So Cal Youth Soccer Spotlight
I stopped blogging about high school soccer last year and I don't think any readers noticed (or at least said anything). All the newspapers this bog is affiliated with have prep sports blogs now and I didn't want to be redundant.
But what about youth soccer?
Do you care? Let me know.
U.S. Under-17 Men's National Team
The U.S. beat Bolivia 2-1 today and faces Argentina Wednesday and Uruguay Friday in Buenos Aires as part of a three-game trip in South America ahead of the CONCACAF U-17 Championship in Tijuana.
Southern Californians on the squad include midfielders Luis Gil (Pateadores; Garden Grove) and Carlos Martinez (Wilmington Juniors; San Pedro).
U.S. Under-17 Women's National Team
The team holds a 24-player camp from April 5-11 as part of early preparations for the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
Among the locals called in are midfielder Katie Speidel (Real So Cal/Oak Park) and striker Courtney Proctor (Santa Clarita United Blazers/Santa Clarita).
U.S. Under-18 Women's National Team
The U.S. will hold its first training camp of the year April 4-11 at Home Depot Center with Southern Californians on the roster including forwards Michelle Cruz (Slammers/Thousand Oaks) and Samantha Johnson (Real So Cal/Palmdale).
U.S. Under-20 Women's National Team
UCLA Coach Jillian Ellis has been named coach of the U.S. U-20 team as it begins a new cycle that will hopefully culminate in Germany with a spot in the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup; she had previously served as coach of the team, but had stepped down in January 2008 after she was named assistant coach with the national team. Now she will continue in that post and add the U-20 team (again). Got that?
2009 U.S. Youth Soccer ODP Champions
*Crowned as champions Sunday were the 1993 Girls from California South who beat North Texas 1-0 in Frisco, Texas. Locals on the roster included Marie Mackenzie of Simi Valley, Monique Pendleberry of Newbury Park, Courtney Proctor of Santa Clarita and Haley Rosen of Rolling Hills.
*The 1993 California South Boys beat Oklahoma 4-3 in OT with such locals as Christopher Lopez, Reseda; Eduardo Quezada, South Gate; Henry Rios, Norwalk; Cody Thompson, Westlake Village; and Andrew Trejo, Santa Clarita on the roster.
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
I care for youth soccer coverage on the national level and would love to see info on promising talents coming up. But just listing names of locals doesn't do much for me. Who are these kids and why do they deserve to be on various national teams?
As far as youth football, I would be most interested in the Galaxy Youth Academy.
I think it'a great idea. I have a couple kids that play club and are on their way into this world of youth soccer so it would be nice to get periodic updates about the system, results, progress, etc.
Nick replies; Thanks for the feedback from all of you, it's much appreciated.
I think that there's a lot to cover but writing about individual players or teams won't interest a broad audience. Some coverage of League Cup (LA area) in November / December and / or State Cup (all SoCal) in Feb / March would be great -- what's surprising? What trends are there? Etc ...
Great post - It's always refreshing to see an interest in the future of American soccer.
I thought you might be interested in the Volkswagen Junior Masters tournament taking place later this year. Please contact me if you would like more information.
Thanks,
Larry (on behalf of Volkswagen)
Nick replies: Feel free to post info about the tournament in the comments section, Larry.