An experience to remember!

(more pictures to follow!)

What an amazing weekend. I don't think there will be any better soccer experience for this age group than the Baker blast. Over 140 teams took over the city of Bellingham with nothing but soccer on their minds. We saw some of the best players in the pacific northwest take to the fields from u12 up to u18 boys and girls and the pace was fast and furious. In past years, our teams have played in the lower 'copa' division but this year you competed in the top of the top...'Premier'!

We got a good look at a really great team from TSS in Vancouver on Friday night. Their passing was crisp and their movement on and off the ball was excellent! It seems that our first game after travel has always been our toughest performance as we seemed a little 'jet-lagged' from the trip.

However we gradually battled harder as the weekend went on and despite the 30 degree + heat dug our heels in and hit the ground running against Lake Stevens. After our pre-game 'speech' and trying to stay in the shade, our opening kick off was exactly what was discussed. Possession. 7 passes later and in the attacking zone we had our first corner kick! We had the other team in panic mode and they were trying to break up our plays by clearing the ball back to our back-line our out of bounds. We owned the first half and it was really great to see you play at that level! But wow, these kids really liked to 'take the body' as well as the fouls. Maybe all that contact helped you all get stuck in!

Inevitably, the old kick hard and run fast play got us and they opened the scoring. After we lost Courtenay to a nasty tackle, we called on Amanda and put her up front changing to a 3-4-3 formation to press. Jaymie, Taleaha and Dallas held tha back line and Marisa, Amanda and Bri were on the prowl! A few passes and Bri was sent through. She made a couple of nifty moves and was just about to send a cracker to the corner when, WHAM! Yup, a good old Lake Stevens tackle (in the box). Our trusty Jaymie stepped in and made no mistake...1-1 final.

I'm not going to mention names here because you all played very hard but Cassandra made some fantastic saves...all weekend!

That was a very good performance and an exciting game to watch! Thank you!

Our third game was a revenge-type situation;) Our girls wanted this rematch against the Zone 5 BCSG team. They had strenghtened their already strong roster with a couple of Metro players so we were in for a tough match. Once again, the 1st half was very even with the play. Both teams had some scoring opportunities but finally, late in the 1st they but one past our amazing Cassandra!

Thanks to Olivia for 'saving that other goal!;) And also to Jaymie for constantly 'sweeping' us out of trouble!

This was another hard fought battle where we had to 'let them know we were there' and we did just that. I think they planned on having an easy game but as I asked you all weekend to, "you left it all on the field!"

I was very impressed with your performance this weekend. You played some teams that were big, strong, fast, and skilled and you fit right in!

Someone mentioned something about goals and I think setting goals is very important. The one goal I had for all of you this past 3 months was to improve your game. This wasn't about winning or losing games or scoring goals and some have a tough time comprehending that. This was about improving your game. Period! I am very proud to have seen you through this 3 month period and can honestly say that you are all better players for it. The less wise can question success based on goals scored however, you that have been a part of this team have seen and experienced things that will truly add to your success as a soccer player.

I am really looking forward to seeing you all on the pitch this coming season and taking pride in the fact that you'll all be leaders on your teams with experience that few others will have.

You're a very special group of soccer players and I hope these past few months of experiences, memories and friendships will last a lifetime!

Get ready for a Blast!!!

Get ready to play your little hearts out and show some Island Pride as we get set to travel to Bellingham to play in the International Baker Blast representing Victorias U12 girls!

The trip starts for us on the 11AM ferry this Friday and our private coach will be waiting for us on the other side to bus us down in luxury to beautiful Bellingham. Remember, no food or drink on the bus as we'll be travelling across the border. (we'll stock up on the other side;)

As we've been getting used to it, we'll again have to really step our game up as we're playing in the u13 premier division so we'll get another shot at the Zone 5 BCSG team as well as some US based u13 teams. Here is our schedule:

Friday 8PM vs. TSS (Richmond BC.)
Saturday 1:20PM vs. Pacific Premier (Lake Stevens)
Saturday 8PM vs. BCSG Zone 5 (N. Vancouver)
Sunday 9:30AM - Top 4 play off (1st vs 4th ; 2nd vs. 3rd)
Sunday 2pm - Final

You've all received your email itinerary so please check everything off and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

This is going to be a great weekend of elite level soccer so come prepared to work hard and as always, I'm sure we'll find a way to have a little fun along the way!!!

Let's go Capitals, let's go!!!

Euro 1/4 Final games...

Germany vs. Portugal - Thursday, June 19th ...Germany 3-2

Croatia vs. Turkey - Friday, June 20th ...Turkey 1-1 (3-1 on PK's!)

Netherlands vs. Russia - Saturday, June 21st ...Russia 3-1

Italy vs. Spain - Sunday, June 22nd ...Spain 0-0 (4-2 on PK's!)

Victoria vs. Nanaimo - Sunday, June 22nd (sorry, not televised;) Game of the week! 0-0

Into the Semi's!

Germany vs. Turkey - Wednesday, June 25th...Germany 3-2 (A thriller!)

Spain vs. Russia - Thursday, June 26th

Finale!

Germany vs. ? - Sunday, June 29th

Games should all be on TSN (5) and/or Sportcentre (23)

Enjoy some fantastic 'Football'!!!

ha ha! Those that are unsure...a futballer is one who plays football (or soccer)!!!

Training schedule change...

Please note that training this Wednesday (June 18th) is being moved to Layritz turf field from 7-30-9pm.

Fans in Florida???

Greetings to our new fans in Florida!!!

Judging from our site hits over the past few days we've got someone scouting our teams activity from waaay down there;) Maybe they're looking for an exhibition game?

Enjoy!!!

June 22nd game

Game on for Sunday, June 22nd.

Layritz park at 3pm...warmups at 2:30

This will be a make up game against Nanaimo.

Taking it to the next level!

Great job on the weekend girls! We were in tough all weekend long and throughout the weekend we gradually increased our level of play right up to the very end where we narrowly fell short to a very solid BC Games team from Vancouver (Zone 5). It'll be interesting to see how our (Zone 6) BCSG team fares against them as they sure had some 'weapons' (remember that shot Taleah;) Good luck to our local team in July!

It was great to see you all really start to gell as a team both on and off the field. We should all have some 'take-aways' from the weekend which might range from the following:

1. This can be a very physical game! Once we get stuck in and decide to 'own the ball' we can play at that level. We need to always play with confidence. If we're worried about the size of our opponants all the time we'll be thinking about that rather than using our skills. Remember to try to get your opponant thinking about you by defending tough and playing smart!

2. Rest and hydration are keys during long tournaments. By the end of the weekend we had some tired soldiers that when put in were raising their hands within minutes to come off again.

3. The better teams (as we've seen) are faster and more skilled than we're used to playing against. Skills will come as long as you're dedicated. Extra "backyard" sessions are great places to get extra touches on the ball. The highly dedicated kids increase their skills on their own desire to improve as well as weekly sessions with the team. They'll also get some running in on off days on their own to help with the fitness side. If you're finding yourself behind a step, maybe some interval training will help...If you'd like some guidance on 'extra's' please let me know...

4. Keep it simple. All the time we spend in practice working on passing and receiving need to be brought into the games. Playing a simple game, playing to feet and the way you face, receving in the direction you want to go, opening up to the play, sheilding the ball from the defender, moving off the ball, jockeying (not diving in). These are all skills that we work regularly. When we kept it simple, we were on fire and saw a lot of success. When we started to panic, we lost our composure and just 'kicked it'. Now, those teams were very good at applying quick pressure so it was very difficult to find time and space but I thought you gradually improved once you got used to the pace of the game.

This is all part of developing as a player. You're getting used to playing at a faster pace. I watched a couple of you play an extra spring league game last week and you really played well. The difference is that the pace wasn't as fast as you're getting used to. There were some nice little give and go's and ball movement. I suspect that when you all come back to play on your respective club teams during the season, you'll be used to playing at a higher level and you'll notice that our gold level is not as fast as what we're playing right now in competition and it just might seem easier...

We've got another hame game, a couple weeks of skills training and then we're off to the Baker Blast to cap off a great 3 months of soccer! Keep up the good work, get healthy again, and we'll see you back on the pitch!

(some of) Our Capitals
(some of) our fans!
Cheering on 'the boys' (nice win over the whitecaps 97's!!!)

Get better Syd! And always keep smiling!

About the Club Challenge Series

SPRING SUPER SERIES TOURNAMENT
Play in the Whitecaps Club Super Series this Spring. The Whitecaps will host 3 Spring Super Series weekends for clubs. Boys and Girls Club or Academy teams - U10 / U11 / U12 - Age groups (98' 97' 96')

These Super Series weekends will:

- Showcase the development of players within each clubs system.

- Facilitate Interaction and development of Club Head coaches in a professional environment.

- Create a high caliber competitive and non-results focused environment for top players in each club.

- Create an opportunity for players within each club to be seen and evaluated for Whitecaps Prospects.

Philosophy:

The Whitecaps Club Series is designed for player development in a competitive and professional environment. This is non-results focused. Results are only kept at the field to provide structure and fun competition. There are no results posted off-site, trophies or medals awarded.

What a great player development model!

source:www.whitecapsfc.com

Whitecaps club challenge series

This weekends 'road trip' will prove to be another challenging stint for our LISA Capitals as we head off to play at the Whitecaps training facility at SFU.

We're scheduled to play 2 of the BC Summer games teams that chose this weekend to challenge their teams and another team from Cliff Ave (a very good club!). In speaking with the Whitecaps coach I was told to be ready for some very challenging games this weekend. He will be coming down to watch our team play this weekend as well so lets make sure we give him a reason to 'watch'!

We're on the 8am ferry so please be at the walk-on terminal by 7:15am (7:30 at the latest). Please make sure you're wearing your training jacket and pants and remember that you are representing Lower Island Soccer...(we all know what that means;) Our first game is at 11:30 so our private bus will be chauffering us straight to the field. We're there until 3pm so after we finish cheering on our u12 boys team we'll head back to our hotel and get ready as we have dinner reservations later on.

We have an evening session planned where we'll be doing a video analysis of our Whitecaps game last Saturday. There's lots of interesting play to review so it should be fun and informative. You guys look great on the big screen!!!

We'll have 2 games each day so we'll be busy. Please make sure we're all hydrated (starting today) and early to bed this evening as we'll need full 'horse power' for the weekend!

Another great experience for our Capitals so let's have fun and kick some...(you know what!)

WOW!!!!

What a day, what an experience for our Capitals on Saturday as we played host to the Vancouver Whitecaps prospects teams at Layritz. It was great to see the standard you need to play at in order to potentially play at a provincial level. I would suspect that what we played against in the u12 game will make up the majority of the upcoming provincial team so be very proud of your efforts!

And what a great opportunity to get a chance to playalongside them as we mixed the teams up after the first half. After a quick team name change, the "redcaps" quickly took to the field fully motivated to win the 1/2 game friendly. It seems the incentive was that the winners had the 'others' serve dinner! So they took the field and it was really great to see our Capitals jump right in and play a hard fought battle alongside some very big, very skilled, very fast, WHicaps girls. In the end the 'redcaps' were victorious in a 2-0 win...And Cassy with a shut-out!!!

I hope you all had a great day and took something away from the experience!

Let's train hard this week in preparation of our club challenge series in Vancouver next weekend at the Whitecaps training facility at SFU! and rest assured, we'll not be playing the whitecaps girls, although I'm sure we'll find some great competition!