Sorry for the extended absence. Here I go to get my ‘D’ coaching license and then disappear – makes you wonder what they did to me! It definitely was an intense and exhausting class. Thankfully it wasn’t 95+ degrees every day and we had some great kids volunteer to play during our evals, allowing us to catch our breath. I’ll post more on the class shortly, but suffice to say it was fantastic. I learned a lot and somehow managed to escape with my National D – so I was happy. Fully expected to only get my State.

It’s not uncommon for OTP to go quiet during August as it is crunch time for organizing a soccer league, which I’m a part of here – but I usually manage to squeak in a post or two. This year I’ve been putting together a U9 ‘Rec+’ quasi travel program for kids who think they might want to play travel soccer some day. Add to that a whole new affiliation for our league (US Club), new procedures, political upheaval, and a record number of players = a very busy Soccer Dad. Plus lots of new material for posts!

I’m still tying up a number of loose ends as the season gets underway, but don’t be surprised if posts come in bunches over the next week or two. My draft queue is getting close to 100 – not good.