U.S. Soccer National Staff Coach to Visit Ohio Elite

I am excited to announce that Roberto Lopez, National Staff Coach for U.S. Soccer will be visiting Ohio Elite Soccer Academy on Wednesday & Thursday, August 27 & 28.

Coach Lopez will spending two days with our players and staff to provide training for our players and coaching education for our coaches.

I am extending an offer to any coach in the city that wants to come and watch one of Roberto's sessions to contact me directly at mcullina@ohioelite.com for the specific schedule and topics.

Thank You CSA

With all of the angry people and bitterness in the game, every now and again we get a reminder about all that is good in the game. Today was such a day. Working with Alex Rawlings and the coaches at CSA was great.

The day started at the OESA Olberding complex with friendlies between our U11-U14 Academy teams and the CSA Elite teams. First of all, it was our first opportunity to show off the new complex. There is still a lot to be done, but as one coach said to me today for them it was like coming from the desert. It doesn't really matter how much money you put into fields if you can't water them. We can and it showed. More on the fields in another blog.

The CSA coaches and parents were great to work with. The spirit of the games were great and having quality competition here in Cincinnati was tremendous as our boys prepare for the Gallagher Friendlies next weekend.

In developing the U9 Academy League we had several clubs that committed to the project that didn't follow through. While it has created more work for us, we are not deterred. The project is exactly what our players need. We have the opportunity to develop the entire age group while still pushing our top players through training and games. (Some of our U9 players will be asked to train up starting this week.) The Academy format is great because it allows Scott to move players around between the two teams at his discretion. We can ability group the boys or create more balanced teams.

The second part of the day were the U9 friendlies out at the Cincinnati Nature Center. Once we found the fields - can you say "deliverance"? - the games went off without a hitch. It was great to work with CSA, Fairfield and Warren County on our first Academy play date.

Thanks Alex! Thank you CSA.

Pre-Season 2008

The season is finally upon us! There are several very exciting things going on here at Ohio Elite that Doug and I will share over the next week or so. On the field, many of the boys' teams played in the Dog Days Tournament to open the season. The results went about as expected considering the changes and training schedule. For me and my staff the tournament was about preparing our curriculum for the season, learning the good, the bad and the ugly about where our players are relative to where we believe they should be.

As I explained in the parent meetings earlier this week, it is important to understand that we are a club of players, not a collection of teams. This is important in the pre-season evaluation process because it creates focus for the individual player within the context of the entire age group. The top players will be asked to train up to continue to push them to the next level. Especially at the U12 and younger age groups where we are playing 8v8 or 6v6 it is critical that we develop the entire age group as many/most of the players that would be on our Gold team will in fact be on an Academy team when the rosters are expanded. That said, the aim is not to simply bring the less-skilled players up. We are about the very best players and therefore must continue to develop those players by training them with older teams and guest playing them when appropriate.

Some general feedback on our training goals...

(1) Change the culture. Players that feel entitled probably won't last long at Ohio Elite. It is our responsibility to teach them how to work hard both physically and mentally. We will ask more from them then perhaps they are used to. Having parental support in this basic goal is critical to our success. So far the feedback from our parents has been extremely positive.
(2) We embrace the word "development". It is what we are all about. However, "development" is not an excuse for losing. To say the results don't matter is unacceptable. We will not win at the expense of development, but my staff and I will not use our decisions on game day to develop players as an excuse for why we lost a game. Most importantly, our aim is to prepare players for their high school programs, college opportunities and the Development Academy or National team exposure. That is a fundamental value of our program. That said, so long as they keep score, we want to win!
(3) Technique! Technique! Technique! A player's decision doesn't matter is he doesn't have the skill to execute.

Lastly, I can't tell you how excited I am about the season. I had a great week of training with the U12 Academy team and by the end of the day I will have worked with both U14 teams. Its amazing how much I enjoy training when I have the time during the day to prepare for it. It is the best part of what I do. Watching the light bulb go on for kids is incredibly rewarding.

"They don't boo nobodies!"