On Wednesday new U.S. women's national team coach Tom Sermanni addressed the media and touched on what role he may play with the USA youth national teams and fielded questions about youth coaching and youth development.

Dr. Bert Mandelbaum, the team physician for U.S. Soccer national teams, has been a pioneer in researching ACL injury trends among female athletes and creating injury prevention methods for soccer players. We talked to him about what youth coaches can do to decrease the chances of injuries and the FIFA 11+ warmup procedure that he's promoting through the Sports Injury Prevention Program.

For most top players coming out of high school, college is the obvious route. But Gabriel Borges, who made a name for himself playing for Northern California youth power Santa Clara Sporting, took a different route. He could have returned to Brazil, where he was born, or tried his luck in Mexico, where he previously trained with Pachuca after starring at the Dallas Cup. But after graduating from Albany (Calif.) High School in June, he was spotted by scouts of Croatian champion Dinamo Zagreb, which has developed in extensive scouting network in the United States, and moved to …

In Part 3 of our interview we asked NSCAA Director of Coaching Ian Barker to address tournament play and the U.S. Soccer Development Academy's impact on the youth game.

Ian Barker became Director of Coaching of the 30,000-member National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) in February. A longtime ODP coach, he served as Minnesota Youth Soccer Association Director of Coaching (1997-2007) and spent more than two decades coaching college ball. In Part 2 of our interview we asked Barker about coaching education in America and for advice on navigating the youth soccer landscape.

Ian Barker became Director of Coaching of the 30,000-member National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) in February. A longtime ODP coach, he served as Minnesota Youth Soccer Association Director of Coaching (1997-2007) and spent more than two decades coaching college ball. In Part 1 of our interview we spoke with Barker about youth coaching in America.

In a year that saw the U.S. women win Olympic gold and lift the U-20 World Cup, the U.S. U-17 girls suffered a first-round exit at the U-17 World Cup last month, despite going undefeated and conceding only one goal.

How should a coach evaluate a young athlete for a possible concussion?