So, you have had a long week, full of challenges. Work issues, running around to get the kids to school, after school activities and sports, dealing with bills among tons of other things. Stress level through the roof and wish you could just get away. You realize that it is not possible. What can you do to just relieve some of the stress? Go out and get drunk? Not a good option as the consequences could be high. Go for a drive and listen to loud music? Sounds good but it may not relieve all the stress. You then realize that your kid has a youth soccer game and you must take him/her. As the game begins and you are sipping your favorite cup of java or tea the moments of the game are beginning to slowly creep under your skin. Your encouragement comments quickly turn into loud comments and eventually full blown yelling at your kid, because in your opinion he/she are not doing their best or playing well. Then you realize that the other players are being more physical than your kid and you decide to stand up for your kid and start yelling at the opposition players. That spills to you calling the referee blind and all other explosive comments. The coach at some point has to come into your rage as he/she are not doing a good job managing the team or the game. 

The game ends and while driving away from the game in the car, you begin to point out all the things your kid did not do right as well as what you think the coach should have done and what the referee should have called. Now you have a kid that is just bowing his/her head and can't wait till you stop or the ride is over, whichever comes first. 

You arrive at the house, get a beer and lay at the couch to watch the football game. Your attention is now shifted to the football game. Are you feeling any better about the youth soccer game that ended? No because it does not matter and your attention is shifted to the football game. However your kid is still trying to recover from all the comments and yelling you did. He or she do not remember the score of the game or what really happened. He/she remember how dad behaved and how they felt at the time.

The lesson here is, DO NOT use the weekend youth soccer games to relieve your stress as if you keep repeating the habit your kid at some point may say this is not fun and I do not want to do it any longer. I QUIT.

Instead find another activity to release your stress.

PS: This is not limited to just dads as some moms are just as guity.
​
Signed
A caring coach

Social media is a phenomenon that has taken over everyone's lives. It has been used for a lot of great things but it has also been used for a lot of bad things. In the old days we did not document every single minute of our lives as we do now. And that is fine if you are just documenting your life. But in today's society others are documenting your life and sometimes without even you knowing about it. The worst part is that you must always be aware of your surroundings and always do the right thing so you do not get caught in bad situations where someone may document them through social media.

Student athletes have even more to fear as they must live by the university's code of conduct they must not put themselves in situations that can harm them. If the school code of conduct says no drinking on campus do not get caught drinking a beer and then take a selfie with your buddies. That selfie will wind up on social media by someone posting it and coming back to the university to harm you, maybe get you kicked off the team or even campus. Athletes have worked so hard to earn that scholarship and play on a university team. Don't let a foolish moment ruin your college experience.

Who knows maybe social media will force us to better behave and make us more responsible or completely destroy our lives.

As founding members of the Central Jersey Futsal League we have witnessed the league become the premier futsal league in Central New Jersey over the years. The mission of the league is to bring futsal awareness through a safe and fun enviroment for all players regardless of skill, age and gender. Bringing futsal education about its benefits and why futsal must be first over soccer in the early youth development years and why more and more players are choosing futsal over soccer is at the front of the league's mission statement. Central Jersey Futsal will be hosting all of its games at the premier venue of Sportika. All games under one roof with plenty of free parking and great amenities.  The premier NJ futsal league at the premier NJ futsal venue is a reality. Read all information and register here: www.centraljerseyfutsal.com 

US Soccer is making changes to help the beautiful game, soccer, keep up with the rest of the world and hope to compete with other countries in producing top level soccer players. One of the things most needed in American soccer is more free play. In every top player producing country kids have a lot more free play opportunities and are encourage more to just go out and play. No structure, no coaching, no adult supervision. Just play.

U.S. Soccer has launched Grassroots initiatives to come online through the launch of the in-person and online Grassroots coaching courses, a critical concept that all Grassroots coaches will learn about is Play-Practice-Play. Researched and developed by technical leaders across the domestic Grassroots landscape, Play-Practice-Play is the optimal manner to structure a practice session for youth players, as it utilizes best practices for the learning and application of game-like scenarios.

WHAT IS PLAY-PRACTICE-PLAY?
Play-Practice-Play is a Grassroots developed philosophy designed around a player-centered approach to coaching. Taking a player centered approach places the needs and motivations of the player at the forefront of a coach’s approach to coaching his or her players. The concept of Play-Practice-Play is to allow young players to experience the game and game-like situations as much as possible. This approach differs from traditional practices that may have children standing in lines, running laps and participating in drills that don’t resemble the game of soccer. We as coaches here have always implemented a curriculum that started training sessions with rondos or small sided games followed by technical or tactical training and finishing with games. This is not being rolled out by US Soccer and mandated in their grassroots training for coaches.

Free play can be implemented and conducted in many other ways, not just during training. America must get away from so much structured, organized coach based training and have more player based free play. Parents must understand and accept the fact that if they have played soccer when they were younger things have changed. Our culture has changed. The evolution of technology has seriously changed the way kids play today. Kids do not go out on their own search for their friends and just play. The dangers of our society have made parents be more weary of their kids going out playing unsupervised. Most parents grew up going to parks or school yards with a ball and a bunch of their friends and just play. That concept is not seen as much any more. We need to recreate the school yard, no adult supervision scenario. Parents should not expect just drills and coaching from training sessions. In fact they should look for more free play from their kids' coaches. Be flexible and willing to accept new training methods. For those that do not know the sport do not allow your perception to overtake what is right or what is recommended by experts. 

​Encourage more free play

So here we are April 1st and the emails for next fall tryouts have began.  Every paying organization is claiming to have the best scenario for your young soccer player and his/her path to a college scholarship. As long as you trust them with your soccer player and write the check they will make your soccer player's dreams and off course yours, that is of a free college education a reality. Some organizations are massive and claim to be great fit because of their size and contacts others are medium size and off course there are the smaller ones. But not everything is as it appears to be. Families must do their research and come up with what is best for them which is no easy task. New Jersey Soccer Tryouts can be very strenuous and produce all kinds of results which sometimes are not realized till the families are in those organizations and find out first hand the consequences of their decisions. In today's soccer market which is full of options we are happy to be founding members of a new amazing program that we can not wait to show. It fuzes soccer and futsal in a year round curriculum. Most do not understand the magnitude of this because as we said before things are not always as they appear to be until we really take the time to review and understand them. We urge you to watch the entire video below and hope you see exactly what we mean.

Futsal training in Jackson New Jersey is once again gaining a lot of attention as we are nearing the new year and th month of January. While most people still think of futsal as a winter off season activity during the winter soccer break, soccerskillz futsal training is done year round in Jackson NJ. Soccerskillz is a proud sponsor of the USYF Futsal365 Academy in New Jersey where they train 10 months out of the year. Off course for the casual futsal player or for the players that are just discovering the many benefits of futsal soccerskillz futsal is offering a new training program that is beginning on January 12th and running for 7 weeks. The program will be conducted by academy trainers and is designed to educate the average soccer player on the benefits of futsal and use it as a development tool to better their soccer skills . All ages and skill levels are welcome. Get all the information by clicking HERE.

VERY EXCITED TO HAVE COMPLETED REGISTRATIONS FOR THE
USYF FUTSAL 365 ACADEMY TEAMS INTO THE ATLANTIC REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS.
USYF Futsal 365 Academy – The only 10-month NJ Futsal Academy – Is a member of the National Youth Futsal Development Program and is embarking on its inaugural season. With a national training curriculum and international high futsal level coaches the future is bright! In today's futsal market everyone is jumping in for the dollars, claiming to be a futsal academy but in reality being just a winter futsal training program with soccer coaches teaching outdoor soccer. These coaches are not certified futsal coaches and do not know the tactical coaching side of futsal. Therefor players are not getting futsal specific training. USYF Futsal 365 Academy only uses futsal certified trainers and participates in futsal specific USYF futsal sanctioned events. For complete details and to get constant futsal365 academy updates please visit their website at www.futsal365academy.com