Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Fall 2020 Soccer

Well we survived the soccer season in the era of COVID. I will soccer has been a constant in our life since a while ago so it was good to get back to something ‘normal’ despite everything around us not being normal. 

The season started late and was compact thanks to COVID so when the whistle blew of the final game on Saturday it was a welcome sense of - phew we made it. The last week was particularly grueling with 9 games in 5 games and 5 of the games during the week which made for very very very cold games - as in I took a hair dryer to my cold feet and tried to warm them up.

E




E’s team wasn’t the best by any means but I do believe they learned a lot. They had a game of greatness in their second to last game so I think they lifted everyone’s spirits. E was desperate for a goal and after one was called back early in the season, I thought she’d knock one in but didn’t. She ages up to 11-12 in the spring so the field size will make a big difference.

R&M 




If there are two Kibbes who want to play on the same team it’s these two - and I love that for them. This was another season with my neighbor as assistant coach which is great. I think we balance each other well - although we are both super intense at times - hello second to last game. It’s always good to have someone to bounce things off of and step in. I think next season I’ll definitely be managing subs better/smarter. 

I think I learned a lot this year as a coach from this team and I think and hope the girls learned something too. R scored a goal early in the season and I basically couldn’t believe it. M scored a goal or two later in the season. Both begged to play forward all the time but we had a forward heavy team so M got put on defense more often then she liked.

Once the final whistle blew for the Cheetahs the fact remained - We never lost a game but we weren’t winners. We were second in our division. Four wins and two ties didn’t cut it. That’s what happens when it’s 2020 I guess.





As team was a tough case for me. I’ve never coached boys on a bigger field and I was nervous about it from the get go. Well I can say it’s the first losing season I’ve ever coached (all the 2020 references) and I have a newfound respect for the mercy rule and coaches who graciously player their better player in shifts. The TRexs (what’s the plural of TRex?) did win two games which was so good for the boys. Our last game was probably the best matched game even though we didn’t win. A wanted to score a goal so bad and he missed the game against the team he probably could have scored one. He was definitely one of the youngest kids out there - there were two boys on our team who seemed to tower over him. The older boys I could count on to mostly stay in their positions but in the end it sometimes turned out to be a cluster of eight boys around the ball. Even after the not so great outcomes I always asked the boys if they had fun and they said yes - so hopefully they did and maybe we can get some more skills learned in the spring.

C




Lady C. What can I say. The Butterflies were a force to be reckoned with. You never know what’s going to happen when a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds take to the field. Point in the right direction and hope for the best. Cs team was a fun group of girls. Fortunately there were a few who understood what to do so we had good leaders/examples of running the ball down the field and sometimes coming back in defense. There were somersaults and cartwheels and leveraging post game snack and of course shouting butterflies as loud as possible. C has an agenda of her own normally so on the soccer field it came out too. Sometimes she was into it other times she wasn’t but she was thrilled to be on ‘a team’ and wore her jersey proudly.

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