By Caroline Kostecky I slipped on my David Beckham soccer jersey, threw my hair up in a messy ponytail and quickly tied my cleats. I needed to be there right away. Iwasn’t late, I just already felt like I was missing it, the field, the goal, everything. I met my friend halfway, (not even talking), […]
Youth Soccer Insider
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Bayern's approach; England's birthdate issue; U-17s super Koroma
By Mike Woitalla Bayern Munich’s youth program has produced current German national team stars Philipp Lahm, Thomas Mueller andBastian Schweinsteiger. The 40 top players that came out of its academy in the last 12 years have a total market value of $320 million. In an interview with KickerMagazine, Bayern’s youth director Werner Kern shared some […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Former U-17 coach Roy Rees: USA should be further along
By Mike Woitalla How many players on the U.S. team currently competing at the U-17 World Cup will make a significant impact on the full national team? Judging from the average of the previous 13 U.S. teams that have competed at each of the biennial world championships since 1985, the answer would be one. Roy […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
USA's top teens in world spotlight
By Mike Woitalla The present and future of American soccer will be on display this Sunday. First, the USA faces Jamaica (Fox Soccer, 3 pm ET) in thequarterfinals of the Gold Cup, in which the Americans so far have been woefully uninspiring. Later in the day, the American teenagers who are being groomed for the […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
A stoplight guide to supplements
By Dev K. Mishra, M.D. A “supplement” by definition is something you would take in addition to whatever you would eat or drink in the course of your normal diet. Examples of supplements can range from commonly used and safe substances such as multivitamins, to generally safe performance improving substances such as creatine, and then […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Game-fixing; Turf wars; Silly ref gesture; case for school ball
By Mike Woitalla THE FIX WAS IN. The coach of an Omaha FC U-13 girls team resigned after it was revealed heinstructed his team to allow the opponents, a team from the same club, to score the game-winning goal that would send them to the state final. MarjieDucey of the Omaha World-Herald reported that Coach […]
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'When you whisper' … Reflections on a Hall of Fame coach
By Mike Woitalla U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame welcomed Bob Gansler last week. He coached the USA when it qualified for the Italia ’90,reaching the World Cup for the first time in 40 years. He won an A-League title in 1997 and an MLS title in 2000. But the 69-year-old Gansler, who now serves as […]
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AYSO answered the call 40 years ago
By Mike Woitalla Sometimes we older folks feel compelled to tell our children about how different things were when we were kids. No Internet. No cellphone. If you wanted to watch your favorite TV show, you had to be in front of the television right when it aired – and no fast-forwarding through the commercials. […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Methods for maximizing flexibility
By Dev K. Mishra, M.D. We tend to think of young athletes as naturally flexible but in truth athletes of all ages can improve performance for sports by maximizingflexibility. In very simplistic terms, think of your muscles and tendons as elastic structures like rubber bands. A stretchy rubber band is generally capable of greater motion […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
The high-school dilemma; Fair play or not?
By Mike Woitalla HIGH SCHOOL VS. CLUB. One of the most unfortunate aspects of American youth soccer is forcing kids to choose between club soccer andhigh school ball. For sure, in many cases it’s not an either-or, but the pressure on the very elite players, especially those in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, to skip […]