Tournaments

Article by Dr. Jay MartinTournaments! Tournaments! Tournaments! They are swallowing youth soccer in this country! Everyone wants to play in tournaments!! Soccer America has an entire issue devoted to tournaments. Every soccer publication in this country lists pages of tournaments for our children to attend! Every year the biggest decision a club team makes is-which tournaments do we attend? Most clubs have a person or three who do nothing but prepare for tournaments! Stop the Tournaments I want to get off!!! Tournaments are hurting America’s soccer...

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Importance of winter practices

Until human growth ceases at physical maturity the body is constantly laying down new muscle and nerve tissue. From the average onset of puberty at approximately 12.5 years boys add about 50% of their mature physical weight.On second hand, kids are stopping playing sports at age 13! Players who neglect their deceptive dribbling and shooting skill training at any stage during the growth cycle will get rapidly clumsier than when they first cease practicing. A young dribbler and goal scorer will gain self-confidence. This should surprise no one because...

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Mindset

Yesterday was a strange game. The history of soccer is littered with examples of teen-age prodigies who failed to fulfill their potential, while others who once shared the same hype went on to become global superstars. Players with a fixed mindset rely almost exclusively on their natural talent to deal with setbacks in their careers. They believe that talent on its own will help them through setbacks. We can say that yesterday was an example of that. Their mindset was in trick or treat… Rush team was fighting without talents. Rush team was winning...

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First Season

After our first season in Premier league, Les Bleus are Champion for their League. For our first tournament, we went to Topeka and finished second. It was an incredible season!Thank you a...

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Comments during a game

By primarily coaching the team game coaches are teaching the predictable. It is a disciplined rote approach to developing players. Players who use only one and two touches have to be programmed to get and give the ball very quickly. There is much to admired in a quick incisive passing game but ball sharing and player interaction should no come before, or at the expense of, developing individual creativity and deception. In life the complete individual goes from dependent to independent to interdependent, to self-centered leadership and finally...

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Weekly Les Bleus News

Philosophy and CommitmentAs independent coach, I am trying to establish my own culture free from local club politics. Families involved in youth soccer are being asked to pay a lot of money, travel a lot and we don’t even sure that the coach will develop the player. MOTIVATION As today, our kids are young and need to get the proper techniques in soccer. We are still developing a player. Players must love the game and want to play for themselves not their parents or siblings. Players and parents should appreciate that to fulfill individual and team...

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Relax

Relax...Sam’s Blog will be a weekly addition to the US Youth Soccer Blog. Sam Snow is the Director of Coaching Education for US Youth Soccer.While observing youth matches over the weekend I was reminded of the over-coaching that so many youth coaches do during a match. Micromanaging a soccer game is very difficult to do as the action changes so fast that by the time a coach finishes a sentence of instruction the situation has changed. The ball has moved and so have all of the players, so the information is likely now useless. A coach yelling out...

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For the kids

www.nikesoccer....

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Article in the Star

There were an article on Wed. July 30 in the Kansas City Star Newspaper, talking about soccer. I thought I will comment a little....(title)Soccer players driven by dreams The American market is huge for soccer. There are 4 millions registered male players. While these kids are often clumsily trained and lack creativity by Europeans standards, there are nearly as many of them as there are people in Ireland.In their view, the U.S. system of developing players is broken. It is oriented around affluent, suburban teams supported by parents and organized...

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Wizards against Columbus

The Kansas City Wizards stretched their unbeaten streak to five games Thursday with a thrilling 3-3 tie against the Columbus Crew in front of a national television audience on ESPN. Kansas City and Columbus combined for five first-half goals, the most in MLS this season. Newly signed forward Josh Wolff then converted a late game-tying goal in his first match back with Kansas City.That was the highlight of the game. Finally we were glad to see Josh Wolff replacing Sealy who went to San Rose and scored for his first game.Now we still have a big issue!...

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Wizards beats Red Bulls

Jimmy Conrad scored his career-high and team-high fourth goal of the season and Davy Arnaud tacked on his first goal of the season as the Kansas City Wizards edged the New York Red Bulls, 2-1, Thursday in Major League Soccer play from Kansas City's Community America Ballpark.That is the highlight of the night!Hartman: he was one of his good day but I don't know if he lost his voice or what...there is no communication between his defenders.Harrington: the best blue for me! He controls the left back and plays very well with LopezSealy: I am going...

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Juggling

Ball control is an essential component of soccer. Players with good ball control carve up the field with exciting dribbles and cuts, while those without it often lose the ball to their opponents. Although it's simple, juggling is one of the best ways to improve ball control. It only takes a few minutes of training a day, but it produces noticeable results.Step1 Pick the ball up and hold it out in front of you.Step2 Drop the ball to your feet or thigh and kick it back up into the air. Use the base of your big toe to make contact with...

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Watch TV

I know that sounds crazy but during the month on June, there is the EURO 2008! You can find the schedule at http://www.livesoccertv.com/euro-2008/I will recommend that you watch some games! We can try to get together if you are interested! Group C is the most difficult group! Even during the world cup they never had a group like this one! Watch them! Spain, Portugal and Germany are also very good team.My pronostic: France wins against Germany! ...

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Street Smarts

Well well! Last week I asked everyone to help me in order to make your kids to play more soccer at home! And I said that the environment here is different than where I am coming from. Most top youth soccer clubs in the United States seek to win. In doing so, they often sacrifice individual player development. The absence of street soccer leads to a key difference between American youth soccer and other nation’s program. Around the world, young soccer players come from all socio-economic backgrounds and play all the time. The defining characteristic...

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Mental Toughness

Another weekend - Another good performance from all players! My U6 girls had a great game too! Do all my players have mental toughness: some have it. Some don't. Can we teach toughness? There are practical and simple ways for coaches to enhance the mental touhgness of their players. One of the first challenges is getting the athletes to learn from themselves as they progress self awareness in the foundation of learning and development. Athletes need to develop self confidence by using their skills. The work that I am doing with skills helps your...

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Games

I am very happy and proud for our boys to be able to play like that. As you are aware, these kids are starting to put everything together! They are starting to use their skills, even Jack! Did you see his scissor? Fantastic!Junior played incredibly well! Charlie also. And it is important for the players to have fun, and they do! As you see, we are working more on the formation. I used to say "find the space..." today I am saying "can we fix the mess!" But their confidence are strong. They tried to beat their opponents! Fantastic! Using their skills!...

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BECKHAM

David Beckham has no intention of waving farewell to England after reaching 100 appearances.The Los Angeles Galaxy star, who reached the milestone Wednesday night, maintains the wave he gave when he walked off during England's 1-0 loss to France was just an acknowledgment of the standing ovation that even the French fans gave him.What do I think about it? Well, you may not follow it! Beckham is 33 years old! Yes, he is working hard! Yes, he is the best in the world of what he is doing, controling the game and giving the best passes but he is still...

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Spring Season

Spring Season is starting!Your kids are participating in sports for multiple reasons, the most prominent among them being developing physical competence (learning and improving skills), attaining social acceptance and approval (be with their friends) and enjoying one's experiences (having fun, doing something interesting). Parents also influence children's perceived competence or beliefs about their ability in sport. Therefore, I will ask you to help your kids to do their homework! Juggling! Juggling! Juggling! Please motivate them! Challenge them!...

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My goals

Wenger's philosophy of the gameArsenal uses a 4-4-2 system. Wenger is constantly working to refine this system on the levels of both group and team tactics.The team's defence is very attack-oriented. They attack their opponents early with a midfield press that alternates between a diamond formation and a back four. This tactic represents a calculated risk that the coach and his players are willing to accept (since most of the players are English and French, they have been playing without a sweeper since they were children).· Wenger demands aggressive,...

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