Back to 4 full sessions this week, but Coach Chris forgot the camera so all the pictures are from weeks gone by…oh well, it didn’t stop the futsal from being amazing!

We had one new girl come and try futsal for the first time – welcome Florence – we hope you had fun and look forward to welcoming you again very soon!

Today the players worked on passing and defending a high pass. One player received from her goalkeeper and a teammate joined from the opposite end of the court, with a defender in the middle. Could the defender stop the high pass and win the ball or did the attackers get a shot on goal? Lots of hard work with the players working very hard, especially the defenders. We talked about making it a 1v1 and cutting off the passing lines and being aggressive to win the ball. Not an easy session but we saw some great ideas and excellent defending from the middle.

Notable Players of the Session

1st Session – Imogen B – another one of our new futsal players. Imogen never stops running and chases the ball all over the court, she is a pocket rocket and getting better each week. Top job Imogen!

2nd Session – Ellie M – Over the last few weeks Ellie has really started to make some huge steps forward in her futsal. This week she used the sole of her foot to control ball pretty much all the time, great to watch. She also grabbed a few goals so all-round a top day, awesome job Ellie!

3rd Hour – Hattie W – another new player who has started to settle and this week she really did look the part. Her passing and control were on top form, and she does all this with a smile on her face. One of the nicest girls we have in the club, top young lady!

4th Hour – Evie C – I honestly don’t think I have seen Evie run this much in a session, for a goalkeeper she was everywhere, and at the end she looked shattered. Amazing attitude and great to watch, brilliant display Evie!

Final thoughts of a coach – When a session starts to go wrong, or not as you expect or something else, how many coaches have the confidence to think about what is happening? Is it the numbers, the area, the players, the rules, are you expecting too much, have you not planned it correctly, to even explained it correctly? Whatever the outcome, this is one area I have learnt over many years to bite the bullet and sort out! Today was one of these days, and it boiled down to a simple error on my behalf – I had the extra players at the wrong end of the court! Once they changed the session went well with some great input from the players. No excuse, I didn’t plan it properly and that is simply me not doing my job. Note to self – must try harder.

As the football season, we are still training/playing until the middle of July with futsal, we come to the issue of awards for players and are they worth giving out? My 10p worth…yes, they are, if they are done correctly! We give a player of the year at each age group and 3 high commended, overall player of the season and a few silly ones. We try very hard to embrace those players who have improved the most, given everything for the club, and usually these are not the best players, and for me that is the key. The good players usually know they are good, they are told it constantly by coaches and parents, but the once who have work very hard and improved the most unfortunately get ignored. We need to recognise this and reward it! Every player gets a small trophy to say thank you for all their hard work over the long season. These girls give up a lot of their time to represent the club, so why not say thank you with a little memento…

See you next week!

Coach Chris