A Son's Story.

The link is to a story about a Brasilian basketball player who overcame to become a professional player.  It is an inspiring story and also a humbling one.  Please take the time to read it.

Leandro Barbosa

Match Hazards: Rain

Coaches and players will encounter "match hazards" or conditions that can impact the quality of play. It is good to have a plan prepared before match time to deal with these. We will look at some of these hazards, possible coaching instructions and team management or tactical solutions that could enhance results. We will address common match hazards and progress to others of the course of the series. 

Rain

Rain presents two basic issues that must be dealt with. 

1) A wet and slippery ball can skip causing misplays.  This can be bad for field players and disasterous for goalkeepers.

2) A wet surface can cause players to slip, slide or fall resulting in missed plays and misplays.

A key consideration for playing on a slippery surface is to keep one's weight over their feet.  Players will slip or their feet slide out from under them when their feet are positioned wider than their hips.  This can necessitate players changing normal pursuit angles so they find themselves at a point where the ball will be instead of going directly to the ealiest point to intercept the ball. Getting in front of the ball takes on added importance.

It can also necessitate players shortening their strides as the point for making a play approaches. This is especially true if a change of direction is necessary.  It is the planting of one's foot outside of the hips or out from under the body's weight that causes slips, slides and falls on a wet surface.

Preparing to play the ball by positioning yourself directly in its path whenever possible combined with movement directly to and in-line with the path of the ball is the best prevention for playing a ball that skips.  The spin of the ball may alter its course slightly when it skips. The remedy here is to not allow the ball to hit the ground or play it on the short skip before it has a chance to more drastically alter course.

For goalkeepers in particular it is important to attack the ball on a wet. slippery surface.  However, the "attack" must be in direct line with the path the ball is traveling.  The danger for the goalkeeper is the same as for field players - that his feet will slip from under him when attempting to make a cut or dive to play the ball.  Once again, the key is to keep the body's weight over the feet as much as possible.

A third point of emphasis to be considered is communication and resulting organization.  The fact is, there will likely be more miscues on a wet, slippery surface be they ball related, player related or both.  Effective communication and heightened atention to organization within the concepts of formation and system of play can reduce the number of potential mistakes and minimize the potential damage of mistakes that do occur.

Finally, many of the cleats manufactured today are for a specific ground type. There are hard ground cleats, firm ground cleats and soft ground cleats to mention a few. Expensive boots will have studs that can be shortened or lengthened to play in whatever weather conditions are encountered.  Coaches need to remind players that if they have footwear designed for wet conditions that they need to wear these in rainy conditions.

Match Hazards: Sun

Coaches and players will encounter "match hazards" or conditions that can impact the quality of play. It is good to have a plan prepared before match time to deal with these. We will look at some of these hazards, possible coaching instructions and team management or tactical solutions that could enhance results.  We will address common match hazards and progress to others of the course of the series. 

Bad Sun Angle.

With early morning or evening matches the sun can present an extreme problem at one end of the field.

Decide which end of the field will be impacted.
Decide if the impact will be worse during the first half or the second half of the match.
Take into consideration weather conditions - are clouds on the horizon and will they arrive by the second half?
You should also consider the competitive balance between your team and the opponent.

In general I will take the end of the field that provides my team with an advantage in the first half. This is especially true if a rising sun, a setting sun or clouds on the horizon might diminish the hazard by the time the second half arrives. If in doubt, ask your Goalkeeper which half (s)he prefers to take first.

Of course, it might be the opponents win the coin flip and have the choice of which half they wish to take first.  If this is the case tactical adjustments might be necessary.  Employing a high line of confrontation in an attempt to play most of the half on the opponents end might be a consideration.  Deciding to "force' the ball to a certain side of the field as a means to reduce shots originating directly from the angle of the sun might be considered.  Having the GKer wear sun glare strips or a baseball hat ( with the permission of the referee ) is an option to consider.

National Women's Soccer League

I have always enjoyed watching our US Womens National Team play. I am very happy they will get the opportunity to play professional once again in the United States. Previous attempts at professional soccer for women have not succeeded financially and that is a shame for the product on the field has been exceptional. I encourage you to join me in supporting the new National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in a manner befitting their accomplishments and their promise.

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/NWSL/2013/01/NWSL-Announces-Allocation-of-55-National-Team-Players-to-Eight-Clubs.aspx

Allocation of players per the article linked above.