This U11 team began to take shape during the summer of 2004. I was currently coaching the WSC Inferno, and nearing the end of my third full year with them. There was no question in my mind that I was capable of continuing to develop the Inferno girls for a number of years still*, but my love is working with the younger players and I wanted to return to the U10/U11 age level to take on the challenge of developing another group of girls.  Moreover, a top-notch coaching candidate (Brandon Barkus, then Assistant Coach with the University of Minnesota, currently Head Coach Augustana College, SD) fell right in front of me so I was very comfortable in moving away from this group of girls.  Looking back at it, I do not think that I would have left the Inferno group if a less-qualified candidate was my only option.  Man, if I had still been in charge of this group when all the you-know-what hit you-know-what regarding the Woodbury Soccer Academy later that year, this group would have likely followed me to Bangu as well, though it would have made for some interesting meetings as Woodbury's ex-President, and still very influential board member at that time, had a daughter on that team.

* There is all this talk these days about coaching only staying with a group for 2 to 3 years.  See How Long Is Too Long With One Team?

So, knowing that I was going to take the reigns of a new group of girls, I began identifying potential team members to offer up the option of training year-round in the soon-to-be-created Woodbury Soccer Academy (WSA).  The "sell" to potential team families was the opportunity to work with a professional coach in a year-round training environment, surrounded by other players with similar interests and abilities.  There would still be a tryout process run by neutral evaluators, but I was getting more and more confident about my ability to gauge young talent and I was fairly certain that girls I identified would stand a very good chance of making the top team.

Actually, that's a crock. I new I would be running the WSA tryouts, I knew I would see the results, and I knew that if I wanted a girl on the team even if they did not show well at tryouts, I was still going to make the final decision for my team.  This might seem unfair to some people but that's the way I do it and I feel that's the way it should be done if you have a competent and experience head coach in place; he/she should have MAJOR input on the personnel he/she is going to work with for the next year.  I understand that this concept cannot work in the big community club setting; when club's are dealing with thousands of players and there needs to be an air of fairness and equity for all at all times, even if you're dealing with huge numbers and wide discrepancy of talent and interest levels over an entire age group.  Another reasons I'm glad to be involved with the club I'm currently with, where the decision are left up to us soccer psychotics... ah, I mean professionals.

Back to the team, though we could roster up to 14 players (U11s play 8v8 small-sided here in Minnesota), my idea was to go with an initial roster of 11 or 12 players only, leaving room to pick up a player or two along the way if someone came along.  Also, I wanted to have an opportunity to bring guest players along to events with us as this is one of the best ways to increase exposure for this group and thus continue to attract talent in the years to come.

There was a core group of current U10 girls who had worked together under a Woodbury Coach, Gordy Lennartson, in the club's U6/U8 Program and in the WAA Fall Recreational League.  Gordy, who as Vice President had been instrumental in bringing me to the club in 2000, had taken a lot of flak in the following years because of the things he had tried to do with this group of girls (play them up an age group, keep the team together from season to season, etc).  Gordy had seen athletic potential and interest at the early age groups and worked to "stack" his teams with these players.  The board had not wanted to show this favoritism to a fellow board member's team, and Gordy's Girls were split up, much to Gordy's chagrin, for the 2004 summer season.

I remember being somewhat against what Gordy was doing back in the early 2000s.  I think this was more due to wanting to fit in and thus siding with the majority on the board rather than really analyzing what was going on and what Gordy was trying to do.  As it turns out, he was trying to do back then what I am trying to do now... identify talent early, bring them together, keep them together in a year-round team context, and offer additional training opportunities the "average" player would not be interested in.

Five of the Gordy's Girls were playing up to the U11 age group as U10 players in the summer of 2004; Maddog, Nasher, Blondie, Dahl, and Em.  I contacted all of their families that summer and let them know that I (as Coaching Director) was suggesting that they all stay at the U11 age group for another year (Aug 04 - Jul 05) and that I was planning on coaching the top team at that particular age level. They all knew that I was the club's Coaching Director and knew that it was kinda a big deal that I was going to return to take this age group, so there was buy in to stay put for the next year.

I also made contact with Bidi, Kayls, and Mac, all three of whom were playing up to U11 with other Woodbury teams.  I made phone calls to their parents, let them know what the plans were, and they bought into the idea as well.

I then made contact with Paul B at St Croix. He had been coaching the U11 team St Croix Valley team that took part in the SoWashCo Alliance with us last fall (2003). Paul's daughter, along with three or four other girls on that SCV U11 team, were true U10 players and age appropriate for the team I was looking to put together.  I let him know what I was planning for the next year and he had three girls express interest in coming to our tryouts for the U11 team; Tash, Bruchu, and Red.  Paul's older daughter, a true U11 on his SCV team, moved to join our U12 WSA Renegades.

At a U11 tournament that summer, I had been impressed with a tiny peanut of a girl playing with White Bear Lake's U11 team.  Her teammates called her "Shorty" (it's always important to listen for the name of a player you like) and I thought there was no way that little girl was a true U11.  Shorty's parents actually contacted me a few weeks later inquiring about our upcoming tryouts, as they had heard about my work from a hockey friend whose daughter had made the move from that area to join my Inferno team a few years back.  I gave them the details and confirmed that Shorty was indeed a true U10 player that year.

Around the same time that summer I was also contacted by a family from River Falls. Their U10 daughter, Lily, was playing U14 with the Twin Cities Fire.  They expressed interest in what our club had going on at that point so I went out to watch her play.  Though outmatched physically, Lily stood out like a sore thumb on the field thanks to her gifted technical abilities.  I invited her to one of my Footskills camps that summer to look at her more closely (yes, I used my camp program to take more detailed looks at players that summer), and we also brought her in to guest with one of our Woodbury U11 teams at a tournament.  She had a great time and she and her family were sold on our program.

At the Fire game when I was watching Lily, there was another sore thumb out on the field. She was smaller that Lily (who was small already surrounded by 13 and 14 year olds), but just as skillful.  I have a distinct memory of watching this girl, Millie, as the first time she touched the ball she went at the giant opposing players on the dribble without fear nor hesitation. Within 20 seconds I could tell there was something special about this girl.  You can guess my amazement when I later found out that she was only 8 years old!  Lily's parents brought Millie's family out to watch one of the USA Cup tournament games that Lily was guesting with us.  I talked with Millie's parents and they decided to attend tryouts.

Maddog, Nasher, Dahl, Kayls, Blondie, Em, Bidi, Mac, Tash, Bruchu, Red, Shorty, Frankie, Soph, and Millie. These fifteen girls were identified early and given the opportunity to follow a certain development path for the next year.  All were interested in working with me, none were promised places on the team prior to tryouts.  I was excited to see what the evaluation process would bring in August.