VARIOUS HISTORY, ANECDOTES, ODDS & ENDS

SPEECH BY TRANG FRENCH AT BARONS' 2002 GIRLS SOCCER BANQUET

There is a label for each parent here. Some people call us soccer parents or
soccer moms or soccer dads etc. It is a label all of us feel very proud of.
It is the badge of honor we earned from driving our daughters day after day,
weekend after weekend to soccer practices and games.
  Each of the parents here also deserve another badge of honor, the badge we
earned from being parents of a female athlete. For giving your daughters
every opportunity to succeed in sport, as you would have done for your sons.
  Let me tell you the few benefits of being a female athlete. First are the
obvious ones, soccer is exercise and soccer is fun (for both the players and
the parents). But there is another benefit of being a female athlete.
  According to the Women's Sports Foundation, female high school athletes
are more likely than non-athletes to do well in high school and college, to be
involved in extracurricular activities, to stay in sports as adults, and to
become community leaders. Female athletes are 92% less likely to get
involved with drugs, 80% less likely to get pregnant, and more likely to
graduate from high school than their non-athletic peers. We now know that
exercise reduces the likelihood of osteoporosis in women as they age.
  Women who were athletic as children report greater confidence, self-esteem and
pride in their physical and social selves than those who are not involved in sports.
  So in short, in our minds as parents, this means our daughter will not do
drugs, she will finish high school and she will probably go to college.  She
will achieve these goals with the help of athletic involvement.
  But, that is enough about the players and the parents, we are here to
honor our coach as well.
  Remember a few years back when your daughter indicated that she wanted to
play soccer in high school? Not just any high school but at the legendary
Bonita Vista High. So, you told her to start by setting her goals. As a
parent, our job is to encourage her, provide her with opportunities to excel
and then to drop our daughter off at soccer try outs in November. We wished
her good luck and then held our breath.
  Then after congratulating her for making the team, we have one more wish.
We would pray that she would have a good coach. A coach who has a fair
knowledge of the game but still cares for our daughter and treats her as an
individual. A coach who encourages her to further her game, teaches her
the "I can do" attitude and most of all, someone who will happily and gladly
spend her precious time-off with a team of loud and energetic teenage girls.
  A couple of years ago, Ronnie's dad decided to retire from the program and
passed the torch to Ronnie. I watched Ronnie grow from someone who was there
to help her dad to become the head coach of one of the best soccer programs
in the county. In three short years, Ronnie got married, taught full time,
took over the full responsibility of the high school Girls Varsity Soccer
team, had a beautiful baby boy and then became the head coach for the
woman's soccer program at Southwestern College. I guess she must be one of
those woman who can do it all.
  I am here as a mother of a senior, someone who has been in this program
for the last four year. This soccer team still holds the state of California's
longest undefeated record in league play and our daughters have the
privilege of being part of this legacy. How many of us here had the
privilege of playing in CIF playoffs when you were in high school? My
daughter was in the CIF playoffs four times. Thank you Bonita Vista soccer
program and Ronnie for allowing her to fulfill part of her dream. Thank you
for trying so hard to make the girls feel like they belong and for making
soccer fun. Thank you for giving our daughters these wonderful and precious
memories. Thanks for yelling at the girls when they made mistakes (it is a
dirty job but someone has to do it). Thank you for preparing them for life
by teaching them to deal with the winning as well as the losing. Thank you
for being our daughter's coach.
  So, 10, 20 or 30 years from now, when some of these young women become
successful CEOs or hold important positions in government, you can look back
and credit the life lessons you learned from soccer. Through soccer, our
daughters learned to set goals, to work hard, support their teammates and
to have fun.

MARISSA STANSBURY (BELOW)

ONE OF THE BEST-LIKED FRIENDS AND PLAYERS TO COMPETE  IN THE BARONS PROGRAM. AFTER SUFFERING A DEVASTATING KNEE INJURY HER JUNIOR  YEAR (RUPTURED ACL, TORN CARTILAGE, TORN LCL) SHE WAS PUT BACK TOGETHER BY ED  AYUB (THERAPY) AND WENT ON TO EARN A DIVISION ONE SCHOLARSHIP. MARISSA WAS  TOUGH (OUTSIDE DEFENDER), LOYAL AND DEPENDABLE (1988).

 

UNITED STATES OLYMPIC TRAINING CENTER, CHULA VISTA, CA. (1996)

 

 

 

PRESENTATION

 

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL CLINIC (SAN DIEGO)

RON PIETILA (BONITA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL)

 1. MAXIMUM USE OF TRAINING TIME
 2. THE ATTRACTIVE HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM
 3. INCORPORATING PLAYERS OF VARYING SKILLS ONTO THE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM

LECTURE
Hopefully you will come away with something of value today...or maybe we’ll just validate some of the good things that you already do.

* Get organized
* learn to use other coaches good ideas
* implement your own drills using new ideas
* Players are really the best coaches (role models)
* Don’t give aid and comfort to the enemy by not being prepared mentally or physically
* The only meaningful tradition is success
* Have the kids play hard for you
* Settle your defense as soon as possible
* If you can’t trust them in the classroom, then you can’t trust them on the field


I. "MAXIMIZING USE OF TRAINING TIME"
A. An idea from coaching football
1. have a schedule as a reminder, something to come back to...set times but don’t get locked in (we have a tendency to get lazy and waste time in soccer or spend too much time on perfecting a skill that is rarely used in a match)


B. The practice schedule
1) EARLY OUTS-to develop or perfect individual skills (it becomes awkward at various levels if you wait until the end of practice)
2) JOG/STRETCH-Anson Dorrance put in words what we have all suspected at one time or another...that this time is useless as it relates to actual time on task...but in terms of bonding its value is immeasurable...so we just grin and bear it...make sure they get stretched.
3) JUGGLE/SKILLS-always take time to maintain skills on a daily basis...you must have the ball at your foot (or other body parts) and make a decent pass before you can hope to teach much else (the ball will invariably end up in the presence of someone who will disrupt flow)...work each day on both the left and right foot...good time to check on individual progress.
4) DEAD BALL SITUATIONS (OFFENSE)-most goals in big games are scored from dead ball situations (mostly corner kicks)...even very poorly skilled or inexperienced players can be dangerous if given specific instructions on what to do (how about a decoy?)...dead ball situations can make a winner out of a team that is being dominated...repetition is important.
5) GRID OFFENSE-DEFENSE-lots of proper touches, movement.. develop skill and confidence with limited space (emphasize the importance of vision)...don’t get caught with the ball and nowhere to go...work in players of varying skills (don’t let your better players get lazy or frustrated-allow them to be teachers)...don’t be afraid to remind less skilled players that they have an obligation to improve.
6) BREAK-water, etc...bonding
7) OFFENSIVE-DEFENSIVE EMPHASIS-shooting, clearing, build-up, defense-offense in the box etc...team working with the goalkeepers...instruction and drills as needed.
8) SCRIMMAGE-SHORT/FULL-reward, conditioning and preparation for regularly scheduled matches..a chance to look at your best junior varsity athletes.
9) DEAD BALL SITUATIONS-remind defense how dangerous the offense is at this point...praise courage...team hustle.
10) CONDITIONING/COOL DOWN-balance sprints with endurance...encourage everyone to participate despite aches and pains...coaches and athletes must learn the difference between “hurting” and “injured”.

II. “DEVELOPING AN ATTRACTIVE PROGRAM” (above and beyond the norm)
A. The truths
1) Ya gotta win enough to meet expectations of players, parents,

community and administration
2) Ya gotta win enough to feel good about yourself
3) Ya gotta win enough to attract all athletes on campus that could help the program
4) Official booster clubs create more problems than solutions...utilize only parents and

community members who want to help with no strings attached
5) Ya gotta raise money
B. The questions...(that you ask yourself)
1) Is she loyal?
2) Can I trust her?
3) Is she a winner?
C. The fund raisers (everyone has their own thing-and it’s not an economic thing)
1) Community Service
a. 75% of funds raised are retained by the players
2) Tournament
3) Tournament Program/Concession Stand
D. The summer trips and tournaments (for competition, reward and cultural experience

1982- Disneyland   2000- San Francisco/Denver
1983- Calgary   2002- The Bahamas
1984- Las Vegas   2003  
1985- Hawaii   2004  
1986- Mex. City (World Cp)   2005  
1987- Washington D.C.   2006  
1988- Denver   2007 San Francisco
1989- Denver   2008 San Francisco
1990- British Columbia      
1991- Hawaii      
1992- British Columbia      
1993- The Bahamas      
1994- Maui      
1995- The Bahamas      
1996- Maui      
1997- The Bahamas      
1998- Cancun      
1999- Cancun/World Cup Fnl      

 

“INCORPORATING PLAYERS OF VARYING SKILLS INTO THE HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM “
SUGGESTIONS
1. REMEMBER THAT THE PLAYERS CAN BE THE BEST COACHES, SERVING AS ROLE MODELS
2. AVOID ALLOWING PLAYERS OF SIMILAR SKILLS TO ALWAYS WORK TOGETHER
3. BALANCE YOUR DRILLS TO PRODUCE GROWTH AT ALL SKILL LEVELS
4. DEVELOP DRILLS THAT ALLOW FOR TEAM EMPHASIS AND FOR INDIVIDUAL CREATIVENESS
5. NEVER ALLOW SKILLS OR CLUB SEGREGATION
6. IF YOU NEED BODIES LOOK FOR FAST, ATHLETIC PLAYERS...

THEN GIVE THEM AS MANY TOUCHES AS POSSIBLE IN PRACTICE...

DON’T BURDEN INEXPERIENCED PLAYERS WITH LOTS OF RESPONSIBILITIES EARLY ON


 

THE 1987 CIF CO-CHAMPS TAKE A FUN PHOTO JUST PRIOR TO THE PLAYOFFS. EASTLAKE SHORES PROVIDES THE BACKGROUND.