By Mike Woitalla
I’ve seen a coach allowed back on the sideline shortly after he berated, during a U-10 rec game, a 15-year-old ref so harshly she fought back tears when I askedher about the incident months later. So I get where Florida state senator Jeremy Ring is coming from.
Ring has introduced a bill in the Florida Senate that would require youthsports coaches who get kicked out of games involving children 12 years old or younger to be suspended for the rest of the season.
“My guess is every one of you has seen a coach, aparent-coach, on the other side that is obnoxious and sometimes goes beyond obnoxious,” Ring, who was prompted by his experiences as the coach of his 8-year-old daughter’s soccer team, told members ofthe Florida Senate Community Affairs Committee.
The bill includes a provision for league organizers to set up an appeals process and does not include punishment of fines or arrest, reports theTallahassee Democrat’s Sean Rossman.
“Wewouldn’t allow this behavior for our teachers in school,” Ring said.
Of course, we shouldn’t need state laws to control the tempers of youth coaches. Leagues and clubs should already betaking the necessary action to keep adults who manage to get ejected while coaching young children off the sidelines.
And while such coaches are serving their suspension, how about they haveto take a referee course and ref several games before being allowed back?
U.S. Soccer’s New Girls Coaches Taliaferro, former women’s head coach at the University of Miami and University ofIllinois, played college ball at Maryland and most recently served as Weston FC Director of Coaching and as associate director of U.S. Club Soccer id2 program. She’ll be assisted by new U.S.Soccer Development Coaches Mark Carr and Jitka Klimkova.
Klimkova, who played for the national team of her native Czech Republic, arrives from New Zealandwhere she coached its U-17 girls national and served as assistant for its U-20s. She also coached Canberra FC in the Australia W-League and Czech women’s club teams and youth national teams.
Carr spent the last three years as Girls Technical Director for the Lonestar Soccer Club in Austin, Texas. He has been head coach of the University of San Francisco’s women’s team and assistantcoach at UCLA, where he served under current U.S. women’s national team coach Jill Ellis.
The U-16 girls’ camp will be held in conjunction with the U.S. U-17 girls,coached by B.J. Snow, whose squad is comprised of 19 players born in 1999 and five born in 2000. The age cutoff for the next U-17 Women’s World Cup, in 2016, is for players bornon or after Jan. 1, 1999.
All but one player on the U-16 roster was born in 2000. All are age-eligible for the next FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2016, but the main birth year for thattournament is 1999. The squads will play each other twice during the camp at the Olympic Training Center.
U.S. Girls U-17 Roster U.S. U-16 Girls Roster In the News
MAKI TALL’s LONG ROUTE TO U.S.U-20s. Coach Tab Ramos’ team’s first game since qualifying for next summer’s U-20 World Cup was a 2-1 loss at England last weekend.Ramos’ squad included four newcomers to the program, including the goalscorer against England, Maki Tall.
Born in Washington, D.C., Tall moved with his family to Senegalat age 7 and to his parents’ homeland, Ivory Coast, at age 11. He is currently playing for French third division Red Star on loan from Lille.
“Hearing the [U.S.] national anthem, I don’teven know how to say it,” Tall told USSoccer.com. “It was unbelievable. I’vewatched [men’s national team] games before on TV, so to hear it for the first time, it was crazy.”
EPL ACADEMIES’ LONG ODDS. In his piecefor The Guardian, Sean Ingle reports that the chances of aU-9 player who joins an English Premier League academy team ever reaching the first team are 0.5 percent.
GOALKEEPERS(2): Hillary Beall (West Coast FC; Laguna Beach, Calif.), Brooke Bollinger (Space Coast United Storm; Indialantic, Fla.).
DEFENDERS (8): Kerry Abello (Team Chicago;Aurora, Ill.), Sierra Enge (Carlsbad United; Cardiff, Calif.), Joanna Harber (Eastside FC; Bellevue, Wash.), Karlie Paschall (Tennessee SC; Brentwood, Tenn.), Kiara Pickett (Camarillo Eagles; SantaBarbara, Calif.), Isabel Rodriquez (Michigan Hawks; Canton, Mich.), Karina Rodriquez (So Cal Blues; Torrance, Calif.), Sydney Zandi (Penn Fusion; West Chester, Pa.).
MIDFIELDERS(8): Chyanne Dennis (West Pines; Sunrise, Fla.), Rachael Dorwart (Penn Fusion; Mechanicsburg, Pa.), Emina Ekic (Javanon; Fairdale, Ky.), Jaelin Howell (Real Colorado; Windsor, Colo.), BriannaPinto (CASL; Durham, N.C.), Ashley Sanchez (So Cal Blues; Monrovia, Calif.), Taryn Torres (Solar Chelsea; Frisco, Texas), Olivia Wade (La Roca FC; Kaysville, Utah).
FORWARDS(6): Rachel Jones (Tophat; Lawrenceville, Ga.), Emily Knous (Legends FC; Long Beach, Calif.), Civana Kuhlmann (Colorado Rush; Littleton, Colo.), Alexa Spaanstra (Michigan Hawks; Brighton,Mich.), Francesca Tagliaferri (PDA Arsenal, Colts Neck, N.J.), Jordan Taylor (Ohio Premier Eagles; Wadsworth, Ohio).
GOALKEEPERS (3): Kat Asman (Concorde Fire; Roswell, Ga.), Hensley Hancuff (OFC; Edmond, Okla.), Mattison Interian (Arsenal FC; Pasadena, Calif.).
DEFENDERS(7): Maycee Bell (Sporting Blue Valley; Wichita, Kansas), Cameron Brooks (Lonestar SC; Round Rock, Texas), Naomi Girma (Central Valley Crossfire; San Jose, Calif.), Emily Gray (Penn Fusion;Sewell, N.J.), Alexandra Keohan (FC Stars of Massachusetts; Acton, Mass.), Brianna Martinez (New Mexico Rush; Albuquerque, N.M.), Kennedy Wesley (SoCal Blues; Rossmoor, Calif.).
MIDFIELDERS (8): Coriana Dyke (Colorado Rush; Littleton, Colo.), Kaya Frazier (Michigan Hawks; Rochester Hills, Mich.), Cassidy Lindley (Indiana Fire; Carmel, Ind.), Kylie Minamishin(Honolulu Bull; Mililani, Hawaii), Mackenzie Pluck (FC Bucks; North Wales, Pa.), Allison Schlegel (Colorado Storm; Parker, Colo.), Sydney Simmons (Solar Chelsea Soccer Academy; Van Alstyne, Texas),Kali Trevithick (San Diego Surf; Temecula, Calif.).
FORWARDS (6): Sophie Hirst (Crossfire Premier; Seattle, Wash), Catiana Lychywek (Solar Chelsea Soccer Club; Plano, Texas),Mary Kate McGuire (NEFC; Portsmouth, R.I.), Ashlynn Serepca (Charlotte Soccer Academy; Cornelius, N.C.), Olivia Wingate (FC Stars of Massachusetts; Wilmington, Mass.), Summer Yates (Pac NW; Pasco,Wash.).
yay, more laws mandating common sense…