We kicked off the 2021-2022 NTH Marietta Junior Academy Girls soccer year with our Team Camp.
We thank the girls for their consistent effort and enthusiasm. Every player showed she belonged. We look forward to the upcoming fall season!
What comes next? We start our 2021 fall season practice schedule the week of August 9th, and finish the week with a pre-season intra-Academy game day on Saturday, August 14.
Quick links:
What did we teach?
Our main camp theme was “keep the ball.” Young players often see a soccer ball as something to randomly kick. We want them to treat the ball like a friend and take it on adventures toward goal or into open space, away from opponents. Girls who learn to control and manipulate the ball (through changes of direction and changes of speed) will be better prepared to understand spacing, which will help develop teamwork down the road.
We mixed foundation footwork activities and basic dribbling moves with various dribbling games, finishing each session with scrimmages. We love dribbling tag games and 1v1 games, because they combine competition, dribbling control, changes of direction and changes of speed. They also help develop field vision and decision-making, which are critical but often overlooked elements to success. (Our secondary theme is scan-plan-play, which starts with vision.) And dribbling games also help improve fitness.
We encourage parents to get out in the yard and play with their daughters. (We recommend you take the role of her training partner or opponent.) This might be some simple footwork challenges, or it could be a mini game. If you have a 12×12 yard space, you have a plenty of room to play dribbling marbles or snow cones and see who rules the yard!
Thank yous:
Mother Nature:
The weather was as good as we could ask for in August. No storms, but we had a refreshing shower on Tuesday. Otherwise temperatures peaked in the mid-80s, which is bearable (and a welcome contrast to the prior week’s blazingly hot 90+ temperatures). Our team camp schedule was set to run 480 minutes over four days. We were able to play for 480 minutes over four days. Much respect to Mother Nature!
Parents:
The parents did a good job of preparing their daughters for team camp. We didn’t have any dehydration cases or foot issues. Well done!
Popsicle volunteers:
We thank the Brown, Hecht, Hoitink, Jaillet and Lovich families for providing popsicles and ice cream sandwiches to the players after each camp session. That’s a sure-fire (wait, sure-ice) way to put a smile on tired kids before the drive home!
The Junior Academy Girls:
We like this group! Their collective work ethic is good, and they are consistently enthusiastic. Listening skills are a work in progress, but we see that every year! That bodes well for the future!
We also thank our 2nd-year girls for setting a good standard for the new players, and also occasionally playing the “big sister” role to help wayward players get back onto the right path.
Our helpers:
We are lucky as can be to have a group of smart, personable girls who are eager to help the young ones. This year’s helper group included Allison, Ally and Emily (“ET”). They have all helped with lots of camps and practices over the years. We are grateful for their time and their positive interaction with our young players!
Coach Caitlin:
We welcome coach Caitlin back to the Junior Academy Girls! She played at NASA during her youth soccer days, and continued to play through high school (Pope) and college (St. Mary’s) before making the jump into coaching.
Camp photos and videos:
- Photos: https://wcs3.smugmug.com/NASAJrAcadG/2021-Summer/Team-Camp-2021/
- Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw-1FJfphMFO9-CbZcFlRu7bE7Ed1wQ3Y
Daily camp recaps:
Here’s a list of topics we covered each day. The hyperlinks lead to demo videos and descriptions of the skills and activities.
Monday, August 2:
- The girls’ energy level was good throughout. That’s very impressive considering most of the girls started their school year earlier in the day! Listening skills wavered at times, but that always happens early on with 5-7 year olds.
- We played a popular large-group dribbling warm-up game called Volcano Island. It emphasizes vision, along with changes of direction and changes of speed. This game doesn’t transfer well to small groups or spaces in the backyard, but the dribbling marbles game is a great small-group / small space replacement.
- Our move of the day was the pullback turn. Girls got plenty of reps with each foot, and then got to try their pullbacks in competitive games we call Texas Draw, and Texas Draw & Dribble. We encourage parents to check it out and challenge their daughters!
- We finished with 2v2 scrimmages, where players could only score by dribbling over the end lines. This meant the player had to stay with the ball until both the ball and the player crossed the end line together.
- Our biggest current challenge is helping players make the transition from kickball players (kick the ball, chase and hope) to keep-ball players (keep the ball, keep the ball moving, get your head up, make a plan, and then try to execute the plan). This requires patience on all of our parts — kids, parents and coaches. You can help your daughter make the transition by playing “keep-ball” games (such as Texas Draw, Snow Cones or dribbling marbles) with her in the yard. You don’t need a soccer background — just being an opponent will help your daughter develop her dribbling skills.
Day 1 photos: https://wcs3.smugmug.com/NASAJrAcadG/2021-Summer/Team-Camp-2021/i-2jsCtk5
Tuesday, August 3:
- We warmed up with a large-group dribbling game we call “wrist girl.” It’s a tag game variation that emphasizes changes of direction and speed, along with agility and quickness. Plus it has a huge fitness element!
- We reviewed basic pullback turns, and then introduced V-pull moves, which start with a pullback and finish with a push into new space. The ball moves in a pattern that looks like the letter V.
- We finished with 3v3 scrimmages, staying with the scoring rule that requires the attacker to dribble over the end line, instead of shooting.
- Some girls learned a water-break game we call Shintago. This game combines trickery, alertness and agility. It’s a mini-game, because it only requires a 1-yard square, and only takes a minute to play!
Day 2 photos: https://wcs3.smugmug.com/NASAJrAcadG/2021-Summer/Team-Camp-2021/i-GxBwCKL
Wednesday, August 4:
- We started with a partner toe taps activity called “sideways-forward.” It’s all about quick feet, soft and accurate touches, and timing. When two kids can make the leap from one ball to two balls, it looks really cool! (And it shows that the partners have learned to apply the proper weight to their touches, and that they have synched their movements with their partner.)
- We played team dribbling marbles as our dribbling warm-up. This game emphasizes vision — players either find open space or a target. It also emphasizes changing direction and/or speed while dribbling.
- We gave the girls a very challenging fast footwork activity that required them to combine six different V-pull moves; see V-pull combos. The girls worked hard on this challenge!
- We gave the girls a chance to try their moves against defenders in a 1v1 dribbling game we call Snow Cones. This game is all about turning away from defenders and attacking open space. It combines dribbling control along with vision and decision-making. Key phrase: getaway touch
- We finished with 3v3 scrimmages, with the same “dribble to score” rule as earlier days. We were very happy to see several players try V-pull moves during the scrimmage, some with success!
Day 3 photos: https://wcs3.smugmug.com/NASAJrAcadG/2021-Summer/Team-Camp-2021/i-cnfVDKZ
Thursday, August 5:
- We introduced some new partner toe taps patterns. Today’s activities required a pair of players to work simultaneously while maneuvering a single soccer ball.
- We introduced inside of the foot ball striking. Most young players kick the ball with their toes. It’s a more natural movement than kicking with the inside of the foot. But the toe kick is less effective because it’s a much smaller striking surface than the inside of the foot. The smaller toe surface means it’s less accurate than kicking the ball with the inside of the foot. Key words: pointer foot (also known as plant foot, standing foot, or non-kicking foot).
- We then added goals. Players had to dribble around a barrier, and then turn their hips toward goal before finishing with a shot on goal.
- With today being the last day of camp, we spent more time than usual on scrimmages. Today’s scrimmages were 4v4, or 5v5 including goalkeepers. Good sign: more and more girls are trying to keep the ball when they dribble by changing direction and/or speed.
- We finished camp with group photos and a video featuring our traditional cone and ball tosses, followed by well-earned popsicles!
Day 4 photos: https://wcs3.smugmug.com/NASAJrAcadG/2021-Summer/Team-Camp-2021/i-hVkxmvT
What comes next?
What comes next? We start our 2021 fall season practice schedule the week of August 9th. We finish the week with a pre-season intra-Academy game day on Saturday, August 14. Best wishes to all of the girls for continued learning and fun!