So off we go again with another block of coaching, and it didn’t look like the girls had been away. We saw some fantastic play from so many with some great second post finishing from the whole group.

We had one new player come and try futsal for the first time – welcome Ivy , we hope you had fun and we look forward to seeing you again very soon!

We started on a new block of coaching and the theme is Pivot play. We started the block with lots of 1v1s asking the girls to hold up the ball and dribble through various cones on the court. The older groups also worked on playing with a fixed high player. We asked them to work on one short and then one long pass if it was possible. The games were about making the court big and using that high player to stretch the game as much as possible. Special mention to superstar goalkeeper Coach Suzy who had fun playing in goal for the last two sessions!

Click here to see all the pictures from the session

This week the players of the week were picked by Coach Suzy:

Player of the week for the first hour was Isabelle S – Suzy was really impressed by Isabelle’s constant work rate, she never stopped running the whole hour. In the final games she was looking at setting up other players, especially within the D. Top session, Isabelle!

Player of the week for the second hour was Sienna S – After coming back from an injury is never easy but her workmate, especially in the 1v1s was as good as anyone we have seen tis year. Sienna is starting to show what a good player she is and getting to grips with the futsal ideas. Top job, Sienna!

Player of the week for the third hour was Molly G – We like Mollie, she is such an easy player to coach and one with a serious eye for goal. She scored a couple of cracking goals today, but her all round play was as good as she has been all season. Awesome session, Molly!

Player of the week for the fourth hour was Imogen T – Another new player who is now really starting to find her feet and another we are very excited about. She goes past players for fun and is now adding a final pass or finish to her movement, another the ladies are watching with interest. Great start to you futsal journey, Imogen!

Final thoughts of a coach – Suzy and I were privileged to go and watch the Brazilian National Futsal men’s team train and play last week. The speed of play, touch and movement was amazing to watch. One of the other visiting coaches asked the Brazilian coach how he should coach his U14 boys team to replicate some of the movements we had watched. The national coach simply replied…you don’t! He went on to explain that futsal is a game that is learnt over years, not weeks or months – the process takes time. We have to introduce different parts of the game to the players as they grow with the game. But ultimately he said the players must make the decisions for themselves, we have to create intelligent players!

I love this comment – intelligent players. We try very hard to let the players play, to allow them time with the ball on the court to learn what works, what they would do different and how this would affect their decisions and outcomes. Today we saw a brilliant example of this in one of the hours. One group of players consistently looked at playing the ball to the second post when trying to score. It didn’t always work, but they had a plan that they had worked out and saw it was very effective. Why was I so impressed, we haven’t done anything this season on second post finishes…

Trust your players, believe in the process and the results will amaze you…well done Hannah, Erin, Aria and Hattie!