doing it for the kids:
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Posted: October 9th 2009
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Saturday morning
Inevitably, the bad weather has begun to worm its way into our football sessions. Thus far we’ve been lucky with the rain, which again is nowhere to be seen...but a stupidly strong wind has added a seasonal chill to the air...whilst also making football very difficult.
Cones & bibs fly all over the shop...and we only get a 70% turn out for the u5s. With the weather gods no doubt having an awful lot worse to throw at us over the coming months, time to find out whether the missing kids had legit excuses...or simply “don’t fancy it” the moment there’s a nip in the air
The u6s & 7s, seasoned veterans now, turn up in impressive numbers, treating the gales as an entertaining diversion rather than an obstacle.
I indulge in my first tentative post-operation steps back into coaching with the u9 girls. I’ve ‘borrowed’ a session plan from another coach...very good it is too, the girls go with it quite happily...but it only lasts me half the session. The girls quickly sense that I’ve been caught on the hoof, and pounce on my temporary indecisiveness with instant cries of “can we have a game now?”
I cave in, thus allowing them an ‘end of session’ game that is 10 minutes longer than usual. The deal is that during that extra 10 minutes, I’ll blow the whistle every time I think they’re losing shape or generally “doing stuff wrong”. Good group though, this lot. The whistle remains ready at my lips, but is rarely blown. Total football is the winner.
After the session, we get together with a few parents we’re hoping will volunteer to take over the ashes of a u8s team that has been left rudder-less after their manager did a runner in the summer. This in turn led to parental panic, and a series of calls to other teams to find their beloved a place.
Four boys have been left stranded, but with the addition of extra bodies from the club waiting list, and the enthusiasm of these parents to take up the challenge, a new team is born. A load of kids will be made up. This is the genuinely heartwarming side of kids’ football.
Saturday afternoon
The impressive run of three successive clean sheets kept by my eldest’s Saturday team at the start of the season comes to an end as they lose a scrappy, wind-effected game 1-0. Shaping up to be a tight League, this one...
Sunday morning
At last...it’s an am kick off for the u16 boys, and a pm one for the u12 girls, meaning I can attend both games. The wife’s away for the day, so a lot of taxi-ing on the cards too.
The cup draw has been kind to the boys. After their tough start to the League season, we’ve drawn the team next to bottom in the division below...and unlike in ‘real’ football, cup shocks of any serious magnitude just don’t happen at u16s. Both teams kick off knowing it’s a question of how many...
...and the answer is 9 (without reply). That doesn’t quite tell the whole story. It actually took us best part of half an hour to get the opener, the oppo battling gamely, only to be undone by their complete inability not only to mark up at corners, but also to make any sort of meaningful attempt to head one clear.
Every corner threatens a goal. My lad hits the bar twice when going up from defence to add his height to proceedings. The tallest player on the pitch, he tells me that at one such set piece in the second half, the oppo player assigned to him said “anyone else fancy marking this one?” All his team mates shook their heads...so he just wandered off out of the box.
That sums up the real difference between the stronger and weaker teams at this age. Deadly serious for some, just a laugh for others. This might also explain the oppo player who spent the whole warm up wearing a frankly ridiculous straw trilby, then looking comically crestfallen when informed by the ref he couldn’t wear it on the pitch during the game...
Straight onto the girls’ game, picking various players up en route. We’re playing at a new site for us today. It’s a school that’s closed down, but the pitch is in remarkably good nick, and an ideal smaller size for u12 girls. No changing rooms means only a Portaloo for anyone caught short, but the oppo are happy enough with the conditions.
They are actually playing their first ever 11-a-side League game, having had to postpone their first couple due to player recruitment problems. I agree with my opposite manager that girls simply don’t as a rule prioritise football like boys, so however many players you sign on, every week sees some missing, whereas the boys insist their parents plan the whole weekend round the game.
Consequently, we are cast in the surprise role of battle-hardened 11-a-side vets...and it shows. This team habitually got just the better of us in past 7-a-side confrontations, but despite only limited personnel changes for us both, suddenly we look like we know what we’re doing and they don’t.
That is clearly a major factor in the welcome surprise that is our 8-0 win...but we certainly decide to take credit for the successful introduction of a Benitez-esque 4-2-3-1 formation that the girls take to like Brazilian ducks to water.
So...for 17, against 0...this is my fourth season involved with running two teams on the same day, and nothing remotely like that as ever happened before, nor is it likely to again. So I savour it....whilst the missing wife curses ever more as the 17th score alert text arrives...