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Your daily soccer report
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 11:20 am*laughing* Okay, that's a misnomer, in a way. Yesterday was a busy, busy soccer day. We left the house a little after 10 AM, and didn't get home until well after 5 PM, and OH, weren't the Husbandly One and I tired!! The kids, though... BOING! BOING! BOING!!
The Impossible Son's game was at 11 (we had to be there early to warm up, etc), and it was HOT. We had eight little sweatballs running up and down the field, and did our best to keep them hydrated by pouring gallons of water and Gatorade down their parched little throats. Now, we had noticed an odd little phenomenon during their last game, their scrimmage, and then the game today. They're fine running the ball up and down, they're fine kicking into the goal, but as to following through, to charging the goal, etc, well... it's almost like there's this invisible force field around the goal. Literally. They'll run up to a certain point, and no further. I watched this over, and over, watched them race up and... hesitate. And the Husbandly One and I were talking it over last night, trying to understand it when it hit me, after the Husbandly One said, "You know, last season, they didn't have any problems running up to the goal. In fact, it was all we could do to keep them out of the goal!!"
I blinked, and said, "Last year, there was no goalie, because they were all playing U6, and there's no goalie at U6." BINGO!!!
Our kids are a little freaked out by there being somebody in the goalbox for the first time ever.
Guess I know what we'll be working on next week!
The Impossible Daughter's game was in Austin, in Westcreek, which is a really nice set of fields, if a little confusing to navigate. However... there is no parking. You have to basically park wherever you can find (or make) a spot. It sucks.
And the game was at 2 PM, which is during the hottest part of the day here in Texas. Yes, we were pouring gallons of water and Gatorade down the kids' throats again, and it was a good thing the Husbandly One over-bought liquids for the Impossible Son's team, because the parent who was supposed to bring snacks and liquid for half-time brought snacks... and no liquid. "The drinks are for AFTER the game," she kept saying, slapping the girls' hands when they reached into the cooler for drinks.
I'm chalking up her brain-fart to being pregnant, and not to stupidity, because she's normally a pretty savvy soccer-parent, always getting on other parents for not bringing drinks to practices and games to keep their players hydrated.
It wasn't a good game. We lost, 6-0, and it was mostly because our girls are... well... I'm not sure how to put it. Take the Impertinent Daughter, for example. THO really, REALLY wants to put her on at forward (she's a midfielder right now) because she's pretty much the only aggressive player he has on the team. She's spent her time on co-ed teams, playing with and against boys, and it shows!!! Most of the girls on her team have played on girls' only teams, and evidently, the coaches they had didn't teach them that it's okay to be aggressive on the field, that they don't have to wait for an opponent to kick the ball to them, that they can steal it, or take it, that they don't have to stop after they kick the ball but just... keep running with it, and HANG ON TO IT, DAMMIT!!
THO is pretty frustrated, as you can guess.
He thought playing them in scrimmages would help them through this, but personally, I think a Sunday afternoon bull session would accomplish more. You know, get the girls here, settle them around on the couches with plenty of snacks and cool drinks and start TALKING. Ask them questions about what do they know about the game, what do they have questions about, what do they like about it, what do they hate... I think that would be more illuminating for us than anything, but it would give us an idea what to start with on fixing this problem. Have a discussion about the rules of soccer, get a dry erase board and draw a field diagram on it, and show them how they can move on the field, explain the different positions, and where they can go, where they can't go, what the off-sides rule is, and how that affects their game, etc, etc. Because, if they knew all this stuff already, we wouldn't be having problems, right?
I'm just sayin'...
If any of you folks have suggestions on how to help, believe me, my ear is wide open and listening. Our team isn't the only one that has this problem. Tell me what you think!
The Impossible Son's game was at 11 (we had to be there early to warm up, etc), and it was HOT. We had eight little sweatballs running up and down the field, and did our best to keep them hydrated by pouring gallons of water and Gatorade down their parched little throats. Now, we had noticed an odd little phenomenon during their last game, their scrimmage, and then the game today. They're fine running the ball up and down, they're fine kicking into the goal, but as to following through, to charging the goal, etc, well... it's almost like there's this invisible force field around the goal. Literally. They'll run up to a certain point, and no further. I watched this over, and over, watched them race up and... hesitate. And the Husbandly One and I were talking it over last night, trying to understand it when it hit me, after the Husbandly One said, "You know, last season, they didn't have any problems running up to the goal. In fact, it was all we could do to keep them out of the goal!!"
I blinked, and said, "Last year, there was no goalie, because they were all playing U6, and there's no goalie at U6." BINGO!!!
Our kids are a little freaked out by there being somebody in the goalbox for the first time ever.
Guess I know what we'll be working on next week!
The Impossible Daughter's game was in Austin, in Westcreek, which is a really nice set of fields, if a little confusing to navigate. However... there is no parking. You have to basically park wherever you can find (or make) a spot. It sucks.
And the game was at 2 PM, which is during the hottest part of the day here in Texas. Yes, we were pouring gallons of water and Gatorade down the kids' throats again, and it was a good thing the Husbandly One over-bought liquids for the Impossible Son's team, because the parent who was supposed to bring snacks and liquid for half-time brought snacks... and no liquid. "The drinks are for AFTER the game," she kept saying, slapping the girls' hands when they reached into the cooler for drinks.
I'm chalking up her brain-fart to being pregnant, and not to stupidity, because she's normally a pretty savvy soccer-parent, always getting on other parents for not bringing drinks to practices and games to keep their players hydrated.
It wasn't a good game. We lost, 6-0, and it was mostly because our girls are... well... I'm not sure how to put it. Take the Impertinent Daughter, for example. THO really, REALLY wants to put her on at forward (she's a midfielder right now) because she's pretty much the only aggressive player he has on the team. She's spent her time on co-ed teams, playing with and against boys, and it shows!!! Most of the girls on her team have played on girls' only teams, and evidently, the coaches they had didn't teach them that it's okay to be aggressive on the field, that they don't have to wait for an opponent to kick the ball to them, that they can steal it, or take it, that they don't have to stop after they kick the ball but just... keep running with it, and HANG ON TO IT, DAMMIT!!
THO is pretty frustrated, as you can guess.
He thought playing them in scrimmages would help them through this, but personally, I think a Sunday afternoon bull session would accomplish more. You know, get the girls here, settle them around on the couches with plenty of snacks and cool drinks and start TALKING. Ask them questions about what do they know about the game, what do they have questions about, what do they like about it, what do they hate... I think that would be more illuminating for us than anything, but it would give us an idea what to start with on fixing this problem. Have a discussion about the rules of soccer, get a dry erase board and draw a field diagram on it, and show them how they can move on the field, explain the different positions, and where they can go, where they can't go, what the off-sides rule is, and how that affects their game, etc, etc. Because, if they knew all this stuff already, we wouldn't be having problems, right?
I'm just sayin'...
If any of you folks have suggestions on how to help, believe me, my ear is wide open and listening. Our team isn't the only one that has this problem. Tell me what you think!
