On The Pitch Latest Blog Posts

I always get these coach gift idea posts out late, but such is life. Along the line of a gift my girls team gave me last year , Shutterfly can put together bound picture books , often for less than $30. I just wish they could do the 5×7 in hard cover. That would be perfect.  ...

One of the coolest aspects of the USSF National Youth License course is that it goes into a lot of detail about how kids learn, how their bodies develop, how they interpret and understand things, and thus what their practice sessions should be like. Their age will dictate what they can ...

A while back my daughter had a coach that flat out forbade them from bringing Gatorade to practice. Water was the only thing allowed. Her belief was that it hydrated them better. This didn’t make the parents all that happy, especially when US Youth Soccer was advocating sports drinks ...

Earlier this year, the US Youth Soccer Association published their Vision for Youth Soccer in America . It generated a smattering of debate, but not much. It certainly should, because this vision sums up much of what the USYSA is thinking and advocating for youth soccer in America: Too ...

There are a lot of people writing about youth soccer on blogs these days – which is a great thing. It wasn’t long ago that OTP was pretty unique in the ’soccersphere’ concentrating on youth soccer. Most youth soccer blogs are written about how to be a better coach, ...

Part of the reason I’ve been MIA these past few months is I returned to an active role in our league’s administration after taking a year off AND was coaching 4 teams, most without any of my children on them. I really should learn to say no. When a U12 coach had to step aside ...

I read Anson Dorrance’s book “The Vision of a Champion” a while back, his 2nd book where he talks about the competitive cauldron system they use for UNC Women’s Soccer. He talked about a coach who had adapted it for youth teams, but the links provided don’t work ...

Soccer season just flew by. Can't believe the season will be over next weekend! Bring on the holidays. #

I'm so not ready for winter! Summer just flew by. And being NC we had like one week of fall. #