Stein Garcia Elite Soccer Director of Coaching February 11th, 2010 Notes: Aces Academy Program • New Elite Soccer Website 2010- We have recently launched our new layout for our website and have been receiving great feedback from Aces players and families. If you would like to provide additional feedback or have some great pictures for the website please email Kevin Love at klove@elitesoccer.net • Indoor Training- In the Academy, players have the option to attend another team’s trainings session if they desire additional opportunities to develop their skills over the winter. So far, we have had over 20 players take advantage of this option. • New Elite Soccer-Aces 4 vs. 4 League a Success- Parent’s and player’s feedback has been very positive about the new format for the 4 vs. 4 league this year. A brief recap of the league structure-U8s and U9s girls and boys are completely mixed and divided into 12 teams, U10s girls and boys have 7 teams, U11-U12 girls and boys have 14 teams, and the U13-U14 girls and boys have 12 teams in the league. The Academy coaches are there to monitor the games and keep score. It is the responsibility of the players to make subs, coach each other, and call their own fouls. It the “player’s league”. We are also utilizing the league to promote the ELM Tree principle from the Positive Coaching Alliance. Which stands for Effort Learning and Mistakes are okay. These principles are also being reinforced during Academy trainings by our Academy Coaches. After two weekends of play, many Aces players have said they had a lot of fun and parent’s feedback has been that they have enjoyed watching the games and their sons/daughters can’t stop talking about the league. All league play will finish up on Sunday, March 14th and the top 2 teams from the U10s-U14s leagues will play a Championship game on Weds. March 17th. • Indoor Soccer Leagues- In the Academy the winter commitment is 10 training sessions and six 4 vs. 4 league games between January and March. This year, 14 out of the 30 Academy teams also signed up for additional indoor leagues at the Schaumburg Sports Center, Barrington Field House, Soccer City, and the Latoff YMCA. • Indoor Soccer Tournaments- For the first time, we will have 4 teams play indoor soccer tournaments organized by the Chicagoland Indoor Soccer Organization. • College Recruiting- Division I Coach Renee Lopez from the University of South Caroline-Upstate came out to the high school girls training session on Feb 7th to scout potential players and provide information about the college recruiting process. Over 40 Aces players attended the session. Aces Volunteer Coach Program • Winter Training Opportunities o Indoor Team Training Opportunities- Three teams are participating in Indoor Training-U10 Girls, U13 Girls, and U14 Girls o 4 vs. 4 League Opportunities- players from 5 different teams are participating in the Elite Soccer- Aces 4 vs. 4 league o Indoor Training Opportunities- players from 3 different volunteered coached teams are participating in Academy indoor training this winter o Indoor League Opportunities- players from 3 different volunteered are guest playing with Academy Teams in indoor leagues • Spring 2010- Elite Soccer trainer assignments and Spring 2010 training schedule will be out in early March • GK Training- Volunteer coached players will be able to sign up for Academy GK training again this spring. Registration on the Elite Soccer website will be available in March. • Spring Training Start Date- Monday, March 29th, 2010 Aces Leadership Program • Rosie’s Toy Chest- The Aces Leadership Program, made up of players from both the Academy and volunteer coached program, came together for a great cause this holiday season to help collect toys for Rosie Colucci, a 6 year old girl who is suffering from Neurofibromatosis (NF1). After 3 weeks the youth leaders were able to collect over 500 different kinds of toys for Rosie and the patients of Children Memorial Hospital. • Youth Leaders Participation- We currently have youth leaders coaching and helping in all of our Aces Soccer School Classes and a few Academy indoor training sessions. Aces Alumni Awards • Fall 2009- Aces Alum Vickie Rich was name Division II 3rd team All American at Lees Mcrae College in North Carolina. • Fall 2009- Aces Alum Rachel Lenke was named Academic All-Conference at Augustana College in IL. • Fall 2009- Aces Alum Bridget McDermott was voted most improved player at Augustana College in IL.