Schools Criticized/LONGBALL

[logical]

1.)If LONG BALL is obviously effective....why do teams that are East of Lafayette but West of New Orleans get criticized for it? Just recently I read on here that teams such as HLB, NISH, West Gate, Catholic of New Iberia, ESA etc..are just playing kickball, but when others do it, it's called Direct Play..
2.)Can a team have direct play all the time are is that against the rules? Yet they win games with that style of play..Coaches that play that style do it effectively... Because if I can recall scores use to be 9-0 and up just 5yrs ago in div1 dist.3 but now are actually competitive..
Finally, I want you to pick a playoff game and go to it watch how many teams go to(use) Direct Play(LongBall)

[McScruff]

I think there is a big difference between kickball and direct play with longballs. Kickball conotes blasting the ball forward with no particular target or plan of attack in mind...like a clear. Many of the teams that get criticized for playing kickball just blast the ball up, hope their forward can win it and beat the defense. There isn't much strategy involved. A nice longball would be a well placed thought out attack that hit an attacker who is making a run to space. There is skill as well as timing involved. Anyway, that's the distinction I make between the two styles.

[4TheLoveOfTheGame]

logical, Westgate doesn't play kickball or longball. We have over the years worked on a possesion game that can and has been modified from time to time to play more direct. This past season we had very little speed. A few guys that were quick but our fastest guy was our keeper. A possesion game fits our team well and we havn't played kickball since my senior year hahaha. As far as other team playing kickball. Perhaps kickball isn't such a bad thing for teams with very little talent. It does releve pressure from your defense. If your constantly being pinned back (or playing defensive) you want to get the ball out as quick as possible. Teams like NISH and last year Barbe won quite a few games this way. NISH didn't play as much kickball against the weaker teams in D3 but they had the speed up top that when they played lafayette and acadiana they played with the mentality that the longer the game goes scoreless the better for them. It worked. Barbe did it to us last season. We possesed the ball for a good portion of the game but gardner kept it out of the net. One quick punt to teakle and a breakaway ending in a pk that won it for barbe.
That all being said, I don't like kickball, I think the game of soccer is at its best when a team can manuever their opponents defense to were they want it then strike with direct play. A combination of both possesion and direct soccer is deadly but extremely hard to teach. This is why u don't see many international teams vary to much from their strategy. If they are a longball team they won't force possesion. If they are a possesion team they won't resort to longball unless it is a clear option for getting past a defence.

Man that was long sorry.

[McScruff]

no, I'm glad you posted that. In my post, I was about to start a new paragraph about how logical should remove Westgate from that list. Because you guys make a real effort to possess the ball whenever possible and play a short game. I have always really respected that about you guys(for the whole two years that I have watched you play). I think at this level that it is the right way to coach the game. The other way might get you a few wins here and there, but it is not a solid foundation on which to build a program. I think that is why those teams are criticized. They aren't lookig to the future; they aren't looking to develop players so that one day they might be a contender. They are content to scrap a few wins together here and there and call it a season. It's like there is satisfaction in not finishing last. Kind of like playing not to lose, with no vision for the future. Anyway, I'll step down from my soapbox now.

[4TheLoveOfTheGame]

Amen brotha