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NASL NEWSLETTER |
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October 4, 2002 |
This is the
43rd issue distributed to the new NASL list. The previous newsletters are now on-line at http://www.nasl.com/current_news.htm
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Articles in this week's newsletter:
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- Upcoming Soccer
Calendar
- So you want to
continue playing soccer in college? Here’s How:
- How College
Scholarships Really Work.
- NASL Teams do well
at TNFC Fall Classic by Diadora Tournament in Franklin, TN
- Using Athlete
Evaluations to Improve Performance
- Coaching Strategies
used to Motivate Athletes
- Lost and Found
- Does Training
Affect Growth? Answers to Common Questions:
- Oops - my goof!
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Soccer Calendar -
Dates to Remember |
More information on all
events below is available at the NASL website.
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Rocket City Invitational Tournament
- October 5-6, 2002 in Huntsville, Alabama
- October
9th, 2002
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Roster freeze date for Chevy®
Governor’s Cup teams.
- Roster freeze date for Snickers®
State Cup teams.
- Entry deadline for all Division I and II teams wishing to
play in the Snickers State Cup
- Entry deadline for Division II U14-U18 teams and Division
III and Division IV U10-U18 teams wishing to play in the Chevy
Governor’s Cup.
Kicks Invitational Soccer Tournament
- October 25-27, 2002 in Huntsville, Alabama
"Fall"
Tide American Festival
- October 26, 2002 - "Location
TBD"
"Fall" State
League ends (D-I & D-II)
- October 31, 2002 -
November 1, 2002
- §1 Final fall registration is due in the AYSA office
postmarked by this date and must include:
- §2 A correctly prepared and readable diskette, roster or
copy of the registration form containing required information
for any player or coach registered after the submittal of
registration information in October.
- §3 Submission of Registration form and fees for additional
players and coaches
Final date for Statewide
Division III and Division IV League play -
November 2, 2002
Snicker’s State Cup
preliminary matches
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November 1- 3, 2002
November
6, 2002
- Entry deadline for Kellogg’s Cup for Division II U11-U13
teams.
- Roster- freeze date for Kellogg’s Cup teams.
Governors Cup will be
November 8th - 10th, 2002. Chevy Governor’s Cup for Division II
U14-U18 and Division III & Division IV U10-U18.
Kellogg’s Cup for Division II U11-U13
- December
6-8, 2002
Snickers Cup will be
December 6/7/8th, 2002 - semi-finals and
finals.
Registration Deadline for Division I/II Spring League
- December 13,
2002
Registration for Division III and Division IV members
may begin - January 1,
2003
ODP
Festival Boys - Huntsville - January 3rd - 5th,
2003
ODP
Festival Girls - Huntsville - January 31, 2003 -
February 2nd, 2003
Division III and Division IV players may be officially
rostered to Spring teams
as of this date
- February 1,
2003
Submission of Registration forms and fees due
in AYSA office. These must be true, accurate number of new
member registrations and fees. Member cards will be issued to
clubs for Division III and Division IV members once forms and
fees are submitted. - February 15,
2003
Statewide
Division III and Division IV League play may begin
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March 1, 2003
Final date
for Statewide Division III and Division IV League play -
May 10, 2003
"Spring"
Tide American Festival
- May 17, 2003
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So you
want to continue playing soccer in college? Here’s How: |
You don’t
have to make the Olympic Development Program or be an all-star selection
to play on a college team ... if you are realistic about yourself and
the colleges you want to attend. There are hundreds of college soccer
teams and lots of kids playing college soccer who were simply solid high
school players - not stars.
Your first priority must be finding colleges which will provide you with
the education you want and need. But unless your educational
requirements limit your choices to just a few schools, if you were good
enough to play soccer on a premier level club team and start on your
high school varsity as a sophomore or junior, you can probably find a
college soccer program where you can play.
One word of caution here - stay away from the
"pay-me-first" recruiters that are out there making promises to kids
that they have no intention or possibility of fulfilling. Their sales
pitches may sound good on the surface but doubtless will only leave you
hurting and poor.
There are a few things you should consider before
deciding to play college soccer:
The life of a college player is very regimented.
That is you get up early, go to work out, go to class, go to practice,
go to study hall, go to bed, and then start over. There is time for
"college life" but not nearly so much as a normal student.
You must be prepared to sit the bench. This is
probably the most difficult transition that a star high school player
can make. Unless you are lucky enough to go to a team that has no one
else to play your position, you are going to have to bump someone out of
their position in order to play your freshman year and that is very hard
to do. The older players are going to get first shot at their positions
and if they are good you may not get a shot until they graduate. That is
why it is really important to look for a team that NEEDS someone at your
position.
College ball will be a big transition. Many kids
are not able to handle it. And it is not for everybody.
Now, if you're still interested here's a roadmap
to help you find your way to that college team of your dreams:
The rest of the article which includes a list of
items you should accomplish in each year of high school is on-line at
http://www.decatursports.com/articles/soc/college_soccer.htm
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How
College Scholarships Really Work |
There's a fascinatingly
informative article published yesterday (Dec 1st) in the San Jose
Mercury News about the uncomfortably mercenary pressures on players
caused by college soccer being classified by the NCAA as an
"equivalency" scholarship sport, in contrast to being classified as a
"head
count" scholarship sport like basketball. Briefly, in a "head count"
sport, even $1 of aid counts as using a full scholarship out of the
maximum allowable in that sport, e.g. 12 (so there is powerful incentive
to offer players a full, not just partial, athletic scholarship). By
contrast, in an "equivalency" scholarship sport,
the program is free to divide the value of the 12 full scholarships into
as many fractional scholarship pieces as they wish, so e.g. only 6
players on the team may be on "full" athletic scholarship, and 12 more
may be on partial scholarships whose aggregate value is equivalent to 6
full scholarships (with the parts not necessarily equally divided among
players).
While the article explores the typical dilemma the equivalency
scholarship system creates when a high school player is being recruited
by less prominent school A, which considers offering a full scholarship,
versus much more prominent school B, which is considering offering only
a partial (and just how partial?) scholarship to them, the really
fascinating part is about the pressures which operate within programs to
increase or decrease the original fractional share for particular
athletes, based on the player's performance and the program's recruiting
prospects for next year's crop of high school seniors. Just like a
professional sports franchise, pressure may be applied to existing
players to accept lesser fractional scholarship shares next year in
order to be able to recruit an outstanding prospect for next year. The
program may also want to increase the scholarship share for some players
whose performance last season proved their increased value to the
team...but this has to come from somewhere, and they still have to
recruit incoming freshmen.
The implications of what's discussed in this article must be
considered by any youth soccer player with ambitions to win a soccer
scholarship to a college (and anyone advising them).
The rest of the
article is on-line at
http://www.decatursports.com/articles/how_college_scholarships_really_.htm
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NASL
Teams do well at TNFC Fall Classic Tournament in Franklin, TN |
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Three NASL
teams won the Premier (highest level of play) Divisions of their age
groups at the TNFC Fall Classic September 21st and 22nd in
Franklin, Tennessee. The HSC Strikers Blue '87 won the U16 Boys
division. The HSC Strikers Blue '88 won the U15 Boys division.
The Kicks '92 won the U11 Premier group. In addition the Decatur
United U17 team finished second in the U18 Boys group. The HSC '92
Blue finished second in the U11 Premier group. On the girls side
the '89 Shockers Girls finished second in the U14 Girls group and the
HSC '91 Lady Strikers finished second in the U12 Girls Classic Division.
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Using Athlete Evaluations
to Improve Performance |
David Barton, California State University - Fresno
The issue of how coaches communicate with their
athletes to improve individual performance and team play is complex.
Furthermore, the communication challenges facing coaches at all levels
and in all sports are numerous. For example, in their attempts to
motivate and communicate with a team or individual, a coach has to
communicate to a wide variety of personality types, understand the
contextual setting of the coach-athlete relationship, and be conscious
of the circumstances surrounding the life of each athlete (Yukelson,
2001).
The first issue that makes coach-athlete
communication difficult is that there are numerous personality types
that respond to different styles of communication and motivational
techniques. Research demonstrates a relationship between athletic
performance and the athlete's personality, and there exists an
association between personality and player position in some sports (Cox,
2002). Also, there is strong evidence to support the idea that coaches
working in team sports will be working with specific personality types,
while coaches working in individual sports will be coaching a different
set of personality types (Cox, 2002).
Click here to read the entire article
http://www.pelinks4u.org/articles/gilbert/090102article1.htm |
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Coaching Strategies
used to Motivate Athletes
Brent Hansen, California State University - Fresno |
As a past basketball coach at the Division I level, I
have often wondered what it is that makes athletes tick. What is the
driving force behind their motivation? If harnessed, this priceless bit
of knowledge could be used in all arenas of athletics.
Obviously a motivated athlete is going to perform
better than a non-motivated one, and only very few coaches have unlocked
the mystery of how to motivate their players during competition. What do
they do and say to have this success?
This article will attempt to explain the meaning of
motivation, as well as use personal experiences coupled with research,
to give coaches effective motivational strategies useful in competition.
Click here to read complete article
http://www.pelinks4u.org/articles/gilbert/090102article2.htm |
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Lost
and Found |
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Around September 14th a blue Decatur Revolution jersey #15 was left on
the Rec Field after the game. Also a blue Diadora
soccer bag was left at Rec field after a game on September 28th. If
anyone has found this jersey or bag please contact Manager Glenn Hurt at
353-1346. |
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Does Training Affect Growth?
Answers to Common Questions |
http://www.physsportsmed.com/cover.htm
At the Physician and Sports Medicine website this month is an
article about the effect of training on growth.
In Brief: Adolescent athletes may be at risk of restricted
growth and delayed maturation when intense training is combined with
insufficient energy intake. Because catch-up growth commonly occurs when
training is reduced or ceases, final adult stature is unlikely to be
compromised. However, in athletes who have long-term, clinically delayed
maturation, catch-up growth may be incomplete. By charting individual
growth patterns, physicians, coaches, and athletic trainers can detect
vulnerable periods when the training intensity should be reduced and
energy intake may need to be increased. Click here to read the rest of
the article:
http://www.physsportsmed.com/cover.htm |
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Oops -
My Goof |
Recently the Blue-Gray Tournament was looking for some girls' teams at
the last minute to help fill out the brackets and they were offering a
discount to those teams. They asked us to notify the NASL teams of
the offer so I sent out an e-mail that read "Blue-Gray Tournament needs
Girls teams to fill out brackets". However, the lengthy title of
the e-mail was shortened by most of the popular e-mail reading software
to: "Blue-Gray Tournament needs Girls teams to fill out bra"
Kirk Holdsambeck e-mailed me to let me know that some
people were probably deleting the e-mail automatically based on the
title. |
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NASL
NEWSLETTER:
You
may sign up for the NASL e-mail list and also provide changes (including
removing your name from the list) to your
current e-mail address and phone numbers by using this form at
http://www.nasl.com/Email.htm
This is our means of keeping the local soccer community up-to-date on
events and items of interest. If
you have something to contribute please e-mail me at dsports@hiwaay.net
All of the above information and more is on-line at http://www.nasl.com
Thanks
for being involved in soccer in Alabama.
Ken Gamble - NASL Secretary
"Next Goal Wins!" |
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