What if one did not have to pay to play?

One of the aspects of youth soccer in the U.S. is that children pay money to belong to organized youth clubs. The funds are needed to cover the cost of administration, coaching fees, uniforms, fields, etc. In addition, a significant and substantial portion of expenses for parents is the cost of travel to league games and tournaments.

Many of us have cited that most countries including some of the poorest countries of the world do not charge kids to play. Kids simply go to the park and play with their friends and neighbors. They do not have to deal with the organizational burdens that we face here. To be certain, organization has a cost and increases expenses. In other countries, players do not have to deal with organized football until a club (often a professional club) notices their individual talents and invites them to join. Then the club provides coaching, equipment, travel arrangements and facilities to play for free.

While this concept may sound ideal, it is not as rosy as it may first appear. Not all youngsters invited to these clubs end up as successful professional soccer players, and in most cases will have interrupted their academic education to join a club. Essentially the person who joins a club at a young age becomes an apprentice and is taken out of the academic stream. By contrast the US system ensures that all of our children keep their opportunities of pursuing their education while playing youth soccer thus preserving their chances of professional life outside of professional soccer. This is a significant distinction between our system and the rest of the world. Since a tiny percentage will eventually become professionals in soccer, we must guard against promoting professional soccer to the exclusion of the players' education.

Keeping one's educational opportunities viable, while attempting to play soccer at the highest level is extremely relevant in the US. This is because there is a wide open opportunity for youngsters to receive a college education and in many cases players can receive soccer scholarships to help defray the cost of college which is a wonderful benefit to deserving soccer players. Unfortunately, a balanced perspective is absent when people attempt to entice youngsters to play for their youth clubs with the promise of getting them into universities and securing scholarships for them. The risk is that impressionable youngsters can and have been persuaded to attend universities with soccer as the primary factor, to the exclusion of academic qualifications, professional goals and academic fit.

In a few cases efforts have been made, including here in the US, to organize sports academies so players, while immersed in daily sports training, are also able to keep up with their academic life. This appears to be a happy compromise although there have been some significant criticisms of the system. Primarily, such programs can only serve the few elite athletes they can accommodate. Additionally, separating young athletes from their network of friends and family to attend a special academy will predictably affect their psyche in ways that may not always be desirable. This could possibly curtail their academic choices because of the limit of educational opportunities at such an academy.

Obviously the state of the youth game and the organization of clubs is a byproduct of our attendant realities including the geographical size, the rapid growth of the sport and the fact that we have relatively young professional leagues, to mention a few. Given our current realities, can we do something to make sure that youngsters do not have to pay to play? Is there a way that we can let youngsters receive quality training and competition for free without being uprooted from their home environment?

An alternative model that would solve most of the main problems discussed above would be establishing academies in the localities of the players. In such a model, players would be selected from the local communities as in the current Boca Juniors teams but their attendance in the academy would be free. Of necessity the coaching staff would be of a high caliber capable of providing the type of intensive training that will develop the players to participate in higher levels of competition. This would entail more rigorous training and a greater training to game ratio. Participation in leagues, tournaments and special events would be determined by the academy staff based on sound sports principles. While there would be an increase in the intensity and quality of training, a significant component must be focusing on their academic work. Practical measures and requirements (such as a compulsory study period) would have to be included to ensure academic discipline concomitant with emphasis in soccer. In this way the quality of soccer training would be raised without removing the youngsters from their home environment or compromising their education. In fact, the opportunity to be part of the academy could be used as an incentive for keeping up and raising their academic performance. Extensive advisement about college would be provided, focusing on academic and social issues for selecting colleges in addition to the chance to earn college scholarships.

The one remaining major question is the cost of running such an academy and whether there are ways to raise the funds to run such a program. Fund raising is an obvious answer as is done by universities that support various academic and sports programs by conducting major fund raisers and endowing the various programs. Is it naïve to think that youth clubs can copy the model used by universities?

How great would it be if Boca Juniors players did not have to pay to play! Perhaps it would be difficult to endow the whole club immediately but may be we could start by having one boys' team and one girls' team and eventually work to have all the teams train and play for free? Of course, these are questions reflecting the dreams of a coach not a financial expert! But what if our kids did not have to pay to play!!! I would love to hear from any member of the Boca family who would like to discuss this idea!

The young Boca players have been in full swing with practices and league games. As the players strive to become more comfortable with the ball at their feet, watching soccer on television can provide simple soccer ideas and fun tricks to practice in the backyard alone or with friends.

The Women's World Cup Final aired this past Sunday, and the UEFA Champions League airs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays through December. Games can be seen on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic. Watching soccer on television reinforces the soccer ideas being taught by the coaches, and it gives the players a chance to see the games being played at a very high level.

Along with fall league games, teams will participate in the Sac United Boo Fest and the Ballistic Fall Harvest Jamboree.

GO BOCA!!!!

• 10/4 - Club Meeting 11:30 - 1:00 @ CASA Office
• 10/5 - Marketing Meeting 11:30 - 1:00 @ CASA Office
• 10/7 - Walk for the Cure with Team Tarryn 8:00 - 10:00 @ Capital Steps
• 10/7 - Team Pictures @ Larchmont Park
• 10/8 - Columbus Day - Office Closed
• 10/10 - Coaches Meeting 7:00 - 8:00 @ CASA Office
• 10/16 - Managers Meeting 7:00 - 8:00 @ CASA Office
• 10/17 - RCYSL Meeting
• 10/18 - Club Meeting 11:30 - 1:00 @ CASA Office
• 10/19 - Marketing Meeting 11:30 - 1:00 @ CASA Office
• 10/30 - Spooky Scrimmage 5:30 - 6:30 @ Larchmont Park
• 10/31 - Halloween - Be Safe and Have Fun!

For a detailed calendar, view our website's calendar tab.

Walk to find a Cure, a letter from the Johnson Family
(Photography by Craig Haarmeyer)

Hello fellow soccer families ~

Some of you already know that our daughter Tarryn Johnson (Boca Juniors 95 Blue) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes this summer. Since then we have been busy adjusting to Tarryn's new "routine" and, of course, researching the disease.

We have learned that, although diabetes will be part of Tarryn's life until there is a cure, we don't have to let diabetes rule Tarryn's life! We have also learned Type 1 diabetes is a serious, life-threatening disease that affects millions of people - many of them children. There is no way to prevent this type of diabetes - or even to predict which child will develop it next.

But there is some good news. For the first time, scientists are predicting that we CAN expect to see a cure within our lifetime!

That's why we are writing to you. Now, more than ever, EACH of us can be a part of bringing about a cure. Your donation to JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), even a few dollars, can make a life-changing difference to families such as ours. Together, we CAN make the cure a reality.

OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WILL BE TAKING PART IN THE WALK TO CURE DIABETES, SPONSORED BY THE JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION, ON OCTOBER 7, 2007. THE WALK STARTS AT THE WEST STEPS OF THE CAPITAL, AND WE WILL BE THERE WITH A LARGE PLACARD FOR "TEAM TARRYN." (REGISTRATION FOR THE WALK STARTS AT 8:00 A.M. AND THE WALK STARTS AT 9:00 A.M.)

Please help us make a difference for Tarryn and the millions of other children and adults living with diabetes. There are a number of ways you can participate:

• You can join Team Tarryn and walk with us on Oct 7th
• You can contribute via the Internet. Got to www.JDRF.org, click on the green sneaker and donate to our team by searching TEAM TARRYN under the heading "Support a Walker." Your online donation can be made by credit card and is tax-deductible.

Our family goal is to raise as much as possible this year for diabetes research. Every dollar will help bring us one step closer to the cure. Thank you in advance for your support, and we hope to see you at the Walk on October 7th.

With love and thanks,

Amber and Eddie Johnson and Family

A name should have a common thread that leads to the core of the business. A name should flow throughout all integral parts of a business. A name means everything when it comes to marketing a business, it could make or break a business. These naming concepts are fundamental to marketing. The name of our soccer club and our teams are just as important.

We are the Boca Jrs!

In every instance of writing or referring to our teams, it is imperative that we be consistent.

• We use year and gender to differentiate our teams
• We use the word Blue to differentiate more than one team in an age group
• We do not use punctuation, i.e. Jrs. or '89

Correct names:

• Boca Jrs 98
• Boca Jrs 96
• Boca Jrs 95 Blue
• Boca Jrs 92
• Boca Jrs 89

Incorrect names:

• CABJ 97 Blue
• CA Boca Juniors 95
• CASA 94
• Boca 91
• Boca Jrs 97'

Boca Jrs is our team name. When a team signs up for an event, the club or league name is usually required. RCU is used for RCYSL/CYSA events and CASA is used for US Club Soccer events.

We encourage everyone to be consistent in the use of their team names. Consistent use will increase club recognition and reputation which will help all the teams in the future.

It has long been my complaint that here in the U.S. we value athleticism over soccer ability. As a youth coach I often get calls or e-mails from college coaches inquiring about one of the players or about the team that I coach. The first question asked, 99 percent of the time is, "Do you have any athletes?" or "Is she athletic?" My typical response is that I have soccer players, some more athletic than others. The point is that in the U.S., too many seem to value athleticism more than technique, creativity, vision, or simply an understanding of how to play this beautiful game of soccer. It is sad because those people lack the vision necessary to understand that in the final analysis players with soccer abilities will prevail over players whose success on the soccer field is determined by their athleticism. This was clearly evident in the recent loss to Brazil. Soccer is not track; you need to be more than just an athlete. You need to be a soccer player.

Brazil dominated the U.S. team in every phase of the game. They made it a soccer game and not a track meet, a bad development for the U.S. Brazil clearly demonstrated that soccer will always win. If the people would modify their evaluation process, they would realize that players who solve soccer problems with soccer skills are more valuable than those whose success is based on size, speed, or strength. I see many young ladies in the U.S. that are creative, technically gifted, and tactically sound, yet many of these players are overlooked because of apparent physical limitations.

The mistakes are many, and they do start at the top. I have been to regional ODP camps as a coach and have had the opportunity to witness first hand the injustice that is done to those kids that appreciate and understand the finer points of the game but might not have sprinter speed. Their skill is smooth, their touch is velvet, they are deceptive and creative, but they get sent home because they are too slow or not big enough. Wow is all I can say when I see this happening. How do you let a player like that get away at the age of 15? Oh that's right; he/she is too small or too slow.

Brazil showed us that size is irrelevant and speed of play is more important than your 40 yard dash time. The question is do we (U.S. Soccer, college coaches and youth coaches) have our eyes open? Do we realize that it is our responsibility to teach the game? It's not good enough to ask your athletic forward just to run by people because she can or let your big center back simply out-muscle a player to recover possession. There will come a time when she can no longer solve that problem with speed or strength. It will have to be solved with soccer skills: deception, fakes and feints, dribbling or positioning, footwork, defensive angles, timing on a tackle, etc.

It's our job and responsibility to teach the game the right way. Of course, athleticism is important, but it should not be the reason a player is successful on the field. A player's success needs to be generated by a player's ability to solve soccer problems with soccer skills. Oh, by the way, I believe that is what the Brazilians did vs. the U.S. Too many players are slipping through the cracks, and it is high time we focus on developing the problem-solving skills of our players!