The HEAT is on!

Hot day. Rehydrate boys. Eat well. Take care of yourselves.

Eight Things I liked today:

  1. Play of the day goes to Braden and Dillard on a beautiful pass from Braden to Dillard and finish. It was an unselfish play and beautiful warrior soccer.
  2. Some nice improvements in play from Nolan L and Angel – thats our goal – to be better than we were yesterday.
  3. An awesome day for one of our goalies – Logan. You won’t make every save but remember the ones you did. Got a lot of work today.
  4. Kaarsen continues to impress with some nice work up top for Team A. Got a shout out from teammates.
  5. Roberto “Big Bert” worked very hard in the midfield and impressed me with his toughness.
  6. Jayden D has a great instinct to step and intercept balls in. I love an aggressive defender.
  7. I enjoyed seeing the smiles. NEVER forget that it is fun to play. A smile goes a long way to pick people up. Owen Miller is one of those guys that lifts the mood. Great job!
  8. Everyone is trying to play quality soccer. There is very little of “just kick it” or “go”. Steven and Harnit come to mind here but SOOOO many fit in this boat but I like to mention as many as I can. We need to be smart with the ball and take care of it and then strike. The boys are trying to do just that.

Points of Emphasis:

  1. Aggression and marking. Some points never get old and being aggressive to snuff out attacks early is essential to the blue and gold. The only things we want to make easy for our opponents is losing. Be first to every punt, first ball, second ball, third ball, lost ball, corner, goal kick.
  2. Getting to know other members of your family. Reach out to other team members. Being a part of a team is one of the best things in life. We got all sorts of folks in warrior soccer. Branch out across grades and peer groups. A team of brothers is a tight team, tight teams make great teams. And we want to be great.
  3. Thank you to everyone who is waking up, maybe shifting things around with work, and working in the rain and heat. I love that you are all there. ROCK AND ROLL!

REMINDER – WABSC Training Tomorrow

Team A Team B

Lucas A Danny T

Rocco Adam

Roberto Connor

Jayden Tyam

Nate Steve B

Ryan Lucas P.

Rashad Kyle W

Kaarsen Keerat

Owen S Dillard

Anthony Anderson

Angel Gigi

Mike L Andrew

Eduardo Logan

Brayan Owen M

Levi Justin

Nolan B Braden

Nolan L

Noah Q

Steve P

Ben

Harnit

Yahriel

Yes, Team A has more guys but it has a few irregulars on it that I HOPE come 🙂 Also, these are NOT Varsity and JV. I will always move a few people around to even things up a bit or try something out. Keep that in mind. As always, if I missed anyone, lmk. Reach out to your friends and haul them out of bed! Going to be great day tomorrow! Can’t wait.

WABSC Shoutouts!

We now have 6 cleared and on the roster (PIAA Physicals In and Approved)

Rashad, Connor, Nolan L., Kaarsen, Roberto, Ben

And great job putting in the work at the weight room this morning:

Justin, Anderson, Nolan L, and Logan.

Latest Stewart Fitness Metrics (Remember, you must be as fit or fitter than me to make varsity)

Mile Time – 9:52

1/4 mile Time – 111 seconds

1/2 field sprint – 7.87 seconds

Burpees – 12 in 60 sec

Obstacle Course – NA yet

Pushups – 39 in 60 sec

These numbers all get compiled into the fitness tracker spreadsheet and you get a ranking:

Papoose <120

Brave < 200

Spirit Guide < 260

Sachem < 320

Warrior > 320

Chief > 380

Geronimo > 460

Check out current rankings (most data is currently unavailable so not reliable right now) on the website under team information or click on the link below:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13pe3pk2IMl6AHya2LFmk7G9DvH6IhDPmSp6FBeO90tA/edit?usp=sharing

Another Day in the Mist!

We were 28 strong today and we had a 4-1 victory for the pinnies. Some things I loved and our first point of emphasis.

1. Andrew rolled the bleice and found the back of the net again today with a nice header off a slipped ball from yours truly.

2. Steven Barba slotted that dream ball through the centerbacks to give Gigi a ball to run onto and he finished nicely. Steve also played a number of really nice one touch balls and hit the crossbar twice!

3. Hetrick on the wing was a beast. Gigi and Justin linked up well and Justin had a nice finish today

4. Jayden made an amazing goal-line stop. I love that heart. Tyam did too to save some goals. Sacrifice boys!

5. Anthony and Nolan Browne joined us and I am very glad to see both of you. Keep coming!

6. Harnit found the ball a bunch today. Being able to control the ball is one of the best ways to defend and Harnit can bring us that.

7. Danny played a nice backline – winning the ball and linking it up the field. Jose did too on the other end. You are getting better every day Jose!

8. No one complained about the calls, throw ins, fouls, whatever. Nice job. I noticed.

POINT OF EMPHASIS: I mentioned today to the boys that we need to be collectively more aggressive winning the ball. Not slide tackling and kicking ankles but by supporting each other and positioning. We will work on this throughout the summer and in official practice. Some individuals do but we will work collectively to SUFFOCATE our opponents. That’s WARRIOR ball. Now, where we trap them and when will be something we work on because we must be clinical and collective about it or we expose ourselves to trouble but to play with the best teams, we must put them on the defensive.

Lastly, players should not feel as if ANY decisions are made regarding Varsity or not, this position or that position. We are trying things out here in June and watching the players. If you are placed somewhere new to you, its an experiment! Enjoy and sprout wherever you are planted and you get to see things from another positions point of view. If you want to increase your odds of making Varsity come August…

  1. Be fit – attend the weight training sessions and RUN and complete the workouts I have posted in the calendar. Start small and work your way to faster times and burpees and pushups. You will get there
  2. Be excited to grow – each day we play, work on picking up as much as you can.
  3. Work with the ball – I loaded some individual ball work drills on the calendar. Check them out and work them. They can be done alone or with a pard.
  4. Be an awesome teammate – hustle, work hard, be positive. Every team needs as many of these guys as we can get.

I am very blessed to have such a great group of guys. Thank you! Go WARRIORS!

OH … get your physicals in!!!!!!!!!!! Great job Connor Millen – you were the only one done last time I checked!

Reminder – Training at 8:00 AM Tomorrow!

Have you built your ark yet? We are building the WABSC ark to carry us through the season every day we train, rain or shine! I’m excited to train tomorrow!

Players on the left, reach out (if you can) to the player on the right to encourage them to come and train!

Danny Lucas A

Braden Keerat

Steve B. Kaarson

Andrew Yahriel

Noah Q Jayden D.

Owen M Adam

Owen S Nate C

Rocco Roberto

Dillard Lucas P

Gigi Tyam

Anderson Nolan B.

Harnit Nolan L

Levi Walsh Rashad

Kyle Walsh Logan Moore

Steve P. Ben Taube

Angel Mike Lopez

Connor M Anthony H

Some will not be here since they are away/injured and let me know so they do not appear. If I missed anyone, kindly let me know. See you tomorrow!!!

Weekly Schedule – Continuing the 8:00 AM Trainings

Thank you for your answers to the survey. 8:00 AM Training won by a considerable margin (more than twice the votes compared to 7:00 PM).

Monday: Weight Training with Coach Alec at 9:00 AM (HS Fieldhouse)

Tuesday: WABSC Training at 8:00 AM (WAIS)

Wednesday: Weight Training with Coach Alec at 9:00 AM (HS Fieldhouse)

Thursday: WABSC Training at 8:00 AM (WAIS)

Attend all you can! Consistency Consistency Consistency

Thank you Levi for the fathers day pic!

Happy Fathers’ Day

To all of our WABS fathers, step-fathers, granddads, uncles, moms who have to also be dads, big brothers who act as dads, I want to thank you and recognize you for what you are to our players. You push them and love them, spend time with them and let them grow on their own. Not an easy job.

All players and parents, if they would like, may share a father (step father, grandfather, uncle, etc) and WABS player pic from any age with me on email and I will post to website. I’ll post whatever I get! Enjoy the day dads!

Mandatory Survey – WABSC Training Time

I had originally planned to switch training times between AM and PM (for example next week I had scheduled evening training sessions) to hopefully provide opportunities for as many student athletes to participate as possible , however I am learning that perhaps the AM time works better for a majority of players work schedules and perhaps the earlier the better. Each player, please fill out this survey ASAP (By tonight by 9:00 PM if possible) so I can amend the calendar if necessary. Thank you! It should take around 10 seconds. Parents feel free to fill it out on behalf of your players.

https://forms.gle/owJfoyFo4gp8j8xK6

Toro Rojo prevails on an ideal day for soccer

We were 38 strong today. Love those numbers. If you were here today, be here the next time. If you weren’t, be here the next time. This team has potential to be a great team.

Today we tuned up and played a scrimmage with a focus on two things. First to allow coaches to shift the players around a little to play with some things. Secondly, to emphasize the importance of ignoring bad calls and just playing our game and building up your teammates. Eight positives for every one critique. Here are my eight positives:

  1. Dillard put through at least 2-3 thru balls in to Gigi and Andrew that created a lot danger.
  2. Logan and Levi both made some nice saves. We are strong at that position. I liked a lot of their outlet play as well.
  3. Young upcoming players like Keerat, Yahriel, Kaarson, Nolan, and Lucas are working hard and finding the ball. Kaarson had a nice shot and Keerat was a standout in midfield
  4. Danny mixed in advice and communication with personal responsibility for errors. That is a good model.
  5. Connor Millen was very active today and along with other like Owen, Noah, Anderson, Rocco, Jayden, and Danny makes me feel the backline can be the warrior wall that we need it to be.
  6. Braden commanded the midfield wonderfully for pura vida. Worked hard on and off the ball. Quiet warrior
  7. There is a collective desire to be calm on the ball and not play panic kick ball. This is fantastic and we will work VERY HARD on this all summer and into the preseason to make sure we can play out of pressure and keep possession.
  8. We saw some hints today of a killer instinct with the ball. Quick thru balls between the CBs to spring Gigi or Andrew or Justin. Purposeful soccer.

Much work to be done. Just breaking ground on the foundation here.

Thank you to all the parents, brothers, sisters, girlfriends, who are waking these guys and getting them there. You are huge part of the team!

Finally, it was Toro Rojo that took the win today 3-0 with Gigi scoring a nicely taken pk, andrew starting the scoring and help me out everyone with who else scored. I forget. Pura Vida had chances though and it was tightly contested. Coach Carmona chose Noah as his Man of the Match and Coach Ale chose Connor Millen.

Toro Rojo below!

Everyone Matters (Part 2)

Tomorrow in training (8 AM – 9:30 AM) at WAIS, we will, in addition to some fitness training, have a fixture between two teams made up of our players which I will referee. I plan on being a fair referee most of the time but at other times I will deliberately miss obvious calls or make disagreeable ones to test the mental fortitude of the players. Expect this. The rosters of the two teams are listed below so work to make sure your teammates turn up.

Pura Vida – Coach Calderon

Conner, Owen Miller, Danny, Justin, Braden, Keerat, Rashad, Lucas P, Lucas A, Adam, Alex K, Yahriel, Ryan, Eduardo, Logan, Ben Taube , Mike Lopez, Nolan Browne, Anthony, Jayden

Toro Rojo – Coach Carmona

Gigi, Andrew, Owen S, Anderson, K Walsh, L Walsh, Brayan, Dillard, Nolan L, Rocco, Harnit, Angel, Kaarson, Tyam, Nate, Steve B, Noah, Roberto, Jose, Steve P.

If I missed anyone, please let me know…it wasn’t intentional! The idea here is to use those phones and get all these warriors out there bright and early for some soccer fun! Best game in the world – and I’ve played most of them.