7-Goal Outburst Lifts U10s Spirits;
U14s Drop 3-2 Decision In Injury Time
Some Other Notes Too!
OSSC Updates:
What a great stretch the club is enjoying. From the proceeds of the AGM in April, many improvements are being brought to the training facility...I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I will say this: Colgate Salvage got raided on Friday June 1st and it took several trucks to do it! So many people to thank, including those who took time on a Friday to come to Hamilton and loan their time and vehicles, but also all the generous souls who took part in the various fundraising efforts at the AGM. It is money very well spent, I can assure everyone.
A few of the U19s joined us for the USA/Brazil debacle on Wednesday at Rusch's in Hamilton, and a quick (and incomplete) college report: Nate Roman is off to Brockport, Sam Owens to Ithaca, Travis Regner to TCCC, Andrew Debraggio to Georgetown, Jerod Gibson-Faber to Colgate, and Steven Keil to RIT...There are others, and I'll try to post them here. Jerod will work with the men's soccer team as a student coach/manager at Colgate, and the rest are trying out for their respective teams, save Debraggio at Georgetown. It's too bad for soccer that he won't play there, but the education is well worth the sacrifice, and he's going to have a blast in DC...perhaps he'll continue his coaching career down there and keep inspiring younger boys to love the game as much as he does!
U10 Weekly:
Erik Geier, Mark Lydford and Brady Morris all tallied once against Salt City, and Ethan and Parker Scholl each finished on a brace to to renew the team's confidence following a slightly less auspicious week previously!
For all this, however, the sober coach (voice of cold reality) the SC team simply wasn't as good, or as deep. I must credit their coaches (despite having two running up and down sidelines as though they were ARs...tacky, tacky...) for having their boys play the ball on the ground, even on set pieces, and trying to do things the right way. Encouraging, in that regard, from last week's histrionics.
More relevantly, the energy and improvement to be seen in this team over the last four sessions, including Tuesday's game, is remarkable. There's a lot to be said for letting the boys be boys, and the foul play we see in training does run over at times, but in the long haul, the contact has made guys like X and Brady, who started the year far less physical, into players who seek out contact and play with an edge. X in particular has shown a marvelous improvement in his desire to plow into opponents, and he has gained confidence in his technical ability, making many long runs with the ball at his feet successfully.
When his teammates mention (gripe) about X in this regard, that he needs to pass more - and they say it about most of their teammates at one time or another! - I did mention to them, and X, that at this age group, it is possible to dribble the length of the field at times...but as they get older, the field gets bigger, defenses get better, and there will be more defenders as the boys reach 11v11...and he, as they all will, will eventually see the value of passing the ball to get forward. But what a sight it will be if that group has 11 players when they are older, all of whom can dribble out of trouble, or beat two defenders to create man-up advantages and offer a highly unpredictable offensive look!
 |
Edgar Davids, Dutch legend
...or...
Erik Geier with a tan...? |
In closing, I suspect it will be like this for the U10s. So long as we remain confident in the approach we take in teaching the game to our youngest, we'll have very high days and some very low days. It was very early in my coaching career that I learned not to get too high when we were up, or low when we were down; it's just too stressful to live and die on results. That's not to say I don't care about winning (at the college level, certainly!) but just that when we win, I enjoy it up to and with my snifter of Knob Creek, then turn off the light and wake up the next day as though it never happened. Losses stay with me a little longer, but like an ember, rather than a fire, they provide slow, steady heat to my work, never out of control. I must do a better job of helping the boys realize this (though I mustn't take away the pure joy they showed after a nice win like the one this week...still makes me smile!) and their parents...I doubt seriously that this week's result will have any effect on our odds for next week, though the boys will have a certain confidence after a win. In all likelihood, the team with more better (older) players will most likely win. And we, none of us, should let that deter us from the path we're taking, nor depress the confidence and satisfaction our little guys should enjoy for all their hard work and tremendous progress this year...so far!
U14 Weekly:
A tough road loss at Jones Road versus Fusion in injury time was disappointing, but the team showed some guts in coming back from a 2-0 hole in the second half (0-0 at the half time break) to tie it up. In fairness, we had Fusion on the ropes, and perhaps could claim to have deserved not just the tie, but a win. However, set pieces featured large in this game; we scored our first on a indirect from 15 or 16 yards out (should have been a PK, but refs with guts are in short supply- he gave a weak obstruction decision, and only the cleverness of our boys made the most of his insecurity as Francesco "Totti" Spoletini served a ball to Alex Wilcox for a cool first-time finish from about the penalty spot, ironically.) Sadly, the game-winner was also a set piece, from a throw-in deep in our half, the OSSC boys let their marking become too loose, and the player to whom the ball was thrown was unmarked, and unpressured. He hit the shot of his life, and that was that.
Results are only part of the story, however. In a game where I am trying to get 18 boys playing time in 70 minutes without totally disrupting the rhythm of the match, the boys all got solid minutes, and again, each guy that came off the bench played right up to the standard of the starting group, more or less - the starters are hardly perfect, too! Gradually, each boy is beginning to show the characteristics of his game, and within the 4-3-3 formation they are becoming both comfortable, and tactically useful. Meaning that in the course of the game, I can make substitutions not because I simply need to give boys minutes, but rather, I can make a change and alter the manner in which the team is playing, even if slightly. With the U10s, for example, subs make little difference to the game, the chaos is going to be there regardless of the players involved. But at this age, the boys are settling into the game and guys like Andrew K. (who I did not anticipate starting a couple months ago) is clearly effective and comfortable at the attacking central midfielder position.
When Andrew tired a little, however, and we were down a goal or two in this week's game, I was able to bring on Kamran who offers a more direct threat; a little faster, more willing to dribble defenders, though less positionally sound and less likely to look for his teammates to help him. There is very little negative in this. Based on a given situation (time and score) one player may be more suitable than another, and that makes our team tactically flexible and harder to play against.
The holding midfielders took a great deal out of the match this week, and while it is tough to learn patience in soccer, they are beginning to see the need for the holding mids to actually "hold." This was discussed with the Colgate holding mids this spring...so it's clearly not easy to master.
Check out that discussion here. I remain, however, very pleased with the boys playing there, too. Dylan C., Totti, and Alex Wilcox did a fine job, and will only get better as they grasp the nuance of balancing for one another, protecting the two center backs, and moving the ball to greater effect.
The least fluid positions on the field are the back 4, where I have written in pen a few names, most notably Evan, Ryan and Geordi. Jared George, Josh "Hoolahoop" Houle and occasionally Zack C. do share the right back duties (Josh did very well in his first shot at it Tuesday) but that line is pretty firm simply because of the talents of the boys playing there, and due to my belief that a back line needs to play together a great deal before they fully master the communication and timing and teamwork required as they walk the tightrope of attacking with fullbacks while defending zonally and holding a high line...and all the other bits and pieces we began discussing in training last week. Josh Farrar, outside of his GK duties did a very nice job giving us a couple minutes in the back, too...it's nice to have an extra option, even so!
Casey O. gave a great 35 minute shut-out performance in goal in the first period, making several key saves. His distribution was shaky at times, but like all the boys, he'll show tremendous progress in the demands of his position in the weeks to come- and he won't get any better if I tell him to hoof it long each time! But on the whole, he gave up no goals, and made the saves that needed saving, and that is all that we can ask most days. Josh F. put in a good shift as well, and brings a much more aggressive style to the position. Despite conceding the goals, he played well - the last goal there was precious little to be done by ANY GK. The first two goals, for sure the ten boys in front of him left a little to be desired defensively, but Josh contributed as well. As the games go along, however, I would expect an athlete of his quality to quickly make the adjustments to his game, and those mistakes be eliminated fairly easily. It's far easier for a keeper to adjust timing than to learn to get off the line with the aggression that Josh does, so he's in a very good spot!
The goals, in the final analysis, came from a couple factors we need to address. First, the game became very open in the second period, mainly due to fatigue, which leads to mistakes and a little less effort. Our particular problems resulting from this openness was that we did not get good pressure on the ball, did not defend with more than one player at a time (no cover for the first defender) and the back line was disjointed. The outside backs would get caught forward, and the center backs were dropping off too deeply; sometimes they had to because of the lack of pressure on the ball in the midfield, or even in Fusion's back 4, but at other times Geordi and Ryan simply gave up space too cheaply. Long balls over our backs are a result of not enough pressure on the guy hitting the ball. Other than the stretch in which we gave up the two goals, the boys did a decent job of these things. But the game demands 70 minutes of perfect, doesn't it? It's a harsh lesson, but but we can take away the knowledge that we lost more due to factors we control than simply being beaten by a better team.
In closing, here is where I anticipate the boys playing. Right side and left side may change frequently, as will the central striker and attacking central mid (9). The holding mids similarly will switch spots (4 & 5), and depending on a variety of secondary and tertiary factors, other changes may be made to respond to a given circumstance. The GKs will get field time when possible, and in all personnel changes I will try to be clear about why I making a given change, especially if it is an unusual change.
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