Shocking conditions, cold, windy, most of the ground covered in surface water, 5 men down away/injured/sick, a couple playing half sick, head coach away, assistant coach coaching but crook, team manager doing the umpiring … doesn’t make any difference to these boys.
After reinforcements were called we went in with 17 and were happy to play short against a full opposition. Our boys had this game under control from start to finish putting on an average of 3 goals each quarter, with or without the wind. Regardless of the ‘score’, what impressed more than anything were the key things Michael and Koje keep harping on about every week at training (and won’t stop either!):
getting numbers to a contest
leading into space
looking up and kicking to a target
hand balling under pressure
manning up
The only blemish l can see is that in the midfield you have 2 jobs, to both attack with the ball and defend without it, and occasionally in the midfield when the opposition gets the ball we need to chase harder to pressure it back into our hands. However – we are only learning in U9s and will work on this. This team is doing a fantastic job and the coaches and parents are very proud of the whole group.
We were helped out today by Angus Occhiuto and Zac Saunders from U8, together with Lincoln Sharpe and Toby Clarkson from U10, who are all considered part of our broader team and always prepared to help out no matter what the conditions – thanks again guys.
Looking forward to next week already.
Regards,
Andrew Kollmorgen
