If I didn't have bad luck . . . .

There is an old saying that seems to apply all too often.  If I did not have bad luck, I would not have any at all.  A rather bleak way to start of a post, but it seems to apply.  After spending 27 hours in a car driving down here, we got in late.  We ate dinner. We unloaded the car.  We went to sleep.  We got up the next morning and while getting a cup of coffee at the the hotel breakfast, I somehow pulled a muscle in my back.  I could feel my back getting tighter and tighter as we traveled.  Twenty seven hours in a car, sleep on bad hotel matresses, and lifting suitcases into the luggage carrier on top of the car did me in.  So, I spent the first day of vacation laying flat on my back all day.  One heck of a way to start vacation.

We made it through team check in without any major incidents.  The check in was well conceived and very organized.  It went off without a hitch.  My back was feeling alot better on day two. We went to a water park after check in.  While I skipped the water slides, I spent the better part of an hour in the lazy river with my younger kids.  Somehow it fixed my back.  I don't know if it was the warm water or stretching my back out over the tube, but it work.

Day 3 did not go nearly as well.  The team had AYSO National Games Opening Ceremonies at 5 PM on day three.  What should have been a fun event for the kids, turned out to be a cluster.  It was poorly conceived and the execution of a bad plan was even worse.  Allow me to summarize... several thousand kids herded into a fenced in tennis court made of asphalt, at 5pm (the hottest part of the day), in Southern Florida in July, without enough water, and without enough space for the kids to spread out so what breeze there was could do any good.  Did I mention, there was NO shade and they delayed the start of the event for thirty minutes?  I had the pleasure of watching two girls pass out from the excessive heat and helping them with the little water that was available.  AYSO touts itself as a child first organization.  After what I experienced on Tuesday night, I would have to say that notion is laughable.  You may think I am being harsh.  Would you still think that if you knew they delayed the start of at least the last National Games (2008) and yet they still planned on herding the kids onto asphalt courts with no shade and not enough water?

Not the greatest beginning to one's vacation.

Soccerfest

Soccerfest is a great idea.  You take all the teams that are playing in a given division, like U-10 boys, and you mix up the teams.  You take the reconstructed teams and you let them play one another.  So, I was coaching one player from my team and fourteen players from as far away as Hawaii.  While I am a rather intense coach,as I have mentioned from time to time, I was very laid back.  We had two fun games.  We tied our first game and lost by a goal in our second.  Winning and losing at Soccerfest was really of no concern to me, I was just out to have fun.  And maybe I was paying attention to some of the players I will be facing later in the week.

It was a great learning experience.  It was surprising, all of the issues I have with my players exist with players from California, Louisana, Arizona, Chicago, and across the Country.  I also learned from one of the coaches I met that we are facing some stiff competition.  In Southwest Michigan we have a region of 700 kids.  We pulled players from U-10 boys, U-10 girls, and U-8 boys to form our team.  To play travel club or select soccer in Michigan you have to leave AYSO and join a club team.  In California, for example, a region will have about 7,000 kids, an average number in California.  Any given division  like U-10 boys will take the best forty players from the thousand plus boys in the division to play their select teams.  They then take the ten best players from their select teams to form their team for the National Games.  It was quite an eye opening conversation.

We have played select teams in the past.  We beat several during indoor soccer season and the games we lost we were in until the bitter end.  If the team shows up that took TKO to the brink, losing 6 to 5 and beat Marshall 8 to 2, then we will be fine.    If the team that lost a game at the KASI tournament shows up, we are in trouble.  I can't wait to find out which team shows up.  Bottom line, win or lose, if we play good soccer, I will be thrilled.  Wish us luck.

Go Crushers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been too long.

Well it has been a while since my last post.  Between last minute fundraisers, tournaments, and my job (yes I actually have a job), there has been not time for blogging, running, or sleeping.  So where should I begin; fundraising.  I would like to thank those people I work with that donated and helped make the trip possible.  Their generousity is greatly appreciated.  We also would like to thank all those families that participated in the "It Ain't Over Yet Soccer Tournament."  It was a great weekend.  We had three groups with enough teams to have a tournament: U-10 girls, U-10 Boys, and U-14 coed.  A special thanks to those kids that stepped up from U-12 to play the U-14 teams and make that group possible.  Congratulations to those who won  and thank you to everyone who participated.  This event raised more money than any fundraiser other than the Great Tamale Sale.  I hope everyone enjoyed themselves.  Finally, I would like to thank the Kalamazoo Outrage.  They are a local club team.  They are for soccer what triple A leagues are for baseball.  We did a fundraiser with them.  They are a first rate club and offered us a great opportunity.  Kids from the region got to walk out with the players of both teams, played mini games at half time, and some were ball chasers during the game.  It was a great night.  Kids were introduced to high level soccer.  The Outrage gained some fans and the Crushers made some money.

The team played in two tournaments since my last post.  The first tournament was the KASI tournament in Kalamazoo.  We got off to a great start with two wins.  We played our best game ever scoring seven goals in a come from behind victory in our first game and won a good victory in our second.  In our next two games we lost one and tied one.  In our third game, we lost a hard fought game 1-0 to the eventual tournament champs.  While we played hard, the team from Allegan, the Orange Tigers, played a little harder and deserved the victory.  As a Brazil player, Kaka, said recently, it is not enough to be talented, you have to play hard too.  Our next tournament was a 3v3 tournament that the guys played in.  The girls decided not to enter the girls division.  We played against four travel teams.  We went 1-2-1.  We tied our last game.  It kept us out of the championship.  It was a game we could have won, but our head and our hearts just were not in the game.  We walked away with two valuable items.  First, we can compete against top level talent even when we don't play our best game.  Second, the guys got US world cup jerseys (white) for playing.  They are sweet.

Next is my running.  This is easy... what running?  I start taking my life back tomorrow.

Finally, the trip.  Lets just say it takes A LONG TIME to drive from Kalamazoo, Michigan to West Palm Beach, Florida.  I have flown here several times.  This was the first time I have ever driven.  The good Lord willing, it will be the last time.

All that is left now is the tournament.  Wish us luck.  In true Crusher form we will play hard, we will have fun, and it will be interesting. Log on and follow our tournament.  We sign in on Monday, Tuesday is Opening Ceremonies,  Wednesday is Soccerfest (more on that later), we play Thursday through Saturday, and awards on Saturday.  I can't wait, it is going to be fun!!!

GO CRUSHERS!  

Catching Up with the Crushers . . .

The Spring 2010 Revenge Tour continues.  As I have said a couple times in the past, I am not one of those touchy feely kinds of coaches who just wants to have fun.  I teach my kids to play to win.  Someone once said ( I believe it was Lombardi) \," winning isn't everything, but striving to win is."  If I had to summarize by coaching philosophy in one sentence, that is the one I would use.  So when I started setting up scrimmages this spring, I went back to all the teams we played and lost to last fall.  I have framed this spring as our Revenge Tour.  So far, so good.

The Crushers played the U-10 boys team (the Black Team).  We tied this team 2-2 last fall.  It was in that game that the wall got her name from the opposing coach.  One of the kids on the Black team lives across the street from us and is Taz's friend.  He is a good kid and a good soccer player.  So for Taz, the game was also about bragging rights for the summer.  The game started off with allot of energy.  As usual the Crushers started slow, but atleast it did not take as long for them to get going.  We have been working diligently on passing and finishing in practice.  I have even been taking time away from defense to accomplish this.  It showed both on the offensive end and on the defensive end.  Inspite of some poor defense play, we won 4-2. 

Bad news first, I always say.  The Crushers returned to some bad habits defensively.  The backs were playing too close to the goal.  They would charge the ball and fall for the simplest moves.  They were giving up the middle of the field.  Players,particularly midfielders, were standing around watching the ball, instead of guarding opposing players or attacking the ball.  The Black Team scored two goals because we played bad defense.  It will be a defensive filled practices this week.

The good news is always more fun.  The team is really starting to understand how to play the game on offense.  Blind passes (passes not directed to any particular player) and one time kicks are decreasing.  Ball control and offensive passes are increasing.  The teams still has a tendency to stand around and watch Taz, but they are getting better.  Izzy got two goals after making runs and receiving passes from Taz.  Izzy returned the favor and lead Taz with a beautiful pass that resulted in one of Taz's two goals.

I think the lesson to be learned is don't sacrifice defense to practice offense and don't sacrafice offense to practice defense.  If we, the coaches, let up on any facit of the game, the kids will loose focus and perform poorly in that area.  Balancing practice time leads to a balanced team.  In the end, they are steadly improving. I am most impressed with the improvement they have shown in their ball control skills.  Their ball control skills have improved dramitcally since last August.  I am very proud of them.

We will see you next time.  Until then . . . Go Crushers!

Catching up with the Crushers . . . Outdoor Season Begins!

In our last team post, the Crushers had just finished their last indoor session and suprised the heck out of their coach.  They went 3-3.  Even when they lost, they played competitively in each game.  Quite an improvement from the first indoor session.

I will have to admit it was nice to have a couple of weekends when there were no soccer games.  I actually got to spend a weekend day vegging on the couch .  Mother Nature even cooperated with a rainy day, so yard work was out of the question.

Outdoor season kicked off last weekend.  The Crushers played against my other U-10 team.  Every player on the National Team is also on a house team from our region.  I coach my son's team (the blue team) in the house league as well.  When the National Team played this team last fall we lost 4-2.  In that game, Taz played the entire game for the national team.  This time Taz played half the game for the National Team and half the game for the blue team.  The Crushers were victorious 5-2.  Both teams played well, but the National Team took advantage of more of their scoring opportunities.

There were a few negatives in the game.  The biggest one was the refusal of two of the young men on our team to pass to the young women of our team.  Lets just say we nipped that one in the bud at practice.  The second negative is a recurring problem.  This team starts slow.  They are not ready to play when the game starts.  The same was true in this game.  While the Crushers out played the blue team for three quarters,  they were out played in the first quarter. At the end of the first, it was 2-0 blue team. If you regularly give up that kind of lead, you will not always come back.  Finally, we have to work on finishing.  We get the ball in front of the net and we are fumbling over it.  We need to learn to strike the ball directly off the pass.  But there are worse problems to have. At least we are getting the ball in scoring position.

The were a lot of positives.  Defense is still playing well.  The full backs seem to get better every game.  Mid fielders are starting spread out and pass the ball.  Forwards are actually playing in the box.  And the Crushers are learning to score when Taz is not on the field.  We still have alot to work on, but we have really come a long way.  The players should be proud of themselves, I am.

Until next time . . . Go Crushers!

Indoor: Season Three

WHAT AN INDOOR SEASON!


As I have mentioned in the past, my goal was for the team would take the next step in their development and compete with the area travel teams. Well, the Crushers exceeded my expectations. They won three games and lost three games in the Last indoor session at Soccerzone. They played against five travel teams and one house team. They lost to three travel teams. Two of their three losses were by one goal. They lost to one team 7-0. But that team, the Ballhawks, won their games by an average of 6 goals no matter who they faced. The Crushers really surprised me.


I described the first two games in a previous post. So I am going to pick up the story with our third game. In this game we played the house team. As luck would have it, they were short players. We gave them some of our players and we played the game. We ended up winning 8-1, but that was not really the point of this game. This game gave me an opportunity to play kids in new positions. Forwards played full back, full backs played midfield, midfielders played keeper and so on. Some really cool things happened. Gretta got her first goal of the year (read about Gretta and the other players in the Meet the Team posts). My 5 year old son, the Bull Dozer, got to play in the game. He is usually restricted to the role of team manager at games, but regularly plays with the team at practice. The smile on his face when he got to play is one of the moments I will remember about this experience. So, the game went into the win collum and we all had a lot of fun, especially the Bull Dozer.


In our fourth game we played one of the TKO teams. Now TKO is one of the better travel teams in the area. To be honest, this was one of the games I circled as a test. The the team we played was young, but talented. Just before playing us they had gone to indoor nationals, and placed second after loosing a hard fought battle in the finals. I was concerened before the game started because the team was not into it during warmups. They were distracted, their heads were not on soccer. Now this is where my wife ususally reminds me that they are eight and nine year olds. The point is they were not ready to play. It showed in the opening minutes. We gave up a quick early goal. Players were out of position, others were standing around, and there was no energy or determination.


During this indoor season I have realized that the Crushers, more than any team I have ever coached, model my emotional state when they play. If I am intense, they play with intensity. If I am disinterested, they play half heartedly. Most teams model the personality of their coach. This team does it more than any I have ever seen. So, I have to walk a fine line between being intense (not a problem for me), but not being so intense the kids stop having fun. Some days I do a great job, others not so well. After our poor start, I substituted for as many players as I could and we had a "discussion." The intense conversation made all the difference in the world. They went back in the game and played like champs. We lost 4-5 but I was extremely happy with how they played. It seems I got the balance right on that day. This was a pivital game for the Crushers. They learned a very important lesson on that day. The team learned that they could play with any team if they as a team and played hard for the entire game.


On a side note, the parents on this team kill me (I mean that in a good way). I have really been working hard this year on not pushing the players so hard. I have been trying to just let them play, figure somethings out on their own, and not yell as much. I have been trying to talk to them on the side lines instead of yelling to them on the field. Again, I have had good days and days where I have not done as well. As a kid, I was coached by Bob Knight type coaches. While I have never reached his extreme as a coach, I am not the touchy feely kind of coach AYSO strives to create either. Anyway, back to my parents. They keep coming up to me and saying things like, "you can yell at my son, its ok" or "you can push my daughter harder, she needs it." It is a very interesting dynamic.


In our fifth game we played the best team in the league: the Ball Hawks. This is a fast team that plays very physical soccer. If they played any rougher, they would need helmet and pads. During the game, Taz did his best to get us a goal. I think he spent as much time on the ground as he did on his feet. After almost scoring a goal early in the game, two or three guys from the Ball Hawks would attack him and literally knock Taz off the ball everytime he touched it. The defense played good. With a final score like 7-0, you would not expect a coach to say his team played well. What you do not know is that in the first indoor session three months ago, the Crushers would have lost this game by twenty. The crushers played hard. We made some mistakes but we had our chances to score during the game as well. Long story short, it just was not our day. As a told the team after the game, while I was not thrilled with the result, I was thrilled with the individual effort of the players.


In the last game we played a team from Marshall. We won 8-2. This is a team we played in the second game of the season. We won that game 6-5. The Crushers have never played any better then they did on this day. The defense was phenominal. They finally played our defense the way I have had it pictured in my head since August of 2009. For the first time, I felt sorry for the Professor(read about The Professor in our Meet the Team Posts), our keeper or goalie, because he looked so board. One back attacked the ball, while the second back covered the free player and prevented any passes from connecting. The midfield hustled back and attacking the ball or covering opposing players. They shut down the other team almost completely. It was a beautiful thing to watch.


Taz showed up ready to play on this day. He scored six goals in the game, five in the first half. I had to pull him off the our opponents early in the second half or he would have scored more. Now I know why teams always send pultiple players to defend him. When he is on hsi game, you cannot stop him with one player. In the second half, players got to play new positions and everyone had fun. It was a great way to end our indoor season. And it was nice, finally, to master our team defense.


So indoor season, session three, was awsome. I hoped they could compete with the travel teams, and they did. All but one loss could have been reversed with one play. Hard to believe this was the same group of kids that I started with last August. They have come so far and I am very proud of them. Having said that, its time to work on team offense and finishing around the goal. We have about 15 weeks before the Florida Games begin, its crunch time, and I can't wait!


Its that time where I ask you to look at our list of up coming fundraisers and solicite donations. This is a great group of kids and many of them could really use your help. If you would like to make a donation to the team, please send it to U-10 National Team, 315 North Street, Paw Paw, Michigan, 49079. Please make ckeck payable to AYSO Region 250 and we will make sure they are depositted into the correct account. All donations are tax deductable.


Go Crushers!

The Third Season of Indoor Soccer Begins

In my last post about the team I posed this question: will the Crushers be able to take the next step and compete with the travel teams? The question was answered this weekend!

When the last indoor season ended, the Crushers were beating house teams and other AYSO teams. However, they were losing rather convincingly to travel teams. After eight weeks of focusing on ball control, defense, and passing, the Crushers began their second indoor season with two games against travel teams. While they lost the first game 3 to 4, what impressed me is that they played with a new found confidence and determination.

We played the Hacksaws in the first game. The Hacksaws are a group of kids from Paw Paw, Michigan. Their team is comprised of several good soccer players and the rest of the kids are boys that excel in other sports like football, basketball, or baseball and who wanted to play soccer in the winter. They are a very aggressive team that plays a rough, but clean style of soccer. They are the team no one likes to play because, win or lose, they will give you a tough game. But they did give the Crushers some motivation when they started making fun of the fact that we have girls on our team. When the young ladies on the team heard this, they were fired up.

During our game, the Crushers gave up a quick goal early. I will have to admit I was worried that a rout might be on. But like I have said before, if nothing else these kids are fighters. The Crushers settled down and began to play hard. Our defense was outstanding. The boys who were laughing about playing girls, were not laughing when those girls put them into the wall or put them on the ground. The first half ended 1-0 Hacksaws. It was quite fitting that the Crushers first goal was scored by Dallas (read about Dallas in the Meet the Team section). Greta, another young lady on our team stole the ball along the boards and passed it to Sonic, who passed it to Dallas, who made a move and used some of her speed to get past the only defender. Ultimately, she beat the goal keeper with a low shot on the left side. The teams traded goals in the second half. Taz scored on a direct kick and off a steal that lead to a break away on the goal keeper. The keeper never had a chance.

Ultimatley, the game was decided on two plays. First, one perfect shot against our keeper, the Professor. The ball was kicked high and while on the way down, it crossed behind the cross bar of the goal. The Professor's hand missed the ball by less than an inch. It was a great shot. The second play was a shot taken by Taz that bounced over their keeper's head. Their keeper turned after the ball went over his head, and made a brillant diving save pushing the ball to the side. Again, a play decided by inches. All in all it was a great game, played by evenly matched teams. It was fun to be a part of.

In the second game we played a travel team from Marshall, Michigan. They were a GOOD team. As it turns out they tied with two other teams for second in their WYSMA outdoor travel team league. We had one thing we had going for us. The Marshall Team played a game right before our game. This game started with us scoring the first quick goal. Taz took the kick off, made a pass to Sonic who took a solid shot from the left wing, beating the keeper on the far side. It was a great soccer play to watch. The teams traded goals with the Crushers remaining tied or in the lead until midway through the second half. In the second half, Taz, one of our Captains, got leg cramps and had to sit out for a while. It was 4 to 3 advantage Crushers when he left the game. As I have mentioned before, Taz is the heart of this team. With Taz out, the Marshall team, to their credit, took advantage of his absence to take a 5 to 4 lead late in the second half.

In past games the Crushers would have accepted the loss, but not on this day. On this day the Crushers responded to the challenge. First, as soon as Marshall scored their 5th goal, Taz demanded he be put back into the game. When Marshall took the lead, their play grew rougher, again not dirty, but no one was getting any free run at their keeper. Taz was back in the game for only a few minutes, when he took possession of the ball. Three moves later, the ball was in the back of the net. Taz struck again. The score was 5 to 5.

The play intensified. With less then five minutes to play, Taz made a pass to Sonic. Taz was tripped, but no call was made. Sonic took the pass, and made his own pass to Izzy (another of our male players), Sonic was taken down. Just before Izzy took his shot, the whistle blew. Izzy ripped a beautiful shot past the keeper. BUT NO GOAL. The ref called the foul on Sonic. To all the coaches out there, let this be a lesson. As the game became more physical, I started to complain about the lack of calls to the ref. When Taz was fouled, I yelled again. When Sonic was fouled, well how does that old saying go . . . be careful what you wish for . . . . I finally got the call, but it nearly cost us the game.

One of the things I love about Taz is that he is a smart player, who knows the rules of the game, and keeps his head in the big moments. While people, including players and coaches, were yelling about the call and the no goal, Taz ran over picked up the ball. He asked the ref where to place it, waited for the whistle, and immediately took the shot. While so many of us were concentrating on the call, his head was in the game. He kept playing. He scored the winning goal before some players on the other team even knew what had happened.

A few tense moments later, and the game was over. The Crushers had won 6 to 5. I know I talked about Taz allot in this game. But make no mistake about it, this was a team win. Our keeper, the Professor, made several outstanding saves to preserve our lead or maintain the tie during the game. Some were one on one plays where he was the only player between Marshall and a goal. The full backs, our defense, played hard. Instead of the Professor saving the defense all the time, there were several times in this game where they saved him. It was a hard fought game and good win.

Have the Crushers taken the next step? Have they started competing with the Travel Teams? It seems the answer is YES. It is early in the season. We have four more games against four more tough teams. But I think the team as turned a corner.

GO CRUSHERS!