Coach Becker’s Tournament Summary

Congratulations!!!

I would like to congratulate all of you on the greatest TEAM effort the Dragons have ever put forth. You guys were just AWESOME. RAIN/SLEET/SNOW, nothing was going to stop you from winning that championship. You should be so proud of yourselves with the effort you put in winning those games. You are permanently in the record books as the champions, which no one can ever take away. GREAT JOB! I hope you were out partying all night, you really deserve it.

Even though there was some individual awards (MVP) handed out after each game (which were well deserved), REMEMBER, in soccer you are only as good as your supporting players… TEAM EFFORT!!!.

- With the defense stepping up and keeping the balls in the offensive zone it gave the offense many more opportunities to score, along with helping keep it out of our net. (MVP)

- Without the great corner kicks, there would have been less goals scored (MVP)

- Without the goalies making those great saves, there would be no opportunity to win the games (MVP)

- Without being FIRST TO THE BALL, we would have never won. You guys were great at that.

- If the halfbacks didn’t feed the ball to the forwards, there would be NO GOALS (MVP)

o Also, remember even though the person who scores typically gets the glory, we as coaches know that it takes four or five good passes to make that goal even happen. That’s why soccer is the ULTIMATE team sport!

o You need all types of players to make a team:

§ Forwards, Halfbacks, Defensemen, Goalies

§ Passers, Strong legs, Fast feet, Corner Kick Specialists, Throw in Specialists, Scorers, Head ball guys, etc…

So fit in when and where you can… There are so many areas to be a part of this team, so don’t ever worry about wanting to be a forward, halfback, defenseman, or goalie, just do the best that you can at whatever position you are assigned to. Each position is just as important as the other. Think about it, one head ball in the net and you are a hero, one great crossing pass for an assist and the whole team is jumping on you, one great burst of speed to stop an opponent from scoring and the FANS GO WILD. Soccer is about all the little things that add up to the overall game.

- PLUS SO MUCH MORE…….

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I would like to take a moment to use this tournament as a way to show you what a fine line it is between being the best in the league/tournament or middle of the road.

EACH GOAL IN SOCCER IS CRITICAL!

Simple examples below:

Our league record is currently 1 win 0 loses and 3 ties… If we scored just ONE more goal in 50 minutes (each game), we would be undefeated and in first place all by ourselves, singing your happy little “We are the champions” song. Our only win was just by ONE GOAL.

You lost by One Goal in double overtime in the State Cup two weeks ago (you played AWESOME), but we lost by ONE GOAL. If we had that other goal, we would be playing the next round of the state cup and would still have a chance to be singing your happy little “We are the champions” song.

In the tournament you lost the first game 1 – 0 (WOW look at that, ONE Goal again).

In the last game you won by One Goal (Wow another one goal game)… Think about it… If you did not score that ONE GOAL the last game, or let up just ONE… YOU WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THE CHAMPIONS, and they would have been singing their happy little song “We are the champions”.

ANY time you get an opportunity near the net YOU MUST be like a tiger and fight with every ounce of energy you have to get that ball in the net. Same thing goes when the opponents have the ball in front of our net, you must fight for that ball and get it out of our area.

To stay as champions YOU MUST put non stop pressure on your opponents to get as many scoring opportunities as possible, because as you can see many soccer games are ONE GOAL games. The way to get as many scoring opportunities, is just what you did in the state cup game and the last three games of that tournament, which was hustled, never let up, pushed way up and did not let the other team get into our zone.

On a personal note: I would like to thank everyone (the kids and parents) for making this weekend the most enjoyable weekend of my coaching career. YOU ALL MADE ME EXTREMELY PROUD AND I THANK YOU FOR THIS WONDERFUL, MEMORABLE MOMENT IN MY LIFE. This was just great! Thanks Kids….

Thank You Very Much:

Coach Becker