The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The soccer season is now behind us. My attention will be turning to two things: the creation of a new field, which is proving to be more difficult than I imagined, and the high school season starting in September. The main hiccup with the new field is location. I hope to be able to announce that soon. It must be in the right place, and satisfy many criteria, so a little time spent now will be worth it in the end. For the Hapnot girls soccer team, I can see only success. This is a team with such potential that most coaches could only dream of. The high school Zones will be held in Flin Flon this year on the last weekend of September. With dedicated training, and maximum effort, we should do very well. Adult soccer is being organized every second Friday evening at Phantom Lake. Just turn up at 7 p.m. to play, the next game is July 7. Talking to Don Holmes, he stated that he hopes to be laying sod on the new Creighton field within a couple of weeks. The sand has been spread, and will soon be dragged and leveled. Once sodded, this will be a real jewel in the crown for Creighton, and will provide a superb recreation facility for years to come. Kirkham's coaching tip of the week. Last week we talked about game shape, which is the ability of a team to play a formation that will maximize their effectiveness. This week is about the placing of a wall by the goalkeeper. We have all seen a team awarded a free kick outside the area, and the first thing that happens is that defending players form a wall in front of their goal. After much pushing and shoving the kick is taken, and if the wall and goalkeeper have done their jobs, no goal is scored. Sometimes a player will bend the ball around the wall and score a spectacular goal. When the opposition has been awarded a free kick, the goalkeeper is responsible for positioning the wall. The purpose is to narrow the goal so that the goalkeeper leaves themselves a smaller target to protect. When a free kick has been awarded, the goalkeeper should stand in front of the near post, that is, the post nearest the ball. The outside defender should be in line with the ball and in front of the near post, so that in a four man wall, the goal will be reduced as an open target by about half. The goalkeeper now has to concentrate on protecting only half the goal. With a well placed defense, the ball shooter has to either 'bend it like Beckham', or feed the ball to a forward who should be challenged by a defender. In all instances, the goalkeeper is in charge, the goalkeeper must command respect and be authoritative, giving the defense clear instructions and in no doubt as to what is required. As in all things, practice makes perfect. Defensive walls must be practiced on the training ground, the time for asking questions is never during a game. World cup Call me lucky, but my four picks for the semi-finals are still in it! Of the four, only Brazil actually look like champions, but nonetheless, France, England, and Germany are still alive. Admittedly, England has not played well, but as my old coach used to say, "good teams win when they play badly." Saying that, good teams can also lose when they play well. England must get past Portugal to play Brazil in the semi-finals, and they must be hoping that Brazil lose when they play well because, very simply, they just do not play badly. Germany is getting stronger. Jurgen Klinsmann, the German coach, has been strategically perfect in his teams preparation for games so far. With the support of the home fans, the German game against Argentina has to be a must-watch. The finesse of the Argentineans, matched with the clinical finishing of the Germans will produce riveting soccer. France look the weakest of the group, however, they defeated Spain 3-1 to go through to the last eight. Now they meet Brazil in the quarter finals. Spain were no pushovers, and now the confidence of the French must be rising with the tide. France now play Brazil on July 1st. This is another must-see game. Brazil is cruising. I doubt if they have hit top gear yet. The ball handling skills of the Brazilian's is incredible. Brazil could field two teams capable of playing at this level. Strength in depth and skill in abundance makes this team truly poetry in motion. Until next week Ð keep on kicking
