Remember the story about the football team that had a chance to play for the championship taken away from them when their coaches were fired? Simply because the commissioner’s son was actually played at offense during a game? If not, read the original post. It’s amazing how selfish this guy was, no matter how much of his own money he spent forming his league.

Anyway, the kids refused to play in the playoffs under new coaches. They wanted to play for their original coaches who had been fired. Well, after this story broke, many parents in the county felt the actions of the commissioner were uncalled for and did something about it:

Just days before the team of 12- to 14-year-old boys from southern Fairfax County was headed to the playoffs, their season abruptly ended when the league commissioner fired the head coach and an assistant coach — all for moving his son from defense to offense in the final game of the regular season, according to the former coaches and players’ parents.

Now, some league officials are coming to the team’s defense. It won’t be the championship they dreamed of winning, but plans were drawn up yesterday for the team to play in a bowl game sponsored by the Fairfax County Youth Football League this month.

League Chairman Mark Meana said yesterday that he notified the coaches that the Raptors would play in a game against the winner of their division or an all-star team.

"We’re glad to do this," Meana said. "We didn’t like this situation from the start. We have never been faced with a situation like this before, the personalization of one team, and so we can’t change what happened, but we can do this."

You know, no matter what happens, parents like this Hinkle clown are NOT representative of most parents with kids in sports. They are the freaks and exceptions and while their actions are repugnant, most parents know right from wrong and will try to make things right not only for their kid, but any kid.

» Read the rest of this post…

The other day I had to run some errands around town. As I’m driving through downtown, heading towards 5th Street, which would take me where I needed to go, I turned down 3rd Street without even thinking about it. I had gone a few blocks before I realized, um, no I didn’t need to be on 3rd Street. Which, of course, is the street our soccer complex is on.

That’s SO bad.

Sorry for the lack of posts. The end of the season is always hectic and once everything finally ends, you just have to decompress. Otherwise you might shout things like "Pass the BALL!" at Thanksgiving dinner when you meant pass the turkey. So I hibernated for a few days (and got sick to boot - sigh) I’ve got all sorts of stuff to post about (my draft queue is getting WAY too long). So what better way to start things off than a list.

Top Ten Signs Your Kid’s Soccer Season Is Over

10. You’ve seen ‘Register for next season’ in email, hardcopy, and on signs in town.
9. You spent less than $100 on fast food last week.
8. You’re still tripping over balls in the house, but they’re orange.
7. Your heart rate hasn’t spiked in over a week.
6. The only people in bright yellow shirts you see are asking "Would you like fries with that?".
5. You slept in this past Saturday.
4. Your minivan no longer looks like someone emptied their lawn mower bag in it.
3. ‘That Smell’ has gotten less intense in the kid’s closets. Sort of.
2. None of the chairs you sat in this week came out of a bag.
1. It’s Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone a few days late! It’s fitting I guess. For some strange reason our family eats on Sunday every year, mostly because large parts of it are out of town, etc. It’s odd and all, but hey, that means the leftovers don’t start until Monday. You probably had cold turkey sandwiches yesterday, didn’t you?

Time to get out the turkey fryer. Mmmmmmmmmm. So unhealthy yet SO GOOD.

I’m WAY late with this but the end of October was hectic to say the least! Sorry about that.

As we do every month at On The Pitch, here’s a shout out to some of the sites that linked here and sent traffic our way this month. Be sure to pay them a visit and return the favor!

Here are the Top 5 referrers for October 2006:

1. Soccerblogs.net
2. LDSM, Soccer Mom
3. The DCenters
4. Down East Soccer
5. EPL Talk

On The Pitch would also like to thank our advertising sponsors who help pay the bandwidth bill. And, of course, thanks to all of you who stop by to read the posts and leave comments. We’ve seen a number of great discussions, especially in the Question of the Week posts.

Jenn over at Mommy Needs Coffee adds a new word to the soccer lexicon: De-Soccerify:

Soccer Saturday.  I must admit that I am not one of those super Alpha Moms that gets overly into the games, freaks out at a loss and pushes my kid to WIN WIN WIN.  Face it.  After 9 years of watching soccer games, I consider it a good deed if I go and know the name of which kiddo is playing.  [ed note: She's in total denial! Trust me.] Today was one of those days.  Get up.  Go to soccer game number one with the little one.  Come home.  Grab a snack.  Head to game number 2 with child number 2.  Get home.  De-soccerify (IS SO a word) the gang and chill out to a movie of the children’s choosing.  Which means it is a movie I have seen a bazillion times or one I do not care if I ever see.

Being a league officer and coach, plus having two kids who play (one in both Challenge and Rec), we live at the soccer complex on Saturday (unless we have an away match). So once everything winds down and we get back home, it’s major decompression time. Movies (same as above - seen them a gazillion times), game boy, fire in the fireplace when it’s cold, finger food. Aaaaahhhhhh. If it’s raining, pajamas and hot chocolate are usually required.

Thus our Question of the Week:

So how do you De-Soccerify?

Fund-raising is a part of youth soccer. Travel expenses for tournaments, team equipment, end of season parties, etc. So I figured I’d share this interesting fund-raiser that my kids are doing at school. It’s competitive with a twist of, well, revenge. It feels wrong, but it is genius and I had never heard of it before (which isn’t saying much - it may be the best thing since sliced bread!)

Our school’s computer lab got zapped by lightning (*cough* Don’t Use Cheap Surge Suppressors! *cough*) so they need to raise some money to replace them. The class that raises the most money gets prizes, fame, fortune, and a free ice cream bar at lunch or something. So here’s how it works. Each class has two fund-raising jars. The first one is simple - you can only put pennies in it and the class gets a point for each penny. The second jar is where it gets evil. This jar is for silver money only. The catch is a class LOSES points for any silver money that is put into their jar. Anybody can put silver money into anybody else’s jar.

So, cue scene at our breakfast table this morning:

Eldest: Dad, I need some pennies for our fund-raiser at school.

Dad: OK - I’ve got some and you’ve got a few stashed away.

Eldest: Do you have any quarters? If we donate silver money to other classes they LOSE points. How cool is that?!?!?! I want to ’silver bomb’ XXXX’s class and YYYY’s and especially the principals’ office. They have jars too!

(Dad silently hopes the NSA bugs aren’t too sensitive that morning. Silver Bomb?!?!)

Dad: Well, you don’t have that much silver money lying around.

Eldest: Can I earn some? I’ll rake leaves, clean up the yard, wash the dogs, anything! I’ve got so many classes I want to hit with silver money. I’ll do ANYthing.

(Dad silently wonders how many additional chores he can get done for each nickel)

I expect this conversation happened at a number of tables this week. They keep a running score for each room and the principals’ office. You can guess who is getting hit with the most silver. This is so devious because the kids want to get revenge on kids or classes who hit their jar with silver. It’s genius. I bet this turns into a rather successful fund-raiser. My only worry is when some kid dumps a roll of quarters in some other class’ jar and gets the snot beat out of him on the playground. It could happen.

Not saying it would work anywhere, but it was so wild I had to share. I guess our elementary school isn’t so bad after all and has a little spunk and ingenuity. Not quite as much as others, but not bad!

The MLS has finally announced their Youth Development Program:

MLS is requiring each of its teams next season to establish a youth amateur program, separate from the pro club. These youth teams will give talented young players with professional aspirations an excellent opportunity to pursue their dreams, stay close to home, and continue their education. Players registered for at least 24 months in an MLS youth program become eligible to sign a professional contract with that team without entering the MLS SuperDraft.

So it looks like they will be getting around the college eligibility problem by creating separate programs from the pro clubs and players can sign with a team without going through the SuperDraft. Will be interesting to see if the NCAA is comfortable with this or not.

UPDATE: I was rushing out the door when I posted this, so here’s some more thoughts. The article clearly states the NCAA eligibility is not at risk:

During the next few years, MLS clubs will create teams in up to six age groups. Players on these teams will wear the club’s colors and train under the team’s coaching staff. Players on MLS youth teams may be able to compete with other youth club teams at various times during the year. MLS youth programs will not jeopardize a player’s NCAA eligibility.

The article doesn’t give a lot of detail, but it seems like they’re using the SuperDraft bypass as the key to retaining talent. What isn’t mentioned are particulars like:

• Can a player switch youth programs if they move and sit out one year to satisfy the residency requirement?
• If a player is released and moves to another Home Territory, do they still sit a year?
• How big will the ‘Home Areas’ be? (Hopefully quite large around clubs with no neighboring clubs)
• Is there any academic requirements for children under 17?
• Can players be exchanged between clubs?
• How often are players reviewed for retention?
• Can someone on a U-25 team, for example, enter the SuperDraft if they haven’t been signed by their home team. If so, do they lose their ‘home grown’ status by entering the SuperDraft?

I’m sure many more details will come out over time, just figured I’d jot a few down. 

This is one of those head scratching things. I’ve seen soccer standings printed both as Win-Loss-Tie and Win-Tie-Loss. I’m guessing, but I think the former is mostly an Americanized thing while the latter is the more ‘International’ style. Total guess. It makes sense to have the ties in the middle since you get a point for them, but I seem to see the W-L-T format more often.

Is there a preferred format for soccer? Can you tell I ponder really insignificant things sometimes?

ADDING » Here’s our Christmas Gift List for 2007

LDSM Soccer Mom did a little virtual Christmas shopping for soccer fans and posted what she found. I so want the soccer ball ornament. Must. Have.

If you know of other cool gifts for soccer fans, by all means post them in her comment section!

UPDATE: Here are a few of my own favorite soccer gifts and decorations:

• Soccer Ball Christmas Lights
• Soccer Ball Rug
• Big Soccer Ball Umbrella (they make folding ones too)
• Soccer Ball Lamp
• Soccer Throw Blanket
• Yes - you can send a soccer theme basket to your favorite soccer fan too.
• Soccer Pencils for your kids
• A cooler shaped like a soccer ball
• Soccer Travel Mug for those cold morning matches
• Soccer Flip Flops for those hot May and August matches
• MLS Teamgeist style skills ball
• Soccer Chess Set
• Soccer Clock
• And for the readers on your list:
  • Soccerhead: An Accidental Journey into the Heart of the American Game (see our review)
  • A Home on the Field (see our review)
  • Who Tracked Soccer Through The House (A Bill Hinds Cleats Collection)

And yes, if you’re tired of that same old soldier style nutcracker, you can get your very own soccer player nutcracker. Spooky.

I finally got everything posted I had wanted to from this weekend, so now I can post about the fun we had this past weekend. As many of you know, I coach a co-ed U10 Recreational team in our local league and they’ve had a really good season this Fall. We decided to take them to the North Carolina Recreational State Cup, not because we thought we might win but rather to give the kids a new experience. Since the Rec Cup is limited to Rec only players (our multi-rostered Challenge players were ineligible), it was a true ‘Recreational’ tournament. So the kids on our team who only play rec ball would have a chance to travel to a tournament and play against teams from across the state. Needless to say they were VERY excited. Me? I was nervous - this would be my first tournament too.

As our regular season wound down, we started to practice harder and focus on the cup. We had two guest players join us to fill in our roster since the Challenge kids couldn’t go (including my eldest), so they also joined us for practice and everyone worked hard. As the date drew closer, nobody knew exactly what to expect. The kids were REALLY excited to be going out of town, staying at hotels, and playing soccer somewhere new. So we took the field Saturday morning in 40 degree weather wondering what exactly we had gotten ourselves into. When we walked off the field at 4PM Sunday afternoon, they had won three of their four matches and earned 2nd Place as Cup Finalists in the U10 Boys Division:

[MYSA U10 Storm posing for the cameras with their silver cups]

I can’t tell you enough how proud I am of them. Not just because they were successful, but also to see how they bonded together as a team and worked harder in each match.

» Read the rest of this post…

We’re having a rather interesting debate with some parents in our league over how we handle the development of referees. It raises a number of interesting issues so I thought I’d share them with you all and see what you thought with our Question of the Week:

How Should Referee Development Be Handled?

Like most leagues, we have a referee development program which goes hand in hand with our player development program and league. We encourage new referees to take their Grade 8 or 9 certification course and start the younger ones out primarily as assistant referees (ARs). As they gain experience, they’ll work as centers in less intense matches, primarily in U8, usually with on experienced adult running lines. With a 6v6 format and players that are 6 or 7 years old (thus a slower game pace than say U10 or U12), it provides an ideal setting for them to get more experience and gain confidence. Scrimmages and matches between older teams playing less intense matches are also sprinkled in.

» Read the rest of this post…

We all know soccer can be a religion to its many fans around the world, but a line gets crossed when religion is used to mold a soccer team. At a public university.

Over at TBogg, he highlights a recent situation at San Diego State University where four players were thrown off the team, including their best player, due to disagreements with the coaches. Religious disagreements. The San Diego Union-Tribune has more:

In a letter to SDSU Athletic Director Jeff Schemmel, Jen Mello’s father Gary accused the coaches of “mental and verbal abuse"? and trying to “mold them into their vision of the perfect young female with a religious backdrop."?

Gary Mello said the coaches hold religion discussions in team meetings, they question them on whether they are religious and suggest they go to church together. Greg Strickland said the coaches are “very heavy Christians."?

Gary Mello said there are many other issues, including the coaches trying to tell his daughter who her friends should be…

» Read the rest of this post…

While I was on the other end of the state with my U10 team trying to win a tournament trophy, the coaches in our league decided to have a very informative and spirited debate about end of season awards, participation trophies, and alternatives. As season wrap up and teams decide what to do across the country, I figured I’d pass on some of the insights and discussion.

» Read the rest of this post…

What was this father THINKING? I don’t care HOW good you think your kid might be, how could you ruin the season of a group of dedicated kids like this just to enact revenge on a coach for not submitting to your dictatorial edicts?

The South County Raptors, a scrappy football team made up of 12- to 14-year-old boys from southern Fairfax County, were supposed to meet the Herndon Hornets today in the first round of the county playoffs.

Instead, the Raptors are at home, their season over with no possibility of a championship after a league commissioner fired the head coach and the assistant coach this week. Their offense? They moved the commissioner’s son from defense to offense for the final game of the season last Saturday, an overtime win that put the Raptors in the postseason.

"Scott does not sit out on defense — ever," the commissioner, Dan Hinkle, had warned the head coach, James Owens, in an e-mail sent before the season began about how he should play Hinkle’s son, 12. On defense, the father said, "he goes in and stays in. That includes all practices, scrimmages and games. This entire league exists so he can play defense on the best team in his weight class. . . . He is my son, I own the league, and he plays every snap on defense."

What an arrogant ass. Too bad there isn’t some legal recourse for the parents to take. It may seem petty, but these kids will remember this forever. You don’t bust your behind for an entire season, reach the playoffs, and forget when some adult takes it all away for no reason. Can you imagine the absolute abuse his child will endure because of this even though he had nothing to do with it?

One of the hardest things I’ve faced as a league administrator is also being a coach. Decisions are made by our board all the time that will impact the entire league and thus my teams. Sometimes what you would want for your team is not what is best for the league and separating the two so you can make objective decisions is extremely difficult. But it can be done. Adults who think youth sports are just some springboard to possible future stardom in sports for their kid are delusional at best and should be banned, except that just hurts their kids. Sigh.

Three cheers for the kids for having the maturity to do the right thing. They could have taken the easy way out and gone to the playoffs with replacement coaches but refused to do so - they would only play for their coaches. Good for them, though no 12 year old should be forced to make a decision like that because some adult wants to cop an attitude and be spiteful.

Thanks to JM for sending in the article! I’m a little late in posting it for obvious reasons. The hotel wireless was HORRIBLE. They actually filtered out my site’s IP address and denied access!?!?!

UPDATE: The county wide league setup a bowl game for the kids so they could play again for their fired coaches. Not the same, but nice to see them doing something to offset the pigheadedness of their local league commissioner.

And all heck breaks loose! Sorry for not getting posts up right away. After being gone all weekend, I came back to find all sorts of issues brewing with the parents. So I had to deal with those first. Lots of posts to come, and yes, of course I’m going to post about our roadtrip last