The Awakening

Have you ever worked really hard at something for a long time and it just wasn't coming together....and then suddenly the light went on and everything clicked? This weekend it happened to my boys U12 Premier soccer team.

This is my 3rd season coaching these boys and I love it. For the past 3 seasons we have been working on developing technique, teaching our defensive shape, working on give and go passing and playing the ball out wide. This past weekend we entered the Festival of Soccer which is a Saskatoon soccer tournament. I missed the first game because I was in Calgary for the day, but our boys went out and ended up losing 6-2 in their first game. I flew back into town in time to watch the final 5 minutes of the game and had a chance to talk to the boys afterward. That was the last time I saw that soccer team.

On Saturday an entire new team showed up! We entered the penalty shooting competition and ended up winning the whole thing! Then we had to play our soccer game and the boys were suddenly doing everything we had been teaching them for the last 3 seasons. Our defensive shape was tight and compact...we were give and go passing around their defenders...we were shooting so many shots at their goalie he barely had time to stand up before having to try and save another shot. We ended up winning 7-0! I stood there that game with my mouth wide open wondering what in the world happened to my team...it was awesome!

Hoping it wasn't a fluke we played another game this morning against a team that hadn't lost a game yet in the tournament. We trounced them 4 or 5 to nothing giving us two shutouts in a row! We then played another game this afternoon and if we won we would move on to the final on Monday morning. We once again played amazing and beat the team from Sherwood Park 4 or 5 to 1 (yeah, they got one where it took a bad bounce on the grass and went right past our keeper at about a snails pace...unlucky for our goalie because he was playing outstanding!)

It is so great to see the confidence in these boys eyes...I can't wait for the final on Monday morning at 10:00am at Saskatoon's new soccer centre. The skill these boys have is phenomenal and it is so much fun to coach them!