CASL Youth Training System (YTS)

Happy Monday

2012-01-30T10:50:00.001-05:00

YTS Parents,

It looks like the timing of our move outdoors is going to be perfect. Hopefully the warm temperatures will stay with us.. keep your fingers crossed. Our upcoming schedule looks like this:

Training

U9's Wed at 4.30 on Pet Mania (WRAL) and Fri at 4.30pm on Durham Bulls (stadium field)

U10's Tues at 4.30 on Durham Bulls and Thurs at 4.30pm on Eurosport (WRAL)

We will be on the schedule above for the next three weeks. After that we plan on returning to Cedar Fork on Wed (U9's) and Thurs (U10's).

Games

First weekend of games is scheduled for March 4th. I hope to have a schedule some time next week.

We are excited to get started outside again with the kids and look forward to a good spring!

Thanks very much.

Happy Thursday

2012-01-05T12:02:00.000-05:00

YTS Familes,

I found this highlight video and thought it would be good to share.. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a_mrcRgHWI

As you all should know we start our indoor sessions again next week- the week of January 9th.

We will start our regular outdoor training schedule the week of January 30th.   For at least the first three weeks of February all of our training sessions will be at WRAL. The schedule minus a couple of field assignments is below.

Tuesday 4.30pm- Stadium
Wednsday 4.30pm- Field TBA
Thursday 4.30pm- Field TBA
Friday 4.30pm- Stadium

I realize this will be an inconvience for some families.   We hope to be back out at Cedar Fork in late February. I will of course do my best to keep you all updated.

Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

We look forward to an exciting 2012!!!

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T11:31:00.000-05:00

YTS Families,

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday. We wish you all the very best for 2012 and hope that the year is a kind one to us all. Below are a few reminders:

1. If you have not already done so please go ahead and register for the spring season. More information can be found on spring registration on my December post. Again if you do not plan on returning please let me know asap. Once we get everyone registered we will look to finalize our teams for the spring season.

2. Our January schedule is posted on the blog on the calender. We have three more weeks of indoor training. With the current temperatures it will feel great to be indoors. Please remember all players are expected to wear the correct training attire- white CASL training shirt, black shorts and black socks.

3. We are scheduled to move outside the week of Jan 30th. I will forward more information on this in the coming weeks once I have all the final details.

4. If you have not received your son/daughter's player evaluation please contact your AGC directly. If this fails to solve the problem please contact me.

As always should you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

My email address is paulf@caslemail.com

Again all the very best for 2012!

Happy Holidays

2011-12-20T08:52:00.000-05:00

YTS Families,

Our fall season has officially ended and you can all take a well deserved break from our YTS program. I hope as a family you have enjoyed being a part of our program and that you plan on returning in the spring. Please remember you must re-register for the spring season. Please do that as soon as you can so that we can finalize teams etc for the spring of 2012.

As a staff we hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season. We also hope 2012 is a great year for your family, our YTS program and CASL as a whole.

Thanks for your continued support and have a great Holiday!

WRAL Clean-up

2011-12-15T11:22:00.000-05:00

Guys,

I should have posted this picture a long time ago! I apologize to those pictured from left to right In the photo::

Brooke Francher, Nicole Kappaz, Braelynn Francher, Lindsey Elvington, Amanda Lugo, Brady Francher, Kate Sollom, Teresa Hupp, Graycie Elliot, Sydney Davis and Danielle Lugo. Mark Francher (very back row) coordinated the activity in an attempt to clean-up the creek and WRAL in general. Great job ladies!

Tis the season...

2011-12-13T13:19:00.000-05:00

Pictured above Alloysia Richardson, Audrey Pluska, Alanje Richardson, Lori Jones and Austin Parker visisted the the Salvation Army Toy warehouse earlier this month and delivered stockings the girls and their families filled. Great job girls!

Happy Tuesday

2011-12-06T09:57:00.000-05:00

YTS Families,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and that you are ready to get to YTS training albeit for two weeks before we break for the Holidays. There are several reminders so please make sure you read this post it its entirety:

Evaluations

Coaches are currently working on player evaluations. They have until December 16th to get these out to the players. If you do not receive your son/daughter's player evaluation please contact me directly.

Training Reminders

The schedule is on the blog in a calender format. Please make sure you check this so you are in the right place at the right time.

I realize the 4.15pm start time is very difficult for families. Please do all you can to arrive on time. As a staff we know this maybe difficult for some families and completely understand if players arrive late.

Make sure your son/daughter brings a ball, something to drink and FLAT soled shoes. Cleats cannot be worn on the all sport court - no exceptions.

For the Wed (U9's) and Thurs (U10's) sessions the players will work on their technique for the duration of the session. Friday's sessions will be playing small sided games.

When players arrive please make sure they place their bags on the bleachers and that the bags DO NOT BLOCK ANY WALK WAY INSIDE the building.

General Info

Please remember all players will have to register again to play YTS in the spring season.    Even though you registered in the fall if you plan on returning for the 2012 spring season you will have to re-register your child.   Registration fee is not the monthly training fee. Registration should be live online within the next week.

As I have stated in previous posts I hope you all elect to return. If you already know you are not going to re-register your child please let us know.   We do have players very interested in joining our program and it would be very helpful for me to know this information.

We will evaluate rosters after the Holiday to see if we need to make any changes.    Please understand we don't make changes to upset anyone we make changes because we think they will benefit the players involved.

Below is a link to US Soccer's homepage. The U17 Men's National team just competed in the Nike Friendlies playing against France, Turkey and Brazil. You can watch an 8 minute highlight video of the game vs Brazil and the team celebrating their championship! Enjoy

http://www.ussoccer.com/

Should you have any questions/concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

Happy Tuesday

2011-11-22T11:13:00.000-05:00

YTS Families,

1. First of all I hope you all enjoy the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday and some time away from YTS soccer.   While I know many YTS players are playing indoor soccer a break from YTS is always a good thing. Hopefully the players will miss training and be excited about the winter training program.

2. If you son/daughter is playing indoor please encourage them to have fun, express themselves, and approach each game with a strong desire to compete.

3. Once players get back from the break coaches will be emailing player evaluations out.    If you have questions about your son/daughters evaluation please don't hesitate to contact your coach directly. If for some reason you do not receive an eval please contact me directly. I will let you know via your team manager when evals have to be emailed out.

4. The focus of our winter program is two fold.   First and foremost we want to continue to build good habits technically the first session each week will be solely technical work. The second part which will take place during the Friday sessions is to focus on developing a competitive mentality. The players will play small sided games.

5. Another great soccer opportunity to watch NCAA soccer in our back yard!

The top-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels have advanced in the NCAA Tournament and will host the NCAA Third Round this Sunday, November 27th at 1pm. Come out to Fetzer Field to see the match-up between the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels and the No. 16 Indiana Hoosiers!

Groups of 20+ receive admission for just $2 each! Purchase your tickets in advance by contacting the UNC Ticket Office at (800) 722-4335.

Non-group rates include $5 for youth (age 7-college) and seniors (55+). General Admission tickets are $8. Tickets can be purchased at the Carmichael Arena Ticket Office starting at noon on Sunday. You can purchase tickets in advance here: http://bit.ly/uD74CM. Additional processing fees may apply to phone and online orders.

I think that is it for me for the time being. Enjoy the short break. If you have questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks for your continued support.

Paul

UNC Tar Heels NCAA Tournament

2011-11-16T11:46:00.000-05:00

This is a message from the folks at UNC about the upcoming NCAA Men's Soccer game.

Soccer Community:

The University of North Carolina would like to invite you and your team(s) to the NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament Second Round this Sunday, November 20th at 5pm! North Carolina received the No. 1 overall seed in this year's NCAA tournament. Don't miss the action live on Fetzer Field as North Carolina, the 2011 ACC regular season and tournament champions, take on the winner of Elon/Coastal Carolina in their pursuit of their fourth consecutive trip to the College Cup!

Bring your group of 20 or more and receive admission for just $2 each! Youth (age 7-college) and seniors (55+) receive admission for $5. General admission tickets are $8.

Purchase tickets in advance by contacting the UNC Ticket Office at (800) 772-4335 or online at TarHeelBlue.com here: http://bit.ly/vo3SKV. Additional fees may apply to phone and ticket orders.
We need your help to show the country just why the state of North Carolina is known for premium soccer! Please help us by spreading the word of this event. I have attached a flyer for easier distribution that can be shared via email, websites, Facebook, and/or Twitter!
See you on Sunday!

Rachel Penny

rfpenny@uncaa.unc.edu

(919) 962-5499

Happy Thursday

2011-11-10T13:08:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

As our regular season draws to a close there are a few reminders below:

1. Enjoy the last weekend of games. Spring NCCL games will not start until February. I will send more information on spring schedule once everything gets finalized.

2. At this point any games that were canceled will not be made up.

3.. We will only train once next week 10's Tuesday at WRAL and 9's Wednesday hopefully at WRAL. I am still trying to finalize and will communicate directly with team managers.

4. Coaches will be doing player evaluations.   I will send a blank copy of the evaluation form so you can get an idea of what to expect. Upon receiving your child's evaluation you can contact your coach if you have questions or concerns. Coaches have the option of handing out the evals or emailing them.

5. I encourage the coaches to be as honest as possible so we can provide constructive feedback on the players in our program. This is very important.

6. The winter training schedule is posted on the blog and should be very easy to follow.    Always check your email in case there are changes. I understand how difficult it is to get kids to training early but in order to utilize the indoor space we have to start early.

7. We are evaluating plans for the spring in terms of teams and the potential for player movement.   Again if we make changes we will inform families. This also includes the playing format for the teams. We do all we can behind the scenes to create an environment that will promote individual player development.

8. Please remember if you plan on returning for the spring (which of course I sincerely hope you all do) you will have to register again for the spring season.    Registration will open in early December for you to do this.   Again there is a registration fee required for the spring also just like there was for the fall.   I will send an email reminder when registration is live.

9. If you haven't taken the time to thank your team manager please do so.   Remember they are volunteering. Please remember to thank them for their time.

I hope the fall season has been a positive one for your child overall and that they have enjoyed being a part of our YTS program. Our coaches have done a great job with the kids overall and we are fortunate to have a great group of guys/girls that help create a special environment for the players.

Should you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me.

Paul

paulf@caslemail.com

Rainey Friday

2011-11-04T11:46:00.001-04:00

YTS Parents,

I did receive a few emails following my early post this week. It seems a better time to post towards the end of the week when parents are worn down and less likely to read my post and want to respond! Ha ha!.

Many of you will have read my post about YTS players not being able to guest play with non- YTS teams. There are several reasons we don't permit players to guest play on non YTS teams. This not done to upset parents or the kids I can assure you. Guest playing does not include indoor winter soccer leagues. We have several players that will play on indoor teams at the Factory and Netsports etc. Please don't get the two confused. Playing indoor soccer on a team is optional. Per our training schedule you can see we continue to train during the winter months.

Please use the calender on the blog so you know what the schedule is for the remainder of November, December and January. I always do my best to email out any changes as we are aware many of you carpools and have tight schedules.

Have a great weekend and have fun watching you son/daughter play.

Should you have any questtions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T12:16:00.000-04:00

YTS Families,

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. I will likely post something again later this week but wanted to bring something to your attention.

GUEST PLAYING

I have been approached by a few YTS families about the possibility of YTS players guest playing with non- YTS teams. This is something we do not allow our players to do and is a CASL rule. As YTS families my hope is all families follow this rule and not guest play for another team even if it is a CASL recreation or challenge team. It always happens at this stage of the season when other teams are entering tournaments to play in and YTS players are asked to guest play. Per the rules we ask that you kindly turn down the offer.

It is important we stay consistent with this rule. If a family asks me I remind them YTS players are not permitted to guest play with any other team. I would hope the length of our season provides the players with plenty of playing and training opportunities.

Should you have questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Happy Thursday

2011-10-27T12:29:00.001-04:00

YTS Parents,

Thankfully a current YTS parent has taken the time to put together a calender for the months of Nov/Dec/Jan. This calender can be found to the right of this post. Please print it and keep it somewhere where it is visible. Maybe the fridge door? I realize the changes in training locations along with the early start time create issues for many of you. At this point there is nothing we can do other than work together to get through these changes.

With the change in temperatures please make sure you dress your child appropriately as it can get cold. Once they get cold they will be miserable. We don't want that!!

Remember our sessions at Thomas Brooks will start at 4.00pm- Please get there as soon as you can.

Thanks for your cooperation. If you have questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Happy Tuesday

2011-10-18T12:02:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

I was able to take in several YTS games this Sunday at WRAL and enjoyed watching the kids play and compete. It really is a great environment out at WRAL when the kids are playing, the coaches are coaching and the parents are enjoying watching their child play. I have fielded several questions over the last few days about the coming months and the spring so I am going to try and answer them. As always if I fail to answer a question you have don't hesitate to contact me.

1. Indoor training at Net Sports:

The 9's will train on Wed (technical work only) , the 10's (technical work only) will train on Thursday and Friday is a double session. The first hour on Friday is for the 9's and the second hour is for the 10's. This is something new that we did not do last year. Friday's will be FUTSAL Friday's. Following a short warm-up the kids will play FUTSAL for the remainder of the session. This will allow them to compete in a small-sided competitive environment.

There is no cost for this program and we hope that all of the players in our program can attend. Players cannot wear cleats at the indoor sessions as we will playing on the all sports court. The indoor sessions are a nice change of environment for the players in particular when the weather gets colder.

I realize the early start maybe difficult for families. However this is the time that is available for us at Net Sports.

2. Training Calender

Again the dates for Net Sports are on a previous blog post. November 14th is the last week of regular training outdoors. We start our winter training (indoor training) the week of Dec 5th. There will be a few more changes to our training locations as the last week we can use Cedar Fork is Oct 24th. More to come on this!!! As soon as things are finalized I will communicate with each of you.

3. Spring Teams

There is a possibility teams will change for the spring season. As a staff we will meet at the conclusion of the fall season and determine what if any changes we need to make.   Again we are always looking to make things better for the players. Sometimes parents disagree with the changes we make but our ultimate goal is to help the players improve.   We will of course let players know if changes are made. Overall the games thus far this fall have presented our teams with competitive challenges. This is important regardless of the final score. Again I want the kids to always display a winning mentality.

4. Jersey Night

This is a night we would like to have the kids wear their favorite soccer jersey. They can of course wear their CASL jerseys. It helps create a fun environment for the players.

Friday October 21st - U9 's

Tuesday October 25th - U10's

5.   Registration Fee for the Spring of 2012

An early reminder each returning player for the spring of 2012 must re register for the spring season. This fee is $170.00.    You will not need to register for the spring season until mid December. Of course my hope is that all players will want to return. Again this is just a friendly reminder so you are prepared when the email gets sent out.

6. Winter Indoor Leagues

There are several options available to players in our area. I sent a flyer via our team managers last week about indoor options at Net Sports. Playing on an indoor team is entirely up to each individual family. My advice is to follow your son/daughters desire to play on a team. Sometimes a little break can be a good thing. Again this is your choice. We will not form YTS teams or have our coaches coaching these teams indoor teams.

7. Player Evaluations

Each player will receive an evaluation. I have not set the date for this yet but once I do coaches will be informed and evaluations will be handed out to each player.    If you have questions about your son/daughters evaluation then you will need to contact your son/daughter's coach.

Thanks for reading.   Hopefully you didn't fall asleep.

Paul

Paulf@caslemail.com

Happy Friday

2011-10-14T11:19:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

Again my apologies. My posts same to get later each week. I will get an email out sometime next week about some training updates. In the meantime information about our winter training is below. All of the sessions below will take place at Netsports. The link with info about Net Sports is below:

http://www.netsportsnc.com/index.php4

The first session of the week we will be technical work with the players with very little playing- Wed for U9's and Thurs for U10's. The Friday session each week will be all playing - Both U9's and U10's. Our current plan is to set up futsal courts for the kids to show up and play for the duration of the session. We feel this balance will be great for the players. One session where the focus is solely on technique and the other session when the kids can just play and compete. I will send more information out nearer the start date about other logistical information. I am sending this out now so you can plan accordingly.

We will start this program the week of December 5th. (5 week program 2 weeks in Dec and 3 weeks in Jan)

December 7th - U9's - 4.15-5.30pm

December 8th - U10's 4.15-5.30pm

December 9th- U9's 4.15-5.30pm U10's 5.15pm-6.30pm

December 14th - U9's - 4.15-5.30pm

December 15th - U10's 4.15-5.30pm

December 16th - U9's 4.15-5.30pm U10's 5.15pm-6.30pm

Week of Dec19th- OFF - No Training

Week of Dec 26th - OFF- No Training

Week of Jan 2nd- OFF - No Training

Start back up Week of Jan 9th

January 11th - U9's - 4.15-5.30pm

January 12th - U10's 4.15-5.30pm

January 13th - U9's 4.15-5.30pm U10's 5.15pm-6.30pm

January 18th- U9's - 4.15-5.30pm

January 19th- U10's 4.15-5.30pm

January 20th- U9's 4.15-5.30pm U10's 5.15pm-6.30pm

January 25th - U9's - 4.15-5.30pm

January 26th- U10's 4.15-5.30pm

January 27th- U9's 4.15-5.30pm U10's 5.15pm-6.30pm

Should you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Paul
Paulf@caslemail.com

Happy Thursday!

2011-10-06T10:22:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

I apologize for getting this post out a little late this week. Below is an interesting article about nutrition. We some times take for granted that nutrition/diet etc is not so important for our younger players. Clearly that is not the case. The sooner we teach our young soccer players good nutritional habits the better.

I hope you enjoy reading the article and good luck this weekend with our games.

Four Common Myths About Nutrition Among Soccer Players

Dr. Donald T. Kirkendall
By Donald T. Kirkendall, works with U.S. Soccer's National Teams
There are more myths that coaches, players and parents may be following, but below four of the more common myths are dispelled. By following the nutritional guidelines below, players, coaches and teams can put themselves in an advantageous position before the match starts.
Myth 1: Game performance is not affected by what you eat.

Virtually every study on athletic performance for both team and individual sports shows that a diet rich in carbohydrates improves running performance. However, nutritional research from the 1970s to present day still show that soccer players choose a diet that is approximately 40 percent carbohydrates, 40 percent fat and 20 percent protein.
What is discouraging is that in the very early 70s, the Swedes conducted a study that showed soccer players with low muscle fuel (glycogen) walk about 50 percent of the game. Even 30 years later, a study showed that more than half of a national team in the 1994 FIFA World Cup thought food had nothing to do with their performance. The bottom line is that players eat what is put in front of them.

The more carbohydrates an athlete eats, the more endurance he or she will have. This means that when the end of the game approaches, the player will be able to run faster and longer if he or she consumed the proper amount of carbohydrates.

Myth 2: What you eat after the game does not matter.

At games and tournaments around the country, players will sometimes eat the worst post game snacks possible including soda, sweet drinks in soft packaging, potato chips, candy bars and fries. Everyone who has ever been to a soccer field on a weekend has seen this.
Muscles are most ready to receive a fresh supply of fuel during the first hour or two directly following exercise. The smart coaches and parents supply food that will start refilling muscles with carbohydrates at just that time.

A proper supply of carbohydrates is needed. It can come from a carbohydrate replenishment drink or other foods like bagels with jelly, pretzels, raisins or other dried fruit. This is even more critical between tournament games when the time between games is even shorter.

Myth 3: A diet is good as long as an athlete gets enough protein.

While most every survey of the athletic diet shows that players get all the protein they need from food, there is a problem. The vast majority of protein is consumed in conjunction with fat.

Marbled meat, ground beef, and fried chicken all are examples of protein that is combined with lots of fat. Red meat should be trimmed of fat, and ground beef should be very lean. Chicken should have the skin removed before cooking.

One place protein isn’t commonly found is the immediate post-exercise meal. A little protein helps in storing new fuel in the muscles faster than when there is no protein. Players can try to figure out a protein source after the game or drink a carbohydrate replenishment drink that contains protein.

Myth 4: Your body is the best indicator of when to drink; Mother Nature knows best.

For most mammals, it is OK not to drink until thirsty. However, the thirst mechanism of humans operates differently than the average mammal. In fact, the human thirst mechanism doesn’t even kick in until a person has lost about two percent of body weight from sweating. At this level, a decrease in performance begins to become evident.
Players should drink before starting the game, every 15-20 minutes during play if possible, and at halftime. Make sure the team has drink bottles along both sidelines and in the goals so players have easy access to fluids during stoppages of play. Don’t forget that playing in the cold is also dehydrating, so drinking fluids is just as important in cold weather.

Overall, it is important for the well-rounded player to keep an eye on what they eat and drink in order to get results on the field.

As always if your have questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me at paulf@caslemail.com

Happy Tuesday

2011-09-27T11:41:00.001-04:00

YTS Parents,

I hope you all had a good weekend. Below is a link to a video that is also under the Parents Library on the Blog homepage. Please take a few minutes to watch the video. As always our goal via our posts is to make each of you think about the role you play as a parent of a child playing sports.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFsF0Z9EKDg

On a different note young players need to spend as much time with the ball as they can. Below is a video attached on Cristiano Ronaldo in a little juggle off against a former youth soccer player at Arsenal FC. Juggling can help develop good technique and overall comfort level with the ball. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_pO8TznfeY&feature=related

We look forward to a good week of training.

As always any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me.

Paul

paulf@caslemail.com

Happy Tuesday

2011-09-20T13:54:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

I was able to watch some YTS games on Sunday and enjoyed very much watching our teams compete against other NCCL teams.    The conditions were perfect. For the most part the games provided our players and teams with challenges and tests that will assist in the overall development of the our YTS players.   I know the kids loving playing on Sunday's!

Some reminders/thoughts from my end:

1. Please make sure your child brings both uniforms to the games. It is always good to have both colors in case there is a conflict.

2. If you child cannot attend a game please let your team coach know. This is very important. Our players can play on different teams so we have a good amount of flexibility if a team is short on a player or players.

3. For the most part we don't have full-time GK's on our teams. As a result we ask that the kids take turns playing in goals. As parents we ask that you support this. It helps the kids learn a great deal about the position and they will develop a respect for the position. This is very important. I have had a couple of coaches tell me that parents have told their child their son/daughter is not allowed to play in goal. Unless there is a medical condition we'd like to see all of the kids take a turn. The great thing is the score is not important in the grand scheme of things- unless you make it important.

4. While we don't focus on winning soccer games we still want the players in our program to compete and develop a winning mentality both on and off the field. For some players this comes naturally. We encourage the players to compete during all of our training sessions and games. Establishing this mentality is important long term for the players.   They must be willing to compete. Learn how to compete first then they can learn how to win. Please understand the order in which this process must occur. There will be plenty of time to worry about winning and of course losing as the players get older.

5. We have a great staff in place in my mind. With that said I still heard too much coaching going on from the sideline over the weekend. Comments like, shoot, pass, dribble, etc are not necessary. Let the players make there own decisions. Not matter how frustrating it can be on the sidlines let them make their own decisions.   Just like when they are at school.

6. We do have Gk training once a week for our YTS kids. Matt Brown our newly hired GK coach works with the U10's on Tuesday nights and the U9's on Friday nights.   These sessions are to help the players that attend learn some very basic skills about the position. We try to rotate which players attend these sessions unless a player is set on being a GK.

7. I am finalizing our winter training program and hope to release this shortly. We will train in Dec and Jan. I appreciate your patience as we work behind the scenes to set things up.

Should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at anytime.

Thanks for your continued support and enjoy watching your son/daughter play the beautiful game!!

2011-09-13T11:56:00.000-04:00

An interesting article below. I might not agree with every point but it makes for an interesting read.

Monday, Oct. 4, 2010

Champion coach Albertin Montoya puts winning in perspective

By Mike Woitalla

On a sunny September Sunday, Coach Albertin Montoya watched his Gold Pride players, including the magnificent Brazilian Marta and U.S. world champion Tiffeny Milbrett, celebrate the WPS championship after a 4-0 win over Philadelphia.
The dominating final performance followed a regular season in which the Gold Pride averaged nearly two goals per game and played such entertaining and effective soccer that longtime reporter on the women’s game, Scott French, declared it the best women’s club team ever.

Thanks much to Marta, the Gold Pride played soccer worth paying to watch. So as Montoya, out of the corner of his eye, watched his players bask in the glory, I asked him why the USA isn't producing Martas. After all, this country has more girls playing and more resources dedicated to female soccer than any other nation. Shouldn't we be seeing many more highly skillful, exciting players?
“We’ll need to talk about youth soccer,” said Montoya.

Montoya is also a longtime Northern California youth coach for girls and boys. He and his wife, Erin, a former collegiate star and pro player, run the Montoya Soccer Academy and coach at Mountain View Los Altos SC, for which Albertin also serves as technical director for under-8 through under-14 boys teams.

“The biggest problem at the youth level is the emphasis on winning,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s in our genes or what, but there’s so much desire to win at the ages when player development should be the emphasis.

“The first thing I tell parents is, ‘You want to win at U-8, U-9, U-10, U-11, U-12 -- you’re at the wrong club.

“We’re here to develop players to where, hopefully, by the time they’re U-14, U-15s, they’re playing at a high level, where if we do our job, winning will be a byproduct and we’ll compete for state championships.”

At the U-14/15 level – when the college showcases begin – MVLA teams do get results and win championships. And it sent 14 players to the girls youth national team program in the last seven years.
“These players might not be winning at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 – but that’s not what it’s about,” he says. “We’ve lost some good players in the past because their parents wanted to win at U10, U11.”

The challenge is to convince parents that at the early ages the focus should be on individual technical development – not scorelines. Montoya even advocates against playing league ball at the early ages.

“I don’t want our teams at U9, U10, U11 to play in the league,” he says. “I want to just have in-house 4v4s. It’s difficult because parents say, ‘We want to play different teams. We want to travel.’ I say, 'Believe me. You’ll have plenty of time to travel and drive when they’re 14, 15, 16. You don’t want to do it now when they’re U8, U9, U10.'

“We have enough players in our backyard. Let’s play 3v3, 4v4. But the parents want to play other teams. So I said, 'OK. We’ll do it in the fall.' But in the spring we’re not going to play anywhere. We are going to continue what I believe in. They’ll get more touches on the ball.”

Like most close observers of the women’s game, Montoya sees that the USA has depended too much on athleticism – being stronger, faster and quicker:
“When you watch the U-17 and U-20 World Cups you see the technical ability of the Japanese, the Koreans, the Germans, the Brazilians – you ask, ‘Why can’t our players do that?’ We have the athletes and I think it does go down to the early youth level where there’s so much emphasis on winning.”

When Montoya coaches his pros, he wants them to play like Barcelona or Spain. To rely on skill, creativity and possession.

“Once they realized they could play that kind of game … When you have the ball – they enjoy it that much more,” he says. “As soon as we lose it, we try to win it right back. And when we get it back, then identify, ‘Do we do a quick counter or do we keep it and let them chase for a while?’”

With his youngsters, it’s all about developing the individual skills that will enable them to play a possession game later. That, he says, is a bigger challenge for American youth coaches, whose players don’t watch as much soccer as, for example, Brazilian children. So coaches need to demonstrate more and do more skill work – and encourage dribbling during games even it if means the risk of losing the ball and giving up goals.

“My U-9 teams -- I haven’t even told them to pass it yet,” says Montoya. “I want my right back to dribble six players. I want my left back to dribble five, six players. I want my center back to do the same thing. My center-mid, my forward. Every single one of them.

“So we get 9-year-olds who are doing spin turns like Marta does. They’re doing step-overs. And I want that. I encourage that at every single position. And every game, they’ll start at a different position.”
Montoya doesn’t mind if a young player loses the ball because she keeps dribbling and the other team exploits the error for a goal. In fact, he “bribes” his players to try dribbling moves during a game. Giving them a small prize if they pull off a step-over move or a “Maradona” during a game.

“When a U-9 player touches the ball once, passes, touches the ball once, passes. How much are they developing?” he asks. “Teams may look well organized when they keep their players in the same positions – the positions they’re strongest at. But what separates players at the highest level is doing magic with the ball. So dribbling needs to be encouraged early on. The organized tactical stuff should come later. I tell the parents don’t tell the kids to pass the ball.”
When strong athletes are encouraged to strike the ball into space and run after it – coaches may start winning. But these players suffer later because they’ve been encouraged to use their athleticism instead of their skill or their savvy. When they're older, says Montoya, they have a certain style – but’s a power, direct syle.
“When they’re 13, 14, 15 -- there’s even more emphasis on winning and a coach is even less likely to work on developing the player,” he says.

But Montoya sees that parents are starting to understand why the scorelines shouldn’t be considered so important.

“It’s all about educating the parents,” he says. “And fortunately there is a generation of coaches coming up now who have played the game at a high level. But we need to make sure those coaches are working at the younger age groups and that they have developing players as a priority and not winning games.”

(Mike Woitalla, the executive editor of Soccer America, coaches youth soccer for Rockridge SC in Oakland, Calif. His youth soccer articles are archived at YouthSoccerFun.com.)

Happy Wednesday

2011-09-07T10:32:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

I hope you all had an enjoyable Labor Day Weekend. I will be sending out an email to team managers later today that will count as the educational piece for the week. Below are some reminders as the players prepare to play their first game of the season.

1. Before the opening weekend I wanted to address a few things about the games and our philosophy on competition and games at the YTS level. The first and main point is that RESULTS DO NOT MATTER at this level. Our job at YTS is to introduce competitive soccer to these players, our job at YTS is NOT to win games, in all honesty, we do not care about the results. We do recognize that winning is part of a positive experience for the kids, but ultimately we want our kids to improve and enjoy the experience. As a parent you are very important to this. Your demeanor on the sideline has a huge impact on your kids and the game itself. We ask that you encourage and cheer for your kids in a POSITIVE way, that is all. Please do not yell at your kids in frustration or try to coach your kid from the sideline. Only the coach is to give instructions about the game, your job is to encourage. Please enjoy watching your child play and his/her team play.
Just as YTS is an early stage of soccer for these kids, it is also an early stage of refereeing for our officials. They will make mistakes. Do not complain or yell at the referee. Not only is this something we do out of respect to the referees, but it also has a huge impact on your child. If you yell at the referee he/she will think it is ok to yell at the referee. There should be no reason at all to communicate with the officials at anytime.

2. In short enjoy the game, be a good sport, set the right example for your child and represent our club in the right manor.

3. Always check weather hotlines etc before you leave for a game. Never assume a game is on, or off for that matter.

4. Make sure your son/daughter has both sets of uniforms for each game and of course they bring their soccer ball and plenty to drink.

5. Please arrive to games on time. I recommend being at the field 30 minutes before kick-off. If in doubt arrive early. Better to be early than late!

As always if you have questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Good luck this weekend!

Paul

paulf@caslemail.com

Happy Monday

2011-08-29T12:27:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

Some reminders below:

1. This is a reminder that YTS training fees are due in the CASL office by Thursday, September 1st.
This is also a reminder that for those of you that have bank draft that your training fee will be automatically deducted from your checking account on or after September 1st. Thank you for those of you that have already signed up for Bank Draft.

If you have not sent me your bank draft yet, please visit the YTS blog at http://caslyts.blogspot.com/, download and print the Bank draft form. I will need the Bank Draft Authorization completed with a copy of a voided check returned to me in the CASL office by September 20th to be able to enroll in the program starting in October.

If you plan to pay by check, your payment is due in the CASL office on September 1st. You will need to include your child's name/YTS on the check and send to my attention at:

Capital Area Soccer League
Attention: Zana Sugg
3300 Womans Club Drive
Suite 1
Raleigh, NC 27612

2. Normal training schedule this week. The U9's will train on Friday as normal.

3. Below is a link sent to me from a YTS Parent. As our season is getting ready to start I like to try and send articles that will help you think about the important role you play as a soccer parent.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/08/16/1415235/be-a-good-sports-parent.html
Please enjoy reading this short article.

4. We will at times experience bad weather. Please understand the safety of the players is a high priority for us as a club. Sometimes as a staff we make the right decisions and sometimes we don't.   If we ask that the kids clear the fields please help us in making sure all players find a safe spot to stay until a decision is made whether to start, resume or end a training session.   If we all work together we should have no issues. My main concern is when we are out at Cedar Fork. Please make sure if you will not be in attendance at the session your son/daughter knows which parent might be able to get them into a car for safety.

5. Again game schedules are posted so you should be able to plan your Sundays.    Always check weather hot lines before you leave your home for games. Just because it is not raining at your home is not always a good reason to assume a game is on.

Thanks for your continued support.

Happy Tuesday

2011-08-23T12:31:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

I hope you had an enjoyable weekend.

The game schedules have been released and are available for you to review at http://ncchampionsleague.com/. Please remember to always check weather hotlines before you leave for your games to make sure fields are open. Again this information is available on the NC Champions League website. I will do the best to make sure you have up to date information but there will be times when I am out of the state for our weekend games.

Below is a link to an educational article. I send these out to make you think about the role we have as parents. I understand the role at times can be very challenging. I firmly believe playing sports can teach children so many valuable lessons regardless of what team they play and at what level. I hope you pick something up from the link below;

http://www.soccerindiana.org/UserFiles/file/Vince%20Education/Parent%20Education/The%208%20Winning%20Practices%20for%20Parenting%20Athletes.pdf

We look forward to another week of training with the kids.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Wednesday

2011-08-17T12:28:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

We now have our team managers in place.   Please be as responsive as you can when they email you. A couple of reminders below:

1. Once we get the training t's distributed it is MANDATORY that players wear- white training shirt, black shorts and black socks. Please make sure we wear adidas apparel when out at the fields.

2. When out at Cedar Fork please make sure you sit back from the fields.    Give the kids some room and sit back from the training fields. While we have no issue with you watching your child train we ask that you sit far enough from the field and give your child some space. I doubt very much you sit in your child's classroom at school so please let's follow the same trend when they train.

3. We will be setting up parent meetings with each age group and will try and release those dates early next week. These meetings will take place at WRAL and will be on your regular training night.

4. We want to maximize the time we have the players so if we have players that are misbehaving they will be asked to sit out during a training session.    I hope we don't have to do this but I have informed AGC's that they don't have the time to deal with disruptive kids.

5. Game schedules will be released on Monday of next week. With a variety of changes the process has taken longer than it did last year. I know you all ant to get these schedules so you can start planning.

6. Each Monday we will either post a YTS Parent Education piece on the blog or email to team managers to distribute to each of you. Please take the time to read the articles. If you have something you think is worth sharing with our families please let us know.

Thanks as always for your continued support.

Happy Friday

2011-08-12T11:05:00.001-04:00

YTS Families,

I hope you are all well. A few reminders etc below:

1. U9 Training tonight is scheduled to be on the Stadium Field at WRAL.   U9's will always be on the stadium on Friday nights unless otherwise notified.

2. Each team now has a team manager and they will be sending an informal email out in the next day or so if they have not already done so.

3. We need to get training shirts ordered and taken care of asap. Please be responsive to your team managers so we can get things done in a timely fashion and they don't have to send multiple emails.

4. Many of you have asked about the bag tags - these will be collected with the training t-shirt order.   The bag tags are the shape of a jersey and look just like the grey/silver YTS game jersey. Hopefully the kids will like them. Please make sure you attach them to your child's bag so they can always find it (along with the bag tag you will get a clip to attach bag tag to the bag). Again these are being provided as no embroidery can be placed on the Chelsea Backpack.

5. This year our program has changed slightly from an administration standpoint. While I will continue to oversee the whole program we have added AGC (Age Group Coordinators).   They are listed below:

U9 Girls Andy Truex andyt@caslemail.com

U9 Boys Caleb Norkus calebn@caslemail.com

U10 Girls Stephen Chaconas stephenc@caslemail.com

U10 Boys Paul Forster paulf@caslemail.com and Tim Evans tetlevans68@gmail.com

AGC's will be responsible for running the training sessions in their respective age groups, monitoring the development of the players and assisting in me in making the experience a positive one for the players and parents. (and a whole host of other things too!!)

6. Please direct all concerns to me and I will pass them onto AGC's if need be. I am excited about this change as we have added some great staff to be more involved in our YTS program.

7.   If your son/daughter will be missing training or a game you can notify the AGC. They can in turn pass this information onto team coaches.

8. Next week we will start with our weekly educational email. If you ever find a great article etc that we can share with our families please don't hesitate to pass it onto me.

As always should you have further questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Happy Monday

2011-08-08T11:04:00.000-04:00

Yts Families,

For those of you that played in the Chelsea 3's I hope you enjoyed the event. I know it was hot on Sunday so hopefully the players made it through. A couple of updates below:

1. Regular training schedule - this is posted on several previous blog posts!

2. I still need team managers for the following teams -

U9 Girls Chicago Fire, Philadelphia Union

U10 Boys- Toronto FC.

We need to get team managers in place by Tuesday August 9th asap. Please, please, please let me know if you are interested.

3. CASL YTS Training Shirts - These will be ordered by the team managers. Each player is expected to buy two training shirts- unless of course you already have YTS training shirts. Each short costs $9. Players are expected to wear these shirts for all training sessions and as a pre game warm-up shirts. As soon as we get team managers in place we will get these shirts ordered. At training this week please wear a white t-shirt oif you don't have a YTS shirt

Thanks very much!

Happy Thursday

2011-08-04T14:14:00.000-04:00

Guys,

Just a few things as we move forward:

1. We will set up some age group meetings to go over the plan for the fall season once we get the season going.

2. Regular training schedule for next week:

9's Wed @ Cedar Fork (field 6,7,8) and Fri @ WRAL - both sessions start at 4.30pm

10's Tues @ WRAL (stadium) and Thurs @ Cedar Fork (field 6,7, 8) - both sessions start at 4.30pm

3. Once get team managers in place we will get a training t-shirt order together.

4. Game schedules will be released as soon as they are finalized.

5. I still need team managers - for

U9 Boys LA Galaxy, Colorado Rapids, Diego Munoz
U10 Boys- DC United, Toronto FC
U9 Girls- Columbus Crew, Chicago Fire, Philadelphia Union
U10 Girls- New England Revolution

I promise you will love being a YTS team manager!

The kids have done a great job at camp this week and we look forward to finishing on a positive note!

U9 Teams

2011-08-03T13:50:00.004-04:00

As a follow-up to my first post below are the U9 teams for the upcoming season. All of U9 teams will play 6v6 in the NCCL. Please let me know if you would like to be a team manager for the coming year asap. Each team will need a team manager to help with the communication etc. Email me directly at paulf@caslemail.com if you are interested. Thanks

U9 Girls

Coach Andy Truex
Team Columbus Crew

A. Abbott
A. Ziegler
N. Micchia
S. Ahlawat
Z. Ziade
M. Crabtree
H. Arostegui
A. Duran
A. Brown

Coach Lindsay Vera
Team Chicago Fire

A. Jensen
E. Agar
E. Gray
E. Norton
J. Sullivan
I. Ferrence
A. Glenn
L. Diehl
K. Koons
L. Wilson

Coach Courtney Crandell
Team Philadelphia Union

C. Laurens
E. Karmanos
R. Page
E. Payne
S. Talbott
A. Andrews
C. Wood
S. Stewart
K. Musteikis
A. Talerico

Coach Linsay Eckel
Team Vancouver Whitecaps

B. Sroka
S. Reifschneider
A. Bulmer
K. Holt
H. Kaplan
L. Harris
S. Arnold
E. Sweeney
M Munoz
T. Holt

_______________________________________________________________________________
U9 Boys

Coach Caleb Norkus
Team LA Galaxy

L. Pleasants
A. Armour
A. Burnside
T. Shearin
K. Hernandez
E. Retzlaff
R. Jeske
Z. Peterman
R. Alphin
L. Swank

Coach Jonathan Knaus
Team Colorado Rapids

S. Burke
C. Cash
W. Mason
L. Coyne
J. Burkhart
D. Ortiz
C. Frame
R. Gates
J. Smith
T. Spencer

Coach Kyle Schmid
Team Seattle Sounders

C. Welch
J. Arukwe
G. Martin
T. Cozzie
R. Dirocco
C. Wright
R. Hinkle
H. Kristofferson
M. Provencher
M. Worley
J. Kuropas

Coach Diego Munoz
Team Chivas USA

I. Holdaway
D. Dixon
L. Maciel-Madara
L. Campos
D. Pardo
R. Seymore
C. Lucas
B. Lozaw
M. Fischer
B. Kozacko
M. St Louis

Coach Phil Southerland
Team San Jose Earthquakes

A. Lund
B. Maclauchlin
H. Stone
P. O'Ferral
M. Ramsey
N. Fairnak
R. Findlen
O. Malone
D. Swift
P. Breidsprecher
J. Paden

U10 Teams

2011-08-03T11:34:00.009-04:00

YTS Parents,

I want to thank you for you patience as we finalize our teams for the upcoming season. I will have two separate posts today. The first one will contain the U10 Teams and the second post will have the U9 teams. Please understand as a staff we have the flexibility to move players if we feel the need to do so. Our goal is to still develop individual players in our program and place each player in an environment that will promote development. We hope you choose to support this approach moving forward.

If you are interested in being a team manager for your son/daughter's team please let me know asap via an email.

U10 Girls

Coach Whitney Haase (Will play 6v6 this fall)
Team New England Revolution

C. Neally
J. Scott
I. Banerji
A. Wnorowski
F. Baker
K. Conger
A. Phelan
B. Baker
P. Thompson

Coach Biri Bastos (Will play 6v6 this fall)
Team Portland Timbers

Alloysia Richardson
Alajne Richardson
L. Jones
A. Pluska
K. Dickerson
A. Parker
A. Cox
E. Alford
A. Smith

Coach Jill Bradford (Will play 8v8)
Team Houston Dynamo

C. Dinkenor
E. Jeske
M. Musante
M. Parham
K. Sollom
T. Hupp
D. Lugo
K. Groff
M. Caleen
N. Kappaz
P. Goldthwaite
C. Clark

Coach Stephen Chaconas (Will play 8v8)
Team New York Bulls

L. Elvington
H. Freeman
A W Dubach
A. Dion
S. Davis
B. Francher
G. Elliot
A. Lanter
N. Grimes
L. Grosshandler
C. Reifschneider
T A Wheeler

______________________________________________________________________________
U10 Boys

Coach Michael Hoy (Will play 6v6 this fall)
Team Toronto FC

C. Cabot
K. Kahoussi
S. Vlahoplus
S. Morse
O. Ravenscroft
T. Salman
A. Harrison
N. Lawrence
M. Camara

Coach Eric Debrah (Will play 6v6 this fall)
Team Real Salt Lake

W. Blanchette
J. Collar
D. Keen
S. Moore
M. Skiko
C. Moss
E. Wady
J. Perry
P. Schmid
J. French

Coach Eric Bratager (Will play 8v8)
Team DC United

T. Petruccione
P. Rodriguez
M. Echevarria
P. Gridley
L. Oliveira
A. Madrid
O. Harrison
J. Givens
J. White
A. Kistner
C. Massengill

Coach Tim Evans (Will play 8v8)
Team FC Dallas

E. Teal
M. Espinoza
J. O'Connor
B. Cooling
S. Sullivan
L. McLaughlin
I. Harfoush
N. Zullo
N. Atkinson
J. Bratager
A. Whitlock

Happy Monday

2011-08-01T09:56:00.000-04:00

Guys,

Reminder YTS camp this evening 4.30-6.00pm on Centex. We will use this week to finalize our teams and get the kids back into a training rhythm. Each night we will do a technical warm-up and then the kids will play in small sided games. So in short the players will spend a great deal of time this week playing in the small sided games. This will give them a chance to play without too many restrictions and the coaches an opportunity to interact, learn names etc.

We are all looking forward to our season starting this evening. Again make sure your son/daughter brings an inflated ball to each session, has plenty of water to drink and wears white shirt and black shorts and socks.

See you tonight.

Happy Thursday

2011-07-28T12:03:00.000-04:00

Happy Thursday,

I hope you are all managing to stay cool with the current temperatures. Hopefully next week will be a little cooler. Below is the schedule for next week's team camp:

Week of Aug 1st

Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (Nothing on Tuesday night)
4.30-6.00pm
Centex (first turf field on right handside when you enter the complex)
All U9&U10 Boys and Girls

Please make sure your son/daughter brings plenty of water and an inflated soccer ball to each of the sessions.
Please have the kids wear a white shirt, black shorts and black socks.
We will look to release our teams on the blog on Wednesday August 3rd (Thanks for your patience as we continue to work through this process)

Week of Aug 8th

Regular training schedule starts this week

U9 Boys and Girls - Wed (at Cedar Fork) and Fri (WRAL) 4.30-6.00pm

U10 Boys and Girls- Tues (at WRAL) and Thurs (Cedar Fork) 4.30-6.00pm

These times/locations will not change until further notice.

Other info:

1. Daniel Hupp daniel.hupp@yahoo.com has an extra YL white jersey if anyone still needs to buy one
2. Games are scheduled to start Sunday September 11th
3. Once teams are formed we will get some team managers in place. Team managers will help with the ordering of CASL training tee's and a variety of things during the course of the season

Thanks for reading and as always if you have questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Paul

paulf@caslemail.com

YTS Update

2011-07-21T12:46:00.000-04:00

Guys,

We have elected to cancel tonight' session due to the very high temperatures. I know we were able to get through last nights session but tonights forecast is worse than yesterday and we are worried about the safety of the kids and of course there overall well being.

Next scheduled session is August 1st - which will start our team camp.

Thanks

Happy Monday

2011-07-18T10:33:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

As always I hope you are all well. I hope you were able to watch the Women's WC games over the last couple of weeks in addition to all of the other games that are currently going on.\

Reminder about this week:

4.30-6.00pm Wednesday and Thursday night.

U9's - Baker Roofing

U10's - Durham Bulls (Stadium Field)

Clearly the temperatures are going to be hot. Please make sure your child hydrates during the day and brings plenty of water to the field for our training sessions. Our goal is to run a training session, let the kids play and of course make our teams for the upcoming season. Ideally the kids show up reeady to play and compete and have some fun along the way!

We look forward to seeing the kids our at the fields this Wednesday and Thursday night.

Thanks again.

Juventus FC Vs Chivas- Thursday July 28th 8pm at Carter Finley Stadium

2011-07-12T21:11:00.000-04:00

YTS Families,

Along with previously successful markets of Atlanta, Miami, and Charlotte, the World Football Challenge http://www.caslnc.com/home/default.asp?menu_category=Home&menuid=1482&parid=1482 brings top flight Professional Football to Raleigh, North Carolina for the 1^st time. We look forward to proving to the rest of the United States that the Southeast Region can continue to support top flight Football for the Summer of 2011 and beyond. Please click on the link provided above our here directly for ticket information http://ev10.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=WFC&linkID=ncsu&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode and use CASL for a promotional code.

If the links above do not work you can go directly to www.caslnc.com and find more information. This is a great chance to see top flight soccer on our doorstep!

Thanks

Update from Zana Sugg

2011-07-08T15:56:00.000-04:00

Guys- You should have received the email below from Zana. If we all work together we can make the year an enjoyable one for us all. Please understand your child will be ineligible to train and play if training fees are not paid on time.

Reminder- July 20 and 21st we will have training sessions to finalize teams for the upcoming season. These sessions will be at 4.30-6.00pm and the field is still TBA. I have received several emails about families being out of town. As a staff we completely understand this. We can move players during the course of the season. Please don't get worried about which team your child gets placed on.

I will be out of town next week traveling with the U16 and U18 boys to Nationals and have limited email access.

Hello CASL YTS Parents,
This is a reminder that YTS training fees are due in the CASL office by AUGUST 1ST.
Thank you for those of you that have already signed up for Bank Draft. Your training fee will be automatically deducted from your checking account on Monday, August 1st.
If you have not sent me your bank draft yet, please visit the YTS blog at http://caslyts.blogspot.com/, download and print the Bank draft form. I will need the Bank Draft Authorization completed with a copy of a voided check returned to me in the CASL office by Wednesday, July 20th to be able to enroll in the program starting in August.
If you plan to pay by check, your payment is due in the CASL office on August 1st. You will need to include your child's name/YTS on the check and send to my attention at:

Capital Area Soccer League
Attention: Zana Sugg

3300 Womans Club Drive

Suite 1

Raleigh, NC 27612
CASL also accepts cash or checks delivered to the CASL Office. The CASL office is open between the hours of 12:00 noon and 5:00 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday.

Once a player's monthly training fees becomes seven days past due, the player will not be eligible to continue practicing or playing until payment is made. To avoid the possibility of late payment, the preferred option to pay training fees on a monthly basis is through the CASL Automatic Bank Draft Program.

Credit card payments are NOT an option for individual monthly training fees during the year. It is not acceptable to pay training fees at practices or games to Paul, your team manager, or your team coaches. You are welcomed to send more than one month's payment at a time.

The YTS monthly training fee is $115.00 per month due the first of each month starting August 1st for 9 months ending in April 1st, 2012. Although you may receive a monthly email to remind you that payment is due, you will not receive a written monthly invoice. This monthly fee is the cost of the specialized training your child receives as a part of the YTS developmental program. The $115.00 month fee is the cost of training for the whole year commitment to YTS divided into nine months.

For more questions, please refer to the Parent's Information sheet which can also be downloaded from the CASL YTS Blog.

Thank you!

Zana and Paul.

Happy Long Weekend

2011-07-01T12:55:00.001-04:00

YTS Parents,

Please read the information below about a great opportunity for our YTS Players. Our staff will not be organzing these teams so it is up to each of you guys to make teams. Team camp starts the week of August 1st (This is the start of our fall training). There will be three nights of camp Monday 1st, Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th all of these sessions will be at 4.30pm-6.00pm.

We are excited to announce that the weekend of August 6th-7th CASL is hosting the Chelsea 3's, our official 3v3 tournament. This year CASL is offering something a bit different for all of our younger Classic and YTS Players. This year the tournament is free to all of our YTS players and U11-U14 classic players! Team Rosters of six players only so start getting your team together! Go to the CASL Web Site under tournaments and click on the Chelsea 3's logo. There you will find the all inclusive team registration form and medical form, along with the tournament rules and format. Want to add players that are not on a YTS or U11-U14 classic team this fall...it is only $40.00 per person. All teams are guaranteed 5 games and possibly more. This is a great tournament to start the Fall Classic season!

Enjoy the Holiday Weekend!

Paul

Happy Wednesday

2011-06-29T10:43:00.000-04:00

Guys,

I have received several emails with some good questions. This is great news as it means my blog posts are being read.

1. I have corrected an earlier post with regards to the purchasing of uniforms. This process will no longer be handled by team managers. Each parent is resposible for ordering their son/daughter's uniform/apparel etc.

2. If your son/daughter will be missing for the July 20-21st it is not the end of the world. Please make sure you notify me if you your son/daughter cannot attend these training sessions.

3. Deadline for registration is fast approaching... Please go ahead and take care of this. It will save me a great deal of time.

4. Please make sure your child spends some time each day juggling a soccer ball. At the conclusion of each fall training session we had the players juggle their soccer ball. Juggling is a great way to improve ball control. Set some weekly targets. Start with a realistic target and increase the number each week. Essentially find a way to bribe your child to spend as much time with the ball as possible.

As always thanks for reading...

Happy Monday

2011-06-27T16:43:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

I hope you are all well. Please find some important information below:

1. Registration Deadline is Fast Approaching

The deadline for YTS registration is Thursday June 30th.   Please understand if you fail to register by the deadline you will be expected to come by the CASL office to take care of this requirement.     You will not be permitted to participate in anything we do until you register your child.

2. Uniform/Equipment Information

Please make sure you take care of this.    Refer to an earlier blog posting for more information about this.
Please understand you are not allowed to embroider on the Chelsea Backpack.   An order form is being created and team managers will be responsible for ordering the bagtags. We have sometime to get this taken care. Again no embroidery permitted on the Chelsea backpack.

3. Training

Training Nights. We will have two nights of YTS training sessions on July 20th and July 21st.   Both sessions will start at 4.30pm-6.00pm @ WRAL We will use these two nights to form our teams for the upcoming season. So please make sure you do all you can to attend.   More information will be provided neared the 20th and 21st on fields etc. Please make sure you bring a copy of your son/daughters birth certificate and the US Club Medical Waiver to one of the two sessions.   The coaches will collect this paperwork and turn it into the office.

4. Summer Soccer

During the summer the players should be spending time with the ball and or watching the game on TV. Currently the Women's World Cup is on and games can be watched during the day. CASL also has several camp options for interested players . You can go to http://www.caslnc.com/home/default.asp?menu_category=Home&menuid=926&parid=926 for more information about our summer camps.

5. Fall Training

Training times and locations have been finalized. See below:

U9's

Wednesday 4.30pm-6.00pm Cedar Fork
Friday 4.30-6.00pm WRAL

U10's

Tuesday 4.30-6.00pm WRAL
Thursday 4.30-6.00pm Cedar Fork

I hope you are all well and enjoying your summer. As always if you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me at paulf@caslemail.com

Please Read - 2011 YTS Information

2011-06-16T22:11:00.002-04:00

The CASL Youth Training System (YTS) Developmental Program is designed to enhance player development by providing professional coaching to young soccer players who have already shown signs of becoming an “Elite” level player. YTS is geared towards the development of the individual player’s skills and technique. Team concepts and team results are secondary at this young age and will not be a priority. YTS players will train under the guidance of a CASL Program Director and Classic Coaches assigned to each boys and girls YTS team.

Program Philosophy/Information

The YTS program is geared towards individual player development and not team development. YTS players will train under the guidance of a CASL Program Director and Classic Coaches in developmental training pools while playing in the North Carolina Champions League. The program will entail specialized individual training in a 1v1 through 8v8 environment. The focus is helping players become technically proficient. The training pools/teams will operate in the following capacity:

Individual ball oriented, technical training through dribbling moves, feints, and escaping from defenders, with and without pressure of defenders, time, and space
The development of the psychological component of attack minded players
Specialized running and coordination technique with and without the soccer ball
Training groups will be created based on the ability level of the players
YTS teams are scheduled to train twice a week
YTS teams compete in the North Carolina Champions League with most games being played on Sunday afternoons occasionally games are played on Saturdays also
U9’s compete in 6v6 game scenarios
U10’s compete in 6v6 games and 8v8 games
YTS has a 9 month developmental schedule that starts in August and goes through tryouts in May (This includes training in Dec and Jan)
Players are expected to attend all training sessions and games
Players receive a written evaluation following the fall and spring season

Player and Team Support

A player develops best when he or she trusts and respects the coach. The coach’s job is to motivate, teach, and constructively criticize each player’s performance. Please recognize that our coaches use their extensive experience to best develop each player. Your child will probably try many different positions throughout his or her career. CASL’s first concern is for the long term development of your child’s soccer skills under pressure, and there will be times players are instructed to do things parents do not understand. Player and team development will always be given a greater priority than winning. Encourage your child to talk with the coaches, whether about playing difficulties or missing a match, etc.

There should be no parental coaching or refereeing from the sidelines at games or practices. No matter how good your intentions are, we insist there be no shouting instructions to your child or yelling (complaining) to the referees during games. Let the coach (soccer professional) run the team. Attempting to coach or instruct your child from the sideline is distracting and counterproductive for the player. Your vocal support and positive encouragement are welcome throughout good soccer play. The best way to support your child is to show a positive attitude. Supply plenty of love, recognition, support and encouragement. This allows your child to be confident, enjoy soccer more, and perform better in training and competition.

Uniforms

All players are expected to wear CASL approved training and game apparel.

All players without exceptions are expected to purchase the following training/game attire:

2 CASL Adidas training shirts
2 Adidas Tabela jerseys
1 pair of black Adidas shorts
1 pair of black Adidas socks
1 Chelsea backpack
Optional items include: warm-up (pants and jackets).

The players are expected to wear white training shirt, black shorts and socks for all training sessions and either the white or grey tabela jersey with black shorts and socks for games. More information will be provided to assist you through this process.

Communication

Each YTS team will have a team manager. Team managers will help communicate information to the team during the course of the season. Each family is encouraged to sign up to receive communication via the CASL YTS Blog. The blog is used by the program director on a weekly basis to communicate with all YTS families. Weekly education messages are posted on the blog along with a whole host of other important information.

YTS Registration Fees

YTS registration fees will be paid individually by player families through the on-line registration system. There are two seasons of YTS; therefore, two registration fees are due during the year.

The registration fees are as follows:

Fall 2011/Season 1

All Players = $195.00

Spring 2012/Season 2

New Players = $195.00

Returning Fall Players = $170.00

Registration fees paid for recreation and challenge will be automatically transferred to YTS for the fall season. Following notification of acceptance to a team, all parents will be required to open the acceptance link in the on-line program and update any changes or confirm the information in the player’s record. The program will show the registration fee balance due to CASL. Payment may be made by credit card online (before the registration deadline in late June), or a check may be submitted to CASL for the amount specified. Payment must be received by CASL prior to carding. Registration fees are not refundable once training begins

YTS Monthly Training Fees

The YTS Monthly Training Fee ($115 per month) for both U9 and U10 boys and girls is the cost of the specialized training your child receives as a part of the YTS developmental program. YTS Monthly Fees are due in the CASL office on the 1st of every month for nine months beginning in August and ending in April. The YTS Monthly fee is the cost of training for the whole year commitment to YTS divided into nine months. The fee is not based on the actual number of training sessions in one particular month. Training fees are not pro-rated. If a player is added to YTS before the last week of any given month, the entire month’s training fee is due.

YTS Monthly Training Fees will be paid individually through one of the following options:

The preferred option to pay training fees on a monthly basis is through the CASL automatic Bank Draft Program administered by the CASL Financial Administrator. Bank draft forms are available through your team manager or at the CASL office. A new bank draft is required each year.
Training fees are also payable twice a year through credit card for the entire Fall or Spring season. Credit Card payments for the Fall season will be accepted at the CASL office in person only during CASL office hours the week of July 11th, 2011. Registration for Spring season only will be accepted during office hours the week of January 9th, 2012. No other credit card option is available during the year.

Because CASL has given families other options to pay monthly training fees, parents who refuse the bank draft option and the credit card option will have the responsibility of paying training fees to CASL on a monthly basis by cash or check. The YTS monthly training fee must be paid in the following manner:

Cash or Check will be accepted in the CASL Office
Checks may be mailed to the attention of the Financial Administrator at the CASL office. It is not acceptable to pay training fees to your coach or to your team manager and/or treasurer.
The players name and YTS must appear on the check.
Training fee checks should be written for the amount of the training only. Checks should not be combined with other payments due to CASL.
Separate checks are required for each Classic player. Checks submitted to CASL for more than one player from the same family may be returned and could possibly cause the training fees to be late.
If training fees paid by check are late twice during the year, CASL reserves the right to require a player to enroll in the CASL Automatic Bank Draft system.

Delinquent Fees

Once a player’s monthly training fees become seven days past due, CASL will notify the coach and the player will sit the bench until all outstanding dues are paid in full. If training fees paid by check are late twice during the year, CASL has the right to require a player to enroll in the CASL Automatic Bank Draft system.
If CASL requests the change from personal check payment to automatic Bank Draft and the parent refuses to enroll in the automatic program, the player will not be eligible to participate in any team activities until past due payments are received and a Bank Draft authorization is completed for the following month.
If the player’s dues are not brought current before leaving the team, he/she may not be released from CASL and therefore, will not be allowed to play soccer with any NCYSA sanctioned club until his/her obligation is met. Any player who has not paid in full for the year will not be permitted to participate in any CASL Tryouts or register for another CASL program.

Returned Bank Drafts and Checks

Bank Drafts not accepted by a player’s financial institution are subject to a $15.00 Returned check fee. The Returned Check fee and the Monthly Training fees must be paid in full before the 7th of the month after the Bank draft has been returned. If payment is not made by the 7th, the coach will be notified and the player will not be eligible to participate with the team.

Chelsea 3's

2011-06-14T15:15:00.000-04:00

Guys,

I have received several emails about the Chelsea 3's. We will not organize teams to play in the event that is something you guys will have to do.

Lea Thompson has 3-4 girls looking to play. Email her at smile9801@yahoo.com if interested.

Sorry for the double post today!

Uniform Update

2011-06-14T14:15:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

I hope you are all well and enjoying the start of the summer. I will continue to update you bits and pieces in terms of the steps we go through prior to our season starting in August. This blog post is about the purchasing of uniforms.   You will be responsible for ordering you child's uniform package.   Below is a link that you can click on that will take you directly to the Eurosport website. Once there you can work through the process. I encourage you to take care of this as soon as you can.

http://www.soccer.com/teamGateway.php?club_id=11627186

After clicking on the link do the following:

1. On the far left of the page find the link to YTS

2. Once on the YTS page click on REQUIRED. This will take you directly to the page that lists what you are expected to buy.

Some Info:

1. The warm-up top runs big. Please take this into consideration when ordering for your son/daughter. I realize we start our season in the fall when the temperatures are warm. However we do winter training and early in the spring when the weather is cold. It will get well used.

2. There is no backpack pictured. Please go ahead and order one. Again this is part of the package parents are required to purchase.   The backpack is a Chelsea backpack that the kids will love!

3. This year our jersey colors are white and grey.  The white jersey is slightly more expensive due to the logo on the front.   You will notice there are more colors on the white jersey logo.

4. Please remember when something has a logo on it, it cannot be returned. Take this into consideration when placcing your order.

5. CASL Training t-shirts will be purchased later in the summer after we have a team manager appointed. They will collect the order for the team. Each shirt costs $9. I would encourage you to purchase 2 shirts as we have two training sessions per week. Again this will be done later in the summer.

6. Please make sure your son/daugther has a soccer ball. If they attend the first training session with a new ball that looks like it has never been used I will be concerned......

I hope ths process is easy for you to manage.   I am traveling again tomorrow leaving for TN early in the morning. I will have limited access to my email so please be patient if you do not get an immediate response.

Thanks so much. We will get the YTS players together in July to go over a few more items and form our teams. This date will be finalized within the next week.

Thanks very much

Paul

Railhawk Player Companion Information

2011-06-09T20:59:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

CASL YTS Players that are going to be player companions for the Carolina Railhawk game on June 18th need to report to Railhawk interns Kalisha and Max at Building D (inside the lower entrance gate) at 6.30pm wearing your CASL uniform. They will walk together over to the player tunnel around 6.45pm. Parents get your cameras as your kids will escort the Railhawks and Tampa players onto the field for pre-game announcements and National anthem.

Thanks

Any questions please contact Caleb at calebn@caslemail.com

Summer Soccer = Chelsea 7's

2011-06-07T19:04:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

For those of you new to the program you will learn that there are many different opportunities in our community to that help facilitate a player's development. If you click on the link below you will be able to learn about the Chelsea 7's. Essentially it is a great opportunity for the kids to play the game. While is not mandatory for YTS players to participate in the Chelsea 7's I think it would be great for the kids to play the beautiful game.

So with that said click on the link below to learn more about the 7's.

http://www.caslnc.com/home/default.asp?menu_category=Tournaments

As always thanks!

CASL Night June 18th @ Carolina Railhawks game

2011-06-06T18:56:00.000-04:00

YTS Families,

I hope you are all well. A great way for our young players to develop is to watch the game of soccer live. We have the Carolina Railhawks in our backyard so please take advantage of watching the adult game being played at a high level. We are responsible for supplying player companions for the June 18th game. It is also CASL night so we'd like to see as many kids as possible wearing CASL colors etc.

If you are interested in your son or daughter being a player companion please contact Caleb Norkus asap at calebnorkus@hotmail.com or calebn@caslemail.com. Companions will be selected on a first come first serve basis. Please direct all questions and interest to Caleb.

Thanks very much!

Paul

Registration Link Is Live

2011-06-03T12:51:00.000-04:00

YTS Familes,

I hope you all had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. Below is the link for YTS registration. I have had several emails from many of you asking about the link. I know many of you are excited to get the ball rolling so I thank you for your patience. For future information please be patient as we will pass it onto you guys as soon as it becomes available to us. Please click on the link below and accept your spot in our program. Now that the link is live please go ahead and take care or registration.

http://www.caslnc.com/home/default.asp?menu_category=Home&menuid=1216&parid=1216

Thanks again and welcome aboard!

Paul Forster
Paulf@caslemail.com

POST TRYOUT INFORMATION

2011-05-20T13:20:00.002-04:00

Parents,

Now that the tryouts/evaluations are over the work begins. I was very pleased with the process thus far and thankful that the weather cooperated with our sessions.

Please be patient as we make our way through the phone calls. The purpose of the phone call is to determine whether a player will be offered/ not offered a spot in our YTS program for the 2011-2012 season. Clearly the pool of players that attended the tryouts will  make for some difficult decisions. Please be respectful to coaches that are making the calls.   This is a difficult time for all of us so let's do our best to work together at all times. Finally please remember we have not formed our teams at this point and will not do so for several weeks.

For players that are offered a spot in the program and accept the next steps are below:

Click Here to link to our YTS page.
Please remember how our registration fees/training fees work.

There is a fall registration fee of $195 and a spring registration fee of $170.00.   There is a training fee of $115.00 for the following months- Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar and April.   We highly encourage our families to enroll in the bank draft program we have and that information is on the CASL Blog Page.   The updated bank draft form will be added to the blog sometime next week.

Keep checking the blog and we will post information about the acceptance process.

Birth certificates are needed for players new to CASL. US Club medical waivers are also needed for all players - click here to download waiver. Once players are assigned to a team mangers will help gather this information and turn it into our office.
Tee shirts will be ordered after team assignments are made also. These shirts are mandatory for all players to wear during training and game warm-ups. The cost per shirt is $9.00. The managers can handle this so that we only have one order per team.

For players that are not offered a spot in the program there a couple of options:

We have a wonderful challenge programs. The dates for our U10 challenge tryouts are June 2nd and 3rd at 4.45-6.30pm. You will just walk-up prior to the tryout starting and pay $20 registration fee.   The $20 registration fee is only for players that attended the YTS tryout also.    All other players walking up will be charged $40.

We also have a recreation program. The guaranteed player placement deadline for the recreational program is June 7th. For more information about our recreation program click here

Should you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me via email at paulf@caslemail.com Please understand my response may take longer than normal due to the tryouts taking place.

Have a wonderful weekend!

YTS TRYOUT UPDATE

2011-05-17T15:12:00.000-04:00

Guys,

U9 Girls, U9 Boys and U10 Boys will have tryouts this coming Thursday (May 19th).

There will be no U10 girls tryout.

Thanks

who is this?

2011-05-09T11:04:00.008-04:00

Happy Monday

2011-05-09T10:52:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. Our U9's played in a festival in Winston-Salem and regualr games yesterday and the 10's had their regular games on Sunday.

1. Please remember we have tryouts this week on Monday and Thursday night.
10's will train as normal on Tuesday
9's will train as normal on Wednesday

2. Coaches have been asked to complete player evaluations. You shoudl receive your written evaluation from your coach within the next week.

3. Below is some information about the upcoming Women's National Team game that will take place at Wake Med on May 18th.

I was give your name by someone that I spoke with in your league about possibly bringing your league/ teams out to the U.S. Women’s National Team vs. Japan game on Wednesday, May 18 at WakeMed Park in Cary, N.C. As a follow up to that conversation I have enclosed in this email an outline of everything we discussed including:

· General information about the upcoming event
· A group ticket order form
· A WakeMed Soccer Park seating chart
Additional ticket information can also be found at ussoccer.com (click here). You can submit a completed group order form at any time via email or fax. You can also call me at 312-528-1249 if you have any questions or would like to place the order over the phone. .

At your convenience, please take a look at this information and feel free to pass it on to friends who would be interested in attending the game. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let me know. My contact information is listed below.

I will follow up with you in the next week or so to see if you need anything from me, and to get an update on how your group is coming along. We hope to see you and your team at the game. On behalf of the U.S. Women’s National Team, thanks for your support as they prepare for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany.

Thanks very much!

Good Thursday Morning!

2011-05-05T10:17:00.000-04:00

YTS Families,

I hope you are all well. Several things in this email:

1. We will celebrate jersey day (Friday May 6th for the U9's and Tuesday May 10th for the U10's). Participation is optional. It would be great to see all of the kids wearing their favorite jersey. I will try to encourage the staff to participate also.

2. As you all know the registration for YTS tryouts has closed. If you are a rising U11 you still have some time to do register. The deadline for the U11's is May 10th.

3. We only have a few training sessions left so please make sure you attend as many of them as you can.

4. Now for some tryout advice:

a. If you have not pre-registered please get to the fields early so that you can get your son/daughter registered for the tryouts.    Remember when you check your child in you will do so at the Radford Building. (The building alongside the Stadium Field).

b. Make sure your son/daughter brings a soccer ball and plenty of water to drink. Of course make sure they are dressed appropriately for the sessions. The temperatures can be very hot.

c. It is important that your son/daughter hydrates before/during and after the session.   Again please make sure they bring plenty of water.

d. The sessions will begin with a simple technical warm-up followed by small sided games (ie 4v4 or 5v5).

e. I encourage you to help your child relax in preparation for the tryouts. Most players will naturally be nervous- DON'T make it any worse. Encourage them to put forth the maximum effort during the sessions and of course pay attention to what is going on.   The one thing the players can control is their ability to work hard.

f. Once you give your son/daughter a kiss on the cheek... let them go. Don't watch there every move and try to coach them via hand signals from the sideline!! Parents will of course not be allowed on the fields.. and coaching is not permitted - regardless of how good your intentions are.

g. At the conclusion of the session you don't need to provide a grade for your son/daughter just make sure they continue to hydrate, get something to eat, etc etc.   Don't go over ever single touch they had. If anything be positive.

h. We have multiple sessions so the kids can hopefully get comfortable with the environment.

I hope the information above helps you prepare for the upcoming tryouts!

Thanks very much

Paul

Happy Wednesday

2011-04-27T13:42:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

I hope you are all well and that the batteries are recharged after the spring break/ easter holiday. With that said there is a great deal going on. We had our U10 parent meeting last night and will have the U9 meetings on Friday night out at WRAL during training.

Player Recommendations for the 2011-2012 season

All families should have received communication from your coach. If not please let me know. Again the goal is to give you guidance as parents as to where we think your son/daughter should play. Entirely up to each family which program they have their child tryout for so long at the child is age eligible.

Tryouts

Deadline to register for YTS tryouts May 3rd (After this time there will be a late fee and you will only be able to register on the day of the tyouts)

Deadline to register for challenge and classic tryouts is May 10th (After this time there will be a late fee and you will only be able to register on the day of the tyouts)

Tryout dates are posted on line and everyone should know what nights they need to be at WRAL.

Remaining Training Dates

U9's April 27th/29th May 4th/6th/11th

U10's April 28th May 3rd/5th/10th/17th

Hope this information helps!

Ball Boys Needed- Wednesday April 20th

2011-04-19T14:57:00.000-04:00

Guys,

If you are interested in being a ball boy or a player companion tomorrow night at the Railhawks game please contact Caleb Norkus asap at calebn@caslemail.com.

Thanks

Monday Update

2011-04-18T13:18:00.000-04:00

YTS Families,

I have sent several emails today via our team managers. Please make sure you read them all.

Enjoy the week off from training/games!

See you all next week.

Happy Thursday - Next Level Academy and YTS (New DATE Information)

2011-04-13T13:59:00.001-04:00

YTS Parents,

I know many of you already participate in the NLA program. We wanted to make you all aware of the upcoming tryout dates for NLA for the 2011-2012 season. Players can participate in both programs.

NEXT LEVEL ACADEMY SOCCER TRYOUTS

Next Level Academy is a soccer training program designed for U7-U11 boys and girls who want to develop the technical skills needed to play at the highest levels. The program is designed to enhance the player’s technical abilities, agility, balance, and speed with the ball while building confidence in the player on and off the field. NLA is dedicated to providing a great training environment for our young players. Next Level Academy is proud to have been a part in the development and success of so many boys and girls over the last ten years. CASL and NLA continue to have a strong relationship and are committed to working together in player development.

Our Academy Training Program is for players who are U7-U11 boys and girls committed to a year long program of weekly training and participation in various activities such as tournaments, team building, and community service. Tryouts are held to ensure a consistent skill level within an age group and gender to maintain a high level during trainings. The player's who are selected for the NLA Academy can still be rostered with their current club teams, attend all trainings for those club teams, and participate in tournaments with their club teams. The NLA Academy trainings are a supplement to the player's existing club team. All NLA Academy activities do not require association sanctioning.

* Our Academy program is offered at both of our training sites, NLA Morrisville at NetSports and NLA Raleigh/Wake Forest at the Factory. For more information about all of our programs, please visit www.nextlevelacademy.com .

Next Level Academy is excited to announce tryouts for the Academy training program for the 2011-2012 season.

* NLA Morrisville Tryout Dates @ NetSports (U7 - U11): May 2 – May 5

* NLA Morrisville Alternate Tryout Date @ NetSports (all ages): Friday, May 6

* NLA Raleigh/WF Tryouts Dates @ The Factory (U7-U11): May 9 – May 12

* NLA Raleigh/WF Alternate Tryout Date @ The Factory (all ages): Friday, May 13

To find out more about all of the specific age group tryout days and times and/or to register, please visit www.nextlevelacademy.com . Pre-registration will need to be completed, however walk-ups will be accepted.

Happy Tuesday

2011-04-12T12:45:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

Several things in this post:

1. U10 Festival teams will be emailed out to managers today. All U10 players will play at least one game on Sunday afternoon at WRAL. It should be a fun afternoon for the kids. If your son/daughter has a conflict please let me know asap. I realize next week is spring break.

2. Please remember we have no training next week. I hope you enjoy the week off!

2. Your team coach will contact you with regards to recommendations for next year. Again these are only recommendations- parents can choose to register their child/children. The goal is to have this done by Tuesday of next week. That should allow all families plenty of time to register for our tryouts. At this point we are encouraging all players to tryout on age.

3. Remember the World Juggle-A-Thon. The cause is a great one and it ties in with the players working on their juggling skills.

4. You might be aware. The Railhawks have started their season again and below is some information about tickets etc.

CALLING ALL RAILHAWKS FANS!

The Carolina RailHawks Season has ARRIVED! After a lightning filled home opener the Carolina RailHawks continue their NASL regular season this Saturday, April 16th at 7 PM at WakeMed Soccer Park. New team President Curt Johnson and Head Coach Martin Rennie lead the 2011 Carolina RailHawks into their next match against heated rivals Montreal Impact this weekend, and then against league newcomer FC Edmonton next Wednesday, April 20th at 7 PM at WakeMed Soccer Park.
Purchase discounted tickets when ordering online using your special promo code: CASLWEB. We can also offer you great group discounts by bringing your teammates, friends, and family members to a RailHawks match, starting with groups of only 10 or more people. You can also participate in one of our on field programs like the Fan Tunnel , Half-Time Games, Player Companions or even Ball Kids.

The RailHawks are back, so order your tickets now! Tickets start at just $8. Call (919) 459-8144 or email tickets@CarolinaRailHawks.com for more information. GET ON BOARD!

Thanks very much!

Paul

paulf@caslemail.com

Sunday April 10th

2011-04-10T10:26:00.001-04:00

All home games are on as scheduled today.

Thanks

Happy Thursday

2011-04-07T11:56:00.002-04:00

YTS Parents,

Hopefully the warm weather will stay with us.   Below are several updates with regards to what is going on in the upcoming weeks:

YTS Tryouts

May 9/12/16/19th 4.45-6.15pm @WRAL (Field is TBA)

These tryouts are mandatory for all players looking to be a part of our YTS program for the 2011-2012 season. Registration is live so you can go ahead and register to tryout.

YTS Training During Tryouts

Each age group will only train once duirng the first week of tryouts. Therfore our last week of YTS training will be the week of May 9th.

Tuesday May 10th - U10's will train        4.30pm-6.00pm
Wednesday May 11th - U9's will train     4.30pm-6.00pm

Recommendations for 2011-2012

I will speak with the coaches in order to provide recommendations for the players. Please understand these are only recommendations.   Our goal is to steer each child in the right direction moving forward.   You can register your child for any program you wish so long as they are age eligible. We appreciate your patience as we work to get these out.

World Juggle-A-Thon

Remember participation in this event is optional.   It is on Monday April 25th at 6.00pm. The goal is to help raise money for Nothing But Nets. Nothing BUt Nets is a global, grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing Malaria.

I think that is it for now. Should you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Paul

paulf@caslemail.com

Link to Register for YTS

2011-04-06T11:41:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

Below is the link to register for YTS for the 2011-2012 season. While I understand many of you may wait until we make a recommendation for your son/daughter I would encourage you all to go ahead and register for YTS next year. If you are age eligible to rejoin the program I would encourage you to register. I would hope the experience this year has been a positive one and you would want for your son/daughter to spend another year in the program.

http://www.caslnc.com/home/default.asp?menu_category=YTS&menuid=923&parholdid=1458

Should you have any questions please let me know.

Thanks very much

Happy Tuesday

2011-03-29T13:07:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

Weather permitting training as normal this week.

We are looking at trying to reschedule games that have been canceled due to inclement weather so please be patient as we find some alternatives that might work.

There will be no training the week of April 18-22nd.

Again always check weather hotlines/websites before your set off for training and or games.

Please put your child's name on their clothing. This always helps when something is found and we can return it the rightful owner.

Dates for tryouts have not yet been released. As soon as they are finalized I will communicate this to you all.

Thanks

Paul

Weather Update

2011-03-25T21:40:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

Due to the weather forecast tomorrow we have canceled the games with Winston-Salem. We have decided to go with the following schedule for the games:

2.15pm Union vs Sounders (Fairway C)

3.45pm U9 Boys Team 1 vs U9 Boys Team 2 (Fairway C)

5.15pm U10 Boys Team 1 vs U10 Boys Team 2 (Baker Roofing)

While I realize this is not ideal at least each team will get to play one game albeit against a fellow YTS team. Please understand if the forecast is accurate these games may end up being canceled also. I will do my best to post something on the blog on the am. I personally have a 12.00pm game and a 2.00pm tomorrow so will be tied up coaching games. I will let coaches know as soon as possible if we have cancelations.

Please make sure your child brings both grey and red. The team listed first will wear grey and the second team listed will wear red.

Thanks for your patience and hopefully we will manage to get these games in.

Paul

Paulf@caslemail.com

Happy Friday

2011-03-25T13:07:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

The weather forecast for the weekend is not great.

Saturday

I have spoken with the Winston-Salem staff and we have decided to make a decision later tonight about tomorrow's games. It is a four hour round trip from Winston-Salem and I wouldn't want our families driving this far with the potential for games being canceled. So with that said I will send an email out to team managers around 9pm this evening about the plan of action for Saturday.

Sunday

Most of our games are at GHES this coming Sunday. Please remember to check their weather page before you head out the the fields. http://www.fccary.com/fcc_weather.htm.

Should you have any questions let me know. Enjoy watching the games this weekend!!

Thanks

Paul

Yael Averbuch at WRAL - pIctured with Hayleigh Pack, Sierra Lowery and McRae Calhoun

2011-03-24T11:51:00.000-04:00

Games this weekend vs Winston-Salem

2011-03-24T11:38:00.000-04:00

Guys,

Below is some information for the coming weekend. The weather forecast is not great. I will be speaking directly with the academy director at Winston-Salem around 11.30am to make our decision as to whether games will be played. We don't want their teams driving 2 hours if the weather is very questionnable.   The teams are listed below:

U10 Girls - This one is easy. Each team will play as their regular NCCL team.

2.15pm

Brazil vs Sounders         Fairway A
Argentina vs Union       Fairway C

3.45pm

Brazil vs Union               Petmania A
Argentina vs Sounders    Petmania C

U10 Boys-

Game 1

5.15pm

England Vs CASL          Petmania C
William Gregory
Andrew Rossetti
Pablo Rodriguez
Joshua Bratager
Aidan Whitlock
Ben Noga
Akshay Iyengar
Jake Schneider
Nick Atkinson
William Lynch
Stanley Bryan
Jackson Rhoades

Game 2

6.30pm

England vs CASL   Baker Roofing B

Nick Zullo
Mihir Khadri
Ryan Kenny
Tyler Olarte
Tommy Petrucione
Jalen Duran
Cade Keesling
Turner Murray
Braden Smith
Payne Gridley
Jake Steinberg
Jake Schneider

U9 Boys -

Game 1

5.15pm

Spain vs CASL    Petmania A

Angelo Madrid
Mateo Espinosa
Leonardo Oliveira
Jackson Burkhart
Colton Gyure
John Givens
Thabo Nare
Cameron Cash
Liam McLaughlin
Wes Mason
Ismail Harfoush
Andrew Kistner
Game 2

6.30pm

Spain vs CASL   Baker Roofing A

Adam Armour
Noah Lawrence
Lucas Pleasants
Kenneth Hernandez
Evan Retzlaff
Ben Coburn
Alec Harrison
Sam Vlahoplus
Christian Welch
Carter Massengil
Gabe Troch
Logan Swank

If you cannot play please let me know asap. I have a list of alternates if players cannot attend. I certainly understand if there are conflicts.

Our teams will all wear our red tops, black shorts and black socks. Please arrive at the fields 30 minutes before kick-off.

As always please let me know if you have questions.

Happy Monday

2011-03-21T12:00:00.000-04:00

YTS Parents,

Special thanks to Andy and Fabio for taking care of the YTS program in my absence. I had a fantastic week in England. Some highlights of the trip included watching Manchester United vs Marseille (at Old Traford) , Chelsea vs Copenhagen (Stamford Bridge) and Totteham vs West Ham (White Hart Lane). So two Champsions League games and an EPL game all in 6 days. We were also able to visit the training grounds of Chelsea and Tottenham. A fantastic experience overall. I would recommend taking in a game if the opportunity ever presents itself. Now back to the real world....

Schedule:

U10's

Tues 4.30-6.00pm (WRAL)
Thurs 4.30-6.00pm (Cedar Fork)

U9's

Wed 4.30-6.00pm (Cedar Fork)
Fri 4.30-6.00pm (WRAL)

We are hosting some teams from Winston-Salem this coming weekend at WRAL and as a staff we will select players from our YTS pool. The games will be on Saturday. I will try to announce the teams on Thursday. I will post these on the blog so players are aware. Winston-Salem is not bringing a U9 girls team so only our U9 boys, U10 boys and U10 girls will be playing in the games. The kick-off times for the games are below and are subject to change:

U10 Girls 2.15pm and 3.45pm

U9 Boys 5.15pm and 6.30pm

U10 Boys 5.15pm-6.15pm

Andy and I are working on the U9 festival and hope to get something out towards the end of the week. I look forward to working with the players this week.

Should you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Paul

paulf@caslemail.com

Happy Monday

2011-02-28T10:46:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. I hope the warm weather continues as we get ready to start our playing season. Our sessions at Cedar Fork will have to start at 4.15pm and end at 5.45pm. This is to allow other teams that train at Cedar Fork field space and also for YTS coaches that coach multiple teams the opportunity to be able to get to their second training session. This will be the case until day light savings kicks in. So essentially two weeks. While I realize a 4.15pm start is very difficult we completely understand that players may well be late to the sessions out at Cedar Fork.

I hope you were able to attend last week's informational meetings.

See you out on the fields this week!

Thanks

Happy Monday

2011-02-21T11:27:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

Our schedule for the week ahead is below.

U10's

Tues 4.30-6.00pm WRAL (* Parent Meeting starts at 4.40pm)
Thurs 4.15-5.45pm Cedar Fork

U9's

Wed 4.15-5.45pm Cedar Fork
Fri 4.30-6.00pm WRAL (*Parent Meeting starts at 4.40pm)

Thanks

Paul

Champions League Schedule

2011-02-17T15:37:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

The YTS Schedules for the Spring 2011 are available at http://www.ncchampionsleague.com/

Thanks for your patience.

Happy Monday

2011-02-14T13:55:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

Schedule for the week ahead:
U10's

Tues - Training canceled due to CASL AGM (Annual General Meeting)
Thurs- 4.15-5.45pm- Cedar Fork

U9's

Wed - 4.15-5.45pm - Cedar Fork
Fri- 4.30-6.00pm - WRAL

Some Reminders:

Please make sure your child wears the correct training attire for all YTS activities

Please make sure your child brings an inflated ball

Even though it is cold players still need to hydrate

Parent Meetings:

Feb 22nd - U10's (Clubhouse at WRAL)

Feb 25th - U9's (Clubhouse at WRAL)

Thanks

CEDAR FORK IS CLOSED

2011-02-10T12:18:00.003-05:00

YTS Parents,

Cedar Fork is closed this evening (2-10-11). We will now train tomorrow night (2-11-11) at 4.30pm-6.00pm on the Stadium Field at WRAL.
I realize this may not work with everyone but I wanted to make sure we provide another training option.

Thanks

CASL Night at Chilli's

2011-02-08T12:18:00.002-05:00

http://www.caslnc.com/files/home/CASL%20Give%20Back%20Chillis.pdf

adidas Footwear Program

2011-02-07T11:15:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,
Because of our club's relationship with Eurosport/soccer.com and adidas, we are excited to offer your club a great discount on adidas footwear. Each member of your club can use the code 1ADICLA to receive 15% off any adidas footwear. Attached is a pdf version of the offer for you to use to promote the program to your members by emailing it to them and posting it on your club’s website. The offer is good until April 30, 2011. There will be a new code distributed to you when this one is about to expire in April. The link will be on our website at www.caslnc.com .

Thanks

Our very own... Caleb Norkus

2011-02-04T13:29:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone,

You may or not know that for the last couple of weeks I've been growing mutton chops to raise support for Neighbor to Neighbor's mentorship program which helps kids who are behind catch up in school. I can assure you these things are ridiculous looking, and are coming off in just a couple more days. That means there is very little time to raise support for this cause. Any additional money donated after our initial goal is reached will go to a project for building lights at a playground downtown, but we are still hoping to attain our initial goal at this point.

So if you would like to join me in support of this cause please visit www.muttons.org where there is more information plus the opportunity to donate as little or as much as you want.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely,

Caleb Norkus

Training - The Week of February 7th and Parent Meeting

2011-02-04T12:47:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

Our training schedule next week is below:

U10's

Tuesday 4.30pm-6.00pm    Stadium WRAL
Thursday 4.15pm-5.45pm CEDAR FORK

U9's

Wednesday 4.15-5.45pm    CEDAR FORK
Friday 4.30-6.00pm            Stadium WRAL

Please note the different start times for sessions at WRAL and Cedar Fork. I anticipate our training locations staying like this for the remainder of the season. Once we get more daylight we will move the start time for the Cedar Fork sessions to 4.30pm. I realize getting to training at 4.15pm is very difficult.

I will conduct parent meetings on the following dates:

Tuesday February 22nd 4.45-5.30pm - U10's

Friday February 25th 4.45-5.30pm - U9's

I will try to review the fall, talk about the upcoming spring season and answer any questions you may have.

Enjoy your weekend.

Training Tonight

2011-02-04T12:11:00.001-05:00

YTS Parents,

Training is canceled this evening- Friday February 4th.

Enjoy your weekend.

Wednesday U9's

2011-02-02T13:09:00.000-05:00

Guys,

Our session today will be at Centex 4.30pm-6.00pm. Green Hope is closed.

Please help spread the good news!

Happy Friday

2011-01-28T10:11:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

Training the week of Jan 31st:

Tues U10's WRAL 4.30pm-6.00pm- Stadium
Wed U9's Green Hope High School 5.00pm-6.15pm **
Thurs U10's Green Hope High School 5.00-6.15pm **
Friday U9's WRAL 4.30pm-6.00pm Stadium

** Green Hope High School 2500 Carpenter Upchurch Road, Cary (please allow extra time to get to the fields, parking is limited alongside the school field also).

We have been fortunate to have the indoor space at Netsports during the winter months as many training sessions have been canceled. As move into our spring season I will have age group parent meetings with the U9's and U10's- to discuss the spring season. I will set these dates shortly. They will be on nights we train at WRAL.

As a reminder our playdates are:

March 6th
March 13th
March 20th
March 27th
April 3rd
April 10th
April 17th
May 1st

Enjoy the weekend!!

Thanks

Happy Wednesday

2011-01-26T09:44:00.000-05:00

Below is a reminder about training fees:

This is your automatic monthly reminder that CASL YTS Training fees are due on Tuesday, February 1, 2011.
Thank you for those of you who have bank draft.

Also, thank you if you have already sent in your February fees.
If you have not paid yet, your check should be sent to:
CASL

Attention: Zana Sugg
3300 Woman's Club Driv
Suite 1
Raleigh, NC 27612
Your check must include your child's name and team name on the check. You may consider sending more than one month's payment, if you would like. Please send SEPARATE CHECKS FOR EACH PLAYER IN YOUR FAMILY.

Spring Registration Reminder

2011-01-14T13:23:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

Please remember the deadline to register for the spring season is Monday January 17th. If you fail to regsiter your child will not be able to atend training next week. You can complete registration online and it only takes a few minutes.

Thanks very much.

Paul

Indoor Session

2011-01-12T11:55:00.001-05:00

YTS Parents,

Our indoor session scheduled for this evening at Netsports will go ahead as planned. Please remember we start at 4.15pm and finish right at 5.30pm.

Thanks very much

Tuesday January 11th 2011

2011-01-11T10:11:00.002-05:00

YTS Parents,

Due to freezing temperatures the U10 training session that is on our calender for this evening has been canceled. Please check the blog each day this week so you are aware of any other changes/cancellations.

Thanks

Paul

Player Evaluations

2011-01-07T13:07:00.001-05:00

YTS Familes,

The coaches will be handing out player evaluations next week during our training sessions. These evaluations are written and fairly concise. I have encouraged the coaches to be honest and constructive with regards to the evaluations they complete. I feel it is important to provide feedback/insight in terms of where a player stands, how are they doing overall etc. Please understand your child will have deficiencies. Part of growing as a young soccer player is to work to improve deficiencies once they have been identified.

I elected to have the coaches do the evaluations after the holidays so the information is fresh as we start the spring season. Had we completed the evaluations prior to the holidays they would have been pushed to the side with everything going, which is completely understandable. You can contact your coach directly if you have questions about the evaluation they complete.

Should you have any questions about this process please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thanks

Paul

Happy New Year

2011-01-05T14:59:00.000-05:00

YTS Families,

I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday. I wish you all the very best for 2011. Please remember each player needs to re-register for the spring season. All returning players can go to the link below to complete this process

http://www.youthleaguesusa.com/caslnc/2010/season2/Welcome.html

The deadline to register for our spring season is January 17th. We have several players wanting to join our program so please go ahead and get signed up asap. This way I will know where to place our new players.

I am excited about starting up our spring season.

Thanks,

Paul

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-21T11:02:00.003-05:00

Pictured above from L-R Ella Alford, Angelo Madrid and Davis Keen with the YTS Christmas Cup!

I hope you all have an enjoyable Holiday Season and of course all the best for 2011. I have enjoyed working with the players in the program and look forward to starting back up in 2011.

Please remember you need to register for the Spring season. You can go to www.caslnc.com to complete this process.

Safe&Happy Holidays

Paul

U10 Training (Thursday Dec 16th)

2010-12-16T10:03:00.002-05:00

Training is canceled tonight.

Weather Update- No Monkey Joe's this evening

2010-12-16T08:15:00.000-05:00

Due to the weather we will cancel the U9 visit to Monkey Joe's this evening. I will update everyone tomorrow (Friday Dec 17th) about Friday's session.

Thanks very much
Paul

Registration is Live

2010-12-15T12:51:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

Registration is live for the spring of 2011. You can type in the link below or go to www.caslnc.com to register.

http://www.caslnc.com/home/default.asp?menu_category=YTS&menuid=923&parid=923

All new/returning players must re-register for the Spring Season!

Thanks guys.

The Week of December 13th

2010-12-10T12:42:00.000-05:00

Below is our schedule for the week of December 13th.

Tuesday U10's *Monkey Joe's 5pm-7.00pm (6220 Glenwood Avenue)

Wednesday U9's Indoor at Netsports (4.15-5.30pm)

Thursday U9's *Monkey Joe's 5pm-7.00pm (6220 Glenwood Avenue)

U10's Indoor at Netsports (4.15-5.30pm)

Friday U9's and U10's (4.30-6.00pm) This is an additional session for the U10's. The kids will play the whole session.

Player evaluations will be handed out early in the New Year. We look forward to a funweek as we enter the Holiday Season.

* Please remember this is an optional event.

Thanks

Paul
Paulf@caslemail.com

Happy Tuesday

2010-12-07T16:19:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

We start our indoor sessions this week at Netsports (Wed U9's and Thurs U10's). My goal is to start our indoor sessions as close to 4.15pm as possible. We understand that some of you may end up being late. When the players arrive please have them find their group. Please make sure your child brings indoor shoes. We will be on the indoor sport courts and cleats will not work.

I look forward to seeing the players this week!

Thanks

Happy Wednesday

2010-12-01T11:03:00.000-05:00

YTS Parents,

I hope you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. It is hard to believe today is December 1st. Below are some updates to help with your planing.

1. We start with our two training sessions a week the week of December 6th. Please remember to dress your child appropriately for our outdoor sessions.

2. Monkey Joe's dates are set - look on blog calender. This is just a fun night for the kids. There will be no charge to attend. I understand if your son/daughter cannot attend due to a conflict.

3. Each player will receive an evaluation from his/her coach. The evaluation is almost like a grade report from school. The coaches will be working on these over the next couple of weeks. It will give you an idea of your son/daughter's strengths/weaknesses. I have encouraged the coaches to be very honest with the evals.

4. For the spring our first weekend of league games (NCCL) is scheduled for March 6th. Format will be similar to the fall in that we play games on Sunday afternoons. There will be no games on April 24th (Easter Sunday).

5. On Saturday March 26th we will be hosting teams from TCYSA (Winston-Salem, NC). A select group of players will play games on this Saturday. The schedule is still TBA.

6. We are still planning on having our teams attend the adidas festival hosted by CESA (Greenville, SC). The dates are set for May 7-8th. Several of our coaches have classic teams that will be playing in State Cup the same weekend so we will continue to monitor the situation. I'd like for our teams to attend.

I look forward to seeing all of the kids next week.

Happy Monday

2010-11-22T11:34:00.000-05:00

YTS Families,

I hope you all have an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Please remember our upcoming schedule is posted on the blog. One minor change. We will not train on Friday Dec 3rd (This is for the U9's). The U10's will still train on Tuesday Nov 30th.

Enjoy the Holiday and we look forward to seeing the players after the break!

Thanks again

Paul

Paulf@caslemail.com

Fall Review

2010-11-12T12:44:00.000-05:00

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

HAPPY MONDAY

2010-11-08T12:15:00.003-05:00

YTS Parents,

As you are all aware we finished our last round of NCCL games over the weekend and our U10 girls teams played in the CASL Shootout. This coming weekend is our U9 Festival (final schedule will be released today)and the U10 boys team will play in CASL Shootout. Below are some reminders:

1. It does look like the weather will be great this week for our final week of fall training before we start our Thanksgiving Break. Please make sure your child dresses appropriately for training sessions. Once the sun sets the temperature drop significantly. We will train as normal this week.

2. There will be no training the week of November 15th and the week of November 22nd. Please review calender on the blog for more info.

3. Weather permitting we will have one indoor session (Netsports) and one outdoor session at WRAL (field is TBA) following our Thanksgiving Break. Please remember there is no cost for the indoor training sessions that we will do at Netsports (5 in total).

4. I will send out an email to all YTS families with my thoughts and observations from the fall the season within the next couple of weeks. I have certainly enjoyed my fall experience working with our YTS Program and have learned a great deal along the way.

Thanks for your continued support.

Happy Monday

2010-11-01T14:36:00.002-04:00

YTS Parents,

I was able to watch several games yesterday and actually had the good fortune of coaching a game. I certainly enjoyed the game I coached as two of our own teams battled against one another. With that said I don't look at the results of the games I prefer to observe the players, coaches and parents. It is amazing what you will see out at WRAL on a Sunday afternoon. While not every game will end with a score that puts a smile on everyone's face it is great to see the kids competing.

1. You should have our winter training schedule at this point with dates etc. There will be no cost for the indoor training sessions at NetSports.

2. We have the Shootout's coming up for the U10 teams. These schedules are available on line. We hope to have the schedule finalized for the U9 fesitval which will take place on Friday November 12th. Each team will play 3 games against fellow YTS teams.

3. I sent out my weekly parent educational email earlier today which you should receive shortly. Please understand these emails are sent out to make you think and educate you about being a soccer parent. Please take the time to read them.

More to come later in the week.

Happy Monday

2010-10-18T10:44:00.004-04:00

Parents,

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend.

1. This week we would like the players to wear a soccer jersey of their choice for their first training session of the week. U10's - Tuesday, U9's - Wednesday. Any soccer jersey is fine including our YTS jerseys. I look forward to seeing the kids in their favorite soccer jersey.

2. Rememeber for sessions this week at CEDAR FORK we start at 4.15pm.

2. Please have players interested in playing indoor at Netsports email Chris McClellan youtleagues@netsportsnc.com. Chris can help place the players on a team. I think this is a great opportunity to continue playing during the winter months. Again this is comepletely optional.

3. Please continue to encourage your child to juggle at home. While it won't solve all of our problems it can certainly help.

4. I am sure I will post more as the week goes on.

Thanks

Thursday October 14th

2010-10-14T14:47:00.000-04:00

Training is canceled this evening. Enjoy the night off.

Paul

paulf@caslemail.com

Training/Shootout/Festival

2010-10-14T10:50:00.003-04:00

YTS Parents,

All U10 Players will play in the upcoming CASL Shootout. I will send information directly to our U10 teams so they can begin planning for the event.

All of our U9 teams will play in an in-house festival with the date TBD. I will contact U9 teams directly once I get a date set and finalized.

Starting next week our training sessions at CEDAR FORK will start at 4.15pm. While I realize this is a very early start we are trying to work with all the teams and coaches that train out at Cedar Fork. With the nights closing in this is the most viable option. I understand it might be difficult to get to the sessions at 4.15. As a staff we completely understand some of the players may be late to the sessions. We certainly appreciate you guys working with us with regards to the change.

As always thanks for your cooperation.

Paul

paulf@caslemail.com

Winter League

2010-10-13T09:48:00.001-04:00

YTS Families,

Winter will be here before we know it and it is time to start planning. In partnership with NetSports and Next Level , the YTS program has the opportunity to play in the NetSports Indoor Soccer Leagues.

The leagues will consist of our YTS teams as well as other teams from our NC Champions League Partner clubs. The games will be held on Saturdays beginning in early November and carrying through early January. There will be no practices for this league, allowing the kids to take a break from soccer, but it is a chance to keep your kids active and on the soccer field during the winter months. Personally, I think it has been a great fall season thus far and I would love to see our program carry momentum into the winter and eventually the spring. I am hoping for a full commitment from our teams to participate.

I will not be asking our coaches to coach the indoor teams, I would be fine with a parent helping out with the team. This indoor commitment does not interfere with players who participate in Next Level Academy.

The cost of the league is $775 per team, obviously doing the math, if we can get 10 players per team this is a $77.50 cost per family. If you are able to commit to this winter league, please contact your team manager who will be collecting the league fee from you. Teams may be combined to in order for all players who are interested to be able to play. The deadline for league registration is October 18th so please get in touch with your team manager as soon as possible. I hope that this can be another positive experience for our great group of kids.

If you have further questions you can contact myself or Chris McClellan @ youthleagues@netsportsnc.com.

Thanks Paul
paulf@caslemail.com

Happy Monday

2010-10-11T12:23:00.003-04:00

YTS Parents,

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend.

1. I am still trying to finalize how many of our teams will be able to play in the CASL Shootout and hope to have it finalized by the end of the week.

2. Please make sure you check your game schedule each week to make sure there have been no changes made to the schedule.

3. We will continue with our technical training groups again this week.

4. Please make sure when watching our kids play we don't coach from the sidelines. While it is difficult and sometimes frustrating to see our children making mistakes we must try to refrain from coaching.

5. Your team managers will be collecting head shots of each player on their respective teams. Please turn them in as soon as you can.

I look forward to a good week of training.

Thanks

Paul
paulf@caslemail.com

Happy Monday

2010-10-04T12:25:00.002-04:00

YTS Parents,

I was able to watch several good games at WRAL yesterday. It was great to watch the kids competing. We will continue with our technical training groups this week. Please remember:

U10's Tues - Technical Training Groups Thurs- Regular Training Session.
U9's Wed- Technical Training Groups Friday- Regular Training Session.

We look forward to some cooler weather!!!

Thanks

Training Canceled 9-30-10

2010-09-30T13:25:00.002-04:00

Cedar Fork is closed this evening. Enjoy the night off.

Thanks
Paul
paulf@caslemail.com

U9 YTS Practice Cancelled for Today

2010-09-29T13:18:00.002-04:00

YTS U9 Parents,
Due to the weather, Wednesday's practice has been cancelled for today.
Thanks
Paul