Fall Review

As our fall season comes to a close I wanted to start by thanking our team managers for all of their work during our fall season. They have all done a fantastic job of communicating with the YTS families and taking care of a multitude of other tasks! If you have not already done so I encourage you to thank your team manager at some point. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first season with the YTS program and now feel comfortable with the environment that has been created by former YTS Program Directors. My hope is that I can continue to help the program improve.

Clearly our focus in training is on the technical development of the players. I feel comfortable in saying that all players have improved, admittedly they all started at different levels. Constant repetition of the correct technique is very important and that was a big focus for staff as a whole. The technical groups were created to make sure each player was in an environment where they could be pushed while also experiencing success. They have the same program in elementary school as kids are learning to read. The kids are at different levels and hence read different books. The best readers are typically the ones that spend the most time reading! We will continue with our technical training groups in the spring. We have not been able to move players as often as we’d have liked due to a variety of reasons.

I really enjoyed watching our teams compete on Sunday afternoons. As we discussed earlier in the year, we try to create teams of equal ability (“try” being the operative word). In my view the games are an opportunity for the players to test themselves in a competitive environment and apply what they have learned in training. We encourage independent thinkers which results in mistakes being made. I don’t want our coaches dictating everything the players do… that is why we train. This can be frustrating at times when players are making the wrong decisions but if they stick with the game their decision making will improve over time. This is clearly the case if you watch both a U10 and U9 game. The U10’s have a little more experience and typically make better decisions.

Our winter training schedule is set and the details are on the blog. Our indoor sessions will be all technical work and our outdoor sessions will be a short technical warm-up followed by competitive SSG’s (small sided games). I believe many of our YTS players will also play indoor soccer. I also encourage all families to take a break from the game. It is important to get the batteries recharged. I hope you will all look to take a break from the beautiful game at some point during the winter months.

Our spring league season will start the week of March 6th and run through May 15th. We will, of course, take the Easter Weekend off. I am excited to announce we will again play some 8v8 games in the spring in addition to our NCCL 6v6 games. These games will be played on Sundays in addition to the 6v6 games. These 8v8 teams will change each week, and no player is guaranteed a spot. This allows the coaching staff to bring in different players based on their development and performances leading up to the selections. Some players may play in all of the 8v8 games, many will not. Every player in YTS will be eligible for these games.


I will get final spring schedule information out early in the New Year. Thanks again for your commitment to our program during the course of the fall season. I hope your child has enjoyed being a part of YTS and working with our staff. In my view the staff has done a wonderful job of working with the YTS players.

Thanks again,

Paul
paulf@caslemail.com