Category: Youth Soccer Insider

The unfortunate reality of soccer as a contact sport is that injuries happen. Most of these are relatively minor things that get better with some rest and rehabilitation, but some injuries will be more severe and will require assistance from a number of professionals to get you back in the game.

Driving the school or sports carpool always affords the opportunity to eavesdrop on what’s really happening in kids’ lives. While kids may not tell their parents about an embarrassing or unsettling experience with a teacher, a coach, or another authority figure, they’ll almost certainly tell each other, especially if they’re in the backseat of a car and they don’t think the parent is listening.

What a week! Yesterday was National Signing Day, the day that 2009 college recruits sign for a team. This morning, college coaches woke up and trudged back to the office to start it all over again, ready to focus on their next recruiting classes.

No one denies that children who want to excel at soccer should play the game in addition to their team’s practices and games, but today’s children have less unscheduled time than previous generations and more diversions. Getting them to choose soccer over other options — whether it be Guitar Hero or Webkinz – can require prodding from the parents.

On a cold, blustery early December weekend, 34 coaches from the Washington, D.C., area braved the weather conditions to take Len Oliver’s USSF E Course. The coaches in attendance hailed from 10 different countries, including Mali, Honduras, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, England, Afghanistan and France, bringing the total countries represented in the training over the years to 77.

Soccer America readers comment on recent editions of the Youth Soccer Insider e-letter.

For today’s youth soccer player in the United States, there exist two prevailing systems under which their sporting experiences take place. One can be referred to as the institutionalized or organized approach, where the athlete plays and trains under the direct supervision of coaches and administrators.

Concussion is a controversial and tricky medical topic, but any coach or parent who works with soccer players needs to know what to do if you are faced with a situation in which you suspect a player has had a concussion.

My daughter comes bursting through the door after soccer practice and exclaims, “Mom! We had so much fun! Maya and Natalie and I got to be on the same team!” “Did you win?” I ask. She replies, “I have no idea.”

In preparation for your next season, give some thought to the role of captains on your team. In a recent Leadership Roundtable Conference Call for leaders of schools and youth sports organizations partnered with Positive Coaching Alliance, we identified several best practices in:

Having been involved in soccer in the USA since 1967, I have had the pleasure of seeing it grow beyond anyone’s expectations. The shear number of players is staggering to say the least. FIFA stats indicate that the USA now leads the world in registered youth players.

This past Saturday, as I stood on the sidelines of my daughter’s soccer game, it struck me: I was looking at a group of 9-year-olds of all sizes. Some, like my daughter, are tiny spitfires of energy. Others have already hit a growth spurt and are nearly my height (all of 5-foot-5). But while there is no uniformity in height, they all have one thing in common: they are all relatively thin.

Brian Hall became a referee at age 13. He earned his FIFA badge at age 31, officiated at a World Cup and numerous major international tournaments, and earned MLS’s Referee of the Year honor four times. But most teens who take up refereeing don’t last very long.

“Are you match fit?” The definition being, you are fit enough to play at a high pace for a full match.

Since when did the postgame (or, in some cases, pregame and halftime, too) snack become the focal point of youth recreational soccer games? And when did it become the latest installment of “Keeping up with the Joneses”?

The opening whistle blows. The ball gets dropped back to you. Your first touch isn’t so good and the ball slips away. You scramble to it just before a defender gets there, but you hit it awkwardly and it bends out of bounds. Uh oh.