"If I was to ever play in the Premiership, there is one thing from Germany I would want to bring with me - the winter break."

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Wow - what a concept, "Its stated objective was to improve the knowledge and effectiveness of those responsible for managing the members' associations."
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Who are our experts? Who are our guides? Where is our exchange of ideas? USSF, USYSA, CYSA? 

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Last September, on our annual Coaches Education Tour,  I sat down with Jay Van Veelen for an interview in our hotel lobby in Barcelona. Jay has been coming to the states for over 10 years. He has been involved at many levels in Dutch Soccer both as a player and a coach. Recently he has been hired for 20 hours a week, by a new club, to develop and provide an outreach and training program for its young players. While sitting in the hotel lobby talking about soccer, it occurred to me that his insight into the world game, the Dutch game and the US game would be interesting to share.

 How did the clubs do this weekend? Placer and Mustang dominated the boards with 5 teams advancing......Sac U, San Juan and Mt Diablo ( yes, Mt Diablo) had three teams advancing.

  There may be some changes next week but except for U13 boys and a few U12 boys the first weekend of state cup is finished.

   Of course you cannot judge a team nor a club by its state cup results. A bad draw can torpedo the best club's hopes of getting out of the first round. A good draw can hand an average team a ticket into the later rounds.  

  However……….it is interesting to see how the times they are a changing…….!

"Soccer here looks like a game of American football," said Juan Munguia, a 30-year-old cook from Mexico. "It's all blows but very little grace."

We think it would be more appropriate to say, " The World Soccer Community scorns the MLS as a bush league where many of the players show little of the panache and artistry that gives soccer its "beatiful game" name. " But we did not write the story........Read more 

" Far less conspicuous than the college coaches dressed from head-to-toe in university apparel were the professional and national team scouts in attendance.

For those scouts, the process of finding top players begins when players are often too young to be garnering much interest from the college recruiters. " Read more.....