Tweet Can someone please explain to me why US Soccer wants our team to look like we’re wearing pajamas on the pitch? This new kit is just horrible and makes you long for the 3rd kit to come out more often. But those are pajamas too. Insert obligatory Bananas in Pajamas quote here. As if […]
Entries for January, 2008
Just A Thought…
Tweet As SoccerDad does some roster assignments… If your child has dropped out of soccer three seasons in a row, maybe, JUST maybe, it’s time to pick a different sport.
Power Outages Threaten 2010 World Cup
Tweet The head of South Africa’s Tourism Services Association warned that due to continuing power problems in South Africa, the country may face serious problems hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup: South Africa’s energy crisis raises serious questions about its ability to successfully host the 2010 World Cup, the head of the Southern Africa Tourism […]
Kentucky Requires Youth Soccer Coaching Licenses
Tweet ÂThis is somewhat old news, but welcome all the same. John Thomas over at the USYS Blog recently highlighted a new policy in Kentucky related to the licensing of coaches: Mandating anything in soccer is tough enough. As one of the national staff coaches for US Youth Soccer, it’s hard educating coaches that have […]
Top Ten Things Soccer Parents Should Do
Tweet As the spring season approaches, I figured this would be a timely article. As both a soccer parent and coach, it has always been interesting watching the interactions (or lack thereof) of parents and coaches. Usually the interaction is good, but at times it can be strained, to the detriment of the team. We […]
Dave O’Brien ‘Outta Here?’
Tweet Over at Main St. USA, they note with glee: Confirmed: Dave O’Brien and Eric Wynalda are out as MLS’ #1 broadcast team and will be replaced by JP Dellacamera and John Harkes. Please, please, please, let them be out as the USSoccer announcers, too. If I ever have to hear Dave O’Brien reveal his […]
Nike – The Secret Tournament
Tweet A few years ago, Nike put together a series of commercials about a ‘Secret 3v3 Tournament’ played by 24 professional soccer players from around the world. Chris over at The Offside feels it was one of the greatest sports marketing campaigns simply due to the ‘coolness factor’, and I’d have to agree. But I […]
Highlighting Good Sportsmanship
Tweet A longtime OTP reader shared this with me recently: Today at my U14 game, my daughter made a diving save and deflected the ball past the post. The referee signaled for a goal kick and she shouted to him “Ref, it was out off my hand, it should be a corner.” He listened and […]
Suspensions Are Not News
Tweet If your child decides to mouth off to a referee and ends up being suspended for a few matches, don’t go whining to the papers about how unfairly your child is being treated. It just lets the world know that your kid is a brat. Players who insult or curse at referees deserve to […]
Do Fences Make Good Parents?
Tweet A couple of years ago, due to abusive behavior by parents at youth (American) football games, a local recreation department erected chain link fences to keep the parents away from the players, coaches, and officials. Clearly the move was meant to get the parents attention to how bad things were getting, and I hope […]
Look Where OTP Showed Up
Tweet WÂhen I signed up for BlogBurst, a sort of clearinghouse for large media outlets to pickup blog posts for republication, I doubted any of my posts would ever get selected for republication. So imagine my surprise when two of them were recently selected by Reuters. It’s pretty cool to see something you wrote published […]
Creating Motivation
Tweet A while back I alluded to the challenges we had faced with our U11 girls in terms of getting them motivated in practice, but hadn’t had a chance to expand on that until now. Our U11 team is a great group of girls, but it’s also on a steep learning curve. Very diverse personalities, […]
Development of a Safer Soccer Goal
Tweet Many readers likely recall the tragic story of Hayden Barnes Ellias, who was killed last year by a falling soccer goal during a team scrimmage. While soccer goal accidents are not very common, a number of children have died from them falling over in the past 30 years or so. The parents of Zachary […]
Keeping It Simple, But Not Too Simple
Tweet Over at Youth Sports, Joyce has a post up about the importance of keeping things simple in youth soccer: During the holidays, my daughter’s soccer team played a series of “friendlies” in a three-hour span at the new Adirondack Sports Complex in Queensbury, a dome which boasts a large fieÂld perfect for indoor soccer. […]
Who Is That Lacing Up His Boots?
Tweet Martha over at The Offside highlights a Nike commercial showing Kobe Bryant lacing up some cleats and drilling a soccer ball into a net: Even funnier though is this video of Freddy Adu talking smack to Kobe via video: So the next time one of your young soccer players talks about basketball, let them […]
