Older Soccer News 10-29-98 thru 11-30-98

SOCCER NEWS
10/29/98 thru 11/30/98

11-28-98
I was writing down what I remembered from the clinic that Lincoln Phillips (director of the Top Flight Goalkeeping School) put on last week in Birmingham and I kept coming back to what made him such a great coach. Yes, his credentials (and playing ability) are among the best in the world but all great players do not make great coaches. He has a wonderful personality that makes you want to listen and that is part of his ability to coach. But over and over he used visualization to make his points clear. In Friday night's session with the coaches he was making a point about using angles to stop a large portion of the shots. He then asked how many # 5 balls we thought would fit across the face of a standard goal.
       Like most good students the coaches went to work. I guessed 200. Someone else guessed 300. Most of the coaches guessed somewhere in the same range. Others did the math. Figuring a # 5 ball to be about 9" in diameter and the goal face to be 24' x 8' means that 341 balls will fit into the same plane. However, since the balls are round not square, you could stagger the rows and end up with lots more balls. So in less three two minutes we had a pretty good idea that the answer was around 400.
       But it wasn't the mathematical answer that Coach Phillips was trying to get out of us. He had now succeeded in making us visualize a row of balls. Now when he talked about angles he would ask how many balls could be stopped by a goalkeeper in a certain position.
       Anytime, during the weekend that a coach or player could not grasp a concept Coach Phillips would provide an example that drew a picture in everyone's mind. And he would do it without being overt so there were no hurt egos or resistance. You could see how this helped him when coaching players who were often the best in the world at their position.
       Cultivating these same visualization skills will help coaches in all sports.
I heard a rumor in Birmingham last week that Jason Vittrup (former Alabama state director of coaching for AYSA) will be returning to Alabama to host his week long soccer camp next summer and that it may be at St. Bernard's campus in Cullman.
11-27-98
A New Web Page - Alabamians in Soccer
In an effort to provide soccer role models for younger players I'm starting a new webpage for Alabamians in soccer. To be included players must have a local or state connection to the game. I got the idea when I found out that Mia Hamm was born in Selma, Alabama. To be included a player must make the State, Regional or National ODP teams, or play college, national team or professional soccer. The first entry is Geraldo Soares de Souza, a 20 year old striker out of AUBURN, ALABAMA.
From SoccerAmerica magazine:
American Geraldo Soares de Souza, a 20 year old striker out of AUBURN, ALABAMA, is in his first season with Costa Rican First Division club Goicoechea. Sores, who played one year of college ball at Louisville made his debut for Goicoechea October 5th against San Carlos. He played four years of high school soccer and football at AUBURN HIGH SCHOOL. Sores trained with clubs in England and Guatemala before signing with tiny Goicoechea for the 1998-99 season.
11-26-98
The Soccer Blast Indoor soccer facility opened this week in Birmingham. On hand at the grand opening was Dr. S. Robert Contiguglia who was elected president of The United States Soccer Federation in August. The Soccer Blast is a 44,000 square feet indoor soccer facility located just off of US Highway 280 near Double Oak Mountain. It has two full sized indoor fields.
From: Jim Chamberlain jchamber@HIWAAY.net
UAH will be having an indoor soccer program beginning on Jan. 15. If you have a team and are interested in playing please call the UAH Mens Soccer Office at 890-6144 and they will be happy to advise you on what is needed for registration and the season schedule. John Maxon
Please send this announcement again. The entry deadline is December 16th, but I expect some of the brackets will close out before that time. Bob Jones High School will be hosting the Great Patriot Shootout Indoor Soccer Tournament again this year for U8 to U16 boys and girls in the gym at the high school in Madison, Alabama. Madison is on the west side of Huntsville.
Dates: 8th-10th of January 1999 - Friday after 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday
Cost: $70 - Minimum 3 Matches (20 mins each)
1st and 2nd place for each age division
Special requests for scheduling will be accommodated when possible
AGES: U8 to U16 boys and girls divisions
We will try to have as many single age divisions as possible.
Enter early - last year we had to turn away 10 teams.
If you are interested, please send me an email with your address and/or fax
or call at (256) w864-7026 or h772-7540. I will mail or fax a tournament entry
form to you.
11-22-98
My son and I went to the Lincoln Phillips Top Flight Weekend Goalkeeping Academy in Birmingham, Alabama and could not have been more impressed. Coach Phillips is the premier goalkeeping coach in the United States and possibly the world and he was in Birmingham by invitation of Russ Polhemus and Tom & Clara Krepps (hope I spelled the names correctly). Over the next few weeks I am going to include some observations about the camp, some drills from the Friday night coaches session and some information about Coach Phillips because he will be putting on a similar camp again in the future and it is my hope that North Alabama supports the effort. Coach Phillips is the only FIFA licensed goalkeeping coach in North American. He has coached two NCAA Division I championship teams, three professional championship teams, USSF "A" license, authored "Goalkeeping - The First Line of Offense and the Last Line of Defense" and possesses a full FIFA Badge - one of only 50 in the world.
To read a recent Washington Post article about Lincoln Phillips click here.
Coach Phillips has coached all of the top US goalkeepers (Casey Keller, Brianna Scurry, Brad Friedel, Tony Meola, etc.) and is the only FIFA licensed Goalkeeper coach in the U.S.. In his mid-fifties coach Phillips still demonstrates all the physical exercises with ease.
One special note about the clinic/camp. I am always careful about recommending a camp to others unless I am sure about it. Many of the camps are little more than day-care/money supplements for coaches. However, Coach Phillips is sponsored by Nike and the $25.00 fee from the players was returned in a new pair of $25 gloves and a $75 keeper's jersey.
Obviously he was not doing this to make money. In talking to the other coaches I believe that they enjoyed it and learned as much as I did.
I was fortunate enough to work with four members of the Birmingham Attack U12 Girls team - Erin, Arrington, Catherine and Dandi. With players like those the future looks bright for the Attack.
A list of the known winning teams and runner-up teams from the Governor's Cup are on-line here. If you know of any others please e-mail us at sports@net-master.net
SoccerTimes has a complete account of every NCAA women's and men's
tournament match along with a front-page scoreboard.
I heard a rumor this weekend that Jason Vittrup will be doing his week long camp this summer at St. Bernard in Cullman. If true, that would be good news for competitive soccer players in North Alabama.
A good chat with Michelle Akers about the expectations of the US women and the world is on-line at (click here) ESPN Sportsline.
From John Condia via the Soccer-coach-l mailing list:
Trying to find the perfect holiday gift for the coach in your life? Soccer Learning Systems is offering the three tape Goal 1 2 3 Coerver drills set for $49.95 through their Web site at soccervideos.com. I bought my copy several years ago at full price and still recommend these for teaching ball touch. In addition, their Holiday Catalog offers the International Tactics series at a special discount. Two Attacking series tapes for $49.95 (part number 6049) and two Defending tapes for $49.95 (part number 6050). The Methods of Training tape (part number 2475) is offered at $19.95 through the Web site. Not as good as last year's deal, but not bad.
I echo John's thoughts about the Coerver tapes - they are top notch and should be considered an essential part of every soccer coach's library.
If you are interested in the Olympic Development Program check out all of the information on the USYSA website.
11-18-98
More Governor's Cup winners and runners-ups:
U16 Boys - Second Place - U16 Decatur United
U14 Boys First Place- Eastern Shore United Futbal Club (Daphne, Alabama)
U14 Boys Second Place - Invaders from Huntsville
U-14 Girls - First Place U-14 Madison Shockers
U-14 Girls - Second Place U13 Orange Crush of Huntsville
U-8 Boys State Champions are the Eagles coached by Marty Clark
U-8 Boys Runner-up was Hoover
11-17-98
Let me know who the Alabama Governor's Cup State Champions and
runners-up are and I will send the information out over my list. I do know the following:
U11 Girls
Lady Raptors 88 from Huntsville - State Champions (NASL team)
Attack from Birmingham - 2nd Place
U12 Girls
Fort Payne Frenzy from Fort Payne - State Champions (NASL team)
Rocket City Kicks from Huntsville - 2nd place (NASL team)
Charlie Zarzour - President NASL czarzour@HIWAAY.net
11-15-98
The 19th Annual NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship will be held on the campus of the University of Mobile, in Mobile, Ala., November 23-28.
The U11 Decatur Revolution ended the first round of games with two wins (Eagles and Briarwood) and one loss (American Jets) in the Governor's Cup Tournament. They were tied for the wildcard berth into the semi-finals but lost the berth on points to the Kicks. The second game loss to the American Jets in Game 2 was just too much to overcome.
      The season ended in the Governor's Cup tournament with a terrific 3-2 win against a familiar foe from the NASL - the Eagles.   The game was played on a wet, muddy and very sloped field in which one end of the field was five or six feet lower than the midline. The Revolution began the game going downhill and quickly scored off of a corner kick by Ryan Kirchbaum. The ball was knocked down in a mass of players in front of the Eagle's net and Jay Skinner chipped the ball high into the back of the net. The second goal followed quickly on a high, hard shot by Bo Godwin which an Eagle defender tried to clear with a header. The ball stayed its course into the goal. The half ended with the Revolution up 2-0 and visions of a semifinal game danced in their heads.
       However, the Eagles fought back hard and with the downhill slope now to their advantage, quickly scored two goals to tie the game. At that point the second half was only half over and the Eagles pushed all their men into the Revolution's end of the field to try to score the decisive goal. Led by sweeper, Will Spencer, and goalkeeper, Joe Lothspeich, the Revolution turned back shot after shot by the Eagles and tried to get the ball back up the hill and into the Eagle's end. With about eight minutes to go Jason McWhorter took a pass at the midfield line. He quickly out-maneuvered two pursuing Eagle's players and in a one-on-one confrontation with the keeper Jason buried the shot in the left bottom corner of the net for the final margin of victory.
       It was a terrific game for both teams. Shots on goal must have been twenty or more for both teams. For the Revolution it was a complete team victory with everyone contributing and set the tone for a great upcoming 1999 season.
       Coaches Simon Bell and Kenny Knable did a great job this year. They wove 17 players (half of whom had never played club soccer before) and made them into an extremely competitive team.
11-13-98
Did you know Mia Hamm is a native of Selma, Alabama? Born: March 17, 1972, in Selma, Alabama! I read that in an article today in SWING magazine - a kind of hip "Rolling Stone" clone. It knocked my shin guards off that arguably the finest soccer player in the world is originally from our home state of Alabama. Sports Illustrated says "An Air Force brat, Hamm was born in Selma, Ala., and grew up in California, Texas, Virginia and Italy,..." I am going to insist that they put her in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. I mean if former governor and political machine boss George Wallace can be in the Hall of Fame as a golden gloves boxer (Is that a laugh or what?) then it is a slap in the face to not include the best soccer player on the planet. Mia is by far the best known athlete worldwide of any person in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. I am looking for information on who to contact at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame so that we can rectify this situation.
Click here to see the Five Day Forecast for Montgomery, Alabama and vicinity - site of Saturday and Sunday's Governor's Cup. As of Thursday night the forecast for Saturday is a low of 57 degrees and a high of 67 degrees with Thunderstorms. The forecast for Sunday is a low of 48 degrees and a high of 71 degrees with Thunderstorms in the morning and sunshine in the afternoon. Take umbrellas, washing detergent, and raincoats and lots of dry clothes and games for the kids.
Hartselle resident Damon McClellan recently attended the Alabama Olympic
Development Program soccer trials in Huntsville. Out of about forty-five
players McClellan was selected along with nine other 14-year-olds to represent N. Alabama at the State pool exercises in Montevallo this December. McClellan will have the opportunity to advance to the state and even national team. Damon currently plays for the Madison Soccer Club at the Classic level. The "Classic" level is the highest competitive level of soccer in the country. There are only eight other Classic U-15 teams in Alabama. You can check out the teams web site at
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Bench/3014/index.html
McClellan has always been a Hartselle AYSO player and is a ninth grader at
Hartselle High School.
11-12-98
After making the NCAA tourney for the first time Alabama lost 3 to 1 to Texas A&M at Texas A&M.
11-11-98
The #2 ranked Florida beat #10 Vanderbilt 2-0 in the S.E.C. Championship Women's soccer game. Florida sweeps through the SEC tournament without giving up a goal. It looks like the Gators are ready for the NCAAs.
Six SEC teams (same as Big Ten but more than anyone else including the ACC) were invited to the NCAA Tournament including #22 Alabama. Alabama will play Texas A&M in the first round with the winner playing Nebraska. See the article at Soccer America and at Soccer Times and at USA Today.
From Charlie Zarzour czarzour@hiwaay.net
Talked Carlos Peterson at UAH today. He will have an Indoor League for U11-U14 during January - February. He will also have a tournament in Jan.
I should have details by next week.
11-10-98
The first night of area ODP trials for girls was held Monday night in Huntsville at the Old Airport fields. 32 girls attended the first night of trials and some very good soccer skills were on display. The second night of the trials will be held on Wed, 11 Nov. Check in is between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM. The tryouts begin at 6:00 and end at 8:00 PM. Any player who did not make the first night but wants to be part of the ODP program should be at the old airport on Wed night. Trials will also be held next week at the University of Montevallo for players who missed these trials or were not selected for the next level and still want to tryout.
11-8-98
Just a reminder that the ODP Trials for North Alabama Boys and Girls begin on Monday night. Click here to see the entire ODP coaching staff, schedule and ODP News.
Here's all the info for the Lincoln Phillips Goalkeeper camp/session to be held in Birmingham 11/20 and 11/21.
Friday, November 20th - 6:00pm - 9:00pm - Coaching session (coaches only)
Saturday, November 21st 9:00am - 12:00 noon and 1:00pm - 3:00pm - Coaching and keeper session at Ramsey Park (coaches and keepers)
All keepers receive Nike gloves and Lincoln Phillips Keeper Tee Shirt. Cost is $35/coach and $25/keeper until 11/12, then goes up by $10. He has done several sessions here for keepers only (his son goes to Samford law school); he is an incredible teacher. Anyone interested should email me and I will get an application to them. Thanks for your help. Riggs mriggs1@bellsouth.net
The S.E.C. Championship game between #4 Florida and #10 Vanderbilt will be played at 2:30 p.m. (Central) on Sunday Nov. 8, and will be aired on Fox Sports South at 3:30 p.m. (Central).
The Soccer-Coach-L mailing list has revised their Law Of The Game Website to show the newest interpretations of FIFA's laws. Coaches and parents with questions about soccer rules should visit.
11-7-98
Complete Governor's Cup Schedule for U11 Boys is now posted on-line.
Why is it that a goal kick never gets four feet off the ground and travels thirty yards, but the same player shoots over the goal, easily forty yards high and lands it in the far parking lot - at least seventy yards?
SEC Women's Tournament Scores - Round 2 - at Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Florida 2 - Kentucky 0
Vanderbilt 1 - Alabama 0
Florida and Vanderbilt play Sunday for the SEC title.
The Championship game will be played at 2:30 p.m. (Central) on Sunday Nov. 8, and will begin airing on Fox Sports South at 3:30 p.m. (Central).
10-3-98
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Morgan County is registering for Winter Soccer for ages 15 through 18. Registration will be every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 5:00pm to 7:00pm until all teams are filled. Cost is $35.00 for soccer program. Players must also be members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Morgan County. The cost of membership for the 1998 year is $15.00. If players participated in the baseball, golf or basketball programs in 1998 they should already have their membership. Birth certificates are required for all new members. Age is determined by child's age as of January 1, 1999.
11-6-98
SEC Women's Tournament Scores - Round 1 - at Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Florida 6 - S. Carolina 0
Kentucky 4 - Ole Miss 1
Vanderbilt 3 - LSU 0
Alabama 1 - Tennessee 0
Friday's games - #4 Florida vs. Kentucky and #10 Vandy vs #25 Bama
Check out the Soccer Links page for several new updates and links:
Anniston Storm Soccer Club - (Anniston Alabama) U13, U15, & U17 Premier Teams
Alabama Girls Attack 81 Web Site - The core of this team is the former Briarwood Lightning '81, three time State Champions. Twelve of the current players are on the Alabama State Olympic Development (ODP) Team. Two players are on the National Team and four others are on the current Regional ODP Pools.
11-4-98
The latest schedule for N.A.S.L. games for November 3rd through the 9th are now on line here at the NASL Schedule Page. Most NASL teams are engaged in NASL tournament games this coming weekend and will finish their fall seasons at the Governor's Cup in Montgomery November 14th and 15th.
To find out more about the huge new indoor soccer facility scheduled to open in Birmingham in November 1998 go to Soccer Blast's website.
11-3-98
Coach Glenn Cameron has allowed us to post his 25 Helpful Hints for Soccer Players here on our website. Print out a copy for yourself or your players.
Please read the Memo From Coach by Christopher Buckley. It is one of the funniest articles I have ever read about soccer.
Bob Jones High School will be hosting the Great Patriot Shootout Indoor
Soccer Tournament again this year for U8 to U16 boys and girls in the gym at the high school in Madison, Alabama. Madison is on the west side of Huntsville.
Dates: 8th-10th of January 1999 - Friday after 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday
Cost: $70 - Minimum 3 Matches (20 mins each) - 1st and 2nd place for each age division - Special requests for scheduling will be accommodated when possible
AGES: U8 to U16 boys and girls divisions - We will try to have as many single age divisions as possible. Enter early - last year we had to turn away 10 teams. If you are interested, please send me an email with your address and/or fax or call at (256) w 864-7026 or h 772-7540. I will mail or fax a tournament entry form to you.
Carl Blair - Tournament Director Carl_Blair@peo.mevatec.com
11-1-98
There are a few changes to the North Alabama Area O.D.P. Trials:
Boys 86 and 85 will be at the Kiwanis Field
Boys 84, 83, and 82s will be at the Rec Field
The Girls will remain at the same place.
Click here to see the entire ODP coaching staff, schedule and ODP News.
Congratulations to the U11 Decatur Revolution team for their Runner-up finish in the Kicks Invitational Classic Tournament. In what would turn out to be the championship game the Revolution jumped out to a 1-0 lead. The Kicks tied the game with less than a minute left in the first half. In the second half the Kicks scored on two kicks awarded from hand ball violations. In their four games against each other played this year the U11 Kicks and the U11 Revolution have split evenly at two wins each with all four games being close. Best of luck to both teams and to the U11 Eagles in the Governor's Cup (in which all three teames will be participating) in two weeks in Montgomery.
10-29-98
This is the 1998-99 ODP Staff. Could you remind everyone that ODP will be starting in November. We have a very highly qualified staff all age group coaches have a USSF "C" License or higher with a tremendous amount of experience.
Director of Coaching: Kenny White, 205-967-8074, Aysa@mindspring.com
Assistant Director of Coaching: Matt Clark
Click here to see the entire ODP coaching staff, schedule and ODP News.
Good article "Lights likely to boost number of participants" by Paul Huggins in the Decatur Daily today about Soccer, Decatur and lighting the Point Mallard fields. Click here to read. Thanks to Roger Stephenson and Barry Musick (hence forth to be known as "soccer activist, Barry Musick") for their comments.
There are now more than 600 soccer drills, tips and exercises on the Soccer Drills Page. If you are a coach it is well worth your time to check them out. Click the Soccer Drills Page hyperlink.
There is an article in the Decatur Daily on Sunday about the need for a Southwest Decatur Recreation Center. There are comments in the article about soccer from DYSA's Roger Stephenson.
This article can be found at the Decatur Daily on-line edition. Click here.
There are comments about the article and a copy of the article also located at the Decatur Soccer Council's website.