By Randy Vogt Every beginner is a winner! If you are just starting out officiating, then you have not made anywhere near the number of mistakes I’ve made on the field, andhopefully you never will. I began officiating at the age of 16 and starting out as a teenager is a very good time to […]
Youth Soccer Insider
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Mexico trip reveals U.S. U-17 attack promising, defense needs shoring up
By Mike Woitalla & Paul Kennedy The U.S. U-17 boys national team scored eight goals in three games at the 2016 Torneo de Naciones in Mexico and took a 1-0lead within two minutes against the host in the deciding game. The bad news: Mexico came back for a 6-3 win against the USA to win […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
The 21 U.S. girls aiming to make history
By Mike Woitalla The USA has won three Women’s World Cups, four Olympic titles, and three U-20 Women’s World Cups. The only world championship on the female side the USA has neverwon is the U-17 Women’s World Cup, a biennial competition that launched in 2008. The fifth edition will be hosted by Jordan Sept. 30-Oct. […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Revisiting ice after injury
By Dev K. Mishra, M.D. The acronym RICE — which stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation — has been around since Dr. Gabe Mirkin introduced it in 1978.Since then, healthcare professionals have viewed it almost as gospel that immediately after an acute sports injury you apply ice and light compression. I’ve never encountered a single […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Champions: U.S. U-15 girls perfect in Orlando; U-18 boys lift Czech crown
By Mike Woitalla The USA outscored seven opponents 49-0 and won the Concacaf U-15 Girls Championship with a 2-0 win over Canada in the final after a 5-0 win Costa Rica in thesemifinals in Orlando, Florida. Leading Coach Mark Carr‘s team in scoring were Payton Linnehan and Gabrielle Robinson, with eight goals each.Linnehan, because she […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Reffing in Russia: Remembering History, 25 Years Later
By Randy Vogt For a long time, I looked positively at the Soviet military cap and Moscow police cap I had received as gifts. Now, I’m not so sure. Through soccer, Iwas an eyewitness to history, the 1991 August 19 Soviet military coup in Moscow that briefly unseated Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. I had been […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
How about some hot sauce with that leg cramp?
By Dev K. Mishra, M.D. I’m pretty sure anyone who’s ever played a sport has had a muscle cramp at some point. Maybe the calf, foot, hamstring, or even the “side ache,”which is most likely a cramp in the diaphragm muscle. They are annoying, tough to predict, and tough to prevent. But there is a […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
U.S. Soccer names final 22 clubs to Girls Development Academy for total of 74
By Mike Woitalla & Paul Kennedy U.S. Soccer has accepted an additional 22 clubs to the Girls Development Academy, which will kick off in fall of 2017 with 74 clubsfielding teams in U-14/15, U-16/17 and U-18/19 competition. The final 22 clubs named on Wednesday are:Cedar Stars Academy-Monmouth (Tinton Falls,N.J.)Burlingame SC-MVLA (Burlingame, Calif.)Empire United (Rochester, N.Y.)FC […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
U.S. U-20s down New York Cosmos and Red Bulls II
By Mike Woitalla The U.S. U-20 men’s national team, during a 10-day training camp in New Jersey, beat the NASL’s New York Cosmos, 2-0, and the USL’s New York Red Bulls II,4-3. Against the Red Bulls, Coach Tab Ramos‘ team overcame an early two-goal deficit after Anatole Abang scored in the 10th minute and DanMetzger […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Q&A: U.S. U-20 coach Michelle French on country vs. college conflict
By Mike Woitalla Thirteen players on the USA’s 18-woman squad at the Olympic Games in Rio played in a U-20 Women’s World Cup, as did 15 members of the USA’s 2015Women’s World Cup-winning team. We spoke with U.S. U-20 coach Michelle French, who is also serving as an assistant to Jill Ellis in Brazil, about […]