The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Now for a little rant How far will a top soccer team go to secure the best young talent in the world? Manchester United last year signed a 12-year-old boy from Brazil who they had been watching since he was eight years old! The current soccer academy at Manchester United has in excess of 100 school age players, of which only a fraction will be considered for full time soccer when they reach 18. The drop out rate is enormous, but still they come, chosen by scouts, and encouraged by parents the world over to train in Europe. The same thing happens at every top flight team in Europe, each with their own world wide scouting systems, video telecasts of school games sent direct to coaches watching many miles away, and if good enough another player with big dreams lands at some academy or other. If we Canadians want to match these teams, at either domestic or National levels, we must develop soccer academies in the same way the European teams have. Young players are scouted by a major club, if good enough they are then asked to attend that clubs academy, as soon as they sign on the dotted line their playing rights are the property of that club for the duration of the contract. Soccer academies are basically soccer schools, pupils learn regular subjects in the morning, and soccer in the afternoon and evening, they do this five days a week, then play at least one game during the weekend against teams from other clubÕs academies. This means that young players receive the best training from qualified, professional coaches every day, the skill levels that develop are closely monitored and if the player does not meet expectations, a brutal lesson of professional sport is soon learned, they are let go as another young hopeful starts. In Canada, we rely on amateur coaches for most of the skills taught to young players. If a player is good enough, he or she may be asked to join a provincial program where higher level skills are taught once or twice a month at weekend camps, but none of it matches the time spent on young talent in Europe. Yet the stakes are just as high, the money earned by a world class player is unimaginable, with club and national games covered in our country by the national media. I am often asked why Canada is ranked 87 in the menÕs world rankings, skill development is the reason, a team is only as good as the quality of player in it. If we do not show the same level of commitment to developing our homegrown talent, we will never successfully compete on the world stage. Owen Hargreaves of Calgary, a star midfield player with Bayern Munich and now at Manchester United, left his home of Calgary for Europe, where he had been offered a youth contract with Bayern Munich. If he had stayed in Canada he would probably be working in the oil patch now. When star players are forced to leave our Country to develop their skills, something is wrong with our system. Our sports officials must realize that they, the big clubs, and the sports governing bodies have to work together to develop and retain our star players. Now after that a little local news. Foster park looks superb. WomenÕs soccer registration is still taking place at kick it sports, or come out on Tuesday and Thursday at 6.30 p.m. in Creighton to pick up your registration form. Soccer shirts are available for each team. Next year the season will start earlier, but hopefully last longer. MenÕs soccer is played at 7 p.m. at Phantom Lake Soccer Field each Sunday evening, just turn up with your shinguards, socks and cleats to play. No registration is needed, and no formal teams are playing, just fun soccer and a good time. The Hapnot girls high school team will start training very soon. During the first week of August we will start training twice a week for the whole team. This training is for all Grades from 9-12. This year will be different from other years because we will have two teams, JV and senior. If you think that you have what it takes to be a member of one of the best high school teams in rural Manitoba, watch this space for training dates and locations. The first two weeks will be fitness and basic skills, remember that success in competition is a result of hard work in training. We work hard to win, and win because we work hard. Come to training, play womenÕs soccer if you are old enough, and be prepared to fight for a spot on the team. We will be holding a two day elite camp for local U16 players this fall, which will be for the advanced player who knows the basic skills, but needs coaching on positional play, ball movement and set plays. I will give more information later. The Norman U13 boys team is training well, there is a good nucleus of local talent on this team, plus players form The Pas and OCN. As a group we are starting to gel into a cohesive unit, the more we train the more we will play as a true team. We will be traveling to Carmen August 13 and representing our region against the other Manitoba regions at the Manitoba games. I expect to do very well, if we play to our potential, we can win the whole thing.
