Offense = Defense?

Today is my 300th blog post! Hooray for however many of you have been here since the beginning. Anyway, as I was looking for some inspirational quote to put on the Vermont Chargers Power Soccer Club Facebook page, I found the one that is obviously there now , but afterwards I found this one. "If you're attacking, you don't get as tired as when you're chasing. ~Kyle Rote, Jr." I found it under the soccer section on Quotegarden.com. Anyway, as I thought about it more, I realized chasing the ball is very similar to attacking if you think about it.

Everybody loves offense; there is no denying that. The newspapers, the television, and the box score love the people who score the goals or hit the home runs. However, defense is often times neglected. I would like to challenge that notion that chasing the ball can be more tiring

Personally, I end up playing center much of the time during our practices. Therefore, I end up being the defender in the box more often than not. However, I thrive on that. I loved being able to support the goalkeeper and try to get rid of the ball. It is a challenge to react to the offense and anticipate. I often think of Mighty Ducks Three and the line "Make him make the first move, Conway!" I strive to do that on defense. If the offensive player is coming at me, I should be able to see where he is playing the ball on his guard and anticipate what will happen (sorry, I was not politically correct in that sentence :-))

Of course, I am a proponent of the theory that offense is the best defense. I do not mean that we forget about defense. I do mean that if we have the ball, the other team does not. We are preventing them from moving the ball forward which is the goal of playing defense. In this case, maybe we can reconcile offense and defense. As I mentioned before, offense is by nature fulfilling the goal of defense. In a similar way, isn't the goal of offense to drive the ball towards the opposing goal? If I am playing defense and I clear the ball, the ball is moving towards my opponent's goal is it not? Therefore, I challenge everyone to think about power soccer as a complete game. You do not just play offense or defense. By nature, they are intertwined and cannot be separated. They fulfill each other's objectives. Therefore, your team may run some form of offense, but never forget that it is also concerned with defending the ball from the opponent and therefore keeping it ourselves.

Sorry if this seems rather long and cumbersome. It just kept flowing.