If the U.S. team needed any kind of lift following the defeat in Jamaica, they certainly found it
from the fans in Columbus during Sunday's public training session at Crew Stadium.
More than 3,000 supporters turned up to watch the 75-minute session, cheering loudly as the team
entered the field and keeping the energy level as the team went through a series of passing
exercises and small-sided games before concluding with a finishing exercise.
(Editor's Note: Our series of posts from Reading United and Villanova defender Kyle
McCarthy continues as he gives an inside look at training in the lead-up to gameday on one of the
top Premier Development League teams in the country.)
Last week I covered the events of a typical gameday experience, so it's only fair that I mention
the hard work and effort that we go through building up to that moment.
Southwestern Youth Association / FC Virginia will be hosting two upcoming NSCAA coaching courses
December 16-18 in Centreville,VA.
Junior Level VI Diploma - December 16-18 Course Details Formerly known as the Advanced Regional
Diploma, the Junior Level VI Diploma is a 21-hour course that shares a portion of its curriculum
with the Junior Level V Diploma.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. With temperatures dipping into the low-30s during Saturday's training
session, many Revolution players exited the indoor pitch anxiously eyeing the warm Florida
sunshine that awaits them for a slate of preseason matches.
But, for manager Steve Nicol, the 10-day trip to Orlando, which runs from Monday to February
24th, is more than just about sunny skies and warmer temps.
Carli Lloyd looks to elude Meghan Klingenberg
The U.S. WNT is having just one training a day, usually in the afternoon (with some weights thrown
in a few days during the camp in the morning) and the players have lots of energy as they are a bit
isolated here at the team hotel.
Tobin Heath and Yael Averbuch do some ground juggling. They are pretty good at it.
Almost all the players attended the training today, although a few stayed behind to rest and do
treatments. The day between games training is always a bit tricky as some players played a lot of
minutes and others played none, so a few players had lighter sessions than others.
(The entry is formulated from the transcript obtained via Integrated Marketing Solutions Group -
IMSG, the PR agency of Nike Singapore)
(P.S: The copyrights of the images depicted in this blog entry belong to Nike, unless stated on the
images itself.)
Since the launch of "The Chance" (Singapore) - the global footballing talent search by Nike back in
March by Lions XII coach V Sundramoorthy at Meridian Junior College, more than a few hundred
hopefuls had staked their claim to be among the top five players to represent the Republic in the
regional final to be held in Jakarta later this month.
The motherland of football has had a sobering year.
The national team has yet to recover from a 4-1 drubbing from a rampant young Germany at the
World Cup in South Africa last summer.
A week ago England found themselves 0-2 down at home to Switzerland in their Euro 2012
qualification campaign, before salvaging a draw and a chance to breathe again, despite registering
a fifth failure to win at home on the trot.
Sammy Ochoa was the most popular player interview after Seattle Sounders practice. The
traditional target forward recorded a brace in the Reserve game against Chivas USA. He knows that
the expectations from Sigi Schmid on the First Team or Ezra Hendrickson on the Reserves is to score
goals. Sigi reminded the gathered media that players can and do work their way up from success in
secondary competitions to meaningful minutes in MLS matches.
Roster flux continues though all under contract players are still with the team, some of the
Supplemental Draft picks and trialists are now in a different phase of their soccer journeys.
Joshua Mayers, of the Seattle Times, compiled the list of missing names. Harlinton Guiterres, Real
Espana reservist, is still in camp.
U.S. captain Christie Rampone speaks to the kids before the event
After the USA's first training in Sendai today, a crisp session that lasted just over an hour, the
U.S. players held an event -- co-organized by the U.S. State Department -- for more than 50
Japanese middle school girls.
Writer Jerrod Roh will provide coverage, analysis, and opinion for the 2011 Women's World
Cup for IMSoccer News. He has attended the last 3 men's World Cups in South Korea, Germany, and
South Africa as well as the 2003 Women's World Cup in the U.S. He is a self-described fan, student,
and teacher of the game.
Writer Jerrod Roh will provide coverage, analysis, and opinion for the 2011 Women's World
Cup for IMSoccer News. He has attended the last 3 men's World Cups in South Korea, Germany, and
South Africa as well as the 2003 Women's World Cup in the U.S. He is a self-described fan, student,
and teacher of the game.
It's official, the U.S. Women's National Team trained in China for 11 days without the sun coming
out once. Still, not too bad a day for the WNT today with a fun training that included some
spirited small-sided games and the "hat trick" game, where one player takes a shot from outside the
box, the second player plays a one-two with that player who shot first, and takes a shot from
outside the box, and then both players go into the box for a cross.
After last night's preseason game against the San Jose Earthquakes, the Portland Timbers were in
full on recovery mode today. The players taht started last night did some brief fitness drills on
the field before heading inside early on to continue their workout in the team gym. The rest of the
players, including second half substitutes Darlington Nagbe, Lovel Palmer, and Bright Dike stayed
out in the cold for a more vigorous workout.
The Portland Timbers announced another signing today, to the coaching ranks, in Cameron Knowles.
Cameron as many of you know played for the Timbers during their USL era from 2007 until 2010.
During that time he played in 77 games and was an integral part of the defense.
John Spencer says:
"I'm really pleased we can add Cameron to our staff.
If you talk to some in clubland they follow and preach the FFA Small Sided Game mantra.
Nothing else.
Well those of us who work with kids know SSG's work in the working class areas of Brazil, although
even I would maintain some of those kids could have technical correction to speedy along their SSG
development, but they aren't the complete answer in clubland in Australia.
"It's been great. Just seeing Sally Pearson win her Gold Medal race at the World Championships has
really inspired everyone involved in Primary School Soccer this week," said young Athletics Coach
Tiny Passmore.
The Primary School Soccer Tournament is on in Canberra all week and despite all the talk of FFA's
revolution of Small Sided Games the girls are playing on the biggest pitch at the recently and more
appropriately renamed Hawker Junior Athletics Centre.
I'm serious about football, technical skill, education, kid development and abusing clerics in the
Catholic Church...but hey that's another story!
When Capital Football the Peak Body in Canberra announce that u12 boys and girls will now play
competitively, ie with results and league tables produced each week, I'm wondering on what criteria
this could be considered beneficial to the development of players.
KICKERS SEARCH FOR STAR Players From Across the Globe Attend Open Tryouts this Weekend
RICHMOND, VA - (Thursday, January 19, 2012) – Over 70 players will attend the Richmond Kickers
14th annual player combine this weekend, January 20-22 at the Kickers state-of-the-art sports
complex, Ukrop Park.
The U.S. WNT training camp is already two practices old, but the entire roster has yet to arrive.
U.S. WNT head coach Pia Sundhae called up 31 players for the camp, but thus far 26 players have
been run through last night's session, which included some small-sided games on big goals and this
morning's training, which being the first full day of camp, featured a fitness test (see pic
above).
PSC Soccer Academy - News
Pro Soccer Consulting (PSC) is proud to announce that they will be hosting a professional soccer
combine for the Wilmington Hammerheads of the USL Pro League in March 2012 at the Maryland
Soccerplex in Boyds, MD.
PSC has already hosted three combines for top college and professional players during the last
quarter for clubs within the USL Pro, Norwegian Premier League and Norwegian Second Division.
Henry Winter writes of how the English Premier League is taking inspiration from the world of
music and dance in regards to a potential drastic overhaul of the current academy system.
At the Menuhin music school, each budding virtuoso has 10,840 hours of contact time in their
development years, three times the football figure.
Day 4 began with Barca Atletic (Barca B) training at 10:45am at Cuitat Esportiva. They started
with the typical rondos (circle keepaway) and dynamic stretches. Second activity was tactical
training preparing for this weekend's opponent who will likely press them off their goalkicks,
marking all 4 of there options closely so they cannot play out of the back comfortably.
Everyone loves to know the trialists, so let's start off with the fact that Jonathan Prieto and
Alex Caskey make their return to Seattle Sounders FC. Joining them are Academy Alumni Darwin Jones
and two keepers in Andrew Weber (formerly of the San Jose Earthquakes) and Tyrel Lacey. The first
session consisted of the draftees (except for Banton and Feighner who aren't in town yet) and a
handful of returning players.
There still seems to be a lack of Technical Development in Aussie football - not perhaps for the
chosen 12 kids in a High Performance Federation program but in the rest of the cohort - the other
99% of players.
Australia: Does anyone care?
If 12 and 13 year old boys and girls at ALL levels of the game are expected to play on the same
field as our men - ie the biggest ones you can find - how do we expect the culture of the players,
the watching parents and the small-sided games philosophy to actually take hold across the land.
Integrity Athletic Performance and Physical Therapy is offering soccer players a chance to
improve their skills and athleticism over the summer with their Ultimate Summer Soccer Sessions.
Sessions are run Monday thru Thursday June 6 to August 26 at the Integrity indoor soccer facility
and weight room in Springfield.
The Drury University Soccer Academy has announced the dates for their 2011 Camps. The Drury
University Soccer Academy offers a wide range of activities in a fun, safe, and skill appropriate
environment. Whether you are a beginner learning the game, or have inspirations to play in college,
the Drury University Soccer Academy has something for everyone.
It was a change of scenery for the U.S. U-20 MNT today as the group that played most of last
night's game went through a regeneration session and the reserves played some small-sided games at
a local school pretty close to the hotel. The campus of the school was beautiful - very serene, and
there was a regular-sized field and a small field tucked at the bottom of a hill, surrounded by
trees and mountains.
2010 was the year of Africa's first World Cup, a historic year for South Africa and for the
continent. An hour west of Durban's huge Moses Mabhida Stadium, in the KwaZulu-Natal hills, every
weekday afternoon 46 boys train on a modest football ground at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in
Pietermaritzburg.
