The girls did good the season. They've come a long way in the last 2 years when we basically started with half a new team.
(Before going into what we'll do next, let me apologize for not updating this blog much the last few months. It was one of those times when somethings had to drop off the list and sadly this was one of them. I'm getting back into the grove and I hope I can remember some of the things I wanted to say during the season.)
The girls' skills have certainly improved, but there is plenty of room for more improvement; however, if they're not kicking the ball around outside of practice, that improvement will come slowly. I don't complain. The fact is, even my own daughter doesn't even look at a soccer ball in the off season. I'm assuming we're all in the same boat, so let's move on.
Tactically, our back line (2 outside backs and a center sweeper) played fantastic. Pressure, cover, balance. I don't recall ever noting in a game this season that we were leaving a player unmarked in front of our goal. This was our biggest problem in previous seasons and it just went away. Was it coaching? Maturity and experience? I'll never know. Either way, it's time to challenge them again.
The big change I want to add next season is the overlapping run from the outside back. It will require not only coaching her to make the run and the forward to feed the ball into the space in front of her before she's offsides, it will require the other players to rotate around to cover for the vacancy created in the back. This will be interesting. If anyone has advice on this I'm all ears.
-Bill
