We had reduced numbers this morning as some of the U12s were playing a friendly at York University in the afternoon against Howden. Check back later in the week to see how they got on!

We had two new players come and try Futsal for the first time – welcome Rosie and Lyla, we hope you had fun and we look forward to seeing you again very soon!

We continued the work on transitions with some 1v1s on a smaller court, but we quickly progressed this to 2v2s. We concentrated on the change from being in possession to being out of possession, and what that meant to the players. What were the decisions you had to make – when to press, when to play quick, when to slow it down and to try and score.

The youngest group finished with some game play in which they could only finish with a 1 touch finish. It was great to see how they thought this through and really tried to maximise the chances they had! The older groups finished with the 2v2s and the winners staying on! If any combination got to 3 wins in a row, everyone else got pushups! The coach wasn’t very popular this week with the older group…

No Suzy so no photos this week – Chris got carried away with the coaching!

Player of the week for the first hour was Lucy – she has taken her time to settle and get used to playing futsal, but this week she really stepped up and started to really enjoy herself. Her touch was much better and her tackling was as good as anyone’s. Well played, Lucy!

Player of the week for the second hour was Aria – this young lady has all the ability in the world and this week she was at her absolute best. She reads the game so well and intercepts the ball, rather than making tackles and she can shoot as good as anyone! Keep this up, Aria!

Player of the week for the third hour was Esme – this is another player who has taken her time getting used to futsal and today she really did get it. Her recovery runs and work rate were top class, and her passing was fantastic, especially in the 2v2s. Great performance, well done, Esme!

Final thoughts of a coach – I arrived at training with an idea of how I thought the session would go. It is always a challenge to do 1v1s and 2v2s and have players not on court, but the outcomes of these small encounters are massive. I have found a count down clock puts the incentive onto the players to try and score quickly. They are not allowed to slow down, they really do have to try and beat the defender and score before running out of time. Today, all the age groups worked so hard at this and the players waiting had hardly got their breath back before they were back on court, so success all round!