By Mike Woitalla The World Cup-bound U.S. U-17 boys national team played fellow qualifier France, which featured Zinedine Zidane‘s son Luca Zidanein goal, to a scoreless tie en route to finishing runner-up at the Limoges Tournament in France. Besides tying the host, which took first place, Coach RichieWilliams’ team tied 1-1 with Australia, which also […]
Youth Soccer Insider
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FC Dallas sets a Homegrown record
By Mike Woitalla FC Dallas set a record when it started five Homegrown players in its 3-0 win over the Columbus Crew last Sunday. North Carolina native JesseGonzalez, who played for Mexico at this year’s U-20 World Cup, got his third straight start after making his MLS debut on Aug. 22. The 20-year-old launched his […]
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When you disagree with volunteers and refs — do so politely
By Beau Dure Parent coaches. Soccer club board members. These people are volunteers. Be nice. If you disagree with their vision, do so politely. Referees make atiny bit of money. Be nice to them, too. Dealing with referees can be tricky. Through a certain age (in our area, U8), we have no referees, and coaches […]
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Coaching your own child: Do's and Don'ts
(With the fall season upon us, we reprint this article, slightly updated, from 2014.)By Mike Woitalla It’s that time of year when men and womenacross the country embark on the wonderful adventure of youth soccer coaching. Most of these newcomers will be coaching their own children. One of my favorite sources on this subject isTony DiCicco, […]
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Ref Watch: Time to Follow the Rest of the World
By Randy Vogt Soccer has never been more popular in the United States. Tens of millions Americans watched the 2014 World Cup and 2015 Women’s World Cup, MLS is experiencingrecord attendance and my own father Bill Vogt, more of a football and baseball fan, could even tell you the secret signals between referees and AR’s. […]
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Looking to Spain makes sense
By Mike Woitalla If I had a dollar for every time a foreign club offered to teach us how to coach, I’d be able to buy one of the replica jerseys they’re selling. I certainly don’t think it’s a bad idea for American soccer to consider the methods used in other countries, and to adopt […]
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A new cycle begins for U.S. U-20 men's national team
By Mike Woitalla@MikeWoitalla Coach Tab Ramos,who in June guided the USA to a quarterfinal appearance at the 2015 U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, has named the first roster of the new U-20 cycle. Ramos, who was also at the helm of the 2013 squadthat was eliminated in the first round from a group that […]
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11 Tips for Coaching the Little Ones
(With the fall season upon us, we reprint this article from 2014. Updated are the resource links at the end of the piece, including the online U.S. Soccer National F License course, for coaches and parents of players ages 5 to 8, which I highly recommend.)By Mike Woitalla “I got recruited to coach my kid’s […]
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Youth leaders react to change to soccer's registration cutoff date
By Mike Woitalla On Monday, U.S. Soccer announced to twoinitiatives that will be mandated by August 2017. One was the standardization of small-sided games through age U-12. Fewer players on age-appropriate fields — that has been the trend in Americanyouth soccer for quite a while now. It is the second initiative that greatly alters the […]
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U.S. Soccer mandates major changes, altering birth-year registration and standardizing small-sided format
By Mike Woitalla U.S. Soccer has mandated a significant alteration in how American soccer will be organized — changing the birth-year registration from an August-July format toJanuary-December. The current cutoff date in American youth soccer is Aug. 1. The summer date has been common in U.S. youth sports, inspired by its correlation to the academic […]