ID camps

I don't think I have a link to send yet, but please mark your calendars for a Rise only ID camp this summer. July 22 from 9am-4pm. It sounds like some very big schools will be there. Something like 20 coaches. As I hear more, I'll keep y'all posted.

On top of that, UH has a camp this summer that is worth attending. Here is some info.

State Cup games 2 and 3. Challenge Shootout.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have two more games this weekend. The weather should be just about perfect.

The first game is Saturday at 6:00 at South Campus #2 against our own White team. Let’s be there 45 minutes before, wear navy, but bring the whole kit.

The second game is Sunday at 4:00 at Meyer Park #21. Against ID Deportivo. Wear navy again, but bring it all.

Field #21 is on the south side of Cypresswood, near the concession stand. Here is a field map.

Lastly, we need to get a headcount for the Challenge Shootout Tournament on June 2-4. It’s in town, so that part is easy. And there’s usually a pretty good college coach turnout, particularly from this part of the country. Can you please confirm to me or Kerry if you can attend? The deadline to register is fast approaching.

State Cup Game #1

We play this Sunday at noon at our very own South Campus #4 against Sport Group 1.

Let's wear green, but please bring everything.

Disney and more

As you have probably heard by now, Claire's concussion is keeping her from going to Disney. So I won't be making the trip either. :(

Here is the schedule for our bracket.

And here is just our schedule.

Keep in mind that there is a playoff on 1/3 at 1:00 for the top two teams in each bracket.

I'm sorry we won't be there. I hope you guys kick some butt!


On to other topics...

• I don't know when that final game for SRPL will be scheduled. I'm surprised the league has let it drag on this long.
• Vedad wants us to go to the Austin Texans Showcase event in Austin on February 3-5. I am planning on signing us up for this. Please let me know if you can't make it.
• We also need to make a quick decision regarding the Las Vegas showcase event over Spring Break on March 17-19. It is a very big event, on par with Disney. The deadline to register is this week. Please let me know ASAP if you can't make this one. 

Fort Worth 11/13

Not sure what happened to my earlier attempt at a post. Lost in the cloud somewhere I guess...

Anyhoo. SRPL game in Fort Worth on Sunday 11/13 at 10:00 vs. West Side Alliance. Let's wear navy, but please bring everything.

Rolling Hills Soccer Complex
2909 Joe B. Rushing Rd.
Ft. Worth, TX 76119

Field 11

After this, we will have only one more SRPL game. If we win these, we will finish in 2nd place. That will get us invited to National League, and secure us a spot at the Regional Cup. Let's do it!

We have those NPL games next weekend (11/19-20) here at South Campus. 9:00am both days. I know we've been plagued with injuries. Keep me posted on your daughter's progress if you're questionable for those games.

You may or may not be a Trump fan, but this should be the girls inspiration as far as winning goes.

Oklahoma 10/22-23

I hope everyone is ready for this weekend.

I'm sorry for the late game tomorrow. Hopefully we will score some karma points for letting them move the time. The weather should be nearly perfect, but cool. Probably a good idea to bring the warm up kit.

Saturday 10/22 at 7:00 pm
vs. TSC Hurricane
wear GREEN
Field #15

Sunday 10/23 at 10:00 am
vs. Blitz United
wear NAVY
Field #9


Both games are at:

Edmond Soccer Club Field 15
1502 W. Danforth
Edmond, OK 73003

San Marcos video

This weekend wasn't our best showing, that's for sure. And unfortunately, these were the games we videoed. Hopefully there are some highlights in here. Have a look and copy them to your google drive or your PC if you want them - they'll only be up for a couple weeks. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B2pMs9s-Fz32MkFUZ2JSeVBQb1k?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B2pMs9s-Fz32WmotNHdfdm1NVU0?usp=sharing

SRPL October 8-9

It's back to San Marcos for two more games this weekend, at the same facility as last time.

4440 S. Old Stagecoach Road
San Marcos, TX

Saturday we play at 4:00 PM on field #8 against the OK Celtics. Wear NAVY.
Sunday we play at noon again on #8 against OK FC. Wear GREEN/WHITE.

Disney Travel and more

I've got some scoop on the Disney trip. But first, a reminder to encourage your daughter to work on her fitness and conditioning this weekend. They need to be able to play a full 90 minutes! The weather is perfect...a moderate jog with some sprints thrown in should be a minimum. By now, they should have an idea of what constitutes a good workout. If they need some suggestions or ideas on how to structure their self-guided training, email or text me.

On to Disney...

I have to admit, I hate this part of the manager job. Working with these travel agents is frustrating to say the least. They never secure enough rooms. Earlier this week and last there were literally no hotels in Orlando (through Anthony travel) that had ANY availability. Every Friday, they drop the rooms that teams haven't claimed and put them back in the pool. I called this Friday and after sitting on hold for 30 minutes, I got us all they had left - 8 rooms at the Courtyard South in Orlando.

I realize that we will likely need more than 8 rooms. I also know that many of us enjoyed the Hilton Bonnet Creek last time. Next Friday at 8:00, I'll be calling to secure us more rooms and hopefully move to a better spot.

In the meantime, we need to book these rooms. The good news is that if rooms open up at the Hilton (or somewhere else), then Anthony Travel can switch all of our reservations over in one shot. Go to this link and plug in your info to claim a room. It's the same system we've used with the Disney Event in the past.

Anthony Travel 

Reservation Number: 3127343
Access Code: FA645B2A

If 8 isn't enough, and we fill all these up before you're able to claim a room, don't despair, I'll get us more rooms next Friday.

A big thanks to Kerry for helping coordinate all of this.

Next weekend we have games in San Marcos on Saturday at 4:00pm and Sunday at noon. I haven't set up any hotel arrangements for that. 

College info - important!

Please have your daughters fill out this form and email it to Vedad and Colin by Thursday.

vedad@houstonx.org
colinchesters@gmail.com

SRPL - Sept 10-11

Games this weekend:

We have two SRPL games this weekend in San Marcos. The games will be played at Five Mile Dam Park.

4440 S. Old Stagecoach Rd.
Kyle, TX 78640

Saturday, September 10, we play the Great Western Warcats on field #9 at 6:00 PM. Wear GREEN.

Sunday, September 11, we play the Austin Texans on field #3 at noon. Wear NAVY.

D’Feeters Thanksgiving Showcase

Mark your calendars. November 25-27 in the Dallas area. Hotel info coming soon.

Disney ESPN Showcase

Mark your calendars for this one too! December 31 – January 3 in Orlando. We had such a good experience with that Hilton, I think I’ll get us a block of rooms there. But there will be other options too. Stay tuned.

Lots to report - Please read

I've got quite a few things to share with you.

1. We have NPL games this weekend. I'm sorry for the late notice. I didn't realize these were happening so soon. It looks like both games are at 5:30pm at McGovern. You can see the NPL schedule here. Please let me know if you CAN'T make these games.

2. In September, we should be moving to our normal training schedule. This means T-Th are our dedicated training times. We will have a speed/agility/strength/conditioning session as well. And then the girls are always welcome to train with the 00's on the M-W sessions. (Just as they have the option to train with us on T-Th).

3. Our SRPL schedule is still a little bit of a mess. Right now it shows us with no games over Labor Day Weekend, and unassigned games the weekend after that. Supposedly there will be an update later tonight. I'm not sure what will happen to the game from Saturday that got rained out.

4. Since we don't have anything scheduled for Labor Day now, I'm seeing if I can squeeze us in to the Plano tournament. So, tentatively keep that open if you can. I'll let you know as soon as I hear something.

5. On training and weather - Vedad really hates missing practices because of rain. We've been using the Strake facility, and sometimes Adrian reserves the courts at The Zone for futsal. So even in foul weather, plan on some type of training. However, there is a cost associated with this. The Strake fields and The Zone aren't free, but we share the costs with the 00s or in last week's case the DA boys. Depending on how many times we get rained out, this will add to our team's expenses. It's something like $8-10/player/session. If you have any objections, let me know.

6. Vedad would like to have a brief team meeting after the game on Sunday, so please plan on staying a little after. 

Plano game cancelled

I think y'all saw the groupme, but just in case you're checking here, the game in Plano on August 20 has been CANCELLED. 

Plan on a scrimmage on Sunday. I'll let you know as soon as I know more. 

SRPL Game - August 20

Ahoy!

We have our first SRPL game this Saturday, August 20th, in Plano. The game time got moved to 12:30pm because of a conflict with Vedad's other team.

The game will be played at Russell Creek Park on Field L.

3500 McDermott Road
Plano, TX 75025

Field Map

We should wear green, but please bring navy just in case.

It's about a 4 hour drive with no traffic from this part of town, so please plan accordingly. I know y'all know this, but nutrition and warm-up will really matter. Plan your morning by reverse engineering a meal time that will work with your daughter's needs. Also, I believe a more robust warm-up is needed after sitting in the car for 4+ hours. Let's try to have them fed, hydrated, and ready to go at 11:30.

In other news, I'll need medical releases from our new players, y'all know who you are.
Here's a link to the release. Can you please fill this out and get it back to me? Email is fine or a hard copy at practice or the game is ok too. For returning players, if anything has changed, please update and send to me.

I also have to make our new player cards. I want to do some high quality photos of the girls, but given the weather and that a few of you are still out, I'll probably have to do that next week. Again, if you're new to the team, please email or text me a picture of your daughter that I can use for the players cards.

Training Starts Tuesday

Just a few things as we jump into this coming season.

• Training starts this week! Tuesday and Thursday 8:10 - 9:30 at South Campus on L-2. 
• We will add a third session at some point. 
• SRPL games start Aug 20-21in Plano.
• We will likely have some scrimmages the weekend before (Aug 13-14).
• We will try to play a local tournament Aug 27-28 to get some extra games under our belts.
• Please keep Thanksgiving weekend and New Year's open on your calendar. 
• We should get more details on our SRPL schedule by this Monday.
• We should find out about National League on Tuesday.

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Let me know how I can help.

Getting ready for the Fall.

Here’s some info on this fall season We are playing in the Southern Regional Premier League, just like last Fall. Here is the schedule. We are in the Premier division. I have applied for a spot in National League. Those games are played in conjunction with some big showcase tournaments. If we are accepted, we will play Dec 1-4 in Willson, NC, and then either Dec 31-Jan2 at Disney OR March 17-19 in Vegas. We should know if we are accepted by August 2. Stay tuned. We will be trying to hit some of the big tournaments even if we don’t get in NL. Solar Chelsea Tournament - August 12-14 in Dallas. WAGS Tournament – October 8-10 in Northern Virginia. D’feeters Tournament – November 25-27 in Dallas. Disney – December 31-January 2 in Orlando. We are not playing in USC. Vedad wants to start training the first week in August. What I need from you: Please let me know ASAP if you can’t make any of these dates. The registration deadline for one of these events is tomorrow. I need to know we can field a team before I pony up the registration fee. Email me back, call, text, anything. I really don’t want to be going to these things with only 11 girls. I’ll keep maintaining the blog even though the team name is wrong. For those new to the team, check out 00g-navy.blogspot.com. I try to keep all of our relevant information there. Also, if you’re not on the GroupMe, you should be. For the new families, download the GroupMe app to your phone, and send me an email or a text. I’ll invite you to the group. It’s a great way to quickly share info on games, practices, rain outs, and even the play by play live updates if you can’t make the games. P.S. And finally, if your daughter has been taking it easy this summer. Now is the time to start getting back in shape. These games are right around the corner, and we really need to avoid those injuries from overuse and exhaustion because they've lost some fitness over the summer. They should be doing something 3-4 times a week, at the minimum going for a run. Preferably some sort of structured training with some sprints in there. If you need ideas, look at this. Please do some strength training as well. Strong quads, glutes, and hamstrings reduce the risk of injury. Some of you have asked me to suggest some specific things to do as far as strength training. Here’s an example of some exercises. You probably wouldn't want to do all of these exercises in a single session, there are various ways to mix and match. Please feel free to call or email me, and I can put together a program for you. LEGS – this is what they need most, and I’ll be the most specific here. Start with the Limber 11. This is a great warm up routine. 5 sets of 10-15 Goblet Squats. Start with a light weight like 20 lbs. Goblet squats are a great way to learn the proper form for squats. They WILL be doing squats at whatever college program they go to. If you can get 5 sets of 15 with 20 lbs, next time move up 5 lbs. Rinse and repeat. 3-5 sets of 8-12 Single Leg Split Squats aka Bulgarian Split Squats. Start with bodyweight, and work up to some dumbbells held at your sides or like in a goblet squat. These hit the glutes as well, and all the secondary stabilizing muscles. 3 sets of 8-12 Stiff Leg Deadlifts. Start light, use 10 lb. dumbbells or just an Olympic bar. Your hammies will be tight the next day! 3 sets of 10-15 Glute Bridges. If you struggle with single leg, use both. When you get good at them, you can support your upper back with a half bosu and put a barbell across your hips for more resistance. CORE - Forget sit ups and crunches. Those are too hard on your spine and don’t add a lot of functional strength. Your core is meant to stabilize your body to transfer power across your upper and lower body. Exercises for core should be: anti-extension (planks, ab wheel rollouts) anti-lateral flexion (side planks, one armed farmer carry) anti-rotation (pallof press) hip flexion (hanging leg raise, toes to bar, L pull-ups) UPPER BODY – I’ll keep it simple here. I believe in the big compound lifts, and not wasting time on accessory lifts…they’re not body builders, they’re athletes. Push ups – As competitive athletes they ought to be able to knock on 10 proper push ups. If not, get busy! Bench press – no reason not to do bench if you have access. Start light (the bar?) and try to get 4 sets of 6 reps. Each session add 5-10 lbs, if you can keep getting all the reps in. Barbell rows – a little more technical, so watch the video and read the link. Core should be TIGHT, spine should be neutral, posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) should be TIGHT before you begin the rep. Start light and work your way up. Something you can do 4 sets of 8 with. Pull ups or chin ups – If you can’t do even one, then do some negatives (start at the top and let yourself down as slowly as possible). Do sets of negative reps until you can do a real one. Over head press – Same as bench. Start light, work your way up. Ideally, the girls should be doing some deadlifts, power cleans, and plyometrics too, but I’ll leave that for a later time since form is so important. Seriously though, I’m willing to help any of the girls with strength programming or technique. Just ask!

Oklahoma

A big weekend in Oklahoma.

Since we only have 11 coming, please keep me posted on any travel delays or problems. Also, please try to be on time, healthy, well fed, and so on. There are no subs.

As you have all probably seen by now, Saturday's game got moved to 4:30. The NPL website has the location incorrect. All games will be at the NOKC Complex. Our game is on field 3. We will wear Navy. Bring it all.

A win on Saturday means that we will play at 10:00am on Sunday at the exact same field. We will wear GREEN.

Let's make this happen!

State Cup Finals

Here is the schedule this weekend.

5/28 - Saturday at 2:00 vs. Austin Texans. Community Park #1. Wear Navy.

5/29 - Sunday at 4:00 pm vs. Lonestar Red South. Lost Creek #1. Wear Navy.

5/30 - Monday at 8:00am vs. Lake Jackson. Lost Creek #1.  Wear Green.  

Going forward

I hope last night's meeting was helpful. If you missed it and want a quick run down, just give me a call.

If you had a question that didn't get answered, feel free to call or email me.

I had a couple of things I wanted to add to the conversation, but we had all been there so long, so I saved it for here. Now, I'm not an expert on soccer, so take this with a grain of salt. Here are my thoughts on the team...

Fitness and Injury Prevention

I'm sure it seems weird to hear that the girls may not be in good enough shape, and that some injuries may be preventable through more training. I believe this to be true. It's easy to forget just how competitive sports are, especially at this age. It reminds me of a funny (but true) weightlifting quote: 

"Somewhere in Eastern Europe there is a 14 year old girl warming up with your PR." 

The point is that no matter how good you are or how much work you're putting into it, someone somewhere is working harder. 

Think of it this way: your girls spend less than an hour a day with their math teacher. But to be good at math, they'll have to do some work on their own, maybe a lot. Part of the trick is figuring out your personal strengths and weaknesses and then tailoring your self-guided study so that you can succeed. 

This isn't any different. Mark, Vedad, or whoever only has your daughter 2-3 times a week. The highest and best use of his time is teaching the sport of soccer. Fitness and strength are important and may occasionally be a focus, but they can also be done individually. At this level, the girls should be assessing their own strengths and weaknesses, actively seeking feedback, and spending some time on their own to improve these things. Homework.

You should also consider the athletic burden that awaits them in college. In two years time, they will be training 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day, strength training 3-4 times per week. There's no reason not to start doing some of those things now. 

I've learned a lot on ACL injuries from Colin's experience. And I'll just put it in these simple terms. Which one of these guys is more likely to injure his knee?

You may remember an email I sent a year or two ago, where I tried to address this issue. I bought everyone on the team foam rollers and alpha balls. I posted the "Limber 11" stretch routine. The information is there. I'm more than happy to help advise on fitness related training programs whether its running/cardiovascular fitness, strength training, or nutrition.

You should see the physical burdens they go through post-injury. Kenzie knows. Paola is finding out now. Colin is busting his tail in the gym now. If only he had done it before the injury, there may never have been one. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and it just so happens that the "prevention" makes you a better athlete at the same time.

My recommendation: In addition to training, the girls need to take ownership of their fitness levels. Like Bruce said, things like a 20 minute run before school can help. Maybe some sprint/speed/agility work if it's been more than a couple days since a practice or a game. And strength training. Vedad mentioned core strength. I could write volumes on this. TRX is fine, but I think they should be learning how to lift weights properly. Any good college program is going to have them doing squats, deadlifts, power cleans, bench press, rows, and so on. Show me someone that can squat 2x their body weight and I'll show you someone with great core strength and much less injury prone.

Next Season

I think most of us agree that USC, RPL, and NPL is a bit much, especially when you throw in High School soccer (or other sports). On top of that, this is the year to be going to as many good showcase events as we can handle.

I propose we drop either NPL or USC. There is a case for each. Vedad recommended dropping NPL. 

As for showcase events, it depends in part on where your daughter wants to go to school. Unfortunately, we're missing the Challenge event next week because of the NPL games. We should definitely do that one next year. The DeFeeters event in Dallas on Thanksgiving is supposed to be very good. It has a lot of schools from the area, and Dallas is a pretty easy trip for us. I think we should go this year. 

Surf Cup gets talked about a lot, but it's at an awkward time in the summer. Many of us have made plans already. I enjoyed the CASL event. And the Disney event is very good too. Although, they're only a month apart, so we should probably just pick one of those.

If you have a strong opinion about any of this, please let me know. Unless I hear otherwise, I think the plan next year is:

RPL

USC

DeFeeters in Dallas at Thanksgiving

CASL or Disney in December

Maybe Vegas during spring break

Lonestar showcase in Feb in Austin

Challenge showcase in June in Houston

The Team

I love these girls. As much as this manager gig is a pain in the ass, sitting on the sidelines with the girls and being a very small part of the team is a world of fun. I think this team has TONS of talent, character, and potential. Losing Mark hurts, but the club is going to throw some real resources at our group. We can use this change as a catalyst to take it to the next level.

Building on what we have will require renewed commitment. You heard if from Bruce and Vedad last night. You've heard it from Mark before. The girls have to want it. And they have to work hard. There are no shortcuts. 

Let's kick some butt this weekend, and again in OK. 

Monday 5/16 - field change

We are moving today's game to the turf field at Strake Jesuit. Game time is still 7:45, and still wearing green.

There is construction on Bellaire near Fondren, so be mindful of the traffic. It will probably take a little extra time to get there.