Refereeing Soccer In The Rain

I worked a U9 girls game today on a field that was quite muddy. There were 2 big puddles, one right in the middle of the goal mouth. The home team won 4-2, it would have been 6-2 but twice they had sure goals stop right in the puddle of water.

Second Practice

We practiced again tonight, despite a light rain off and on, cold (upper 40's) temperatures, and a soggy field.

We worked on our juggling. Brooke earned her OYSAN patch and Nathan came really close. Once everybody arrived, we ran 2 big laps to warm up and then did some dribbling. We played a game of "Sharks & Minnows", where minnows, each with a ball, try to dribble across the field while the sharks defend and try to steal the ball. When a minnow loses the ball, they become a shark.

Unfortunately due to the missing practices, I had to review a few basic concepts today. One was that the left and right positions do not need to stay on the left or right side of the field, but to stay to the left or right of the player next to them.

Next we discussed the responsibilities of the defender, as presented in Premier Soccer by Michael Parker.

1. Intercept the ball
2. Don't let the player turn
3. Stay between the player and the goal
4. Force the player outside

We then formed 2 lines, offense and defense, and worked on these concepts.

Finally, we worked on scoring, taking the ball into the corner and crossing it into the box. I want the middle player to stop at the top of the box and wait for the cross, and I want the cross to be directed behind the defender.

We ended up right around 8 PM, a 1-hour practice.

First Girls Game

Our girls team had our first game tonight. It was a home game against Firelands. We got the early lead 2-0, both scored by Dejah. The game was looking good!

But Firelands scored the next 5 to take a 5-2 lead at halftime, on their way to a 6-2 win.

Not much to say as we have only had 1 practice and that was over 2 weeks ago. Spring soccer in Ohio is quite difficult. A few girls were ready to play but many were not. The frustraing part is that we could have beaten them.

Third Practice Cancelled

Due to snow!

Luke, Brooke, and Rachel all had games on Saturday and practice on Sunday for their AASL/NOGSL teams. Luke and Rachel each played a half at goalkeeper and each shut out their opponent for their half. Rachel also scored a goal! Brooke's team played their best game of the indoor season but lost 5-4.

Luke's practice was first on Sunday. During the girls' practices, Luke and I worked on the juggling for the OYSAN Skills Patch. The 6 2-touch alternating feet above the head was the most difficult but eventually he achieved it and earned the patch!

Second Practice Cancelled

As of last night there was an 80% chance of rain all day. Besides the rain, temperatures in the low 40's and high winds were expected. So I cancelled practice for tonight (I sent out the email last night).

Our next practice is supposed to be on Tuesday but the forecast is even worse. Snow, wind, and 30's. The following Friday is Good Friday so it looks very much like we won't practice again until April 14. The girls team has our first game that Friday on April 17!

I did go watch my son practice last night with the Cleveland Kickers. He's not playing on a team as they do not have a team his age, but he is going to attend the practices and raise his skill level.

They did some running, and then some volleying practice, where 1 player would toss the ball to the other player, who would kick it back to the server with a specified part of the foot. After that they scrimmaged. All of these are drills I have done with my team (admittedly probably without the same quality demonstration).

First Soccer Practice Of The Year

Tonight was our first practice of the year. We have 25 players on the 2 teams (U12 coed and U12 girls) and 23 of them were present tonight. The only 2 missing were my own kids (who are with their mom tonight).

We started with a warm up, 1 lap dribbling followed by 1 lap jogging.

Next we did some more dribbling warm ups, right foot, both feet, left foot, inside of feet, outside of feet, etc. Dribbling across the field, when I blew the whistle they had to stop and touch the ball with their knee, then both knees, then knee-knee-head, then knee-knee-head-chest, then knee-knee-head-chest-butt.

After that we did some juggling, we are working on our OYSAN Skills Award patches this season. There are some video examples on youtube. Of the 23 players, 13 made the first goal tonight, 6 1-touch kick & catch.

Next was dribbling at a standing defender (coach or a cone) and making a move to go around it.

Then we worked on passing, with an assistant coach we had 6 groups of 4 and we played 3 v 1 keep away. We kept rotating and did this for about 10 minutes.

We then did one more fitness activity, "Recovery Runs" where we jog out in a straight line until I blow the whistle and then turn around and sprint back (as if the ball was stolen from us and we have to get back on defense).

Finally, we played "Full Field Keep Away" with 2 teams (orange and blue). Each team got a point for 5 consecutive passes. They also could earn 2 points by passing from their own half to a goalkeeper in the opposite half. This was too complicated for our first practice, as nobody completed a pass to the opposite keeper.

Two Indoor Games

We've played 2 indoor games, losing both of them. Our first loss was 13-3. Our opponent was a rather successful competitive team. (We have a mix of competitive and recreational players, including 3 girls).

Our 2nd game started out almost as bad, 7-2 at halftime. We played better in the 2nd half and the final score was 11-7.

We're not playing bad, especially since we have 13 kids who were on 5 different teams in the fall. We definitely need to be more aggressive. We have 2 more games to play in this session.