Transition is the most important moment in soccer; the moment in the match when individual players switch their player role in the game from defense to attack or attack to defense. Transition is acquired first by an individual player, then a group of players, and then the team.

After five days of watching her brother play baseball at the Cooperstown Dreams Park in Cooperstown, N.Y., my 10-year-old daughter begged me to take her to the National Soccer Hall of Fame just down the road in Oneonta. My husband and I thought it was just what the doctor ordered for our soccer-crazy daughter on her birthday, especially since the United States would be playing Mexico that afternoon.

In the past months I have had the pleasure of working with both a U16 Regional ODP team and a U-14 national team. Both camps included some greatly talented players who are extremely well-driven and are strong athletes. The coaches working at these camps are top-notch coaches who are clearly some of the best in the country.

In our youth soccer environment the training sessions tend to be fairly sterile in that the U7 team only practices with the U7 age group, girls only practice with girls, and so forth.