Practice today at WAIS (3-5), please be on time – 2:55 pm. Plans have been updated in coaches corner.

XC athletes are excused and good luck at your meet!

Reminder – all practices/games/etc are mandatory unless excused. Remember – Tough, Humble, TOGETHER. We need ALL of you. Plus its so fun to play.

Tomorrow we have our season opener.

Bus leaves at 1:00 PM from high school. Be early

Wear white jerseys and socks. Varsity plays first at 3:00, JV at 4:30. If you want to leave with your parents instead of the bus, they may see me and sign you out after the varsity game (only if you are not double rostered). Expect a return around 7 PM to high school.

What am I expecting today and tomorrow?

A strong practice and a ferocious effort tomorrow.

Our opening day game is against Kutztown on Friday. Some notes for all games and practices as the school year starts:

1. We play our home games in blue including blue socks. Dual roster players, bring both uniforms. I have more varsity uniforms on order.
2. Away games are played in all white. Dual roster players, wear only the varsity white uniform.
3. We always leave for away games for the HIGH SCHOOL outside the gym. Departure times will be posted on the website. Please be a bit early so we may leave on time.
4. Addresses for away games can be found on the “schedule and results” section of this website.

Here is a screengrab:

5. Once school starts, there is a bus that takes students over to WAIS where we practice. It leaves from the front of the gym at the high school after school.

Practice tomorrow from 3-5 PM.

Click on “Schedule and Results” where you will see result, some stats, and a column for pics. Click on photos and you will see whatever I have collated from a particular game and later a video as soon as old coach can learn the VEO camera – my goal is start with the Kutztown game. Thank you Mrs. Benevides for providing the photo from PM East! It’s also now the front for the website as well. Anyone else is welcome and encouraged to send me files of pics and I will post up!

1. I am fully expecting to play today regardless of the small amount of rain forecasted. If for some reason that changes, I will post here.

2. Rosters for JV and Varsity are below. We will be pulling SOME double roster players for the first JV game as they will need numbers. Those players will then feature more heavily in the second varsity game.

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

3. Bring your A game today. Be ON TIME. NO LATER than 3:25 and that means ready to go. Goalies warm up with Coach Ale on JV field. JV warm-up on practice field and V on game field.

*Logan is potentially on injured list. Here is what we will do with goalies if Logan can’t go:

Varsity (ES North): Sunderlin JV (ES North): Walsh

Varsity (Dieruff): Walsh JV (Dieruff): Sunderlin

4. My goal for both squads is to play BETTER/FASTER/HARDER/ with MORE COMMUNICATION/MORE GOOD DECISIONS/MORE DISCIPLINE each game we play. I am looking for growth. We are just beginning. Let’s go WARRIORS!

Report by 3:25 PM. No Later. JV and V rosters will be posted later tonight/early tomorrow morning for each game.

AGE APPROPRIATE SHIN GUARDS and BLUE HOME UNIFORMS. Dual Roster players – bring varsity and JV.

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.

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!

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.

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!