Bus leaves at 5:30 PM. All WABS report for duty!

We may finish a little earlier. Make sure you are there on time. These are mandatory practices for ALL double rostered players.

Initial Thoughts:

1. A win is a win. It certainly took us some time to get control but ultimately we did. We will have a strong practice tomorrow to reset for Wednesday.
2. Keerat played awesome – he was aggressive and managed to get back and was always in the right place at the right time. He is our man of the match.
3. Connor made that potential goal saving tackle – a pure defender. Also a CONSTANT communicator. Great job
4. Braden won the ball back countless time in the midfield – we know his quality but what I like MOST about him is his hustle and ball winning.
5. Dillard gave us that goal and we needed it. Chapeau
6. We will work hard on controlling the game and tempo – making further efforts to minimize hero ball and hopeful ball, replacing these with more one-twos and quick ball movement – this is when we are at our best. To be fair, our field has become a little rough for that kind of soccer so the players do have some of my sympathy but don’t tell them that. We will be on turf Wednesday so we can really get that passing going and control the game.

Really I am super happy I get to spend more time with the boys. We will all miss it when it ends so let’s not let it! See you tomorrow and keep our eyes on the prize – District XI champs.

This is districts. The refs will tighten up on some things:

1. Shin guards MUST be adult sized. Wear your largest ones. No kiddie shin guards
2. If you wrap your socks with tape above the ankle, it must be with same color as socks – so for today, no white tape above ankles.

They WILL enforce these things so come properly equipped.

We will NOT be holding a practice this weekend. The schedule doesn’t work well with all of the prior commitments. We WILL hold a zoom meeting Sunday night at 7:30 PM. Link to be sent via email this time with certain measures in place 🙂

Districts await! Our men of the match today are:

1. Alex – he came to run balls and found 4 more in the woods. Thanks Alex. That is worth so much to the team and is wonderful character.
2. Lucas Parada – Lucas donated his shirt so Eduardo could wear it. I never had to ask.
3. Dillard – well he scored 4 goals and assisted in others. He worked very hard too.

There are many ways to win every time you play. Respect your opponent, play with grit and grace, and love each other. Those actions above showed that.

Here is the lineup:

We are rewarding some guys who watched video (practice Wednesday) and have been working hard to earn minutes. For the second half – we will roll out a line-up we hope to be in for Monday and our district run. Players arriving after 8:20 unfortunately cannot play but please support the team.

If you have not YET watched the video and provided your reflection to me, please do so for the team. We need you!

Tactics:

1. Do not hold on to the ball long – let the ball do the work and let’s move it quickly and NOT give them time to react.

2. Be VERY strong in the air. You must work to WIN every aerial ball… and pressure the ball when the opportunity rises.

3. Work triangles throughout BUT be careful in the back (Sometimes we just have to clear it) and in the attacking end, look to slide that ball into Dillard and let him run onto it. LIMIT the number of hopeful balls we play in – remember – a turnover to the goalie is still a turnover.

4. No finger pointing. Positive Positive Positive. That starts with the line-up. Read this and support who’s names you see and then warm-up well and when your time comes – SHINE for the team

5. Think about your positioning and your marks and how you can support each other. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

Thanks for the picture Jefe! We are so blessed to have you guys on both teams. Really well deserved…couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys too.

Congrats Coach Browne too!

I have sent a video to you on email. Please watch and respond to me with an email/text etc. listing three or four things you see that stood out to you. Get as much out of it as you can and have a response that reflects that! Have fun with it!