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We have a new guest commentator for our blog today, please welcome Keegan and Tanner's Daddy, Scott!
Scott wrote:
Daddy’s soccer recap:
11-7-09
Both the boys had successful games this weekend. I was proud of both of them for different reasons. Keegan played first and had his usual dominating start to a game scoring several goals before dad had to pull the reigns on him. When we play weaker teams, I really have to force him to get his teammates involved so he doesn’t score 25 goals, and I have pumped up the greatness of an assist. Keegan is really starting to understand how to play the game and he is starting to become a good passer. He is able to look for his teammates a bit more and pass with some touch. So, on Saturday I put him with Drew, a kid on his team that has never scored a goal. I have only coached for 2 years now, but I think Drew’s lack of scoring may be attributed to the fact that it is harder to score when your shirt is pulled over your own head for 80% of the game. Drew is a huge Star Wars fan so last week his parents agreed to take him “Star Wars” shopping if he scored a goal. He didn’t score.
So, during this week’s game out on the field, Drew asked me if he got a Star Wars toy if he scored. I told him, “Yes, of course”, and added, “Keegan, if you get Drew a goal, then you will also get a Star Wars toy”. I filled Drew’s mom in on her potential payoff and she just laughed and said, “Great, no problem”. Well, sure enough Keegan hits an outlet to Drew who now has his game face on and hits a shot that goes right in the net. We are up about 7-0 and we are going nuts because of Drew’s goal. He and Keegan were both so excited. So, Drew got his toy and so did Keegan. Later that night, Drew’s mom sent an email to Kari saying that the goal he scored did wonders for his self confidence and he was on cloud 9. He couldn’t wait for next week’s game, she said. She also praised Keegan for his great sportsmanship for trying so hard to get Drew a goal. Situations like these are priceless and why coaching is so rewarding. This one literally brought tears to my eyes.
Now, my proud father moment for Tanner was slightly different. OK, completely different. The team Tanner played was actually really good so I didn’t have to pull the reigns on him. In the first half, he ended up scoring about 5 goals to the other teams 2 but it was not really a one-sided blowout.
I have not watched all U-5 games this year, but I can pretty much guarantee that a goal Tanner scored in this game was among the top in all the league this season. He has incredible skill for a 4 year old and keeps the ball really close to his feet when he dribbles. Where Keegan kicks it past everybody then just outruns them all, Tanner weaves in and out like Grandma quilting a new blanket. He had the ball in traffic and cut left, then right, then left, then back to the right, jumped between two defenders swiping at the ball, then hammered home a right footed shot into the net. A kid stopping the ball from going out is huge at this age so cutting back and forth with the ball is unheard of. He has probably scored 30 goals this season and I never celebrate them, but this one was sweet. I said, “Yeah, T, that was absolutely brilliant!” The parents on the other sideline (who were unfamiliar to not having the upper hand) said, “Oh my gosh, did you see what that kid just did?” They had no idea that other teams had already nicknamed # 10 on the Blue Bombers, “Little Beckham”.
That was fun to watch, but not the part I was really proud of. That came in the second half. After each quarter and each half, I run to the other two fields (our team plays 3 v 3 on 3 different fields) and see if the game is lopsided one way or another so I can make an adjustment and try to make it more even. On one field we were getting completely pummeled so, naturally, I see a fun challenge and say, “T, let’s go. We are moving to this field”. So, we move fields and I prep T by telling him that I am moving him over to this field because the other team is really good. Well, the eye of the tiger came out just as it did for Keegan a few weeks earlier against a similarly really good team. They had a kid that was pretty good and was about a foot taller than Tanner. Beefy too. The kid’s dad was the other coach and stood about 6’7” so you know who he belonged to. They had another kid that was about Tanner’s size but super fast. T does not have much help from his teammates, but he is a human wrecking ball on this day so that didn’t really phase him.
So, we start the second half and the big kid is running for the ball and Tanner throws a huge body into him and nearly knocks him over. Solid, legal play that gets the attention of the other team’s parents. Shortly after, Big Kid was chasing the ball down and Tanner is running after him when T decides to completely shove the kid with two extended harms. The poor large kid goes flying over the ball and hits the ground where he lands on his face. Tanner (unphased with what he just did) takes the ball Big Kid has just flown over and dribbles towards the goal where he calmly puts it in the net. Now, we don’t call fouls on 4 year-olds, but this even prompted me to say, “Coach, why don’t you guys take a goal kick on that one”. A couple minutes later the fast kid is dribbling down the side line and Ronnie Lott, errrr, Tanner has angle pursuit going at full speed and slide tackles this poor kid who gets rid of the ball just before Tanner absolutely cleans him. In my men’s league, this would warrant an obvious yellow card, but these kids don’t know how to foul on purpose yet. T was obviously going for the ball without trying to wipe out the kid, but none-the-less, he did. I help the poor kid up, pick the grass out of his hair, and ask him if he is OK. A couple minutes after that, Big Kid and Fast Kid get by Tanner and are dribbling towards the goal. Like his daddy, T is not very fond of people getting by him and is not about to let them trot into his goal. So, he chases them down and throws his body recklessly between the kids and right onto the ball. Big and Fast are completely unsuspecting and they both fall over Tanner’s outstretched body on his 2 for 1 slide tackle. The ball ends up between his legs and he pops up, turns around, and runs up the field for another goal. This was another legal play that is just not taught but rather shear competitive spirit (that he gets from his mom, of course). Oh, speak of competitive spirit and slide tackles, this is a perfect time for a side story from a few weeks ago.
Tanner, loathing at the thought of the other team scoring a goal (even though we were up about 5-0), was sitting back near the goal and used his hands to stop the ball. I got mad at him telling him we do not have goalies because he always does this when we are just messing around playing soccer with his friends and I always tell him not to use his hands. So seconds later he springs from his defensive position out towards the corner flag where the other team has the ball. He overruns it, falls to the ground and the other team runs parallel to the end line to put it in the goal. They get right near the goal when Tanner, realizing that he is the last hope on stopping them from scoring (and also realizing that he cannot use his hands), pops up, runs baseline, dives head first with his hands to his side (as if they are in his pockets) and puts his face in between the ball and the goal line when the other teams kicks it. Because there was about one Tanner-size head between the ball and the goal, it hits him in the face and then hits the post. He actually saved it. The net kind of got dislodged and I awarded the other team the goal since it was right on the line, and the other team had barely got the ball on our half of the field all game. Tanner pops up shaking his head and says, “No, dad, it didn’t go in, I saved it!” Had it been any other kid but my own, I would have had to say no goal based on his sacrificing his face for the sake of stopping a goal. I told him what a great save it was but let’s go do a kick-off.
So, back to the end of the game from this weekend. Slide tackles are non-existent at this age (other than for Tanner) so these kids were not used to this type of punishment. Big Kid’s dad finally says to me, “I think you need to get him in to Pop Warner!” After the game, I apologized to Fast Kid’s dad for the beating Tanner gave his kid, but he graciously said, “That’s OK. Hey, that’s part of the game”.
11-7-09
Both the boys had successful games this weekend. I was proud of both of them for different reasons. Keegan played first and had his usual dominating start to a game scoring several goals before dad had to pull the reigns on him. When we play weaker teams, I really have to force him to get his teammates involved so he doesn’t score 25 goals, and I have pumped up the greatness of an assist. Keegan is really starting to understand how to play the game and he is starting to become a good passer. He is able to look for his teammates a bit more and pass with some touch. So, on Saturday I put him with Drew, a kid on his team that has never scored a goal. I have only coached for 2 years now, but I think Drew’s lack of scoring may be attributed to the fact that it is harder to score when your shirt is pulled over your own head for 80% of the game. Drew is a huge Star Wars fan so last week his parents agreed to take him “Star Wars” shopping if he scored a goal. He didn’t score.
So, during this week’s game out on the field, Drew asked me if he got a Star Wars toy if he scored. I told him, “Yes, of course”, and added, “Keegan, if you get Drew a goal, then you will also get a Star Wars toy”. I filled Drew’s mom in on her potential payoff and she just laughed and said, “Great, no problem”. Well, sure enough Keegan hits an outlet to Drew who now has his game face on and hits a shot that goes right in the net. We are up about 7-0 and we are going nuts because of Drew’s goal. He and Keegan were both so excited. So, Drew got his toy and so did Keegan. Later that night, Drew’s mom sent an email to Kari saying that the goal he scored did wonders for his self confidence and he was on cloud 9. He couldn’t wait for next week’s game, she said. She also praised Keegan for his great sportsmanship for trying so hard to get Drew a goal. Situations like these are priceless and why coaching is so rewarding. This one literally brought tears to my eyes.
Now, my proud father moment for Tanner was slightly different. OK, completely different. The team Tanner played was actually really good so I didn’t have to pull the reigns on him. In the first half, he ended up scoring about 5 goals to the other teams 2 but it was not really a one-sided blowout.
I have not watched all U-5 games this year, but I can pretty much guarantee that a goal Tanner scored in this game was among the top in all the league this season. He has incredible skill for a 4 year old and keeps the ball really close to his feet when he dribbles. Where Keegan kicks it past everybody then just outruns them all, Tanner weaves in and out like Grandma quilting a new blanket. He had the ball in traffic and cut left, then right, then left, then back to the right, jumped between two defenders swiping at the ball, then hammered home a right footed shot into the net. A kid stopping the ball from going out is huge at this age so cutting back and forth with the ball is unheard of. He has probably scored 30 goals this season and I never celebrate them, but this one was sweet. I said, “Yeah, T, that was absolutely brilliant!” The parents on the other sideline (who were unfamiliar to not having the upper hand) said, “Oh my gosh, did you see what that kid just did?” They had no idea that other teams had already nicknamed # 10 on the Blue Bombers, “Little Beckham”.
That was fun to watch, but not the part I was really proud of. That came in the second half. After each quarter and each half, I run to the other two fields (our team plays 3 v 3 on 3 different fields) and see if the game is lopsided one way or another so I can make an adjustment and try to make it more even. On one field we were getting completely pummeled so, naturally, I see a fun challenge and say, “T, let’s go. We are moving to this field”. So, we move fields and I prep T by telling him that I am moving him over to this field because the other team is really good. Well, the eye of the tiger came out just as it did for Keegan a few weeks earlier against a similarly really good team. They had a kid that was pretty good and was about a foot taller than Tanner. Beefy too. The kid’s dad was the other coach and stood about 6’7” so you know who he belonged to. They had another kid that was about Tanner’s size but super fast. T does not have much help from his teammates, but he is a human wrecking ball on this day so that didn’t really phase him.
So, we start the second half and the big kid is running for the ball and Tanner throws a huge body into him and nearly knocks him over. Solid, legal play that gets the attention of the other team’s parents. Shortly after, Big Kid was chasing the ball down and Tanner is running after him when T decides to completely shove the kid with two extended harms. The poor large kid goes flying over the ball and hits the ground where he lands on his face. Tanner (unphased with what he just did) takes the ball Big Kid has just flown over and dribbles towards the goal where he calmly puts it in the net. Now, we don’t call fouls on 4 year-olds, but this even prompted me to say, “Coach, why don’t you guys take a goal kick on that one”. A couple minutes later the fast kid is dribbling down the side line and Ronnie Lott, errrr, Tanner has angle pursuit going at full speed and slide tackles this poor kid who gets rid of the ball just before Tanner absolutely cleans him. In my men’s league, this would warrant an obvious yellow card, but these kids don’t know how to foul on purpose yet. T was obviously going for the ball without trying to wipe out the kid, but none-the-less, he did. I help the poor kid up, pick the grass out of his hair, and ask him if he is OK. A couple minutes after that, Big Kid and Fast Kid get by Tanner and are dribbling towards the goal. Like his daddy, T is not very fond of people getting by him and is not about to let them trot into his goal. So, he chases them down and throws his body recklessly between the kids and right onto the ball. Big and Fast are completely unsuspecting and they both fall over Tanner’s outstretched body on his 2 for 1 slide tackle. The ball ends up between his legs and he pops up, turns around, and runs up the field for another goal. This was another legal play that is just not taught but rather shear competitive spirit (that he gets from his mom, of course). Oh, speak of competitive spirit and slide tackles, this is a perfect time for a side story from a few weeks ago.
Tanner, loathing at the thought of the other team scoring a goal (even though we were up about 5-0), was sitting back near the goal and used his hands to stop the ball. I got mad at him telling him we do not have goalies because he always does this when we are just messing around playing soccer with his friends and I always tell him not to use his hands. So seconds later he springs from his defensive position out towards the corner flag where the other team has the ball. He overruns it, falls to the ground and the other team runs parallel to the end line to put it in the goal. They get right near the goal when Tanner, realizing that he is the last hope on stopping them from scoring (and also realizing that he cannot use his hands), pops up, runs baseline, dives head first with his hands to his side (as if they are in his pockets) and puts his face in between the ball and the goal line when the other teams kicks it. Because there was about one Tanner-size head between the ball and the goal, it hits him in the face and then hits the post. He actually saved it. The net kind of got dislodged and I awarded the other team the goal since it was right on the line, and the other team had barely got the ball on our half of the field all game. Tanner pops up shaking his head and says, “No, dad, it didn’t go in, I saved it!” Had it been any other kid but my own, I would have had to say no goal based on his sacrificing his face for the sake of stopping a goal. I told him what a great save it was but let’s go do a kick-off.
So, back to the end of the game from this weekend. Slide tackles are non-existent at this age (other than for Tanner) so these kids were not used to this type of punishment. Big Kid’s dad finally says to me, “I think you need to get him in to Pop Warner!” After the game, I apologized to Fast Kid’s dad for the beating Tanner gave his kid, but he graciously said, “That’s OK. Hey, that’s part of the game”.
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