Why Should Children Be Encouraged To Play Soccer?

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In today's media we are constantly being reminded of a health time bomb that is about to explode as children today are not active enough.

There are so many competing distractions for our children's attention, video games, endless channels to watch, these can all lead to sedentary lifestyle if they are not kept in check.

Soccer is the beautiful game, played by millions of young girls and boys (aged 6 to 18) across many continents, whether it's on the beaches of Rio, the back alleys of a major city nearby or the local park, you will find someone kicking a football around.

In today's society there has been a shift to more organised soccer practice for our youth players. Gone are the days of jumpers for goal posts, as streets are littered with cars and grass verges now have houses built on them.

Having a more structured approach is both a good and a bad thing; on one hand young players get structured development and education through willing volunteers who show them how everything from how to warm up correctly, develop their technical ability with the ball right through to skill development and organised small sided games to wrap everything up together to provide a total learning experience.

Today time is limited and therefore there may be only an hour or two devoted to structured soccer practice during the week, what happens when practice is over?

Getting your child to participate in an organised soccer school or club can bring tremendous benefits to you and your child.

Soccer can help increase your child's self esteem, which feeds their self talk which ultimately drives their performance. But soccer isn't the only winner, quite often it can be seen that academic performance can increases to!

Studies have shown that getting young children involved in soccer at an early stage promotes a real healthy attitude towards the game and this attitude continues with them into adult life.

The number one reason why children play soccer is to have fun; if soccer is fun and enjoyable then players will want to continue playing. This benefits their overall fitness and reduces their health risks considerably.

Soccer is made fun by coaches worldwide who willingly give up their time voluntarily to organise youth soccer practice and coach teams.

Gone are the days when soccer, for the really young players, was an 11 a side game with offside rules and no touches of the ball for massive periods of the game.

Youth soccer from the age of 6 to 11 is typically about having fun, playing small sided matches such as 4 v 4 with no goal keepers, promoting lots of touches of the ball and player interaction on the pitch.

Through playing soccer and encouraging children to take regular exercise many of the risk factors that are associated with heart disease such as obesity and diabetes can be reduced significantly. It is stated that childhood obesity has increased by more than 50% since 1976, which is a really scary fact.

Getting your child involved in soccer doesn't just improve their health. We've mentioned already the improvements at school.

Social benefits, such as mixing with others, having to work as a team, contributing through individual effort to a collective goal, experiencing the highs and lows, picking each other up, competition, striving to be the best, aiming to win and supporting and helping others are all by products of playing soccer.

Many of the life skills that the players learn through soccer are beneficial in later life, how to form and build relationships, developing a sense of co-operation, how to lead people, how to handle adversity, what commitment means and punctuality, are all key qualities that will benefit the players in adult life.

If your child is already playing soccer, great. But what can you do if you want to get your child involved in a local soccer team? Here are seven must ask questions that you and your child should consider when attempting to find a suitable club...

1) What level of commitment is required in terms of practice sessions and games at the weekend?

2) When are the training sessions? When are games played, what's the format and how much time will you need to devote?

3) How far are you willing to travel to training and to matches? Some clubs will operate travel teams where distances can be considerable, including overnight stops.

4) What are the costs involved? Some clubs adopt a pay when you play, others a more structured approach. The most expensive clubs are not always the best, ask yourself is what your paying in the equivalent to what your child is getting out?

5) What do you and your child want out of playing soccer? This needs to be aligned with the prospective clubs philosophy, is it about having fun or winning?

6) How best will your child learn, develop and stay interested? Are they happy just to be involved or would they thrive in a more competitive environment?

7)What is the clubs constitution and philosophy to soccer, how long have they been in existence, the experience of the coaches, location, facilities etc.

Once you have considered the above questions what are your next steps to finding a suitable club or soccer organisation for your child?

You can...

i) Get in touch with your local Soccer Association by searching the web or looking in yellow pages. They should be able to provide you with a list of clubs and organisations in your local area.

ii) Ask other parents/guardians about local junior and youth soccer teams. You'll be surprised at how many adults or their children are involved.

iii) Encourage you children to ask their school mates where they play their soccer. Knowing some of the team can be a real advantage as players integrate themselves into a team.

iv) Ask your child's form tutor or headmaster if they know of any clubs or organisations. Many clubs have formed good relationships with the schools over the years.

v) Read the local papers or local news websites you'll be amazed at how much coverage youth and junior soccer gets.

These five practical steps should enable you to find a club that meets yours and your child's soccer aspirations. However, if there still isn't a club near you that can satisfy a need why not look to set up your own team!

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Pokemon Platinum Walkthrough Part 101 Aaron the Bug Master of the Elite Four

I promised this video today so I had to edit it last night, I was up till 4 in the morning so I could upload it before I had to go someplace today. The editing though I tried to make it as epic as possible, wasn't exactly easy. There's probably a few mess ups in the editing that I missed due to editing it half asleep. As for the effects, I wanted to make a new intro but I just didn't have the time nor any good songs so I just stuck with the gym battle intro and made it all fancy and epic. Bertha will be coming on August 1st. Aaron is the first of the Elite Four who uses bug types. His team has tons of 4X weaknesses so it is best you use them to your advantage. His team is the weakest but if you don't finish his pokemon off quickly, they can quickly become irritating particularly Yanmega and Vespiquen. As I say in the video, if you struggle with this battle, your in for a long road, I recommend you save before entering the Elite Four and then if you think it might be too much, just turn your game off and do some training (part 100). Fire, Flying, and Rock types all are very strong here and should be your primary types for attacking. Drapion is the oddball of his team as it is his strongest but his only non bug pokemon. Use Ground moves on it but watch out for Ice Fang should your pokemon be ground type or the even higher chance your carrying torterra which is 4x weak to Ice. Overall, should your pokemon be near my teams levels, this should not be an overly difficult ...

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Great Teams Make Great Organizations

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Every successful business person knows that great organizations start with great teams, but in order for a team to become great there must be a clearly defined set of decision-making protocols where team members understand what they are accountable for and then own the results.

The most important element of a great team is candor. In other words the team leaders must walk their own talk. They do this by listening to critiques of their own performance and acting on them, by not cutting off people who disagree with them, and by not puling rank when it's time to make a decision.

High performance leaders make sure that everyone on the team not only wants to contribute to the success of the organization but can contribute. Great team leaders have an action plan to close skill gaps through formal skill-development workshops; they are continuously searching for opportunities to apply the skills of each team member, and they offer individual coaching as needed.

One of the most important tasks of a team leader is to make sure that his or her team functions at a high level. It is up to him or her to see that the team always remains on track. "On track" means that everyone is clear about and committed to the business strategy and operational goals that flow from it; and that every team member understands his or her role and responsibilities; and most important the team leader must be able to make tough decisions.

Good team leaders are always asking important question, such as, "Are the members of my team playing for real, or are they just going through the motions?" "What's the best way for me to hold up a mirror to members of my team to accurately reflect their behavior?" "How do we change?"

One of the characteristic of all great business teams is that they continually raise the performance bar, but good team leaders know how to motivate by example rather than fear. They leverage power, not monopolize it to drive up their team's performance. To do this, team leaders put power and authority in the hands of the team to deliver maximum performance.

One of the hallmarks of great business teams is the willingness of team member to assume accountability for the success of their colleagues. This can take many forms, from tough questioning to providing resources to coaching.

While the team leader is ultimately responsible for making the call on the coachability of his or her players, every team member has an obligation to motivate him or herself by asking, "Am I up to the task of continually reinventing myself to meet ever-more demanding performance standards?'

Most people naturally resist change; therefore team members can be resistant for a number of reasons. Some will not see what's in for them; others will disagree on the need for change; still others will be distrustful and suspect a hidden agenda.

The challenge is to part the curtain to see what is behind the resistance to change. Intention is critical here. Is a team member's intention to change stronger than the lure of remaining comfortable with past ways of operating? If a team member is unwilling to change, there is often little that can be done, other than the parting of ways

When a team is clearly committed to a common direction, when it focuses on the vision of the organization, when it is clear about its roles and responsibilities, when the relationships between team members are open, then it is making the organization great.

Copyright©2008 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Croatia-Germany 3:0 (1998) 5th bold (quarterfinal)

Croatia-Germany 3:0 (1998) 5th game (quarterfinal)

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The Best Play In Youth Football

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The answer may surprise you. Many youth football teams attempt to emulate what the coach has seen on TV the past week or what the head coach ran as a high school player 20 years ago. Unfortunately what works at the College or Pro level on TV often doesn't work very well at the youth level. The coach's high school system may have worked well for his team 20-30 years ago with 6 days a week practices and fleet running backs, but fails miserably at the youth level.

At the youth level our job as coaches is to teach the kids how to block and tackle safely and effectively. We teach them how to get into good athletic stances as well as the base rules and strategies. Our most important job should be to make football fun for the player and coach our teams up to their full potential.

However, you can have fun and win at the same time. In fact most players that play on perennial losing teams lose their love of the game and quit. That is one reason I developed these coaching materials for my own 400 kid organization, so that our coaches would be competent enough to coach the kids to their God given potential. To allow our teams to play competitively so the kids would stay engaged in our program. In fact my materials are filled with how to make practices both well organized and fun.

Most of the plays or schemes the typical youth coach has in his playbook are not designed to the talent level of most youth teams. I see teams with no speed often trying to run sweeps, I see teams with kids that can't throw or catch throwing (trying to throw) 20 yard passes. I see teams running bootlegs with very slow quarterbacks. I see teams running a dive play with no lead blocker into the heart of youth defenses. I see teams trying reverses against well disciplined teams for huge losses. I see pass patterns with 3-4 and even 5 receivers. I see teams trying to get a 9 year old to read two different defenders on option plays etc etc etc.

I rarely see: good lead off-tackle plays, one or two receiver pass patterns, optional run and pass plays, trap plays, pulling, double teams, wedge blocking, designed plays to draw the defense off-sides, unbalanced formations, motion, and great sportsmanship.
In youth football each year is different; you will not always have a big team or have a very fast "feature back" that can outrun everyone on a sweep play. Unlike the colleges or pros, you don't have 100s of kids from all across the country to choose from or 20-40 hours a week practice time. In my mind the team that wins because they just happen to have the fastest kid in the league and he outruns everyone on sweeps and kick returns is a joke, a luck of the draw thing. Football is a team game and a well coached team won't give up sweeps for touchdowns or ever kick deep ti that speedster. My first team defense has not given up a sweep for a score in over 5 years.

I've coached youth football for about 15 years and one play that we have always been able to run effectively regardless of the size or talent of the team I've had is the lead
off-tackle power. It can be run by out of nearly any formation, I love it out of the Single Wing with 4 lead blockers and a double team block at the point of attack. While it isn't a terribly sexy play, it gets you 4-5 yards every down in most cases and sets up "home run" complementary plays like the trap, play action pass or wing reverse. Most youth teams are set up to stop the sweep, the "holy grail" play for most youth teams. Other defenses try to shut down the "dive" in the gaps next to the center. Very few youth football defenses are set up to stop even an average off-tackle play.

If the other team gives you the off-tackle, take it until they over-commit, then run the home run play. In our Championship game in 2003 the other team was so concerned about taking away our inside "wedge" play, they left open the off-tackle. We started the game with 7 straight tailback off-tackle plays to our strong side and scored. The very next series they moved out to our off-tackle hole and we ran wedge for a 65 yard score on first down. Then they tried to stop the wedge play and moved everyone up and we ran the wedge play action pass for a 60 yard score. We were up 46-0 in the third quarter when they finally just gave up and tried to run the clock. Both the wedge and off tackle plays can be run well by very average skilled kids.

In another game the defensive team was set up to stop the sweep and wedge plays but again were giving us the off-tackle play. We run no-huddle so we get many more snaps in than most youth teams. In that game we had 71 snaps, of which 51 were off-tackle strong plays. We were getting our 4-5 yards every time, nothing real big, but we did get some very big gains and touchdowns from blocking back traps, wing reverses (2 TDs) and TB run pass option (pass for TD). So we scored 5 touchdowns and out of the 5 TD's, 4 were in excess of 20 yards. We were only stopped on downs once and we fumbled once too. We were 2-2 passing for 56 yards and a TD. Now how much fun was that for our 3 tailbacks that shared duty at the tailback position that day and for our pulling guards? They all had a blast, so did our place kickers, and the 4 other kids that had TDs playing non-tailback positions. Oh yeah, our defense had fun too, they could play with abandon since we were moving the ball at will on offense.

The net is, the off-tackle play at the youth level is the hardest play to stop, yet few teams try and perfect it. It takes little talent to run the play, no studs required. In my Single Wing Offense, we practice that play more than any other. We block it a variety of ways so we know it will work and we will run it, regardless of what kind of defense we face. Our kids can run the off-tackle in their sleep, we often start our practices with the "Power Hour" as Steve Calande calls it. We run our off-tackle strong power for 30-40 minutes on air, fit and freeze and then with players holding hand shields going 100%. Ye,s just one play often makes up half of our offensive practice time.

If your team is doing poorly, you don't need a trick play or new offense (what most coaches panic and do) you need to get perfect at running the off-tackle lead power play.
We know we are playing a good team when they come out and try and establish the
off-tackle play. Of all the videos I've seen from youth teams from all over the country, regardless of the offensive set or personnel, the best teams always have a good off-tackle play. It isn't sexy but it does the trick and it sets up everything else in your offense.

Don't worry about putting in a bunch of fancy "trick" plays before you get your off-tackle play down perfectly.

150 free youth football coaching tips for you here: Youth Football

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2009 PWA Colgate World Cup Sylt - Day 8

Day 8 Wave Action from the 2009 PWA Grand Slam in Sylt, Germany

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2010 Soccer World Cup South Africa

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South Africa has been given the opportunity to host the world's greatest event in 2010. Since, South Africa is a country in Africa, many people are skeptic about the prospects of a SA Soccer World Cup. However, South Africa is in MANY respects a developed country with a modern infrastructure and economy. Many areas in SA will match the average American neighborhood. The average South African is far better off than the average African, but the wealth inequality is huge - especially between rich and poor - black and white - although, after apartheid, more than two million black people entered the middle class. It's good to see that so many black people (although it's only a small portion of the black population) take now part in the economy. It's important for the stability of the country. The upcoming black middle class is one of the main reasons why SA has it's longest run of economic growth in its history in 2006.

Most people's main concern is the safety and security situation in South Africa. As a resident of the beautiful city of Cape Town, I can assure you that the tourist areas are really safe to visit. Yes, crime against tourists have been reported like anywhere else in the world. Just take common sense precautions and you'll be fine. South Africa is a magnificent and diverse country and the scenery absolutely prolific. It's the closet you'll get to paradise! Visit South Africa in 2010 - you'll be surprised how developed, friendly, diverse and beautiful this country really is!

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