Big Noises Small Spaces!

Thursday Training: Girls Came Hungry

IT GETS LOUD IN A GYM

Coach Sam and I saw both teams tonight, and they both came hungry after coming off of a string of defeats in tournament games. I wonder what is exactly going through their minds, and if they believe they can win after the weekend of playing teams with more experience and tenacity. I had an expectation that tonight, some girls would not show.

Two Girls were away for academic reasons which meant we had six. I had spun the fold-a-goals along the bleachers across from the stage sitting side by side to give a large face -- you can reference the soccer terms in this article by following this link-- and so that we had a surface to strike against that could replicate the rebound the boards have at elite, where we play our games.  We sat the girls on the stage and talked to them after doing ball magician-ship 101--http://t.co/5sRGABRE. They were facing the two goals which were set directly behind the coaches as we spoke.  The stage was set. 

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 The Session

I placed three cones at the top of the lanes then told the girls that "this is where we lost the game". It would have been hard to get anyone to disagree seeing that this area comprised the area where teams score, but that was precisely, half-the-point.
We needed to step in front and own the ball on both ends. We need to defend. We need to score.

These girls had played their hearts out. The teams to whom we lost generally deserved to win, but we deserved some goals, and we needn't give up the easy goals to these teams.  As I ponder this training session, I understand all that we missed today, and that goalkeeping will have to happen in a follow-up session.
                                 See Video from this session:

2 Attackers V 1 Defender--http://youtu.be/m-fFqpqxY4o

Competitive Cauldron-- http://youtu.be/1szPh5gvdYI

Ball Magicianship 101--http://youtu.be/4XCeR1gAva8

Tonight we focused on crashing the lanes, beating the opponent to the first touch, defensive clearing, and finishing. The gym was loud, and if I can get the pics and the video to load, I can post it here, but imagine two girls racing forward to the expanse of two tandem goals, as their teammates crash balls off of the bottom rung of wooden bleachers to rebound out in front of goal. The defender is looking to clear the ball to either sideline as she is running full-on toward her own goal, and the attacker is bursting headlong to glean a touch, just a touch to spin that ball on frame.

We had no keeper in there, though Sam jumped in at some point, I wouldn't want to be in there. So any touch on frame was likely a goal. The girls enjoyed scoring and enjoyed defending against each other. They enjoyed, I think, the hitting of the ball. I think they heard that message from their coaches that they needed to be stronger, and they responded.

The Girls who were serving were sending these low and hard balls in front of goal. That would be the first bang. then the attacker would get her touch, sometimes a driven ball, and those shots would slam off the wooden bleachers so loudly that the gym was intense. The attacker would take as many as eight services at a time before the two would rotate roles. The "cauldron of competition" I had read about was coming alive. When the girls would rotate out to serve, they walked by me; I saw subtle smiles and heard that they had their heart rates up. We felt the part of perfect coaches tonight. Our girls left motivated to play better in a month.

As I left the gym, I joked with Sam-o that we could have an all night soccer fest slumber party for all of the Athens Soccer Academy teams.  That was a joke, right?  Sam said it would change things if anyone thought the gym were Haunted.

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