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!

Who are we?

I am reposting our first entry for Running With The Crushers.  I am hoping that we will have some new people logging on.  So, I thought it would be a good idea to reintroduce ourselves.  Besides, it beats typing it over again.  I hope you enjoy reading about our team as much as I enjoy coaching them.

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We are the Coed Crushers. We are an AYSO soccer team from Southwest Michigan. In July we are going to the 2010 AYSO National Games in West Palm Beach, Florida. The kids on this team are eight and nine years old. Our team is made up of six girls and five boys. We will be playing in the U-10 boys division. We have been training and fundraising since August of 2009. We are half way through our journey, and the best is yet to come. So come along with us on the first big adventure of our lives.

I am the coach of the Crushers. I wear many hats in my life: father, husband, lawyer, coach, and runner. I am adding blogger to the list for several reasons. First, I want to create a diary or journal of this event in my family's life. When I recently looked back at all we have done since August, I realized I was going to forget the great details of this adventure and I needed to find a way to record them. Second, over the last year, Steve "the runner" has been losing out. When I was looking back at 2009, I realized that while I was coaching three soccer teams, I had not run one race in 2009. I had not run a marathon for the first time in years. I had not even run a 5k. I suffered an injury to my knee playing soccer last fall, so by the end of the year I was not running at all. This has to change. I named this blog "Running with the Crushers" because I hope the weekly post will coerce me to get out the door and run. Hopefully, this blog will encourage me to reclaim the one totally selfish activity in my life. Finally, I am creating this blog for fundraising. I want to create something for those who have generously donated money or other things to our cause. I want to introduce them to the players and their families. I want the donors to see what their generosity has made possible. I also hope this blog will encourage others to donate to our cause.

This blog will focus on the team and our journey. Weekly posts will introduce the players and coaches to our readers. You will also follow the progress of the team, our wins and losses. You will follow the team to tournaments and ultimately to Florida. We will acknowledge and thank those who so generously donate to the team. You will have a front row seat from which to view my attempt in the middle of this mayhem to reclaim the title of runner. Finally, there will be Katie's posts. These posts will view our adventure through the eyes of my two year old daughter. Actually, its my wife's telling of the our story through Katie's eyes. It is a segment I hope you will all enjoy.

So, join us on our journey. It promises to be hectic, chaotic, but thoroughly enjoyable. GO CRUSHERS!

Katie's Back!

Hi everyone....I'm back.  My daddy said it has been too long since I have written.  I have decided that my daddy is nuts and soccer has made him that way.  Don't get me wrong....I love soccer.  I keep telling him that I want to play soccer like "my boys" and he is going to be my coach.  But one of these days, I think he might turn into a soccer ball or something.  Of course, that is one of the reasons I love my daddy so much.  He has taken all of this craziness on and has put his whole heart and soul into helping the big kids be better soccer players so they can kick some butt down in Florida.  (I wonder if I will get in trouble with my mommy for saying butt...  :)  )   I like watching the big kids play and it has been cool watching them win more and more games.  I like when The Terminator gets into it with the boys and takes them on and wins. She's spunky!  I like when The Wall won't let anyone by her or Pink dribbles right by them.  Dallas is the fastest girl I have ever seen.  She is even faster than my big brother, Taz!  I love when Gretta scores those goals....she may be nice, but don't mess with her.  Socks is really good too and I like the way she dresses.  She has style!  I like the boys too, but it is way past my bedtime so I will write about them next time.  Go Crushers!...Ooops that is Daddy's line.  I will have to come up with my own and make it way cuter too.
Good night all. :)

Running . . .Speed Workouts?

Well, getting back to running it has been an up and down experience.  I was really hoping to tell you all about my great 5K race (Borgess Run), but it was not meant to be.  In my last running post, I had just started running two miles.  I stayed at this level longer than anticipated.  For the longest time, I was feeling discomfort in my knee for the last half mile of the run.  No shooting pain or even a constant ache, it just did not feel right.  In keeping with my new conservative approach, I did not run more than two miles.

Finally, this last week I had a break through.  I ran just under three miles.  It was 2.8 according to the Garmin.  The best part is I could have kept running. Cookie (my 11 month old spaniel mix) came along for the run as well.  She is starting to get the hang of running.  She still starts out pulling, but we get into a rhythm about a half a mile in.  She definitely likes going for the runs.  If she sees me with my running clothes on, she gets excited and starts jumping around.  I think I have a new partner.

The best news was Friday's speed workout.  To get my team physically ready to play in Florida in July, we started training on the track last Friday.  We started with a half mile jog, followed by stretching.  We next did some light bounding to make sure everyone was warmed up. We headed for the bleachers for ten minutes of running stairs.  Finally, we did some sprints on the track.

I divided the team into three groups according to their fitness levels.  Group A is the run all day and all night kids.  Group C are the kids who need to work on their endurance.  Group B are the kids in the middle.  When we ran the bleachers, Group A ran two three minute repeats followed by a two minute repeat with one minute off in between.  Group B ran three two minute repeats with about two minutes rest in between.  Group C ran four one minute repeats with two minutes rest in between.

The sprints were also set up according to fitness level.  We started with four sprints.  Group C ran about 25 yards.  Group A ran 50 yard sprints.  Group B ran about 38 yard sprints.  We followed the four sprints with three more sprints where everyone ran 55 yards.  Top two finishers got to sit. I was going to make them run two 55 yard sprints, but my 5 year old son, Bulldozer, wanted to do one more.

I ran with Group A.  My lungs almost exploded, but I finished everything except the third repeat on the bleachers.  I got about a minute into the last repeat and my knee got that not right feeling so I stopped.  The rest of me spent the next several minutes thanking my knee for speaking up.  The good news, other than this discomfort, my knee felt fine during the whole workout.  I did not have any soreness in my knee the next morning.

As a last word, let me say that Dallas (see her bio in Meet the Team Postings) is a truly gifted athlete.  I knew she was fast.  I have marvelled at her speed in several post.  I learned last Friday she can maintain that speed for long periods of time.  When she was running the bleachers, she started off at a very fast pace.  Anyone who has run the bleachers knows that starting too fast leads to painful finishes.  It didn't phase her any of the three times she ran on the bleachers.  Oh yeah, she ran in basketball sneakers.  I was truly impressed.

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!

Meet the Team

For those who are new to this site, we are using the nick names of the players at the parents request.

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TAZ

Simply put, Taz is the leader of this team.  He is one of our team captains.  Taz is a very skilled player.  He can dribble and shoot with both his left and right foot, though in my opinion he ignores his left foot too often.  He has a powerful right foot.  So much so, his old nick name was "the leg."  Taz plays in the midfield, center mid, so he is usually all over the field.  One issue Taz has is a tendency to play it safe at times.  Some refer to it as playing not to lose.  What Taz has to learn is that he is at his best when he is playing all out, going a hundred miles an hour with his hair on fire.

Taz hates to lose.  I have always said that I do not know anyone who hates to lose more than I.  I may have found that person.  Taz hates to lose at anything.  Taz will do whatever needs to be done to secure a victory for his team.  If he needs to score alot of goals for us to win, he will score.  If he has to set up other players to score, he will get the assists.  If the team needs him to shut down a player on the other team, he will lock down the player.  If he needs to play keeper, he can do that also.  But, he loves to score as much as any ultra competitive nine year old boy.  To his credit, he will accept whichever role gives his team the best chance to win.  

What I like the most about this player is that he plays hard.  Despite his skills, he is not a prima donna.  His teammates gave him the name Taz, because during a scrimage in practice he was all over the field causing as much havoc as he could.  He also plays with his head in the game.  For example, during the last indoor session, we were playing a travel team in our second game.  It was a hard fought game.  Our opponents took the lead in the second half, when Taz came out with leg cramps.  Taz reentered the game and scored the tying goal.  As the second half progressed, there was alot of physical play.  On one play late in the second half, Taz passed the ball and got fouled.  The pass went to Sonic who passed to Izzy who shot and scored.  Just as Izzy took the shot the whistle blew, no goal.  The referee called the foul commited on Taz.  While everyone on the field, in the stands, and coaching (including me) were yelling about the call, Taz ran over, picked up the ball, and asked the ref where to place it.  The ref signaled for the direct free kick.  Before alot of people even realized what was happening, Taz scored  the game winning goal.  He had his head in the game even when his coach did not.  

To be fair, I should also mention that Taz is the coach's son.  As his coach, my opinion of him is biased.  But even to an unbiased eye, Taz is a very good player and a great kid.  As the coach of this team, I know he is an intricle part of this team and our success.  As his Dad, I cannot wait to watch him play in Florida.  As both, I only hope he plays a hundred miles an hour with his hair on fire.

Continue to log on and follow Taz and the team.  Check out our up coming fundraisers.  If you would like to make a donation, please send it to U-10 National Team, 315 North Street, Paw Paw, Michigan, 49079.  Please make any checks payable to: AYSO Region 250.

Go Crushers!

Meet the Team

Please remeber that we are using the players nick names at the request of their parents.

The Wall

One of the great stories from this team is how the Wall got her nickname.  In the beginning, the Wall played midfield.  I started her in that position because despite being a big kid, she can run.  She also started the year with good ball control skills.  When we started scrimmaging other teams, it became evident to me that we needed to make a change at full back (defense).  I decided to try the Wall at the position, in our second to last scrimmage.  She did a phenomenal job.  No one from the opposing team could get around her.  The team we played was an all boys team.  The wall kept knocking down opposing players and gigling when she did it.  At the end of the game, I was talking to the opposing coach.  When he commented on how well she played, he said, "She is a %$^#*^@! wall, no one gets around her."   The Wall had her new nickname.

The Wall is one of those kids who is always smiling.  She smiles so much, her first nickname was Smiley.  She always shows up to practice with a smile on her face and full of enthusiasm.  The Wall is not only fun to be around, she is a very good player.  If you ask any of the players on the team who the toughest player is, they will all tell you its the Wall.  There are players on this team who will not back down, but when the Wall is playing at her best she is the one who initiates the physical contact.  She also possesses a great sense of where to be on defense in just about any situtation.  She is aggressive to the ball.  Her size and speed combine to make her a very formidable defender.

As I described in a previous post, we will be alternating players from full back to midfield throughout the upcoming games.  In preparation for this, the Wall played some midfield during our last indoor session.  While it is taking time for her to learn how to play that position, I have been very impressed with her ball control skills.  We took the second indoor session off from league play.  We spent eight weeks honing our ball controll skills.  The Wall is one of the players that most benefitted from this training.  The Wall is one of those glue players.  Some people call them role players.  She may not score alot of goals or draw alot of attention, but she does the small things right.  She does the things that have to be done for a team to succeed.  If we enjoy any kind of success in Florida, it will be due in no small part to her play on the field.

Thanks for logging on.  Check out our up coming fundraisers.

Go Crushers!