Game Awareness - The "Three Look Pass"

One very important skill to have is game awareness.  Always scanning and checking, and being aware of your surroundings.  When I coach, I joke with my bench that I have ESP, because as I position players, especially on corner set pieces, I'm often times right on where the ball pops out.  It's all about reading where the space is, where holes are, who's marked and unmarked, and predicting play before it even happens by reading those visual cues.

At half time of my U14 boys game yesterday, I spoke about Xavi and how he's always scanning the field, taking mental pictures of his surroundings.  I have a drill similar to this, called the "Three Look Pass."  It's a nice and easy passing and moving exercise, where players 1- look over their shoulder, etc before receiving the ball, 2- look back down at the ball and make sure they take care of the ball, and 3- look back up to find your target.  After the second half started, we had a throw in just in front of me.  I told one of the players that the middle is open, and to hit that space after receiving the throw.  He received the ball, and without missing a beat, he immediately sent his pass forward toward the center of the field, where he connected with a wide open teammate, who played in another teammate, who put the ball in the back of the net.  My prediction became a reality in about 10 seconds, and proved my halftime speech to be accurate.  I also joked that I really deserved credit for that goal.

It was this clip I saw on youtube that I made reference to to paint that picture.  It also has some great additional information from Iniesta and Messi.  Just ignore the lame music.  :)

Just the message... "How To Build A Footballer."

While doing some research, I came across this message.  It's everything I've been trying to preach to my teams... just tonight, in fact.  I hope you all find some inspiration in what Arsene Wenger has to say, and are ready to be a true footballer...

Juggle, Juggle, Juggle...

This is where persistence and hard work pays off with juggling...

It won't come easy at first, but I promise... if you keep at it, this will be the end result.  Go get your juggles in today!!!  :)

GIRL POWER!

It's been a long time since I had a team activity with the U12 girls. We spent an hour on some technical training, then headed to Beadles to make a bracelet. They are such a FUN bunch of girls. Some of them I've been coaching for almost 3 years now, some for almost a year, and some are new to the team. When we got to Beadles, three of the girls showed up with self-made "Team Sly" t-shirts. I LOVED IT!

So the plan for making bracelets was that everyone picked out a bead that represented them, and got 17 of the same beads. They then gave a bead to each girl and coach on the team, and made their own bracelet in whatever order they wanted.

Look at them hard at work! Even Tony joined in the fun.

An overall success. The girls were amazingly quiet in the shop, and were very respectful. I love a well behaved team! :)

The end product... Of course we were still missing a few of the girls as they were out of town. We missed them, and made them their bracelet for them. I hope that the next team activity we have everyone there. I hate having girls miss out. It's these moments that make a team stronger.

Team Goals for Tens!

Saturday was off to a busy start. I had an extended training session with the U10 Strikers boys where we could get some good technical work in, and work on building the offense. The boys did great, and by the end of training said how much they loved the session. I was glad to hear that as this was a new session I created. After the training session was done, I brought the boys in for our whiteboard session, and surprised them with chocolate milk and donuts.

Note to self... get more chocolate donuts next time.

I started off going over positions and roles, and breaking up the thirds of the field length wise and width wise. I then had them write 3 personal goals they would like to accomplish over the spring season along with a short little paragraph on what "Play with passion" means to them. We then talked about how important it is to possess the ball, and created 5 team goals for the spring. They were pretty ambitious, but definitely achievable with hard work. I can't wait for the season to start!

As you can see I had their undivided attention! :)

INFINITY 98 BOYS SCRIMMAGE

Today we scrimmaged ISC Thunder. It was our first real test outdoors, and we did pretty well. Here are the possession numbers...

Total Complete Passes = 255

Total Attempted Passes = 419

Total Possession Percentage = 60%

Here are the individual totals...

Alex - 1st half = 53% - 2nd half = 50% - Game Total = 52%

Alexis - 1st half = 54% - 2nd half = 90% - Game Total = 65%

Benji - 1st half = 87% - 2nd half = 75% - Game Total = 81%

Cody - 1st half = 61% - 2nd half = 33% - Game Total = 48%

Efrain - 1st half = 25% - 2nd half = 54% - Game Total = 39%

Jacob - 1st half = 47% - 2nd half = 66% - Game Total = 52%

Joseph G - 1st half = 65% - 2nd half = 66% - Game Total = 65%

Joseph K - 1st half = 66% - 2nd half = 71% - Game Total = 69%

Kendon - 1st half = 54% - 2nd half = 37% - Game Total = 47%

Kolton - 1st half = 72% - 2nd half = 61% - Game Total = 67%

Kyler - 1st half = 54% - 2nd half = 60% - Game Total = 57%

Nate - 1st half = 50% - 2nd half = 36% - Game Total = 42%

Nico - 1st half = 69% - 2nd half = 76% - Game Total = 72%

Noah - 1st half = 55% - 2nd half = 25% - Game Total = 46%

Reggie - 1st half = 60% - 2nd half = 66% - Game Total = 64%

This is a starting point. For some, they need to step it up. Others are right on track. We ended up tying, 2-2, thanks to goals from Alexis and Reggie. We just need to clean up our mistakes defensively, and we'll be set for the season.

THOSE CRAZY BOYS...

My U14 boys team hadn't had a team night in a long time, so tonight I had them come over to my house to watch the Liverpool vs. Arsenal game, eat some pizza, and get excited for the season to start. I pulled out some game footage of their very first game at the Striker's tournament last summer. They were amazed at how slow their speed of play was then. It's incredible to see how much a team can change in six months. We had some great laughs watching game tape, I showed them a video on team unity, and finally, we had a crazy idea to go night sledding. Since it has snowed all week, there was just enough to hit the hill across the street, so we headed out for some fun.

You gotta love spontaneity! That's what makes our experiences that much more memorable. We missed Joseph G, Benji, and Jacob. Maybe next time, guys.

Alex and his faces. He and Efrain aka "Frank" got some good spray going on.

Nate ended up trampling over Kendon at the bottom of the hill. No worries... Kendon lived.

The two light-weights, Cody and Kolton caught some good air on this run as they flew down the hill. Poor Kolton and his bare legs...

Nico, Alexis, and Joseph K. had too much dead weight. They didn't get too far this time.

The fatties ended up breaking the sled. I guess I'll need to condition them more. :) We headed back to the house to get some cardboard boxes to slide down on, and Geebs ended up spotting the green saucer in the garage. Let the fun continue...

Kolton insisted I be the first one to go down on the saucer. Of course the coach can't be a wuss, so I had to rise to the challenge... and rise, I did. I caught some serious air while facing backwards. My butt is going to be pretty bruised tomorrow.

Reggie was a DEMON on the hill! He almost took out half the team.

Geebs somehow was able to face forward the majority of the time.

I won't repeat what Noah was yelling on the way down... He must have been real real scared. I think he choked Alex pretty good.

Tonight was a great night! These boys crack me up, and I can't wait for the season to start and see how much they have improved. Watch out teams! We're coming after you!

MOTIVATION

It's been a long time since my last post. With all the intentions of keeping up with it all, it just was always on the back burner. I'm hoping to turn a new leaf, and keep a way to stay connected to my teams, players, whether they are former or current, and all my soccer friends.

I came across this video that gave me the motivation I needed to get it done. Here's to picking up the pieces and pushing forward...