Ohio Elite boy's team continued a very successful spring 2010 season by placing 4 of 7 teams in the Finals, winning 2 Championships in the NIKE Cup, April 24-25.
The U-12 Academy and U-14 Academy teams won their respective divisions and the U-9 and U-15 teams also came home with hardware. The U-11 and U-13 teams each went 1-1-1 losing to the eventual champion in pool play.
Spring 2010 has been one of the most successful seasons for the boys' program in the eight-year history of the club. This success is a testament to our players and coaching staff, as well as the curriculum which was established during the Fall 2009 season and includes true Academy-style and position-specific training.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
2010 Spring Classic
The 2010 Spring Classic was held this past weekend at Miami Whitewater Forest and was incredibly successful. We have been able to grow the event from 77 teams in 2009 to 116 teams in 2010 and yet it was even smoother and more efficient.
As an organization we owe a debt of gratitude to our membership and volunteerism. We required nearly 80 volunteer positions on the weekend and the membership did not disappoint.
Special thanks to:
Scott Smallwood, Tournament Co-Director
Eileen O'Shaughnessy, Co-Registration
Shari Bundshuh, Co-Registration
Angie Kandil, Awards
Melissa Berner, Team Solicitation
George Franskenstien, Golf carts
Dan Seig, Registration tent
Rick Bowling, Hotels
Stephanie Besl, Volunteers
Julie Dove, Volunteers
Jeannie, Niebuhr, Volunteers
As an organization we owe a debt of gratitude to our membership and volunteerism. We required nearly 80 volunteer positions on the weekend and the membership did not disappoint.
Special thanks to:
Scott Smallwood, Tournament Co-Director
Eileen O'Shaughnessy, Co-Registration
Shari Bundshuh, Co-Registration
Angie Kandil, Awards
Melissa Berner, Team Solicitation
George Franskenstien, Golf carts
Dan Seig, Registration tent
Rick Bowling, Hotels
Stephanie Besl, Volunteers
Julie Dove, Volunteers
Jeannie, Niebuhr, Volunteers
Thursday, December 3, 2009
USSDA Winter Showcase 2009
The Third Annual U.S. Soccer Development Academy Winter Showcase gets underway tomorrow, December 4, in Phoenix, AZ. The Development Academy has evolved over the past three years and this event will be no different.
The 2007 Spring Showcase in Rockford, IL is the standard by which I will continue to compare, but as I built our itinerary this event seems to have it all... meaningful meetings, coaching education, exposure to the U-17 National Teams, every game scouted by the U.S. Soccer scout and the most college coaches of any soccer event in the country.
The event isn't perfect though. In fact, the players will miss too much school over the next few days at a time that couldn't be worse. The Federation has agreed to work better to create a schedule in the future that at least saves us one day at the 2010 Winter Showcase. We have built 3 different mandatory study hall periods into the schedule this weekend.
The player's focus will obviously be their three matches across four days. The day off will be spent with recovery, study hall, and the NIKE Soccer + Master Control program.
- "See how you rate against other USSDA players by taking the Cesc Fabregas challenge. Trial the Nike CTR 360 Maestri boot and receive a unique code (typically only available with CTR360 Maestri boot purchase) to download exclusive Nike Elite Training Control Camp on Nikesoccer.com."
As a group we'll be able to watch the U-17 MNT Portgual v Netherlands and U-17 MNT USA v Netherlands. Its a tremendous opportunity for our players and coaches. The player lounge is available with FREE Gatorade for all and X-Box FIFA 2010.
For the first time at a Showcase, the coaching schedule is rather extensive. Our coaches will attend the following sessions at different times over the weekend:
- Developing an Elite Training Session (classroom)
- NIKE Soccer + Master Control (field)
- SPARQ Speed, Power and Agility for Soccer (field)
- Translating an Elite Training Session from Paper to Practice (field)
My schedule is completely filled. Obviously, my focus will be our games. This is my first event going to sit in the second chair for both games, something I am looking forward to. I am responsible for the SPARQ warm-up for the teams in each game and providing input and feedback to the coaches. I will scout our third opponent while Marc is scouting our second.
Additionally, I will attend a classroom session on Developing an Annual Training Plan (Note: the Ohio Elite SA Annual Training Plan is published on the U-15/16 OESA-NWC and U-17/18 OESA team pages.) and SPARQ Soccer Forum.
I have organized a meeting with the Midwest Pre-Academy League teams this weekend to finalize our spring schedules. More on the Pre-Academy League after the meeting, but these are the teams involved - most of whom have not put their top U-14 & U-15 teams in the MRL - Ohio Elite SA, Crew Soccer Academy, Indiana United (fka: Carmel), Vardar, Derby Country Wolves, Internationals, Chicago Magic, Sockers FC, Chicago Fire and FC Milwaukee. This league will again provide our younger teams with the most competitive opportunities of any club in Cincinnati.
I'll be tweeting regularly this weekend. For a behind the scenes look and updates follow me at www.twitter.com/mikecullina
Want to learn more about the Development Academy and its future at Ohio Elite SA? Which rumors are true and which are not? Put February 21 on your calendar for a 'U.S. Soccer Development Academy Town Hall' with U.S. Soccer Full-time Technical Director for the Central Conference Louis Mateus.
Friday, November 20, 2009
CNY United FC Joins Empire United Soccer Academy
CNY United FC Joins Empire United Soccer Academy
In the past year Ohio Elite SA has reached out to area clubs to work together to field one USSDA team representative of the city of Cincinnati per the growing trend around the country instead of the typical youth soccer politics that benefit no one. We are very pleased to be working with Northern Warren County and look forward to future relationship for the benefit of the game, its players and its coaches.
Well Done Rochester/Syracuse!
www.twitter.com/mikecullina
In the past year Ohio Elite SA has reached out to area clubs to work together to field one USSDA team representative of the city of Cincinnati per the growing trend around the country instead of the typical youth soccer politics that benefit no one. We are very pleased to be working with Northern Warren County and look forward to future relationship for the benefit of the game, its players and its coaches.
Well Done Rochester/Syracuse!
www.twitter.com/mikecullina
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
2009 Fall Season
With Labor Day now behind us we look forward to the rhythm of the Fall season. While I enjoy coaching the older players, the fall season is the best time of the year for a full-time coach charged with player development. The fall brings fewer distractions, a longer season, better weather (except daylight issues), and a much better training:games ratio.
U.S. Soccer Staff Coach Roberto Lopez has already visited twice and is set for a third in October when we host the USSF "C" License re-test. His first visit on August 25 was aimed at evaluating our academy training program and providing feedback to our players and staff. It was invaluable! On his return yesterday, he was able to work with our top training pool and then review the changes we made to improve the product. Just getting another set of respected eyes to provide feedback to me and our staff is huge, but when you consider it comes from a full-time U.S. Soccer Staff Coach, who worked with the U-14 BNT and will be in Florida later this month to work with the U-17 BNT we couldn't be luckier.
Beginning this fall we have implimented true academy training with 2 program enhancements - the Tuesday Academy Night and Open Training.
Tuesday Academy Night
We bring in invited U-10's and all the U-11 through U-14 players and coaches for a 2-hour session. Players are put in training pools that change every two weeks based on several criteria. We have players training up/down age groups and later in the season will look at adding positional play (U-13 & U-14 primarily) to the criteria. The academy training is based on developing the individual player. We use the other 2-3 days of training to develop the player within a team concept.
(Note: I made a comment in an earlier blog that I believe high school freshmen shouldn't play Varsity soccer and that has some how been spun to say I don't believe in kids playing up when in fact the opposite is true. A 14 or 15 year old boy playing and more importantly socializing with 17 and 18 year men is a far different argument than a kid playing up a year or even two.)
Open Training
When I first arrived at OE I told the parents that our training sessions, except the Development Academy, are open to all players provided both coaches are notified. I re-iterated that policy this season and we are seeing many more players take advantage of it. Personally, I'd like to train 4 days/week, but the reality is a majority of families have lives outside of soccer that would make it improbable. With the rule of 10,000 (it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something) in mind we don't want to hold the those kids who want the additional training back. We now have a couple dozen players who have trained or regularly train an additional day with another team. An additional 90-minute session each week over the course of a 12-week season is an additional 18 hours of training.
U.S. Soccer Staff Coach Roberto Lopez has already visited twice and is set for a third in October when we host the USSF "C" License re-test. His first visit on August 25 was aimed at evaluating our academy training program and providing feedback to our players and staff. It was invaluable! On his return yesterday, he was able to work with our top training pool and then review the changes we made to improve the product. Just getting another set of respected eyes to provide feedback to me and our staff is huge, but when you consider it comes from a full-time U.S. Soccer Staff Coach, who worked with the U-14 BNT and will be in Florida later this month to work with the U-17 BNT we couldn't be luckier.
Beginning this fall we have implimented true academy training with 2 program enhancements - the Tuesday Academy Night and Open Training.
Tuesday Academy Night
We bring in invited U-10's and all the U-11 through U-14 players and coaches for a 2-hour session. Players are put in training pools that change every two weeks based on several criteria. We have players training up/down age groups and later in the season will look at adding positional play (U-13 & U-14 primarily) to the criteria. The academy training is based on developing the individual player. We use the other 2-3 days of training to develop the player within a team concept.
(Note: I made a comment in an earlier blog that I believe high school freshmen shouldn't play Varsity soccer and that has some how been spun to say I don't believe in kids playing up when in fact the opposite is true. A 14 or 15 year old boy playing and more importantly socializing with 17 and 18 year men is a far different argument than a kid playing up a year or even two.)
Open Training
When I first arrived at OE I told the parents that our training sessions, except the Development Academy, are open to all players provided both coaches are notified. I re-iterated that policy this season and we are seeing many more players take advantage of it. Personally, I'd like to train 4 days/week, but the reality is a majority of families have lives outside of soccer that would make it improbable. With the rule of 10,000 (it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something) in mind we don't want to hold the those kids who want the additional training back. We now have a couple dozen players who have trained or regularly train an additional day with another team. An additional 90-minute session each week over the course of a 12-week season is an additional 18 hours of training.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Welcome Back!!
The kids going back to school tomorrow officially signals the beginning of the fall in the Cullina household. We took to summer off from blogging and tweeting, but with us now completely immersed in the fall season both are back to keep both our membership and those of you interested in the goings on at Ohio Elite informed.
The Ohio Elite Facebook page now boasts 181 fans and will soon feature more posts and discussions in our discussion forum. We will monitor the discussion board to ensure posters are identified with legitimate FB accounts/names as well as to be actively involved in the discussion and answer questions posted on the discussion board.
Both myself and Tim have created personal twitter accounts (we welcome any pressure placed on Doug to do the same). After deleting all the spam followers, OE Twitter currently has 94 followers. (If we have mistakenly blocked you, please send me an email.) Expect regular tweets again starting this week. We are transitioning the @ohioelite account to post club-wide information. Follow me directly @mikecullina.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
A Look Inside from Nationals - Part 1 Preparation
I wanted to provide a view of nationals from a coaches perspective. What were we thinking about? What were the challenges? How did we approach each game. This is a technical look at my experience from nationals and the preparation leading up to nationals. I apologize ahead of time for the length, but I want to give some detail.
When we were U14 and made it to nationals I don't think we understood what we were there for. When I say that I don't mean just the players. I include myself in that statement. Oh yes, not only have the players learned along the way, the coach has too. What we learned is that you have to be willing to change and adapt. Most of all we learned that every game will provide a significant challenge. Arriving again at U18 was awesome. The players knew exactly what we were there to do.
Background Factors Leading Into Nationals
Systems of Play - In 90% of our games a 3 forward system is best for us. Most teams have struggled to deal with our pressure in that system. At the highest level we know that there are teams that can deal with our pressure so we have opted for a more defensive approach in those games. Anyone that has ever seen us play knows that we are an attacking team, but I have learned that at the top level you just can't concede goals and win. Games and opponents dictate the system. We try to play the system that can make us successful against a given opponent. For example, against Minnesota Thunder in the regional semi-final we knew from experience that they struggled with our 3 forwards and did not have overly dangerous attacking individuals so we played 3-4-3. The result ended 5-0 in our favor. In the regional final against Michigan Hawks we knew it would be a more defensive game and they were talented in attack so we played 4-2-3-1. The result ended 1-0 in our favor. We certainly have systems that we are more comfortable in than others, but we set it up based on the circumstances. I have asked the team to play many systems over the past few years so we are comfortable in most. More importantly we have the talented players to fit most any system.
Substitutions - One of the biggest strengths of our team is that we have 20 very capable players. In the past I have tightened our rotation in big games. I think that has hurt us at times. I have put a lot of faith in our bench this year and it has paid off. In every game at regionals all field players that dressed played a part in every game. Many big games this year have been decided by players off of our bench. The season is very long and demanding. I credit our bench for a great deal of our success this year. We weren't about to change our thinking leading up to nationals.
20 Players Means 2 Sit - The hardest part of regionals and nationals was the knowledge that if we stayed healthy 2 players would not be able to dress for each game. Having 20 players has been great for training and cover throughout the season, but with every player fit to play it was very hard. These decisions were based on current form, opponent, chosen system of play and other factors. Examples of other factors were the possibility of going to penalties, getting players rest, etc... Emotion is not involved in these decisions. As a coach they are the toughest decisions, but also your responsibility. When you have 20 very capable players it's even harder. If I had it to do over again I would take 20 players on the team. The reality is all of these players will face fierce competition at the college level. We have and will continue to create the most competitive environment possible.
Distractions - With these players going off to college we never had everyone at training in the 3 weeks leading up to nationals. Many players had to go to summer school, college camps and college orientation. There is much planning that also goes into going to nationals. Hotels, transportation, meetings, media obligations and meals. I just try to shield the players as much as possible from any outside distractions. It is tough. You try to keep things as normal as possible. All the parents, siblings and grandparents are there as well they should be. Fortunately we qualified for the final after our second game which allowed some free time for the players and their families. It is a delicate balance between preparing properly and enjoying the experience. It's an art, not a science.
When we were U14 and made it to nationals I don't think we understood what we were there for. When I say that I don't mean just the players. I include myself in that statement. Oh yes, not only have the players learned along the way, the coach has too. What we learned is that you have to be willing to change and adapt. Most of all we learned that every game will provide a significant challenge. Arriving again at U18 was awesome. The players knew exactly what we were there to do.
Background Factors Leading Into Nationals
Systems of Play - In 90% of our games a 3 forward system is best for us. Most teams have struggled to deal with our pressure in that system. At the highest level we know that there are teams that can deal with our pressure so we have opted for a more defensive approach in those games. Anyone that has ever seen us play knows that we are an attacking team, but I have learned that at the top level you just can't concede goals and win. Games and opponents dictate the system. We try to play the system that can make us successful against a given opponent. For example, against Minnesota Thunder in the regional semi-final we knew from experience that they struggled with our 3 forwards and did not have overly dangerous attacking individuals so we played 3-4-3. The result ended 5-0 in our favor. In the regional final against Michigan Hawks we knew it would be a more defensive game and they were talented in attack so we played 4-2-3-1. The result ended 1-0 in our favor. We certainly have systems that we are more comfortable in than others, but we set it up based on the circumstances. I have asked the team to play many systems over the past few years so we are comfortable in most. More importantly we have the talented players to fit most any system.
Substitutions - One of the biggest strengths of our team is that we have 20 very capable players. In the past I have tightened our rotation in big games. I think that has hurt us at times. I have put a lot of faith in our bench this year and it has paid off. In every game at regionals all field players that dressed played a part in every game. Many big games this year have been decided by players off of our bench. The season is very long and demanding. I credit our bench for a great deal of our success this year. We weren't about to change our thinking leading up to nationals.
20 Players Means 2 Sit - The hardest part of regionals and nationals was the knowledge that if we stayed healthy 2 players would not be able to dress for each game. Having 20 players has been great for training and cover throughout the season, but with every player fit to play it was very hard. These decisions were based on current form, opponent, chosen system of play and other factors. Examples of other factors were the possibility of going to penalties, getting players rest, etc... Emotion is not involved in these decisions. As a coach they are the toughest decisions, but also your responsibility. When you have 20 very capable players it's even harder. If I had it to do over again I would take 20 players on the team. The reality is all of these players will face fierce competition at the college level. We have and will continue to create the most competitive environment possible.
Distractions - With these players going off to college we never had everyone at training in the 3 weeks leading up to nationals. Many players had to go to summer school, college camps and college orientation. There is much planning that also goes into going to nationals. Hotels, transportation, meetings, media obligations and meals. I just try to shield the players as much as possible from any outside distractions. It is tough. You try to keep things as normal as possible. All the parents, siblings and grandparents are there as well they should be. Fortunately we qualified for the final after our second game which allowed some free time for the players and their families. It is a delicate balance between preparing properly and enjoying the experience. It's an art, not a science.
Coming soon...Part 2 - The Games at Nationals
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