Meet the Team

For those who are new to this site, the parents of the players asked that I use the nicknames of the players on the blog.

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Sonic

Sonic is one of the young men on the team. He is the other speed merchant on our team. Unlike Dallas, who is a long strider, (Dallas is the other speed demon on the team) Sonic's speed comes from quickness and high RPMs. Unlike so many players on the team, Sonic is not afraid to get in there and mix it up with other players.  He is not the biggest guy on the team, but mess with him at your own risk.  In addition to being a great soccer player, I have been told he is a gifted martial artist. When a foul gets called against our team, it is usually Sonic. It's a good thing.  He brings a much needed toughness to the team. Sonic got his nick name because of his speed and hard nose playing style. Besides, I think he kind of looks like Sonic.

Sonic is one of those players coaches love. He doesn't say much and does not mess around in practice. To borrow a line from another coach, "he just gets on with it." He can play any position on the field. He always plays hard. He and Dallas are the second leading scorers on the team. The only problem is that he runs himself out. He needs to learn to pace himself.  Not a bad problem to have. Simply put, Sonic is one of the players that makes this team go. The best part is when the team started last summer, Sonic was one of my two seven year olds.  Now if I could only get him to put more shots on goal. 

Keep logging on and follow Sonic's journey with the rest of his teammates.

This is the commercial portion of the post. Please check out our up coming fund raisers. 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 checks payable to AYSO Region 250 and we will make sure the money is deposited into the correct account. Thank you for your generosity.

Go Crushers!

Meet the Team

Just a reminder, the parents of the players have requested that I use their team nicknames on the blogs.

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Terminator

If you watch ESPN enough, you will hear the commentators talk about a player who doesn't have the great "numbers" but can just play the game. You also will hear them discuss a player's "intangibles." If you married those two conversations together you would be talking about the Terminator. She is not the biggest player on the team. She is not the fastest player on the team. She does not have the best ball skills. When you put her into a game, she just plays. She is easily one of the best ball defenders on the team. She is smart. And she shares one quality with Old School in that she doesn't back down from anyone. Terminator is one of those kids you love to coach. She works hard and absorbs new information like a spunge.

Terminator got her name the morning she showed up for practice with her sports glasses on. The name also matches her hard nose, take no prisoners approach to defense. Terminator is one of my starting full backs. She starts the game paired with Old School. Old School usually attacks the ball while Terminator covers the middle of the field. This is exactly how I want it because Terminator is like a defensive coach on the field. She tells her teammates where or how to play and they actually listen to her. The best part is her instructions are almost always correct. There is only one other player on the field with the confidence to order other players around and who is respected enough by his teammates that they actually listen. Most coaches hope for one player who can be their coach on the field, I have two.

In AYSO games you can only insert substitute players four times during a game. To keep my midfielders fresh, this spring we will switch midfielders and full backs during the game. We will be playing in Florida in July after all. In preparation for this idea I have been playing my full backs at midfield during the last session of indoor soccer. Faced with the new challenge, Terminator took the same approach she has taken to everything else, she just played. Of all the full backs, she looked the most comfortable in the position. She did a very good job. The girl never ceases to amaze me.

Continue to log on and follow Terminator and the rest of the team. Check out our fundraisers.  If  you would like to make a donation to the team please send it to 315 North Street, Paw Paw, Michigan 49079.  Please make any checks payable to AYSO Region 250.  Thank you for your generosity.

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 Professor

Remeber, the parent of the players have asked that I use the players nicknames on the blog. The kids seem to prefer it that way.

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The Professor plays keeper or goalie. It is very unusual to find a player at his age that excels in this position. Most kids do not want to play keeper. Who can blame them. Keepers stand in net while other players kick a soccer ball as hard as they can at the goal. The keeper is suppose get in front of the ball. When they are not facing down rockets, they are diving on the ball while players on the other team are trying to kick it. When I was a player decades ago, I had a coach who said keepers had to have good hands, allot of confidence, and bravery. I would say the first two are correct. As a former keeper, I can tell you that you don't need bravery, you need a lack of common sense.

Having said that, The Professor is an excellent keeper. We call him the professor because he looks like a professor when he is not playing soccer. The Professor wears wire glasses with circular lens. He has a very quiet unassuming personality. Like I said he, looks like a professor.

But when he puts on his sports glasses and goalie gloves, he becomes the Keeper. Almost like a super hero. Clark Kent, Peter Parker, the Professor become Superman, Spider man, and the Keeper.

Simply put, the Professor keeps us in games. Our team has been working hard on learning how to play team defense. As happens, there have been break downs and mistakes during the learning process. When these mishaps occur, the Professor is there to stop the other team. He regularly faces runs or breaks aways when one, two, and sometimes three players from the other team are racing at him with no one from his team there. More often then not, he made the save. He routinely makes saves when the other team should have scored. The Professor not only makes the spectacular saves, he very rarely misses the routine saves. He is an excellent keeper. He is so good in fact, I have had other coaches stop me to tell me how impressed they are with his abilities. With the Professor between pipes, I like our chances in Florida.

Check out our fundraisers and continue following then team. If you want to make a donation to the team to help pay for the trip, you can send it to U-10 National Team, 315 North Street, Paw Paw, Michigan, 49079. Please make ckecks payable to AYSO Region 250. We will make sure it goes into the team's account.

Thanks for logging on and GO CRUSHERS!

Meet the Team

As usual, I will start off explaining that the team parents decided to use the kids' nicknames. Some were worried abouti putting their pictures on the net with their personal information . So a compromise was reached.



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GRETTA


Gretta is the nicest player on the team. Simply put, she is a great kid who always has a smile on her face. Gretta got her name because she is so nice, too nice. Gretta was simply too nice on the soccer field. So I tried to think of analogies or ways to explain to her that it was okay not to be so nice during the game. Last Halloween I used the example of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. I told her I want her to be nice like Jeckyl off the field, but aggressive "mean" like Hyde on the field. Now Gretta's real name starts with the letter G, so I wanted to find a female name starting G. I wanted two names, one for the nice girl and one for the tough soccer player. One of my favorite shows at night is Gretta van Susteren. It is a news show that bears the name of its host. Gretta is one tough lady. So, Gretta it is.


As nice as Gretta is, when she came to our first practice last fall, she was the least skilled player. The only reason I mention this fact is to put the next fact into contex. During our last indoor season, Gretta was the third leading scorer on our team. Gretta has gone from being the first player to give up, to a player who gives everything she has. One of my favorite examples of Gretta's new found confidence and determination occurred in the first game of the last indoor season. We played a team comprised of players from our region. It was a team of all boys. Before the game started, the boys on that team were making jokes about playing girls. I used this as a motivational tool during our pregame talk. When Gretta got into the game, she challenged a player on the other team for the ball along the boards. Gretta put a check on that poor boy that would have made hockey fans cheer. He was not laughing about playing girls while he was picking himself up off the ground.





Gretta was recently moved from full back to forward. Our team plays 7v7 in outdoor: one keeper, two full backs (defense), three midfielders, and one forward. The forward's job is to live in the goalie box, harass the keeper, and kick any ball that roles across the front of the goal into the net. Gretta has taken to her job. She has scored all her goals while in the box, harrassing the keeper, on balls that were kicked across the front of the goal. Gretta is one of those players that needed to find her niche in the sport. She found it. I am looking forward to big things from her in Florida.


It is time for the commercial portion of this post. Please look at our up coming fundraisers. As I have said in the past, we have to raise money to take this trip. Any contribution is greatly appreciated. Please join us at one of our events or send a donation to: U-10 National Team, 315 North Street, Paw Paw, Michigan, 49079. Please make all checks payable to AYSO Region 250 and please indicate U-10 Team on the Check so it goes into the right account.

GO CRUSHERS!

Meet the Team

If you have missed previous posts or are new to this blog, I refer to all the kids on the team by their team nick names. Some of the parents had concerns about having their kids' pictures and information on the Net. So we came to this compromise. I get to post the pictures of the team, but use nicknames instead of real names. Yes, democracy at work. Too bad people in DC cannot figure it out.

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OLD SCHOOL

Old School is one of the young men on our team. He is one of those kids who will not back down from anyone or anything. He is definitely one of the tough guys on our team. In a previous post, I wrote that a girl named The Wall was the toughest player on the team. What I did not mention then was that Old School is an extremely close second. Old School is one of our full backs (defense). In today's lingo, he is our stopper. Since we play 7v7, we have two backs on the field during a game (1 keeper or goalie, 2 backs or defense, three midfielders, and one forward or striker). Nine out of ten times, he is the player that attacks the ball. When he is on, there are not many kids who can get by him. He also has very good ball skills. There are those who think that you put your best players on offense and your weaker players on defense. Nothing could be further from the truth. Old School could easily play midfield or forward because he has the skills. But Old School is the anchor of our defense.

Old School also has a great leg. Old School and another player, Taz, take most of our free kicks due to the strength and accuracy of their kicks. This is how Old School scores most of his goals. While he starts in a defensive postion, Old School has the green light to take possession of the ball in the defensive end of the field and dribble it into the offensive half of the field and initiate our offense. This is a new option for this player and he is growing into the role of attacker. He actually attacked in one of our recent games. While the opposing keeper made the save, his role as an attacker adds a new level or dimension to our offensive.

Finally, Old School got his name on a cold and wet October evening. We had a scrimmage against another U-10 boys team from our region. While all the kids playing were wearing sweat pants and Under Armor or fleece under their jerseys, Old School showed up in shorts and his jersey. Some saw him and said, "now thats old school." Old School had his name.

Keep logging in and follow Old School and the rest of the team. Don't forget to check out our upcoming fundraising events. If you would like to make a donation, please send a check to U-10 National Team, 315 North Street, Paw Paw, Michigan 49079. Please make checks payable to AYSO Region 250 and place U-10 Team on the check so it is placed in the correct account.

GO CRUSHERS!

Running ....

I have not had a new post in a while. Funny how life gets in the way of what you want to do sometimes. After my last running post, I was extremely motivated to get back on the road. I had completed my first run of a mile in months. I had no knee pain. I was excited. Having said that, did you ever feel like the universe was out to get you? My running was put on hold for two weeks because of a cracked tooth. That's right, a tooth, not a foot injury, a sore knee, or even a pulled muscle in the back. I was sidelined by a tooth.


I had forgotten the very special kind of pain a bad tooth can produce. Now I have a fairly high threshold for pain. But tooth pain sends me running for the Tylenol. I do not know how or when my tooth cracked, but it did. It got infected. The result, I was in allot of pain. I went to the dentist and had it pulled. There are several options for getting it replaced, like an implant or bridge. Lets just say they all cost more than my first car.


Enough about teeth. I got back on the road last Friday. I ran one and half miles. I ran two miles on Saturday and Sunday. The lay off due to my knee and other issues has left me in poor running shape. But let me say, "damn I missed running!" I have never enjoyed pained like I did this weekend. I was breathing hard, my legs were burning, and I was running pitifully slow. But for the first time in months I was running. Let me say it again, "damn, I missed running!" I had forgotten how much I LOVE TO RUN.


It is funny how one activity can be the key to a whole life style. For me the key is running. When I stop running, I stop cross training, and then I stop eating right. It is a slippery slope to obesity. Thankfully, it works in reverse too. Not only did I run this weekend, I also started cross training again. One day of band training on Saturday and weight lifting on Sunday. I am actually thinking about what I eat again. All triggered by running. It is Monday morning and I am sore in all the right places. Good pain, the kind of pain that lets you know you worked out hard. I cannot wait to go for a run today.


Hopefully things will continue to move forward. The universe will no longer conspire against me. Despite the tooth set back, I am still on course to run the Borgess 5k. Wish me luck, and GO CRUSHERS.