An all-Matthew update:
Basketball: A new thing this year; they assembled most of the fourth grade boys teams in Fowlerville for 2 scrimmages to try and get a handle on how to place the teams into divisions. I was pretty sure we were an ‘A’ team, and we didn’t do anything to change that opinion, we beat Fowlerville and Williamston in the controlled scrimmages. Matthew had a basket in the first game that he was chided for “the coaches said what I said, great shot Matthew, but, dribble closer next time if nobody is in front of you”. No referees so the game was still kind of rough and tumble, but, light years ahead of what rec was like last year. Matthew’s one of the taller ones on the team so he’s playing forward a lot. Probably took about 4-5 shots total; the scrimmage showed a) he wasn’t afraid to take shots, even bad ones and b) probably due to soccer, he’s pretty solid on defense. Never seemed to lose his guy and you could find him cheating over to help out towards the ball when his guy was away from the basket.
Indoor Soccer Game 3: Played some of the kids I used to coach, and for the most part, I thought those boys played pretty well. We just overwhelmed them though….won 10-2. No appearances on offense for Matthew in this game, BUT, he did bomb a goal in from almost midfield, again, one of those balls that comes out from our offensive pressure and he just swoops in and puts back on goal. I thought he’s doing a much better job of anticipating where the ball is going to come out from as the other team takes over in their zone and moving in to take the ball away and keep the offensive pressure on. Again, not present on the field for the two goals against.
Indoor Soccer Game 4: We asked, and asked, and asked, soccerzone not to put us up against U9s….they said, ok, and switched us out from one U9 team to another U9 team. The U9 parents did say afterwards that they had been winning 10-2, 11-1 in their previous games and the boys heads had gotten a little big….our 14-2 shellacking probably put an end to that.
Matthew did get some offensive time…..I asked him before the game on the drive that if he wanted to score more goals by playing offense he should ask…he plays so much defense that he is certainly owed some offensive time. Matthew responded that, hey Dad, if I want to score I’ll just dribble up and shoot, I’m happy to pass and play defense.
And even on offense, he was really unselfish….passed up shots that other kids would have taken to pass the ball to somebody that’s wide open for a better shot. Got a goal here too where he was on defense and dribbled up after keeping the ball in the offensive zone and scored.
The games are a little frustrating; it’s painfully obvious to me some of the short-comings of the team when we were outdoors; they are magnified here. Watched one kid miss five different shots from right in front of the goal because he couldn’t control the ball. Time after time boys would not come back for the ball and just let the other team step in front and take possession from them. Wonder what the real coach would think if he saw this; it’s great that we’re scoring some goals and restoring some confidence…..but I wish we would work on a few of our weaknesses as well….
