Tag: writing

Training Recap Day 2

More soccer today than yesterday. We broke into blocks of training rotating with different coaches and technical skills and emphasis followed by some full field for the first time. The full field work helps cement some of our ideas of how best to utilize the boys and get them working with each other. We have a LONG way to go but there were flashes of what damage we can do. MY THOUGHTS:

1. We need to take care of the ball. Too often we:

  • give it away by one too many touches
  • boot a hopeful ball that “someone should be there”
  • just have a sloppy touch or errant pass

We will look to clean this up as the days proceeed

2. We need to decide to counter-press HARD when we do and collectively. This is acutely absent so far. Tomorrow we work on the mid-block and the counter press defensively.

3. We need to get faster (Decisions, passing, movement on and off the ball). One of the BEST moments of the full field was a 1 touch from Barbed wire to the killer b to the hetrick system. We didn’t score but it was good soccer. Defensively we must be faster too – we are often in a place where we COULD have intercepted the ball and or prevented the turn if we anticipated the game. No one if ever off duty.

Lots to do and this is what we are here for. There was lots to love:

1. A wonderful ball from the Killer B to roll the Bleice. Yes he shot it over the moon but in his words “It was my right foot”. It WAS a great run and connection! Dangerous as Coach Carmona would say

2. Some of the youngsters are learning that this is not a low key affair. They are learning to work hard and get better. Of the newbies (noobs as the youth calls them) – I like the skill of Juan on the ball and Brycen is communicating! Our youths of yesterday are really coming along too. Yahriel plays like he has a chip on his shoulder – I like that. Nolan Lutz is jumping balls, and Kaarsan is seeing minutes as a Varsity center-back. Keep working.

3. The goalies work hard every day – maybe the hardest of any group. I love the work Coach Ale is doing with you AND the work you are doing with him. Logan Moore had a nice save in the scrimmage. I want to see more use of the goalie in field play and aggression from them recognizing when they can make a play on the ball.

We only had one who wasn’t here today that was here yesterday. Here they are in all their sun-soaked glory. They are sore and working hard. What a blessing to coach them.

PLAYERS:

1. Check your email as this is how I am giving personal feedback. Respond thoughtfully or accountability

2. Watch the video below starting roughly 30 minutes or so in. (if it doesn’t work right away – give it some time as I just loaded into youtube) and:

a. Shoot me an email about 2 things you did (or someone else did) you thought was well done AND 1 thing you saw that YOU (or someone else did) that needs improvement. Enjoy the process of getting better and don’t worry. No one is judging and it is not personal. Challenge yourself to a NEW STANDARD.

I should get 43 emails tonight!

Day 1 Review

Fitness testing was well – a rough row to hoe for these guys. It notoriously claims its victims each year but is a way to hold the guys accountable for training physically over the summer. On this forum and in person – I advocated constantly to run over the summer on their own to be their best. Many didn’t and the fitness testing is the bill that must be paid. Their numbers will be posted on the website in the fitness tracking section – NOT FOR ANY TO JUDGE – but for transparencies sake so they know how their ranking was achieved. In any case, they may be sore tomorrow, but make sure they keep coming. Growing pains are an indication of GROWTH. Being great at anything is not easy.

Here are the survivors:

Some gents who impressed me and why:

Nolan Browne’s passing was improved and he did 1.2 million pushups

The goalies looked sharp – coach ale mentioned the freshman looked strong and I saw a superb save from Levi

Hetrick is a rock – never complains, does the job. Never critiques, does the job. Never coaches, does the job. Never change Justin

Owen Smith was all in – attentive. Focused. Positive. Quick to smile.

Ben and Andrew with the headbands – you guys bring fun and joy

Anderson had a niggle and kept playing. I can’t judge wrong or right but you are TOUGH.

Connor suffered today but never stopped leading. There is real substance in there.

* I can’t mention everyone here so if you don’t see you or your child mentioned – it is not necessarily because I wasn’t impressed

We just began this journey. Walk it to the end. Don’t quit. Don’t second guess. Don’t doubt. Don’t look back. Grow, get better, work harder, dedicate yourself to the task. It IS worth it.

I will email players personal feedback tonight and each day. CHECK YOUR EMAILS. I expect you to respond. Accountability if you don’t.

Some FAQ answered:

Do you “cut” players? Are there tryouts?

No, we do not cut players. All players who attend and conform to team/school rules and expectations have a place in the WABS family. That said, there is only so much room on the bus and we have to fit a Varsity and JV team on it. As a result:

a) All players will train in either a GOLD (Varsity) group or BLUE (JV) group. These groups will be delineated each day by performance, attendance, technical ability, effort etc. Both groups will do the same drills, same conditioning, same technical and tactical program and both will get instruction from all coaches.

b) For each Varsity game – a group of 18-20 will be selected as needed and as earned. For each JV home game – all JV players will attend and ALL will play roughly equally. For JV away games – a smaller roster will need to be chosen and the same metrics that are used to select for Varsity will be applied here.

c) Varsity is highly competitive and decisions here will be made with the best interest of the success of the team in mind as opposed to participation. JV emphasis is similar (we want to succeed and win here just as much) but we also have a secondary goal of ensuring participation of ALL our JV players.

*Play hard, attend all functions, listen well, give your best to the team to earn your minutes and time on the field every day!

What about uniforms? What are they like?

a) We wear our blue and gold jerseys / blue shorts and socks at home or our third kit black jerseys and shorts and socks. Depending on final numbers we may to wear a few plain blues on the field as well as we have 38 standard blue and golds. We will see.

b) We wear our whites for away games which may include blue shorts depending on captain preference. White jerseys and socks are mandatory when away. Everyone will be issued a white away uniform.

What do I wear for practice?

As of now, comfortable T-Shirts and Shorts. Practice shirts on the way!

Player Rating USMNT vs Belgium

Having read some of the other websites player ratings – I am wondering if they watched the same game. Here are my thoughts:

I will start with the good grades:

Tillman – A – This is not because of the goal. He was tireless and active and of our players seemed truly in the fight.

Balogun – B – He made runs, was active, and had a dangerous chance. Strikers can’t and don’t score every game. He was active.

Robinson – B- – You knew he was on the field unlike some of our other players. Up and down and having to cover the whole left side really. Some culpability in the 1st goal but he was fine tonight.

Freeman – C – There was trouble down the right all night. Some successful challenges. Some poor positioning. Some good some bad.

Adams – C- – Outmanned in the midfield and not on his best night but was saddled with low ebb all around him but he didn’t dispel the gloom and became lost in it.

Berhalter – C- The super sub brought some fire and that shot was whisker close ….. to hitting the post! A full foot from punching it in. Good hit but those are not enough for a grade above a C. Not much else that was game changing from the son of our former coach.

Dest – C- Not as aggressive as I wanted him to be. Some sites have him ranked as a 2/10. C’mon man!

Richards – C- Had some clumsy moments. Seemed to care the most at the end – nothing objective to support that. He’s a good center back – it just all crumbled around him.

Ream – D+ – Did have some successful challenges. No one can be a hero all the time and he was ordinary tonight. Beaten on header. Clumsy on the 3rd goal when we needed a hero. The grade seems harsh based on his age but no favors for the old. I think we need another center back or two.

Reyna – D Not much to speak of and he played TOO LONG for that to be the narrative. Did he help with momemtum at beginning of second half – yes. Did he change the game? No.

McKennie – D- Forgot he was playing. I even looked for him at times to locate him. Disappearing act par excellence.

Pulisic – F – Led the team in turnovers despite exiting. Maybe he was playing hurt all along. I hate the whining for fouls which makes him hard for me to grade always but today he did not pass the test.

Coach Pochettino – As a coach my heart goes out to him. Did he pick our best 11? Probably. Do we have some talent holes and gaps? Yes. He tried his best to hide our weaknesses and for that I rate him well. BUT – we came out with less intensity than we should have and that is on him and despite kicking bottles was not able to change the game enough with subs – partly due to the roster. Was he expecting Belgium to pack it in like our other opponents (except Turkey and we lost to them). Distractions, energy, and lack of aggressiveness are his responsibilities and he must go down with the ship – D.

Looking ahead!

Some items the coaches are working on and would like to share with the team!

  1. A summer lifting and training schedule is being worked on and will be posted up soon.
  2. We are currently playing after school on Tuesday and Friday from 2:45-3:45 PM at WAIS. It’s a lot of fun and this is how we get better. If you / your child isn’t busy – come and work to get better with us! Shout-out to Harnit, Keerat, Ben and others that have played when they had a break /opportunity when their normal spring sports weren’t in action. That’s commitment and that is WABS.
  3. I have emailed out to 8th grade students looking to recruit. If you know of an athlete that has played or looks like they can play or that you think would be a positive thing for them to be on a team – put them in touch with me. EVERYONE can all help the program in lots of ways
  4. I am also actively recruiting student managers for our team this year – please let me know if someone is interested.
  5. We are going to getting a “third kit” and requesting extra varsity uniforms so everyone has the same uniforms making it easy to shuffle kids from one team to another without issue of new uniform or putting them in one from 1952.
  6. We will be running the JV and V differently. For each game we will be selecting 18 players for the “Varsity Roster” based on performance in training/fitness etc. It will be a meritocracy. If you do not make this 18 man roster, you will play Junior Varsity assuming health permits. This will hopefully provide both incentive and motivation for players to keep their positions and hope for others that if they play well and practice well, a spot on the varsity roster will be there for them.

Up and Coming:

  1. Finding out when the free physicals are
  2. Getting final designs for third kit
  3. Getting in shape. – fitness standards will be higher (more old school Stewart standards this year) so get running and working on speed, strength, and agility.

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!