|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Chantilly's hands-on approach
It's a practice that dates back to the beginning of sports: kneeling down with a stick and drawing up a play in the dirt. Though there have been many technological advances over the years to help coaches convey game plans to their players, Chantilly boys soccer coach Tracy Birrell likes to keep it simple.On several occasions during last Friday's game against Oakton, Birrell could be seen huddling with members of her team and moving objects around to illustrate what she wanted them to do on the field.
“Actually, they're net clips,” Birrell said when asked about her teaching tools. “I was using the net clips to show the players in the midfield how they were kind of over-running each other. It works out a little bit better when you have visuals.”
Birrell said she'll often use whatever she has handy to teach her players, including pennies or rolls of tape. Her coaching style worked well against the Cougars, as Chantilly won the game, 2-0.
“She wants us to know what we're doing in the game, and for us to help the other players understand it as well,” sophomore Jamal Umar said of Birrell's teaching tactics. “She shows us the game and where she wants us to move.”
Umar, who scored his first goal of the season against Oakton, is one of eight sophomores on the Chargers' roster, five of whom are in the starting lineup. With such a young team, Birrell feels that her hands-on approach to coaching is necessary to get her message across.
“A lot of the tactical aspects of the game, I think they need a lot more work on that,” she said.
Chantilly followed up Friday's win with a 2-1 overtime victory over Centreville. It was just the Chargers' fourth win of the season, but all four victories have come in Concorde District play. Chantilly lost its regular-season finale to Westfield Tuesday night, but the Chargers will be either the third or fourth seed in next week's district tournament depending on the outcome of Westfield's game with Robinson, which occurred Wednesday after The Times went to press.
“I think this year is a developmental year for us,” Birrell said. “We've got four seniors, last year we graduated 12. Our main core of players is sophomores. We're trying to develop the program, develop a style of play and stick to it.”
Given the success Chantilly had against district competition during the regular season, the Chargers are confident they can achieve similar outcomes when the postseason begins.
“I think we're looking at at least regionals, hopefully,” Umar said. “We'll just try to work hard and hopefully we'll get there.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.