Youth Soccer Insider

By Paul Giovanopoulos Are our kids playing enough pickup ball? There have been countless articles written about this. While we all agree that this is nothappening enough, many of us just sit back and hope it starts to happen somehow on its own. We hope that somehow they start playing at the schoolyard at recess, […]

By Donna Olmstead You know you’re watching beginners soccer when … * You can’t tell if the players actually have knees. * Two playersstop to chat in the middle of the game. * One player keeps wandering toward his mom on the sidelines. * A lot of the siblings are still in strollers. *Parents yell […]

By Mike Woitalla A youth soccer league’s fees are raised, piquing the curiosity of a parent, who decides to investigate. She researches refereeing and field rentalfees, and finds significant gaps between what was charged and what was paid for those services. Subsequently, the league treasurer resigns amid accusations of financial wrongdoing. Butit’s too late for […]

By Alex Kos For many young players, there is nothing more nerve-wracking than trying out for a team. The reasons are plentiful. A player is: * Competingagainst players who may be much better than them. * Being evaluated by a brand new coach and is being ranked and rated. * Dealing with the internal pressure […]

By Mike Woitalla After Donna Olmstead made a convincing case against berating referees or their assistants in her Youth Soccer Insider column, “Before you scream at a ref …“, we received some feedback from readers pointing out that there may be times when game officialsshould be told if they’re erring or missing violations.