Thursday Scrimmage and United Cup

We will scrimmage the Cajun lightning on Thursday at 5:30 @ STM. We have not had a single practice with the entire team yet so this will be extremely important for everyone to attend prior to us playing in the United Cup. Wear Blue Shorts and I will pass out the grey practice jerseys to the players on that Thursday for them to wear at the scrimmage.

The schedule for the United Cup is posted on our team blog calendar. Our first game is 8 am on Saturday morning. I expect all players to be ON the field at 7:30 am. That does not mean arriving at 7:30 am.

The United Cup is a Premier tournament so I expect some great games and everyone will need to play hard. IF YOU CANNOT MAKE IT I NEED TO KNOW ASAP. Samoa passed out the maps and other information for the hotel and our dinner location so if you did not get it, let her know on Thursday. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Here is a link to the bracket and schedules.

Rich

Houma Scrimmage Cancelled

As our luck seems to be this season, the scrimmage was cancelled due to poor field conditions. Nothing more to say. Other than see you on Monday.

Rich

Houma Scrimmage dates and times

We have two scrimmages schedule in Houma at 9:30 am and 11 am on Sunday morning September 27. The maps and directions to the lakes soccer complex are on the blog under the Houma Tournament info links located on the right side. All other information about who we are playing is on the blog calendar. We will play both games on field 2. Please let me know if YOU WILL NOT BE THERE. Wear your YELLOW uniform.

BE AT THE FIELD NO LATER THAN 9 AM.

Thanks,

Rich

Info on Houma Tournament

The Houma Tournament has been cancelled. I am currently communicating with the 3 other U14g teams that were scheduled to play and we will almost surely play a round robin with them this weekend and more than likely in Houma. I am pretty sure it will be on Sunday. I will let you know ASAP.

IF YOU HAVE A HOTEL ROOM, MAKE SURE TO CALL AND CANCEL.

I don't know why we are struggling so much with the tournaments this season . I will see you tonight at practice. Don't hesitate to call me with any questions.

Rich

Tournament update and other related info

Hello parents and players,

I have posted some directional information and field maps for the Houma Klassic Kickoff VIII tournament under the "Important Information" section of the blog. If you want to print them off, they should print on two separate pages even though it might not look like it when you go to the link. I will add other info as I receive it but wanted to start getting it out there.

The girls are looking better on their skills. Thank you for calling me when they can't make practice and for doing your best to get them there. Even coming for 30 minutes is better than not coming at all. Also, help them remember to review the weekly topic on the blog and work through it (I will be posting one today or tomorrow).

The blog calendar is up to date. Samoa has distributed phone cards to all players with enough copies for each parent and player. Keep it handy and it has the team voice mail number on it. The VM should always be updated for practices and other info. Samoa has also distributed all the hotel info so don't forget to make your reservations.

We should have practice tomorrow so I will see you all there. The blog may look a little funny for a while as I am attempting to give it an update (since I am just learning, it takes me some time). If you think you would like to have a way to add pictures to a web album accessible only to those we give the password to, let me know and I will start working towards that. You would be able to individually add pictures. Give me a call if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Rich

Practice Times changing on September 10th.

Thanks for replying regarding practice times. Here are the results:

We will have practice on Labor Day at STM from 9:30a - 10:30a.

We will start practicing at 5:30 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays starting on September 10th. The vote was actually right down the middle for 5:30 or 6:30 but the day light or lack there of is forcing our hand. We expect to have lit fields next season so it shouldn't be such a big deal. I know the earlier schedule will probably conflict with some of you but I don't know what else to do. We will just have to work around it.

As I said in a previous e-mail, I will get the tournament schedule out to you all as soon as I can. Call me with any questions or concerns.

Blog calendar has been updated.

Rich

Topic of the week #2 A little bit of everything

PARENTS PLEASE HAVE THE PLAYERS REVIEW THIS BEFORE NEXT WEEKS PRACTICE.

This video is of the Women's Professional Soccer league (WPS) All star team playing a European club. The WPS has some very amazing players and you should all aspire to have the skills and abilities they have. This only comes through hard work and sacrifice. Here is what I want you to pay attention to:

1. Where are the defensive players when Jacobsen scores the first goal (hint: they are not in the right place) and where should they be?
2. Do the All stars work as a unit? Marta is probably one of the best female players in the world. Did she score every goal?
3. How wide are the wings?
4. How does the midfield operate? Are they controlling the ball and looking for both passing opportunities and scoring opportunities?
5. Do you see anyone using any of the 4 passing techniques we learned in practice?
6. Think about where you play and see what the players in the video do. How can you use what you just watched?
7. Do the All stars give up when they are down 2 points or play like real champions, stay patient and look to their team mates for support?
8. What else did you see that was awesome and something you want to do on the field?

This is a 7 minute video and you may want to watch it more than once. I will be asking you about this at practice next week so make sure to look at it. Have fun watching it.