United Quest Blue '85 Athena (U-14) - Skills Contests -

This page was last updated on November 11, 1999.

Skills Contests:

We held a series of skills contests during the November 9th and 11th practices. Players with "top 3" finishes in each event earn extra chances in a drawing to win a 6-foot tall Mia Hamm poster. Here are the results of each contest. You can click on each contest name to see a description of the contest.

Dribbling

• This contest consisted of "slalom" dribbling over a 60 yard course of unevenly spaced cones. Penalty points were assessed for missing a turn (3 second penalty) or hitting a cone (1 second penalty). Each player had several practice runs followed by two "official" timed runs through the course. We use the player's best time as her score.

Lauren finished on top of the list with a time of 21.7 seconds. Her dribbling style is smooth as silk; she makes it look like the ball is attached to her feet. Well done Wo-Wo!

1st place	Lauren (21.7 seconds)
2nd place	Charlsey (22.0)
3rd place	Jessica D (22.1)

2-Touch

• The 2-touch contest tested receiving and short passing skills. The contest consisted of receiving balls with one touch, then passing the ball through a small target 6 yards away on the second touch. Each player was served 20 balls, of which 10 were routine ground ball serves, 5 were fast-paced ground balls, and 5 were bouncing balls. A point was awarded if the ball was settled within the receiving area on the first touch and then passed through the target on the second touch.

Asha topped the list with a score of 19. She has excellent receiving and passing skills with both feet, and it definitely paid off in this contest. Good job Asha!

1st place	Asha (19)
2nd place (tie)	Jessica D (18)
	Lauren (18)
3rd place (tie)	Jessica B (17)
	Jillian (17)
	Kaelen (17)
	Rachael (17)

1-Touch

• The 1-touch contest consisted of playing incoming balls through a small target on the first touch. Each player was served 20 balls, of which 10 were routine ground ball serves, 5 were fast-paced ground balls, and 5 were bouncing balls. A point was awarded if the ball was played through the target (6 yards away) on the first touch.

Meagan came in first with a score of 18, which was even higher than her 2-touch score! All season long, Meagan has demonstrated excellent 1-touch ability at sweeper, so it's no surprise to see her at the top of the list. Way to go Meagan!

1st place	Meagan (18)
2nd place	Elisa (17)
3rd place	Jessica D (16)

Heading

• The heading contest consisted of 10 defensive headers and 10 offensive headers. For the defensive headers, a point was awarded if the player headed the ball back over the server's head. For the offensive headers, a point was awarded if the player headed the ball back below the server's knees.

Looks like we'll need to make this contest tougher the next time around. 40% of the team "aced" it. Here are the rankings:

1st place (tie)	Amanda (20)
	Elisa (20)
	Jessica D (20)
	Jillian (20)
	Lauren (20)
	Meagan (20)
2nd place (tie)	Alex (19)
	Charlsey (19)
	Jessica B (19)
	Kaelen (19)
	Rachael (19)
3rd place (tie)	Asha (18)
	Christina (18)
	Lindsey (18)

Shooting

• In the shooting contest, each player started with 10 balls in the penalty arc. Once the player made her first touch, she had 30 seconds to get as many points as possible. Goals counted 3 points each, and keeper saves (or balls that hit the goal post or cross bar) counted 1 point each. Missed shots counted 0 points.

Jessica D was able to take all 10 shots in the allotted 30 seconds, scoring on 7 and forcing 3 saves to notch first place with 24 points. Jessica, you've got the "green light" to shoot as often as you want in our next game!

1st place	Jessica D (24)
2nd place	Charlsey (22)
3rd place	Amanda (14)

Juggling-1 (freestyle)

• Freestyle juggling consists of using any legal body part (anything except the arms and hands) in any sequence and keep going until the ball hits the ground. The one restriction is that you can only do two thigh juggles in a row before you have to use another body part. Each player gets two attempts. The top score counts.

Charlsey set a new team record with 63 consecutive touches. She broke her own record, which she set at team camp in August. Congratulations CT!

1st place	Charlsey (63)
2nd place	Sally (30)
3rd place	Jessica D (23)

Juggling-2 (round-the-world)

• Round-the-world juggling involves following a specific sequence: start with either the left or right foot, then juggle the ball to the same thigh, then to the head, then back down to the other thigh, then to the other foot, then catch the ball. If you complete the whole round-the-world cycle, you get 10 points, otherwise you get one point for every legal touch. Each player gets three attempts. The score is the sum of all three attempts.

Jessica D had the team's first-ever perfect score, completing the full cycle on all three attempts to get 30 points. Amanda and Charlsey each completed the full cycle on two of their three attempts. Jessica, Mu-Mu and CT all earn a twaid abling!

1st place	Jessica D (30)
2nd place	Amanda (23)
3rd place	Charlsey (22)

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Created: 11/02/99 Revised: 11/11/99