For the love of the game

Soccer is often called the 'Beautiful Game'. If requires every player, every minute, to be on the same page and focusing on the same goal. Whether that goal is defending, attacking, controlling or transitioning, every player must be in tune to what is happening. Below is a copy of the email Coach Tom sent out earlier in the week and below is a link to a great video about professional practices in preparation for a championship game. After the video concludes it links to some AWESOME videos on slide tackling etc. I highly recommend you read the article and watch a few.

Coach Tom wrote;

Transition is the most important moment in soccer; the moment in the match when individual players switch their player role in the game from defense to attack or attack to defense. Transition is acquired first by an individual player, then a group of players, and then the team.

This moment of transition occurs first as mental recognition of the situation and then a decision that initiates physical action. The faster the recognition-decision-action connection is made the more impactful will be a player's performance. Only once individual players are quickly making the transition from one phase of play to the next, will it be possible for a team to execute quick and skillful transition from defense to attack or vice versa.

If transition does not happen fast enough for a player or team then they are always a step or two behind the action. The speed of a player's transition is based on his or her tactical awareness.

Tactical awareness is being mindful of where you are on the field, as well as the location of the ball, your teammates and opponents. It's the ability to read the game - to anticipate what will happen next and not merely reacting to what just happened. In some soccer circles this tactical awareness is called insight.

In American soccer, we refer to this level of mental focus and tactical awareness as being soccer savvy.

Your players have no chance of becoming soccer savvy players if they are simply cogs in the team wheel. Players who are over-coached in matches become robotic in their performance and cannot make tactical decisions fast enough.

Slow decision-making leads to reaction players instead of anticipation players. The over-coaching comes from not only coaches, but spectators too. They constantly yell out to the players what to do and when to do it. This further hinders a player's decision-making, as spectators are typically a step behind the action - the pace of the game is quicker than their words conveyed.

This environment of coaches and parents making soccer decisions for the players during a match has led to an American soccer weakness in transition. Too many of our players are not tactically aware, thereby being slow in transition. To become an anticipation player who is quick in transition requires a healthy soccer environment in which to grow. That environment requires less coaching during matches and better coaching during training sessions.

That training environment should lead to self-reliant players who think and communicate for themselves during a match.

The foundation to a good soccer environment in your club is a well-planned and consistently executed player development curriculum. From this foundation, you can build a club with a positive soccer culture.


And the link is;

here

GO SODIUM!!

Congratulations Erika Cook!

It has been announced that Sodium's own Erika Cook made the JV-1 squad at Westview HS! Erika makes up 1 of only 5 total freshman to make this years team.
Erika's hard work and determination are paying big dividends. She is a great example for the entire team.

Congratulations Erika, we are proud of you!

GO ERIKA!

GO SODIUM!

2009 / 2010 OYSA U14 Premier Gold Bracket

• THUSC Sodium


• LOSC Extreme


• FC Portland A Platinum


• SSC 95 Hotspur


• OR Rush 95 Girls Nike


• United SA Hotshots


• ESUFC Arsenal


• Sherwood Force


• EMFC 95 Magic

It's going to be a terrific fall season with some excellent matches! I will post the schedule at or around the 27th! Keep tuned in for the latest bracket action!

GO SODIUM!!

Fall League

Fall League schedules are due out August 27th according to the OYSA website which, historically, has left something to be desired in regards to timeliness and accuracy. But those are topics for ORLive and other venues.

Keep checking back for updates.

GO SODIUM!

"Everybody into the pool!"

ODP Pools were announced yesterday for '95 and '96 years. Congratulations to the following players;

1995
Emmy Owens
Katelyn James
Jill Farley*

1996
Eli Beard
Lexi Frey
Mac Kearney
Jadyn McMillan
Taylor Moscoe
Andrea Theriau

Congratulations to all who tried out this year. Hard work and dedication will add even more lady warriors to the list next year! You only have about 363 days to get ready!

* Sodium is very fortunate to welcome Jill Farley and her family for the fall season. Jill is a member of team Ireland and while her teammates are on their High School hiatus, Jill will practice and play with Sodium to help stay in shape. I'm sure the team will welcome her with open arms and do anything they can to make her stay with us a pleasant one.

Looks like the fall schedules have yet to be posted so keep an eye peeled for any developments.

Looking forward to a great fall season!

GO SODIUM!

Sodium, more than just a pretty face

In an act of kindness that exhibits just how great these young ladies are, our own Erika Cook took it upon herself to help out those in need. Erika involved herself in program called Passback that helps out sports teams in need. (Equipment mainly)
Below is a copy of an email sent to Doug Angell (THUSC President) as an update;

Doug...

I just wanted to give you a brief update on the Passback project.

Other than telling Erika to move all the gear out of my entry hall into a less obtrusive location...I had my first involvement this weekend as I transported the donated items to Salem.

Jim and Robin Schaal (President and Registrar) of Central Coast Soccer Association in Newport, OR that Erika selected to be the recipients of the gear drove to Salem to watch Erika try out for ODP and receive everything this morning. Up until Thursday...they had no clue that Erika was not an adult and were quite tickled that a 13 year old would go to this much effort to help other kids play soccer.

Jim and Robin are retired. They live in the bay area from Nov-Mar and spend Apr-Oct at their beach house in Newport. When they first moved to Newport a few years ago, they discovered that this rec club in Newport was very close to dissolving. There were fewer than 70 kids playing soccer and the club had no money. Their oldest son (now 36) had been a competitive soccer player in his youth and Jim helped organize a trip to Europe for his team when he was in high school, so they were passionate about reviving this program for this community. Because the population of this community is seasonal and many of the year round residents work in the hospitality industry, the average household income is less than $25 K/Year. These families have a hard time paying registration fees of less than $45/season and the the Schaal's have worked tirelessly to ensure that no child is turned away for lack of ability to pay. The club now has over 350 kids playing soccer each fall and an entire team drives up from Florence, OR just to play games. Items like cleats and balls have been luxuries for many of these kids and the coaches do not have pinnies, cones, etc. The club actually applied for assistance from Passback almost 18 months ago and had not had any response until Erika contacted them in June with her plan to collect the used soccer gear.

This morning...thanks to the generosity of THUSC parents and coaches...Erika was able to give them:
28 pair cleats
12 pair shin guards
Goalie Gloves
Goalie Jerseys
Ball Pumps
28 asst color pinnies
58 asst cones
28 asst size soccer balls
7 pr shorts

In addition to their admiration of Erika's efforts...the Schaal's also thank THUSC for allowing her collect these items on their behalf. They plan to send a thank you to the club, place a story on their club website about THUSC and they have plans to put an article in the local newspaper. Since our collections schedule was shortened with the unexpected Sodium trip to Virginia, I have promised the Schaal's that if there are additional items donated, I will commit to getting them delivered to Newport.

I have attached a picture of Erika and her teammates Laura C and Taylor M with all the gear this morning.

Kristina

Erika is a true testament to the makeup of the Sodium team, and an outstanding individual. Thank you Erika.

The team and fans scream; GO ERIKA!

Sodium takes ODP by storm!

Sodium was perfect in sending 17 of 17 players to ODP try-outs this weekend!

Sodium represented well in both the '95 and '96 age brackets.

Best of luck to these lady warriors in the up coming games!

GO SODIUM!

Sodium "Going for the Gold" in 2010!

The 09/10 season brackets were announced today and the lady warriors will once again be doing battle in the Premier Gold bracket. Rounding out this years bracket are;

LOSC Extreme
FC Portland Platinum
SSC 95 Hotspur
Oregon Rush 95G Nike
United SA Hotshots
ESUFC Arsenal
Sherwood Force
EMFC 95 Magic

Time to put the game faces on and get ready for some tough competition!

Congratulations Sodium, you deserve it, you earned it!

GO SODIUM!!