Today we had the field for two hours so we started with a “jog and sprint” warm-up. Football is a weird sport. During a match, out of the blue, you have to sprint, change directions, then go back on regular, slow jogging. We need to get used to this, specially the part of sprint and change directions quickly. That’s key for dribbling.

Our first drill was the “Jumping” drill. It’s a drill where players jumps over 4 cones one after the other, then quickly sprints and shoots to the goal. The idea is to avoid sliding tackles at the same time, exercise the legs.

The second drill was all about speed. It was the “Mirror” drill. Two players face each other and quickly one has to mirror the direction the other did. This is to build up speed and dexterity. While coach Kenny was working with the team, I was instructing our goalies. Both Cassie and Janie have talent but we still have a long way to go. Goalie is the most important position in the team. It’s our last defense line. We need to protect them at all costs. Today the objective of the drill was to them get used to use their hands. Unfortunately our field is too hard so it’s very complicated to ask them to throw themselves on the ground. The trick is to be very agile, running from one side to the other as fast as possible to be always in the right position when the adversary’s striker is ready to shoot.

We still had time for a 30 minutes game. I still deciding the positions of each one but some players are already showing good ability. Kyra seems very solid on defense, specially playing with Inês. Katy was good also defending. It was Hailey’s first practice after being sick so I still in doubt in which position she can perform best. She started as a defender but played also very well as a striker, even scoring a goal. Olivia also performed great as a Striker, instead of right wing. It’s great to have players that can perform well in different positions.

Only two disappointing news this practice; Esmee still feeling a discomfort on her leg muscle and we lost one ball. Mr. Martin will be mad. 🙁

Tomorrow, 3:30 see all the athletes at Mr. Amirouche’s room (a308).