There are many pitfalls in youth soccer in our country. [url=http://www.hockeyoilersshop.com/mark-fayne-jersey/]Mark Fayne Jersey[/url] . Over-invested parents; the pressure to win at too young an age; high-pressure coaches who focus on winning instead of on development; and increased dropout rates be

There are many pitfalls in youth soccer in our country. Mark Fayne Jersey . Over-invested parents; the pressure to win at too young an age; high-pressure coaches who focus on winning instead of on development; and increased dropout rates because of these and other factors are just some of story lines that we see repeated over and over. Much of this negativity comes because of our collective mindset that the only way for us to measure our childrens progress in soccer is through the scores of their games. How many points their team gets and how many goals our children score have, for too many years, been the metrics by which we gauge their progress. But what if there was a different way to develop soccer players in Canada? What if we could simply teach kids to play better? That is the goal of Willie Cromack, founder of Play Better, an innovative plan to improve sport culture in Canada. The program attempts to shift the mindset of players and parents alike, away from scoreboard success and towards empowering children to discover their potential - both as soccer players and as human beings. Play Better is a grassroots soccer program designed to provide clubs, coaches, parents and players with a clear and accountable pathway through soccer. This includes an LTPD-compliant curriculum, lesson plans complete with desired outcomes, video training sessions, as well as tools for gathering metrics beyond simply the number of goals scored. The reason behind the gathering of those metrics is where the genius lies. Play Better aims to marry a holistic charitable program with the training and development of young soccer players. The program does through by asking teams to do the following: • Choose a cause or charity. For example; the SPCA, the Canadian Cancer Society or your local childrens hospital. • Choose a baseline metric. For example; a recreational team can choose 100 completed passes per game. A more competitive team can choose a larger number, such as 200 completed passes. This is called the team goal or team win. • Have a pre-season meeting with parents to explain your objective; for every game in which your team achieves its team win, ask parents (or friends, family members or sponsors) to donate a pre-determined dollar amount to the team cause/charity. The monetary amount is not important - it can be as little as a loonie per parent/family. • Create a team website, where the kids can tell their story. It gives them a chance to explain, in their own words, how achieving their objective every game will not only help them become better soccer players, but also make a difference in the world. It also allows them to track and promote how much money they have raised for their chosen cause/charity. Team Falcons is a U11 boys gold soccer team in North Vancouver. Click here to see how they have committed to Play Better. I am often asked how we can shift away from the win-at-all-costs mentality that has infected youth soccer in our country. As I have written many times before, it is one of the biggest hurdles we must overcome if we are to create an effective youth development system in Canada. It isnt the players that we need to convince; it is the parents. A program like Play Better might just be the bridge we need to achieve this. As the members of Team Falcons can attest, players participating in Play Better quickly realize that their sporting endeavours have a bigger meaning. It isnt just about winning and losing anymore - it is about helping others. This teaches players to work on their fundamental skills (to complete 100 or 200 passes per games, players have to focus on what they learn in training), but more importantly, it teaches them about helping others, about community investment and about personal growth. What parent doesnt want their child to learn those lessons? If these lessons can be tied into the technical development of young soccer players, then Canadian soccer could be onto something big. *If you or your team is interested in Play Better, you can read more about the program here, or contact Willie Cromack at willie@championsinsport.com Andrew Ference Jersey .com) - Fair Grounds commences its road to the Kentucky Derby Saturday with the 71st running of the $200,000 Lecomte Stakes. Jean-Francois Jacques Jersey . But unfortunately for the Niagara Falls, Ont., native, a pulled muscle wouldnt allow him to go past the second set. 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JGR has been at three cars since 2005 and has held off expanding to the NASCAR-maximum of four full-time entries. "We felt like if we could get Carl, and we could get another sponsor, that this was the right time," Gibbs said. Edwards had been through a high-profile free agency once before, in 2011 when he was in the thick of the championship hunt. He ultimately spurned JGR in that bidding process to sign an extension with Roush, and although the negotiations were never a distraction, Edwards lost the title that year to Tony Stewart on a tie-breaker. Edwards hasnt been a title threat since. He went winless in 2012 and missed the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, and although he made two trips to Victory Lane last season, he finished last in the 13-driver Chase field. Edwards is currently ninth in the Cup standings with two wins. The Chase begins next month, and he said hes determined to close out his Roush tenure with a championship for the No. 99 team. But when the season is over, his focus will quickly turn to JGR, where he saw an opportunity for stability and consistency as a teammate to Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth. "Sometimes youve just got to shake things up, youve got to do things differently," Edwards said. "When an opportunity like this comes up and the all the pieces come together this perfectly, for me, I didnt want to look back and wonder what that would have been like. I wanted to take the opportunity and go see what I could make of it." Edwards will be reunited with Kenseth, who was his teammate at Roush for nine seasons and had a frosty relationship that went public in 2007 when Edwards confronted Kenseth after a race at Martinsville. Kenseth moved to JGR last season, won a series-high seven races and finished second in the championship race. Esa Tikkanen Jersey. Gibbs said Kenseth is the first person the organization consulted when it entered the bidding for Edwards. "Matt was awesome, he said, this guy, you get him over here, hes going to win races. Hell be a good teammate and hes really, really good with sponsors, " Gibbs said. "So Matt was the first person we talked to, and then we went to Denny and we went to Kyle. Because it is teamwork. This sport is unusual because you have to work together to get better, to get more information, to have more input on the weekend. We think this is the right combination for us." Kenseth said the history between he and Edwards is overblown, and much has changed since 2007. Edwards has gotten married and the two drivers have had five children between them. "Carl and I get along fine," he said. "That relationship has changed a lot through the years. Him having kids the same age as my kids, and playing together, has probably made us more friends and made us do things together. I think it will be a good mix, I really do." Edwards said hes changed as a person since he first entered NASCAR and is focused on being an asset at JGR. "I have learned a lot about how to be a good teammate. Admittedly, I was not the best teammate at the beginning of my career," he said. "I felt I had a lot of the every man for himself attitude, and wanting to prove myself regardless of any damage to the relationships. "I really value my teammates now. Im going to do everything I can to be the best teammate I can be, to contribute to the group so that overall we can be better. When I look around at who does well in the sport, it seems the people who do that well succeed." JGR also announced Tuesday that Daniel Suarez will run a full Nationwide Series program and part-time Truck Series schedule 2015. The truck entry will be fielded by Kyle Busch Motorsports. Suarez becomes the first full-time Mexican driver in NASCAR. 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