The Evolving Game - January 2019

E M A G G N I V L O THE EV January 2019

Issue 48 Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Coaching Newsletter

Grassroots Soccer Manager JT Dorsey Runs Urban Soccer Diploma Course At 2019 United Soccer Coaches Convention

Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Grassroots Soccer Manager JT Dorsey is one of the most respected names in the country when it comes to developing soccer in underserved communities. After working with the state association on a part-time basis, he joined Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer full time in the summer of 2018.

At the 2019 United Soccer Coaches Convention in Chicago, JT ran an Urban Soccer Diploma Course alongside Vince Ganzberg (United Soccer Coaches) and Michael Vaughan-Cherubin (US Soccer Foundation).

The diploma goal was to “teach soccer coaches best practices in youth development and soccer with a special emphasis on a non-traditional setting. This diploma is geared toward anyone that wishes to put the child at the center of their session and focus on character development, skill development and fun over tactics and winning.”

The course took place January 11-12 over two sessions, one in the classroom (four hours) and one on the field (four hours).

“This was a great opportunity to teach on a national stage,” Dorsey said. “I was excited to deliver the course and represent Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer and the coaches who work with kids from underserved areas.”

The founder and Executive Director of the JT Dorsey Foundation, JT works with under-served youth to provide athletic, academic and social opportunities that the kids would otherwise not have. As Grassroots Soccer Manager, he works to expand Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer's reach into all communities and assist with Recreational Soccer initiatives. JT has worked closely with Director of Soccer Development & Performance to spearhead efforts to grow soccer in inner city communities.

JT has coordinated such events as the Cedar Cup in Lebanon, the Soccer for Success Festival in Coatesville and Street Soccer at the Kipona Festival in Harrisburg.

A Coatesville, PA., native, JT played college soccer at Loyola University (MD) and played professionally for the Hershey Wildcats, Reading Rage and Harrisburg City Islanders among others before retiring in 2006. He coaches for PA Classics Nova.

Inside: Ray Miller C License Coach

The National C License will again be offered in August in Pennsylvania

Registration will open Late January 2019 Game Watcher USA

January 22, 2:30PM USWNT v Spain

EPL

January 13, 11:30AM Tottenham v Man Utd January 19, 12:30PM Arsenal v Chelsea

BUNDESLIGA

January 19, 12:30PM RB Leipzig v B Dortmund

SUPER COPPA ITALIANA

LA LIGA

ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP

January 16, 12:30PM Juventus v AC Milan

January 19, 10:15PM R Madrid v Sevilla

January 22, Chelsea v Tottenham

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MEET THE COACH

Ray Miller, C License Coach - International Fishing Guide Ray Miller grew up in Northeast Philadelphia, a hockey player who made the most of the outdoors areas his neighborhood offered.

He’s now an international fishing guide whose ventures to South America made him fall in love with soccer. Ray, who has a U.S. Soccer National C License, stopped by the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer office to chat before heading to Argentina to check out two new lodges for his trips.

You can find more information about his fishing tours at RiverSageOutfitters.com How did you get involved in coaching?

Ray Miller: It’s funny. It was because I was going to South America so much as a fishing guide. I started falling in love with the game, because my friends, one guy, would watch Boca Juniors, and the guides would like River Plate. The passion that they had was just amazing. I had to get into this game. I grew up playing ice hockey. Then I fell in love with the game and went crazy with the coaching education. I’ve been overseas with Barcelona and Real Madrid’s coaching programs.

Over to Germany. I just went nuts with it.

Coming from the outside—you said you didn’t have much of a soccer background—what did you take from the (U.S. Soccer coaching) courses that maybe you didn’t get from just being a fan?

RM: I became more in love with the game. I got more detailed oriented. Especially this last course, the C License course,

really got me more detail oriented.

It taught me a lot about how to develop kids. Networking. That was also a great thing with the courses.

How did you get from Northeast Philadelphia to South America as a fishing guide?

RM: I started as a Philly kid. At the end of my field, I had pheasants. And I had carp in a creek, catfish, bass. Then my uncle got me into (outdoors) even further by taking me to the Poconos and deer hunting and bird hunting and bass fishing. I started guiding on the Delaware.

Next I started in Montana; I was a guide. Then I started working for the fly fishing shows. My boss would take me on one trip every year as a bonus. I made all these connections. Now I’ve been to South America, Alaska, Quebec, Belize, the Bahamas—pretty much all over the world. I have an outfitting business now, called Riversage Outfitters, I set people up to go on trips, hunting and fishing. That’s why I’m going to

Argentina. I’m going to check out two lodges in the southern tip of Argentina, then back up to pretty much the Amazon. The northern part. In between, I’m going to a Boca Juniors game. Pretty cool.

Do you have a favorite trip or a favorite spot to go?

RM; I’d have to say Argentina.

Argentina is just awesome, the people, the culture, the food, the wine, the soccer, the fishing. It’s a special place. It really is.

Is there anything culturally, soccer-wise, you’ve seen there that you wish you’d see more of here?

RM; The passion. The passion that these people have for the game is beyond anything that I’ve ever seen in any sport. You think of football here, but it’s not the same. These people know every player on the team. They’re into the game. They live and die by the game. That’s what got me really excited about soccer.

MEET THE COACH

Ray Miller, C License Coach - International Fishing Guide Do you have a dream location that you haven’t been yet for a hunting or fishing trip?

RM: Probably New Zealand. It’s so cool over there. Big trout, really spooky, really hard to get— you have to stalk them. Pretty wild. When you get them, they’re monsters. Now, this place I’m going to in Argentina, they’re monsters, too, because it’s a lake that pretty much nobody really goes to. It’s called Jurassic Lake.

I was on a ship on Chile where I fished rivers in Chile where I don’t think anybody’s fished

except the indigenous people there. Helicopters took us up into the mountains then dropped us off. We floated back down to where the helicopter picked us up.

We’re sitting up here in the ice and snow, and you’re telling us about that. That’s not helping, Ray. RM: That’s why I’ve got to write this book. I’ve been dying to write this book. I’m getting all my memories down. We’re going to write this thing. It’s really cool that

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a Philly kid… I was playing every sport known to man. We were making stuff up just to play sports. Then the outdoors was another world for me.

What about a soccer trip that would be a dream for you?

RM: I’ve been to so many. I got to train at Real Madrid’s stadium as a coach. I’ve been to Camp Nou. I’ve been to Liverpool. Dream? I guess the World Cup. World Cup in Spain.

On Winning the Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association Media Person of the Year Award I had covered exactly one high school soccer game in 2018 before I was named the Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association (SPSCA) Media Person of the Year. Although it had little to do with the award, I thought immediately of the night.

It was the District 1 3A semifinals, and Strath Haven beat Upper Perkiomen, 10-1, in the kind of game that is difficult on everyone—the players, the coaches, the parents, the referees and even the media. As part of that last group, I had to tell the story, and given that I was working for the Delaware County Daily Times, I wrote from the Strath Haven perspective. The Panthers, powered by a strong offense, peaked at the right time to clinch their first PIAA state tournament appearance since 2005.

One Upper Perk fan didn’t appreciate that slant. I failed to address the 1 side of the 10-1 score line, this person argued.

Didn’t I ask why the Indians—a quality side—struggled so much?

Shouldn’t I have known that the team was filled with underclassmen and battling injuries? This person, via an anonymous twitter account, verged on calling the game story fake news.

I’ve heard and read enough negative comments to brush them off. Besides, it would’ve been just as unfair to discredit Strath Haven’s accomplishment —winning a district semifinal game by nine goals—in any way.

And any additional context would’ve come off as disingenuous. Upper Perk was not nine goals worse, of course,

but then what score better reflected the talent level of the two teams? 4-1? 5-1?

These are things that came to mind when I first saw the anonymous tweets, although I didn’t respond. Cynicism permeates the soccer world, so there’s no need to add to it.

Instead, I can hold up positive examples of things done right.

Like the behavior of the Upper Perk sideline.

As things quickly deteriorated for his team, Indians coach Kyle Fisher remained calm. He saw his boys go behind early. He watched his goalkeeper take two knocks, the second of which kept him from returning to the game.

Fisher inserted his backup, a freshman, and gave him words of encouragement (and if anyone can impress while letting in bunches of goals, this keeper did). Fisher asked questions of the officials without questioning them. I could see the effect on the players as well, who continued to compete without taking their frustrations out on their opponents.

Fisher didn’t lose his sense of humor either. When the lights went out at the stadium with mere minutes to play, he joked, “This means Strath Haven forfeits, right?”

Afterwards Fisher shared what the game had meant for his young team.

“We had set out a goal at the beginning of the season to make districts,” he told me. “Having an exciting game against Pottsgrove (in the district quarterfinals) and being able to get to this point was a big feather in our cap and a big step forward for[!5 our ] program. I’m

hoping we got a lot of guys some good experience.”

I don’t know how well Coach Fisher can explain formations and their purposes, or what in-game adjustments he makes to counter deficits. I do know the impression he leaves on the players he coaches. The poise, in less-thanideal circumstances, stands in stark contrast to the behavior I’ve often seen on other youth and high school sidelines.

Leaders like Fisher make it easy to support high school soccer even if it’s not directly written into my job description with Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer. The game matters to the coaches and kids who play it, and the experiences they gain are unique in the greater context of the sport —like when the whole school showed up to see Strath Haven off to Hershey for the state final (the Panthers finished second); or, crossing the state here, when Duquesne University commit Nathan Dragisich scored a hat trick to give West Allegheny its first state championship; or the Souderton girls team, which received firetruck escorts back to the school following its state triumph over rival Pennridge.

It was an honor to be recognized by the SPSCA for my contributions to high school soccer—all I did was watch a few games and pull together rankings with the help of coaches and fellow media members. And I was happy to do it on behalf of a state association that, from our mission statement, “promotes and facilitates the game of soccer for all youth at all levels of play in eastern Pennsylvania.”

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