0708 Yearly Development Plan

Our development plan for the year is as follows.

Fall Season (Aug - Oct)

We will look to take part in the Eclipse Challenge Cup the weekend of Aug 25 in Libertyville, Illinois.  This will be an extremely competitive event for the girls and will feature some of the best competition the Region II has to offer, as well as will draw in other top talent from across the country.  It will be a challenge for us to participate as we will have a number of players vying for high school varsity positions this fall as underclassmen.

Becs (9^th grader as Centennial HS)

Hannah (9^th grader at Bloomington Jefferson HS)

Scratch (8^th grader at Eagan HS)

Bidi (9^th grader at Woodbury HS)

Tori (9^th grader at Edina HS)

Ripper (8^th grader at Hastings HS)

Millie (7^th grader at St Louis Park HS)

Moreover, Clare (from Texas) won’t be in town until Aug 24^th and will be unable to make the trip to Illinois with us.

I will be checking with the Minnesota State High School League to find our the exact policy regarding players playing with club teams during the high school season and hope that we can make things work out in order to field a team for the event.

Our U13 Blue team will also be participating in the same event, and it will be good for these younger girls to interact at the tournament with the older U14 girls.

Other than this event, we will look to train 2x per week with an optional third session for those interested.  We'll have to see what numbers we have available due to HS conflicts, but with 36 girls in our White/Green pool, we should be able to mix the small number of Blue players in if/when needed.  Else, the girls will receive a bunch of small-group lessons through the fall if we train with 7 or 8.  I could think of worse things for these girls to be involved with, that's for sure.  We will also look to schedule some friendlies with other regional teams who I know are also looking for something for their U14s.

Winter I Season (Nov – Dec)

We will follow the same development scheme we used last year, with Field Training 2x per week, Futsal/Street Soccer, FIT Training, and Video Analysis.  We have some friendlies scheduled for mid November and will head to the The IV '07 in College Station, TX. in early December.  This is a top level girl’s showcase sponsored by adidas and run in conjunction with the NCAA Div I Women’s College Cup being hosted by Texas A&M University.  Teams participating in this event receive tickets to the Women’s matches, so I expect this to be a fantastic experience for the girls.

Winter II Season (Jan – Mar)

Same training as Winter I, with friendlies thrown in in Omaha in January and hosted in Minnesota in Feb.  We’ll head to the Las Vegas College Showcase event in mid-March, another one of the premier soccer tournaments in the US.  We were contemplating heading to Vegas last spring, but many parents were hesitant to drop their kids into the Vegas environment.  So instead, we headed to the Jefferson Cup in Virginia.  This year, I'm looking forward to better weather, better fields, and a look at some very strong west-coast competition. 

Spring/Summer Season (Apr – Jul)

We will hopefully apply and get accepted into the Midwest Regional League (MRL) Premier Division.  I feel we missed the boat a bit by not competing in MRL this fall, but we might have been extremely short-handed missing our HS players.  In looking at the teams who will be taking part in the fall season, either they don’t have the same HS conflicts we do here in Minnesota or they are going to make due with the players they have.  I’m assuming that many of the top Region II teams have a number of players at this age who could compete for spots in their respective HS programs.

For the U14 fall MRL season, there is only one playing division.  Success this fall earns teams the right to play in the spring/summer MRL Premier Division.  I’m banking on the fact that we, as 2007 Region II Champions, will not have an issue in securing a place in the top division of MRL play next spring.  I hope that I’m correct in this.

We will opt out of the U15G MYSA Premier League next summer in favor of MRL play, assuming we are accepted into the Premier Division.  If by some chance we are not accepted into the top MRL division, the local play at an age group older will likely be better competition for us than the MRL First Division, with a lot less time and monetary expenditure.  I don’t know the exact timing of MRL acceptance and foregoing the MYSA Premier spot, and I need to look into this quickly.

Our three weekends of MRL play should carry us through into the Minnesota State Cup where once again as the clear favorites to win the event we will try and secure our place in the 2008 Region II Championships in Rockford, Illinois.

We will then look to add in potentially a US Club Soccer Regional and USA Cup in July.

There you have it.  Similar to last year, a year that we saw tremendous improvement in the girls' individual abilities as well as a year that helped continue to challenge and test the players, helping to fuel the passion for the game.  We are not much different from other teams in Minnesota with regard to the quantity of sessions we offer.  We do differ in the variety of programming that we offer our players, in our ability to enter and compete in the highest level events across the country throughout the year, and in the overall level of the training environment we showcase, thanks in large part to the talent level and commitment the girls on this team demonstrate. 

Will all this guarantee us another regional title?   Not by a long shot.  Will all this help best position the team to contend again in Rockford next year.  You bet.