Practice Plans, Revised Calendar, and JV Schedule

Some bookkeeping items:

1. Calendar has been updated to reflect some game dates and times. Nothing is concrete as schools pick their senior nights – us included – so things can shift. We aim to update as quickly as we find out.

2. JV Schedule has been posted – both in the schedule and results section as well as on the calendar. Our JV Men of the Match yesterday were Yahriel and Kyle. Great job boys!

3. Practice Plans have been moved to the coaches corner menu but all can see and are encouraged to check it out.

Post-Game Analysis and Man of Match

As I have mentioned since the beginning, our biggest battles are fought with ourselves. To be the players and people we want to be and that the team needs us to be. So, how did we do yesterday with ourselves?

1. We were brave in the air being the first to the ball including 3 excellent attempts on goal and perhaps even more importantly, winning the ball off punts and goal kicks in the midfield and in our back line. This was a strength yesterday. We MUST always win this battle

2. Our press was high energy but will need work and we will work on triggers and shutoffs. That said, we won that battle yesterday too. Our midfield is highly press resistant which is a blessing.

3. As I said at half-time, we must focus on improving fundamentals – finishing, touches, communication, decisions, through balls, tackling. If we aim to do each of these 5% better in practice – this will translate into more victories.

Today, we will work on finishing, weighted thru balls, touches, and our press.

Nice to start the year with a win. Growth will translate to more wins. We cannot be satisfied.

Our Man of the Match was Dillard Jones. He was commanding in the midfield and was truly box to box and of course got us on the board pulling back a goal. Great job Dillard!

First Steps

A good win, analysis to come tomorrow. Lots of work to do. Rest up boys!

Reminder – practice shifts to 3:00 PM tomorrow. We wrap at 4:45 PM.

Beautiful Day for Soccer – Please Read

1. Here are the game day rosters for today – both JV and V. Dual roster players – bring both uniforms!!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Bg56ttx8KXXIC1eqpIExRsQoSd0S0pNBo01c3qA6HZ8/edit?usp=sharing

2. Starting Lineup will be announced at warm-up.

3. If you have been out for awhile on vacay or with injury, you will likely see your name on the JV roster as well as Varsity even if you are Varsity player. This is because it is a friendly and extra touches might do you some good in your preparation.

4. IF there is a JV game after varsity, ALL dual roster players will play JV unless they played more than 15 minutes of Varsity. Varsity players who are NOT dual rostered are highly encouraged to stay and support JV.

5. We will use ball-runners from JV for Varsity game and ball-runners from Varsity for the JV game. I will assign these and they will rotate.

6. Warm-up for Varsity and JV

Jog

Dynamic Stretching

Line Drills

Keep Away in box

Shots for Some – Back line through balls for others

3 v 2 live action

Can’t wait boys! See you at 4:00 PM!

Friendly Tomorrow

We play our first of our friendlies tomorrow. Some IMPORTANT notes

1. Shin guards are MANDATORY – you cannot play without them. No jewelry. Leave it at home or it ends up in my pockets and through the wash.

2. Wear blue shorts, socks, and uniform. If you are on the Varsity match day squad, wear varsity gear.

3. We begin warm-up precisely at 5:00 PM. (Be there at 4:00 for walk through – a little different than yesterday – and to support the WAGS.)

4. If you are golf or XC, please let me know when I can expect you. If you are not there by 5:00 PM – I will need to start players who are and then work you in. Shoot me an email with your expected arrival times so we can know who we will be starting with.

5. All scrimmages, practices, games are mandatory and only excused absences (family, illness, golf or XC, etc.) are legitimate reasons to not be there – and who would want to miss a soccer game!

6. Play hard tomorrow and we are grinding that winning culture and mentality. Win your own battles. Positioning, taking care of the ball, smart defensive fundamentals. Lots of little victories result in a team victory. Play your role.

7. The principal goal tomorrow is to see and observe the team and begin to make refinements.

That said. WE ARE PUMPED! Let’s go WARRIORS. See you tomorrow. Varsity game day roster to be posted later tonight.

Pictures and Respect

Pictures went great! Those of you who could not be there, we will see when a make-up can be taken with the whole team again later in the season along with individual shots. Christmas City was prompt and efficient. Great job!

Our walk-through was unfortunately slightly tempered by a lack of listening/respect. Our second word of our core theme this year is HUMBLE. Good players hang on every word their coaches say in order to listen to how to be better or most importantly – how to be a better player for the TEAM. Would a college coach want to see players sitting plucking at the grass during a walk through? Would a community coach? Make your best impression every day. We have so many players who listen intently and want to be coached. If you were one of those parked on the grass, shoot me an email and apologize. We all make mistakes. Boys to men. I love you all and I want to see us win these victories over ourselves. These are life lessons and I’d be a lousy coach if we lowered our standards here. Our coaches love the team too much, have accomplished so much as players and coaches, and know way too much soccer to have anyone tune them out.

On Monday we will do the walk through again (We will report at 4:00 PM for this, earlier than the 4:30 PM time I had originally planned). Hopefully this time with EVERY soul all in – with ears, heart, and humility.

Looking Ahead:

Monday 8/18 Friendly – Pocono Mountain East (WAIS) – Wear BLUE home uniforms

4:00 PM Report and Walk Through

4:30 PM Support the girls soccer team

5:00 PM Warm-up

5:30 PM Varsity Scrimmage – We will either work in JV players as the game continues or run a separate JV scrimmage. I will need to see what the PM East coach says when I see him.

Tuesday 8/19 Practice

3:00-4:45 PM

Wednesday 8/20 Friendly – East Stroudsburg North (WAIS) and Dieruff (Tri scrimmage)

3:20 Report

3:30 Warm-up

4:00 Varsity Scrimmage and same thoughts as Monday on JV

Thursday 8/21 Light Practice

3:00-4:45 PM

Friday 8/22 @Kutztown 3:00 PM

Departure time from high school 1:30 PM

TOUGH – HUMBLE – TOGETHER

Evening Update:

Our Varsity Letter Point Leaders:

Nolan Browne – 50

Justin Hetrick – 50

Jeff Sunderlin – 50

Andrew Bleice – 48

Keep in mind, the fitness classification is weighing heavily in the early week.

Wear BLUE (Home) uniforms for pictures and if you have BLUE socks, bring them TOO!!!!!

8:00 AM Pictures at WAIS

Practice will be light and wrap by 9:15-9:30 AM.

First Week Done!

After a slightly sluggish start, we woke up and had overall a strong practice. Our practice player of the day was Steven Barba! Great job Steve.

Our Premier League Fantasy Join Code: https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/xhnwk7

Tomorrow is pictures at 8:00 AM with Christmas City at Wilson Area Intermediate School. Please be there a bit early in blue uniform. If you have blue socks from last year .. please BRING THEM. If you don’t I scrounged up every set of blue socks I could find in the high school dungeon and I will bring those. Players who are double rostered, please bring BOTH Varsity and JV uniforms to be in both team pictures.

We will practice for a short time after pictures and be done by 9:30 AM.

See you tomorrow!