Shomit Mukherjee’s Soccer Blog

Rising U15 Boys - Annandale United FC - NCSL Division One Champions are looking for dedicated soccer players in all positions.  United are an all year round college track program. For information regarding attending a practice please contact bo_amato@hotmail.com Tryouts next week will be Tuesday June 17 and Wednesday June 18 from 6:30-8:00 at Mason District Park.

The rising U-17G age group for Annandale Boys and Girls Club have been conducting open tryouts for all players who are interested in the Northern Virginia area.  Contact coach Bo Amato to schedule a time to train with the team at 703-932-3881 or e-mail him at bo.amato@abgc.org. 

The U-16G Annandale Express (formerly Arlington) have received a letter of release from Arlington Travel Soccer Club, and a letter of acceptance from Annandale Boys and Girls Club.  The team most recently became champions of WAGS U-15G Division 4 in Spring 2008, their third consecutive league title. 

The team is currently conducting U-16G soccer tryouts at Mason District Park on Thursday June 12 from 6:30-8:00.  Next week’s tryouts will be Tuesday June 17 and Thursday June 19.  They will also take place from 6:30-8:00 at Mason District Park. 

Additional tryouts may be scheduled upon request by contacting Express coach Shomit Mukherjee at Shomit16@hotmail.com .

The team, along with Annandale Boys and Girls Club, will hold the WAGS division position previously held by Arlington.  The U-16G Annandale Express (formerly Arlington), will be looking to add 4 or 5 impact players to our already impressive group that transferred from Arlington to Annandale. 

The off-season is certainly a time for all players, parents, and coaches to reflect on the accomplishments of the prior season.  However, for championship caliber teams, the vision should always be looking ahead to the next set of team goals. 

The attention to individual players’ technical weaknesses must be a priority.  Coaches must be patient, and allow the players to make repeated mistakes when doing technical exercises that they may be uncomfortable with.  At the same time, players must be focused on every technical repetition, whether the exercise is dealing with dribbling, passing, shooting, or all three at once. 

Tactical team ideas should come later, as the season approaches.  If every individual player on a team is committed to improving their mastery of the soccer ball in the summer, the team as a whole will reap the benefits during the regular season.    

Katja Butts (in red), has already won a VHSL State Championship as a freshman at George Mason High School and has won four consecutive league titles with the U-16G Annandale Express.

George Mason defeated Goochland 7-1 in today’s state final.  The Mustangs defeated defending champion Radford 5-4 PK’s after the game was tied at 1-1 following two sudden death overtimes. 

Katja Butts started the state finals at the left fullback position and helped shut down Goochland.  Please take a moment to congratulate her when you see her.  What a wonderful TEAM achievement!

I highly recommend this course to any coach who wants to further their coaching education through United States Youth Soccer (USYS).  In addition to the top-notch knowledge that is delivered at this course by Sam Snow and the VYSA staff, the opportunity to actually watch yourself on tape conducting a training session is a great learning experience.

Another aspect of taking this course that I enjoyed so much was the opportunity to catch up with some old friends who were also enrolled in the course.  You never know who you will see at coaching education courses such as these, which is part of the enjoyment for taking the courses for me personally.

I recommend taking the USYS National Youth License course to every youth soccer coach. 

The U-14G Arlington Eagles have clinched their first division title together as a team, wrapping up the ODSL D4 title with a 2-0 decision over the McLean Commanders today.  The Eagles have only lost one game in their 15 league games since the start of Fall 2007.  The players on this team persevered through a Fall 2007 season that concluded with an undefeated (and winless) record of 0-0-8.  They worked tremendously hard to change those ties into wins and they truly deserve it.

The Eagles are currently 5-1-1 in league play in Spring 2008, and wrap up their season tomorrow vs. Sterling Storm.  

Congratulations to all players!

You can see the recently released rankings here:

http://www.potomacsoccerwire.com/news/460/3045

The U-15G Arlington Express have won their third consecutive league title after becoming champions of WAGS Division 4.  The Express previously won titles in ODSL Division 1 in Spring 2007 and WAGS Division 5 in Fall 2007. 

Winning three consecutive league titles between the two leagues, ODSL and WAGS, is something that has not occurred before on any Arlington girls’ travel soccer team to the best of my knowledge.  All of the players on the Express contributed greatly at some point or another during this incredible stretch of league play and all of them deserve a huge pat on the back for what they have achieved through all of the ups and downs during this time period. 

I am very proud of all of you and you all should be very proud of yourselves as well….what a TEAM accomplishment!

The U-15G Arlington Express are one win away from their third consecutive league championship.  The Express have won titles in ODSL Division 1 (Spring 2007) and WAGS Division 5 (Fall 2007) and are currently undefeated in WAGS Division 4 (Spring 2008).

During that span of 24 league games, the team has scored a total of 42 goals while only surrendering 9 goals.  The team has posted an incredible 15 shutouts in those 24 games.  In addition to their tremendous league success, the team has also enjoyed five straight appearances in tournament finals, another remarkable achievement.

Though the league goal for the team has not yet been achieved and there may be obstacles to overcome in order to achieve the goal, congratulations are in order to all of the players for their outstanding play throughout the course of the season.  Keep up the good work!