The first week of the fall 2009 season has come and gone. Our team is made and after 5 practices and 2 pre-season games, the team is showing some great potential but unfortunately we started with 2 losses against Ryerson.
While the results during pre-season aren't as important as implementing the style of play and team tactics, you hate to get on a roll where you start to lose games and it becomes acceptable under the guise that it is just pre-season. Winning is contagious and a team has to learn how to win and hopefully get somewhat addicted and used to winning so that when they are in a tough game, habits get in and you are able to put teams away. In terms of this weekend's games vs. Ryerson, I would say that the results themselves do not reflect the quality of play shown by the team however bottom line, is we made mistakes for which we were punished in the scoreboard and conversely when we had our chances, we were unable to take advantage. There was significant improvement in the quality of play from Saturday to Sunday as we generated much more offensive push and were able to challenge Ryerson's penalty area. The ball possesion was much more cohesive and the attempt to get balls into dangerous areas was better... now it becomes a question on learning to finish, of getting players with the mindset of putting away the chances and have that street soccer mentality of attacking the opposition net in the last 1/3 of the field. We can find excuses or reasons to validate why we lost but I prefer to focus on finding the solutions that will simply make us a better team. I think the foundation is there of which to build and install a style of play that will make us competitive this fall but also start to lay ground work to make us VERY competitive in future years. This week .... only one practice Tuesday and then off to Vermont for 3 games in 3 days. Hopefully all minor injuries will be healed and the team will be rested and slightly sharper with a lighter pratice load so we can start to post some positive results.
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AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
January 2023
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