Back at home. No trophies this time, but the kids certainly showed they can play with nationally and regionally ranked teams and hold their ground. I’m very proud of the AUSA Wizards and especially proud of Lorenzo – in my very bias opinion, the best player in the team in this tournament!

In the first game, the Wizards played the Pinecrest Premier Blue (PPB) team, currently ranked #1 U10 team in the nation. Now, for the record, the Wizards are officially a U11 team. However, to be fair, our team is really composed of both 10 and 11 year olds. I’m not sure if the team was nervous, tired, or what, but the Wizards did not start the tournament running on all cylinders. They were making silly mistakes, and not passing the ball as well as they usually do. Yet, they were up 1 x 0 at half time; and they kept the score tied at 1 a piece by mid second half. However, they lost their concentration, were a bit unlucky on a couple of plays, and let Pinecrest pulled way in the last 15 minutes of the game. Final score AUSA 1 x 4 WPU.

Despite the score, Lorenzo played the best match of his life. He was 110% focused; he was ready; and not once was the Pinecrest striker able to get around him or even take a shot at goal from within our box. Brilliant! He was, without a doubt, the player of the match. And the sad truth is that I know the Wizards could have beaten this team if everyone else had played their usual game.

The second match was, in my opinion, an even tougher match. They played the Wesley Chapel Flames – another top ranked U11 team with huge kids. Let me say that again, HUGE KIDS! (I don’t know what they put in the water in S. Florida, but it certainly made me want to discover the magic recipe or start asking for some notarized birth certificates.) The Wizards did play better; but again, they did not play to their potential. Case in point, we started the match by letting them score right at kick off – a very painful wakeup call. After surviving the first few minutes, the team started to loosen up; they pressured WCF; and they created some really good changes. Unfortunately, our shots were just a bit off the mark.

In Brazil, we are all very familiar with the expression: “Quem nao faz, leva.” Loose translation: if you can’t score, they will. We certainly had our changes, but precisely because we couldn’t find the net, we were down 2 x 0 at half-time. We played much better on the second half and created even more changes. But just to prove its point, the old soccer expression held true, and we lost by 3 x 0. WCF did deserve to win; but it was again very frustrating to know we could have beaten them.

Lorenzo had another stellar match!

Another parenthesis…And for those who are not soccer aficionados, I apologize in advance for maybe losing you here. But this is an important point. The U11 age group plays an 8v8 format – or 8 vs. 8. The Wizards usually plays a 2-3-2 formation – which really means: 1 keeper, 2 defenders, 3 mid fielders, and 2 forwards. That also means that when the opposite team is coming at us — say from the left side, the two defenders will slide to the left side of the field to cover the play, leaving a pocket at the right side of the defense. This space is supposed to be covered by the right mid-fielder, who will drop to cover our “back side” and essentially become the “missing” right defender. Unfortunately, our back side was exposed throughout the first two matches, and our opponents took full advantage of it.

The third match was against the Brazilian Twisters. As the name suggests, it was composed of a full squad of Brazilian kids (all from the Miami area) + 1 African kid (another giant). BT had tied with WCF and lost to PPB on the dying minutes of the second half. So we knew we had yet another tough match to play.

But with two losses, the Wizards were out of the semifinals, and the kids were now playing for pride.

To take care of the back side issue, the coaches changed the team formation to 3-3-1; thus making the team a bit more compact and making sure there would always be a defender on the back side. It worked!

The Wizards controlled the mid-field and the tempo of the game; they had a much easier time transitioning from defense to mid-field to offense; and they finally started to play the football we know they are capable of. We were up 4 x 0 by the end of the first half, and BT didn’t even know what hit them. We played just as well on the second half and the Wizards won the match with ease. Final score AUSA 7 x 1 BT. Best player of the match? The entire Wizards squad – the team finally played to their potential as a team. But if I had to pick an individual player, I would have to choose William, who scored a gorgeous, curving direct-kick from way outside the area in the first half AND defended a penalty kick on the second.

A bitter-sweet victory, which left everyone wondering “what could have been” if they had played this well on the first two matches…

All in all, it was a fantastic experience for the kids, and I cannot wait for the U12 season.

Forza Enzo!!!

Back in Orlando for the Memorial Day weekend, this time for a soccer tournament. Lorenzo is playing in the “Memorial Day Soccer Shootout” being held in the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. The Athens United U11 team is quite good, but I really have no idea about what to expect here. Hopefully they will play hard, have some fun, avoid injury, and who knows, maybe bring some hardware home.

FORZA ENZO!

I must say I was a bit concerned about watching a 160 min movie in 3D. I thought I might get a bit queasy, or worse, a massive headache. It was actually quite fantastic.

Lorenzo and I give a resounding A+.

1. Lorenzo and Chloe Wall Climbing
2. Summer 2009:
   • St. Simons Island
   • Hammock Beach
   • St. Augustine
3. Atlanta Zoo

Starting with the Spring Soccer Season and the “Every Goal Saves a Life” challenge…the kids did not disappoint us! The Gladiators had another undefeated season, scoring a total of 75 goals:

• Game #1: Gladiators 15 x 2 Athens United (Green)
• Game #2: Gladiators 9 x 0 AU (Gold)
• Game #3: Gladiators 15 x 2 YMCA-Team 2
• Game #4: Gladiators 6 x 0 AU (Gold)
• Game #5: Gladiators 13 x 2 YMCA-Team 2
• Game #6: Gladiators 9 x 2 YMCA-Team 1
• Game #7: Gladiators 8 x5 YMCA-Team1

And, being the proud “Soccer Dad” that I am, I must add that Lorenzo received the “golden boot” honors once again — scoring 23 goals this season.

Cute story:

As I mentioned on my last post, Coach Matt and I struggled with giving all kids a fair share of time on the field, while trying to keep the scores from not reaching double-digits.  So, the “bigger” kids ended up getting more bench time and “defense duties” than last year — which, of course, they didn’t like it.

By mid-season, Lorenzo started getting frustrated and even a bit upset at the end of the matches, even after winning big.  He got especially upset after being told we were going to skip his rotation and keep him in the bench on the 4th quarter of Game #5.  He kept saying that he wanted to score a couple of more goals.

Later that day, I talked to him to find out what was going on.  I explained that we had a very comfortable lead, and that coach Matt and I just didn’t want us to score any more goals. Then, he finally told me why he was so upset. He just needed to score a couple of goals to bring his total to 20.  This way he could save the life of two kids.

Since we were donating $1 for every goal the team scored, and since it took a $10 donation to buy a mosquito net, he had set a target to score at least 20 goals for the season.  I finally got it. So sweet!!!  I gave him a nice hug, and I promised to let him play his fair share the final two matches.

In the end, the Gladiators scored 75 goals, and the Calabria Family ended up donating $120, or 1 mosquito net for every kid in the team.

After checking the campaign’s web site (http://www.malarianomore.org/), I decided to get involved by challenging the Gladiators – Lorenzo’s soccer team.

At the end of last practice, I explained to team what FSC was doing; I told them a little bit about Malaria; and I explained how easy it should be to prevent it – given the means.  Then I told them The Calabria Family will donate $1.00 for every goal they score towards the same campaign.  In other words, for every 10 goals the Gladiators score, we would be donating one mosquito net which could save a life of a kid in Africa.

Since we had 5 matches left,  I challenged them to score 50 goals between now and the end of the season. The kids were pumped!

Given the first two matches, I must admit that I did hesitate a little before announcing the challenge.  Even with four new “novice” players, the Gladiators have outscored their opponents 24 to 2.  And coach Matt and I have been struggling with giving everyone a fair share of time on the field, while trying to keep the score from getting too out of hand.  We have been playing the “older” kids on defense and sitting them on the bench more then usual…but the goals keep coming.

Game #3 was no different: Gladiators 15 x 2 YMCA…so much for a $50 donation, eh?! All for a good cause.

In a nutshell, we played the same YMCA team — this time at our field.  The match was a bit closer this time around, and Rylan, who was out-of-town this weekend, was greatly missed. He was key to organizing our defense and helping the younger players during our last match.  But everyone played extra hard, and I very glad to report that the Gladiators won another match:

Green 5 x 2 Blue.

Now, being the very proud father that I am, I must also say that Lorenzo has become “the engine” of the team. He’s immensely helpful during practices by showing the other kids how to execute the different drills; he has been playing well on all positions, including goal keeping; and he is once again the leading scorer for the U10 league. He scored all five goals on game #3, and his team and his family are very proud of him.

What can I say…he IS very good!

We have been rotating the “three captains” among the goal-keeping, mid-field (controls the team’s tempo and team’s offense) and sweeper (organizes the defense) positions. And it seems to be working well and producing a well-balanced team. For this match, while rotating Rylan and Hunter at goal, we kept Lorenzo at mid-field for the entire first half. They didn’t disappoint us, and Lorenzo scored four very nice goals in the first 20 minutes of play. The “Y” did pull one back on a fast counter attack, but Rylan danced around two defenders and scored a fantastic goal just before half time — Green 5 x 1 Blue.

With a big lead secured, we placed Lorenzo at goal, and asked Rylan to go back to the sweeper position (he’s our best defender); thus, taking a more defensive stance for the second half. This gave us the opportunity to move the younger kids around, and a chance to figure out which positions better fit their skills. For instance, the Hunter-Cole-Noel trio up-front generated some extremely fast counter attacks – Hunter had at least four great chances at goal with this combo. On the other hand, Ben, Jack, and James seem to play better at the defensive-end, especially with Rylan close-by to guide them.

In the end, Hunter scored one more goal, and Lorenzo and our defense held their grounds. Final score: Green 6 x 1 Blue.

PS: I forgot to mention the kids have decided to call the team THE GLADIATORS.

Lorenzo actually pushed for “The Fighting Irish”, but references to Notredame didn’t quite fly at “Dawg Nation.” As background, “The Fighting Irish” was Lorenzo’s very first soccer team — all players were from St. Joseph Catholic School. He has been nominating “The Fighting Irish” ever since…

Only 3 of the 12 players from last season’s undefeated team have returned: Lorenzo, Hunter, and Rylan. The new team is now mostly composed of younger kids who have recently moved up from U8 — the Under 8 league.  Needless to say, we have a very young U10 group this time around.  We do, however, have a very promising group, and all the kids did very well on their first match.

We played the Black team on Game #1– which happens to be the kids from Lorenzo’s school.  Of all the matches, I’ve notice he always seems to work a bit harder against the Black team.  I would suspect there is probably a bit of “bragging rights” at stake.  With so many younger players, it was nice (and fun)  to see the 3 “veterans” to step up and become the captains of the team.  Lorenzo even played as goal-keeper to help with the defense — which is something I unsuccessfully tried to persuade him to do the entire last season.

We started well and finished the first quarter ahead, Green 2 x 0 Black. Hunter scored both goals on a typical “Hunter-faster-counter-attack” followed by two big shots. On the other end, Lorenzo did a great job at goal stopping two strong shots from the Black team’s offense.  And after moving to mid-field, he scored two other goals, giving the Green team a 4 x 0 lead by half-time. The first after taking advantage of a poor punt from the Black team’s keeper, and the second after following up on his own penalty kick shot, which was blocked by the keeper.

The team continued to play well, and they had several other opportunities (and near-misses) during the second half.  Lorenzo added a fifth goal on the fourth quarter after a fast break away and a well placed shot to the right of the goal.  Nice. (He has certainly not lost his touch!)

Final score: Green 5 x 0 Black.

I must add, Coach Matt did a great job getting the team to learn their positions and stay at their zones.

Photos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/calabria/sets/72157607353786005/

Lorenzo.