It's amazing that no matter how many games you ref, no matter how much you prepare for the all possible scenarios, you still get blindsided. I had a coach come to me angrily at halftime of a U-10 girls rec game to accuse the opponent of having a boy playing goalkeeper.

"What's the difference between discomfort and pain? And is it OK for me to keep playing if I just have a little bit?" Those are two of the most common questions I'm asked by injured young athletes, and I'm guessing the same is true for our sports medicine colleagues across the country. The answers are different from person to person, and specific to the type of injury too.

The Youth Soccer Insider asked Sam Snow, Technical Director of U.S. Youth Soccer, to explain the benefits of a U-10 "academy" format that differs from the traditional league and team setup.

When I moved to Florida for business 27 years ago, I lived and worked in Orlando and also worked in the state capital of Tallahassee, 250 miles away. So I officiated in both cities.

Coach Tab Ramos has called up three players to the U.S. U-20 national team, which is preparing for the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand May 30-June 20, who have never been part of a U.S. youth national team.

As a boy, George Altirs spent his free time playing as much soccer as possible in the village of Mejdlaya in Lebanon.

Some environmental and health advocacy groups have claimed that the crumb rubber infill, used in artificial fields since the 1990s, has contributed to cancer cases in soccer, football, and field hockey players.

Richie Williams might just be the USA's most successful player who never played in a World Cup.

Ultimately, the USA's quest to qualify for the 2015 Under-17 World Cup hinged on shots from the penalty spot in its sixth game of the Concacaf U-17 Championship after a scoreless tie with Jamaica.

One of the U.S. national team program's consistencies for nearly three decades was that the USA always qualified for the U-17 World Cup.

In an article by John O'Sullivan, founder of Changing the Game Project, he writes that three out of four young athletes leave organized sports by the age of 13. And that many, especially boys, turn to video games.

One of the players aiming to prevent the USA from clinching a spot at the 2015 U-17 World Cup when it faces Jamaica on Wednesday is Texan Nathaniel Adamolekun.

The bad news: The USA blew a chance to clinch a spot at the 2015 U-17 World Cup on Sunday. The Americans led Honduras 2-1 when in the 88th minute David Sanchez scored with his shoulder to earn the host of the U-17 Concacaf Championship a 2-2 tie. The good news: The USA will qualify if it beats Jamaica on Wednesday. Or if it ties the Jamaicans and Honduras fails to beat Guatemala by seven goals.

Longtime MLS executive Kevin Payne served as D.C. United president during its golden years of the 1990s and has also held key positions with U.S. Soccer. Payne became U.S. Club Soccer's CEO in January.

Longtime MLS executive Kevin Payne served as D.C. United president during its golden years of the 1990s and has also held key positions with U.S. Soccer. Payne became U.S. Club Soccer's CEO in January. U.S. Club Soccer, which gained U.S. Soccer Federation membership in 2001, has member clubs and leagues in all 50 states, runs national and state cup competitions, a player identification program (id2) and sanctions the girls Elite Clubs National League (ECNL).