Bravo Talk

Happy birthday haley and meghan!!

-natalie :]

In the past, I’ve talked to you about setting goals for yourself. I can’t stress the importance of setting goals for all aspects of your life, not just soccer. And you’re never too young to start doing it.

I ran across an interesting article on how to ENSURE you will fail. Sounds like this shouldn’t have a lot to do with setting goals, but if you take the time to read the article, I think you’ll see that setting goals and measuring your performance against those goals will make it easier to succeed in whatever you want to do.

This is kind of “heady” stuff, so make sure you are nice and relaxed when you read it.

http://www.persistenceunlimited.com/2006/05/10-steps-you-can-take-to-guarantee-failure/

After reading this article, see if you can relate its lessons to soccer.

John

Here’s the deal. I think that everyone need to blog more. I’m not saying that people or to lazy to blog but if someone makes a post people respond to it. But if nobody makes a post, nobody will respond to it. This is happening more and more.

For example, Kristen made an excellent post on this video clip she sent and John and I are the only people who have responded to it. John always tells us to shoot far post and this convinced me.

So why don’t we start getting our blog on!!!!!!

~Jaylyn~

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8499998252717547211&q=soccer+clips&hl=en

If you watch these men play you notice how they always know when to pass the ball at the right time and they make passes simple by keeping the ball on the ground! They also know where to place the ball into net.

-Kristyn

As I mentioned before, I signed up two teams:

Bravo Uno
Bravo Duo

I would like to register all the players with both teams so that you can fill in for each other in the event of conflicts. I would also like to have 11 players for each game. That gives us two rotations, plus a keeper. I’m not sure if Haley can, or is willing, to play two games each Tuesday, so we may have to work around that problem.

Players will be assigned to a primary team, but will also play with the other team periodically to get the appropriate numbers we are going to need.

Here are the “balanced” teams…

Bravo Uno
—————
Jaylyn
Emily
Marquette
Kristyn
Mia
Megan H.
Betsy
Brianna

Bravo Duo
—————
Ava
Lindsey
Natalie
Erin
Meghan M.
Chelsi
Jackie
Haley

These teams are not finalized yet, so if you have a preference because of car pooling (or some other good reason), do let me know. I’ll also post these on the blog.

Now I need every player to register on the Center’s website. You must do this before our first game. Here is some detail instructions on how to register with BOTH teams.

Go to the Omaha Sports Center website by clicking the following link.

http://www.millardstar.com/osc/

Then click the “Sign Up” link on the left.

Then click the “Register Online” link on the right side of the Girls U13/U14 age-group.

Then click the “I am registering on a team” option and you will be taken to the player registration page.

First select the primary team you are registering with, such as, Bravo Uno and Bravo Duo, then select the other team.

If you have any questions, let me know.

I don’t have schedules yet, but I’m expecting a call with them before too long. John

Somebody needs to start posting on this blog!

Who’s turn is it to post????????

~!^*Mia*^!~

I can’t believe there isn’t a new post covering the game. OK, I’ll get it started.

Way to go Bravo. I have to admit, I was not worried, because you girls have NEVER let me down when the chips were on the line.

Let me just take you back to the Ratpack game. We scored a goal in the 2nd half when we really needed one. We outscored them in the shootout when we really needed to. What more can I saw.

I’d really like to hear some comments from the girls on what the thought of the game. I got phone calls from some parents, but the girls were the ones playing the game. Was there any smack going on or did you keep it professional?

How did the weather affect the game? I heard we missed a few opportunities that would have made the outcome more one sided, and that we kind of let down at the end and let them back in the game. What did you think?

The weather here is gorgeous, but there are no tourists. Everyone stayed away because of the hurricane forecast. Boy were they wrong because they’ve barely had any rain, let alone a hurricane.

I’m still trying to find a date for the game with Papio and now they say they can only play on the 22nd of October. I’ll be sending an email to see what we have for conflicts.

Congratulations Bravo on a very important victory! Go Bravo all the way from Cancun!

Hey it’s Mia. I was just wondering . . . . . . . are we still up for everyone wearing their green sock on their right foot and our white sock on our left???? If so what color jersey????? Green???? Just EVERYONE be sure to wear the socks right, otherwise you can take it up with John. Hehehehehehehe.

Mia~ #9

PS just kidding about John guys. ha ha ha

Bravo:

You may have more loses than you would like this season, but don’t measure progress solely by wins and loses. U14 is a tough level. Bravo is used to being the physical team and when you go up against a more physical team you sometimes lose your focus.

When you start losing your physical edge you need to work extra hard on your skills. Trapping, passing, shielding, moving without the ball, communicating on the field, thinking ahead – all of these are areas you need to add as a team.

You have a chance to finish strong. Your next game is against a team your own age group. You should come out in this next game strong and establish yourselves as the faster and stronger team right from the beginning. And then on top of that – show them how smart you guys are!

Bravo has a first and a second in their two tournaments this fall. Much improved over last year. However you’ve also learned that a team like Fusion has learned how to shut you down. You need to take that as a challenge, It’s good you find this out now and get it fixed before next spring.

You should always try for perfection but never expect it. Mia Hamm made mistakes in every game. Never be afraid to make a mistake. If you do, you will not perform to your best. Never let one game or one play get you down, yet always look at every game and learn from it.

Fire up against Gladiators. Restore the order!! Show them who you are. Show them that you are the team that beat Ratpack. Play hard, play smart — and have fun. If you show them you are enjoying every minute of that game they will wonder what got into you. Teamwork is what makes a bunch of individuals function as a team. The conditions may not be perfect for Tuesday, but block that out and go hard! Sometimes games are won by the team that doesn’t let a bad call or bad conditions bother them.

Go Bravo!!

I don’t need to tell you that was a tough game in some very nasty conditions. I could see it in the looks of some of your faces.

This is an issue that we will have to learn how to deal with better. Whenever the conditions turn nasty, we lose the advantage that our skills, speed, and athleticism normally gives us. Good teams learn to adapt.

One of the other areas in the game yesterday that we didn’t adapt to very well yesterday was the physical part of the game. They bumped and scrapped much better than we did; and when they did this to us, it completely through us out of our game. The slightest little bump and we could not control the ball.

I was shocked by our lack of control in the first half when we had the wind at our back. There was very little movement in the box and even less control. And it was obvious that we were not going to beat that keeper by taking 25 or 30 yard shots; especially when our shots were more like clearances.

Sometimes, and I think this is one of them, you just have to lick your wounds and move on. Time to get ready for the next one.

On Tuesday we play a very, very important game. As you will recall, I specifically requested a cross over game with Fusion and WO so that we could state our case for being seeded in next year’s state cup. Playing up would normally mean we don’t get seeded. I think it will be very important for us to be seeded #1 or #2.

I want to make sure that everyone understands the importance of this game and gets to the field by 4:45 p.m. and really comes pumped to play a great game. The one thing I have always been able to count on, when it’s time to play a great game, no one does it better than Bravo. Talk it up before the game and really get your teammates pumped. This is one game that we need to show our stuff. Come determined, confident, and positive that you are going to have a great game! We need everyone playing at the same level and intensity.

I’ll be rooting for you all the way from Cancun. Go Bravo! John

(Somebody please email me and let me know the details of the game…)