8/28/10 Scrimmage Post-Game Comments

Strikers Parents and Players,

Thanks to those who came out to the scrimmage vs. Arlington today! We were able to get in some good games against quality teams. I want to give you some of my thoughts about the scrimmage in perspective to our season. First, I want to commend the players for their hard work today. On each field, players were focused on the game and demonstrated a competitive spirit. That was certainly an encouraging sign to see early on in the season.

I believe today's scrimmages showed where we should focus our attention. It was the first time any of the players had played a competitive match with one another, which led to confusion on the field. As they play more matches and practice together, players will develop a better understanding for one another. Playing as a cohesive unit, making meaningful combinations with teammates, and developing individual technical skills will be reoccurring themes in our season and practices. Overall, I think today offers a good starting point from which to build.

For those interested/who attend practices, we will work on these objectives and themes in a systematic manner during training as follows:

- Warm-Up

I believe integrating as much ball work into the warm-up gets players mentally ready for the practice session while building necessary technical skills. In many cases, the warm-up will have a technical focus (passing, dribbling, receiving, etc.) which will be maintained throughout the session.

- Small-Sided Games

You will notice many small-sided games (2v2, 3v3, 4v4) following the warm-up. I tend to manipulate the variables and rules of these games based on our team needs. These small-sided games allow for all players to have many repetitions in game-like situations. Most of the games will be 4v4 games as they contain all the elements of a real, full-sided game while giving each player more responsibility, involvement, and touches on the ball.

- Full-sided Games

Towards the end of practice, players will participate in full-sided games, in which they can gain experience with positions and carrying over their knowledge/themes from the small-sided games.

- Homework

At the end of practice, I may give the players some technical skills to work on at home. The aim is for them to see if they can get better each week with their footwork.


At the end of my posts, I like to leave a soccer video. The video below is of an Argentina goal in the 2006 World Cup. It was probably the best goal of tournament because of the great passing, build up of the attack, and the spectacular finish. Enjoy!