June 2011
1 post
I Hate Tryouts →
I hate tryouts. I’ve always hated tryouts. Kids are stressed. Parents are stressed. Coaches are stressed. Some of it reasonable, some of it not. In some areas with large programs, it…
September 2009
2 posts
How Many Kids Are REALLY Over Scheduled? →
Raise your hand if you’ve worried about how much your kids do in a given year and if you are ruining their lives. Come on – you over there. As soccer season kicks off and schedules get…
Looking Forward To The Fall Season! →
Pretty scary how fast the summer can fly by! The fall season is already underway for our Rec teams and most of our travel teams have been in pre-season tournaments before the start of their…
May 2009
2 posts
Heard On The Pitch →
Sorry for disappearing! The end of the season is always crazy hectic. I’ve been dealing with a ton of makeups due to all the rain, end of season tournaments (Going to Wilmington NC this weekend -…
Nothing Wrong With Being Prepared →
As the severity of the H1N1 or swine flu pandemic increases, governments are taking significant steps to deal with any severe outbreak. The US has already authorized the release of significant…
April 2009
5 posts
Banished From The Sideline →
A league in Bethesda, Maryland, has tried fining parents who misbehave at youth soccer games, but that didn’t work. They just paid it and kept yelling. So now they banished them from the sideline…
How To Deal With Rough Play →
As players get older and matches get more intense, rough play is something you have to deal with and work with your team to handle. No amount of yelling at the referee is going to change things if…
Sarcasm Can’t Hide Inappropriate Coaching →
Seeing the reaction to the ‘Green Death’, it amazes me the primal reaction people have to stuff like this.
“You can come coach my kid ANY day!”
“Find your sense of humor! It was a joke!”
What ESPN Hides From You →
Many people don’t realize how insane the crowd noise can be at some soccer venues. We Americans like to think that our football games with 80-90,000 fans are loud, but there is loud and there is …
Beware The Green Death! →
As we all know, there are bad coaches out there who don’t have perspective or a long term view of a player’s development. They don’t get that at younger ages we should be primarily concerned with…
March 2009
42 posts
Differences In How Boys And Girls Retaliate →
I found this note from an experienced referee (FirstTouch at the NC Soccer Forums) who had an insightful post about the differences in how boys and girls may retaliate at the older ages. The…
Sure Sign Of Lots Of Cancellations →
I’m thinking a whole lot of soccer matches across Region III won’t be played this weekend:
SoccerDad’s Weekend Reading - Vol 1 Issue 1 →
As I noted earlier, Twitter has completely changed things here at On The Pitch. Every day I see cool articles, posts, and other tidbits that I want to check out and share, but then real…
Be DOC For A Day - How Would You Respond? →
We all have seen or heard of parents wanting to dictate how a coach develops their child as a soccer player, but it’s still interesting to see the justifications some parents will make for the…
An Amazing Story Of Sportsmanship →
It seems that whenever you see ‘youth soccer’ mentioned in the news, it’s some story about crazed soccer parents ruining their kid’s lives or some deviant, who also happened to be a soccer coach…
Kick Like A Girl - A Documentary →
I’ve coached girls in soccer, either as part of coed teams or on girls travel teams, for a number of years now. Yet it’s still an amazing learning experience as a coach, especially as a male…
Is Your Youth Soccer Team Professional? →
One of my soccer teams had a rough weekend this past weekend. It had been building for a while and reached a breaking point on Sunday. It involved team chemistry, respect, and trust. It also cast…
Ever Had One Of THOSE Weekends? →
My U12 Girls team had a rough weekend this weekend, and one of my parents snapped a picture of me during one of our matches.
Ever had one of THOSE weekends?
In good fun I responded to…
SoccerDad’s Weekly Twitter Updates for 2009-03-23 →
For those of you not following me on Twitter (I’m @soccerdad), here’s a peek at my Tweets for the past week. Clearly I tweet too much.
Wondering where the day went. Been crazy. My #…
Banning Orange Slices in Youth Sports? →
I thought this was a joke when I saw the headline, but it’s not. An Australian sports authority for netball has banned oranges at games due to the potential for damage to kid’s teeth. I’m not…
An Epic Rant for Youth Soccer Referees →
Over the NC-Soccer forums, itsaboutthekids posted an epic rant about soccer referees. Not about bad calls and judgement, as he himself is a referee and knows how that goes, but how some referees…
Why Fields Are Closed When The Sun Shines →
Our soccer complex has been closed one week today, due to an extended rain storm where it rained almost non stop from Friday through Monday. Yet the fields will still be closed today on…
Kid Walks To Practice And Sets Off Hysteria →
When I read this, I really thought it had to be a joke.
A soccer player walking to soccer practice resulted in numerous 911 calls. From BoingBoing:
From the Free Range Kids blog, the story…
Respect →
The English Football Association launched an education program called Respect last summer that highlights how overzealous spectators, parents, and coaches are hurting the game. The…
Tales From The Pitch Week 10 - 2009 →
Another week has passed, so what happened with everyone out on the pitch? A lot of rain washed out MANY youth soccer matches in the Southeast. But I’m sure some of you got matches in. Share your…
SoccerDad’s Weekly Twitter Updates for 2009-03-16 →
For those of you not following me on Twitter (I’m @soccerdad), here’s a peek at my Tweets for the past week. Clearly I tweet too much.
OK - four straight days of rain - we’ll be lucky to…
Fighting For Space To Play →
While many communities have beautiful soccer complexes, playing space is often at a premium. Youth leagues often get preferred or exclusive use of the nicest facilities, so adults looking to play…
Ignorance Is Ruining America, Not Soccer →
I’ve had the edit screen for this post open in my browser for a few days now. I just couldn’t bring myself to write coherently about it. Still may not, but here goes.
Youth soccer has exploded in…
Soldiers Making Children Smile With Soccer Balls →
A group of soldiers serving in Afghanistan teamed up with the USSF Passback program, run in partnership with Eurosport (Soccer.com), to give soccer balls to kids in Afghanistan. They just…
Chocolate Milk Better Than Gatorade? →
Saw this fly across Twitter the other day and it caught my eye.
Chocolate milk is being positioned by some as the perfect ‘exercise recovery drink’ after exercise:
Did you know that…
Kentucky Soccer Players Dies from MRSA →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/11/kentucky-soccer-players-dies-from-mrsa/';
On a sad note, a young Kentucky soccer player recently was diagnosed with and succumbed to a…
A Scary Weekend of Injuries →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/10/a-scary-weekend-of-injuries/';
People who aren’t familiar with soccer usually believe it is a sport where players never get hurt…
Team Fundraising With Heart →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/10/team-fundraising-with-heart/';
Many folks often talk about youth sports and the life lessons they can teach. This story about a young…
Share Your Tales From The Pitch →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/10/share-your-tales-from-the-pitch/';
As the Spring season kicks up, I’m going to try and give folks a place to share their ‘Tales From…
A Major Confidence Boost →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/09/a-major-confidence-boost/';
When my travel team moved to the next level to try and boost their intensity and development, I said I’d…
SoccerDad’s Weekly Twitter Updates for 2009-03-09 →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/09/soccerdads-weekly-twitter-updates-for-2009-03-09/';
For those of you curious in > 140 chars about how I’m pushing/challenging my U12…
Will The Economy Kill HS Soccer? →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/06/will-the-economy-kill-hs-soccer/';
I happened to catch a tweet from @jenmenke the other day that brought to light something that may…
Fort Worth Bans Energy Drinks at Soccer Games →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/06/fort-worth-bans-energy-drinks-at-soccer-games/';
The Fort Worth Youth Soccer Association began to notice a disturbing trend where parents…
Describe Watching A Child Play Sports In 8 Words →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/05/describe-watching-a-child-play-sports-in-8-words/';
Found this on Twitter and had to share. Mark Hyman, author of the upcoming book …
Dealing With Serious Injuries In Youth Soccer →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/05/dealing-with-serious-injuries-in-youth-soccer/';
Over at Youth Soccer Insider, they have an informative article on how to deal…
Twitter Changing The Game at On The Pitch →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/04/twitter-changing-the-game-at-on-the-pitch/';
I admit I was very skeptical about Twitter at first. I just couldn’t see the…
Rhode Island May Form Council To Settle Parent... →
tweetmeme_url = 'http://onthepitch.org/2009/03/04/rhode-island-may-form-council-to-settle-parent-disputes/';
This could make things very interesting. Across much of the country,…
Political Style Fundraising for Youth Soccer →
Happened across this on Twitter, and have to say I was surprised. The Jackson Hole Youth Soccer Association is holding a $75/plate fundraiser with live music, food, auction, etc.
The First…
The Dizzy Llamas →
I’ve seen some funny team names, and like to think a couple of my teams have unique names (Lunachicks and Lil’ Sheetz - sponsored by Sheetz of course). But I stumbled across this athletic club today…
Cleartainers - Portable Recycling Bins →
Following up on yesterday’s environmental impact of youth soccer post, I wanted to mention an interesting product that can help with recycling. Many leagues don’t like to deal with recycling…
How Environmentally Unfriendly is Youth Soccer? →
I happened to see a post over at Sideline Soccer that caught my eye. The folks at TreeHugger listed soccer as the 2nd most environmentally unfriendly sport because of how popular it is…
Effective Field Lighting →
If your league or municipality happens to be involved with the construction of a new soccer complex or the lighting of a previously unlit field, field lighting can be a source of confusion…
Effective Field Lighting →
If your league or municipality happens to be involved with the construction of a new soccer complex or the lighting of a previously unlit field, field lighting can be a source of confusion…
Cleartainers - Portable Recycling Bins →
Following up on yesterday’s environmental impact of youth soccer post, I wanted to mention an interesting product that can help with recycling. Many leagues don’t like to deal with recycling…
The Dizzy Llamas →
I’ve seen some funny team names, and like to think a couple of my teams have unique names (Lunachicks and Lil’ Sheetz - sponsored by Sheetz of course). But I stumbled across this athletic club today…