Mia: My daughter’s club volleyball coach is amazing; he thanks players for running for an out of bounds ball that they have no hope of getting. They would walk through firefor him. I asked him when we headed over to the team dinner one night if he had always coached this way. He told me […]
youth boys
Posted inSoccer America Confidential, Story
Dennis te Kloese on Jonathan Gonzalez, Mexico's emphasis on technique, and the U.S. style question
As the Director of Mexico’s national teams, Dennis te Kloese oversees a scouting department that has three full-time scouts in the USA. A Netherlands native, he had previouslyserved as the director of Mexico’s youth national teams during a period when Mexico won the men’s gold medal at the 2012 Olympics (a U-23 competition) and reached […]
Posted inStory
Teenagers, get good sleep! It has a major effect on athletic performance
Most teenagers don’t get enough sleep. And here’s more challenging news for the young athlete: your sleep schedule plays a big role in your athletic performance. I came across a study published a few years back that found that when you normally get up may play a critical role in game time success. Researchers analyzed […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
College-bound seniors: A checklist for an exciting and busy time
Between finals, proms and graduation ceremonies, you really want to make a smooth transition from high school to college. High school seniors are consumed with everything from completingfinals, graduation announcements to attending those “once-in-a-lifetime social events.” Soon, you will be off to college and starting a new chapter of your life. So, in between capand […]
Posted inOff The Post, Story
Soccer's numbers game — big registration numbers don't always yield great national teams
One of the most intriguing problems of soccer is to find out the number of players playing the game both at the national and global level. Naturally, you have to break down these numbers intoregistered and unregistered players as well as professional vs. amateur, men vs. women, youth vs. adult players. The last time FIFA […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Coaches are in a powerful position to help kids stay healthy
“Are you as a coach demonstrating that you value your players not just for their performance on the field?” –Danielle Slaton On-field injury recognition, coping with multiple-game weekend play, overuse injuries, and the benefits of introducing injury-prevention exercises at earlier ageswere among issues discussed during U.S. Club Soccer’s February “Health and Safety Webinar “We made […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
U.S. U-18 boys beat Costa Rica twice in Florida friendlies
The USA beat Costa Rica, 2-1 and 3-0, in a pair of friendlies in Orlando, Florida. Indiana Vassilev, a Georgia state product who joined Aston Villa’s youth program via the IMGAcademy, and Barcelona academy player Konrad De la Fuente, scored for the USA in the 2-1 win in which Coach Omid Namazi‘s team outshot the […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
Responding to a knee injury: When to immediately see a doctor or go to ER
If you’ve just had a knee injury, now what? Do you need to go see a doctor or go to the emergency room immediately, do you put a bag of ice on it, or can you keep playing? I could give you alist of all the things you should look for but instead I’d like […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
The clique factor — how coaches can mix it up to make a stronger team
Mia: An issue for my middle daughter when she played club soccer was carpools. The problem was that she was the only person on her team from her town. There were three othercarpools based on location and then a few girls who were also the only ones from their town. It wasn’t that the girls […]
Posted inStory, Youth Soccer Insider
The Accidental Ref asks: How and why did you start?
I was 15 years old when one of my soccer coaches, Gordon Barr (son of U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer George Barr), called me up and wanted to know if I would like to become an intramuralref in the soccer club I was playing for, the Syosset Soccer Club on Long Island. I declined as […]