Chaos 2006 - 2010

A wander down memory lane. Some of the 2009-10 Chaos have witnessed a lot of changes to Doug and myself!

And it's four years and counting for Genevieve and Miranda - you should both be awarded some kind of medal for your pain and suffering!

Team Party

My thanks to Eva and Brendon for their warm hospitality in hosting our season-end party. I cant imagine a better place to host the event. Same time and place next year?

And my final congratulations to all the Chaos players and parents on a wonderful year of soccer. The changes in the girls since the start of the season has been immense - both on-field and off-field - and it has made for a very satisfying year for their coaches. It was truly a privilege to coach such a neat group of young ladies.

Hope everyone has a terrific spring and summer and we'll see you all back on turf sometime in August!

Uniform Return

A reminder to bring your jersey and shorts to our team party on Sunday so that I can return them to the club.

The socks are yours to keep.

Team Party

The Irvine's have kindly offered their residence for our season end soiree.

When: Sunday April 25, 1pm-3pm
Where: 5763 Old West Saanich Road (off of Oldfield Road, access via Brookhaven)
What to bring: A favourite snack or drink to share + bathing suit for hot tub or pool.

Please send me an email to confirm how many will be attending from each family.

Wednesday Practice

Practice this week will likely be on grass as I understand there is an adult game at 6pm on the turf.

So make sure you don't wear turf boots.

Jamboree Game Schedule - April 17/18

Friday 8:30pm vs Comox Valley @ Lochside Turf
Saturday 11am vs Nanaimo @ Lambrick Park High School
Saturday 5:15pm vs Gordon Head @ Torquay School
Sunday 11am vs North Shore @ Lambrick Park High School

No Practice Wednesday

No practice Wednesday as Lochside is being used for assessments.

And a reminder that we're still looking for U12 girls for this weekend's World Cups Tourney. Any questions please give me a call.

Full Field Festival Review

A very testing Saturday for the Chaos.

Our first "real" first -field game and we play one player short! Nice! But a nice finish from Justine in the first-half had us thinking of an improbable win only for our legs to tire in the second-half. Our opponents capitalized on a mistake to draw level, but we still had enough in the tank to ensure the game ended all-square. Overall we played pretty well and might have knicked a win with a bit more luck.

The second game was always going to be the tough one. Bays are a big, fast, physical team who knock the ball around pretty well, plus they had the advantage of our second game coming as their first. So it was no surprise that with a full bench and fresh legs they made most of the running and eventually ran-out easy winners. On a different playing surface (perhaps one where the grass isn't ten inches long) and with a couple more subs we likely leave the field much content.

However the point of the weekend's game is to further understand the 11-a-side game so I think it was a success regardless of the results.

Congrats to the Chaos who played on the Sunday for the Silver squad. I understand you went undefeated and scored a bunch of goals.

Hope to see everyone at upcoming assessments on Tuesday.

2010-11 Player Assessments

A reminder that player assessments for the 2010-11 season are approaching very fast.

March 30 (Tuesday) 6:00-7:15pm @ Tyndall Turf
April 6 (Tuesday) 6:00-7:15pm @ Tyndall Turf
April 9 (Friday) 6:L00-7:15pm @ Lochside Turf

Players must be registered prior to attending assessments. Please register online at the following website: https://www.ghsa.bc.ca/registration/player_reg_identify.asp

The club registrar will also attend assessments and accept manual registrations.

I would also like to emphasize how important it is that every player attend at least one assessment. There are no further assessments scheduled after April so any player not attending is at risk of not being selected for the Gold team. And for those players wishing to play U13 Gold next season obviousl;y attending more than one session is to your advantage. In effect the Gold team(s) will be selected by April 15 so this is your chnace to impress.

The assessments will also determine whether the club forms one or two U13 Gold Girls teams next season. In basic terms, based on assessment results the Technical Director and Technical Committee will determine whether there are enough players to form two competitive Gold teams.

Any questions please feel free to call or email.

No Practice Tonight

A number of girls are absent due to illness and other commitments so we'll cancel tonight and see everyone Wednesday.

Gordon Head Rematch

What: Full Field Game vs Gordon Head
When: 11:15am, Saturday March 20
Where: Lochside Turf

LISA Full Field Festival Game Schedule

Here is our game schedule for the Full Field Festival on Saturday March 27 & 28.

Saturday - 9am vs Peninsula @ Blue Heron
Saturday - 11am vs. Bays United @ Parkland School
Sunday - 10am vs. Peninsula @ Blue Heron #2
Sunday - Noon vs Prospect Lake @ Parkland School

Games will be 2 x 25 minute halves.

We will be combining Gold and Silver teams for the tournament so I do not expect everyone to attend all four games. However I would like all Chaos available for the Saturday games and then we'll figure out after that who can play in the Sunday games. We'll need between 13-14 players for each game.

Any questions let me know.

No Game Saturday

No game this weekend. I'll have more information early next week about an exhibition game against Gordon Head on March 20th.

Wednesday Practice Cancelled

Hope everyone is enjoying their spring break!

Hopefully I'll be making it more enjoyable when I inform you all that there will be no practice tomorrow! This way everyone can enjoy the return of winter warming themselves before the fireplace.

Full Field Madness

For our first (nearly) eleven-a-side game we did pretty well. A little disjointed at times, but much of that came down to a lack fo players and uncertainty over a new formation. However we did well enough to deserve better than a 0-2 result and gives us an early taste of what's to come at the Full Field Festival on March 27 and the Gordon Head Jamboree April 16-17-18.

The only bad news was what appeared to be a serious injury to Miranda. Hopefully the injury doesn't impact family holiday plans for spring break :-(

Spring Soccer Programs

A number of parents have asked about spring soccer programs. There are really only two options - Gorge Spring league or World Cups Academy.

The Gorge Spring league is games only at Hampton and Tyndall turf fields between April and end of June. Teams play Super 8 on half-field. Cost is usually around $90. Doug and I are not entering a U12 team in GSL this year due to other soccer commitments but I understand that several players from Tom's team are entering a team and they are looking for players.

World Cups are offering their U12 spring academy team. The academy team is selected by Brett & Steph and will play full field (eleven-a-side). The emphasis is on technical development but there are 5-6 games as well as a tournament in Bellingham, WA in late June. Practices are twice a week + games and the academy starts in mid-April and runs until the end of June. Cost is $500 and includes a uniform and training gear but does not include travel costs (food, ferry, hotel).

If you would like to discuss in more detail please feel free to give me a call or email, or ask me at training on a Monday or Wednesday evening.

Spring Break Soccer Schedule

Here is the practice and game plan for the next 2-3 weeks.

* Week of Mar 1-6 - practices Monday & Wednesday; game vs. Gordon Head @ Lochside on Saturday
* Week of Mar 8-13 - practice on Wednesday only
* Week of Mar 15-20 - practice on Wednesday only; game vs. Gordon Head (Full Field @ location TBA).

If you're looking for more soccer World Cups Academy is offering a spring break camp March 8-12 @ Lochside Park from 8-12pm. http://www.worldcupsoccercamp.com/springbreak/CordovaBay.htm

Gorge 1 Chaos 2

Finally some goals resulting from Robyn's corners! It's taken us a while but the past two or three games we've been getting closer and closer and today we finally cracked it! First, Erin got us on the board chesting the ball across the goal line and then shortly after Gorge equalized Lydia was first to react to a knock-down drilling a bullet of a shot into the net.

The post-game reports I received suggest we had a couple of chances to add to the scoreline, but both Justine and Camille shot just wide.

Overall I was very pleased with our effort. We just need to pay more attention to small details like your body-positioning when receiving the ball, better first touches and attacking bouncing balls.

Chaos 2 Peninsula 1

Well it was nice to finally get a win against Peninsula. We had to come back from a goal-down to do so, but the goal seemed to wake us up and what followed was some intense pressure on the Peninsula goal. Sometimes it happens that conceding a goal actually helps you focus and I thought today was a good example of that.

The first goal came from good wing-play from Kathleen combined with good positioning on the far post by Robyn. Doug and I have been emphasizing the opposite forward sealing-off the back post on crosses and corners and today we got our reward. The second-goal followed quite quickly and took the same route, however this time Kathleen's cross bounced off a PSA defender into their goal. Late on Camille had to do well to stop a shot labeled for the top corner but in the end we held on fairly comfortably.

Hopefully that will be the end of our 8:45am start times!

Gorge is up next and I will have details on where and when at Wednesday training.

Peninsula Game

Our game on Saturday is 8:45am so please try and be there for 8:15am.

Chaos 0 Bays 2

A couple of thoughts about today's game.

Firstly, that's a very strong team we played today yet I thought we were the best team for much of the first half. We certainly out-chanced them and limited them to very few chances. It was unfortunate to give up a goal how and when we did, but it was still a good opening 30 minutes. As has happened a number of times this year we created opportunities from good ball movement but our final shot didn't do enough to trouble their goalie.

Second, I thought their goalie and their #9 were very good. We gave their #9 too much space at times and while she didn't score, she helped create several good scoring chances with her vision and skill. Their goalie dominated her eighteen like no other goalie I've seen this year and she made two excellent clearing kicks to help her defenders. Playing goalie is about making quick decisions and I don't think she made a single error today.

Fitness. We need to be sharper mentally and fitter physically if we want to compete for 60 minutes. At important times in the game today I thought we lacked that burst of energy necessary to get to the ball or close down our opponent. So we will pick up our fitness regiment again on Monday in hope we can get going and keep going faster and for longer.

Finally, a thanks to Desi and Mckenna for filling in today for some of our missing players. Both Desi and Mckenna didn't look out of place and made several good contributions.

Bays Game - Early Kickoff

Kickoff on Saturday is 8:45am. Please try and be there for 8:15am.

We are playing on the middle field on the turf (1B).

No Game Saturday

Confirmation that we do not have a game this Saturday :-(

Practice as usual next Monday, 5:30 @ Lochside Grass.

Have a great weekend!

Girls 3 Boys 1

Now it's the ROMS girls time to give the boys some grief at school!

We certainly had our "A" game tonight and were well worth our win. We showed some good composure on the ball, made some nice passes, kept our shape pretty well and scored three strong goals. Not entirely sure who got the final touch on our first goal, Genevieve or Justine, but it certainly ranks as the fastest goal for the Chaos this season. The game had barely begun when Gen intercepted a clearing pass and her shot seemed to take a deflection off Justine's knee before fooling their keeper. We had a couple of other half-chances to score in the first 30 minutes with some good wing play from Lucy, but the boys escaped the half down only one goal.

Second-half was much the same. Camille put her name on the scoresheet with a fine individual effort after receiving a long pass from Kathleen. The boys then pegged us back a goal after a break down our right-side, but Kathleen restored our two goal cushion blasting home a rebound into an empty net after Robyn's cross was only parried by their keeper. In between Justine and then Erin had to make one great goal-line shot-block keeping out a sure goal after a scramble. Claudia, Lydia and Naomi all had scoring chances in the last thirty minutes but couldn't squeeze one home.

More than the win, what I really liked was how well we defended and when we had possession how we did the simple things to keep possession and move forward with the ball. And when we didn't have the ball we got goal side, checked-hard and limited the shots on Camille and Justine to long range efforts. I also think our midfielders - Erin and Kathleen - were very competitive and won more of the tackles than did the boys they faced. So overall another strong effort.

Night Off!

No practice tonight. See you all Wednesday!

Wednesday Game

A quick reminder that our game against the U12 Boys Wednesday is 7pm.

Fantastic first half, Frantic second half!

Not quite a game of two halves, but close enough. Two goals leads are the most dangerous in sport and so it was today when we built a good lead but then suffered a couple of mistakes and misfortune and had to work much harder for the win than perhaps we should have.

We really played well in the first half and were absolutely worth our two goal lead and perhaps a couple more. Justine's recent strong play up-front was finally rewarded with a goal. Both the pass from Olivia and Justine's finish were top class - certainly one of the prettiest goals we've scored this year. We opened up the Lakehill defence on 5 or 6 more occasions, much of this coming from good build-up from the back and our strikers (Miranda & Justine ) doing an awesome job of holding the ball up and finding their team mates with passes. But our goal attempts didn't match the quality of our build-up play and too few of our shots troubled their keeper. Then after some sustained pressure Erin collected the ball about fifteen yards out and scored with a left-footer (really?) that fooled their keeper. Shortly after it should have been three after a cross from Olivia skipped past Miranda and Justine to find Robyn all alone in front of goal but, erm well we wont dwell on what happened next.

The second half saw Lakehill rejuvenated and they got a goal back quickly. This gave them a real kick and play was pretty even for the next five-ten minutes. We were still creating good chances but when shooting chances came our way we were too slow to take them. Defensively we were doing OK, but definitely lacked the confidence we had moving the ball as we did in the first half. Then Lakehill equalized with a goal that owed much to the slick surface of the field, squirming away from Justine. 2-2 and Lakehill were confident they could get the winner.

In response we raised our game again and our ball movement and decision making improved. As a result we put plenty of pressure on the Lakehill goal, but when Kathleen's fine shot from the left hit the crosswork (twice) it didnt look to be our day. However with a minute left Robyn scored a beauty after a quick short corner with Olivia. I'm sure Robyn will claim it was a shot and not a cross, but either way it was a great goal and a nice way to win a game we almost let get away from us.

Reminders we have fitness training Monday 5:30 (grass) and another game versus the boys on Wednesday 6:00 (turf).

Early to Bed on Friday Night!

That's because our game is 8:30am on Saturday! The good news is we're on the new Braefoot Turf (the west field, closest to Braefoot Road).

See you there around 8:00am (yikes!). Remember to drink your coffee ;-)

World Cups Festival Registration

The Easter weekend is fast approaching so that means registration for the annual Coast Capital World Cups Festival is now available.

You can register online at http://www.worldcups.ca/. I will also have manual registration forms with me at practices starting this evening.

If you have friends at school who play for other clubs please take a form for them as well or tell them to register online. Many of you have participated in past World Cups so you know how much fun the weekend is. It's going to be even better if more of your friends are teammates are there - whether they are on your team or not!

Chaos 2 Juan de Fuca 0

Well that was a much better performance. We probably had fewer clear-cut scoring opportunities than we did against Gordon Head last week, but we certainly were better defensively. Outside of one breakaway where Camille made a great save and a free kick where Justine "stacked the pads", I can't remember another JDF shot on our goal. This is an excellent response to our poor 2nd half against Gordon Head where we showed little patience and even less thinking when we were defending our goal.

Our two goals today weren't too shabby either. Robyn's free kick blistered past both the wall and goalkeeper and Camille finished her breakway chance with a great finish after a nice through ball from Erin. We still need to get on the business end of our corners, but at least today we got two or three whacks at the ball as it bounced off the JDF keeper and around their penalty area. Too often we dont even get a scoring opportunity from Robyn's crosses, but there was signs that the team is starting to get the idea all you need to do is let the ball hit your body.

So overall it was a good performance from everyone and probably one of our most complete sixty-minutes of the season. Genevieve, Olivia, Kathleen and Claudia did well to shut down the JDF attack, while Erin did a nice job of winning balls in midfield against JDF's tall #15. And up front Justine did a great job of holding-up play for her fellow forwards with Miranda and Robyn profiting with some good shooting opportunities. It certainly appears that our game against the U12 Boys prepared us well for today's game so we'll look to repeat this in a couple of weeks as we prepare for Bays United and Peninsula.

However next up is Lakehill so we'll concentrate on them for now. Game time and location are TBA as usual.

Wednesday Exhibition Game

Instead of our regular practice I have scheduled an exhibition game this Wednesday against the Boys U12 Silver.

Game time is 7pm and we are playing on Field 1C, which is the field closest to the footpath.

Please try and be there for 6:30pm for a warm-up. I will have different coloured uniforms for the game.

Nanaimo Trip Cancelled

Regrettably I have had to withdraw from the Nanaimo Tournament. Simply too many calendar conflicts results in us not having enough players for the trip.

Fortunately the Sunday Academy starts up on the same day so interested players can get their soccer fix there.

Sunday Socccer Academy

A reminder that World Cup Soccer camp (Brett & Steph) are running their winter academy sessions Sunday afternoons at Lochside Turf, 3:30-4:30pm. Training sessions start Sunday January 24and run through to March 22. I believe the cost is $100 for 8sessions.

I highly recommend these training sessions to any player looking for extra ballwork. Brett is armed with tonnes of new ideas after spending six weeks in Argentina working with some of the best coaches in Buenos Aires. Doug and I are huge supporters of WCSC because we believe they run the best program in town for players wanting to improve their skill and have fun at the same time.

I know many of us will miss the Jan 24 session as we're in Nanaimo, but I'll try and fin a way for us to make up that session later on.

Here is the link for more information

Saturday's Game

Our game against Gordon Head is set for 9:45am @ Tyndall Turf.

Monday Jan 11 Practice is Cancelled

Sorry folks, Doug is away on business and I've a minor emergency to attend to so we won't have practice tonight. Apologies for the short notice.

See you all Wednesday!

Bottle Drive Results

This year we made $6500 beating last year's $5600 by some margin and setting yet another Victoria area record in the process. On top of that the tree chipping service at the Food Forum parking lot raised another $740.

So that's $7240 toward our turf payments!

My thanks to the Chaos players and parents for helping out.

Bottle Drive

A quick reminder that we are meeting at Lochside Park tomorrow around 9:15am. From there we will break into three or four groups and set-off on our routes. I think we're probably looking at around 30-40 minutes per route.

The club is supplying refreshments and donuts after we're finished.

No Practice Tonight

See you all Wednesday instead.

We may have a game on Wednesday night so check the blog tomorrow for updates.

Reminder #2 - Bottle Drive

A reminder that instead of a game this Saturday we have a bottle drive. Erin and I have delivered the notices to our route but we need some help picking up the bottles Saturday morning and sorting them at Lochside Park.

Our route is Fowler Road, Menawood Place, Sayward Road, Alderley Road (north of Sayward), east side of Pat Bay Highway (between Cordova Bay Road and Sayward), as well as the stretch of Lochside leading into the park. I think three vehicles could get this done in about twenty minutes.

Please send me an email if you can help out. We will start collecting around 9:30am on Saturday.

Reminder #1 - Monday Practice

Practices begin again this week. Please try and be at Lochside a little before 5:30pm and remember to bring runners for our distance running and speed work.