OREGON YOUTH SOCCER ASSOCIATION’S MONTHLY MAGAZINE
ISSUE #10
GOAL LINES AND THE NOMINEES ARE… On January 21st, 2017, the Oregon Youth Soccer Association will host its Awards Gala at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Portland. This is where we recognize YOU and your contributions to the sport of soccer in Oregon. Look inside to see how you can nominate your coach, your manager, board member, volunteer parent, or other soccer-enthusiast, and have them presented with their award at our gala dinner.
NOMINATE YOUR 2016 OREGON YOUTH SOCCER ASSOCIATION AWARD WINNERS INSIDE NOMINATION PROCESS ENDS DECEMBER 15TH, 2016
GRASSROOTS COORDINATOR: ALY HOLLEWIJN All of our Grassroots Coordinators have extensive coaching background around the state of Oregon, and elsewhere so they bring unique experiences to their particular region.
We are proud to have Aly in the south of the state representing OYSA and she has been a fantastic ambassador for women in the game of soccer.
PREGNANT, COACHING, & EQUALITY In recent years the topic of empowering female coaches and their longevity in the coaching profession has become a major topic of discussion. When the OYSA team attended the NSCAA Convention in Baltimore in January, this topic was a host to multiple panels and forums. As I sat through each of these, one consistent theme was brought up: women need to be given the opportunity to lead by example. They need the chance to start coaching, move up the ranks, and be allowed to coach through major life events like pregnancy and child birth. When I became pregnant with my first child I quickly did the math a realized that my due date would be in the middle of high school season and ODP trainings. My heart dropped and I feared that my season of coaching might come to a halt. Quickly I realized that rather than take this as a setback, I would use it as an opportunity. Growing up, female coaches were a rarity; pregnant coaches, unheard of. This was a chance for me to impact the 40 players in my program. Two years later, both of my children have been born during high school seasons, and I hope that I have proven to these girls that they have the power of choice in their professional lives. The coaching world is a unique profession with a rare opportunity to mold a lot of young lives. Clubs, schools, and professional programs have a great opportunity right now to set up their programs to empower female coaches. A glass ceiling has been created not because programs are discouraging women from coaching, but because we simply do not have enough women coaching to help lead by example. If this issue is to be resolved, there are several suggestions that I would like to put forth, based on my own experiences and feedback from other female coaches in the profession. The first step to drawing female coaches into your programs is to provide an equal environment where expectations are set at the same scale for both genders. Provide gear that fits women, don’t toss them oversized men’s gear that feels like a hand me down but insist they look professional. Demand they attend the same amount of coaching education as any other coach at their level. Let them be part of both male and female teams. Be clear in your communication about your support of their family choices; if they become pregnant, empower them to make the best choice for their family which will likely still involve your program. In addition to those women already coaching, there is also a huge pool of potential young women who could join their ranks. Take a moment to step back and look at what you are doing to ensure that you are opening your doors to them as well. Look at things like mentorship programs, getting older players to work with your recreational players, ask graduated players to test the waters as an assistant with a successful senior coach, and evaluate how you are currently evening out the gender balance within your existing coaching ranks. At the end of the day what is important is that the upcoming generation of coaches know they have the opportunity. They have examples from their playing days of what a positive and refined female coach looks like. These coaches need to see that they will be treated equally and given the same opportunity to move through the ranks if they choose to or not. Things like having a family should not be a feared set back but an opportunity to provide another empowering choice to both your male and female coaches.
PLAN YOUR SCHEDULE NOW! Presidents Reception: January 20th, 7pm Workshops & Presentations: Jan 21st, 9am - 5pm Awards Gala: Jan 21st, 7pm - 9pm Annual Business Mtg/AGM: Jan 22nd, 8:30am - 10:30am
OREGON YOUTH SOCCER ANNUAL AWARDS Each year, in January on the same weekend as the Annual General Mtg, Oregon Youth Soccer presents awards to the person(s) who have been nominated by their peers for recognition. Nominations, as always, can be made by anyone. We’ll ask you initially for the category you’re nominating them for, and a few other details about why. Then you get to write a short bio about them, and tell us why! Winners will selected by a panel, and notified by December 31st. They and a guest will be invited to the Awards Gala on January 21st in downtown Portland.
2015 WINNERS Top (L-R): Amy Forman, Riley Hooper, Shawn Figueiredo, Katie Hadley Seated (L-R): Lisa Harings, Christina Rodgers, Jocelynn Bigelow, Mary Ford, Jim Lakehomer. Not pictured: Karen Wright
CATEGORIES INCLUDE: Volunteer of the Year, Boys Rec Coach of the Year, Girls Rec Coach of the Year, Boys Competitive Coach of the Year, Girls Competitive Coach of the Year Admin of the Year, Outstanding Contribution Award, TOPSoccer Coach of the Year, TOPSoccer Buddy of the Year
Brett Thompson’s lifetime of experiences in soccer include Executive Director PYSA, State Director of Coaching, US Youth Soccer Region 2 Girls ODP Head Coach, and US Youth Soccer National Instructor. US Youth Soccer. Brett is a strong advocate of small sided games, wishes he could have the super power to open people’s minds to embrace new ideas and believes youth soccer should be about the players — not the adults or big profits.
TOO MUCH SOCCER FOR YOUTH SOCCER This article will tackle the often-debated subject of Organized and Select Soccer for our young players. There has been much heated debate over small sided play / games for younger age children as well as the debate around the country about looking at eliminating select soccer for younger players. The debate over eliminating select soccer is brought up because too much pressure from parents and parental pressure on coaches who are paid to win and coaches who feel they must win to keep their paycheck coming in. Many players today have been playing competitive level soccer since they were 9 years old and play as many as 60 games a year. This does not include indoor games, futsal etc which could add another 20 games per year totaling 80 games per year. The amount of games these young children play is unbelievable when you compare it to professional teams in Europe who play no more than 64 games a year. The professionals also never play more than 2 games per week let alone 5 games in a weekend like some of our players do at tournaments. Are we beating the pure fun of the game out of them early and does competing become the norm rather than something to look forward to? Where does the player development come from if players are playing 3 games a week, when do you practice? Think about this a game is like a test at school, if you are always taking tests and not getting a chance to learn what you will be tested on how do you learn? How can teams practice if all they are doing is playing to survive and stay in the division they are in or trying to move up. It becomes human instinct of survival and as a result coaches play to win rather than develop. Over the last 20-30 years the number of players and games those players play has increased dramatically. Even with increasing the number of games in this country, we can still not compare with the rest of the world, especially on the men’s side. On the women’s side we have done quite well over the past couple of decades or so, however there have been many cultural issues that have allowed American women to dominate soccer in the world. In women’s soccer today we can see that the rest of the world is catching up even though they may not have the pure athletes as we do in this country, but they may begin to surpass us technically as well as tactically in the very near future if not already if we are not careful. Our women’s game today is too reliant on athletes rather than soccer players who understand how to solve problems, who know how to bend a ball, who can spin a ball (Put English on it) and players who can not get out of tight spaces. So why is it that soccer players in Latin America are so good considering they have little to no adult supervision when they are young soccer players playing in the street or park? As one Argentinean professional player said “I think we are too unorganized to be organized”. Players in South America play pick up games on a regular basis without adult intervention as a result, play a craftier style or as my father said to me growing up a “cheeky game”. These players often are better in 1 vs 1 confrontations, able to create space better for themselves and others and most of all have an absolute joy and love for the game. These players learned how to solve the problems presented to them as they came up in games without an adult “Telling” them how to solve it. Let’s compare soccer to basketball in this country. Today’s basketball player has a basketball hoop in their driveway or one located at the local playground. These players hone their skills in “Pickup Games” without adult intervention and instruction. Players in this environment are free to experiment, take chances, try new moves, fail without retribution form an adult and their role in the game may change many times based on who they are playing with. Just imagine if Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry had played soccer. These players learned to love and play the game by playing pick up games first before they were thrust into the adult world of athletics. (Continued on page 11)
OUR KEY NOTE SPEAKER ON JANUARY 21st
TIMBER JIM SERRILL
Image courtesy of Street Root News
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE COLLEGE GAME? We wanted to check in with the college programs across the state, and see how our NCAA Division 1 school are doing. Keeping up with the Pilots, the Beavers and the Ducks on both the mens and women's side gives an exciting look into the premier programs in the state.
WOMEN PILOTS
WOMEN BEAVERS
WOMEN DUCKS
Overall Record: 9-7-3
Overall Record: 8-10-2
Overall Record: 8-10-2
Conference Record: 0-0-1
Conference Record: 3-8
Conference Record: 2-8-1
The Lady Pilots regular season finished this
Civil War week saw the Beaver Ladies edge their
The Oregon women's soccer team fell to the
Friday with a 2-3 loss against the ladies from San Diego State.
rivals to the south 1-0 in the 21st playing of the battle.
to the Bears in the Civil War game by a single goal to wrap up their season at Paps
This capped a disappointing league season for the Pilots where they only won 3 games.
This caps off a much-improved season for the Beavs and sets them up nicely to continue to
Field.
They’ll be looking to rebound next year.
improve next year.
MEN PILOTS
MEN BEAVERS
Overall Record: 11-5-1
Overall Record: 6-8-3
Conference Record: 1-0-0
Conference Record: 2-6-2
After a crazy 7-in-a-row winning streak the
The OSU men have had a good run, and everything
Pilots have had a rough couple of games. They’ve dropped a couple of games, each by
was capped off recently with junior forward Jordan Jones winning Pac-12 Player of the Week
just a goal. Pacific beat them 1-0 in Stockton, and then
honors after a stunning goal against UCLA> The goal was so good that it made ESPN’S
they lost against Denver 2-1. Next up iOS
Sportcenter Top 10 Plays of the Week.
their last game of the regular season, vs. Saint Mary’s on the 12th.
LOOKING FOR OTHER UNIVERSITIES? For more information about other colleges please click the logo below…
What are you doing around the state? What does your team look like? Got a crazy picture for us? Want everyone to see what it’s like playing at your club? Well, now’s your chance! Click the submit button and send us your pics.
US Youth Soccer TOPSoccer (The Outreach Program for Soccer) is a community-based training and team placement program for young athletes with disabilities, organized by youth soccer association volunteers. The program is designed to bring the opportunity of learning and playing soccer to any boy or girl, who has a mental or physical disability. Our goal is to enable the thousands of young athletes with disabilities to become valued and successful members of the US Youth Soccer family. How do you participate? Check out the list below of areas where clubs already have a TOPSoccer program running or contact your club about starting one. We can help you, too, to set up and run a program within your club, and ALL FEES ARE WAIVED for the TOPSoccer program by the Oregon
EXISTING PROGRAMS Click on any name to email the director of that program.
Albany
Beaverton
Clackamas
Eugene
Gresham
Medford
Milton Freewater
St Helens
State Chair (OYSA)
Youth Soccer Association.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 Soccer in this country has become too organized and structured more “Adult like environment” than a “Child like environment”. Just look at the tournament schedules on the web today; there is a tournament every single weekend within driving distance of Oregon. Players today are being scouted and identified by age 6 and 7. Look at how many parents are paying coaches to train their child who has “Potential”, who can identify a player who is 6 or 7, where do we live in the old East Germany? Players at age 7 and 8 are being pigeon holed into positions and placed with other children of equal athletic ability so they can win. Players may only be moved into different positions in some cases only if the team “”Has a good lead” because the coach does not want to lose and have to face the parent who will move their child to a “Winner”. Many parents often worry that unless they get their child into select (Competitive) soccer early that they will not succeed. Succeed at what; and why do this? Maybe it is because today many parents see the Brass Ring, that college scholarship? Maybe it is the fact that they played at a high level and they feel that their child should get an early start to ensure they will be a better soccer player or athlete than they were? For our players to grow into soccer players today we must allow them to play different positions allow them to have successes and have failures (without retribution). Player’s grow, mature and comprehend of the game grow at different rates. Their understating of soccer and physical size can change in the span of 6 to 12 months. In is inconceivable to me that a coach or parent would try to identify the player who has potential by the age of 10. We must change the way we are teaching the game in this country today. We talk a good game about developing players while we spend most of our time finding and identifying those players who may be bigger, stronger and faster so we can turn them into “Elite Athletes” at camps that parents are willing to pay up to $200 a month for 7 year olds. It is my opinion that we need to slow down on putting players into competitive environments too early. Every year this country produces a “National Champion” and yet at least on the men’s side we have yet to win a World Cup. Today’s soccer requires an athlete who has the ability to solve problems on his or her own quickly. We do not need soccer players who play for coaches who treat them as if it is a Play Station game. We must allow our players to learn the game at the pace that is appropriate to their age and not rush things. We as adults believe that if we provide a structured environment we can speed up the learning process and we have better soccer players on our hands. We as adults try to put players in our iPhone world while fitting them into what we believe they should do and play rather than understand the game each and every one of them plays and how they play it is nothing but an expression of their personality. I will leave you with this thought from ‘Zorba the Greek’ by Kazantzakis: ”Readiness: I remember one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree, just as a butterfly was making a hole in its case and preparing to come out. I waited a while, but it was taking too long appearing and I was impatient. I bent over and breathed on it to warm it. I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before my eyes faster than life. The case opened, the butterfly started crawling out and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded and crumpled; the wretched butterfly tried with its entire whole trembling body to unfold them. Bending over it, I tried to help with my breath in vain. It needed to be hatched out patiently and unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun. Now it was too late, my breath had forced the butterfly to appear all crumpled before it’s time. It struggled desperately for few seconds but later died in the palm of my hand. That little body is, I do believe, the greatest weight on my conscience. For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm.”
WORLD CUP TO EXPAND TO 40 TEAMS IN 2026???
Every now and again we come across an article that really is thought provoking. This is one and we’d like to share it with you. Written by Owen Gibson, and taken from the Guardian Newspaper on 12.03.15. Credited below, and continued after the jump. —————————————— Fifa will continue to consider the expansion of the World Cup to 40 teams from 2026 – but a final decision has been deferred following Thursday’s executive committee meeting. The committee discussed the dramatic expansion at a meeting on Thursday about a wider reform package – just hours after two more senior members were arrested in the lobby of the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich. Fifa executives from Asia and Africa were understood to be strongly in favour of the idea. It also has the support of the Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino and some of the other Fifa presidential candidates. But the plan has been sent back to the Fifa administration for further research because it has commercial ramifications as well as statutory ones. Wolfgang Niersbach, the German Fifa executive committee member, said the main focal point of the meeting was a “very comprehensive reform package”. He confirmed that the idea of expanding the World Cup was heavily backed by African and Asian members of the ex-co and would be passed back to Fifa administrators for “further consideration”. The change is being seen as an attempt to appeal to the majority of the 209 Fifa members who feel Uefa currently has too many spots at the 32-team tournament. The World Cup was expanded from 24 teams to 32 in 1994 and the further expansion would allow Fifa to increase the number of slots available to those outside Europe. UEFA will have 14 places at the next World Cup, up to 10 more than the next best represented confederation. The Oceania… to continue reading this article click the logo here:
INSIDE VINNY Vinny is our van. We use him for a lot of things like transporting gear to clubs, carting around signage, video gear, and those all important trophies and medals for the tournaments around the state. We also do interviews inside him. This week, we’ve got Timbers legend, Mick Hoban in the hot seat. It’s an absolute fascinating conversation with him, where we cover Timbers in the 1970’s, how he basically started Nike soccer, and what he’s been doing since! Click below to watch.
It’s Mick Hoban!
ROAD LOG So far this month Vinny has logged over 1,000 miles visiting different places around the state.
CLUBS/PLACES VISITED:
Scappoose, Liberty Stadium,
Hillsboro, The Dalles, and Washington Timbers.
FOLLOW VINNY ON TWITTER
In soccer, any way you cut it, there is going to be stress. At a young age it might be due to parents screaming on the sidelines for their child to do better. As you get older, and the score matters more, that then becomes the stressor. Winning percentages, goal difference, and margins. How do we expect players to grow and to be better at soccer when we put so much pressure on them? When we celebrate goal scoring more than having fun that’s detrimental to our kids. When we cheer for wins more than for the great moments we saw, even in defeat, we add pressure to our children. This time of year is no different. Whether it be the start of cup competitions, or a tight league race wrapping up, we need to be conscious about the stress we’re putting on ours kids. The counter-argument to this is that losing is good for kids, too. They need to be able to handle defeat, and removing that option limited their ability to learn that much-needed trait. I agree with that in principle, but those are life lessons that can be learned elsewhere, too. I’m talking about building confidence in a soccer player that isn’t afraid to make mistakes, isn’t afraid to take chances, and as such becomes a better player. What if we didn't keep scores? What if we didn’t keep league tables? Sure, you’ve always got that one group of parents that know what the score is, who wins games, and who probably have their own website setup anyway, but what if there was a whole age group where score didn’t matter because, well, it just didn’t. There were no standings. There was no league table. You didn’t know how the other teams had done unless you saw them. Coaches wouldn’t know, with two games left in the season, that 6 points meant they would win the league title, and 5 meant they’d finish joint second. In that scenario, where do you think the stress is ultimately going to end up? On the players of course. Removing a simple league table could, in my opinion, allow players to care less about the score, and care more about soccer. The parents, too. What if the score truly didn’t matter. Sure, during the game everyone will know the score on that day. If you’re 2-1 down with 10 mins left, every shot will be crucial, and each miss will be agonized, but what, ultimately, would be the end result of the score? Nothing. The goalkeeper who let the last minute shot slip through their fingers can know that he or she only cost the game. There is no ‘bigger picture’ result that is impacted. There is no trophy to play play. It’s just soccer. That’s all that matters. Wouldn’t that be something to marvel at?
Re-register as a referee for 2017!
WHISTLE STOP Times are changing in Oregon’s soccer landscape. Our members reached out to us and asked us to review how referees are trained, retained, mentored, assigned and recruited. So we’ve done just that! This page lets all referees, from the rookies to the most experienced, know what is going on specifically for them in their corner of the game. CUP SEASON IS HERE! As the Fall season wraps up for most teams, we turn our attention to the ‘Cup Season’. That’s the start of the Presidents and Founders Cups that begin during November for most teams. As we know, cup competition means more pressure and things get amplified during these games, and the games matter more over a shorter time period. In a league, you can lose a few games and still do well for the most par, but in cup play that’s not going to happen. Remember, these are kids sometimes that referee. Parents and spectators most likely will not be fully used to the nuances, so referees will need to be compassionate to this fact. Although yelling and screaming from the sidelines towards referees, is NOT acceptable, referees can help and are encouraged to explain and educate when possible. As a reminder, here is a link to the new Laws of the Game produced by the IFAB and adopted by FIFA. Click here. Thanks again for everyone’s continued dedication to the game of soccer. The partnership with OYSA and the Oregon Referee Committee (ORC) continues to develop with the referee and the game of soccer in mind. For more information on how to become a referee, or if you are a club interested in hosting a new referee course, please email David Grbavac @ david@oregonyouthsoccer.org
Look what we found in the vaults! This is from Goal Lines in 2003. Oh how soccer has changed!
PO U CO
ID L A V OT N N
MEET THE CLUB Union County Youth Soccer Association is one of the most remote clubs in Oregon. Located in the Blue
AT A GLANCE
Mountains up in the northeast corner of the Central/Eastern District in La Grande, it is a self-sustained league all its own.
✓ Formed officially in 2006
Don’t let it’s size fool you however as this is a club that punches way above it’s weight. With leagues supporting
✓ Offer soccer to kids aged 5
the U7 Micros up to the U14 players, they are a very well organized and efficient club, and their league philosophy says it all: “It is the objective of UCYSA to create fun for children and youth by promoting sportsmanship and a sense of fair play within the framework of a team sport and develop an interest in and a working knowledge of soccer.” (UCYSA By-Laws) Please keep in mind that this is a recreational league. Blowouts are to be limited as creatively as possible. Every individual player is to be encouraged. When one team gets a large lead of five goals, some action should be taken by the coach and the ref, for instance rotating front players to the back line or having a “designated scorer” UCYSA is focused on player development and they have something for everyone. Aside from the various
through 16 in the Fall and Spring seasons each year. ✓ Located in La Grande, OR ✓ Play against teams from eastern Oregon, Idaho, and in the eastern Washington leagues ✓ Are extremely active in the community with younger kids and coaches.
age groups they have competitive programs for U12, U14 and U16 players, as well as both developmental and recreational of the kids who want to play in the Fall. They also have a U10 Developmental League in the Fall season, too. They are unique in that they produce their U7 to U16 leagues in the summer and have over 700 players participating, with a staggering 110 volunteer coaches, giving them a 7:1 players-to-coaching ratio which can only mean that the players are getting some serious attention during training. This was certainly evident when three of their competitive players received invitations to the ODP Region IV regional camp in 2016. Club President, Kobe Young, says, “First and foremost the kids should enjoy their soccer experience. We try to create training and playing environments where the kids have fun, and develop skills that will serve them on and off the pitch.”
CLUB PRESIDENT KOBE YOUNG
MONTHLY LESSON PLAN FROM THE OREGON YOUTH SOCCER ASSOCIATION Each month we will feature a new lesson plan for you. Simply click on the image below to go to a downloadable PDF.