by Wonderwall » Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:15 pm
he went to his trial today and was a little nervous as can be expected. The weather was really crap, raining the whole time and was windy and cold too. Not great for the spectator! Now I know how doug feels LOL!
They started the trials off by giving all the lads a few keepie uppie exercises and warm up routines and after that the real stuff started with specific drills to do, with everything being timed and scored.
1. 2 x Timed sprinting over 20 meters
He is only 4'9" at the moment and is small for his age but he is no slouch and easily held his own in this exercise.
2. Weaving in and out of the sticks with the ball at your feet and doing figure 8's, ending with a shot with the left foot on the first run and the right on the second run. They had two routes set up, one left and one right to ensure they ended up on the correct foot to shoot with.
I have practised this with him this week and he breezed through this with ease and looked like a natural, which was great and a very positive start.
3. A short passing 4 a side game in a 40 x 20 metre area where you have to get to your opponents byline and stop the ball on the line to score a point.
This is where I expected him to shine and really make his mark as passing is his forte. However, he was terrible and seemed to freeze. You were not allowed to coach from the sidelines, but I did as he was all over the place and really didnt seem to get going at all. This drill lasted for 15 minutes and was a shambles for him in all honesty. I took him to one side after the drill to have a chat and try and get his head right (you are not allowed to do this either, but hey, they probably didnt understand me ;-)). A point to note on this exercise was the huge lad on his team. He was taller than me and thought he was better then everyone and he cost the team as he would not pass the ball at all. If I was his coach he would have had several bollockings, he was not a bad player, however, he cost them many points as he refused to pass, mostly when my lad was in space...however, my lad didnt scream for the ball, which was my biggest gripe with him.
4. A short passing 5 a side game including GK's in a 30 x 30 metre square.
This was immediately after the last shambles and I was not looking forward to it. Unfortunately he started in the same vein and I had to give him a few comments from the sidelines to get him going. It seemed to work as he all of a sudden kicked into gear and scored a hat-trick with the 3rd goal being a beauty of a dink over the GK. At last he had woken up... or so I thought.
5. There were 40 kids overall and a round robin of 3 x 9 verus 9 games each including 1 sub for each team.
Game 1. He started in his usual position as a striker and was marked out of it by a huge lad. I wish you could have seen the size of him, he was 12 years old and would have made Nedum look small! I could not believe this kid was 12, NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS. He needs to take up basketball as he is fucking humongous. My lad really struggled physically but he battled away without any luck.
Game 2. He started as striker again, but no luck. Pretty much the same I'm afraid. He tried to drop deeper to get involved but he just didnt get the run of the ball. a few nice touches but nothing out of the ordinary and ended up being subbed off.
Game 3. Started as striker again, but this time his head had dropped and I just wanted to give him a cuddle. He looked quite upset as everything was going wrong and he couldnt get any of the ball from the midfield, plus he looked absolutely knackered in comparison to some of the kids (didnt realise how unfit he was). Hence he was subbed again, but this time a lot earlier in the game. One of the assessors had a word with him and asked him to go back on and play wide right and this time he played very well and set up the goal for the 1-0 win. Which was a bonus as he seemed a little happier to end on a high, I would have dreaded the journey home if he had stayed off the pitch!
Overall, there were a lot more players who caught the eye out there today and one lad looked very special indeed. The big lads were just football bullies who will not make the grade, but look good at this age level. Once the other kids grow up a little they will lose their advantage and be outclassed. 3 big lads there today and all were centre backs, they were very powerful and quick but with the touch of a donkey and just hoofed all the time. I hope my lad learns from this as he let the occasion and the fact that his markers were bigger than him get to him. I think I will leave him alone with his thoughts for a couple of days and take him for a kick around on friday before his game on saturday and have a chat with him about the whole event.
Still very proud of him as he did well to get there.
