Game Report From The Beginning of Time

Brazilian Thunders vs. The Mavericks

For many of these U-10 players this first game in their new team in a new season is the beginning of time, the beginning of their time as a soccer player. The kicking clusters around the ball of their earlier years are being replaced by growing physical skills, greater balance, and increased knowledge of the game.

Newark Youth Soccer League in California kicked off its fall season last Saturday with a game between the Brazilian Thunders and the Mavericks.

The Thunders fluorescent light green jerseys seemed ideal for helping players pick out team mates on the field, especially as their opponents were wearing red shirts. At this stage of the game anything that helps passing the ball is a good idea; at any stage of the game come to think of it.

After some initial player clumping on the left hand side of the field and some yelled instructions from both coaches to spread out the Thunders managed a couple of good forward moves with their #7 hitting a good shot at a tight angle into the side netting.

Birth of the Passing Game

The Mavericks #10 made some crucial tackles to stop the Thunders getting into the box, while #12 made some good defensive blocks for the Thunders.

The Mavericks goalkeeper made a couple of good saves with his feet and both goalkeepers showed they weren’t afraid to go to ground and take the ball off strikers’ feet.

In the 15^th minute the Thunders #9 broke through the Mavericks defense and hit a good shot just inside the post to make it   1-0 to the Thunders.

Brazilian Thunders Score

The Thunders were also showing some enterprise by picking off goal kicks before they reached the Mavericks midfield. One of these was taken by Thunders #1 who ran back towards the goal and hit a great shot past the Mavericks keeper. But the ref blew for offside.

Too bad the ref didn’t know that you can’t be offside from a corner, a throw-in or a goal kick. These were rules that were put in place by the International Football Association in 1866 and they still apply.

Onside Ref!

HT The Brazilian Thunders 1 The Mavericks 0

The second half was fast paced end-to-end game that had the crowd yelling. The Thunders were looking to increase their lead while the Mavericks were desperate to get back into the game.

The Mavericks goalkeeper was now playing as a striker and as a tall player he was a dangerous forward. But all of the Thunders ran and spread and passed and the Mavericks new goalkeeper made several good saves including one shot hit hard and high toward the top corner of the net that he grabbed and held.

As the game drew to a close and the number of subs increased it became clear that both of these teams were a shade off game fit yet, this being their first game of the season.

The game ended with a 1-0 victory to the Brazilian Thunders and the teams did a good job of congratulating each other on having played a great game.

Teams Congratulate Each Other

I spoke to Brazilian Thunders head coach Frank Solar after the game.

LJS: “Coach, how did you feel the first game went?”

FS: “We’re still just getting to know each other. We need to practice positioning. The kids are just in the transition between everyone playing like Charlie Brown, everybody behind the ball. But they’re going to learn how to pass for sure. But they’re already moving the ball pretty well and they’re talking to each other so that’s key.”

LJS: “What will you be working on in training in preparation for the next game?”

FS: “For the next game, obviously throw-ins, even though we already practiced it,  but the main thing will be positions.”

Next I spoke to The Brazilian Thunders #1 Vincent James

LJS: “How did you think the first game went, Vincent.”

VJ: “Good but it was an equal match. It was a good goal that we scored.”

LJS: Looking forward to the next game what do you think you guys will change about the next game?”

VJ: “We’ll probably play more as a team. Frank and everyone else will have a stronger idea how the team moves forward, how we work together, and it will be better.

Brazilian Thunders #1 Vincent James was unanimously voted Man of the Match by his Dad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Latest #9

Ironic contrast. Today at soccer coaching for his U8 league, my son was issued his soccer uniform: jersey, shorts, and a spare pair of socks.

My son’s team has a custom designed crest.

As a registered U8 coach PAL Metro League gave me a ball bag, 5 balls, a soccer field dry erase clipboard. I spent $40 on Amazon tonight on other coaching supplies.

This kid’s team seem to have a biro pen as well as (maybe) a ball. I bet they have passion for the game and skills to make up for all the other “stuff” they don’t have.

But I guess at the end of the day the most important thing is that wherever they are, whatever their circumstances, children all over the world are united in their love of the game.

Cheering Junior – part 2

THE $ COST
 
At first it’s relatively easy. At least, it is if you are a member of that increasingly endangered species the American middle class. You load junior into your van ($30,000). You make sure junior is wearing his/her cleats ($75), socks ($15), shin guards ($20), replica kit ($60) and with a basic first aid kit ($15) you drive ten miles three times a week ($15 gas) to an U6 soccer camp/class ($150 tuition).
 
COACH v PARENTS
 
Once there you will be told by the coach with varying degrees of tact, or not, that he is the coach and that coaching from the sidelines is not allowed. Your struggle to want to take over the coaching job will grow as time goes by. We all want to help our kids. We all know what’s best for them. Whether this is more difficult for the proud Dad intent on doing his bit to give the world the next Landon Donovan to keep his pearls of coaching wisdom to himself than the Mom who’s used to always knowing best. Several soccer Dads told me that it was definitely the Moms who were the most vocal.
 
So Mom and Dad alike will be under strict instructions to stand, biting your tongue and watch as their little pride and joy hares around flailing and kicking in the middle of a small clump of kids playing pineapple ball.
 
North Carolina ex-pat Englishman Mick Hughs told me that once while watching his eight year old son Evan’s team being coached he just had to make his opinion known as to the coach’s incompetence. The coach marched over to him and somewhat foolishly demanded to know what made Mick think he knew so much about the rules of the game. “I just looked him in the eye,” Mick recalls, “and told him, because I’m a forty two year old Englishman. There was no arguing with that.”
 
Whether you possess a European or South American advantage when it comes to at least appearing to know more about the game’s finer and fouler points than the average homegrown parent, it is a fact that your behavior on the sideline as a parental spectator will be directly affected by the skill level of junior on the field. If junior is displaying basic passing and either goal scoring or saving abilities, any verbal assaults launched by you at the game will be judged at worst as eccentric. But if you kid has two left feet and the mobility of a potted plant any opinions you voice will be seen by the coach as a pain in the ass. And he already has more than enough problems to contend with on the field, so beware.
 
to be continued …

CHEERING JUNIOR

Life liberty and the pursuit of the onside ball. We might well have come to USA seeking freedom from European persecutions of one sort or another. If you believe some of the latter day New York Times best seller seekers we may well have come here seeking to practice persecutions of one sort or another without any European hinderence. We might like to walk around thinking 236 years is more than enough time added on for us to have shaped a new and separate identity but the call of the ball is strong, the referee of eternity’s whistle echoes through the empty soccer stadiums of our hearts.
 
It might take little more than signing junior up to play some non-combatant, harmless, socially sanitized soccer for all those European demons to come howling out of the deserted stands, pouring from the ghostly mouths of millions of fallen fans, thousands of failed pundits. Xenophobia – fear of the other. Religious schism, my divine formation is the one true formation. Political dissent and unAmerican activity facing off for a quick 5-a-side kick to the death. Am I reading too much into it you ask? Are you, gentle reader, guardian of refereeing for the team, by the team, and of the team, reading too little? Let’s kick off and see what the first half brings. Heads you win, tails I lose. Fair enough? So, away we go …

WHY SO MANY PARENTS SIGN JUNIOR UP FOR SOCCER
 
Most parents, casting around for junior’s first organized sporting activity take a cursory look at soccer and see a nice, safe-looking game that doesn’t seem to involve much dangerous physical contact. This is especially appealing to boomers. More on the reality of that supposed safety of the game perception later. In addition, in the current economic climate with a good deal of house values underwater and a lot of retirement plans going the way of the dinosaur, they also see a game that doesn’t involve masses of expensive equipment. They might have heard US women play the game pretty well and it’s conceivable they vaguely know who David Beckham is, so they sign junior up for soccer.
 
Kitty is a suburban Seattle mom with two young daughters. Whereas their lives are not majorly shaped by soccer, the game does have some impact on their family. She told me her husband occasionally goes to MLS Seattle Sounders games “but it’s mostly just an excuse to hang out with friends.” However, he is also head coach of a group 7 year olds that includes their daughter Riley.
 
“Last year, we had trouble scrounging up volunteers, so he was the only coach. But this year, two other dads have stepped in. Both of them are European (Dutch and German) and take the game more seriously than the other parents. I think this Fall will be interesting as the girls will be challenged a bit more than last year. Spacing out and picking daisies whilst goal tending may be frowned upon.”
 
She also has perfectly valid parenting reasons for enrolling junior in soccer, reasons now backed up by a solid amount of hard data. Kitty puts it this way:
 
“Girls who play team sports are less likely to get in trouble. So for me, keeping the kid healthy and out of jail is my main reason for getting involved in soccer.”
 
Such are the inroads the beautiful game has made in recent years into the American mainstream, Kitty also has her own interest in soccer, “the only way that professional soccer impacts me is flipping through a magazine to see Becks in an underwear ad. For that brief, no pun intended, moment before I turn the page, I am a huge soccer fan.”
 
To be continued …