Shomit Mukherjee’s Soccer Blog

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!

Please pass along this link to youth soccer players who want to make improvements in their play during the summer months. 

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/plyometrics.html

The three teams are a combined 21-3-14  through 38 games of league play dating back to the start of the fall 2007 season.  The three losses were all by one goal, with the U9B Attack Blue dropping two 1-0 contests to the same team and the U-14G Arlington Eagles dropping a 2-1 decision. 

For the U9 age group, standings are not posted, but here are the links for the Express and Eagles standings.  Keep up the good work!

http://www.wagsl.com/scores/20081/W15D4.html

http://www.odsl.org/schedules/Spring2008/9257945.html

Set your goals high and have a good time trying to be the best that you can possibly be.  In soccer, it is a lot of fun to pursue lofty goals when you know that your teammates want to do the same. 

Many people associate being competitive with “too much pressure”, or “it’s not fun”.  Through my experiences as a player and as a coach, I have found that players often are having the most fun when they are challenged to accomplish things that they perhaps did not feel that they could accomplish before. 

Set your goals high and never be afraid of failure.

Stay tuned for a question and answer session with one of the soccer stars from Wakefield High School, Jerson Delgado.  Jerson helped his high school team (Wakefield) come from behind tonight and score a huge victory 3-2 on the road against J.E.B Stuart.  A tremendous leader on the field, this junior is certainly college ready.  At 6′1 170 and gifted with tremendous leaping ability, Jerson’s ability to win balls in the air leaves opposing forwards frustrated.  The intangible qualities of leadership and love for the game of soccer are certainly evident in this rising star of Virginia High School soccer, not to mention a work ethic that is top-notch.

Please see the link below to find out more about the importance of hydration in young soccer players. It is important for coaches to monitor their players’ fluid intake during training sessions and dictate to the players when to hydrate at the proper times. If a young player remains poorly hydrated, on-field performance is likely to be poor also.

Here is the link

Anyone who is interested in becoming a soccer referee can find more information here:

http://www.atsc-va.org/resources/referee_information/index_E.html

The Under-15G Arlington Express and Arlington Blitz both reached the tournament finals in the classic and premier groups. The Express lost a close game in the Classic group final 2-1 to the Chantilly Arsenal and the Blitz lost a close game in the Premier group final 2-1 to Rochester Rhinos.

All of the players on both teams deserve congratulations for making it to the finals with such tough competiton in each of their groups.

I am disappointed to say that I may not be able to attend this year’s workshop in Richmond, but wanted to pass along to you the link to the workshop and also a link to the VYSA touchline, the youth soccer newsletter for the state. I hope all of you can read about some of it.

http://www.vysa.com/home/207632.html

VYSA

Here is an article from Virginia Youth Soccer Association Technical Director Gordon Miller. He is someone that I have the highest possible respect for when it comes to soccer knowledge. I was able to spend some time with him during this past summer of 2007 while taking two coaching courses with him and certainly feel that I became a better coach because of it. The views in this article are consistent with my personal views in regards to player movement from team to team. Please feel free to let me know your thoughts…..it’’s a great article.

http://www.potomacsoccerwire.com/news/458/1944

For the record, the original title of the article was “Look Before You Leap”. An administrator at Potomac Soccer Wire has added in the “to a D1 team” before posting the article to the Potomac Soccer Wire. The original article can be found in the January 2008 edition of the VYSA Touchline here: http://www.vysa.com/touchline/index_E.html

Go to the bottom of this link and click on “January 2008.”