With some seasons winding down in the south while others are just getting underway up north, share the fun, funny, interesting, or poignant stories you all have from the past week in youth soccer on this thread.
» Soccer Parents » Tales From The Pitch
Tales From The Pitch - Week 17
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I'll get things going here with some of my own tidbits from the previous week. My U11 girls (The Lunachicks) had a match Thursday night at our home fields. The visiting team had arrived a few minutes earlier and they were warming up on the edge of our field near the parking lot while a Rec practice finished up. Meanwhile, the Lunachicks were all excited because one of the players had brought the song Lunatic Fringe on CD. So we put the CD in my truck and at least 10 of the players had crammed into the cab or were in the back listening to it.
So here you had most of my team, crammed into a truck cab and bed listening to a somewhat bizarre song (with doors open so everyone could hear), getting cleats on, and in general getting ready for their match, being somewhat loud (10 eleven year old girls in close proximity, excited to play soccer, texting friends on cellphones, chatting about this and that - you know - general mayhem). Meanwhile I'm running around trying to make sure all their 'stuff' was actually within a few feet of the pickup (yes - many dropped their soccer bags on the spot to join their teammates instead of, you know, putting them somewhere :) ) I'm sure it was a pretty bizarre sight and the other team must have thought we were, well, a little bit loony :)
But hey - they played a good match and had fun!
Posted 1 year ago Permalink -
The image of a team hanging of the truck is pretty cool.
I've got 2 highlights from yesterday with my U11s, Late in the 2nd half (~5 minutes to go) In a 1-1 game my center defender picked a loose ball at mid-field dribbled to just outside the box and let loose a rocket that the keeper didn't see until she was digging it out of the net.. I changed my formation to keep a 4th defender back (we usually play a 3-2-2 and I went to 4-2-1). A couple of minutes later, the mids passed the ball up to striker and she went on a run. One of my parents apparently said-- where is Amanda, why isn't she moving forward?
Then last night, I took the girls to RFK and they got to play on the field in the mini-game during half-time of the DC United-Real Salt Lake game. Its an amazing experience to walk out on the lighted field and hear the roar of the crowd. It was cool last year but this time it was even better. The oddest comment was "it smells like peas." To top it off, the girls played amazing soccer. We were playing a travel team, and the girls held them scoreless.
Posted 1 year ago Permalink -
That RFK thing sounds like an amazing experience. I may try to line something like that up with one of our USL teams here (Dynamo or RailHawks)
I always try to give all the girls solid opportunities to score, but we still have a couple who have not managed to. One of our players who was still scoreless, despite numerous attempts and chances, got to take a free kick from the top of the box when the other team played back to their keeper. It was indirect, and every opposing player lined up on the goal box to form a wall. This player of mine is not known for being able to lift her shots. But in this case, after a teammate rolled the ball, she lifted a shot over the wall, through the extended hands of the keeper, and into the back of the net. Best shot this player has ever taken - in match or practice. Those are always fun moments.
Posted 1 year ago Permalink -
Soccer Dad great site! I have been lurking for about 6 months and decide to chime in on this one.
I co-coach a U10 boys team in Hilliard Ohio. When are in a middle tier league that travels around central Ohio.
GOYSL (www.goysl.org) is the league and most of the boys have been playing since 1st grade. This is probably our last session together since 8 of them are trying out for the local club team (www.hilliardfc.org )a few are going to play football and some will find new GOYSL teams. It has been great learning the game of soccer with these boys but most have reached a point where they could development greater skills then this dad can teach.On to last week, we had 4 games in 7 days, achievement tests in school and baseball practice taking up any off days. Busy week but the boys came ready to play. 3 of the 4 teams we played we lost close matches to in the fall tournament. The boys came out hungry and jumped out to first half leads in all the matches. We ended up with 2 wins and 2 ties. The ties (1-1, 3-3) were the results of own goals. Needless to say the boys rallied around some pretty upset teammates. No finger pointing just words of encouragement. It was pretty nice seeing the teamwork we have been teaching come to fruition. The team is now 4-0-2 for the season with 6 games to go and the final tournament.
2 games this week and hopefully I’ll bring something to next week thread.
Posted 1 year ago Permalink
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