Pushing Beckham

I've spent the past few days working to organize a club event at the Copa Minnesota match up between the LA Galaxy and the MN Thunder.  The Galaxy will feature international soccer superstar David Beckham in his only non-MLS city tour stop this year.

My goal is to get as many BTFC players out to the game as I can.  I've worked with the Thunder to secure an entire seating section for our club, and I'll now try to get word out to the Bangu Tsunami teams through the team managers to place orders.  This will be a huge hassle to try and coordinate ticket orders, distribution, check collection, seating assignments, etc for 40 teams.  But it's worth it im my book. 

True, Beckham is a draw for soccer and non-soccer fan alike.  But more important to me is the team and club bonding opportunity this presents, the opportunity for the kids to watch arguably our (the US's) best home grown soccer product in Landon Donovan, as well as watch one of the top US soccer icons Cobi Jones in likely his last field appearance after a distinguished soccer career.  This is about exposing our kids to the US soccer culture, about watching soccer stars live, and about making a clear statement that our club not only supports high level soccer, but also supports the efforts of our local professional soccer organization. 

It baffles me to see the utter lack of promotional effort by the local community clubs.  Browsing through them, I do not see ONE SINGLE BLURB about the upcoming event.  The clubs that many consider to be strong soccer clubs in the area - Eden Prairie, Woodbury, Lakeville, Wings, St Croix - NOTHING.  It is clear to me that many people out there just don't get it.  Either they don't think supporting the local pro team is worth the trouble because the Thunder plays in the second pro division (the USL First Division), or they don't grasp the importance of building a soccer culture here in the US and what that does for the game as a whole.  It's frustrating for someone like me to see this as I know how important the MN Kicks were to my own soccer development.  I know the same holds for Manny Lagos (MN Thunder President) and Amos Magee (MN Thunder Head Coach).  Man, they're both Blackhawks alum.  You'd think that club at least would support the Thunder efforts.

The Thunder seems pleased with early ticket sales, so we'll see what happens.  I'll do what I can to expose our players to what I feel is important to them.  Hopefully there is interest from families in our club to take part in the event.

Gopher Game vs Penn State

I had the U14s and U11s get together at ELR Stadium in St Paul to watch the Gophers play NCAA Top 10 team Penn State.  It is important that the girls watch as much high level soccer as they can and it is important that we continue to support the Gopher program.  Our club has had a good tie in with the U of M program, with many BTFC players on the Gopher rosters in recent years. 

Though Penn State was a better team overall, the Gophs hung in there and battled, taking the game to OT before scoring the winning goal on a free kick for the upset.  A great result for the Minnesota program, and a great game for the girls to experience. 

Moreover, it is important to me that the U14s look to mentor the younger girls.  My plan is to have the older girls come in and work with the younger girls this winter.  It will help the older girls as they now try and teach skills to others, something that will help in their own overall technical understanding, and it will help the younger girls as they can build relationships with the older girls, girls who the younger ones look up to in this club.  I've been very up front with the U11 group.  We are modeling their development plan after the one used with the current U14s, with the goal of contesting for another regional championship in 2010.  The U14s are good, the U11s have the potential to be better.  The U11s hear me talk about the U14s all the time, and it's good for the younger girls to be able to put a face on the older team as a whole through direct contact.   

What a Fall!!!!

Busy to say the least.  I'm kinda glad that it didn't pan out to get involved with the Macalester College Women as I would have been run ragged and likely single come October.  It's been tough to update this particular age group's development journal frequently, as I've been preoccupied mainly with the U11s.  Also, it just hasn't felt like a team yet with the U14s thus far as half the girls have been MIA, involved in their HS programs.  However, this last weekend, with double digits at training for the first time since July, I caught the U14 bug! 

The girls looked really good this past weekend.  Maybe because I've been around the U11s all fall, maybe because the U14s are really good. 

They were excited to see each other, many of whom had not seen teammates in months.  There was good energy at training as we begin our run for a National Title.  There, I said it.  I was afraid to at first in case I jinx us, but that is what I hope the girls will set their sites on when we sit down in the coming weeks to talk about our goals for the upcoming year together.  What else would we aim for?  To repeat as Regional Champs?  Been there already.  A new year, a new team, and new goals.  The higher we set them, the more we'll all grow, if we attain the goal or if we don't. 

With lofty goals we increase the chance of failure.  However, I think this is the chance we should all (players, parents, and coaches) take.  There will no doubt be many good lessons learned from failing to reach a goal, but the way I see it, if history is any predictor, it is extremely unlikely that we'll even repeat as Regional winners.  In fact, only one team since 2000 has been able to claim back to back Regional Championships for their U13 and U14 years - Team Chicago in 2001 and 2002.  Heck, most of the time the champs and finalists don't even make the following year's finals... and that's even after the seeding at U14. 

2000

U13 Girls

• Champions : Internationals
• Finalists : Carmel

2001

U13 Girls

• Champions : Team Chicago
• Finalists : Lakota

U14 Girls

Champions : KC Dynamos
Finalists : Team Chicago

2002

U13 Girls

• Champions : Ohio Premier
• Finalists : Carmel

U14 Girls

Champions : Team Chicago
Finalists : Internationals

2003

U13 Girls

• Champions : St Louis SC
• Finalists : Michigan Hawks

U14 Girls

Champions : Eclipse Select
Finalists : FOSC Fever

2004

U13 Girls

• Champions : FC Milwaukee
• Finalists : Bangu Tsunami Stars

U14 Girls

Champions : Michigan Hawks
Finalists : Chicago Magic

2005

U13 Girls

• Champions : Vardar
• Finalists : CIS Knockouts

U14 Girls

Champions : Ohio Elite
Finalists : Illinois Premier

2006

U13 Girls

• Champions : KCFC
• Finalists : Ohio Elite

U14 Girls

Champions : Michigan Hawks
Finalists : Eclipse Select

2007

U13 Girls

• Champions : Bangu Tsunami 93/94 Blue
• Finalists : Internationals

U14 Girls

Champions : Carmel
• Finalists : LFC Premier

And all this is assuming we don't suffer what I think most would call an upset in our own Minnesota State Cup. 

So, we have our work cut out for us.  But I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the challenge!

* * * * *

There has been a change in our winter plans.  Initially, I was looking forward to taking the girls to College Station (TX) for The IV '07 event held in conjunction with the NCAA Women's Final Four.  However, up until a few weeks ago, we were the only U14 team listed as being registered.  The tournament assured me that there would be other teams entering, but people needed to make airline plans and hotel reservations, and we couldn't be, no pun intended, left in a holding pattern. 

So, we bailed on that event and I looked for another winter adventure for us.  After some research, I settled on the Sereno Soccer Classic in Phoenix (Jan 19 - 21, 2008).  The tournament is one of the most competitive in the US and will feature many of the top Region IV teams.  The fields will likely be hard and dry, but we'll be coming off training on turf, so I'm not worried about that.  I took my Woodbury Inferno team to Phoenix in 2003 and we had a great experience.

We'll also be heading to Vegas for the Las Vegas College Showcase in March, then hopefully MRL Premier play beginning in April. 

Other than that, our schedule is similar to last year.  FIT Training, Video Analysis, and Field Training on Saturday mornings at Holy Angels, Futsal (oops, we can't call it that anymore - more on this later) I mean Futbol Sala on Sundays, Field Training on Monday evenings, and Friendlies on Fridays. 

I'm looking forward to this weekend and maybe having all 16 girls around... finally. 

An End to the Glorious Weekend

A beautiful Sunday, sunny and warm.  Too little too late though to make much of a difference in the tournament.  The U13s got absolutely manhandled by a very, very good St Louis SC team (which was a good experience for the Bangu players and the parents involved), and then I finally got to take in some U14 action.

I saw the Hawks (MI) play FC Milwaukee (WI) for about 20 minutes, then headed over to another field to see St Louis SC (MO) play CASL (SC).  The Hawks game was on a full side field, the SLSC game was played on a shortened field, about 100x 70, due to wet conditions surrounding that field.  It was a very good game, at least the part I saw, given the field constraints.  I finished up the morning by watching the Mustang girls from Cali battle Carmel (IN).  Not the 10 hours of U14 soccer watching I was hoping for this weekend, but at least I got a bit of a taste of what else is out there.

More Driving Than Soccer

I arrived at the Libertyville field complex around 7:45AM for our 9:00AM scheduled kick off.  Once again, no one was there to take my $5 for parking.  Nice!  Once again, I was bewildered by the lack of cars in the parking lot and once again was stopped by the tournament volunteer, waving me down with a sheepish grin, the feigned grin that one wears when they know they have to give news that people aren’t going to like.  Ah, good morning the volunteer says after I rolled my window down.  Is it?  I ask.  Ah, well, all morning games have been cancelled.  They are working on the revised schedule and should have it for you at the tent down the road.

What the…?!?!  Couldn’t they at least try to make contact with the team coaches/managers and let them know earlier that this?  So I got on the phone with the manger and let her know to try and corral the girls and their families before they all left the hotel.  Too late.  Real fun.

I headed over to the tournament tent to find out that that first round of games for the U13 age group had been moved to the Geneva Township fields, the complex an hour away from our hotel.  The Eclipse people had been out all night with wet vacs and squeegees trying to dry out the fields, even renting a helicopter (brilliant!) to try and get the fields in playable condition.  To no avail.  I was also informed that due to the scheduling constraints and trying to give all the teams game time, games would also be cut down to 40 minutes.  There was still no word about the second round of games for the day.  Keep checking the website.

What was really disappointing was the fact that the U14 games were being played at a completely separate venue in Oak Brook at the same time as the U13s so I had absolutely no chance of watching any of those.  Real bummer.

When all was said and done, we drove a hour to Geneva, played a 40 minute game, had to hustle back to Libertyville (an hour) to play our second game of the day at 5:30PM (another 40 minute game) on one of the two semi-playable fields at the main complex.  I say semi-playable because due to the wet conditions, 5 or 6 yards of the field width had to be lined off and were hastily painted with orange paint indicating the revamped sidelines.  It took the girls on both teams about half an hour to adjust to the unfamiliar orange lines and the narrow field (the ref wouldn’t let me put down any disks to help the teams), and by that time the game was done.  Real fun.

No word about the schedule for tomorrow, but the organizers said they would be trying to get everyone 2 games.

So much for my plans of going home on Saturday night.  I figured I was down here and still wanted to see some of the U14 games.  My wife understood and gave me her blessing, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Oh, and with a little help from YouTube and other internet sites for nerds like me, I finally solved the cube!