AYSO

9-11-13

I remember.

My afternoon wasn’t as hectic as I had feared. Luckily we got the boys’ homework done pretty quickly and was ready for soccer on time. I am looking forward to the boys having a desk again.

Soccer practice was phenomenal. Practices have always felt a little like we were totally faking it. It seemed too chaotic and haphazard for anyone to take us seriously. Yesterday was different. The team has seemed like a pretty good group since day one, but they seemed even more so last night. We worked on some throw in practice, which they all had significantly improved on after a bit. Then we turned to a new drill.

I wanted to train the goalies. At this point I think that probably 90% of our team wants to be a goalie at some point. I had them each take a turn for a spell in goal as the rest of the team practiced passing that ended in a shot on goal. This drill ended up training 3 different skills all at once, and it went beautifully.

I never knew how to encourage a kid to be a goalie before. It is one thing to tell them to not fear the ball. It is another thing to show them how not to.

As we stood in the goalie box, it occurred to me to have them take ownership of their box. I told them it was their house. I told them that they were defending their house. The defenders were their guard dogs outside the box, but once they came across that line they could charge. I even had them each chant, “Get out of my house!” It was amazing! The aggression and the hustle that came from this was inspiring. These kids understood it. Plus, they had a lot of success with this technique. It also got the other team mates to understand that they need to get those shots in quickly and not to dink around in front of the goal since the keeper can come get that ball. Lessons all around!

The drill which was supposed to only be a short one before a scrimmage. It ended up being 40 minutes! It was that good! I loved it! I felt so inspired by these kids and how well they were working and how none of them complained. It was great! I can’t wait for the game!!!

It is nights like last night that explain to me why I am involved in AYSO.