Over the last twenty years, the game of soccer has become quicker and more technical. Top professional, college and youth teams, including Emerald City FC, covet the player who has pure speed and quick feet. But, if a player lacks a sprinter’s pace, they need not worry. Other elements and abilities come into play, too.

I believe it is instructive to understand how professional coaches, including our own Emerald City coaches, evaluate players during tryouts and throughout the season. Coaches are looking for players who can perform simply, efficiently and quickly. Raw pace and quick feet are definitely an advantage. But there are other factors that determine the overall speed of play of an individual player. Quick thinking and the ability to execute with skill under pressure are also vital to success.

Let me offer some tangible examples of American and English Premiership stars that represent some of these skills that are essential to an elite player. Cristiano Ronaldo, Cesc Fabregas and John Terry share little in common when they play. Ronaldo excels as an attacking wide midfielder who can mesmerize and trick defenders with his quick and fancy footwork. The more cerebral Fabregas, a central midfielder, out-wits his opponents with crafty passes slotted between defenders well before they know they’ve been beaten. Terry, a defender, is always in the right place at the right time. The one common trait these players share: they have mastered different elements of the speed of play.

Obviously, it helps to be fast and quick. We call this the speed of movement. It is pure running speed, quickness, overall fitness, strength, balance and agility. Coaches will define the speed of movement as how fast a player can move over a distance of 15 yards. Pure speed is clearly a cherished commodity. Natural speed means a player can out run his opponent and create many dangerous scoring opportunities. If a defender is fast, it means he can make a mistake and still recover. U.S. National Team forward Landon Donovan is probably the best example of an American soccer player blessed with sprinter’s speed.

A quick and agile mind can be just as vital as pure speed. We call that the speed of thought. We define it as the time it takes to recognize a situation in the game. It is the combination of perception speed and reaction time. Perception speed is the time that elapses between an occurrence of a situation in the game and its recognition by the player. If a player sees something developing, how long does it take to react and make something happen?

Arsenal’s Fabregas is the epitome of a player who benefits from quick thinking. He makes up for his lack of pure speed with an agile mind. He almost always knows where to play the ball before his defender can grasp where it’s going. He knows how to find open space to elude his marker. His outstanding skills are also pivotal. But young players can compensate for a lack of pure speed or pace with a lightening-quick mind and a strong understanding of how the game is played.

Probably more than any top professional soccer player, England captain Terry’s quick mind and deep knowledge of the game more than compensate for his obvious lack of pace. Terry is an intelligent player who understands his own limitations. As a defender, positional play is critical. And no one does it better than Terry. He is always in the right place at the right time. He always knows when to step in for a tackle, or a header, and when to delay his opponent. His play does not depend on pure speed.

The third element is what we call speed of execution. We define that as the execution of techniques of the game under pressure. How does a player finish, dribble, pass, receive and head the ball. How does he do it facing one or two defenders? Manchester United’s Ronaldo has natural quickness to manipulate the ball out of tight situations. What’s more, he has the awareness and vision to be able to play the ball to a teammate while he’s running. He’s essentially multitasking on the pitch, and it explains why he is one of the best soccer players in the world.

There is no doubt that innate talent and natural speed and quickness will enable a player to have a good start in the game. But it is the quality of training and the challenge of games that will develop overall speed of play, whether you are a professional, college or youth player. Speed of movement, quickness of feet, execution of technique under pressure and correct decisions are equal components to this improvement and ultimately, to the beauty and enjoyment of the game.

A big welcome to all of our new and returning players!  It is especially good to be able to welcome so many more players with SYSA roots, including the former Badgers / Metropolitan players, the former Mt Baker 95 Blue Cats, and many others.

     Congratulations to our girls teams currently competing in state cup, who advanced this weekend to the elimination rounds: f89g and f92g.

     Tryout for next year’s girls U-16 to U-18 teams will take place on Sat May 10 thru Mon May 12, 2008.  The exact time and location will be posted on our club website in the next couple of days:  www.emeraldcityfc.org .  Online tryout registration will open shortly.

     Our Coaching Director, Bobby Howe, has penned another captivating article, entitled “Quality, not Quantity” which you can read by clicking HERE.  In addition you might want to review some of his earlier works HERE which highlight some of his and ECFC’s coaching philosophies.

     ECFC’s annual general meeting will be held on Monday May 12^th at the Sand Point Education Center at 7pm.  Results from the 2008 Emerald City FC election for board of director positions will be announced, reports will be presented by the 2007/08 board, and we will recognize some special contributors amongst our older team players, coaches, and managers.  For more information on the 2008 ECFC board election please click HERE and/or feel free to contact any existing board member.  ECFC is a volunteer run organization and relies upon you, our membership to take an active role in our governance and leadership.  Please forward your nominations for U-15 to U-18

     One of our managers, Alessandra Panieri, has kindly offered to collect all “old” Emerald City FC (and Metropolitan FC) gear for distribution to soccer players in Africa and South America.  Participation will, of course, be voluntary.  Details of this project will be forthcoming from your team managers. So please don’t give away your “old” kit elsewhere – it will be great to be able to outfit entire teams in places where there is real need.  Details to follow, and no need to do anything until our new Adidas uniforms have arrived.

     There is mixed news on the practice fields front.  The good news is that a lot of new turf is going in this summer, either new projects or replacing existing turf, at Hale, Summit, Eckstein, Ballard, RBS, Sealth.   The bad news is that those fields will be unavailable until they are completed, hence drastically reducing the available pool of fields this summer. 

Tor Jernudd

ECFC President, gopher

ECFC Members,

This will be the final e-news that goes to the 07/08 email distribution list.  

Please come join us in watching some great games and cheering on our two teams in the Washington State Championship Cup Finals this weekend.  ECFC GU12 F95 Green plays NWN G95 Red 1:00 PM Saturday  AND ECFC BU18 M89 Green plays HPFC Heat '89 Blue 9:00 AM Sunday.  Both games at Starfire. GO ECFC! 

2008 tryout schedules and online registration link have been posted on our website:  www.emeraldcityfc.org for boys U-13 to U-18 teams and girls U-13 to U-15 teams.  Mar 14-16, 2008.  Returning ECFC players will be asked to wear their white training t-shirts. Sorry about the nuisance fee ($1).  Please only register one player at a time.  Please register by Mar 11.  Please encourage your soccer playing friends to sign up and try out!

Please save your (old) Diadora Uniforms and gear for future collection for a bulk club donation to soccer club or school in the developing world.  Allesandra Panieri has volunteered to coordinate this project.  If you would like to help please contact her at:  thebarshers@yahoo.com  .

Emerald City FC depends on it's volunteers.  Our annual elections for positions on the Emerald City FC board of directors will be held in April and the annual general meeting will be held Monday May 12th at 700pm.  Please give some thought to serving and/or to nominating a promising candidate.  You are encouraged to attend our remaining regular monthly meetings this year to learn more about the club's governance and regular business; the next one will be held Monday Mar 10th 7:00pm at the Sandpoint Education Center just south of Magnuson Park (the old Sand Point Elementary school)/

 tor

CFC 2007/08 Members;

It's hard to believe that we have already had our first 2008/09 tryouts, just as the older girls teams are starting their league play, in the first ever spring season.  This coming year will also be challenging from a calendar perspective with a strong liklihood that all the other teams in the club will be together for 14-15 months, possibly playing a spring PDL league, summer torunaments, fall league, then possibly a spring PDL league, before a cup season next May/June.  We will notify you as soon as the WSYSA and PDL confirm more detailed schedules to their membership. 

For the first time ever Emerald City FC is pleased to welcome 8 new teams, to join our existing 4 teams in the U-11 and U-12 age groups, for a total of 12 teams in the two youngest age groups.  Following the welcome SYSA rule change in December of 2007, it's now also possible that if there is sufficient demand from skilled and motivated players that our club may field more teams in the older age groups as well.  This uncertainty has made planning coaching assignments very difficult for our Coaching Director, Bobby Howe,  and there are still a few "slots" for the coming year where he has deliberately not yet made an assignment from our talented coaching pool.  Further announcements will be made in the coming weeks as we approach tryouts for next year's  U-13 to U18 boys and next year's U-13 to U-15 girls. 

Emerald City FC is very pleased to announce the following coaching appointments for the coming year (with more pending):

 BOYS                                                                                                  GIRLS

Amanda Potts                                                                                Brooke Reece

U-14    Jimmy Gabriel                                                            U-14    Shawn Farrell

Please join us in welcoming our new and returning coaches and supporting them in the year to come.

TRYOUTS

Will be held Mar 14-16 for next year's Boys U-13 to U-18 and next year's Girls U-13 to U-15 teams.  Exact schedules will be posted on the club website in the next couple of days.  There has been a rule change this year whereby clubs are not allowed to invite non-club members to pre-tryout workouts or practices.  However, please do encourage all others interested in the club to attend our "official" tryouts. We will also open online tryout registration no later than the end of this month, the link will also be posted on our website.

STATE CUP COMPETITION

You are all encouraged to come out and support our teams now playing in the elimination rounds of the tournament(s). This weekend's home games are as follows:

M95G (Boys U-12 Matsushita) plays Noon Saturday at Franklin HS

F95G (Girls U-12 Cobb) plays 10am Sunday at Franklin HS

M93G (Boys U-14 Hyde) plays 9am Sunday at Upper Genessee

M89G (Boys U-18 Schmetzer) plays 12:30 Sunday at Rainier Beach

GO ECFC

Tor

a.k.a. "the gopher"

Dear Emerald City FC members;

1) Emerald City FC and Athletic Engineering have joined forces to offer our players: "functional training to enhance our athletes body awarenees, balance, stability,control and power." Several of our teams have  worked with AE's staff before and have been very impressed, hence our joint effort to bring the benefits of their training to all of our players as an optional program at an atractive price, less than $10 per session per player.  The program will start next week and initially will be offered on either Tuesday or Friday evenings.  More information will be posted tommorow on our web page: www.emeraldcityfc.org.  All ECFC scholarship recipients will receive a large discount -- please contact treasurer@emeraldcityfc.org for details. If your player is interested but unable to attend on Tuesdays or Fridays please also go to the sign up link below and "vote" for a different time/day -- AE will add sessions "on demand" if there is sufficient interest.  SIGN UP HERE

 2) John Ryan has resigned his post as President of Emerald City FC but will remain on the board as acting Treasurer. The board (re-) elected Tor Jernudd to serve as President for the remainder of the term (until May 08)

3) U-12 to U-15 players -- reminder that tommorow Friday Oct 19th will be the last of the Emerald City "pick up soccer nights" at Ingraham High School for the fall season.  5:30-7:00 pm.  

Thanks

Tor Jernudd

president@emeraldcityfc.org

This is an open letter to the ECFC players and parents from your new President.  My name is John Ryan and I have a daughter who plays for U-14 Green and a son who recently left the club after five years.  I have been on the Board now for three years in various positions.  I have been playing soccer since 6^th grade and to make a long story short, much has changed besides the size of my waistline.

When I started playing,  I was on the only team of boys in Olympia. We had to travel to Tacoma, Portland and Seattle for games.   Our coaches were a couple of immigrants, one German and one Swede, who had a passion for the game but absolutely no coaching experience.  Soccer shoes were hard to come by and we had to go to Tacoma or Seattle for any equipment.  Goals with nets were unheard of. 

This isn’t a story about walking a mile to school in the snow, but rather a description of my starting point in soccer.  The quality of coaching, equipment, fields and players has come so far that I am certain that my daughter’s current U-14 team would have beaten my high school team soundly. 

My children are already more skilled than I ever was.  While I’m envious of their skills, I’m more envious of the passion they’ve learned for the sport I love.  They can sit and watch the Soccer Channel for hours.  They can find a pick up game on a moment’s notice.  They travel the country playing in high quality tournaments with a vast horizon of opportunities to improve their game still before them. 

What’s not to be passionate about?  This is my soccer pedigree.  This is the perspective I bring to my role as President.  I am of a generation that watched the birth of soccer in the U.S.  I am proud to lead Emerald City.  I am proud of the quality of our coaches, the skill and dedication of our players and the generosity and spirit of our parents.  We owe much to the dedicated volunteers who came before us and we owe them our best efforts in moving the Club forward. 

This Board is committed to developing a strategic plan for the Club that will guide our decision making now and in the future.  The landscape for Select soccer is changing rapidly around us.  Whether the issue is acquiring our own fields and clubhouse, or assuming a greater role in shaping Select soccer in Seattle, we need a set of principles that we can agree upon that will guide us through these challenges.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible and getting more soccer knowledge from wherever I find it.  We have come a long way and those before us have built a solid foundation to grow our club.  Now we need to decide what we want it to look like.  That effort is underway and we will solicit ideas and suggestions for all constituencies withinour Club so that the completed plan is a collaborative one.  Please help us improve ECFC.  After all, it is your Club. GO ECFC!

Our club website, www.emeraldcityfc.org, has been updated with the latest in a series of articles by Bobby Howe, our Coaching Director.  The latest one is entitled “Speed of Play” and you can read it by clicking  on this link: http://emeraldcityfc.org/newsletter.php

The “PDL” is a relatively new league, only in its 2^nd year.  As we go along, we hope that one of its greatest strengths will be its ability to quickly and continually adapt and improve.  However, that also means that there will be the potential for communications issues and misunderstandings.  In order to alleviate any potential communications issues we have prepared a ‘frequently asked questions” for PDL parents and players that can be found by clicking  here: http://emeraldcityfc.org/files/0709pdlfaq.PDF

The Emerald City FC board of directors meets monthly, generally on the 2^nd Monday of each month at 7pm at St Catherine’s school.  All club members are cordially invited.  All member guests will have the opportunity to address the board with any questions or concerns.  This month’s meeting will be held Monday Sept. 10 at 7:00 at 4122 E. Madison, in Madison Park at “Bistro and Bites”.  This month’s agenda is available here: http://emeraldcityfc.org/files/070910agenda.PDF

For decades, U.S. soccer officials long advocated a defensive system that designated a ``sweeper’’ as one of the four defensive backs. The role of sweeper, made famous by German international Franz Beckenbauer, is also called a ``libero,’’ which means free man. The libero, or sweeper, was a free defender and could attack as well. Beckenbauer was a uniquely gifted athlete and he excelled in this dual role. He could make tackles, cover for his teammates and gallop with the ball deep into the opponent’s territory. But his greatest skill was his ability to read the game. His speed of thought and decision making exceeded his opponents and teammates – qualities that are vital for today’s top youth players. Soon, national and club teams emulated the Kaiser and the German formation. Partly because of the heavy German influence on the U.S. Soccer Association at the time, most soccer in this country played with a sweeper, or a free player behind the defense.

But as soccer has evolved into a faster game, the role of sweeper has diminished. Perhaps the most dramatic break came in 1994, when the U.S. hosted the World Cup. Few of the teams in the tournament played with a sweeper. What the professional players and coaches had discovered that without a player of Beckenbauer’s rare talents, the sweeper was counter productive, even an anachronism.

That’s especially true today for young players who are developing and learning how to take responsibility for defending. Why? For starters, most coaches in North America played the sweeper solely as a defensive player, discouraging the sweeper to take an attacking role in the game. What’s more, the sweeper was usually played deep and central, often divorcing him from the play. The sweeper system also required the other two or three defenders to man-mark rather than play a zonal team defense, which is marking players in areas of the pitch. What tended to happen was the other defenders would lose their shape and balance as they man-marked their players all over the field, hoping the sweeper would restore balance or bail them out.

True, if you had an outstanding player who could play the role of libero, it would add an unpredictable dimension to the team’s attack and create few worries for the coach on defense. But the sweeper invariably takes on a disproportionate share of the work load.

For those reasons, I encouraged all our coaches last year to play a system that utilized four players at the back. We call it ``The Back Four.’’ The system with four players at the back encourages all players to take responsibility for defending.  It teaches them when and how to pressure the opponent with the ball, how to cover (an appreciation of angles and distances), how to create balance in the back line and how to concentrate as a unit (pinch in) when opponents are attacking through the middle of the field.

A team playing with a back four does not have to change its system during a game to accommodate opposing changes of strategy. A back four should be able to cope with one, two, three or four opposing forwards. Playing with a back four not only teaches players the principles of defending, but it also encourages players to understand how and when to stay with opponents and how and when to pass players on to teammates.  It promotes visual and verbal communication.

Here is another way to think about defending: The key is really about thinking ahead, or   pre-planning, and that’s where the speed of thought comes into play. If the defenders are sharing the work, working as a unit, most likely they avoid having shift to crisis management where they would be chasing and reacting to opponents all over the defensive third of the pitch. That requires everyone to share the responsibility of defending, rather than pinning hopes on one player cleaning up everyone else’s deficiencies.

The back four creates a reasonable distribution of work and a very even distribution of space across the width of the field. The system not only promotes a better understanding of defending but also, it provides a wonderful springboard from which to attack from the back.  Outside full backs are encouraged to support the attack or overlap when play is on their side of the field.  The system also promotes a change of play when play is tight on one side of the field.

The back four should never become a “flat back four”.  There is always shape to the defensive line.  This shape is dictated by the position of the ball on the field and the positions of the players the defenders are marking.  As the ball moves and as opponents move, the shape changes.

 Even at U-11, where we play nine v nine, I encourage a system that stresses the importance of wide midfield players dropping back to act as outside full backs when the team is defending. I want our teams to play 2-4-2 system that utilizes two central defenders and the outside midfielders hustling back on defense.

Are the kids going to mistakes? Yes, they will. But it’s by allowing them to make those mistakes that ultimately will teach them how to play. The back four is really about a method of play that allows kids to adapt to any system of play or any formation, and it teaches them how to work together as a unit.

• Technique:      There is more continued exposure to the execution of skill under the demands of the game.
• Tactics:           There are more continuous opportunities to make realistic decisions and to solve problems on the field.  
• Fitness:           Fitness is enhanced by playing for sustained periods of time. 
• Psychology:    Overcoming fatigue, overcoming mistakes, playing under the stress of the moment or the stress of the occasion, holding on to a lead or coming from behind are all problems that must be solved on the field.

• Stu Snow, District 3 Commissioner
  
  
• Jan Phillips, District 1 Commissioner
  
  
• Shari Tumey, District 2 Commissioner
  
  
• Fourth seat (Association representative)
  
  
• Bobby Howe, Coaching Director Emerald City FC
  
  
• Neil Megson, Coaching Director WestSound FC
  
  
• Greg Ion, Coaching Director Washington Premier FC
  
  
• Eighth seat (Tier 2 Coaching Director)
  

Todd Lincoln

PCDC Chair

More info, http://www.d4soccer.org/pdl.php