When the Big Coyote is away.....

...The little Coyotes will play! 

As I informed all of you Tuesday night at practice, I will be out of town this weekend.  Coach Joseph will take over the coaching duties on Saturday, and Nick's dad (Greg) has volunteered to help out.  I am sure the 'Yotes are in good hands...or paws, as it were!  A big thank you for the help to Greg and Joseph!

We had a good practice last night.  I introduced a couple of new exercises to help the kids work on dribble control and passing.  In the upcoming weeks, I will begin more and more to stress control and passing skills.  The sooner the Coyotes learn to pass the ball to each other, the faster they will begin to really control the field.

The first exercise we did was what I like to call "Jump Shot".  Two cones were set up towards the goal and all the Coyote's balls were lined up on the goalie box end line.  The kids lined up at half field.  When their names were called, they had to run, jump over the cones, locate their ball, and take a big shot on goal.  All of our Coyotes demonstrated great power in their kicks.  I was impressed!

The second exercise was called "Coyote in the Middle."  The team formed a circle, and began learing to pass the ball across to another team member.  They had to stop the ball when it came to them, control it, and pass it to another member.  Once they got the hang of the game, we put a Coyote in the middle of the circle.  Now the team had to pass the ball without the Coyote in the middle of the circle intercepting it.  If the Coyote in the middle intercepted the ball, the team member who passed the ball became the new Coyote in the middle.

The more they practice at that game, the better they will become at stopping the ball, controlling it, and making good passes.  They will also be learning how to intercept the ball from the other team!

The kids seemed to like the two new games, and then insisted we play the crab game again!  I am pleased that they seem to enjoy playing and practicing. 

It is hard to believe, but this week marks the halfway point in the season!  It seems to have flown by!  Coming into the midway point, the 'Yotes are even at 2 wins and 2 losses.  This Saturday's game can put us into the positive, and I want you all to be assured....Coach Art WILL be rooting for you to pull out a win.  Coach Joseph will be giving me a gameday report via phone later in the day.  So, go get 'em Coyotes!  And, if you listen really close, every time you score a goal, you will hear Coach Art say:   Brilliance! That is all I can say! Sheer unadulterated brilliance!

One more note:  Tomorrow (September 16) is Cole's birthday!  Let's all get our paws out, raise them in the air, give a Coyote Howl for Cole, and gather at the rock and all sing him "Happy Birthday!"  Here's hoping your birthday is great, and that you score lots of goals Saturday in celebration!  Happy birthday, Coyote Cole!

NOTE:  That is not a "60" on the cake. That is a "GO"...as in "Go Coyotes!"