The Screenshot We Wanted...

WELLAND 2000 WIZARDS U12 LEAGUE CHAMPS

The results from the last league games are in and our Welland 2000 Wizards are U12 League Champions! 

Congratulations boys - you deserve all the credit in the world! 

I will have a more detailed post later but let me say that winning the division was an important goal I set for the team this year.  Winning the division is the most difficult and significant achievement for a soccer team.  We led our division from the beginning to the end, finished with a very well deserved 11-1-2 record and the best goal differential at +43.  We are ready for promotion! The Welland Soccer Club is very proud of you.

Very well done, I am so very happy for you!  Now let's set our sites on the Billy Gray Cup!

Coach Jim

Game Day Instructions

Final Regular Season Game Tonight at Club Italia Niagara Falls.  We have a 7:00pm start - players must be at the field no later than 6:15pm. We are wearing our Reds. 

Weather:

·    Weather Network calls for a very comfortable night for soccer (23-26 degrees, sunny with a 15km breeze) As always, please make sure to PREHYDRATE.   I will have the cooler with ice water towels for the players. 

Pre-Game Meal and Hydration:

·     make sure to pre-hydrate: drink one 500ml bottle of water between 3:00-3:30pm, then another glass of water between 5:00-5:30pm.

·     eat early and light e.g. small serving of pasta and lean meat (remember our meals at Sherkston), dried fruit, or my favorite choice - a banana

·     absolutely no fast-food
·     Have a full supper after the game.

·     I recommend a large cold glass of chocolate milk after the game.

Remember to bring lots of your own LABELLED WATER for sipping and splashing on your head during the game!

CRAVE THE BURN!

Coach Jim

Congrats to Sabrina D'Angelo & Our CAN U20 WNT!

 

Congrats to Sabrina D'Angelo and the CAN U20 Women's National Team with the 6-0 win over Argentina! Check out Sabrina's early save in the highlight video!

 

Our Colton trained with Sabrina at the WSC this summer!

 

Coach Jim

District Program Training Update from Coach Frank

Hi everyone, Coach Frank wrote up a summary of the training session he ran for the U12 District Program last weekend.  It's a good read and useful for me as a U12 coach to see my messages at practice are consistent with what is being taught at the District level.

Coach Jim

Team Activities This Coming Week

First off, good luck to Jay, Liam and Matthew this weekend at the District Team Camp!  Along with other top coaches they will be trained by Clayton, Tuukka and Frank DeChellis ...sound familiar? (my Wizards get the best training and development available!).

Even though we will have low numbers, I will still conduct a training session for our team at our regular Sunday 8:30-10:00am time (at the WSC).

We will also have our regular practice on Tuesday night at the club.  Hopefully our schedules will work out so that Coach Frank can join us again to continue on "Quick, Early and Accurate".

Of course, Wednesday is our final league game of the season, vs NFSC at Club Italia in Niagara Falls.  I will send out the usual pregame emails.

Thanks
Coach Jim 

Hard Fought Draw

The boys worked hard tonight and earned a 1-1 draw with Grimsby.  I loved the effort and grit in a very entertaining game.  At times we slip into some of the old habits of ball watching, letting the ball hit the ground, and not being wide and deep enough in our shape, but then we also see the boys move the ball around very well, communicate with eachother, execute wall passes, work hard to keep possession, move the ball into space and create scoring opportunities.  Our passes being "Quick, Early and Accurate" was inconsistent tonight though... we will continue to build on that part of our game.

As coach, when we create more scoring opportunities than our opposition and our defensive effort allows only one goal, all I can I say is job well done.  Draws can leave players with mixed feelings, the "would of, should of, could of" type questions. Let's be sure to let them know we loved watching them play their hearts out and point out that they were a few inches here-or-there from the win... A very good effort... always things to work on but loads to be proud of!

Raffle Results
We had Mario Mascitelli, the President of the Welland Soccer Club join us in the club house to draw the winning ticket.  In front of an enthusiatic crowd of players and parents, Mario pulled the winning ticket... drum roll please................ The winners were the Jesik family.  The Jesiks are going on vacation and are not able to attend the TFC game this Saturday.  They graciously donated the TFC tickets back into the box for another draw.  The second ticket drawn and winner of the TFC tickets was Mr. Joe Peidl from Niagara Falls. Congratulations Mr Peidl!  I contacted him when we got home and he was thrilled.

A special thank you to Gary Talosi from Dundee Wealth Management in Port Colborne for the TFC Tickets, the anonymous donor of the Tony Roma's Gift Certificate, and to D'Angelo Printing for printing the raffle tickets free of charge!

The proceeds from the raffle will be recorded and sorted out shortly.  It's a little more complicated than I expected as not everyone sold all their tickets and I have to work the calculator a bit!

Coach Jim

Final Home Game Tonight!

Game Tonight at home vs Grimsby.  The players will be meeting in the WSC Lockerroom before heading out to the field for warm-ups. We will meet no later than 5:45pm in the WSC Lockeroom.  We are wearing our Reds. 

Weather:

·    Weather Network calls for chance of thundershowers and 23 degrees, which will feel like 29 degrees... humidity will be high but with a 15km wind. As always, please make sure to PREHYDRATE.   I will have the cooler with ice water towels for the players. 

Pre-Game Meal and Hydration:

·     make sure to pre-hydrate: drink one 500ml bottle of water between 3:00-3:30pm, then another glass of water between 5:00-5:30pm.

·     eat early and light e.g. small serving of pasta and lean meat (remember our meals at Sherkston), dried fruit, or my favorite choice - a banana

·     absolutely no fast-food
·     Have a full supper after the game.

·     I recommend a large cold glass of chocolate milk after the game.

Remember to bring lots of your own LABELLED WATER for sipping and splashing on your head during the game!

***RAFFLE TICKETS and $$$ MUST BE IN TODAY AS THE DRAW WILL HAPPEN AFTER THE GAME.

CRAVE THE BURN!

Coach Jim

Introducing the 4-5-1

NOTE: NO PRACTICE ON SUNDAY AM!

So many things to be pleased about with last night’s 2-0 win at Fort Erie...  Fort Erie is a good team, and it is tough to beat good teams twice in a season.

Above all else, the effort from our boys was top notch.  The boys were very focussed last night, paid attention to the details that we have be teaching them and played a smart and tough game. 

Body position in relation to where the player is on the field and to the ball was improved thanks to Coach Frank’s session with the team on Wednesday.  Passes were more “Quick, Early and Accurate” as well.   This all lead to having more "Time and Space" and therefore being a more comfortable group as a team on the field.  It helped the team to stay composed and keep shape when we were defending against a few surges from Fort Erie.  We were able to win back possession and pass our way out of trouble.  Fort Erie has scored 49 goals this year and the boys held them to two shots on goal – both great saves by our Keep!

We made changes to our formation this week.  Since the Strength and Conditioning nights in February I have been thinking about making our 4-3-3 more transitional, more defensive when not in possession and more attacking when in possession.  We talked about it in Sherkston and slowly I have been introducing more transitional concepts and responsibilities. 

Looking back we could have done it sooner (my bad) but the timing seemed right last week to make it more “formal” and give us an extra spark to finish the last month of the season.  Given vacations and injury we needed to strengthen defensively. So we spent parts of our practices this week with my whiteboard and markers going over how to switch during a game to a 4-5-1 and each position's responsibilities.  We went over it again before the game and they had retained it.  The boys really seemed to understand and last night it showed.   Playing with 5 mids we controlled the middle of the field. I give the players all the credit in the world.  They worked hard and played smart soccer.  They are a wonderful group.

Some Quick Facts:

·        After 12 games we are the highest scoring team and share the best GA in our League

·        The boys have earned shut-outs in 6 of 12 games

·        In the last 4 games we are 4-0, outscoring our opponents 19-1

We can be very proud of what we are doing, but let’s keep in mind that we have to keep focussing and trying to be better at every practice and every game because next year we will be playing against stronger competition.  With continued commitment from coaches, players (and parents!) our team has boundless potential!

Well done boys, and remember: "Touch The Ball Everyday"

Coach Jim

Instructions for Game @ Fort Erie

Game Tomorrow Night at Fort Erie  - 6:30pm Start - Players must be at Optimist Park by 5:45pm. We are wearing our Reds. Optimist Park is located on the corner of Gilmore and Pettit Roads, Fort Erie.  You can get a map from the NYSL website by clicking here and choosing Optimist Park 1

Weather:

·     This looks to be our first real rain game. Weather Network says there will be thunderstorms and 22 degrees,with a 15km wind. I will have our canopy for the bench but please bring your umbrellas!  Even with the rain and slightly cooler temperature, players must still PREHYDRATE.  As always, I will have a cooler with ice water towels for the players. 

Pre-Game Meal and Hydration:

•       make sure to pre-hydrate: drink one 500ml bottle of water between 3:00-3:30pm, then another glass of water between 5:00-5:30pm.
• ·     eat early and light e.g. small serving of pasta and lean meat (remember our meals at Sherkston), dried fruit, or my favorite choice - a banana
• ·     absolutely no fast-food before the game ... Have a full supper after the game.
• ·     I recommend a large cold glass of chocolate milk after the game.
• Remember to bring lots of your own LABELLED WATER for sipping and splashing on your head during the game!

CRAVE THE BURN!
Coach Jim

Great Practice Tonight & Coaches Thoughts - "Touch The Ball Everyday"

Hi everyone, we had a great practice tonight, we did some agility, alot of technical work, and progressed to a small-sided possession-type game... we got in a ton of touches with the ball and the boys responded well.  We ended with a team strategy session and the boys seemed to really understand what I was asking of them.  They are a great group and I enjoy coaching them very much.

I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you that I had the chance to visit this weekend with two Hungarian friends of mine who played professional football in Hungary in the 60's.  They played in Hungary's first division, the NB1, at a time when it truly was one of the best in Europe.  I asked them about the training they had as youth soccer players, esp focussing on what they did in our team's age group. 

We went through some drills and how to practice different techniques, and the same major theme was repeated throughout our conversation.  It always boiled down to how much personal practice time players put in, or as they put it: "Me and the ball"...

As youth soccer players they practiced everyday all year round. Besides the team practices, they would play and practice soccer 6 hours a day, on their own or with a group of friends - "until the sun went down".  The weather was irrelevant, rain or shine, blistering hot or freezing cold...they played soccer in the snow all winter!  

What is interesting is that most of their personal training (or as they called it "Me and the ball" time) was very simple.  One of the basics they would always do, from 8 years of age through to their professional years, was simply kicking a ball against a wall... concentrating on being on their toes, balanced with knees bent, striking the ball with different parts of the foot and alternating feet when receiving the bounce-back. They would do this until they got a rhythm going, similar to a boxer with a speed bag.

The juggling work was always very important for them... they would get together with friends and have competitions that would last for hours... juggling with both feet, inside foot, outside foot, laces, thighs, shoulder, and head.

They emphasized that the most basic things are the most important things... ball control and touch, which they would work on for hours during their personal time with the ball. They told me that tactics, systems and strategy were not a priority until the players hit the U15-U16 level. 

Interestly, this is the same message that we got when meeting the AS Roma Academy Coaches, and through Tuukka's brother from the FC Inter Turku Academy, and from the Dinamo Zagreb Academy Coaches from Clayton's camp.

Now, of course what my Hungarian friends were describing regarding their hours and conditions of practice was in a different world, back in 1960's Communist Hungary.  Our world is very different, our boys have lots of activities that pull them in different directions.  But what resonated with me is this: "Me and the ball" or as I have been calling it, "Touch the Ball Everyday"... 

This has been one of the themes for the boys since I took the team over two years ago.  Whether it's juggling, or kicking a ball against a wall, throwing a ball up the in air and trapping it, or setting up a dribbling course and dribbling around cones like we do at practice - "Touch the Ball Everyday". 

I encourage our players at every practice to take some of the drills we do together and do them at home on their own.  I ask them to put in at least 20 to 30 minutes everyday, working with the ball - on their own... I have joked with the boys that I want them to sleep with a soccer ball so that soccer was the last thing they think about before falling asleep and the first thing they think of when they wake up!  (I actually slept with a football in my arms all through highschool, my mother thought I was nuts!).  It's funny but I am always making the point that if it's important to them, they will do it- the extra work part!

Of course the "Touch the Ball Everyday" theme applies to many aspects of our boys lives.  Let me relate it another way... We have a few budding musicians on our team!   From the age of 6, I played and then taught music, performed at parties, the Hungarian Hall, church, restaurants and weddings.  With music, going once or twice a week for lessons was not enough, I had to practice on my own everyday - and for hours, to get to the point where I was moderately accomplished.  Whether it is sports, school, or the arts, the key to success is the same -  commitment and practice.

These are great life skills for our boys to develop. School work needs the same type of commitment, solving that difficult math problem takes time and practice.  Becoming a better soccer player is no different.  Going to practice twice a week and then playing a game is not enough. This is why I give them "Soccer Homework" in the form of instructional videos to watch and then practice - on their own...

Players must "Touch the Ball Everyday" and work at it on their own to raise their level.  I'm glad that many of my players do.  We will need that type of individual commitment to raise our collective level for next year.

Sometimes as coaches and parents we have a tendency to over-complicate things.  The game is actually very simple.   There really is no secret to development.  Hard work pays off. I wanted to share this note with you because I find it so interesting that the message I get from whom ever I meet up with in the soccer world is the same... "Touch the Ball Everyday"...

See you at practice tomorrow night at 5:30.
Coach Jim

Regular Practice Tonight & Make-Up Practice Wednesday

Hi everyone, we will have our regular practice tonight at WSC from 6:00-7:30pm. 

We will also have a practice on Wednesday night at the club from 5:30-7:00pm.

I originally wanted to do our "make-up for Sunday" practice on Thursday but have been able to secure Coach Frank DeChellis for Wednesday night to continue the theme of his first session with our team "Can I Go Forward".  We will work on making quick decisions, i.e. diagnosing if the forward play is not there, passing back to support and keeping possession.

See you tonight and tommorow night and thanks Coach Frank!
Coach Jim

A Good Read: "Are your players ready to compete?"

Hi everyone, wanted to share this post from Frank DeChellis' on-line journal... a good read for coaches and parents.

Coach Jim

No Practice Sunday

Hi everyone, even though most can make it for Sunday AM, I'm thinking we give the boys (and parents) a Sunday AM off given long weekend as well....

We play next week on Friday PM at Fort Erie... so I would like our regular practice on Tuesday and another on Thursday (same time and place as Tuesdays).

Thanks

Coach Jim

Game Day!

Game Tonight at home vs Pelham.  The players liked the idea of the team gathering in the WSC Lockerroom before heading out to the field for warm-ups, so let's do it again!  We will meet no later than 5:45pm in the WSC Lockeroom.  We are wearing our Reds. 

Weather:

·     Looks like very nice weather for our boys tonight.  Weather Network says it will be sunny and 25 degrees (which could feel like 31 degrees), with a 10km wind. As always, please make sure to PREHYDRATE.   I will have a cooler with ice water towels for the players. 

Pre-Game Meal and Hydration:

·     make sure to pre-hydrate: drink one 500ml bottle of water between 3:00-3:30pm, then another glass of water between 5:00-5:30pm.

·     eat early and light e.g. small serving of pasta and lean meat (remember our meals at Sherkston), dried fruit, or my favorite choice - a banana

·     absolutely no fast-food
·     Have a full supper after the game.

·     I recommend a large cold glass of chocolate milk after the game.

Remember to bring lots of your own LABELLED WATER for sipping and splashing on your head during the game!

CRAVE THE BURN!

Coach Jim