YTS-Champions League Week 2

We are off to a really good start this year with YTS. Parents, coaches and players are all enjoying the Champions League, and the Mid Week Match Days have allowed the coaches and players to learn in a game environment.

If you have watched training over the past several weeks hopefully you can see a big improvement in the overall quality of the practices. A main goal for the entire program is to create an environment where the kids will learn the game. We are starting to create this. You can tell that the kids are beginning to understand what the coaches are looking for and they are coming with the right attitude and mentality. We are all here to enjoy the game but enjoyment comes with improvement and the kids are definitely improving.

We have spent long warm-up sessions on passing and receiving and are now starting to incorporate individual skill into the warm up. You will see these two skill sets worked on throughout the year. Other ideas and topics will be added but the main priorities for these young players is to learn how to pass the ball properly and how to recieve and dribble the ball properly. When they have both of these skills (some of them already do) then the next goal will be to perform these skills at a faster speed. All of the kids in YTS can pass the ball but they must learn how to do it at a high speed, in a game, with players around them.

I have finally added some additional pictures to the picture site, sorry for the delay on that and keep the pictures coming.

Finally, please take a close look at the schedule for where your games are being played this weekend. We are all spread out this weekend (some in Chapel Hill, some at WRAL, etc) so it is important that everyone knows where they are going. Please arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the game. Enjoy the weekend, good luck to all.

YTS Weekly Update 9/14/09

Week 1 of the Champions League was for the most part a success. We will be posting pictures in the next two days as well as the players of the week so keep an eye on the site. A reminder to U10 YTS that we will make up our Mid Week Match Day on Tuesday. Please plan on meeting in the stadium with both jerseys and we will disperse from there.

Opening Weekend - Champions League

I'm sure, like me, everyone is excited to see the kids play this weekend. Unfortunately for the u10's our mid-week match day got cancelled when WRAL grass fields were closed due to the hard rains the previous day. This made it impossible for us to have enough field space to play the games. Hopefully we can play games on Friday with the U-9's.

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.

Also, be aware that this might not be the philosophy of other clubs and results MAY matter to other parents, coaches, players and teams. If this is the case, do not get involved in any disagreements with other parents. CASL is the largest club in the country and certainly the largest club in our area, all eyes are on us so we need to act accordingly.

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.

Hopefully you have recognized that we are trying to create an environment where these children are not just on teams but are a part of a great YTS program. I encourage any family who has a little spare time on Sunday to come out and support the other teams that are playing.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing all of you this weekend.

FYI: This is the link to the weather hotline for Green Hope.
http://www.fccary.com/fcc_weather.htm

ANNOUNCING 1st Mid-Week Match Days, September 8th and 11th

Hopefully your son or daughter has enjoyed the first few weeks of YTS practice. We also know that, thought the practices and training are fun and have been good, these kids want to play games.

Tuesday, September 8th for the 10's and Friday, September 11th for the 9's will be our first Mid-week Match Day. We ask that you make an effort to be at practice at or before 4:30 so that we can kick off the games by 5:00. These games will be a chance for the players to play with their teams before the kickoff of the Champions League season.

We will announce a schedule and what uniform to wear when we get closer to the games but we do ask that the players bring both jerseys to WRAL stadium and we will send them to the appropriate fields after we meet as a group. These games will be refereed and run by the coaches with little emphasis on results.

YTS Weekly Update 8/24/09

Parents and Players,
We have been lucky with the unpredictable weather thus far and are off to a good start to the season. As you can see the players are working hard on the technique of passing and we are now starting to add some footwork and ideas into their training. Their homework is critical and working with the ball is very important as they move forward this year and beyond. The game of soccer does not become enjoyable, really enjoyable, until they know how to pass and dribble the soccer ball so that is what we will work on in the early stages of this year's training.

JERSEY DAY!
This week we will introduce jersey day to the YTS program. If your son or daughter has a favorite soccer jersey, maybe from a previous team they played on or a European or MLS team that they follow, on Tuesday for the 10's and Friday for the 9's we will have JERSEY DAY. Each player is encouraged to wear their favorite Mia Hamm, Christiano Ronaldo or Caleb Norkus jersey to practice. On Jersey day we will be introducing a fun exercise that is done on the beaches of Brazil and throughout the world...Barefoot Soccer. We will spend a half hour on our warm-up and then the players will take off their shoes, we will put some music on in the stadium and they will play 4 vs. 4 barefoot soccer.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
When we train at Cedar Fork please watch training from the outer perimeter of the fields. Also, please respect the coach and the training session by keeping a proper distance between you and the practice. Finally, Do not cheer, coach or make any comments to your children during practice. If you do such things I will ask you to leave the practice area.

YTS Weekly Update 8/17/09

YTS Players and Parents-
The first week of the YTS season was a success, the coaching staff was very excited to work with the kids for the first time and put faces to names.

Throughout the season these updates will touch on a number of different issues that come up during the season but I will also make an effort to speak about the players and the training that they are getting and why they are doing the things that they are doing...

A main concern with younger players at CASL and in our country is that they are "skipping steps" i.e. moving past skills that haven't been learned and mastered. We will ask your children to spend a lot of time on their personal skills...passing, recieving, dribbling, etc. Each day in the early parts of the season we will spend together as a group working on these skills. As I tell the kids, everyone can pass the ball but how well can they do it and how consistently can they do it. "You cannot play the game if you don't have the tools to play it."

Hopefully the kids have gone home to work on their "homework". I will be giving them challenging but achievable skill tests after each training session for them to go home and work on their own at. You can be an active part of this by passing or juggling with them or you can be a helpful part by sending them out to the backyard before dinner to do their "homework."

If there is one thing that we hope to achieve this year it is for your children to fall in love with the game. If they leave this season feeling this way then we have done our jobs and the skill and soccer work will take care of itself.

All paperwork is in, thanks for being on top of that. There will be a few additions to rosters after some kids have come out to tryout in the last couple of weeks, otherwise, we are looking forward to another great week. See you on the fields.

Carson

YTS Champions League Schedule Announced!

Attached is the link to the North Carolina Champions League Schedule. As you click on the site, look to the left side bar for your age group's schedule, click on this link and you find the details that you need.

We will also be holding additional "in house" games that will be announced in the next few weeks. These will be matches between CASL YTS teams not on the YTS schedule.

Looking forward to seeing the kids this week and getting things started. Remember, Next Monday will be the first "Weekly Update" that will be posted without an email to remind you all. See you on the field.

http://ncchampionsleague.com/