The term “turf toe” originally was used to describe injuries of the big toe joint sustained by American football players on artificial turf in the 1970s. The firmness of artificial turf caused the bigtoe joint to bend upward beyond it’s normal range. This often occurred when a player was tackled from behind or stepped on […]
youth soccer
U.S. Youth Soccer CEO Chris Moore gets contract extension
U.S. Youth Soccer extended CEO Christopher Moore’s contract through February 2021. Moore came to to U.S. Youth Soccer, based in Frisco, Texas, in February 2015 after servingfor four years as the president and COO of GENYOuth, a non-profit organization that worked with the NFL, National Dairy Council and three government agencies. “With tremendousleadership and professionalism, […]
Coaching Girls: How to deliver feedback effectively
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
