OESA Spring Classic

Overall, thought it was a great weekend for our teams. We had plenty of competitive matches, and a few where we were a bit overmatched. That's all part of youth soccer, and something I'm proud to say that our players handle in stride. I saw good effort from all the groups I coached and I coached a lot of groups this weekend! Luckily I avoided any major sunburn).

I looked for smart dribbling, confident 1 v 1, and quick decisions. I thought we showed that for significant chunks of each match, and was proud of our effort to win the ball back if we were dispossessed.

As for our U9 Gold, I saw growing confidence out there. I asked for them to try and move the ball around a lot in our first couple games, but I think that was complicated a bit by our over-pursuit of the ball. Too often we are running into the space of our teammates, reducing our options with the ball. We usually use the metaphor of a boat to say that if we're all on one side of the field, we're going to tip the boat. As we continue to focus in that spacing in both training and games, we'll be able to utilize a quick attack on the dribble more easily because we have spread the defense. I will remember a couple really great goals this weekend from a great individual effort, and I'll be looking for that solid finishing to continue as the season rolls on.

For our U9 Academy, it was a good weekend without coming away with a winning result. The boys know when they play well and I think they came off the field with a sense of accomplishment. Of course, we are never satisfied with a "good loss" and know that to work hard on our key concepts will yield the results the players want. They showed improved supporting play as the weekend wore on, having all 6 players being active at the same time, rather than only having two or three players working at once. That just makes the game so much simpler and always gives us an outlet back, as well as a dangerous run forward.

We learned a lot about every one of our players in this group this weekend, and I am looking forward to focusing on continued creativity off the ball.