Teamwork

Great teams emerge because teammates work hard to create a positive, encouraging, supportive environment together. To help your athlete or team get focused on being a great teammate, practice these four steps:

          1.  Think and name a great team.

          2.  What makes that team great?

          3.  What they have that we have?

          4.  How can we get what they have?

Improve Your Moves - Soccer Skills & Drills

If you’ve learned anything about soccer training, it’s that your success as a soccer player depends on much more than on just how well you can kick the soccer ball. The fate of the game rests on strategy, teamwork, and decision-making. That being said, there are several soccer skills and techniques that you’ll want to perfect, so you can tap into them when you need to. These are useful soccer skills that you can use when you're trying to get out of a tight spot on the soccer field or need to beat a defender. Afterall, while the game of soccer is much more than just your soccer skills on the ball, those skills are the foundation of your game. You'll want to master the ability to control, shield, juggle, and dribble the ball with both feet.

We believe that sports offers an incredible pathway to learning life skills. Soccer helps build confidence on and off the field, and there are teachable moments of success and disappointment. Soccer brings people together -- all it takes is a ball and a few people, and the seeds of friendship are planted. 

With all activities, the focus should be on encouragement, enthusiasm, team work, and enjoyment. The more a child grows in their knowledge and love of the game, the greater the chances that they will become lifelong enthusiasts of wellness and physical activity.

Competition is a hot word out there in the soccer world. Everyone agrees that competition lies at the core of soccer’s value; it makes the game fun and exciting while improving players. But to what degree should competition function in youth soccer that risk emphasizing winning over more important aspects of player development, such as fun and improvement?

Soccer! It’s the most popular game in the world played on every continent and in every season of the year. In Canada, it’s ranked as the number one team sport played by kids aged 5 to 14 with 42% of kids participating. And why not? It’s a fantastic game. It keeps kids active, requires little in terms of equipment, leads to fewer injuries amongst players than in other sports, it’s easy to learn, and most importantly, it’s fun!  As with any sport, skill and fun levels increase with the more opportunity kids have to play and practice. There are so many creative ways to introduce children to the game and to continue lifelong learning of it through activities which focus on the most fundamental skills in soccer: passing, receiving and controlling the ball, shooting, and dribbling. 

A sense of belonging is a human need, just like the need for food and shelter. Feeling that you belong is most important in seeing value in life. A sense of belonging to a greater community improves your motivation, health, and happiness. East Texas Soccer Association wants be a positive part of the Mineola community. 

On the US Youth Soccer website, Sam Snow writes: “We believe that youth soccer is too competitive at the early ages, resulting in an environment that is detrimental to both players and adults; much of the negative behavior reported about parents is associated with preteen play.”

 The competitive air can cause coaches to focus on the results of games rather than on developing well-rounded and savvy soccer players. Also, it can enable parents to breathe venomous insults on coaches, referees, players, and even fellow parents.When coaching a team a coach has the responsibility to ensure that players and parents understand the values that competition buoys. As these values can take a degree of maturity to understand.
“Everybody loves competition,” said Roberto Gil, the Soccer Director of America Scores. “You get more participation and attendance. The kids try harder. It means more to everybody … Of course this has a downside. Players and parents can get out of hand. And if the competition is not designed well then it might be counterproductive.” Losing teaches you about sportsmanship, about pride, about respect, and about what you need to do to improve as an individual and as a team,” “Learning to compete is valuable, as long as you define competition in the right way. It’s about much more than just winning.”