Big Friendly Vegan

U6 Merrylands SFC Cahill 0 DRAW U6 Ermington United Cahill 0

The best game of football to be had on Saturday wasn't Australia versus Uruguay, it was Ermo versus Merrylands. Not only was it the best game of football on Saturday, it may well have been the best game of football ever. All of the familial spectators stood agog, the ladies in the canteen were riveted to the action and even the Merrylands club president commented on the quality of the match. It was a spectacle for the ages about which sagas will surely be written. The final result of a draw was inconsequential. If it had of been the usual double digit drubbing it would have have made no difference - the game itself was an inspiration.

The theme running through this week's match was teamwork. Never before have these guys produced such a synergistic effort. Every member of the team produced superlative efforts in both attack and defence. On the field there was no one faster than Geordie. When he hit an gap in the defence you would only see a red blur followed by his shadow as it tried to keep up with him. Lachlan played his best match ever providing some useful changes of direction. The goals were kept well by Joel and Fraser who both had great runs when they were on the field and made difficult saves when they were in the nets. Unlike previous games all of the guys worked hard to keep the ball out of the goals and extended their defence all the way back to the goal line. Just before half-time AJ made a stupefying sliding tackle a hair's breadth from the post that saved an almost certain goal. In the second half he very nearly scored with a couple of A-league quality runs. James used every ounce of his potential in a mid-field effort they could (and should) write textbooks about. Seb was once again everyone's shadow providing essential backup as well as making some important runs of his own while Jack got to know the opposition goalie so well he will likely be receiving invitations to his birthday party. Lexie received the player of the match award this week for an outstanding defensive effort. She blocked and tackled and put all of herself between the goal and the ball. She even found herself out in the open a few times and had some lovely runs. Beautiful work!

The final whistle blew a few minutes before we were sure to score a goal. The players shook each others hands and grinned with the joy you feel when you realise you have just done your absolute best. The smiles on the faces of everyone there told the story; a glorious day, a determined opposition and a manifestation of the spirit of the game. Given the "performances" I have seen recently in international and professional club matches, I would take the half-hour of pure sports-person-ship I saw on Saturday over anything the pros can offer. Next week I know that without contracts, without agents, without stupidly inflated pay cheques and without ego, our titans in red will be trying as hard as they can.

U6 SKOKO P.C.Y.C. Parramatta FC 6 def U6 Ermington United Cahill 1

Say it with me people: gooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!!! Yes we scored a goal. I said last week that a goal was our goal and I guess that all of that self-belief motivational stuff does have some merit after all. When I say "we" scored a goal I really mean we "sort of" scored a goal. Picture it: we were standing in front of the PCYC goal awaiting their goal kick. The kick, a real screamer, is blocked by the graceful knee of Lexie. It heads back towards the goal. One of the PCYC players tries to kick it out of the goal area, it hits another PCYC player goes backwards and rolls across the goal line. So while "they" made the ball go across the line, we made them make the ball go across the line. Check the score book: we got a goal!

The player of the match award this week went to Joel. It is a good thing that he is in kindergarten and doesn't know the meaning of the word "quit". He plays like the devil and just won't let go of that ball. Well done! Geordie showed winged heels this week with two of the most amazing field length runs you will ever see. If you looked over the other side of the field, you would have seen Fraser working to do the same. James and Jack were like sharks swimming around the pack, biting and picking off the strays. Seb put his body on the line with some great defence, AJ used his big boots to fire cannonballs and Lexie, in addition to "scoring", provided the passes needed to get the ball to the other side of the field.

PCYC played a great game and Ermo fought them all the way. Every week we are getting better and becoming an excellent team. Without any prompting from me tactics are emerging. Our players are learning to read the play and are preempting the motion of the ball. It is a truly miraculous thing to watch. The goal for next week is a goal that *we* score (against the other team).

We have now decided not to play Round 3 since it would have had to be played on a Sunday and too many people were already committed.

U6 Wentworthville Waratahs ELRICH 8 def. U6 Ermington United CAHILL 0

This was our best game so far this season. This was not because of the score (which was half the normal score against us) but rather because the team played their little hearts out. We deserved a goal more than John Howard deserves unemployment, but we just couldn't make it happen. We had opportunities, though, which is a big improvement on previous weeks. The guys are really paying attention at training and we are slowly honing our skills. Our fault this week lay in too committed an attack. We ran the ball up time and time again, we regularly took it away from the opposition, we managed some good passing and (most importantly given last week's game) the guys managed to back each other up so that there was almost always two or three reds moving together with the ball. Unfortunately whenever we moved ahead we ran out of steam and couldn't finish our big runs off. All the Waratahs had to do was to take the ball past us and run it down the field while we tagged behind. Hopefully we will soon get to the point where our skills as a team will be enough to defeat the one or two better players on the opposing side.

The player of the match this week was James who played a beautifully balanced game in offence and defence. He showed all of the skills he had and then some. Geordie and Fraser were trying just as hard as James with both of them making field length runs on several occasions. Right behind them wherever they went was Seb, providing the backup we have been lacking. Lexie had a wonderful first half in goals saving all but two and then provided good defence on the field in the second half. Joel did a mountain of hard work to get the ball going forward. Every time he moved he was blocked, yet each time he regathered the ball and kept the pressure on the opposition. He was the "Energiser Bunny" - he just kept going and going. Jack was once again brilliant in defence. I'm going to have to nickname him "The Taxman" because he is always taking his slice of the action on the field. If Jack is the Taxman, then AJ is "The Wall". He didn't let anything past him and kept sending the game the other way with his powerful kicks, while Lachlan kept moving with the action and kept goal in the second half.

Although our guys don't seem to know whether or not they have even won a game at the end of it, I am still worried it will affect them later in life. Sure, this game could imbue them with determination, perseverance and spirit, but equally it could cause them to harbour a grudge against fat men with beards who wear red and white. I really don't want to be reading about a serial killer targeting Santas in twenty years time. When I played under 6 soccer and my dad coached my team we didn't win a game all season and only scored one (home) goal. At the very least I turned out adjusted enough to keep the voices quiet and coach my daughter in the under 6s, so there is hope for our kids yet. Our goal next week is...a goal.

U6 Greystanes BLUE 12 def. U6 Ermington United CAHILL 0

On the eve of Mother's Day the team decided to honour their mothers by listening to all of the advice they had been given by them. They played nicely with others, as they always do, and they shared their toys with others. In this case the "toy" was the ball and the "others" were the Greystanes players. More than half of the goals scored were done with some sort of assist from our players. This is not to say our guys did the wrong thing; they passed the ball better than ever before, they attacked and defended with vigour and they went after the ball wherever it was. Despite all of this Greystanes ended up on the receiving end of all our hard work and converted their opportunities regularly.

Greystanes played an excellent match and deserved their win. Their players backed each other up brilliantly so that whenever we stopped their advances or got the ball away from them there was another player or two to collect the ball and beat us in the overlap. It is to our credit that we forced them to play this way. Our reds staged a very good show and put into play everything we practiced at training. We learnt a lot of lessons about defence from last week's game, now we need to learn how to back each other up.

The player of the match award went to AJ for his excellent work in goals in the first half and for his wonderful big kicks in the second. AJ kept a lot of shots from hitting the net and wasn't afraid to go to the ball. Well done! James worked hard in the goals in the second half after some great work in the field in the first. Lachlan continues to improve while Lexie put in a solid effort all over the field. Fraser managed to turn the ball around several times and Joel was once again always at the ball. Geordie and Seb are becoming a formidable combination and had several great field length runs which, with the right support, could have been goals. Jack swept the field picking up everything that came through in what is becoming his favourite role.

The Greystanes manager commented that our team was beaten mainly because the Greystanes players had been playing together for a season already. I often forget that we have a very young team, some of them haven't even turned 5 yet, and before this year almost none of them had played soccer before. Week by week we are putting the pieces together as a team in the hopes of making our mums proud of us and entertaining you on winter Saturdays for the next 12 years (until they get their drivers licenses). Happy Mother's Day.

Round 3 was washed out and will be replayed at some later date. For now, here is the Round 4 report.

U6 Granville Waratahs 14 def U6 Ermington United Cahill 0

The match was only a few minutes old before we knew we had no chance of winning. The scoreline above doesn't tell the whole story. We weren't beaten by the Granville Waratahs; we were beaten by a single player on the Granville Waratahs. The number 2 player for Granville showed superior skill and scored all of their goals, treating our players and his own as if they were merely marker cones on the field. At the beginning of the second half, when number 2 was off signing a contract with Real Madrid, we actually had an even game of soccer...until he came back on. That isn't to say we had a bad game. Rather, without any expectations of winning, the reds settled down to play the best game they could.

Over the past few weeks team Cahill has improved markedly. The opportunity we had today was to practice our defence and the guys showed that they could learn to develop tactics under pressure. I had been told that if you focus on the skills, the tactics will emerge, and they did. Score one for coaching theory!

During the course of the match AJ learnt that his shins were good for blocking the ball and that he could move through the pack. Seb learnt that he was a excellent keeper. He made number 2 really work for the handful of goals he got past him in the second half. Lexie made a couple of good break aways pumping her long legs up and down the field. James joined the hunting pack of Joel and Fraser and harassed the ball all over the field. Jack played a great defensive role hanging back from the main group and sweeping up anything stray. Lachlan showed improvement in the center and Geordie smeared super glue on his right boot at half time, stuck it to the ball and didn't let go without a glorious struggle, earning him the player of the match.

I learnt a lot from my team in today's match. The first thing I learnt is that playing the game is the important thing. My guys played as hard in the last few minutes as they did in the first. Maybe it was because they couldn't count that high, but they didn't seem to worry about the score. They were here to play and play they certainly did.

The second thing I learnt was that the only person you are competing against is yourself. I thought that the guys would be disappointed because they lost. They weren't; they just wanted to know that they did a good job. When I talked to them at the end of the match they all knew that they had played a better game this week than they did last week and reveled in it. These guys are becoming a great team and I am proud to be their coach.

If you have been reading my recent posts you will know that I am the coach of one of the Ermington United under 6 teams. In the zone we play in (Granville) all of the Rooball teams have been assigned team names. It was decided that these teams, rather than being "tigers" or "eagles" or "sea slugs", would be named after current Socceroos. We got named after mid-fielder Tim Cahill.

Aside from being a legend on the field, Tim also appears to be a legend off of it as well. Let me fill you in.

When I first found out from our team manager that we were to be team Cahill, I said to her "Who is Cahill?" She got her 5 year old, who is on my team, to answer that question. I may not know everything, particularly about sports, but if I don't know something I know how to find out about it. After some googling and wikipedia-ing I am now knowledgeable about Tim Cahill. I know for example that he plays for Everton (when not playing for Australia).

Armed with this knowledge I send an email to Everton FC and got in contact with their player liaison. He forwards a request from me to Tim for an autographed photo or letter or email or something to show the kids that there is a hero out there who knows who they are. This simple request got me a wonderful signed and dedicated photo of Tim as well as individual signed photos for all of the kids! How about that!

Tim Cahill. You are a bloody legend.

I can hardly wait to give these to the kids on Wednesday. They are going to flip. On Saturday at the game I'm going to get a team photo, print it out and then get the kids to autograph it and send it to Tim (with some "thank you" letters from the troops). I'll treat them like the little superstars they are!

This is what sport is all about.

Second round and we lost. It was a fun match though and our first away game. I wish the playing surface was better. We missed a great opportunity when Jack tripped over a loose sod of turf that had been thrown on the ground to make it look like there was grass there. Other than that, the other team played better, but it was a good game.

U6 Greystanes Orange 3 def. Ermington United Cahill 0

Our one game winning streak came to an end this week with a hard fought loss to Greystanes. The intense heat and lack of mosquitoes sapped at the energy of our team, but the players were valiant. It was obvious while watching the game that the training is paying off. The players are showing some real skills now and aren't merely hacking at the ball.

Both halves of the games saw many crossings of the center line. While there was a lot of U6 type pack activity, Lexie and AJ typically managed to get the ball into the clear so the others could take it down the field. Joel, who I believe is half cattle-dog, and Fraser, who is the other half, were everywhere the ball was. Jack proved once again to be an excellent sweeper attacking every opposing player who broke away. James and Sebastion teamed up for some glorious passing and dribbling. They managed to take the ball to the opposing goals on several occasions. These two guys have really been paying attention at training. Lachlan once again provided good support on the outside of the pack while Geordie kept both the goal and smiling.

Despite the score the teams were well matched and it was a great game. The player of the match was Sebastion for his great break aways and controlled dribbling. We now have to work on converting these opportunities. Well done guys.

For our first official soccer game we played ... the other Ermington United under 6 team. My team has been named Cahill, after Tim Cahill - legendary Australian and Everton FC player. It seems that all of the junior teams have been named after current Australian players. The other team is Aloisi. Here is my match report:

Ermington U6a (Cahill - Yellow Jersey) vs Ermington U6b (Aloisi - Red Jersey), Round 1:

Result: Cahill 1 def. Aloisi 0

The first game of the season saw a civil war between the two under 6 teams. Ermington won! Yet, Ermington lost. Cahill, resplendent in their alternate yellow colours, spent the first half of the match battling a determined attack from the red devils of the Aloisi side. Excellent keeping from Jack Brady kept the score at half time to nil all. The second half was a much more even affair with both teams having opportunities at goal. AJ kept well for the Cahill team in the second half and let nothing through. Jack and Joel were all over the field and always on the ball. Lexie had some big clearing kicks and narrowly missed a goal opportunity. Fraser and Sebastion mixed it up in the pack at every occasion, while Lachlan and James provided wonderful support on the outside. The only goal of the match (thanks to brilliant defence on both sides) was scored in the second half by Jack, who earned the Player of the Match Award. Well done to all of our players. you guys have really come a long way.

In the months(!) since I last posted I have been appointed(?) the coach of my daughter's under 6 soccer team (we play a modified version called Rooball). We wanted to get my daughter (or preferably daughters) into some sort of sport - to get them active and promote "physical literacy" [this little phrase has become a favourite of mine ever since I read it]. We wondered about what they could do until we were fondled by the hand of fate. The local soccer team registrations were advertised in the school newsletter. We went, paid our ridiculously high fee and signed up for soccer.

My daughter didn't know what soccer was. She had a soccer ball and knew that you had to kick it, but she had never seen a game. I am not into sports in any serious way, although I do like cricket, so there has never been any visual references for her. She was still keen to do it, though, as was my middle daughter. If we told them we had signed them up for abalone diving they still would have been excited. Unfortunately middle daughter was too young to play soccer despite being bigger than some of the boys in higher age groups. She still trains with us though and will be ready for next season.

Anyway, the club president rang us with the training details and mentioned to my wife (who took the call) that they needed a coach for the team - she volunteered me knowing that I had played soccer before, as a kid, more than twenty years ago! Since no one else stepped forward (weak bastards) I got the job.

Trying to get 5 and 6 year olds to do anything is like trying to herd cats. The problems increase for group sizes of 1 or more children. The more there are, the harder it is to get them all doing the same thing at the same time. I really don't know how teachers do it. I have enough problems getting adults to do what they need to do to learn, let alone getting kids to do it (although sometimes there is little difference, I'm sure). Fortunately the club arranged for a former Socceroo, Gerry Gomez, to come and give us a grass roots coach training clinic. We spent almost three hours running through the excellent training manual prepared by the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) and learned that training kids was all about games and fun and engaging them in play. Of course I knew this all along, but with the training manual it is a real no brainer. I wish they had this sort of stuff when my dad coached me in the under 6s. I am sure he would have liked the support.

The club, Ermington United, is brilliant. They have given me all of the support I need to give the kids a great experience. The grounds are well maintained and green, despite the drought. The people are friendly, the kids have fun: everyone should be doing this! Match reports to follow.

Danny Finegood died recently aged only 52. When I read about his death it made me strangely sad. I had never met the man and in fact had never heard his name before, but what he did was important in a way that I find hard to explain and his death is a loss to the world. Danny was an artist. Learn about his work here.

Danny and his work strongly reminds me of Arthur Stace.

This post is basically just for myself. At some point in the future I will come across this post, my memory will be jogged and maybe then I will be able to explain why I think these guys are so valuable.