Several factors cause athletes of all levels to continue to play through pain: the warrior mentality, shame from showing weakness and letting others down, pressure from teammates and coaches, and the threat, imagined or real, of lost playing time

FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake-Arizona were the only clubs to qualify for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy quarterfinals in both age groups. Five of the clubs that reached the knockout stage hail from California -- LA Galaxy, Real So Cal, FC Golden State, Sacramento Republic and Nomads SC.

With summer being a popular time for young players to attend College ID camps, we've asked Jim Millinder, women's head coach at the University of San Francisco, to offer some advice for players.

FC Dallas and BW Gottschee of Queens, New York, are the No. 1 seeds in the U-15/16 and U-17/18 divisions, respectively, of the 2016 U.S. Soccer Development Academy playoffs.

In the wake of Atlanta United, set to begin MLS play in 2017, signing 15-year-old Andrew Carleton, comes news that D.C. United has signed 16-year-old Chris Durkin.

"Look at the scoreboard" and "You got nothing" are two common things that trash-talking players say.

Les Carpenter's article for the London-based Guardian on American youth soccer is headlined: "'It's only working for the white kids': American soccer's diversity problem" -- and it has gotten enough attention that it's worth scrutinizing.

My wife is a developmental psychologist. For two decades she has been studying children and the factors that impact their development and well-being. It's a relatively narrow focal point and if she's not careful it can become repetitious. Whenever she needs to break out of an intellectual rut, she turns to other fields like biology, neurology, physiology and even engineering for ideas that might translate to her own field. She calls it "changing the canvas." This type of outside your field thinking has proven to be highly effective for her and it can be for soccer coaches too!