Schedule Released for Winter Training

I put our schedule together for January tryouts/training and I am excited to get back.

We always take November and December off.  It's a good break for the kids and the coaches.  Some continue training elsewhere and play in leagues.

Our intention is to give everybody all the information they need before tryouts resume.  Timelines, expectations, commitment and possible budget are some things the parents will have in their hands before we reconvene.  The more they know, the less surprises afterwards.

Great article on "Free Play"

I read a great article by Rick Fenoglio, Senior Lecturer in Exercise and Sports Science, Manchester Metropolitian University, Cheshire.

He is the co-founder of an organization called Give Us Back Our Game. 

Good luck Simon

It's always good to hear news about former players.

Simon Gatti has made us all proud.  Montreal has invited him to their MLS camp in Mexico in January.

My friend Rino and I coached Simon when he was U9, U10 and U11.  We called him "The King".

Did I have the right attitude?

We had preliminary tryouts in October and will continue in January.  This week a parent of a prospective player told me they had an offer for a spot on another team and asked what they should  do.

I told him I would not say but did remind him who the son was up against and basically told him to take the job or take his chances.  If he had a 0.00% chance of making one of our two teams I would have told him so.

I've had parents present that situation to me in the past.  I never say they are going to make our team, but I have told some parents it might be wise to take the other spot.  That's the extent of my possible answers.  If they are stuck in the middle I remind them that I am not going to make a decision for them.

It's a problem when every team is running tryouts over different time frames.  I could easily say this type of parental dilemma is not my problem, but that's not a statement I am comfortable with.  But I have to protect our process and be fair to the group in tryouts.

I hope parents have a "plan b" in their pocket when they are attending multiple tryouts.

This goes hand-in-hand with my lack of comfort in recruiting when it comes to youth soccer.

Book: A Beautiful Game

For my birthday, my sister Maria gave me a book called A Beautiful Game: The World's Greatest Players and How Soccer Changed Their Lives .

The book is full of fantastic photos and great stories.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much we gave this to our boys team as their year end gift this past fall.  I think some of the dads liked it more than the boys.