Part of the reason I’ve been MIA these past few months is I returned to an active role in our league’s administration after taking a year off AND was coaching 4 teams, most without any of my children on them. I really should learn to say no. When a U12 coach had to step aside right as the season got underway, we couldn’t find anyone to step in for him. So I agreed to take his team, figuring I could combine at least one practice with my existing U12 team. That’s worked fairly well, but certainly presented a new challenge trying to come up with practice plans for 24 players vs 12. We rarely had all 24, but we simply ran it much like a ‘pool training’ session for our travel teams. Heavy emphasis on foot skills with occasional scrimmages thrown in. It paid off. The teams may not have won a ton of matches, but watching them repeatedly strip opponents and win 1v1’s was a lot of fun. We’ll probably continue the setup in the Spring.

Needless to say this Fall season was insanely hectic. Between my four teams (one of which my youngest plays on) and my other three children’s teams – my schedule was jam packed. Somewhere in there I managed to get a new business going too.

I need a vacation – or just need to learn that simple little word… NO!

Yeah, I don’t believe it’ll ever happen either!