Monday – Workout with coach Alec 9:00 AM – HS Fieldhouse

Tuesday – No training! Go for a long hard run.

Wednesday – Workout with coach Alec 9:00 AM – HS Fieldhouse

Thursday – WABSC Training at 8:00 AM – WAIS

NOTE: PHYSICALS NEED TO BE COMPLETED ASAP and loaded into StudentCentral. Form available on this website to direct how to do it.

We had a blast on Thursday playing a round robin format. Some of our “most wanted” guys showed up which made my day as well as a debut for Jeff Sunderlin in goal. Levi and Jeff were on their games and I think we have to crown Pura Vida with the win although the matches were all pretty even. Some highlights:

1. Kaarsen had a spectacular header off a great cross by Danny

2. Tyam was shooting rockets

3. Dillard was distributing the ball quickly and feeding through ball after through ball to Coach and others and I got fit chasing after them all!

4. Steve, Alex, Angel, Nate, Adam all looking good! Great to see you guys! I really mean it when I say everyone matters. We still have some “most wanted posters” up for some other guys we haven’t seen in awhile.

5. Less whinging! Yay! Life brings plenty of serious problems without soccer ever being one of them!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Excited to train tomorrow. Bring a friend tomorrow – now, not just any friend, I have a few in mind. Make sure one of the names below shows up tomorrow and you get a free Gatorade for you AND for them. I’ll even put them on ice.

Angel

Adam

Mike Lopez

Ryan

Alex

Nate

Steve P.

Some guys I know are on vacay right now so I am not mentioning them here.

Themes of sport are direct to life. Themes are taken from the research article below. Players, read and reflect and email me what impacted you. A reward on Thursday for those who do.

https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=118537

There are so many metrics by which to measure a winning team. We can win many ways…today I talked about importance of positivity and limiting whinging about things – whose throw in, was it thrown in to the right person, is it out or not, so and so forth. Critiquing is easy. Not doing it is harder. Good teams aren’t full of critics. Here are ways to win every day – training, game, class at school, you name it.

1. Care about each other. Start conversations with new people. Ask them how they are.

2. Be a great sport. If you think you fouled someone, call a foul on yourself.

3. Hustle and work hard. Too much walking

4. Uplift with a thousand positives.

5. Be friendly, smile. Happy teams win. If a team isn’t happy, not even winning is fun.

6. Be humble (Confidence is great – having a high opinion of yourself. Arrogance is having a low opinion of others and that is not healthy.) Hold EVERYONE on the team in high esteem.

7. Have a blast. Being on a high school team is once in a lifetime. Trust me, enjoy playing, coaching is great but it is a LOT less fun than playing.

Win at these things and you will win every game no matter the score. That said, you will win by the score too. We have some guys out there who win this way every day. We need 35 of you. Chapeau!

On August 20th, we will scrimmage East Stroudsburg North at home. This will be our second scrimmage giving us some nice work before our opener on the 23rd.

We are currently working with our athletic director to move some game dates in the regular season so as to minimize conflict with XC meets as we have many athletes doing both. News on these adjustments when they become available.

Happy Monday! Here is the schedule for the week

Monday (Today) – Lifting with Coach Alec 9:00 AM

Tuesday – WABSC Training at WAIS 8:00 AM

Wednesday – Lifting with Coach Alec 9:00 AM

Thursday – WABSC Training at WAIS 8:00 AM

See you tomorrow!!!

We warmed up and played in a slightly expanded field from Tuesday. Guys are getting fitter bit by bit.

The good:

– Less panic ball than Tuesday.

– Some wonderful passing and vision

– Some nice reads and steps by Rocco and Nolan. Love the work of our young guys – Kaarsen, Keerat, Yahriel, Nolan L….there is a bright future for you guys.

– The game ended 2-2 with a victory for Pura Vida on a game winner PK by Dillard. What I like most about this is Pinnies were down 2-0 to start but battled back with a spectacular goal by Gigi and some magic from our do everything man Noah Quick.

The going to get better:

– Focus on self for critique and the team for praise. As with all teams and in life, we can sometimes focus externally on negatives we see in others. Avoid the trap. When things go wrong this leads to classic finger pointing and hurts the team. Remember our enemy. It’s us. We have amazing players. We must avoid beating ourselves before we are ready for any opponent. No one is above another.

– Communication. We are still a quiet team. Particularly without the ball but also with it. Louder and bolder. Levi I heard today in spades. Great job Levi! Here is what I want to hear:

“Great pass”

“Great step”

“Sorry I missed you on that run, I’ll find you next time”

“Man-on”

“Turn”

“I’ve got Dillard, press the ball”

Etc.

Some of you do this, some of you do it less. Everyone needs to do it more. Positive and constructive.

Finally here is a nice pic of some great guys wrapping up practice. We are lucky they are on OUR team!

It was a hot one and we need it to be acclimated for August 11. Some players who got a shout-out today:

1. Keerat! He is more than just a name. He moves.

2. Harnit! The silent ninja. Harnit was described as always being in the right spot and doing the right thing.

3. Andrew. Back from his Hawaiian Punch he was active as a jitterbug.

4. BenTaube – Have you watched Ben Hur? Well, we have BenTaube. Calm on the ball, nice passes.

5. Danny – played a few different positions and let loose a howitzer of a shot. It didn’t go in but in fairness the goals are small these days.

6. Nolan Browne – he was up and active on his mark. Aggressive tendancies which we like and he is working hard to take care of the ball.

Coaches Comments: I liked the 2 touch the most. Pinnies played better and the shirts were more incisive during 2 touch. It is critical that we control the ball and equally critical that we learn to play quickly. NOT BIG BOMBS down the field, but quick incisive passes. Check out the video linked below and go to 12:15. You will see an unforgivable turnover by USA and then the quick counter. With Gigi or Justin or Andrew up top, this will be a nightmare for opponents. Note the runner (Baris) that eventually took the shot and the pass to him. Every ball was deliberate – no blind long balls here or ponderous possession. WATCH and talk to me about it via email. There will be competition for starting spots on the field. Get in the habit of doing all the little things to make our team great.

PS: It was so much fun to play and watch you guys. We are so blessed to have you all.