It is always amazing when one of the ladies’ teams shows their face at the girls training and ladies captain Ellie turned up and stayed for pretty much the whole 4 hours, amazing support and the girls really did rise to their special guest.

The idea today was to try and create overloads on the court to create better scoring opportunities. The court had 4 gates that when your team had possession, if an attacker ran through any of the gates a defender had to follow. Let just say, the players and watching parents saw some of the best futsal we have ever seen. One team worked out quickly that when their goalkeeper had the ball, if all 4 outfield players ran through a different gate each, it cleared the court of defenders, amazing to watch and brilliantly executed! Huge thank you to all the players this week, they worked so hard, and Captain Ellie was so impressed!

Click the image to download this weeks session plan

Notable Players of the Session

1st Session – Amelia H – she showed so much composure on the ball, able to turn quickly and keeping the ball close to her feet, great to watch!

2nd Session – Florence L – for one who is so young, she shows so much majority, especially in possession. She passes and brings team-mates into the game when older players may lose the ball, amazing player!

3rd Hour – Molly G – this young lady is the ‘Toe-Poke Queen’ of the club! She has mastered this technique, and her shooting is basically unstoppable – she scored some stunning goals this week!

4th Hour – Katie H – full of cold and nowhere near 100% she ran herself into the ground, making forward and recovery runs time after time, amazing heart, and unbelievable attitude!

Final thoughts of a coach – To have Ellie at the academy sessions today was amazing. She is a real inspiration to the girls, and it is interesting that so many of the younger players know exactly who she is. We are trying hard to integrate the ladies and girls’ teams together, making it one big club. The ladies have a huge part to play in helping to bring through the next generation and any time they spend with the girls is amazing to be part of. When recruit new members to the ladies team, we are at pains to let them know where this club came from and their responsibility to helping it grow.

After last week’s stop start session, this week the time absolutely flew. The whole group got the ideas behind what we were asking and just flew with it. At times, we just stood back and watched and joined in with the parents in applauding! These moments in coaching are not often and the delight on so many of the girls faces when they saw how impressed the coaches and parents were amazing. A personal favourite is when players question the coach – can we do this, can we try that, am I allowed to do this? These types of questions show both desires to improve but also at times thinking out of the box. We must encourage this, we must let the players find their own voices and in time, hopefully dictate the direction of the coaching. A special day for so many reasons, and one I will remember for a long time, thank you everyone!

And finally, few pictures from the first session of the morning: