Pre-game email for Sat September 25

Yo, Shooting Stars!

We had very good practice considering that virtually all of the boys seemed wiped out before we even started (no, it wasn't only your little guy).

I have attached the roster for tomorrow's game in case your guy or you want to know where he's going to be playing. As well, the roster again explains our positioning - which is based on the standard diamond defense used in high level play. So we play a keeper (goalie), two strikers (forwards) and the four backs in the diamond shape. When we field 8 rather than 7, we just add a center midfielder.

Once again: Our game is at the back fields at Twin Brooks and we're gathering at 10:15 am. The game begins at 10:45 am.

We did a drill at practice seemed to confuse the guys for a while but which is a really great drill so I have attached an illustration of it. Basically, the field is divided into four parts by drawing an x from corner to corner through the middle of the field. Each team has one guy in each of the triangles and no one can leave his triangle. It's actually that simple, but it's not like anything they have done before so it's not necessarily the easiest thing to pick up on the field.

It is supposed to clear and not have rain be an issue for tomorrow. If you aren't sure, however, you have a few ways to check for cancellations: 

-If soccer is cancelled, as soon as I hear, I will email you

-it will be posted on the Town of Cumberland's website: www.cumberlandmaine.com

-you can call me on my cell: 239-7292

-I will post it on the team website: www.cnyushootingstars.blogspot.com

Tomorrow will be a great day.

Go Shooting Stars!

Coach Dan

Daniel Kany

239-7292

Practice notes: Drills will change, but most of this will be covered every week

Shooting Stars

Points on practice: Thursday, September 16, 2010

1.    Mechanics
2.    Dribbling
3.    Passing and moving off the ball
4.    Coverage
5.    Scrimmage

Warm up: pass around

Team gather: news and coach’s talk (bring it in with a hand, call “Shooting Stars,” and then form a semi-circle and take a knee)

Warm up: Everyone dribble to far end line, stop, and dribble back

Mechanics: (split with three coaches – every ball is trapped with the inside of the foot)
1.    Inside right foot
2.    Inside left foot
3.    Laces right foot
4.    Laces left foot
5.    One touch
6.    Free kick
7.    Throw in
8.    (repeat)

Dribbling: (still split in three groups)
1.    Inside of feet
2.    Outside of feet
3.    Both inside and outside of feet

Passing: (give-and-go with inside and outside of feet with anticipated passing – passing to the space in front of the moving teammate)

Coverage: (Asst coaches run players through a drill where at first coach passes to one player covered by one defender; then two offensive players get a pass to one and then the other with two players defending. During this time, one coach will be working with the four players who will be keepers during the next game)

Scrimmage: (this should be about half of the practice unless we are running behind with the other drills; teams will be divided evenly with each group coached by and assistant coach who will play a position if we are short players  - the setup will be the diamond defense – sweeper, stopper, right back, left back – for each side with a keeper.) Right and left backs will take all throw-ins, sweepers will take all goal kicks and stoppers will take all corner kicks. Each side will be shifted clockwise by the coach every 3 minutes – including keeper. All players will be keeper in practice.

During the scrimmage, play will be stopped on the whistle and all players will have to repeat any mistaken play (throw-ins will be done until mastered, etc). We will talk about every foul and mistake and players will learn to play to the whistle. Coaches – if they can – will speak with players during play about position, technique and mechanics.

Team email post practice Thursday, Sept 16

The boys were terrific at practice tonight even though I seemed to be about 10 minutes at every step.

We covered mechanics of striking the ball, defensive covering (how to play defense and keep a guy from the other team from being able to get the ball)
 and, once again, positions.

While I had us moving too slowly through the drills, I think the boys did a great job getting what we were up to - and it's only going to go more smoothly as practices go along since we will be doing these (and other drills) and the scrimmages will always be like tonight's. What makes the scrimmages a little more challenging is that we
switch positions every couple of minutes: the keeper moves to right back, the right back moves to stopper (up front and center), the stopper moves to left back, the left back moves to keeper, etc. Please keep in mind these are all defensive positions and form what is known as a diamond defense. During games, we will be playing the diamond defense with two strikers (also wings, forwards, attackers, etc).

Soccer is a defensive game, so we will focus on defensive structure. (Soccer defenses have to be organized and hold their positions - so this is the most important thing for the boys to learn. Soccer offenses are less of a team issue and more based on individual skill, creativity, hustle and scrappiness - so it's less important for us to try to teach offense as much as encourage it at the right time.)

Our primary focus of the Shooting Stars' coaching staff this season is to teach the boys about positions. I ask all of you parents to talk to your guys about the positions to see if they understand what they are supposed to be doing when playing each position (let's focus on the defensive positions since this is what we're playing during the scrimmages: keeper, sweeper, left or right back and stopper). Please explain this to them if they aren't sure, or let me know so we can explain it to you and your little guy. The more the boys have a clue about where they are supposed to be in any position, the more they will have fun (since I think the biggest barrier to enjoying any team sport is not individual skills as much as having a sense of playing your position).

While we are going to "bring it in" numerous times during practice, I encourage parents to come listen to the comments during our first team gathering at every practice (when the boys take a knee and make a semi-circle) since that's when we talk about what we are going to cover during the practice.

Please let your boys know as well that we will single out players for making good passes and playing their positions more than we will give them props for scoring goals or making showy plays. I was most impressed tonight, for example, by Malcom since he put thought and effort into striking the ball with his left foot as well as his right foot even when I was not pressing him to do so.

I saw excellent stuff from every single Shooting Star, so I think we're going to develop great team skills this season.

Our next game is once again at 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, so please try to have your guys to Twin Brooks at 10:15 a.m.

Go Shooting Stars!

Coach Dan
239-7292
www.cnyushootingstars.blogspot.com

Email sent 9/9 at 9pm

Our first game is on Saturday morning. It starts at 10:45 a.m., so please be there by 10:15 a.m. We're going to warm up until 10:30 a.m. and then have a team meeting to talk about positions and what is going to happen during the game.

I have posted the schedule for our first four weeks on our team website: http://cnyushootingstars.blogspot.com/
Games are on the back fields at Twin Brooks. We're on field #7 this week but all that will be explained on Saturday.

We are two uniforms short, but we're wearing white shirts with black shorts and white socks (my previous email was wrong about the socks). We need to have numbers for the roster we turn into the refs, so I will try to bring some black duct tape for the two who didn't get jerseys today (we will get them at some point).

We are going to play 7 versus 7 - this includes the goal keeper. Since we need to set the roster for positions before the game, it would be great to hear if any of your guys want to play keeper (so far I have two - Will and Toby). While everyone is going to play every position at some point (although no one will be forced to be a keeper if they don't want to), we would rather not stick a boy in goal for the first game who either hasn't done it or doesn't want to do it.

I barked more at practice tonight than I probably ever will again, but I wanted to get through a bunch of things and we went over more than I could have hoped. To begin, all nine boys (we might get another) showed up and we covered:

• striking the ball only with either the inside of our feet or on the laces
• trapping the ball always with the inside of our feet
• passing to where your teammate is going
• using both feet and passing with your outside foot (to pass to the left, kick with your right foot)
• give-and-goes (wall passes)
• throw ins (feet planted, ball goes straight over your head)
• kick offs (opposing team can't approach until ball is touched)
• drop balls (ball has to hit the ground before you can touch it)
• goal kicks (opposing team has to go to half field until ball is touched)
• corner kicks
• free kicks

Other than working with the keeper, we actually went over about 90% of the basic rules and rule differences of our league (which I covered in the earlier email - which is also posted on our web site) AND the coaching staff was able to gauge where our guys are in terms of skill sets.

The boys were all excited and probably fried from the first week of school, so I know it was a particularly tough time to try to focus on a coach's lecture (my Toby is case in point: exhausted but frantic). But while I pushed them tonight, I think they did a great job in covering a ton of skills and drills and rules and roles. I think they were all amazing to have covered what they did. In fact, I think we're actually ready for the first game.

Our lineup is going to be two strikers (forwards), one center midfielder/stopper back, two wing fullbacks and one sweeper (again, we will have 7 players on the field including the goalie). This might not make a great deal of sense to many of you, but we are essentially doing a standard diamond defense with two strikers for the offense. It looks like this:
 E    F
    G

    D
B      C
    A
    K


A=sweeper (center fullback)
B=left back (left fullback)
C=right back (right fullback)
D=stopper (center midfielder/center mid)
E=left striker (left wing)
F=right striker (right wing)
G= center midfielder/mid (when we field 8 players) 
K=keeper (goalie)

The strikers are standard offensive players. The stopper/center mid is going to run like crazy to be on both offense and defense (and will usually sit out the next quarter. The left and right backs are standard fullbacks - which means they must support the attack when our team has the ball. The sweeper is the only guy (other than the keeper) who might not ever go over mid-field: no one should ever get behind him. If the keeper even touches the ball in this league, the ref stops the play.

So while this setup might not be what you are used to talking about, it's what we want all of the boys to understand. So, if you can, please help them try to understand all of the positions and learn all of the names I used for them just above to the right of the numbers. The only difference between this lineup and professional lineups is that we are basically playing without a midfield line - so this will help them learn proper positions even though it's a smaller crew on a smaller pitch (field).

It might seem like I have poured too much information onto the boys and too much onto the parents in the first couple of emails, but at this point both you and the boys have gotten about 90% of what we intend to cover during the season. And the boys did an amazing job tonight: I was extremely proud of them - they got through all of it (and were even asking to learn a couple of trick moves at the end!). And now it's going to get much, much easier for them as we go along.

Game schedule: weeks 1 - 4

CNY United Soccer Schedule				2010
				Twin Brooks
Age Group:	Boys Grade 3/4		Time:	10:45-11:45am
	Schedule for weeks 1-4 only Twin Brook Back Fields
Week 1	Saturday September 11
Field	Home Team	Color	Visiting Team	Color
6	Moore	Lime	Cunningham	Red
7	Gustafson	Orange	Shooting Stars	White
8	Robinson	Blue	Richard	Green
Week 2	Saturday September 18
Field	Home Team	Color	Visiting Team	Color
6	Gustafson	Orange	Moore	Lime
7	Richard	Green	Cunningham	Red
8	Shooting Stars	White	Robinson	Blue
Week 3	Saturday September 25
Field	Home Team	Color	Visiting Team	Color
6	Richard	Green	Shooting Stars	White
7	Robinson	Blue	Moore	Lime
8	Cunningham	Red	Gustafson	Orange
Week 4	Saturday October 2
Field	Home Team	Color	Visiting Team	Color
6	Shooting Stars	White	Moore	Lime
7	Cunningham	Red	Robinson	Blue
8	Gustafson	Orange	Richard	Green

Team goals, rules and strategies!

Welcome to the Shooting Stars!

Here is the roster for the 2010 CNYU Shooting Stars:

Toby Kany
Malcolm Bourgeois
Conor Nadeau
James Brouder
Nico Brown
Aiden Smith
Bryan Taylor
Blake Turner
Will Curtis
William Lyden

The coaching staff will consist of me (Daniel Kany), Beth Smith and Victoria Brouder.

Our practices will be held every Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Cumberland Common.

Our games will be held - from September 11th through October 23rd - at 10:30 a.m. at Twin Brooks: Please arrive as close to 10:00 a.m. as possible to warm up, etc.

Our team colors are black and white: white shirts and black shorts. We are wearing white socks with two black stripes. Uniforms will be distributed at the first practice (or the first game if you can’t make practice).

Our team website is www.cnyushootingstars.blogspot.com

We will post updates, documents and basic information on the team website including cancellations, updates, rules, etc.

Please always provide your child with water for both games and practices. We are not planning to do regular snacks after the games. If you would like to bring a special snack for all the kids, please check with me first.

Our games consist of four 10-minute quarters. We will be switching positions at every quarter: Each child will play for an equal amount of time and will play every position evenly.

A few notes on rules:
•    Shin guards must be worn or the child cannot play in a game.
•    Shirts must be tucked in.
•    No jewelry: emergency bracelets must be taped down.
•    No slide tackling.
•    There is no offsides, although “cherrypicking” will be called by the refs.
•    For a goal kick, the opposing team must go back across the mid-field line.
•    When the keeper touches the ball, the play will be whistled dead.
•    There is a document of the official rules and interpretations; As soon as we have an electronic copy, this will be posted on our team website.


Game time notes for parents:
•    Even if your child appears to be hurt, do not go onto the field until you are waved on by the ref or coach.
•    Spectators will sit on the opposite side of the field as the teams.
•    Parents cannot stand behind the goals.
•    We would appreciate a couple of mature volunteers for linesmen.
•    Any thunder and we must leave the field for at least a half hour.
•    Please refrain from yelling instructions to your child; Encouragement is fine.


Our Goals
Obviously we want the kids to have a safe and fun team experience. But we also want them to learn about soccer. At this age, fundamentals such as striking the ball, passing, trapping, ball control are important. Just as important, however, is position: Kids can work on technique and ball control at home, but it’s not as easy for them to learn about position: So we want to focus on positioning. We want them to get a feel for where they should be at all times during play.

Position
We are going to focus on these three basic points:
1.    Assigned position (left fullback, right halfback, left wing, keeper, etc): There are many terms (back, keeper, goalie, sweeper, midfielder, defender, halfback, striker, wing, forward, etc.) for the different positions: We are going to cover these during the season – one week’s homework will be to learn most of the common terms and the sooner you start, the better!
2.    Team situation (when we have the ball we are on offense; when the other team has the ball, we are on defense)
3.    Where to be on the field at any given moment

The point of this is to help our kids feel confident and comfortable at any point during the game. Any one child spends the vast majority of the game without the ball. We want to help our guys learn where they should go during play. If our team has the ball, where can he move to be helpful – to get a pass or draw a defender. If our team loses the ball, how do we transition to our defensive responsibilities? Whom should we cover? How do make choices about priorities? How do we combine our assigned position with what is actually happening on the field? If I have the ball, when should I dribble the ball? When do I pass it? When do I shoot? How do I cover another player? How do I keep players from passing to each other?

Because of this, we will spend a great deal of time in practice working on passing and defensive positioning drills. It’s my experience that kids enjoy themselves much more when they don’t feel completely clueless during a game: They spend more time during a game figuring out where to go than doing anything else. By focusing on position, our guys will always have something to do. As well, proper positioning is the part of soccer that translates to many other team sports.

This is a list of some of the key skills we will work on and that you can practice at home:
Dribbling: moving with the ball under control, being able to do this while looking up to see where to pass, etc.
Trapping: Being able to control the ball while moving. I would like to emphasize passing and trapping with the inside of the foot and using both feet. Do not trap the ball by stepping on it. You can practice chest traps, but we’re not going to spend much time on this.
Tackling: This is dispossessing – getting the ball away from your opponent. We want to be able to do this without fouling or letting the opponent get by us to move towards our goal.
Passing: Quick passes that anticipate where our teammate will be – not too hard or soft or too bouncy. We especially want to emphasize the “give and go” – moving to receive a pass from the person to whom you just passed.
Shooting: We want our guys to learn to select the appropriate time to shoot: not from too far away or from a poor angle. We want our guys to always look for an open teammate. We are more concerned about their making good choices than scoring lucky goals. We want our guys to work on accuracy and striking the ball with either foot – sometimes a quick, accurate shot from the inside of the foot is more appropriate than kicking the ball as hard as you can.
Throw-Ins: Both feet on the ground, the ball goes over the head with no side-to-side spin. Practice for quickness as well as distance and accuracy.
Free kicks: A good way to practice this is on a line at a field – that way both accuracy and distance can be measured. Challenging our guys to kick farther and more accurate can be very fun. Remember: No toes – not ever. Strike the ball where the shoes laced used to be on shoes; the knee is over the ball and the other foot is right next to the ball.
Heading: This can be fun to practice – toss the ball underhand from a few feet away and have him head the ball back to your hands. He should strike the ball just under the peak of his forehead – never the top of his head – with eyes open and snapping the head forward.

Sure, this is a long email. Some of it is more pressing. Some of it is more intended as reference or background.

This and other additional information will be posted on our website.

We will see you on Thursday: Go Shooting Stars!

--Coach Dan

Daniel Kany
14 Willow Lane, Cumberland
239-7292
dankany@gmail.com

First Practice scheduled for Thurs, Sept 9, 5:30 - 6:30

The Shooting Stars will be practicing every Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 on Cumberland Common. Our first practice will be from 5:30 to 6:30 on the 9th. This will be a casual gathering since we know it coincides with the Mabel I Wilson family picnic evening. We will pass out uniforms, get to know each other, answer questions and kick the ball around a bit. Our first game will be on Saturday. I will be at the Commons by 5 p.m. if anyone wants to show up early.

In the meantime, each of you should be receiving a rather lengthy email with comments about everything from rules to uniforms to our team philosophy.

See you then!

-Coach Dan