Arsenal 3v3 July 18-20

As we move into July, any time we can compete against other teams pays dividends.

We will compete in the annual Arsenal 3v3 tournament July 18-20.  This is a very fun tournament with flair.
All of the teams come up with unique, creative uniforms.  The entire event has a slight carnival air.

The first game the boys play, they will be reminded exactly what "game-speed" is.  I remember last year, the first time we have signed up for the tournament, it took a few minutes for the boys to warm up to full speed, as they were expecting a slow, skill laden game.  With the small fields, only the most aggressive teams have a chance.  The winning teams were all the most aggressive, confident, and skilled.

Below, are the teams.  I have assigned every player to a team, including the 6 who have notified me that they will be out of town that weekend.  I have assigned two out of town players to each team, so all 3 teams have 4 players that will be there the entire tournament, and twowho will not (but will receive a team shirt anyway).

The team names were chosen from movie themes.  The teams are mostly random.  I tried to mix  up the boys with players they may not be as familiar with.

So here are the teams:

Men of Steel
*Colby
*Payton
Mason
Caden
Rylee
Ben


Zombies R Us
*Tanner
*Denton
Grady
Matt
Landon
Chris


Dark Knights
*Ryan
*Branden
Bryson
Joseph
Samuel
Brendon

* players who will not be at the tournament

The teams are all registered, and I know of 6 players who will not be there (Colby, Denton, Ryan(thu-fri), Brandon, Tanner, Payton)

This tournament will be a blast.  I'm looking forward to see what "full speed" is for this group.

Simple idea to improve your shot

Simple idea to improve your shot

Today, I was watching my boys in backyard kicking the soccer ball.  The favorite soccer activity in our backyard is shooting on goal (which is actually the swing-set).  The thought occurred to me that you could make the activity significantly more productive without expending any more energy.  To understand the productivity boost, you should first understand the way shooting on goal is typically done.

The steps go something like this:
1. Line up a ball in front of you
2. Back up a few steps
3. Step forward and kick the ball

Sometimes the steps are more like this:
1. Step to the ball in front of you
2. Tap it foreward a few pases and wait for it to settle
3. Step forward and kick the ball

As I observe soccer games, I have noticed that very rarely is the ball stationary, and waiting for someone to kick it at the goal.  The great majority of shots have to be taken while the ball is moving.

So I recommend the following modification to the shoot-on-goal activity which would yield game-time results:

1. Step to the ball in front of you
2. Tap it forward
3. Strike the ball before it settles

The amount of energy expended would be no different, but, at least initially, it would require extra focus as it will require more concentration to strike a moving ball.  After a couple weeks of doing this, it would become the new normal, and striking a moving ball would achieve the same accuracy that you now have when striking a stationary ball, and your run-up would inherently shorten in the process.

Battleship Tournament Results

We did complete our first Battleship tournament this morning.  I have an observation about it that I think is noteworthy.

The boys who won this event were the ones who were most aggressive on the ball.  They always attacked the ball, and went for points.  They did this even when the ball was short, or obviously out of bounds.  The boys who were more discriminating in choosing when they would go for points were much slower to get in position to attack an in-bounds ball.

The winner of our first 2013 Battleship tournament was (and :
Landon

2nd place,
Peyton

3rd & Fouth
Brendon & Ben

Congratulations gentlemen!!