Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

 Last week my schedule allowed me my first opportunity to photograph the local High School boys soccer team. Generally speaking boys soccer is more about speed and power while the girls game is more about finesse and teamwork.  The home team (in the white uniforms) won the match 2-1. They are defending state champions, but graduation thinned their ranks and they are having to adjust to the loss of several seniors.

 The opponents were pretty proficient at the slide tackle. This is a technique you don't see as much in the girls game.

 The trick to the slide tackle is to tackle the ball without touching the opponent. It's a pretty tricky maneuver and failing to do it correctly can result in a penalty, even the dreaded "yellow card".

 I must admit, the slide tackle does provide some great photo opportunities.

 Here the opposing goal keeper has come out of the box to prevent the home team from scoring an easy goal. It takes a pretty tough individual to play goal keeper.

Here is the winning goal, scored on a penalty kick. A more exciting image was published yesterday, so just scroll down if you want to see it.
One important lesson I have learned this year about photographing sports. If a ball is involved, the ball needs to be in the image. If possible the face(s) of those playing the ball need to be visible. That isn't always possible, but it is most desirable.
For those who may be interested in the technical side, I ALWAYS shoot in manual mode and for sports I always shoot in jpeg. For night games at a well lit park I shoot with an ISO of 1600-3000, a shutter speed of 1/400th - 1/500th  at f3.5-5.0 and Auto White Balance. I have the focus set on single point, contunious focus and high speed continuous shutter. For my camera, that means it will fire 7 frames per second. Have a blessed day.