2013 U8 Raiders - See you next year!

Thanks everyone for a fantastic season!

Congratulations to everyone, you all improved over the year and hopefully had a lot of fun in the process.

Congratulations to Harry for winning the team award. I kept a record of everyone's performance each game and gave out points for those who put in the best effort for the team. In the end it was quite close, Harry edged out Mateo only by a few points, with Geordan coming third. So well done to all three of you!

I also kept track of the goals,scores and encouragement awards. Our goal scorers were:
Harry 13
Ethan 6

Geordan 5

Mateo 4

Ralph 3

Alex 2

I didn't take so many photos towards the end of the season, but the one's I took are all here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trentandmary/sets/72157634130165871/

I hope you all had a great time and enjoyed playing as much as I enjoyed coaching. I look forward to seeing you all back at the club next year!

The stats...

Look out for Neymar!

Did you see any of the football that was played in Brazil in the schools holidays last month. There was a tournament called the Confederations Cup. Brazil beat Spain in the finals. One of the things I enjoyed about Brazil was watching a player called Neymar. Last year he played for a club called Santos in Brazil, but starting this next season, he'll be playing for Barcelona. Barcelona paid over $100 million so he would play for them! He has some amazing moves! His top 10 goals from last season and the highlights from the final are below. Neymar scored Brazil's second goal in the final and set up the first. Enjoy!

Raiders vs Annerley Hawks

Our best "working as a team" effort ever! I don't know if you remember our first games of the season, but we've come a long way since then, when I used to count the number of good passes in a game on one hand. I'd have need the whole team's fingers and toes to count all the good passes I saw today! The highlights for me were:

• Ralph running with the ball down the right side of the field from half way, crossing it into the goal mouth where Geordan threw his left foot out and got a touch on it to score! Ralph's effort, amongst others, earned him the player of the match award.
• Alex and Mateo solid as a rock in defence in the first half. Some great moments where they worked together with passes to get the ball up the field. 
• Harry's well taken goal in the second half to give us the win.
• Jadrian's run with the ball from half way getting to a one-on-one with the goal keeper. Ethan had a couple of good chances in attach too.
• Christos and Joshua not giving up and getting some good passes away.
• And finally a shout out to Geordan's knee which saved a goal right at the end!

Really proud of everyone. It always feels nice to have a win every now and then. I think all of us parents on the sidelines enjoyed this game too. Well done! Here's a few photos...

The World Cup - Go the Socceroos!

Hope you're all following and cheering for the Socceroos. In order to definitely make the World Cup next year they have to win two games in Australia this month. They won the first one against Jordan on Tuesday last week. The highlights from the game are below. Some great goals and a man-of-the-match performance from Robbie Kruse. Fingers crossed they can beat Iraq this week!! Enjoy.

Raiders vs Mt Gravatt Melbourne Heart

Tough game for the boys this week, some great defence kept us in the game! We were just a little unlucky not to bag a goal or two, and unlucky to concede a couple of own goals from corners (oops!).

Congratulations to Mateo for his man-of-the match performance! He pulled off the save of the season in the first half, and in the second half Mt Gravatt couldn't get the ball off him on his marauding runs forward.

 Geordan was unlucky not to score a goal late in the game with a fantastic run forward, just wasn't able to get his shot off in time.

Christos keeps getting better every game, while Jadrian, Ralph, Harry and Ethan all played well too.

A bunch of photos from the game are below.

Man of the Match! (Well done Mateo) Go Harry! Christos never gives up Ooopps! Ethan get's stuck in Jadrian and Ralph Half time Nice control Ralph Mateo unstoppable Serious defence!

My Favourite Player - Gareth Bale

I thought I'd share my favourite player in the world at the moment - Gareth Bale. I'm a little biased because he plays for my favourite team (other than the Brisbane Roar) Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham Hotspur (everyone calls them Spurs) play in the English Premier League. I've been a Spurs fan since I was 7! Their best player is Gareth Bale. Some people say he's the third best player in the world at the moment after Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo. He's 23 and is from Wales. He plays on the left wing, but he also plays as an attacking midfielder in the middle and scores lots of goals. He's very skilful, lightening fast and has a really powerful shot. Here's a short video of Bale in action and the top 10 goals he's scored this season.

Who's your favourite football player?

Raiders vs Annerley Bulls (1 June)

Hi everyone!
Well played again this week. While the Bulls scored a few goals, I think the game was actually pretty even. In the first half both teams had about 5 shots on goals, we were just a little unlucky that none of our shots went in the back of the net.

• Congratulations to Ralph! A great man of the match performance in the second half. Ralf didn't stop running and never gives up. Great work Ralph.
• Harry had some fantastic runs as striker in the first half and was really unlucky not to have scored a goal or two.
• Geordan had some good runs forward as usual and even more importantly made a couple of great saves as goalie in the second half.
• Another solid game from Christos, particularly in the second half where, as our right back, he made at least 2 goal saving tackles.
• Ethan and Mateo are both improving every game. Mateo never gives up the ball easily and made some good runs and crosses playing down the left wing in the second half. Ethan also looks dangerous in attack with the ball.
• Good efforts finally from Raiden and Jadrian. It was Raiden's first full game for our team, while Jadrian had some good kicks in the second half.

Look forward to seeing you at training this week.

Trent

There's no training tonight, but you can still practice!

We've spent time at training previously practising juggling the ball. It's a great one to do at home! I've seen you all starting to learn and some of you are pretty good at the kick-catches. This is one of the best exercises you can do to improve your skills. In our games on Saturday a really important skill is being able to control the ball at your feet when someone passes you the ball. If you master juggling, controlling the ball in the game is easy.

This little three minute video has some great pointers on how to practice juggling the ball with your feet. Don't worry if all you can do at the moment is kick-catches, keep practising. Let me know your new records. We might even have a juggling competition at the end of the season. See you all on Saturday!

Olympic Raiders vs Tarragindi Tigers - Cobras

Fantasic effort by all the boys. So many good things to talk about:

• Goal of the season so far from Ethan, dribbling the ball almost the length of the field and beating 3 players on the way! It was the first goal of his first ever hat-trick.
• Great running with the ball from Mateo and scored his second goal of the season with a clinical finish. I lost count of the number of times he ran with the ball beating players and then got a pass off.
• Christos had perhaps his most impressive game yet. Very solid in defence, lots of runs with the ball.
• Ralph had good game getting in amongst it with a couple of good goal saving tackles in defence in the first half and didn't let a goal in as goal keeper in the second half.
• Jadrian went agonisingly close to scoring a goal on a couple of occasions, and looks like he enjoys playing up front.
• Geordan made lots of runs down the right. It's great to see the way Geordan and the other kids are all looking for their team mates to pass to.
• Harry had another good game. A lot of saves in the first half as goalie, and a nice goal scored from Mateo's cross.

A few photos from the game below.