First scrimmage was yesterday. I didn't get to watch, but she said she played about half the game (which is what I'd expect overall). Her team won 6-0, so not much of a test, but in her only shift at wing she had a goal and an assist. Her other two shifts were at defensive mid, which she's never really played before. Overall, just much, much happier with her situation this year than on the freshman team last year.
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Youth Soccer - Questions, Discussion and Stories (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter SwampDawg
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SwampDawg
Footballguy
Big win Saturday 2-1 over the defending District Champions at a little mini four team tournament. Final was really anti-climatic as the other two teams weren't that good so we won the final 10-2. League play starts Wednesday night but can't complain at a 4-0 start with wins against two of the tougher teams on our schedule.
SwampDawg
Footballguy
Weekly recap, it was an up and down week. First league game Tuesday against our rival school right down the road. Boys looked flat coming off the weekend and were definitely not as up for the game as the other team. Our backup outside back who has been playing while my son filled in at sweeper was out with a positive covid test so they moved one of our strikers back to fill in. Big, fast kid but isn't the most technical and he looked really out of place. Mid first half he totally turns the ball over when he should have just cleared it and gave them a 1v1 with our keeper which they converted. Early second half they got a counter that was 4v3 and made a couple great passes and a good finish, one they earned for sure. Seemed to wake us up the last 15 minutes and we started to take play to them. Converted and got a goal with about 8 minutes to go and had 3 or 4 other good chances, one off the crossbar and a controversial one off the post. Looked like the keeper missed it, hit the post and went back across the goal mouth and a defender cleared it. Our kids say it went in and hit the wheel just inside the post and bounced up and out and was cleared. PIAA doesn't use a center ref and two AR's, instead they have three refs all on the field one middle and one on each half and no one was really in position to make the call. That said they out hustled us 85% of the game and we fell 2-1.
Saturday night another league game and we are dominating chances but again hitting just wide, keeper making some really nice saves, etc when they have a guy chip it into the box from like 30 yards out I'm thing as a cross. It bounces and our keeper grabs it bobbles it and it goes through his hands and rolls in. Luckily after that the offense found their stride and the defense pretty much kept them from getting one or two shots off and we rolled 4-1.
The starting sweeper was back at pregame warm ups and kicking around with an ankle brace on. He said he is hopeful to at least play a few minutes Wednesday night which is way quicker then we had expected him back under best case scenario by two or three weeks. Now the kicker, coach told them he thinks he is going to use him on offense going forward. Now in one way it says a lot about the way my son is playing sweeper, he probably is doing a better job but the defense as a whole is much better with the other kid there and my son at outside back against the best wing on the other team. The other normal outside back is solid but anybody we have subbed in so far has been over matched. And we have scored 3,3,2,10,1,4 goals in our games so far, offense hasn't been an issue so why not put your best 11 on the field?
Saturday night another league game and we are dominating chances but again hitting just wide, keeper making some really nice saves, etc when they have a guy chip it into the box from like 30 yards out I'm thing as a cross. It bounces and our keeper grabs it bobbles it and it goes through his hands and rolls in. Luckily after that the offense found their stride and the defense pretty much kept them from getting one or two shots off and we rolled 4-1.
The starting sweeper was back at pregame warm ups and kicking around with an ankle brace on. He said he is hopeful to at least play a few minutes Wednesday night which is way quicker then we had expected him back under best case scenario by two or three weeks. Now the kicker, coach told them he thinks he is going to use him on offense going forward. Now in one way it says a lot about the way my son is playing sweeper, he probably is doing a better job but the defense as a whole is much better with the other kid there and my son at outside back against the best wing on the other team. The other normal outside back is solid but anybody we have subbed in so far has been over matched. And we have scored 3,3,2,10,1,4 goals in our games so far, offense hasn't been an issue so why not put your best 11 on the field?
SwampDawg
Footballguy
@zoobird @brettdj @Lehigh98 @The Z Machine @PIK95
How are your high school / fall club seasons going?
My son missed a few games due to Covid, got back on the field Saturday and they had a huge 2-1 overtime win over the division opponent they lost to earlier in the season. Back in control of their own destiny for county playoffs and currently top 4 in the District at 11-2. Huge game Wednesday against a league but non-division opponent who is currently undefeated and ranked #1 in the district.
How are your high school / fall club seasons going?
My son missed a few games due to Covid, got back on the field Saturday and they had a huge 2-1 overtime win over the division opponent they lost to earlier in the season. Back in control of their own destiny for county playoffs and currently top 4 in the District at 11-2. Huge game Wednesday against a league but non-division opponent who is currently undefeated and ranked #1 in the district.
Daughter is on JV team. Most of their games are blowout wins - only two other teams in their division that are at a similar level. I think they're 6-1-1 with something like 35-3 goals for-against. My daughter is nowhere near one of the better players on the team - gets a ton of playing time against most opponents, but only 15-25 minutes in games against the two tougher opponents. Happy enough with things overall - way more enjoyable than the freshman team was last year.
Chris B.
Footballguy
It's still pretty new, but have your youth soccer communities been discussing the massive report about abuse within women's soccer? It starts at the youth level and the culture of verbal/sexual abuse raises all the way to the USNWT. Big old link
PIK95
Footballguy
How are your high school / fall club seasons going?
My son missed a few games due to Covid, got back on the field Saturday and they had a huge 2-1 overtime win over the division opponent they lost to earlier in the season. Back in control of their own destiny for county playoffs and currently top 4 in the District at 11-2. Huge game Wednesday against a league but non-division opponent who is currently undefeated and ranked #1 in the district.
[/QUOTE]
Son has had a couple of big gams.
This one iced the game after blowing a big lead.
My son missed a few games due to Covid, got back on the field Saturday and they had a huge 2-1 overtime win over the division opponent they lost to earlier in the season. Back in control of their own destiny for county playoffs and currently top 4 in the District at 11-2. Huge game Wednesday against a league but non-division opponent who is currently undefeated and ranked #1 in the district.
[/QUOTE]
Son has had a couple of big gams.
My son's team has been having a weird year with a new coach. He plays 25 kids every game, including freshman. He has thirteen seniors so that has been unnecessary. They are 4-2, but should be 6-0. My son has only started a couple of games, but has five goals and had a hat trick one game. The seniors are super frustrated. They played a weaker team tonight and he started the backup keeper and a random mix of players. They were down 3-0 before my son even got in. They lost 4-0 and the Seniors are really mad. I have a couple of vids of my son. Here is the links, hopefully it works.
This one iced the game after blowing a big lead.
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The Z Machine
Footballguy
My son is playing rec ball this fall. He's 9 (May 2013 birthdate) and the league of 6 teams is U11, so it's 2013 and 2012 kids. His team is pretty good and he's the 2nd or 3rd best player on the team. The other in contention for that 2nd/3rd best is a 10 year old girl with the best ball skills on the team. Smooth passing, good vision, good positioning, nice control. She lacks a top speed that can make a difference (at any level), but she did collect a ball at midfield and take it to the house, beating 3 defenders on the way. She could have laid it off to my son who was open for a shot, but instead slotted one on the ground near post for a goal. I was really happy to see her get selfish on that play. She's likely the only one in the league that could win a scholarship. There's a girl's league available, but she prefers to play on the co-ed team (90% boys).
My son has scored in each of the 3 games thus far, mostly playing in the middle up front of the 2 parallel 3s (7v7). First one was a nice finish with the outside of his foot to tap one home. He's been watching a lot of pro games and I notice that he's trying to time his run (but still stays offsides too much). His teammates aren't quite able to put him on goal consistently from a through ball or cross, but at least it shows he's understanding positioning and where to move.
A couple of things he needs to work on: 1) despite being average size and decently fast, his shot is relatively weak. We've practiced corners, trying to get some loft on the ball by leaning back into the shot, so hopefully that can help drive some power. 2) He looks a little lazy on the pitch, not hustling enough for a 7v7. Obviously, I don't want him playing scrum-ball, but more involvement to go to the game would be better. I bet he's seeing pro strikers not moving much when the ball isn't in the attacking 3rd. Any strikers worth watching in real time that work hard on movement off the ball? Alexis Sanchez would have been a great one, but I'm not even sure he's playing any more. 3) He needs work on defensive positioning and getting beat by kids with good ball skills. I think that's just reps seeing better players.
He got invited to a "rec / all-star tournament" in November up in Fallston, MD It's a U10, so only his year. Pretty interesting that the rules specify that the rec side of the tourney cannot have any players that are registered with a club team. There's another bracket (or maybe one side of the bracket) that is club teams. There's probably 4 or 5 really high quality players in his rec league that would absolutely be very good club players, but don't play for a club. Maybe they lack some of the reps to be as smooth on the ball, but they are fast, play good D, are aggressive, and have no issue taking a shot. I saw one of them nearly bend in a corner for a goal. Kid is 9 years old... The best player on my son's team has the mentality of "every ball is mine" and has a motor that makes it seem that he can run full length sprints back to back to back to back without losing anything. Really amazing to watch him run down anyone on the field. That might change in the tournament, as there's likely to be some kid faster than him.
My son has scored in each of the 3 games thus far, mostly playing in the middle up front of the 2 parallel 3s (7v7). First one was a nice finish with the outside of his foot to tap one home. He's been watching a lot of pro games and I notice that he's trying to time his run (but still stays offsides too much). His teammates aren't quite able to put him on goal consistently from a through ball or cross, but at least it shows he's understanding positioning and where to move.
A couple of things he needs to work on: 1) despite being average size and decently fast, his shot is relatively weak. We've practiced corners, trying to get some loft on the ball by leaning back into the shot, so hopefully that can help drive some power. 2) He looks a little lazy on the pitch, not hustling enough for a 7v7. Obviously, I don't want him playing scrum-ball, but more involvement to go to the game would be better. I bet he's seeing pro strikers not moving much when the ball isn't in the attacking 3rd. Any strikers worth watching in real time that work hard on movement off the ball? Alexis Sanchez would have been a great one, but I'm not even sure he's playing any more. 3) He needs work on defensive positioning and getting beat by kids with good ball skills. I think that's just reps seeing better players.
He got invited to a "rec / all-star tournament" in November up in Fallston, MD It's a U10, so only his year. Pretty interesting that the rules specify that the rec side of the tourney cannot have any players that are registered with a club team. There's another bracket (or maybe one side of the bracket) that is club teams. There's probably 4 or 5 really high quality players in his rec league that would absolutely be very good club players, but don't play for a club. Maybe they lack some of the reps to be as smooth on the ball, but they are fast, play good D, are aggressive, and have no issue taking a shot. I saw one of them nearly bend in a corner for a goal. Kid is 9 years old... The best player on my son's team has the mentality of "every ball is mine" and has a motor that makes it seem that he can run full length sprints back to back to back to back without losing anything. Really amazing to watch him run down anyone on the field. That might change in the tournament, as there's likely to be some kid faster than him.
This is so true in many sports - I do the same for the basketball kids I coach - spend as much, if not more time working on your weak hand as you do your dominant hand and they will reap the benefits down the road.
Much like I'm sure your okay with a kid missing a shot or making a bad pass with their weaker foot if it is the right play, I am the same for a kid missing a layup with their weak hand if it was the right move.
PIK95
Footballguy
In soccer, you are usually under pressure the minute you cross mid field. Often from the goal kick. When you are moving the ball up the left side of the field, you really need to operate with your left side imo. It also allows you to shield with your body, all the way to the shot. In hoop, it's so important around the basket. Especially in today's game. I hope I'm retired from coaching basketball. All they want to do is jack up 3's!
The Z Machine
Footballguy
Thankfully my son is left handed, left footed. He has decent touch and passing with his right. In fact, the outside of foot goal he scored was with his right foot. He's moderately ambidextrous already.
PIK95
Footballguy
Perfect.
SwampDawg
Footballguy
Boys are on a roll. Huge win Saturday in the first round of league playoffs. We were the #5 seed and playing the #4 seed, they are AAAA (2000 students in their high school) and we are A (around 500 kids in our high school). Great game, very even and fast paced, physical but not over the top. 0-0 with a minute left when we got a shot on goal off that was stopped but their keeper couldn't control it and the rebound went right to one of our kids feet who put it away. The #8 seed beat the #1 seed so we now host them on Tuesday night. Over the last 12 games we are 11-1 with 8 shutouts and only one goal allowed in each of the other four games. The lone loss being to a then undefeated team that is ranked #1 in the state at single A and that was 1-0 in overtime. Interestingly the last time we gave up more then one goal was to the team we play tomorrow in the semifinal. We lost on a rainy night after an hour lightening delay, my son got a yellow 15 minutes in on a challenge that he even said was probably deserved, the outside back got burned and he knew it was a 50/50 tackle but had to take it. I think that is the second yellow he has had in his entire life. He came off per PIAA rules but our coach refused to put him back in. We were down 1-0 at that point and lost 3-1. Since then the defense has been awesome and the keeper playing great. Hopefully we can keep it up tomorrow and we start districts on the 25th.
On a side note had his first ID camp at a D1 school yesterday at the University of Delaware. Wow what a difference in facilities and resources compared to D2 and D3. @Ned any feelings on U of DE?
On a side note had his first ID camp at a D1 school yesterday at the University of Delaware. Wow what a difference in facilities and resources compared to D2 and D3. @Ned any feelings on U of DE?
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brettdj
Footballguy
Last week of the season coming up. He has played nearly every minute. Last week they had an easy game and a hard game. First game the team had no subs. Second game had over 100+ for tryouts.
3-0 win then 6-0 loss. The varsity team looks to get a first round bye for the playoffs.
3-0 win then 6-0 loss. The varsity team looks to get a first round bye for the playoffs.
SwampDawg
Footballguy
Another big win last night in the semi-finals, 1-0 over the team that beat us 3-1 earlier in the season. Since then our defense and keeper have been lights out with 9 shutouts and a single goal allowed in each of the other four games. League championship game tomorrow at a neutral field, rematch with the team currently ranked #1 in the state in 1A , they beat us a few weeks ago 1-0 in OT. The team we beat last night we haven't beaten since 2011, the team we play in the championship we haven't beaten since 2008 and we haven't been in the championship game since 1975. That year we won beating the team we play...hopefully that is a sign of destiny for this group.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
GLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
SwampDawg
Footballguy
Well the HS season has come to an end. Finished 17-5, won our division, made it the county league final for the first time since 1975 losing 2-0 to the top team in the state coaches poll in 1A. Lost in the district quarter finals last night 3-1 to end our season, team we played was solid but not one we shouldn't have been able to handle especially at home after they had a 2 hour bus ride to get to us. Honestly was one of if not the worse games I've seen them play, they just didn't look as confident or as into it as normal. Might be they left it all on the field in the county final where while it was 2-0 both goals were on perfect corner pieces and they played their hearts out for 80 minutes. Still a very successful season. Post season awards should come out in the next few weeks, will be interested to see if my son gets all division first team. He earned it on the field as he gets a ton of compliments from other teams coaches and he led the defense that posted 9 clean sheets including 5 in a row down the stretch to clinch the division and win the first two rounds of the playoffs. However defenders always tend to get overlooked in naming theses teams.
Next year will be interesting, 14 seniors graduate including 7 starters. Coach told the boys that he was retiring after last nights game, that was sort of known but will be interesting to see what they do. Long time assistant is said to be coming back but has a job that likely prevents him from taking over, middle school coach has been very successful with the program and the kids love him so seems like the likely choice. Also rumored that a vote could be heard by the board to finally put in turf. Grass is awesome but has to be maintained by someone that knows what they are doing. We just have a guy that mows it and it has huge dead spots by mid season and by last night with the rain we had gotten into the morning it was a disaster.
Oh well weekend off other then a short college ID clinic then club practices start next week for boys as their different teams seasons start to come to an end. First showcase in three weeks.
Next year will be interesting, 14 seniors graduate including 7 starters. Coach told the boys that he was retiring after last nights game, that was sort of known but will be interesting to see what they do. Long time assistant is said to be coming back but has a job that likely prevents him from taking over, middle school coach has been very successful with the program and the kids love him so seems like the likely choice. Also rumored that a vote could be heard by the board to finally put in turf. Grass is awesome but has to be maintained by someone that knows what they are doing. We just have a guy that mows it and it has huge dead spots by mid season and by last night with the rain we had gotten into the morning it was a disaster.
Oh well weekend off other then a short college ID clinic then club practices start next week for boys as their different teams seasons start to come to an end. First showcase in three weeks.
Funny how here in California our schedules are the opposite. Our club regular seasons end on November 6th, playoffs on November 12-13 and then shut down for high school. November 14 is the official start for high school competitions and when it is a CIF violation if you compete with a club team and also play in a high school match. Quite a few players will sit out high school until after the Thanksgiving showcases, etc. Our high school doesn't have their first game until November 28.
Our program is very short on keepers. To update from the end of summer, the kid who would have been the starting varsity keeper went to MLS Next and is not going to be allowed by them to play in high school. This left essentially two keepers in the program - my son who is a sophomore and one other player who is a junior. They were able to get a kid to step up to be a keeper for the freshman team as his options were basically be keeper or you're likely being cut. Then they debated how they were going to be able to carry 2 keepers on varsity (their preference) and still have a JV keeper to go with the freshman kid. They were considering bringing over one of the keepers from the girls program (I believe they have 7-8 keepers for their 3 teams) and were looking at some kids that had played the position at some point previously that they could use as an emergency keeper. They ended up going the latter route. In the battle between my son and the other keeper, they essentially had it as a very close battle, with my son ranked slightly better in the technical skills/leadership, but the main final determination, at least initially, is that the other keeper has the additional year of experience in the program and is also a bit physically larger than my son. I think it worked out fine, as he will be the only keeper on the JV team and will get called up to varsity on any days where they play and JV doesn't (CIF rules do not allow players to be rostered for multiple teams in the same day, so he can not play the JV game and then suit up, even as an emergency backup, for varsity)
My son is taking this as a challenge to prove to the coaches that they made a mistake, and on the plus side many of his better friends, including a couple of his club teammates, are also on JV with him.
SwampDawg
Footballguy
Interesting how the rules are different there as well guessing due to the size of schools. PIAA allows duel roster and JV usually plays right before Varsity so in our case our JV goalie is the backup goalie on Varsity and he actually got some time as a field player on Varsity since he was rostered. As far as I know no one in PA has freshman only teams for soccer even at the big schools. We are 1A (the smallest classification) so we play a few schools that they don't even have JV. Nothing here says you can't play club and high school at the same time but all the clubs I know of shut down their U15 and above programs during the school year except of course the MLS Next programs that don't allow their kids to play school. The tricky one in U13 and U14 as Middle School soccer varies by county but even within the county as to which schools have teams so the clubs have a fall season for those ages. When my son was in 7th/8th grade his coach was really understanding of his club season and knew he was getting better development there then at school so he would excuse him from one practice a week and we would go train with the club only that night and then in middle school Varsity played first so he would let him leave after the Varsity game to go to club training if they were the same night.
Yeah, California is pretty strict with that stuff. And while the schools will get hit with forfeitures, etc., the kids get hit harder with being deemed ineligible for the entire season if they were to violate a rule.
I really wish that you could play both in the same day, especially for a specialized position, but they are zero tolerance - easier to allow no one vs. put in a few exceptions. It's why most of the football teams now have their freshman and JV play on different days than their varsity teams - that way some of those kids that are JV starters can also be at the varsity game to add depth. In our case, our backup varsity QB is the JV starter for example. If they played on the same day, they could not do that.
I really wish that you could play both in the same day, especially for a specialized position, but they are zero tolerance - easier to allow no one vs. put in a few exceptions. It's why most of the football teams now have their freshman and JV play on different days than their varsity teams - that way some of those kids that are JV starters can also be at the varsity game to add depth. In our case, our backup varsity QB is the JV starter for example. If they played on the same day, they could not do that.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
My son got selected for a "rec all star" team street his outdoor season ended. 1 each of U9 and U10 teams were selected. They practiced a few times, really working on attacking corners, positioning and quick passes. My son was selected as the first striker for the U10 team.
They played in their one tournament this weekend (Fallston Cup in MD), winning all 4 games includingthe final, scoring 24 and letting in 1. My son had 4 goals, 3rd most on the team. Honestly they had no business being in the rec division as there are a bunch of those kids that would be excellent club players.
I'm proud of the team and the coach. They played a great team game with 4 players scoring at least 4 goals in the tournament. Their back 2 defenders played lights out and didn't give the opposition many looks at the goal.
As long as this crew stays playing rec, I don't see a real need to have my son play club ball. I do wonder if they enter this tourney next year if they'll be allowed into a club bracket.
They played in their one tournament this weekend (Fallston Cup in MD), winning all 4 games includingthe final, scoring 24 and letting in 1. My son had 4 goals, 3rd most on the team. Honestly they had no business being in the rec division as there are a bunch of those kids that would be excellent club players.
I'm proud of the team and the coach. They played a great team game with 4 players scoring at least 4 goals in the tournament. Their back 2 defenders played lights out and didn't give the opposition many looks at the goal.
As long as this crew stays playing rec, I don't see a real need to have my son play club ball. I do wonder if they enter this tourney next year if they'll be allowed into a club bracket.
Got a nice reminder this weekend how much more fun travel soccer is than high school soccer. High school season ended with my daughter's (JV) team going 9-2-1 and losing in playoff finals. Definitely better than the freshman team last year, but I think she may be done with HS soccer - so much time commitment for so little actual fun...lots of garbage time ('only score on volleys) 6-0 wins with an occasional tough game with a lot of time sitting on the bench on a 20 player squad.
Back to the travel team for a tournament this weekend and non-stop fun...four wins against relatively evenly matched opponents, better coaching, two goals and a couple of other near misses for her and plenty of playing time and contribution from all 14 players who were there. We have players from 3 or 4 different high school teams, and it seems as though all of them enjoy travel soccer much more.
Back to the travel team for a tournament this weekend and non-stop fun...four wins against relatively evenly matched opponents, better coaching, two goals and a couple of other near misses for her and plenty of playing time and contribution from all 14 players who were there. We have players from 3 or 4 different high school teams, and it seems as though all of them enjoy travel soccer much more.
SwampDawg
Footballguy
Amen to that. We've been back training for a couple weeks, kids staggering in as their schools get eliminated from playoffs but this weekend we hit the field for our first showcase of the year. So much more fun watching them actually play the game instead of just kick and run. Topped it off with a solid performance, 2 wins, 1 draw, 6 goals scored and 1 goal allowed. Considering we were playing with subs from our 07 team due to a few kids playing in state championship games and a few others recovering from knocks picked up during the high school season really happy with the boys performance. We head to SC next week for an ECNL showcase.
PIK95
Footballguy
High School Soccer is pretty awful. We had fun for a minute, but thank god it's futsal time.
PIK95
Footballguy
I think our club left ECNL. Just futsal right now.
SwampDawg
Footballguy
Another good weekend. Boys went 2 wins and 1 draw in South Carolina including a win over one of the top teams in the southeast region. They are in much better form then the start of last season at this time.
On a positive my son got an email from a college coach of a school whose ID camp he went to, Coach was able to watch one of his games at the showcase a couple weeks ago and he said that my son is definitely on their radar for 2025 and to keep in touch with his schedule.
On a positive my son got an email from a college coach of a school whose ID camp he went to, Coach was able to watch one of his games at the showcase a couple weeks ago and he said that my son is definitely on their radar for 2025 and to keep in touch with his schedule.
SwampDawg
Footballguy
So the rest of the Northeasterners ( @Ned @PIK95 @Lehigh98 @zoobird ) getting the rust knocked off and playing yet? Had our first ECNL game the week before Christmas, a 1-1 draw that we missed a couple open looks and their keeper made a couple amazing saves so in that way a disappointing result but at the same time a team we lost to 2-0 last year so an improvement there. First USYS game this weekend then from the last weekend of January through Presidents Day two games and two showcases so it's a fast start to the season.
Quick update on my son's sophomore season so far, playing JV, currently 12-3-2 on the season (1-0-1 in league), only conceded 8 goals, no more than 2 in any game, 2 were PKs, and has 10 clean sheets. 6 more games on the season then he will get pulled up to varsity for CIF playoffs.
We have a pretty strong defense so many games he has not faced any major threats.
Our top forward, a freshman, got pulled up to varsity a couple games ago so a few of the other boys are getting more opportunities up front, but we certainly are missing his presence on creating scoring opportunities, but he has slotted right in on varsity covering for a couple injured players and won't be coming back down.
We have a pretty strong defense so many games he has not faced any major threats.
Our top forward, a freshman, got pulled up to varsity a couple games ago so a few of the other boys are getting more opportunities up front, but we certainly are missing his presence on creating scoring opportunities, but he has slotted right in on varsity covering for a couple injured players and won't be coming back down.
I can't remember if I posted about the High School season - daughter (sophomore) was on JV. Most games were easy wins with only two other good teams in their division. Daughter played a lot in all the easy wins, didn't really get playing time in playoffs. In general, she didn't play well at all - just never seemed as comfortable on the field as with her travel team (which made up about 1/3 of the JV team). Overall, not much fun, and she probably won't continue playing high school soccer (where she'd almost certainly be on JV as a junior and would be unlikely to get much/any playing time on varsity as a senior, without massive improvement).
Once the season ended, her travel team started practices and had one fall tournament, which went great. Team went 4-0 (with wins by 3-0, 3-1, 3-2 and 2-0) and she scored 2 goals (and had a 3rd called off on a bad offsides call). That was a huge confidence boost for her, because she mostly plays striker and wing for her travel team, but rarely scores. In the 3-1 game, she put her team ahead 2-1 on a volley with the outside of her foot. She claims it was intentional, although nobody fully believes her. I've probably rewatched the low quality video of the goal more than 100 times. The 3-2 game was especially exciting, as they came back from being down 2-0 in a really nasty game against one of the most obnoxious teams they've ever played.
Once the season ended, her travel team started practices and had one fall tournament, which went great. Team went 4-0 (with wins by 3-0, 3-1, 3-2 and 2-0) and she scored 2 goals (and had a 3rd called off on a bad offsides call). That was a huge confidence boost for her, because she mostly plays striker and wing for her travel team, but rarely scores. In the 3-1 game, she put her team ahead 2-1 on a volley with the outside of her foot. She claims it was intentional, although nobody fully believes her. I've probably rewatched the low quality video of the goal more than 100 times. The 3-2 game was especially exciting, as they came back from being down 2-0 in a really nasty game against one of the most obnoxious teams they've ever played.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
My son's indoor team is crushing their opponents. Went up 5-0 early in the 2nd quarter today, so they added a 7th field player to the other team for the rest of the game. Ended up 8-0. My son however didn't have a great game, getting no goals and no assists. He was kinda bummed, especially since the coach put him in the midfield and not at striker (on purpose) but I told him that this is a team game and there were players on his team that hadn't scored all season so they were super stoked for getting goals.
Overall, he hasn't been playing great indoors. Sure he's scoring some goals and his team is cruising to wins, but he's not really beating kids on the dribble and he has yet to master the cut back onto his strong foot, nor does he seem to want to shoot from distance, always trying to dribble the ball into the net. Since it's indoor with boards and no out of bounds, he often runs out of space too soon and ends up in the corner. A little frustrating to watch. His coach wants him to work on not pushing the ball too far out in front of him with the outside of his foot, more like a sideways drag across the front of his body. I was never a good dribbler, so I'm not much use in instructing him.
Overall, he hasn't been playing great indoors. Sure he's scoring some goals and his team is cruising to wins, but he's not really beating kids on the dribble and he has yet to master the cut back onto his strong foot, nor does he seem to want to shoot from distance, always trying to dribble the ball into the net. Since it's indoor with boards and no out of bounds, he often runs out of space too soon and ends up in the corner. A little frustrating to watch. His coach wants him to work on not pushing the ball too far out in front of him with the outside of his foot, more like a sideways drag across the front of his body. I was never a good dribbler, so I'm not much use in instructing him.
PIK95
Footballguy
We are totally in futsal mode now. Atantic City in a couple of weeks, and national tem tryouts after that. Doing some ID camps at college's now going forward. Side note, after crushing that tap test, my guy got an invite to ID camps at Notre Dame and Stanford, lol. As if (grades).
PIK95
Footballguy
If any of you could view these short clips I would appreciate it. Ryzer Tap profile only allows you tube so I just added them and need more views. Had over 400 views in facebook. Oh well. The top one without the format is the coolest. Tia.
https://youtu.be/zJ0J4WnsAMI
youtu.be
youtu.be
https://youtu.be/zJ0J4WnsAMI
Luke Hat Trick
Luke Reiner Hat Trick at Mt. Hope. Left shot first. #hattrick #highschoolsports #futsaltraining
youtu.be
Bayside at Manhattan clip Luke scans, makes left:right passes at center midfield
This shows Luke's confidence, touch, awareness on the ball. #beautifulview #beautifulgame #manhattan #soccer
youtu.be
Wasn't sure if I should put this here or in the brag about your kids thread, but figured here was just as appropriate. As mentioned before, my son, a sophomore, was on JV all season as our high school program has a lack of goalies (3 total for 3 teams), and CIF rules prevent a player from playing on different levels on the same day. Risky not having a backup keeper, but the program has been lucky so far this year.
This week though, we had a reschedule, so varsity played Monday with JV and Frosh/Soph on Tuesday, so my son got the call to come to varsity to be the backup keeper. At this point we are in a close battle for the league title and this game was a must win or draw to stay alive in the hunt. With about 20 minutes left to play, starting keeper gets drilled into the post defending a well placed corner and has to come out of the game - cue my kids varsity debut under some pretty big pressure. In those next 20 minutes he came up clutch with 3 huge saves in particular to preserve the draw.
Cue yesterday - he's told he will not be playing with his JV team, they are taking no chances and having him come to varsity instead. This is final game of league - a win or draw and we win league, a loss and we tie for 2nd and have a play in game to qualify for CIF playoffs. With about 8 minutes to go in the 1st half, down 1-0, our starting goalie makes a great save but pays the consequences as his head snaps back and hits the turf - out with strained neck and possible concussion - so in comes my kid. We head to half down 1-0. Fairly early in the second half, our opponent scores on a very nice cross and header, so we are down 2-0. We finally score with about 15 minutes left, so 2-1. With about 7 minutes left, we are pressing up and the other team gets a breakaway after a nice volley to get past the last defender. My son makes the leg save on what should have been an easy goal. Cut to about 30 seconds left, we have a throw in by their goal so put everyone up, leaving my son back at the 50ish yard line. Other team gets a deep clearance, my son handles it, one touch and launches the 50 yard boot to get it in the box - off one chest, pops out to our striker he volleys it over the goalie to get the 2-2 draw. Game ends 30 seconds later and they are league champions.
One of the most exciting games in a long time, and so excited for him to get that storybook moment of getting forced into action and stepping up in the moment. Most of his JV team mates came out for the game as well and it was awesome how excited they were for him.
Here's a link to a video from the field from the point he handled the clearance to the goal - Last Second Goal
This week though, we had a reschedule, so varsity played Monday with JV and Frosh/Soph on Tuesday, so my son got the call to come to varsity to be the backup keeper. At this point we are in a close battle for the league title and this game was a must win or draw to stay alive in the hunt. With about 20 minutes left to play, starting keeper gets drilled into the post defending a well placed corner and has to come out of the game - cue my kids varsity debut under some pretty big pressure. In those next 20 minutes he came up clutch with 3 huge saves in particular to preserve the draw.
Cue yesterday - he's told he will not be playing with his JV team, they are taking no chances and having him come to varsity instead. This is final game of league - a win or draw and we win league, a loss and we tie for 2nd and have a play in game to qualify for CIF playoffs. With about 8 minutes to go in the 1st half, down 1-0, our starting goalie makes a great save but pays the consequences as his head snaps back and hits the turf - out with strained neck and possible concussion - so in comes my kid. We head to half down 1-0. Fairly early in the second half, our opponent scores on a very nice cross and header, so we are down 2-0. We finally score with about 15 minutes left, so 2-1. With about 7 minutes left, we are pressing up and the other team gets a breakaway after a nice volley to get past the last defender. My son makes the leg save on what should have been an easy goal. Cut to about 30 seconds left, we have a throw in by their goal so put everyone up, leaving my son back at the 50ish yard line. Other team gets a deep clearance, my son handles it, one touch and launches the 50 yard boot to get it in the box - off one chest, pops out to our striker he volleys it over the goalie to get the 2-2 draw. Game ends 30 seconds later and they are league champions.
One of the most exciting games in a long time, and so excited for him to get that storybook moment of getting forced into action and stepping up in the moment. Most of his JV team mates came out for the game as well and it was awesome how excited they were for him.
Here's a link to a video from the field from the point he handled the clearance to the goal - Last Second Goal
The Z Machine
Footballguy
What is a tap test?
The Z Machine
Footballguy
That is so awesome! Please put the clip somewhere not on IG, since I don't have an IG login.
I linked to what the photographer on the sideline used to post. I'll try figure out another way to post the video
PIK95
Footballguy
Ryzer Mindset | Gain a Physical & Mental Edge
The Ryzer Mindset TAP provides athletes with mental performance scoring, suggested activities, and situational tips to help maximize athletic potential.
ryzer.com
SwampDawg
Footballguy
My son has access to it but hasn't taken it yet, might encourage him to do it tomorrow since his Saturday game was canceled. Seems someone wised up and realized playing in single digit temps wasn't going to produce a great game.This explains. It's like the wonderlic, but more in depth and coaches are using it. My kid was told by RI coach to take it. He got invited to camps at Notre Dame, Stanford, Northwestern, and Wake not long after his scores hit the leader board. It was all assistant coaches, but nobody outside RI knew him until he took that test. He kinda crushed it which obviously was hy the braniac schools came calling it would seem. I am encouraging all my players to take it if they want to play college. My son's scores are snapshot on my YouTube which I posted earlier today.Ryzer Mindset | Gain a Physical & Mental Edge
The Ryzer Mindset TAP provides athletes with mental performance scoring, suggested activities, and situational tips to help maximize athletic potential.ryzer.com
PIK95
Footballguy
Was that the Virginia ID tournament? We had people going.My son has access to it but hasn't taken it yet, might encourage him to do it tomorrow since his Saturday game was canceled. Seems someone wised up and realized playing in single digit temps wasn't going to produce a great game.This explains. It's like the wonderlic, but more in depth and coaches are using it. My kid was told by RI coach to take it. He got invited to camps at Notre Dame, Stanford, Northwestern, and Wake not long after his scores hit the leader board. It was all assistant coaches, but nobody outside RI knew him until he took that test. He kinda crushed it which obviously was hy the braniac schools came calling it would seem. I am encouraging all my players to take it if they want to play college. My son's scores are snapshot on my YouTube which I posted earlier today.Ryzer Mindset | Gain a Physical & Mental Edge
The Ryzer Mindset TAP provides athletes with mental performance scoring, suggested activities, and situational tips to help maximize athletic potential.ryzer.com
SwampDawg
Footballguy
No was just an ECNL league game, got pushed back to April. Still have a USYS game Sunday but they are saying back to the high 40's by then.Was that the Virginia ID tournament? We had people going.My son has access to it but hasn't taken it yet, might encourage him to do it tomorrow since his Saturday game was canceled. Seems someone wised up and realized playing in single digit temps wasn't going to produce a great game.This explains. It's like the wonderlic, but more in depth and coaches are using it. My kid was told by RI coach to take it. He got invited to camps at Notre Dame, Stanford, Northwestern, and Wake not long after his scores hit the leader board. It was all assistant coaches, but nobody outside RI knew him until he took that test. He kinda crushed it which obviously was hy the braniac schools came calling it would seem. I am encouraging all my players to take it if they want to play college. My son's scores are snapshot on my YouTube which I posted earlier today.Ryzer Mindset | Gain a Physical & Mental Edge
The Ryzer Mindset TAP provides athletes with mental performance scoring, suggested activities, and situational tips to help maximize athletic potential.ryzer.com
SwampDawg
Footballguy
Huge win for our boys over the weekend, as good as they looked in the early December showcase they have just seemed out of sync lately getting draws when it felt like they should win. Played the team ranked #3 in the country by GotSoccer in their age group and took the 1-0 win. GotSoccer's ranking are skewed somewhat by teams that chase pointed tournaments but still obviously a top quality team.
SwampDawg
Footballguy
Our team made the front page of https://prepsoccer.com/
SwampDawg
Footballguy
Another good weekend, won both games in our showcase, 7 goals scored, 1 goal allowed. Nice number of coaches watching our games. My son got the start Sunday and played a ton of minutes and responded really nicely. Quick video clip, my son is the one that starts it with intercepted pass and quick one touch and then some great movement by the boys and a great cross. Keeper got a fingernail on the cross to deflect it or our diving winger would have headed it home.
https://youtu.be/ZTv3Z799pwY
https://youtu.be/ZTv3Z799pwY
Been a while since I updated - well, we just finished up State Cup and won the championship, so we will be off to National Cup in Denver in July. My son was awarded tournament MVP by our team.
In the Round Robin pool play we went 3-0 and were not challenged much, winning 6-0, 4-1 and 8-0 - and on the one goal, the AR put up the flag for offside but the center ref overruled (I think partially because it was late in the game and we were up 4-0)
Round of 16 ended in regulation at 0-0, so went to PKs which we won 3-2
Quarterfinals ended in regulation at 0-0, so went to PKs which we won 4-3
Semifinals ended in regulation at 0-0, so went to PKs which we won 5-4
Sensing the theme here?
Finals - we won 4-0 as the boys did not want to have it go to PKs again. The victory in finals was extra sweet as it came against a team that beat us 2-1 in league play to take the regular season championship.
So end result was 7 wins, conceding 1 goal all the way through, and three straight games in the knockout rounds won in PKs. While my son did have many good saves throughout, including one on a 1 on 1 breakaway in the final moments of the semifinal game that should have won it for the other team, the reality is our defense was just stellar the majority of the time that it was really hard for other teams to get much in the way of good looks on goal.
In the Round Robin pool play we went 3-0 and were not challenged much, winning 6-0, 4-1 and 8-0 - and on the one goal, the AR put up the flag for offside but the center ref overruled (I think partially because it was late in the game and we were up 4-0)
Round of 16 ended in regulation at 0-0, so went to PKs which we won 3-2
Quarterfinals ended in regulation at 0-0, so went to PKs which we won 4-3
Semifinals ended in regulation at 0-0, so went to PKs which we won 5-4
Sensing the theme here?
Finals - we won 4-0 as the boys did not want to have it go to PKs again. The victory in finals was extra sweet as it came against a team that beat us 2-1 in league play to take the regular season championship.
So end result was 7 wins, conceding 1 goal all the way through, and three straight games in the knockout rounds won in PKs. While my son did have many good saves throughout, including one on a 1 on 1 breakaway in the final moments of the semifinal game that should have won it for the other team, the reality is our defense was just stellar the majority of the time that it was really hard for other teams to get much in the way of good looks on goal.
SwampDawg
Footballguy
How did everyone's spring seasons go? And for our west coast friends I guess that would be your school season.
We battled injuries all spring, seemed like we hardly ever had the full team healthy from late March on. Got knocked out in the quarter final of our State Cups on PK's. Should have never went that far we were the better team, but give them credit they bunkered and did what they needed to get it to a toss up in PK's. ECNL season we finished .500 across league and showcase play. Played awesome at times against really good teams then would play down to the competition other times and took a couple draws and a loss we never should have. If those three are wins we are likely off to the National playoffs. On a positive note in USYS play we won the Mid-Atlantic Conference going 6-1only allowing 4 goals with 2 of those in our lone loss. This qualified us for the Eastern Regionals in Virginia later this month with a shot at Nationals in the balance. On a fun note due to all the injuries my son ended up playing wing more the last few weeks in the season then he did defense and knocked in two goals his first in a couple years.
School board meeting tonight and they should be announcing the new school head coach for the fall.
We battled injuries all spring, seemed like we hardly ever had the full team healthy from late March on. Got knocked out in the quarter final of our State Cups on PK's. Should have never went that far we were the better team, but give them credit they bunkered and did what they needed to get it to a toss up in PK's. ECNL season we finished .500 across league and showcase play. Played awesome at times against really good teams then would play down to the competition other times and took a couple draws and a loss we never should have. If those three are wins we are likely off to the National playoffs. On a positive note in USYS play we won the Mid-Atlantic Conference going 6-1only allowing 4 goals with 2 of those in our lone loss. This qualified us for the Eastern Regionals in Virginia later this month with a shot at Nationals in the balance. On a fun note due to all the injuries my son ended up playing wing more the last few weeks in the season then he did defense and knocked in two goals his first in a couple years.
School board meeting tonight and they should be announcing the new school head coach for the fall.
