This email came to me this morning from Gregg Thompson of Placer United  - I asked him for permission to post this on the Far Post Report. He agreed. Here is his letter which, we believe, could apply to many areas in the state and probably the country.

Dear Administrators, Coaches, Parents,

This confrontational escalation between San Juan and Placer is getting out of control.  San Juan decides to boycott the Placer girls tournament, Placer plans to boycott the Cal Cup Tournament, clubs are not re-scheduling games to accommodate one another...it's getting worse and worse.   We are all pleased with ourselves for retaliating and "one upping" the opposing club's coaches, teams and administrators but the only loser in this environment is the player.  As was said in an earlier email, "aren't we all in this for the players?"

You must teach your team to play hard, no matter who the opponents are, because you're setting your own standards, playing toward goals you want the team and each player to achieve. Your players must learn that the best respect they can give opponents is to play to win, to show them their best.

The rise of paid coaches is just one reason why it commonly costs an American child thousands of dollars a year

Part One:

It is interesting to note many US Youth Clubs have larger budgets then most professional clubs youth programs if you take into account coaches pay, travel expenditures and uniform costs. Because most clubs do not travel their teams 600 miles for a tournament they are able to concentrate their monies on coaching. However most coaches in the US are well paid by European professional standards.

"I was amazed at just how good he was with the ball at his feet," says Deschamps. "In training, I’d see him work on tricks that I’d never seen before. He simply plays the game on a different plane to everybody else, and I loved playing with him, for the simple reason that it was often thanks to him that I finished on the winning side."

The best tribute to Zidane's career and character was probably made by Italy coach Marcello Lippi, who worked with him at Juventus from 1996-99. "When I saw him train for the first time, I told him, 'Don't worry about your place in the starting eleven - someone with your talent will never be on the bench here, or anywhere else for that matter'."

USSoccerPlayers: You've coached high school, college and professional teams. What are the differences?

Kerr: The game is the same. It's played at a different pace as the level goes up. And the different environments you have to deal with. With the youth soccer or high school soccer, you have different restrictions on how you can treat the players. You're more of a teacher, and the same goes for college. You are dealing with certain restrictions as well. You're still a teacher, but you're also a man manager more as the level goes up. And with professional coaches that becomes less of being a teacher and more of a man manager and strategist, and you have the advantages when you move and a work with the older guys. You don't have to teach them the fundamentals as you do with the younger kids.

Go East young men

Major League Soccer should be used as a place where young American players can go to sharpen their game before heading overseas to elevate their skills.

It is not a league that breeds national team stalwarts, just a league that gives them a start.

A must read for every parent.....Send this to your club's parents or else!

The Federal Education Minister has launched a scathing assessment of the state of manners and etiquette in Australia.Julie Bishop says road rage, swearing, and intrusive technology are contributing to what she calls a "decline in civility".

And it's not just "young people today" who are the culprits, she says but the ugly parent syndrome too.

``It's a marketing opportunity and a guy who was one of the better players on the English national team during the World Cup, so a player we think is very strong,'' Garber added.

Garber might have added, " Although England sucked, Beckham's hair style was riveting and would have been an even greater new's event had Sven Goran Erickson's fourth fling with an FA Secretary not overshadowed it.