Ok, let me be really clear about something. I am from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There, right now, it’s record high, with 42.5 degrees (celsius, please). Do you have how hard it’s to have a practice with -1 degree? I definitely must love this game and this team. I have also to congratulate those brave Amazon Warriors that were out there doing all the drills.

We focused on basic ball control drills. The goal this season it’s to make sure we pass perfectly, following the style of the Spanish national team with their tiki-taka way of play. We have a long way to improve but I could see some players already with good ball control. We will definitely have to work on the stamina because I could see some girls exhausted after one hour of practice. We missed today Alva (sick), Maddi and Greta (still need to try out and confirm that her ankle is healed).

I am with a pretty good idea of the team and I have to say, it’s going to be a very strong one. Our first major test will be Feb 20th, vs BISS Px at home and I want to have this team sharp for that match.

Today we had our first tryout. A gorgeous day with around 15 degrees of temperature. Awesome weather to play football. I hope tomorrow morning is the same. It was very basic. The girls first warmed up with a 15 minutes run and then we had 15 minutes of just passing, so I can observe individual skills. After that, speed and shooting. Being the first time most of them were playing football this season, their skills were below average with rare exceptions.

I was really happy to see all the players from last year’s team trying out this year (with the exception of Marta and Louise who graduate already and Katy and Greta, both back in US). Still, we have one player injured. Greta Delfino has a broken ankle so she will try out after CNY.

We had 40 minutes of scrimmage where I could see some new talents. In total we have 18 girls trying out. It will be tough to choose 12 players for the season. One thing for sure is we are super well-served on goalies with Bella and Mikayla. They did an wonderful job today.

Tomorrow, 10AM, more tryouts. It will be an intensive one. Stay tuned.

Our last practice before ACAMIS. I was fortunate of having the whole team available. We kind of did the same of last Monday, practicing the defensive system, a scrimmage and Penalty kicks.

I am still a kind of worried with Marta. She still feeling pain on her leg and is not being able to sprint. As a matter of a fact she is even limping when running. I don’t want her to get in worse shape so we will evaluate her before ACAMIS first match to see how she is feeling and then decide what to do.

Once more we also practiced penalty kicks and I have the list of three players that will start in case we have to decide a match at penalty kicks.

While I was organising things for the tournament on Thursday I started getting very nostalgic, thinking about those three years coaching some of those amazing athletes and I decided to write a letter to each one of them as a way to have a one-on-one chat before this key event. I wish I had those powerful speeches we see in the movies from Samuel L Jackson or Denzel Washington. The ones we see in the traditional sports movies. I try to compensate being as sincere as I can be.

ACAMIS is our last competition. It’s the last time those group of girls plays as a team. What I most want of this event is to them enjoy this time together, playing at their best and if this allow us to win the championship, so be it! Good luck to us and that nobody get injured!

BELLATORUM INVICTUM!

Great, we are starting to make history but there is still one more chapter to go. We were the first ACAMIS team, from any sport, to win a SISAC tournament (according to school Historians, Mr. and Mrs. McDermott) but we set a very challenging goal in the beginning of the season which was to win the Triple Crown; The SISAC League, The SISAC Tournament and ACAMIS. This week we will have two practices to fine tune our team for this last challenge.

On Monday we were still suffering the consequences of our battles on Saturday. Louise have an injured toe, Marta a pulled hamstring muscle, Hailey with a cold and Suh-Young sick. With the help of Mikayla and Julia from MS, we were able to have a productive practice.

First we did a basic drill where the striker (in this case Franziska) was doing the pivot, receiving the ball, trapping and and distributing to the wings. Did not turn out the way I wanted. I wanted something more dynamic, fluid but still it was a good drill.

After that, we had a tweaked scrimmage where I asked the players to call the play, for example, if I am passing to Inês, I have to say her name. If you don’t do it, it’s a free kick. My main concern is the fact sometimes in the field we don’t talk then I have 3 players on a ball or not letting us know that there will be another player from the other team on the ball. We don’t have to call every single play but we need to be into the match and foreseen  what will happen. If an adversary is leaving the zone that you are responsible for and going to the middle, we must let the person responsible for the middle know.  Maddi was amazing during this practice. She was the only defender and was able to hold back the green team attack most of the time, while the red team was playing with only 5 players.

After this scrimmage, we practice penalty kicks. Each player had to take 3 penalties and I selected 4 players to take 10 penalties; Franziska, Kyra, Katy and Inês. Even though Franziska was not in a good mood, I know she has a powerful shot. Inês is the tactical one, always changing where she shoots. Kyra had amazing shots with her left powerful bombs and Katy has the best performances when missing a penalty. 🙂 We have to practice penalty kicks because if a match ends up in a tie during the semifinals and finals, we will go to penalty kicks. I sincerely don’t remember we ever having to take penalty kicks so I want to practice it as much as possible.

I was planning this since the beginning of the season! I always like to innovate in my physical training. Last year I got some classes from the Insanity series so I was thinking what I could offer the girls that at the same time would be fun, challenging and, of course, be a intensive physical exercise for more than one hour non stop! During the first quarter I took some Zumba classes and I thought it would be a brilliant idea since it’s an intense aerobic activity and also helps at least a bit to “loose” the waist, which is great for dribbling.

What I can say is… it was fun to watch. I praise my athletes! They all were into it full force. Some with more skills, others… well, they are footballers and not dancers after all but at least for sure they had an intense workout. Kudos to Inês, by far the best dancer from the team!

A week off! Wow, how I needed that time out. I bet the whole team also needed that specially after a week with two key matches which we brilliantly won. As a matter of a fact, on Sunday night I was informed that we are the league champions! Great news and a personal achievement considering that in three years coaching this is the first time I ever won the league.

With the league title in our pocket, now we need to chase the SISAC tournament which will be far from easy. Besides YCIS Puxi from this side of the river, the east side have BISS Pudong and SCIS Pudong, the only team so far that beat us in this season, during Dragon’s Cup. So with many challenges ahead of us, this week will be an intense one. We have two matches (Wednesday and Thursday) so we can only practice Monday and Tuesday. On Friday, it’s time to rest and have a quick meeting about Saturday.

This Monday I decided to have as many drills as possible to improve our long distance shooting and rebond possibilities. It was dreadful! I think only Hailey scored from really far away. On other drill I was orienting the strikers where to position themselves to improve the chances of scoring a goal and then this was more productive with many goals happening.

After that we had a quick scrimmage (35 minutes) just to take the rust of our bones and since on Tuesday I have something super cool planned for them. It was a nice scrimmage where I was testing Katy as center midfield and was one of the first time I saw Franziska playing non-stop also as a Striker. I still want to see Franziska as center midfield also but unfortunately we did not have time for that. We still need to improve our ball control and dribbling skills because we have the horrible habit of getting the ball and kicking anywhere our nose is pointing at. We are good enough to trap it, lift our heads and pass.

The last practice before the two key matches we have and also before a long break. We had a different warm up. Instead of running around the field, we did a quick warm up that I saw the Brazilian national team doing. Well, it was a bit funny but at least we felt warm. I’ve tried two drills, one was a back heel and sprint, which was a disaster! It was too complicated in a short space. The second one was better, with two players sprinting from each side, zigzagging and then I pass to one of them to shoot. This was way more productive.

After that, we had had a 30 minutes scrimmage. I was so happy because it was the first time our German Panzer Franziska played with us and she scored a gorgeous free kick goal! Willkommen zurück! It was also the first time I could see all my players actually in the field (Ok, Sinead arrived 10 min to the end of the practice). The first time ever! Kyra, Maddi, Franziska, all playing! Wow! If man could cry, I would. It was a good practice too since Greta was shadowing Marta everywhere. By the end it was 2 x 2.

The cherry on the top of that was the arrival of our jerseys with our names and we will use tomorrow against YCIS, in the match of the league. YCIS just beat today German school, winning 6 points due the double points of the match so winning the match tomorrow is key if we want to be league champions. Let’s go for it girls! This league is in our reach!

I still have to get used to the fact that some people does not know futsal. It’s not my invention and it’s actually a very popular sport in Brazil. A lot of famous Brazilian players actually started in Futsal and then transferred to the more traditional football. Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Robinho are some examples. Why did I choose to practice it? The ball is heavier and does not bounce. Playing it indoor, in the LS gym floor makes the ball rolls much faster than the field, forcing the players to run more. Also, due to the limited space, we have to trap it better and pass better, basic concepts that we will use in the field.

Louise & Marta are in IB mock exams, Kyra and Franziska still out due to injuries and Inês had to rest her knee, since due to the intensive basketball and football season, it’s starting to hurt. With that, we split into 4 teams of 3 where they one play against the other for 10 minutes or two goals, whatever happens first. Then the winning team stays on the court and the next team comes in. It was really fun and Katy was on fire! Dribbling, passing, defending. Really amazing. But then, after 4 consecutive wins, she was dying in the field, barely able to walk. Maddi and Haley had some fun moments and Bella finally had the chance to play a bit. It was a fun practice before the super stressful match against French School on Thursday. I am still very concerned about that match since I don’t know yet with which team we can play and how their team will look like. Our main rivals in this league, YCIS, only lost one game (against us) and any misstep from our side, can cost the league.

What a special day! My 2nd captain, my German Panzer is back! Today was the first time Franziska ran around the field, was part of some drills and even shot some balls at the goal! I was so happy!

Originally today we would have a match but Suzhou forfeited so it became a practice. I was planning on having a light practice but I changed a little bit. First we had a drill where I shot the ball high in the air and they had to trap. One player is the defender, the other is the forwarder, both alternating positions.

After that, we did the speed square drill where the players have to start with the ball, then they sprint without it to get the ball back in the center again. The goal is to be very fast, both with and without the ball.

After that we had a great test. We played against the boys, where the boys could only touch three times and had to pass. The idea was to shorten the space, we had to hold back defending and left our striker isolated in front. Marta had to pressure, by herself, their defenders. The boys were really serious about the game which turned it even more interesting. They are incredibly fast and reducing the space is exhausting! The girls did an amazing job and it was a good test to Mikayla. She did amazing saves. Bella, on the other hand, had such an easy life! Shame on you! 😀 Ok, we lost 6 x 0 but it was a great practice. We need to practice with stronger teams than us. that’s how we learn. Thank you guys for the help today, it was great!

Tomorrow, match against WISS. It is the first time we will play against them but according to the current stands, they don’t seem to be as strong as YCIS or French School. Let’s see tomorrow.