Nutrition Class-
There are way to many girls out from both teams this Wednesday due to final track meet. Let's reschedule for next wednesday, May 8th at 7:00 at WieFit. Please bring chairs and don't come in until Group Fitness clears out. Again, Please try and make this a priority, moreso than even a practice. Thanks.
Game Comments- Parents, PLEASE make sure girls read this and watch the two videos before tonight (very short video's, and the second one, they only have to watch and listen to the first thirty seconds). I will be asking each girl who watched this. It will definately cut down on talk time tonight if they all see this.
It was very interesting that when I sent my comments to the coach's, that Coach Eric hadn't seen my email (I sent it to his work email); but when he sent me his comments, they were so exact. This is great because we both were seeing the same things on the field.
Good:
Talk was better. I'm hearing many girls talk. A huge improvement. Girls, I really believe the numbers game we play has created a great habit! We'll continue this as a warm-up before every game. We are going to learn a new word though, that with EVERY pass, I need to hear this word well before the person recieves the ball-- "Turn" or "Man On". "Turn" means you are telling the person recieving the pass that they have time to turn the ball up field (not much pressure behind), and "Man On" means you have pressure from behind, so you will need to either play back, or shield defender hard while holding onto the ball, until options open up.
First Touches were better. Again, not great, but MUCH better than usual. It is our second touch's that seem to get us in trouble. For example, I was SO happy with Morgans first touches. Really well done, out into space to beat a defender. But, the second or third touch was going to goalie. Morgan, great job though! We can't work on second touch until you master the first touch, and it really looked good that game!
Posession (from back) in 1st half--Saw some good possession in the first half (not so much second though). Our backs were switching fields and getting into good position to swing the ball (good job sophie, Ciara, Danielle, Delaney, Hope, Hannah). We need to make this much more consistant though. Second half, we began to clear many times, when we didn't even have that much pressure at times. Some of this was because the other defensive backs were not in position to be OPTIONS to pass back to. I saw that second half where a defender would recieve the ball, and the other defenders then reacted and tried to drop back to be options, but it was too late. Remember, see the play happening, and drop back as an option BEFORE she recieves the ball. That's being PROACTIVE rather than REACTIVE--that 1/2 second is the difference of us clearing it ahead, versus keeping possession and building up an attack/switching fields from backfield. Again though, let's focus on the positive, which was times in the first half where you were options for one of your defenders to pass back to.
Fullbacks/Defenders and Goalie's defense on the ball: Our back four and Olivia continue to really defend well on the ball (not talking about when WE have the ball, but when other team does). Many of your girls used to "dive" into the ball, allowing the girl to make a move and go around. I've now witnessed great "patience" on the ball. You girls really play "pressure/delay" and Cover and Balance very well. And Olivia, your saves, talk, keeping the back four organized--it's been great.
Midfielders in first half, looking to switch fields: This was great, as we had been working a lot on this--playing away from pressure. This allowed Morgan many 1v1 opportunites on the wing. We got away from this the second half though.
Area's for Improvement:
Checking back to recieve the ball: I can't count the number of times our forwards or midfielders did not check back to recieve the pass and no idea if a defender was on approaching them or not. Almost every time, we would wait on the pass, or as the pass was coming, we began running the other way; each time, the defender would step in and win the ball. WE ARE GOING TO FOCUS on this tonight. Coach Eric will be running practice on this tonight and I will be playing a supportive coaching role this evening. Most of this is simply because your stance is "back to goal", versus being in a "sideways" on stance. Being sideways on allows you to see both defender and ball, so you know when you have to check to recieve, and possibly shoulder off or shield the defender's high pressure in order to win the ball. Playing with back to defender doesn't allow you to see if she is coming in with pace from behind. Here is a video that you all have seen: Watch this before tonight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGDtZ01-jY4
Always trying to Turn the ball into pressure: This goes along with how to check back to ball. Many times when we did recieve a pass at midfield or forward, we would try to instantly turn into our defender. Tonight, we are going to focus on checking back to win the ball, and instead of always turning (which is OK sometimes if you know you can turn), we are going to look to play ball back, while other striker or outside mid is making a forward run. This combination play has GOT to begin to become a part of our game. We have worked a lot on this in practices, but haven't done it in games. It will throw the defense off! Here is the video so you know what I am talking about. WATCH IT AGAIN (before tonight too). This is what we will be working on with Coach Eric at practice tonight--Simply pay attention to the forward checking back to the ball, and playing to teammates running forward for pass (just watch the first 30 seconds): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmxluDr_U7k
Winning Balls out of the air, specifically on goal kicks and goalie punts: The other team was much more physical on this. We watched the ball hit the ground, or watched them win the ball.
On a final note, that team finished their regular season that game. They are in first place with 3 wins, 0 losses, and 2 ties. They only gave up 1 goal the entire season. Their goal on us was an incredible shot--nothing we could have done about that. No excuses, but we did play that team with three girls out (4 counting Mollie, since I couldn't put her back in after the head blow due to the new concussion laws). We had two subs, one being u11 and the other u12. So, don't hang your heads. If we can focus on the great learning opportunies above, we will be in good shape!
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