The Under 9 Panthers finished their spring season in top form w/ 4 wins & 2 draws. Obviously, ensuring that they have fun is my main focus, but seeing as they have gotten more & more competitive as the years have rolled on, these little kids have developed a different goal: namely, winning. W/ 7 minutes to go in their final match, we were losing 5-3 so I asked myself what Arsene Wenger would do if he were allowed to make unlimited substitutions switched things around a bit which enabled them to score 2 more & end w/ a draw. A few were unhappy that they weren't able to tally up another W, but as the ref blew the final whistle, 1 of the kids shouted "All we needed was a draw! All we needed was a draw!" He meant that 14 points was enough to clinch 1st place; he would have been right if the league was actually keeping track of some sort of placement table. Of course, @ U9 they don't but that doesn't stop the kids from paying attention to that stuff. All in all it was a fun season, the kids really developed their passing skills & vision, & a few of them are coming along as goalies too. We even worked on headers for the 1st time, & for fun, I introduced them to the glories of European Cup... an everyone for him/herself game in the penalty area revolving around the grand Libertarian ideology of self-centered individuality... & it's fun too.In European Footie news, I finished in 3rd place in the Fantasy League, my lowest finish ever. I'll have to come hard next fall to secure my place @ the top of the table. Arsenal will need to do the same thing, but the exit of Cristiano Ronaldo from the Premiership yesterday won't hurt Arsenal's chances. Man U were paid a record-breaking 80 Million pounds for that dude. Unlike every Man U fan around the world though, I'm not going to pretend it's "all good." 80 Mil is a lot of salad, but having a player of his caliber in the league was always good for the league. He'll be hard to replace, but odds are that Sir Alex will look in 1 of 2 directions: a crying little kid (as per the title of the post) or someone like Tom Daley... he looks like Arsenal wunderkind Jack Wilshire, & as an Olympic diver, he'd be able to fill that gaping hole left by Ronaldo @ he top of the D where he so often goes to ground (you can insert your own "Ronaldo Gaping Hole Joke" here... that sort of thing is beneath us here @ Visions of Ypsi). Now, w/o further ado, a little tribute to the FIFA World Footballer of the Year, on his way to Real Madrid: a little 4 minute montage of his more recent dives (after watching it, you can go here to keep abreast of the other Premier League transfers over the summer):
No comments:
Post a Comment