What a great start to the season! It was so wonderful to see everyone's smiling faces at practice last Saturday. It was a fantastic turnout and are excited for the season ahead. Here is some important information for the our Spring 2020 season.
*Please refer to the previous blog post for practice times, if you missed last week's practice.
DATES FOR CALENDARS
- Feb. 15th - Practice at Summit (Irrigation at Mirada)
- Spring Break - March 7th OR 14th - TBD
- March 21st - Game #1 at Summit
- March 22nd: Regional Tournament on-time registration deadline ($40)
- April 5th: Regional Tournament late-registration deadline ($60)
- April 11th: No Practice (Happy Easter)
- April 18th -AZ Soccer Regionals at Scottsdale Soccer Complex
- April 19th -AZ Soccer Regionals at Scottsdale Soccer Complex
- (Wed) Apr 29th: State Tournament on-time registration deadline ($25)
- (Sun) May 3rd: AZ Soccer State at Scottsdale Soccer Complex (on-site reg: $30)
- May 9th: Game #6 + Awards
WHAT TO EXPECT
Mentally, my goal is to help kids no longer fear making mistakes in front of others. Physically, I’m striving for kids to be comfortable with their left and right feet and hands to get them more successful across multiple sports. I want kids getting a high number of reps in drills – I’m not a fan of kids standing line and not having their foot on the ball.
If you are a parent with no soccer experience and want to get out on the field and interact helping, these are all drills easy enough for adults to teach kids. It’s rewarding watching a small pod of kids at your station improve over the course of a drill or two.
If you’d like to get a start on your parent coaching skills, here’s an inside drill that only requires a wall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIE31aQptSk (jump to 3:30 mark)
Parent coaching tips:
- Keep toe pointed down thru the kicking motion
- Lean over slight (chest drops a little towards grow)
The drill includes both a laces kick and a side-kick where the foot is turned 90 degrees instead of pointing down.
YouTube has lots of great drills if you want to work with your kids at home. It’s a great opportunity for your kids to use a search engine for learning purposes!
WHAT TO BRING EACH WEEK
Please have your child show you these four items before jumping in the car:
- Soccer ball
- Shin guards
- 2 Water Bottles
- Light blue shirt. Jersey is not required but recommended.
JERSEY
The jersey is not required for games – only for the tourney. The $30 unshrinkable, always brightly-cleanable jersey (according to parents, not any scientifically-funded study) can be ordered from this link. Choose Cielo location (light blue / white).
Expect the jersey to easily last a couple years.
ALL PLAYERS MUST BE SIGNED IN WEEKLY
Don’t skip the front desk on the way in. Important paperwork and messages from sign-in table helpers might await you.
Also, do not drop your child off at soccer and leave. Parents should remain on-site during practice.
ONLINE DRILLS AT HOME
This is a great drill for younger players or new players 7+ (jump to the 30 second mark)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DX04jhrxXI Simple setup. You can use a rag instead of a cone to stand over.
TOURNAMENT
This 3-game regional tournament is the premier event of the season. It's what the kids work toward the entire season and a great value for $40 at Scottsdale’s soccer complex. There is an additional $20 for teams that advance to State, where they play two or three games while vying for the state title. The $30 jersey is required, but the jersey’s cost is one-time until your child outgrows the jersey.
We have lots of first-time soccer players attend. I stress to players and parents, winning the tournament is not the goal. After each regular season game when I ask kids what we want to improve on for next game, we have to wait an entire week. But at tournament, the next game is an hour later to apply what we just learned. An an hour or two after that is a third game. It’s a tremendous learning experience and great opportunity to see what other teams around the Valley are doing. That gives us focus heading into next season’s practice.
Each week at sign-in, you’ll be asked if you’re a Yes, Maybe or No for the tourney. When I split kids into teams as mentioned above, I will try keeping tourney kids together so they get as much experience as possible. If you have any questions about the tourney, please ask myself, the sign-in table helpers or other parents.
You can register for the tournament starting today here:
March 22nd is the deadline to register ($40) without a late fee (additional $20) for the tournament
April 5th is the hard deadline for the tournament
April 11th we have no soccer due to Easter weekend
April 18th-19th is the tournament. There is no regular soccer this weekend (hence, if not participating in the tournament you’ll have a little two-week break).
Let us know if you have any questions!
See you at the pitch!
-Coach Sean and Erin
