Update Time: 2010 Round 7 Review | St. Michaels Over 35 Football Club

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2010 Season: May 22^nd - Round 7

Football Weather - we love it

How to Goal Kick

One of the joys of winter sport is the ability to get dirty, a rare joy these days as councils prefer to protect grass cover. With four wins from five matches this weekend this pleasure is alive an well in our club.

In a new series of eduacational 'how to' articles this week readers can learn the art of the goal kick with special pictorial input from some of our clubs best exponents of the art.

In future unmissable editions we will reveal the secrets to one of the most difficult technical and skillful aspects of the game, goal keeping. We'll get inside the heads of some of our clubs best keepers to discover the dedication required to make it to the top.

Remember to get your money in for our the Local & World Cup Tipping Combo Comp. Details below.

Enjoy your football.

Mark D

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Featured Articles

President's Message

Some byes this week however four wins out of five matches is an outstanding result.

Our ladies are back in action this weekend so if weather permits pop down to Kingsford Smith on Sunday and show your support. You'll enjoy it too.

World Cup Tipping $30 in

World cup fever is rising and with the first games only a few weeks away to add some spice, the club tipping competition is back again.

Check the video below and if you need inspiration.

You need put your $30 in the bank account and read these two documents.

Tipsheet 1 and Tournament Points - 2010 World Cup.doc
World Cup 2010 Tipping Competition Rules.pdf

Goal Kicks - How To

Goalkeepers ought to take their own goal kicks if possible. This allows the defense to push out and keep attackers from lurking about near the penalty area and ensures that defenders are marked up and organized in case of a quick change of possession.

As with punts and drop kicks, technique is the key. Power is usually less of an issue than the ability to get some loft on the ball to increase the distance. Keys to getting a good goal kick are:

Angle of Approach

Approach the ball from a slight angle. This will allow the hip flexor to get involved more and generate more leg speed. Make sure the follow through is straight at the target, though.

The ankle of the plant foot should be just behind the ball and the body should be leaning back. This differs from shooting technique! If the plant foot is too close to the ball, it will be difficult to get any height on the kick.

Long, Smooth Stride

The final step into the kick should be a long, smooth stride (Fig. 1). This also helps generate leg speed. A short, choppy run-up won't allow a proper leg swing.

Point Toe Outward

The toe needs to be pointed slightly outwards (ankle locked!) in order to get the foot under the ball (Fig. 2). This is probably the most crucial point. Although a goal kick is an instep drive, you want to use the inside of the shoelaces, not the top.

The foot should be angled outward so the contact point is on the lower half of the ball, just above the first joint of the big toe on the inside of the instep (Fig. 3). An analogy I like to use is that of a golf wedge versus a driver. The foot should be more like a wedge in order to get under the ball and give the it proper trajectory and distance.

If the kicks are long but tend to curl and affect accuracy, watch the point where the foot strikes the ball. With an angled approach and long swing, the natural tendency will be to hit an "inswinging" ball; to counteract this, the strike point should be just to the "inside" of the ball (just to the left of center on the ball for a right footed kicker, vice versa for lefties).

Finishing Position

Before you kick have a look around for a camera and hold your follow through until you are sure a nice shot has been captured.

Fig 6: Hold your finishing position.

Fig 7: Be photogenic.

Fig 1: Angle of approach.

Fig 2: Foot angle.

Fig 3: Ball Contact.

Fig 4: Watch the ball.

Fig 4: Ball Contact.

Fig 5: Long smooth stride.

A Final Word

If a keeper is struggling to get the ball off the ground, it can be helpful to try working off a "tee" at first: a tall tuft of grass, flat cone, etc. This will allow more space to get under the ball. Once that is working well, lower the ball.

You shouldn't need a specialized keeper coach to help with goal kicks; any good soccer coach should be able to help you tune up your place kick.
A final word on kicks: let your good technique do the work for you! A keeper who tries too hard to "explode" the ball will likely mis-hit the ball and suffer inconsistency. Relax, and let the mechanics of the kick work for you.

Round 7 Match Results: 4W-1L-0D

Saturday 22nd May 2010

Over 45 Division 2 Men at Kingsford Smith
St Michaels 1 Northbridge 4 LOSS
Ladder Position: 11th (11th)

Sunday 23rd May 2010

Division 2A Men at Kingsford Smith
St Michaels 4 Hornsby RSL 3 WON
Ladder Position: 5th (6th)

Division 2R Men at Kingsford Smith
St Michaels 4 Hornsby RSL 3 WON
Ladder Position: 3rd (4th)

Division 4A Men - Blackman Upper
St Michaels 1 Kissing Point 0 WON
Ladder Position: 5th (6th)

Division 4R Men - Blackman Upper
St Michaels 4 Kissing Point 1 WON
Ladder Position: 3rd (4th)

Featured Match Report - 2Rs

Round 7 Sunday May 22nd 2010.
St Michaels 5 vs Hornsby RSL 1

Scorers:
Marc B 2 Matt M 2 Scott G 1

An unwelcome Sunday game awaited us this week, which was always slightly in doubt due to the on-off precipitation in the days leading up.

Due to the rain, both the good guys and the banjo-players changed alongside one another in the magnificent grandstand, facilities that put the ‘new’ Wembley Stadium to shame, especially after the extensive renovation work undertaken by the Council over the summer i.e. nailing down one rather wobbly plank of wood.

Dom and I did our best to act as experienced groundsmen, filling some alarming holes in the pitch and there was some extraordinary work by El Presidente picking up the leftovers from various four legged friends, ‘twas beyond the call of duty.

The game kicked off in light drizzle, which continued for most of the match, making those Poms amongst us feel right at home.

The game kicked off in light drizzle, which continued for most of the match, making those Poms amongst us feel right at home.

The cricket square started boggy and gradually deteriorated, making things tricky for the poor suckers playing in centre midfield – for this game your author had the pleasure of Hilly starting alongside him. The plan was of course to try and get the ball off the square as quickly as possible to get it wide and whilst we did manage this to a certain extent, some of our passing during the first half was not the best, with the ball either skidding rapidly off into touch or straight through to their vertically-challenged keeper.

Rohit, in particular, never seemed to get a single pass played to his feet out on the right. However, from what I think was our first corner, the ball was swung expertly into the danger area by Stew (following up his outstanding effort the previous week for the 3Rs when he scored direct from a corner), towards the far post and on the edge of the six yard box and the skipper rose unchallenged to plant a firm header into the middle of the net.

"Here we go" i thought, "this is going to be easy"

However, we didn’t really capitalise on the good start and found ourselves starting to get outnumbered in midfield as the half wore on. Hornsby played some decent football during this spell and one such move led to the ball being played into a guy unmarked in the middle and just outside our box. He seemed to have about 10 seconds to line up his shot which he drove firmly and low off the wet grass into the bottom left hand corner, despite Sayley’s gallant dive.

1-1 at half time and we were disappointed to be level. The skipper rightly pointed out that we needed to show a bit more desire to go out and win the game. But, there was a feeling amongst some of us that we were likely to run over the top of them in the second stanza. Their marking had been pretty slack generally and they weren’t making much effort to track our runs from midfield. Fairly early on we won another corner and it was again slotted into the danger area, this time to be met by the unmarked melon of another of our master-craftsmen at set pieces, Mr Bineham. 2-1.

Some weeks I feel our corners aren’t much cop but this week we seemed to get 90% of them into just the right spots – well done to Stew, Bowdy and Matt.

From this point on I felt that we had most of the play. The defensive line of Dom, John, Paul and Pete dealt proficiently with whatever Hornsby tried to do going forwards, our passing suddenly got much better and we started to knock it around as we know we can do. Scott became the hub and often played the Platini role, picking out the best option most of the time and it became pretty much one way traffic.

On one such attack Hilly found himself with the ball inside the box on the right, jinked, turned on a dustbin lid and tried to knock the ball diagonally across to the six yard box. In doing so the ball struck the arm of a defender and after a long pause while new Ref Shane decided whether or not he was going to give it, he pointed to the spot. Matt decided to come off the subs bench at this point in order to take the spot kick and duly planted it firmly high and right into the net.

Shortly afterwards, Scott flicked a header through the central channel from a free kick, I thought I had timed my run to stay onside and flicked it past the goalie, only to find Assistant Referee Shaw with his flag in the air.

I think he was trying to keep up with their Lino on the other side, who throughout the game repeatedly penalized their strikers for offside.

Several other chances came and went, Matt just missed with a couple and Scott had several unsuccessful cracks at goal from distance. Bowdy and Stew kept causing them problems down the left, whilst Rohit and Pete G kept probing down the right. On attack on the edge of their box once

again, Hilly picked out the right option of playing Matt in wide on the right, he (surprisingly I hear you say) put in a peach of a cross to the far post where Marc arrived almost underneath the bar to nod it over the line. Two minutes later Scott put a great ball through the central channel on the deck for Matt to chase. Happily for him the defender chasing him put in a powder-puff challenge and fell away, leaving Matt to bury his second and our fifth.

I should add that Sayley made a couple of great saves in the second half from decent shots when they broke away, it can’t be easy to retain concentration when most of the play is up the other end.

It was a game of two halves really, we were a bit tentative in the first and our passing just wasn’t good enough. I like to think we were adjusting to the wet conditions. In the second, we knocked it around well and created plenty of chances as a result.

Next week we play our friends from Kissing Point up at Turramurra and can expect a tougher game.

The post game banter was washed down with Stella & Heineken whilst some tasty sausages and chicken were cooked on the old club BBQ that surely is about to collapse in a rusted heap this season. The 1s then came back from 3-1 down to win 4-3, with the aid of a couple of slightly controversial calls from the Ref, whose name escapes me. As I left at the end of the 1s match, I was sent cheerily home as I made my way past the disgruntled Banjo players in the grandstand with comments such as “St Michaels as a club are always such cheating bastards”. Thanks for coming guys and perhaps your woeful performance in the last 30 mins had something to do with it!

Hughesie

Upcoming Round 8 Matches