for uniforms, but I told him Breakaway Fashions was sponsoring the team uniforms, so he didn't have to worry about it. I'm sure the new girls will be quite surprised when they see they get to wear a uniform designed for girls.

There is a world of learning opportunity with the 2 v 2 game. I'm thinking, that if I simplify it a bit more, it will generate more successes which will lead to an even better learning experience.

• I like starting with a throw-in. The girls definitely need some reps on where to throw it so it's automatic in the game. (i.e. throw it up the sideline)
• I like the throw going into the corner. Getting the ball in the corner is a situation that comes up a lot in the games. We rarely center it up much less have someone waiting at the top of the box ready to receive it, so this will be a good time to learn that.
• The thrower will move onto the field in a cover position. She should move with the ball as the near-side wing passes it to the center.

Now what's been happening is the pressure arrives too quickly for the offensive player, or she is waiting too long. Admittedly, this is how it will happen in the game, but I think I want to simplify it at this point to get them used to the situation. I'm thinking we'll just have a 4 player rotation:

• A thrower,
• A receiver/passer (near-wing),
• A receiver/shooter (center), and
• A goal keeper.
• No defender for now.

No dribbling, just 2 touch soccer. Give them 3 tries and then rotate. This will give the girls lots of touches on the ball in something that can be extrapolated to game-like conditions. If we have 10 players at the next practice, we'll add the 5th as the far-side wing who will crash the goal when the center player takes her shot. We can have this going on each end of the field. If it gets too easy, we can move the 5th player to play an "easy" defender.

Lots of touches in game like conditions. We'll see how this one goes.

Rosters are Almost Here

I can't wait for the rosters to come out. It's like being a kid at Christmas. I don't know why I anticipate it so much. It's not like we're going to get Ronaldo assigned to our team. I guess it's just my general optimistic attitude that the new girls are going to make things even more fun.

I dug up the picture at the top of this article from many years ago. Cassie was a pre-pre-schooler. I mean, kindergarten wasn't even on the horizon. If her next season would be her U5 season, I guess this season would have been U4. We got on the team because she had a friend from her dance class playing and I thought it would be a good introduction for her. She was probably too little. Particularly since the team was a mix of 4, 5, and 6 year olds. I was a rookie soccer parent and had no idea what I was getting into. She was tiny, but she hung in there. If you look at the picture closely, she's wearing a skort instead of shorts. All the parents on the team thought she looked so cute. She didn't actually do much on the field, but all the team knew her name. Little did we know it was the start of something bigger. We were just trying to get her to playd, but she refused to wear shorts. She wanted a girl's soccer uniform, not one for boys. Despite the too big jersey, she was ok with everything if she could just wear a skort. The skort was the thing.

While I'm on the topic, as a parent, I observed this team's practice and noticed how much time the kids spent standing around in lines waiting to do a drill. I didn't have to read a book to know there had to be a better way. When we started the Superstars in our home town at U5, I didn't make that mistake; instead, I made many others, but that's another story. However, I did steal one good idea from this coach. At the end of practice, they'd play a game called "Chase the Rabbit". One of the older siblings would be the rabbit and the kids chased him all over the place. I changed it up a bit and made one girl the rabbit. Which ever teammate would catch her became the next rabbit. I kept rotating the rabbit until all the girls had been the rabbit. They loved it and it used up their last bit of energy right at the end of practice. I highly recommend it.

I've got more stories from the pre-K and Kindergarten years, but those will have to wait.

-Bill

1st Practice This Season

Practice was very interesting. I have to admit I was surprised at how hesitant many of the girls were compared to the end of last season. However, I think we're doing the right things in our practice. The 1 v 0 games went from very messy (the balls were all over the place), to actually pretty sharp after only a few rounds. The 2 v 2 game is a good one to continue with for many practices. At first I thought the game was somehow flawed; the girls just seemed a little lost. I think it was the rapid rotation creating some confusion, but learning to deal with a little confusion is good too. I think it is really just highlighting an area where we have huge room for improvement, communication. The one thing I might change would be to let each team play 3 consecutive rounds as either attackers or defenders before we rotate.

For next practice we should have 4 new girls if we hit the target of 10 players for our team.

Below is a message to my assistant coaches on our practice plan for next week:

1. Start with the 1 v 0 races again. I saw some real improvement in all the players over a short period of time here. We may want to "reward" any clear winner of a heat with a water break or something. If it's close, all race again. Encourage them to come up with new ideas on how to kick or turn the ball. Let's not give them any answers, just ask the question from time to time and encourage any idea (good or bad).
   
2. Next we'll do the 2 v 2 game. With 10 players, we can break it out into 2 groups, one at each goal. Since we'll have an odd number of pairings, we may say something like the gold team does one turn on one end and the next turn on the other end. Some comments on this game:
• We didn't see a lot of shots on the goal in practice because our teamwork on offense was really bad. With only 1 defender to stop two attackers, we should be able to make an easy pass leading to an easy shot. The more we play this game in practice, the more that we'll improve naturally. Again, I really want the girls to "discover" the way to improve their offense rather than us telling them. We can ask "guiding" questions to highlight some opportunities. Remember they need to experiment and self-evaluate to see if their answers are any good. Let's not judge them. (Easy for me to say, hard for me to do).
• The backs did not put a lot of early pressure on the ball. We can pause the game and do the experiment where the back tries to stop the goal by standing well back from the ball vs. right in the attackers face. We may have to do this lots of times. I think our backs will show a lot of improvement playing this 2 v 2.
• This game also gives us a good chance to train several goal keepers. I want them:
• kneeling to stop the ball on long shots,
  
• charging the ball when it gets close, and
  
• covering the near post when the ball is in a corner.
  
• I think with 3 of us there, if one of us is coaching the keepers, we can really help them improve.
  
3. Next we'll scrimmage 5 v 5 with no keepers:
• Throw-ins should be very quick and up the side-line. We're going to have to stop the game at some point and run a drill to work on this.
• We'll let the girls decide on the formation and who plays what positions. It'll be interesting to see how this naturally falls out.
• To encourage the girls to keep their width, we'll probably use the split goals we've used before (I've got 8 flags now.)
  

When these girls were U5 and U6, I didn't know a fraction of what I know now. I did know they needed to have the ball at their feet, but "Guided Discovery" and small sided games were not yet part of my knowledge base. At U7, I started doing a lot of things better, but I think I still provided too many answers and was too quick to point out when things went wrong (I still have to fight that). Now at U8, I think I'm really getting the gist of this. Of course, when next year rolls around, I'll probably look back and realize how much I still needed to learn.

A Superstar's Soccer Jersey

We have the first sample of the jersey the Superstars will wear this spring. I think it looks pretty cool. The name, Star Print, needs some work. Next we need to print the logo and number on it. I guess we'll put "Breakaway" on the back as the sponsor (since they are the sponsor). Just a few more weeks before we see them in their first game with these uniforms.

Also, the Breakaway Fashions homepage has been significantly updated. It's a work of beauty. Thank you Lance.

As a matter of fact, we'll have our first practice tomorrow. Since I expect we'll have 3 or 4 new girls by next week, I'll skip some of the more fundamental games and probably just let the girls get reacquainted and play some 3 v 3 soccer. I will, however, teach them the new thing we're practicing..."crash the goal". It should encourage the girls to follow their shot and their teammate's shot into the goal and collect any rebounds, if a goal is going to count in practice, the offense has to have 3 players touch the goal before 3 defenders can touch the goal. If the defenders get there first, then the goal is erased. We'll see how it works. I think it will really encourage some good habits.

The new uniforms are here!

The new soccer uniforms have arrived! The picture to the left is the pink one called Razzle Dazzle. (I asked, "How does anyone know that's the pink one?" I was told any girl would know.) The cool weather mock turtleneck worn as an undershirt is also available this season. (Isn't it cool how I photoshop'd the person out of the clothes...I'm such a pro.) I need to get a picture of the Superstar pattern that we'll be wearing this season; it is really cool! (On a side note, the battle between me and Mari over the picture taking process for the shopping website is just plain odd. I have my opinions and she has hers. The tempers fly so much you'd think we were "discussing" politics or religion.)

Now I'm the coach, and this blog is supposed to be about coaching these girls. I don't have a lot of time, but let me say this, I've got some really good ideas. One of my favorites is "crashing the goal". In practice, for a goal to count, 3 girls from the offense must touch the goal before 3 girls from the defense. If the defenders get there first, the goal is erased. I think this will solve a huge problem I even see at the professional level with players stopping before the play is really over. I can't wait to see this translate into the games.

More tips later,
Bill