Monday morning quarterback, giving away prizes

Monday Morning Quarterback

• One who criticizes or passes judgment from a position of hindsight

WE ARE GIVING AWAY A PRIZE

First person to identify who this player is, will receive a special gift I got yesterday from the Raiders game. Please leave your guesses in the comments section.

So...

Here we go onto the current state of St. Mary's Athletics, and before we get started, I am going to add a new feature to the blog called "This Day in St. Mary's Athletics History" which will be updated on days where there is something worthy of looking back upon.


THIS DAY IN ST. MARY'S ATHLETICS HISTORY (September 26)

• September 26, 2008 
• The class of 2009 8th grade girls lost 25-16 in both sets of their second volleyball game ever.

• September 26, 2009 
• The class of 2010 8th grade girls won their second volleyball game ever via forfeit. 
• The class of 2010 8th grade boys soccer team lost 4-1 in their third game of the year. Brandon scored his first and only goal in the game.

Now onto the current teams.

What an amazing game by the 7th/8th grade soccer team, as they beasted their way to a 9-1 victory in their first actual game of the season.

Huge kudos go to Pablo, Sebastian and of course Eloy for their play. It was evident the way they played, that they all have been playing for years and have truly been gifted with some talent. How far it will get them in this season remains to be seen as soccer is a team sport.

Having such good forwards takes pressure off of players from the past like Brandon K., Hartman and Daniel who are used to carrying heavy loads. Now they don't have as much pressure and can ease their way into the team, which will make them all the more effective as well.

Great start for the team, but it gets harder this Saturday as they play two games in a span of three hours.

The volleyball teams came back down to earth following their week one victories. Both teams had winnable contests but the self inflicted wounds were too much to overcome.

A few things that didn't sit too well with me were that some of the experienced players looked a bit off on Friday night and Saturday morning.

All the players who have previous experience are now in their third year, so playing a game shouldn't be anything new. Unfortunately, some of the girls were battling nerves once again and it looked like they were out there for their first games, which shouldn't be happening.

As for the 5th/6th grade soccer team, it was just a bad game all around. Their offense needs to generate more scoring chances to take pressure off the defense.

Not to compare the defense of this team to the Giants, but the pitchers on the Giants get no help from the hitters and thus lose way too much. Tim Lincecum has a below .500 record this year because the team can't hit.

So this does relate. If the offense doesn't score goals, it becomes a defensive struggle game after game.

Part of the problem is spacing by the midfielders and forwards. If you watch the 7th/8th grade highlights, there are red jerseys everywhere on the field, scattered throughout.

Watch the 5th/6th grade game and it's a scrum of red going after one ball. There isn't much teamwork right now, and part of that is because of the inexperience and lack of fundamentals.

Tomorrow on the blog, I will cover something very important to all four of our teams - team chemistry. Now you don't want to miss that, and of course, why would you want to miss anything on the blog?

And finally...since we played "Find the Noob" yesterday, (see video from yesterday) we will do so again today. See ya pals.