Note that effective Aug 1, 2008, Bangu Tsunami FC, having completed a merger with the Wings Soccer Club and now directly involved with the state's professional soccer organization, is now known as Minnesota Thunder Academy (MTA).  Team names and jerseys changed though the core group of teams, coaches, and directors involved with this site have remained consistent.  

Welcome any and all readers!

I began this website in the winter of 2006 with the hopes of tracking the development path of my then U13 Bangu Tsunami FC girls team.  Back in the fall of 2004, the core group of the current team had set a long-term goal of representing Minnesota at the 2007 US Youth Soccer Region II Championships ("Regionals").  To achieve this goal we needed to win the Minnesota State Cup Tournament in May (2007).  State Cup is an open tournament to all age appropriate teams in MN regardless of playing level.  The girls battled with 16 other teams over a 3 week time frame to emerge at the eventual State Cup Champions in May of 2007.  That win saw us achieve our primary goal set three years prior and earned us the right to represent our state at Regionals that June (2007) in Des Moines, IA.

Regionals featured the State Cup winners from each of the Region II states; Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio (split into North and South), South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The tournament consisted of round-robin group play, semifinals, and a championship game.

You can read about our Cinderella-type story to the 2007 Region II Championship in the 94 Journal.  Suffice it to say it was probably my all-time most favoritest soccer experience. 

In 2008, with a big red target painted on our backs, we returned to defend our State Cup title in May.  The girls persevered through a grueling MRL/MYSA League/State Cup schedule to prevail in PKs on our 6th shooter in the final game against our White team. 

We returned to the Region II Championships in Rockford (IL) in June to try and defend our Region II title.  After advancing out of group play with victories over WDm Celtic (IA), Rushmore Gold (SD), and Vardar (MI-MRL), we came up short in our quest to repeat, losing to the Michigan Hawks (MI) 1-0 in a late goal in the second overtime period.

I moved away from that group of girls this past August (2008) to return to the younger age groups and try and replicate the development success that I witnessed with the 94s.  I worked with the 97s on a limited basis as U10s and was more involved with them last year as U11s.  Our collective goal is to advance to the Region II Championships in 2010. 

I have also added in a section for our 96 girls (96 Journal) that their head coach, Andy Kaasa, will be updating.  The 96s won the U13 MN State Cup last year as U12s, had a, let's say a very educational experience last year at the 2008 U13 Region II Championships, and look to repeat as State Cup Champions in 2009 at their true U13 age group.

I am trying to post as much information as I can here in the hopes that other coaches who deal with young girl’s teams at similar age groups and/or at similar ability levels may find it useful as we all work to elevate the overall level of play here in Minnesota and across the region.  With that said though, this website is primarily for myself as I look to chronicle the work which I absolutely love to do so that down the road I may look back on my time with this group and have some real substance to spark memories.

* Important Note for Blog Posters *

I will leave a number of the topics on this website open for reader comments and discussion.  I cannot guarantee that I will find time/interest to respond to any post directed at me, but I'm all for constructive debate among readers.

* Important Note for Haters *

If you have a problem with me personally or professionally, think that I'm some egotistical maniac only in soccer for himself or for the money, take issue with what I or my club stands for, feel that we've brainwashed, arm-twisted, or otherwise coerced families into leaving your club to join our program, DO NOT READ THROUGH THIS SITE! It's not for you.

* The Fine Print/Disclaimer/Note To Readers *

The author, me, does not claim any expert knowledge in the area of creative writing. I avoided all college writing classes like the plague, making it through fours years of a liberal arts education with only one paper to my credit. Thus, readers can fully expect to see excessive and unneeded punctuation usage; run on sentences, pleonasm, speling errors, incorrect noun-verb relationships, frequent and unabashed tense switching, tons of misplaced modifiers, numerous paragraphs starting with conjunctions, and sometimes a general lack of overall purpose or point. Also, I tend to go off on tangents as I can't seem to type fast enough to keep up with my thoughts, and I'm often times working on new thoughts prior to completely recording previous ones. Just a heads up.