Looking Good

I have to say the girls were playing some good looking soccer this weekend. We had only one practice in the last 2 weeks. In that practice, we worked on back passes and for some reason that really seemed to drive home what I was trying to teach them.

I can’t explain how awesome the player spacing and movement looked. They weren’t getting any direction from the sideline. We had all five field players up pressuring the other team. They were all moving and adjusting and not bunching. We had players passing to the top of the opponent’s penalty box and other players arriving simultaneously to take a shot on the goal. We had one back pass that came out of the corner and moved the ball right around the defense to the top of the box. It was fun to watch.

Of course, we still missed a lot of opportunities in the match which could be attributed to either players missing practices or just a lack of technical skill. But these things are just a matter of time.

We’ll continue to work on the back pass scenario. The way we practice it is:

• Setup with a forward and 2 or 3 backs providing cover.
• The forward starts with the ball.
• The coach pressures the forward forcing a back pass (the back pass “decision” is a bit contrived, but it works)
• If the forward passes to the back to her right (facing backward), she then moves square out to her right.
• The coach follows the ball and applies pressure to the back.
• The back then touches the ball to her left (facing forward) away from the pressure and passes the ball to the space even further to the left of the forward.
• After making the pass, the back “goes” to the top of the opponent’s penalty box.
• Make sure the remaining back(s) are covering and not getting up field and leaving us defenseless.
  
• The forward touches the ball even closer to the sideline away from the pressure while turning up field. She then crosses (passes) the ball to the top of the box.
  

That’s what we worked on. I think by giving the players a target on the field (the top of the box), it helped both the passer and the “goer”. Just the concept of taking the first touch away from the pressure before making a pass is quite a step of progress for the less experienced girls. It also highlighted some opportunities for improving left foot performance. I’m a little worried that by providing a fixed target, that they are missing the point that this technique can apply in different parts of the field. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that.

-Bill

Update on the Breakaway Fashions Website

Our Breakaway Fashions website has come a long way in the last year.  The image to the left is the top of our "home" page.  The image to the right is the bottom.  I think the design is very clever with the dictionary definition and the polaroid snapshots (I can't take the credit for that.  It wasn't me.)

Our shopping page has also come a long ways.  (Now if I can only get this blog to add the picture in a way that doesn't make the formatting of this article very awkward...no, that didn't work.  Let me type a few more words and see if that helps...no, that didn't work either.  Let's try it with a new paragraph.)

(That didn't work either, so I'm just going to cut and paste the raw html.  A yes, now let's see if I can continue writing.)

(It looks like its working.  Excellent.  Back to my article.)

So, we used to be lost in the backwaters of Google where pages wander in unread darkness.  With our new page and some research on webmastering, we managed to get to page 8 or 9 on Google if you searched for "girls soccer uniforms".  Well I checked this morning and we are now on page 2 of Google if you search "girls soccer uniforms".  I think that's pretty good.  My next plan is to allow buyers to add comments for each uniform.  I have yet to try this, but my plan A is to add a blog entry and then link back to it since people can enter comments on these things.  It's kind of a system work around, but I'll give it a shot. 

So please forgive the akward looking updates that will follow.  And give us a thumbs up for making page 2!

-Bill

First Game of the Season

The day of testing arrived.  Did our new offense yield results?  I must admit, the overall result was positive, but there is still a long way to go.  The girls were excited.  All the girls had found their jerseys and skorts (except for one which required an emergency re-order) and the player whose cleats were always coming untied had even gotten new laces.  They all wanted to play.  I wish I could've started them all, but I had to choose only 6 to start, but the rest got in quickly (though the others didn't want to leave the pitch).

I didn't see a lot of "gives" followed by "goes".  I certainly didn't see much rotation.  However, I did see significantly better spacing and positioning.  We had some technical issues with receiving the ball, but we can work on these skills.  I could go on, but I'll leave it at this.  As the game went on, we got stronger and stronger.  Our pressure on the other team built up over the whole game.  Though the scoring came slowly at first, the pace increased as the game went on.  I love a strong finish and that's what we got.  The girls had a blast and the coaches were very happy.

-Bill

One more practice until the first game

Practice seems to be going well.  It's hard to tell for sure.  I think I'm seeing significantly better passing.  I'm sure we have more diversified goal scoring.  However, it isn't the same as playing 6 v 6 against another team.  We just won't know until Saturday.

I did work on goal keeping a lot in the last practice.  I think we've got some good ones.  I'm still worried about them drifting off of their line even when they have a back pressuring the ball.  One of them has kind of the opposite problem and hesitates when it's time to come off her line.  Good goal keeping isn't really why most of the girls are playing soccer so we don't spend a lot of time on it, but it can make a big difference in the score.  

All in all, the girls pretty much just played on their and did a good job.  I made a couple of comments when I saw some good hustle (and a couple of comments when I saw some ball watching), but other than that, some of the girls really took a leadership role and kept their teammates moving.  This leadership is something that makes me very proud to see.

-Bill