My coaching partner has promised the boys rewards for certain things during games…..he’s delivered Code Blue Mountain Dew (be carefully when mixing with 8 and 9 year olds…can cause spontaneous combustion!), etc. The most recent promise was ice cream at the new shop that just opened up here in town to the kids who a) crossed the ball into the center and b) the kid who poked it in the net.
We’re paying at Dewitt tonight; it’s a one goal game and the lead has gone back and forth and been tied….we’re in the second half and our pleading with the boys to hustle twice as hard as the game grows late is paying off….lots of good effort out there.
Matthew has the ball, he’s heading down the right side of the field….he’s heading down towards the corner, maybe 5 yards from the end line and has this beautiful cross right back to what we call the ‘sweet spot’, about 10 yards out from the goal mouth where his teammate Aidan is waiting for it and just buries it. Everyone is shouting “there’s the ice cream goal!”
We won 4-3; tied at the half 1-1. Gave up a goal in the second half that never never should have happened but, unlike other games, took the play to the other team in the second half and good things will come when you do that…one goal was some slick passing in front of the goal and another was a rebound off the goalie.
Matthew had another beautiful chance in the first half….he was in the ‘sweet spot’ right as the first half ended and got a cross that took a bounce right as he planted to kick it…he sailed it over the goal (and that was a feat…the goals at Dewitt are about 2’ taller than the goals we are used to).
Christopher had a good game; pretty unspectacular as he did what we want him to do…deny the other team chances at goal. We mixed it up a little on defense and put one of our really athletic kids back on defense specifically to punch the ball out with giant kicks to the offense…this reduced Christopher’s work to pretty much holding the fort on the backline. He did it well; he wasn’t on the field for any of the other teams goals.
The parents agreed that it was the most-exciting game we’ve had this year; lots of back and forth play on the field and on the scoreboard.
