What's Happening this Spring?

It has been a long winter of indoor training and spring is quickly approaching. I want to thank all of the parents for getting the girls to the tournament and for your support this past weekend.  I was extremely proud of the level of play all three of the teams displayed.  We were confident with the ball at our feet and consistently succeeded in beating defenders 1 on 1 and in groups of 2 and 3.  The number of overlaps, wall passes, through balls, shots to the back post, crosses away from the keeper (with players looking to get on the end of them) was impressive... especially against the level of competition.  And all of these fantastic things were happening while players moved around and played nearly every position on the field.  It's a nice bonus that all three teams were undefeated and won the majority of their games by very large margins.  

The progress of the teams is due in large part to the fact that 95% of the players have attended 95% of the practices this winter.  Thank you for your dedication in getting the girls to practices... I know all of you have quite a lot on your plate.  When I get consistent time with the players, it makes my job quite easy.  

Focuses for Spring Training:
Up to this point we have focused quite a bit on movement in attack in groups of 2 and three, while consistently addressing individual ability with the ball (moves, passing ability, taking the ball out of the air, shooting, etc...). Moving forward we will continue to touch upon these topics, but will focus more and more upon the speed at which we can execute these activities.  We will also train more often within the formation we will be playing in the game (known as functional training).  An example of this is defending and attacking in the "W" formation. 

During the tournament we played in the "W" formation (2 defenders, 3 midfielders, or also described as four players in a horseshoe with one player central) and had one target or forward in front to play in to.  In the spring we will play the same "W" formation, but with three targets to play.  The targets will not have set positions, but will be encouraged to move and make runs to unbalance the defense.  I'll be pushing the girls to get more and more comfortable overlapping and switching positions in the run of play.  The games should be very fun to watch!

I'm definitely looking forward to the spring season, but it feels a little bittersweet knowing that this will be my last season with these wonderful players.  Thank you for your continued support and encouragement.  See you all out on the fields!