By Mike Singleton Spending soccer time in other countries is always an education in itself. Whether it has been England, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Mexico, or Brazilthere are things I learn that always contributes to my continued education about this beautiful game. Taking such nuggets from these countries and acculturating them to our country can bechallenging […]
Youth Soccer Insider
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Parents should hush on the ride home
By Mike Woitalla “What is your worst memory from playing youth and high school sports?” That was the question posed to college athletes in a survey by Proactive Coaching. The overwhelming response was: “The ride home from games with my parents.”
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Should Refs Research Teams They Are Officiating?
By Randy Vogt If a tree falls in the forest and your favorite newspaper does not cover it, does it make a sound? That was the question facing American soccer fans in aprevious era as many were perplexed why some media outlets did not give soccer as much publicity as its popularity warranted. So soccer […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Different paths to stardom (Sebastian's Story)
By Mike Woitalla What especially impressed the South Carolina youth coach about the boy wasn’t what he did with his CarolinaElite club – although Andrew Hyslop was very impressed — it was the soccer Sebastian Velasquez played own his own. “There’s areas in Greenville where you’ll find hundreds of kids and adults getting together on […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Pros should compensate youth clubs (Q&A Lorne Donaldson, Real Colorado, Part 2)
Interview by Mike Woitalla Lorne Donaldson is the Executive Director of Coaching of RealColorado, which has nearly 5,000 players and competes in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy and ENCL. In the second part of our interview we spoke about youth soccer’s high costs, how his clubevaluates coaches, and the field-size problem. (Read Part 1 HERE.) […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
'Kids face tough choice' (Q&A Lorne Donaldson, Real Colorado, Part 1)
Interview by Mike Woitalla Lorne Donaldson is the Executive Director of Coaching of Real Colorado, which has nearly 5,000 players and competes in theU.S. Soccer Development Academy and ENCL. We spoke with Donaldson about the high school vs. club debate in Part 1 of our interview. SOCCER AMERICA: Real Colorado has been part ofthe U.S. […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
High school coaches sound off on Academy's ban
By Mike Woitalla A youth soccer issue has never stirred as much public debate and gotten as much media coverage as the U.S. Soccer Development Academy’s “ban” on highschool ball for the players of its 78 clubs. Sunday’s In the Times articles, Dan Woog,coach of Staples High School in Westport, Conn., recalled when his team […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Understanding teen 'weirdness'
By Dev K. Mishra, M.D. Any coach who works with teenage athletes knows they will have to deal with a lot of weirdness. Biologically and psychologically, children reachpuberty earlier and adulthood later. That leaves a lot of room in the middle for an extended period of awkwardness, which often leaves parents and coaches scratching their […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Equipment check: What refs allow and don't
By Randy Vogt A soccer player’s basic uniform consists of a shirt, shorts, socks, shinguards and footwear. All players should have their shirts tuckedinto their shorts, including goalkeepers, and shinguards must be completely covered by the socks. A preventive officiating technique is to make sure that the goalies are wearing shirts that contrastwith both teams […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Where have all the volunteers gone?
By Tyler Isaacson Running a volunteer soccer organization today can be very challenging. The old 80/20 rule where 20 percent of the people are doing 80 percent ofthe work seems to have slid to the 90/10 rule today. It seems that people running these organization are doing more today than ever before. The result is many […]