You are more correct than you think. One ninth grader may have blown out her knee as well. Fanatastic little girl. Work rate of McBride. Never stops running. Hyperextended her knee. Heard a pop. Went down in tears. Ten minutes later, up and around with an ice bag on her knee walking fine. I am thinking, well this is good. Talk to the trainer this morning, described what happen, she said she could be out for the year.
One advantage of 9-11 players is everyone will get plenty of playing time. I'd almost rather have 9-11 players than 25-30, because you don't have playing time issues. The biggest problem is motivation if you're getting hammered. I'd concentrate on small achievements. Shutting down each player. Working well together on defense. I would rotate people so multiple people play keeper, and everyone gets their chance at defense.
We have somehow aquired two female volunteer coaches from the Air Force base down the road. One played at UAB and the other at U of Ohio. Good to have them. They know more than I do. Match on Friday was rained out.
Monday JV match cancelled. Tried to have practice with them, only 4 healthy players showed up. Two players with injuries were there. Varsity match went ahead as scheduled. Drew 2-2. It was not pretty at all. I sincerly believe that the ref was biased toward the other side. Normally, I dismiss that idea but on this occasion, there really is no other way to explain his decisions. For example, our best player comes in from left flank, toe pokes a worm burner towards the goal. Ball is rolling towards goal. keeper gets a foot on it. Pops up, hits the cross bar of the football goals. Goal kick. Defies modern physics how a ball on the ground hit by a forward can hit the cross bar of the football up rights. Second, a our player moves forward on right side with the ball. Their mid fielder jumps in with both legs. Grabs out player down by the neck of her shirt. Foul on our lady. Our captain gets carded for asking the ref what the call was and walking away in disgust when he refuses to explain his decision to her. She has to come out, cannot get her back in for 5 minutes by that time, there are only 90 seconds left and she can do little
Refs suck, blind, stupid, and think they are brilliant - especially in high school soccer. I'm thinking about taking my U14's outside next week - to the outdoor basketball court if the snow melts by then.
Actually got to play a match with a full 11 on the field and even, agasp!, a sub. Played at home against the team that beat us 8-1. Lost to them, 2-0. I was proud of the ladies for fighting hard and earning a lot of respect. Varsity lost 5-0. It was not pretty.
Also, One good thing about teaching where I teach, lots of volunteers from Fort Bragg and Pope AFB. Well, I got an assistant coach to help me out. She played college soccer at Ohio University. She was also a team assistant for a year or two. She knows more than me. She will help out a lot.
Match last night. We lost 3-0. Told the kids that they were playing very lethargic. They asked me what lethargic meant. It was amusing b/c my comeback was, well it means lackadasical (sp?). That one threw them for a loop.
Supposed to have a mandatory practice on Friday for both JV and Varsity. Out of about 30 ladies, 10 showed up. The lack of dedication just staggers the mind. I feel very badly for the handful of players that care because they are so obviously in the minority.
This is high school. As a parent of two high school kids, it's not my problem. It's between the kids and the coach. I may ask my kids whether they really want to play at this level, but the kids need to make that choice. I also am aware of a local coach who went ballistic when some of his students wanted to miss practice to take ACT tests. He didn't get much sympathy, and backed off. You might take this chance to talk to the more dedicated players (possibly with the Head coach since it affects both teams). Get their ideas on what to do about Friday practices. Shorter practice; more games; Team trip to the Dairy Queen after practice; longer other practices and take Fridays off; Saturday morning instead of Friday nights; what are their ideas?
http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=preps&Story=5553020 It is not so fun to be on the other side of history.
IASOCFAN: As a parent I agree with you completely. I have a HS age son and we make it very clear that it's his responsibility to get himself to practice, handle his homework, etc. Unfortunately not all parents handle these things the same way, and of the group that doesn't, some of these might be responsive to a plea for support from the coaching staff. A note via email or photocopied sheet to parents addressing the no-show issue might be a fairly low-cost, low labor means of getting some improvement. I'm not talking about making a big hairy deal out of it by calling a meeting, which only a few (probably the parents of the girls already showing anyway) would attend.
Ouch. Pething, sorry if you've addressed this already but here's a question. Is there a possibility that the no-show issue might at least partly be a result of the Iraq war invasion? The 82nd is based at Fort Bragg, as is Delta IIRC. Might some of your players have parents heading to or already in Iraq?
Some parents have headed that way. Some more may head that way in the near future. So far, no one has really mentioned it, either in practice or in the classroom.
What division is UNCG? The men's teams was the reigning NCAA III for a very long time. Obviously, since they are offering Lindsey a scholarship they must have moved up.
Well, this ends the journey. My last post in my first coaching thread. I am ending it here b/c nothing new seems to be happening, just a vicious cycle of the same old crap. It was a great thread, thanks to all those that participated. One day I need to print out the whole thing. But not today.
It's a great thread, thanks for starting it. Good luck and please feel free to change your mind and tell us how things are going, especially if the cycle of crap changes (for the better, I hope).