Greetings!
CYSA and Nor Cal fall leagues start this weekend. We wish everyone a fun and successful season.
Our high school boys are taking Boca time off while playing high school soccer. Stay healthy!
Our club marketing and fundraising committees are just being formed. If you have any experience and interest in these areas, please contact the club. More detailed information will be forthcoming.
Fall means a change in day light. Teams need to start thinking about field requirements as the days get shorter.
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Coaches Corner
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Berhane Andeberhan, Technical Director
"BEST PRACTICES FOR COACHING SOCCER IN THE UNITED STATES" We would like to encourage all of our Boca Juniors coaches and parents to get a hold of the document with the above title and familiarize themselves with it and particularly study the sections relevant to their specific teams. A great deal of credit and gratitude is due the Coaching Department of US Soccer for producing the booklet outlining the recommended Philosophy and Guidelines for Youth Soccer Development in our country! While many people from varied backgrounds have made great contributions to the development of our youth, this document produced by US Soccer goes a long way towards unifying the principles and approaches to our game based on research and internationally accepted standards of coaching. The piece starts with basic ideas to consider when coaching youth; including factors such as age, goal setting, age-appropriate areas of emphasis and the biological development of children. While acknowledging that coaching is a process of developing competitive players, the recommendations affirm the need for developing skill and creativity at the earliest ages before focusing on outcome. Once the players get to the teenage years the emphasis shifts to tactical training. Then challenges such as learning to function in a group as well as focusing on competition and outcome become prominent. There is a thoughtful discussion of the characteristics of the youngsters at each age group. Specific training suggestions as well as recommendations of emphasis that are age-appropriate are given in each case. The recommendations include coaching qualifications, emphasis of training, goals of practices, conditions of practices (field size, numbers of players), expectations from the matches and number of matches per year. Boca coaches must make this booklet a valuable tool for ideas and as a standard for evaluating our work. This knowledge will save us from the usual pitfall of 'always doing your favorite exercises regardless of the age of your players' and make us think about issues such as age appropriate practices, games and physical demands on our players. US Soccer has made copies of "Best Practices" available for downloading at the link below. |
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Youth Academy News
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Brandon Cavitt, Director
We were really happy to see the large attendance at the Intensive Training for the Youth Academy August 13th-17th. The boys and girls worked on technique and were introduced to small tactics through small side games and getting plenty of touches on the ball. There is a definite style of play developing with our young Boca players, even the U8's. A creative and confident play with the ball at a player's foot is becoming more of a habit instead of an accident, and it's exciting to watch. As we enter the month of September, the Youth Academy will take part in the Region 1 Developmental League this fall. The league is hosted by Nor Cal Premier Soccer and sanctioned by US Club Soccer. Boca has participated in the Region 1 League for the past 4 years. Our district was the first to establish its own U9/10 Developmental League. Region 1 is now the model for other districts planning to establish their own leagues. Go Boca!!! |
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CASA September Calendar
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For a detailed calendar, view our website's calendar tab. |
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Show Me Brilliance!
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Guest Coaching Impresses Boca 93 and 94 Sub-Group, by Vince Friend
Our U 13 and U 14 boys and girls teams were fortunate to welcome Rene Miramontes, U.S. Soccer National Staff Coach to our week-long Intensive Training sessions from August 13th - 17th. Everyone involved came away impressed with the knowledge and enthusiasm that Coach Rene shared with us. As many of you already know, we have organized our teams into sub-groups with the coaches and players coordinating activities and schedules whenever it is practical in order to benefit individuals, teams and the club as a whole. The concept was on full display during our recent two-a-day sessions and by all accounts it was a success. The sessions provided an opportunity for the coaches in our U 13 and U 14 sub-group to spend more time with all of the players in the group which benefited players and coaches alike. Larchmont Park was full of energy as each morning began with Berhane leading a hearty dynamic warm up. As an added bonus we were joined by the Youth Academy players and coaches for the warm up phase. This not only livened things up, it actually helped the older players to focus more and to work on their leadership skills. After warm up, teams broke out into smaller groups which provided for a lot of repetitions and training on specific topics. Morning sessions focused on the technical side of the game with dribbling, receiving balls, passing and driving balls as topics. In the afternoon, we turned our attention to small group tactics with 2 v 1, 2 v 2, 3 v 2, playing to target and team possession all being covered extensively. Both morning and afternoon sessions reserved at least half an hour for small sided games, allowing players to "play the game" while practicing what they learned. To close each training session, Berhane took the players through a series of stretching and relaxation exercises, stressing the importance of allowing the body to rest and recover. Coach Rene took one group each day and alternated between boys and girls during the week. He was demanding and wasted no time placing high expectations on the quality of play. After explaining the first in his progression of exercises, he could be heard exhorting the players to "show me brilliance" with their play. Showing us brilliance became a consistent theme throughout the week and our teams responded with great spirit. His approach was sharply focused on the details needed to excel in competitive play. As he worked with the players, he entertained an audience of several Boca coaches at a time who were keen to absorb the knowledge he was sharing. The sessions were so lively and enthusiastic that it even prompted one parent to exclaim, "Boy, this makes me want to go out there a play. What a blast!" It certainly was fun, but at the same time, the work rate for the players was very high and the pace of play very fast. A perfect example of what we strive to do as coaches - keep the game fun while getting the players to work their hardest and advance their skills. In addition to Rene and Berhane, in true Boca style, we were joined by numerous coaches for every session. Several of the coaches from our older teams spent time with us, and we appreciate their help and support. All in all it was an excellent week of training for our subgroup. Thanks to Rene Miramontes, Berhane and all of our coaches for such a great team effort. I look forward to seeing all of our players continue to work hard and "Show Me Brilliance." Go Boca! |
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Boca 96 Girls
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by Jim Merril
The Boca 96 U11 Girls are on a roll. The team completed the NorCal spring league with a record of 5- 3-1 placing 4th in the premier division. The Beaverton Cup in Portland, Oregon was next on the schedule where the girls won the first three games of tournament with a goal differential of +17 which earned them a trip to the finals. The championship game was against a very physical Washington team, and the girls played hard but ended losing 3-0. The U.S. Women's National Team played a game in San Jose on July 28th and the Boca 96 Girls were there. A big thanks goes to Jeff Gregg for scoring front row seats! Abby Wambach stopped by after the game for some autographs which was a huge thrill. A day and time the girls will always remember. This year has been a transition year for the team. Moving from a small field and a 12 player roster to the large field and a 16 player roster has been a challenge. However, Coach Dave Underhill and Assistant Coach Katie Ulan have eased the transition by giving the players plenty of encouragement and having a consistent positive message. The team will be competing in the CYSA Division 6 fall league as well as the NorCal State Cup. Please visit our team website for lots of great pictures and other information on the team. |
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Boca '92 Blue U15 Girls Finalists in the North vs. South Tournament
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by Janis Tapping
The girls participated in the 19th Annual North vs. South Tournament in San Luis Obispo on August 4 & 5, 2007. There were eight teams in the Black U15girls group. With their coach, Frank Ramirez, and assistant coach, Maria Elena Ramirez, rooting them on from the sidelines, the girls won all three games in their bracket to go onto the Championship game for the group. The first half of the first game against California Odyssey '93 Red ended with Boca down 1 to 0. However, Boca came back fighting in the second half. Elena Alvarez scored the first goal on a well- placed cross by Jessica Pena. Courtney Woods, guest player, scored the winning goal on an assist from Danielle Enright. A tight defense kept Odyssey from scoring any additional goals and ensuring a win for the team. The second game against Benicia's Arsenal team was a 4 - 0 shut-out. Stephanie Jones "floated" the ball over the goalie's head on a header from Maddie Jaworski for the first goal. Danielle followed through on a dropped ball by the goalie to score the 2nd goal. Courtney and Danielle once again teamed up to score the 3rd & 4th goals with each assisting the other. In the third game against San Jose Almaden Elite, Danielle and Courtney scored goals both assisted by Elena. A tight defense with Karli Kridler as goalie ensured another shut-out game. The team played really well against Madrid Premier '92 with some great goal saves by Karli, who had an awesome weekend as a goalie. The parent of Madrid's goalie was very impressed with our goalie. Danielle scored the only goal, once again assisted by Courtney but the team was unable to overcome the 2 point lead. Frank is very proud of his team saying, "The girls had an exceptional tournament, scoring 9 goals in 4 matches and allowing 4 goals against quality opponents. I was impressed at the intensity the team displayed." |
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CASA Fields Update
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by Dave Underhill
What a great summer it has been with all of the Blue and Yellow running and playing all over Larchmont, Ashton and Sacramento. Larchmont: The fields at Larchmont have been looking great and the Club continues to receive praise from opponents as to the vastly improved conditions. The continued maintenance, partnership with the parks program and ability to move the practice and playing areas around now that the old goals have been removed are the keys to the improving conditions. It has also been nice to have the new portable goals and equipment available right there at the fields with the storage container in place. Field area #4 has also started to show improvement with the mowing and fertilizing of the Bermuda grass. It should be considered a valid practice spot by all teams. As the Bermuda grass continues to grow, it will become an even better practice area for us to use in the future. Ashton: As August arrived, we said good-bye to Ashton Park until January. It was a fantastic effort by our Club and its parents to secure the field use. The plans are to work closer with the parks program next year to secure more time earlier and help to maintain and improve the field, starting with new portable goals. Cordova High School: We continue are relationship with Cordova and look to start securing practice times in late November and early December. Put in your request early and BUDGET for $96.00 an hour if you plan to use it by yourself. Hooking up with other teams to share the field and cost would be a good idea. Capital Christian: We will also continue are relationship with the local school this year, starting sometime in October. Cost and availability for the fields will follow. Mather Sports Complex: BIG changes for the Sports Complex as they have started a major reconstruction process on the entire facility. Look for one to four all weather Soccer fields to come online within the next year. The line to use the fields has already started to form, and we are somewhere near the front of it. Thanks to everyone for the continued care and respect of all of our fields. Please continue to practice this behavior as we move into the Fall. |
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