Despite a rash of tragic accidents involving unanchored soccer goals in recent years, many organizations still aren’t ensuring the goals are anchored to the ground. An Arizona TV station decided to see just how many are continuing to ignore this important safety issue.
Entries for December, 2008
SoccerDad’s Reading List
Tweet I love to read, but find precious little time to do it during soccer seasons. So my stack of ‘currently reading’ books gets sort of high. Since I occasionally post book reviews, I figured I’d post my current list of books I’m slowly reading through in case any of you have read them already […]
Little Man Chase Gets Some Boots
Tweet Don’t look now, but SoccerDad’s youngest is finally getting to play some soccer! After kicking a ball around on the sidelines since he could walk while his older siblings played, Chase starts playing this Spring. He’s SO excited and his older brother and sister got him all decked out with cleats, shin guards, and […]
Having Fun In The Rain
I’ve always gotten a kick out of the reaction of parents new to soccer when the weather gets bad. Most expect when it rains that everything gets canceled. But unless there is lightning or the field is underwater – you usually play. But you rarely see pictures of these matches because people don’t want their cameras to get wet. So when you come across some, you just have to share.
A Wartime Soccer Christmas Story
We all recall from history classes the role that holidays can play in the outbreak of spontaneous, albeit temporary, truces between armies. Here is a story about soccer during WWI and the role it played in a spontaneous truce between German and Allied forces on Christmas Day 1914.
Chelsea FC U17s To Face Top US Youth Teams
Chelsea FC’s U17 youth academy team will face off against some of the best youth teams in the US during the Disney Soccer Showcase this weekend. As more EPL clubs partner with top US youth soccer clubs, events like these are sure to become more common.
Soccer Leagues May Lose Registration Fees
Due to the financial difficulties of an online league registration company, Count Me In, a number of youth sports leagues have not been paid registration fees collected on their behalf. This could have significant impacts on youth leagues across the country.
Random Advice for Rec Soccer Coaches
After observing a number of common mistakes and misconceptions on our recreational soccer teams, we decided to put together some tips and advice for our Rec coaches to try and improve the development of players (and coaches) in our league.
Too Afraid To See Them Fail
When you watch your child play soccer, do you believe any mistakes they make are less likely to lose the game than other sports? Apparently many parents believe this.
Why Some Kids Quit Soccer
Players drop out of youth soccer leagues all the time, but you rarely know why. One league decided to ask parents with a survey and got some interesting results.
An Early Start to Spring
Tweet Thanks to where Easter and Memorial Day fall this year, it seems like our Spring soccer seasons are starting a lot earlier this Spring. Our Classic teams start play February 7th! Challenge teams aren’t far behind (Feb 21st) and I expect our Recreation season to start the same weekend or a weekend later. Sheesh! […]
Goal Safety
The December issue of the NCYSA Sideline Beacon just came out and talks about the very important topic of goal safety.
Collegiate Soccer and Professional Development
Tweet SoccerLens has an in depth look at how stringent NCAA rules are holding back the development of top soccer players in the US and what can be done to fix it. The response of the NCAA at the end is not encouraging. H/T This Is American Soccer
Jeff Pill is Blogging
Jeff Pill, well known in youth soccer for his many online drills at ezteam, has started a blog about coaching youth soccer. Check it out at http://www.jeffpillsoccer.com/
Youth Soccer Players and the Economy
With the economy seeming to get worse every week, times are tough for a lot of people, including many with children that play soccer. Here are some ideas for parents to help ease the financial burden of playing soccer so families can continue to make ends meet and keep their children involved in a sport they love. Part 1 of a 4 part OTP series.
