According to Lagos, the team will begin arriving on Wednesday settling into the dormitories at the National Sports Center. They will begin with two-a-day’s starting Thursday with the second session at 1:30 pm.

The team will practice Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. with inter-squad scrimmages on March 24 and March 31. All practices are open to the public.

*The team kicks off their exhibition matches this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against Shattuck St. Mary’s in Faribault, Minnesota.

*On March 27, the Stars will play the Marquette University Golden Eagles at 3 p.m. at Parade Stadium in Minneapolis. Admission to both games is free.

*On Saturday, April 4, the team will travel to Omaha for two back-to-back exhibition matches against Creighton University and fellow North American Soccer League side AC St. Louis at Creighton’s Morrison Stadium. Details including game times and ticket information are yet to be determined.

“I’m really looking forward to preseason. Living and training on-site will create a unique camp experience,” said Lagos.

Lagos told IMS on Tuesday morning that he hopes to have 3 to 4 more experienced players signed shortly. He said he would like to start camp with 15 signed players and has invited another dozen or so to camp as trialists.

IMS has learned that  former Rochester Thunder midfielder Kentaro Takato is one of those invited. Takato was called up for last year’s Thunder friendly between C.S.D. Comunicaciones and showed well for the team, almost scoring twice and seeing lots of the ball at midfield. Takato also tried out for the Thunder last season and was one of the last players to be released. The Japanese native also attended this year’s NSC Stars combine.

IMS is currently putting together a list of those who have been invited to camp and will get that posted as soon as possible.

~~~

The National Sports Center has also taken on a new Media intern for the NSC Stars. His name is Alex Haueter and he will be joining NSC Media Relations spokesman Barclay Kruse and video producer Jake Frantzen as part of the Stars media team. Haueter will be specifically assigned to working with the Stars and according to Kruse he is a “soccer guy” and really knows the game. This is not Haueter’s first opportunity to work with a pro soccer team. He also spent time interning with the Kansas City Wizards. Kruse said the former University of Nebraska graduate comes highly recommended. Haueter jumped right into things writing today’s press releases for the new Minnesota signings.

Crayton was born in Monrovia, Liberia and has made 36 appearances for his home country, often times as captain of his team. He retired from international play in 2008.

Louis Crayton

The 32-year-old Liberian played for St. Joseph Warriors in his home country where he made 33 appearances.

Crayton then moved on to spend 1997-2008 in Switzerland playing for 8 teams:
1997–1998    Lucerne    4-Appearances
1998–2000    Grasshopper    3-Ap
2000            Schaffhausen    13-Ap
2001            Wangen bei Olten    6-Ap
2001–2002    YF Juventus    15-Ap
2002–2003    Zug    13-Ap
2003–2005    Concordia Basel   44-Ap
2005–2008    Basel    12-Ap

In 2008 Crayton moved to DC United where he made 18 appearances. In 2009 Crayton looked to have the starting spot for United sewn up after regular keeper Zach Wells retired due to injury. However, a hip injury and a high salary caused coach Tom Soehn to balk on Crayton and released him from the MLS team.

Crayton also had a trial with the KC Wizards this spring. Lagos, who has good connections to the Wizards, was able to negotiate a 1-year deal with Crayton.

Joe Warren was also signed by the Stars. Warren, who is actually a full-time employee of the NSC, appeared in 41 games from 2000-2006 for the Thunder. He retired in 2006 after Nic Platter won the starting role. Since then he has been on the coaching staff at St. Olaf College in Carleton, Minnesota and works for the National Sports Center in Campus Operations as an Assistant Operations Manager.

Joe Warren punches a ball away in a 2005 US Open Cup Victory against Real Salt Lake - Photo by Brian Quarstad

The 35-year-old Warren had been training with the former Thunder players this spring at the NSC and was said to be considering coming out of retirement.

The Stars also announced their first signing of a combine trialist. Simone Bracalello, a midfielder/forward from Genoa, Italy was said to have the best showing of any of the players at the Stars first combine. He often stood out with quick bursts, cutting through defenders and unleashing wicked shots that frequently found the back of the net.

Super supporter Scott Kerssen, who attended the combine as an observer, said Bracalello’s shots were very lively with lots of movement, making them hard for keepers to stop.

Bracalello began his career at the youth academy of Italian club U.C. Sampdoria, where he played four seasons from 1995-2000. He also trained in the youth academies of FC Sestrese Calcio and Savona 1907 FBC. He made his professional debut for Savona, appearing in one game of the 2002-2003 fourth division Serie C2 season. During the 2003-2004 season, he trained with the first team of Calcio Como of the second division Serie B and played for the club in the Primavera Championship, open to the under-20 teams from Italy’s top two divisions.

Most recently, Bracalello played for Serie C2 side AC Prato. He appeared in 23 games during the 2007-2008 season, tallying three goals and six assists.

Bracalello was also said to have had a good trial with the Carolina RailHawks. With the depth of the NASL team he was not offered a contract but was thought of very highly by coach Martin Rennie.

See the two new goalkeepers sign their contracts and talk about the upcoming season.

Coerver had spent over 25 years in the Netherlands as a player and coach. He was well respected as a player in the Netherlands and as a coach in Europe, but it was the embracing of video technology that allowed the Dutch manager to develop a program that is still making inroads throughout the world some 25 years later. Coerver realized that through repeated viewing of slow motion video tapes he could analyze the moves of the world’s best soccer players. In doing so Coerver was able to break down the smallest intricacies to each step of the move: The shifting of weight, the change of speed and direction to the balance foot — even which part of the foot would make contact with the ball. In the dissection he could repeat the move himself and then teach it to young developing players.

Coerver also realized students needed to identify the moves so he named each feint after the player who was most famous at the time for that move: The Littbarski step-on move, the Rivelino step over move, the Sir Stanley Matthew’s shuffle step, or the van Basten double scissors move. These are just a few of the many fakes taught by Coerver.

Fast forward to 1993. I was only 5 years into my coaching journey. The World Cup was coming to the US the following year and a special World Cup exhibit was touring the country. One of the stops was the indoor field house at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota, home of the new Minnesota Stars Soccer team. Beside lots of skills clinics, World Cup memorabilia and past World Cup stars like the legendary English goalkeeper Gordon Banks (who I got to meet), there were also future hopefuls like the still relatively unknown Cobi Jones.

Along with the touring exhibit was a display for Coerver Coaching. It was my first encounter with the organization and I liked a pamphlet they handed out that helped me make lesson plans for skills training sessions. I also sent for a free Coerver Tape called “Play Like a Legend.” The tape eventually arrived in the mail and I’ll always remember the first time I viewed it. I suppose it was sort of a soccer epiphany. I was amazed as these very young players showed remarkable foot-skills and moves that the only the pros had seemed to display. Not only did they demonstrate the skills but they conducted them in drills that were easy, sensible and kept the players moving and with a ball at their feet.

I set out to learn as much as I could about Coerver coaching and over the years used many of the drills and footwork skills on the players I trained, particularly working it into winter and spring training.

Simon Whitehead had been in the US since the mid 80’s when he left his home to pursue a masters degree in physical education, something that was not yet offered in his home country of England. Whitehead, who had played soccer as a youth and found his niche as a goalkeeper, ended up settling into the Twin Cities and even wrote a book on coaching soccer that sold about 20,000 copies. Even though the book sold well, Whitehead soon learned there was a bigger demand for teaching the information within the book, not only to players but to coaches. Whitehead recalls a coaches clinic in Burnsville in 1987 where there were 100 coaches in attendance. He says he ran out of cones and was using shoes, bags, and whatever they could find to mark off training grids.  Whitehead then realized the demand for soccer trainers.

Whitehead continued to teach school, coach and conduct training sessions until his life was dramatically changed in 1993 by a book he read called “Soccer Excellence.”  It was written by none other than Weil Coerver. Whitehead tried to learn the moves and techniques from the book’s photographs, but he says when the tapes came out,  the light came on.

Coerver Coaching uses a pyramid system of development, starting with Ball Mastery and finishing with Group Attack.

“Here was something so different, so unique and so fun that I decided I had to be part of this,” said Whitehead.  He says he had become jaded with the teaching of the Football Association (FA) in England and felt that they were stuck in time and become stagnant as a football nation. “A lot of guys come over to the US to get away from the FA,” continued Whitehead. “Over here they can coach the Brazilian way, the German way or take the best of the American way and they can produce their own coaching philosophy.”

The English coach who had settled in the Twin Cities soon made a call to the legendary Charlie Cook who was located in Cincinnati and ran Coerver Coaching in the US. The International Director of Coerver Coaching Alfred Galustian and Charlie Cook have been instrumental in spreading the Coerver gospel according to Whitehead and he quickly found himself the Director of Coerver Coaching Minnesota.

Glen Buckley, Neil Cassidy, Carl Craig, Wayne Harrison, Gavin Pugh and John Tudor are just a few of the many English coaches Whitehead has brought over to Minnesota through the years.  “Coaching soccer is never work for an Englishman, it’s always play,” said Whitehead with a dry smile on his face. “That’s one thing the English coaches always had for the game, was the passion.”

These days Whitehead is working with US coaches. He says they now have that same passion for the game that the English coaches used to bring with them from his country of origin. “They’ve really gotten into it and are passionate about the game,” said Whitehead. “They follow the international game more than I do! I think we give them (coaches) something different in terms of training than the USSF gives them. We are a little more focused on the technical side, where the USSF may focus more on the tactical side.”

Whitehead says the technical aspect of Coerver Coaching makes it a great fit for American kids. “Unfortunately our kids in this country today are not the kind of kids we were when we were young,” said Whitehead. “We would just go out and play soccer for two or three hours after school. So in the absence of that, the Coerver method is a great session because it’s intense and it focuses on foot skills. Everyone is flying around passing, moving, and shooting. We don’t do a whole lot with tactics. We often don’t go anything more than 4 on 4 because we believe that the whole field is made of up little micro fields: 1 v 1’s, 2 v 2’s and 3 v 3’s. We do work on a lot of creative skills and giving the kids the confidence to go out and excel. I just think that Coerver is a good fit for the American kid because of the high intensity and the touches they wouldn’t otherwise get in larger sided training.”

Coerver has swept Japan where 15,000 kids aged 5-15 attend Coerver sessions each week. The method has seen over 500 youth enter into J-League club systems. Franz Beckenbauer, Jürgen Klinsmann, Carlos Pereira, Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson and Gérard Houllier are just some of the many top level coaches who endorse the Coerver method especially for the 8- to 14-year-olds, according to Whitehead. He stated that the Coerver coaching method is now a world standard.

Coerver Minnesota has recently entered into an agreement with the new NSC Minnesota Stars soccer team to conduct their camps and clinics. Phil Walczak will be the point man for the Coerver Camps associated with the Stars. Whitehead said that Coerver has always been about excellence and so they have looked for the best to team with for their camps and clinics. Two new additions to his coaching team are Keeper Konnection, a new goalkeeper training program and Fit Studios, a fitness center that the NSC Stars use for their conditioning.

Keeper Konnection is headed up by Tom Kleczewski and Jon Lowery, the later being a former assistant coach for the Thunder and head coach of mens’ soccer program at Hamline University.

Fit Studio is owned and operated by Aaron Leventhal who was a former Minnesota Thunder player and whose studio is the only soccer specific fitness studio in the Twin Cities.

“We are really excited to be associated with the new NSC Soccer team,” stated Whitehead. “We really want to work with the clubs and we want to work with the soccer community. We want to make sure the Stars players are accessible through the camps and clinics and through coaching sessions. We need the clubs to support the team and we need the clubs to support the camps. I’m not shy in saying that. It’s a financial reality. But we believe that if they have a camp in their area, it will be the best camp they’ve ever had – Period. Because all the kids are going to get trained and all the people running the camp are going to get trained. They will have the players there as role models and hopefully they can then go and watch a Stars game and see those same players demonstrate some of the things they taught in the camp.”

For more information on the NSC Minnesota Stars Coerver Coaching programs click here.

Simon Whitehead is currently a Physical Education teacher at Southwest High School in Minneapolis and coaches the Edina Girls Varsity team where in the last 2 years they have made back-to-back appearances in the Minnesota State High School Tournament.

“We had a conference call with USSF yesterday,” said Kruse. “They confirmed that there would in fact be a league-wide webcasting platform, and they promised the specifics in a couple days.” Kruse says the USSF has narrowed it down to a couple of vendors but they are still working on making a final decision.

The NSC spokesperson said one interesting aspect of the new plan is viewers won’t go to the USSF website but would instead go directly to the team website to get the online feed.

“I can guarantee that there will be free webcasts of Stars games, both home and away,” said Kruse. “The service will be much like last year’s USL Live which was offered by the USL and executed by each team and NeuLion.  The level of the production will be determined by the home team, so it may be inconsistent, much like USL Live was.”

“Webcasting has been one of my personal innovative projects at the NSC over the past 3 years,” Kruse stated. “We were prepared to offer our own webcasts of home games on the Stretch Internet platform if the USSF Division II Pro League and its teams had not made this decision.  The NSC has the ability to produce our own webcasts on our existing platform. We use Stretch Internet to webcast about ten of our youth soccer and hockey tournaments each year – USA CUP, NSC Cup, Schwan Cup, Stick-it to Cancer hockey and All-American Girls Hockey.”

Kruse said that the USSF has sent out a set of broadcasting standards that teams must meet. Even though the NSC already has some equipment, Kruse said the new standards will mean that team will need to purchase about $14,000 worth of equipment which will include 3 new and improved cameras and a Tricaster which is a piece of production equipment that allows camera switches and prerecorded segments.

Kruse said the NSC also looked into having North Metro Cable do production of the broadcasts again. He says even though the NSC is very familiar with the quality of North Metro it was not something they could afford this year. Kruse said he thought the $20,000.00 North Metro was asking for 15 home games was actually quite reasonable. But the NSC would need sponsors to underwrite that cost which he doesn’t believe they can put together in the current recessionary business climate and on such short notice. However, he didn’t rule it out in future years.

“Unfortunately, North Metro isn’t interested in going into this as an entrepreneurial venture,” said Kruse. “They learned from their experience with the Thunder that they can’t sell enough commercial spots to make it work. They would love to work with us, but we were going to have to cover their production costs. It’s just a money issue, and we completely understand. The NSC partners with North Metro on many different projects, and there is a high degree of respect between both organizations.”

“For the Stars, we would love to work with North Metro 15 to produce home game webcasts, because they offer production equipment and personnel beyond our means,” continued Kruse. “They have a production truck, four-camera set ups and 2 instant replay machines. If we had North Metro 15, the Stars webcasts would probably be among the highest-quality productions in the league.”

“We are currently trying to sell a sponsorship to underwrite North Metro 15’s production costs, but to date we have no takers,” said Kruse. “We’re not giving up though.”

When Gerber graduates this spring she will be taking with her a prestigious NCAA postgraduate scholarship for her performance on the pitch as well as in the classroom. She is one of only 29 women nationwide in all three NCAA divisions who received an award for the 2009 fall season. For her dedication to scholarship and athletics, Gerber has earned $7,500 to put toward expenses for graduate school.

In four years she has maintained a flawless 4.0 grade point average with a double major in biology and psychology and a chemistry minor while playing four years of soccer in which she accumulated 81 points, made all-conference three times, and conference all-academic four times.

“Participating in college in athletics taught me the value of hard work, team play and determination,” said Gerber. “These principles can get you very far in both athletics and academics. Working on a lab report with three other students is not unlike working with ten teammates on the soccer field. In both cases you must communicate well and work cooperatively toward a common goal.”

Please go here to see the story on Gerber from UM Morris.

Augsburg College men’s soccer head coach Greg Holker will be coaching the Minnesota 1993 boys’ Olympic Development Program team at the U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program Championship tournament this weekend in Phoenix, Ariz.

The tournament begins on Friday and concludes on Sunday at the Reach 11 Sports Complex in Phoenix. Holker’s Minnesota squad is one of four 1993 (birth-year) boys teams to compete at the tournament, joining Pennsylvania West, Georgia and California South. Minnesota plays Georgia on Friday at 1 p.m., with California South playing Pennsylvania West at 3 p.m. Championship and consolation matches will be on Sunday at 8 a.m.

Holker’s Minnesota team earned a spot in the championships after winning a regional tournament in Rockford, Ill., in July 2009. The Minnesota squad went 4-0-1 in its five regional games, outscoring its opponents 14-6 in the process.

The Minnesota team includes:

Region II – Minnesota
No.           First                Last              City                      State
GK1     Alexander          Elvidge         Bloomington      MN
GK2    Dominic              Running       Eagan                  MN
3          Mohamed(Rj)    Alowonle      Cottage Grove   MN
4          Eli                         Bjerk             Stillwater            MN
5          Benjamin             Cherrey        Woodbury          MN
6          Tyler                     Dixon            St. Paul               MN
7          Michael                Eigenmann  Plymouth           MN
8          Cole                      Erickson       Bloomington     MN
9          Mark                    Gormley, III  Minneapolis     MN
10        Isaac                     Kannah          Plymouth          MN
11         Ebenezer             Mengistu       Cottage Grove  MN
12         Eric                      Miller             Woodbury         MN
13         Adam                   Mohamed      Mankato           MN
14         Eddosa                Muhamed     Ramsey              MN
15         Andrew                Rorick           N. Mankato       MN
16         Devin                   Tomson-Moylan St. Paul       MN
17         Christopher         Wiah             Minneapolis      MN
18         David                    Zalk               Maplewood       MN

Poster created by Prairie Rose Clayton

While some folks are already making predictions for the 23-man US World Cup roster, I’m still not quite ready to make any guesses for two reasons:
First because of the injury epidemic the US seems to have encountered this past six months or so. Because of those injuries and the recoveries of those players, the US roster is not so easy to lock down.
Second, due to my personality of not wanting to make big bold statements. The blogosphere loves those big bold statements, but to my blogging detriment, that’s not really my nature. Instead I have a tendency to reflect. This often leaves me behind some of the crowd. However, this reflection did cause me to think about a ” what if” situation which I think is worthy of sharing with you.

It’s not too hard to come up with a starting 11 and 3 subs who are your 14 best players. Add on 2 extra keepers that most teams bring with to the tournament and you are down to 7 players that are really your backups for injury. It’s these 7 that are the toughest picks for a coach, especially when you get nearer the 23rd player. My point being that every one of those 23 roster spots is vitally important. Which brings me back to the Charlie Davies question. Can Bob Bradley afford to have a Charlie Davies on his roster even if he is not 100% match fit? Most predictions I’ve seen so far say no. But I will disagree merely for the fact that Charlie Davies could be an X factor for the Americans.

I’m sure everyone knows the Charlie Davies story by now. I’ll save most of the details and simply state that the 23-year old US forward was quickly making a name for himself for the US team and in Europe. First scoring 21 goals in two years playing for Hammerby in Sweden and then moving to Sochaux of Ligue 1 in France where he had 6 appearances and 2 goals before his tragic accident in October of 2009. As Ives Galarcep has well documented, the young forward has been making miraculous progress and is now back rehabbing with his team in France. According to a recent tweet by Davies himself, he’s getting more touches on the ball everyday. He had previously said he believes he will be back playing for Sochaux by the end of the season, perhaps in April.

Back to my pondering. Imagine with me for a moment a scenario where the US is locked in a tough 1st game with England in South Africa. We are down a goal late in the game and needing not only a goal but some inspiration. With 15 minutes left to play Bob Bradley looks over to #9 on the bench and gives him the sign he’s going in. At the 80th minute and after a quick warm up, a Charlie Davies pulls off his warm ups and checks in with the 4th official. As he stands on the touchline you can see the scars on his left and right knees along with another 10″ one on the back of his arm. What you won’t see is the 12″ scar on his stomach or the one on his head where his face was reconstructed or for that matter any of the other scars from his 8 surgeries. For Davies, these are reminders of the torn posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, the broken right femur and tibia, the broken left elbow, facial fractures and a lacerated bladder he sustained in the accident. But it’s also a reminder to him and his teammates how very far he has come since his tragic accident. For most of us, just getting off the bench and walking to the touchline would be a huge accomplishment. But not for Davies who almost 8 months to the date is about to enter onto the stage of the globe’s biggest sporting event with some of the world’s most fit athletes.

A US player runs to the sideline making way for Davies and he gives him a brief hug. That first step #9 takes onto the turf is an emotional one, an inspirational one. Not only for Charlie and not only for the team, but for every US Soccer fan in the stadium and every US Soccer fan back at home. In fact I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be an inspirational one for soccer supporters world wide.

The stadium rises to their feet to applaud Davies and every single US player on the bench and on the field also applauds. Even some of the opposing players applaud out of respect for #9’s accomplishment.

Back at home, in living rooms and sports bars throughout the US, fans are watching with a lump in their throats. They also rise to give the forward a deserved applause even if the Davies will never know it. It doesn’t matter, it’s a moment that everyone one of us will lock into our memories as one of the greatest sports comebacks of all times and one of the great inspirational stories of our lifetime.

“That’s what’s been driving me this whole time,” said Charlie Davies. “I’ve been looking at Web sites the whole time and they’re always saying, ‘We need to find a replacement for Charlie. We need to find someone because he’s not going to be back. These people don’t know. They don’t know me, and if they just knew me alone, let alone the determination and will I have now, you guys don’t know.”

My pondering does not have an ending, a miraculous comeback or a goal by Davies. What it does have is an inspired US team that plays the whole tournament with a bit more energy, a lot less fear and a willingness to work just a bit harder, much of it due to the inspiration of a Charlie Davies being included in the 23-man roster for the US.

“I plan on making a difference at the World Cup,” said Davies.

I would like to believe that could be true, but first Bob Bradley will need to have CD9 penciled into his roster when it’s announced in May. Figuring out all the players on that roster may not be easy for Bradley, but the inclusion of Charlie Davies on the 23-man World Cup roster may be the smartest tactical move the manger has ever made.

The USL, who had been owned by Umbro, a division of Nike, sold the league in late August to NuRock Holdings which was owned by Rob Hoskins and Alec Papadakis. While league founder Francisco Marcos stayed involved with the organization, he now has a more limited role. Tim Holt, who had served as USL Executive Vice President and COO the prior two years was named President.

At the same time a group of USL-1 team owners calling themselves the Team Owners Association eventually formed a rival league called the North American Soccer League (NASL). The NASL caused enough tension within US Soccer that President Sunil Gulati finally announced on January 7th that neither the NASL or the USL would be sanctioned for 2011, but instead the USSF would sanction the league for 2010, giving both sides time to prepare for the opportunity to try again in 2011.

Tim Holt and the USL have been very busy of late. This past week the USL officially announced they will make a bid for sanctioning of Division II soccer in the US in 2011. This was solidified by the announcement of a new USL-1 franchise to operate in Orlando that same year. “This is the first of many important announcements we will make as USL moves forward with its plans to re-establish the USL First Division in 2011,” stated USL CEO Alec Papadakis.

Although the announcement was received well in the Orlando area, it was not without some controversy. Not because the USL made public their decision to move forward in attaining sanctioning but because Steve Donner is leading up the franchise. Donner, who has been involved with many successful sports franchises throughout the US, left his recent  venture with the Rochester Rhinos, another former USL-1 soccer team, amidst controversy.

On Wednesday, March 9, the USL will hold another press conference in New York City to announce the head coach and technical director of one more USL-1 expansion team , FC New York. USL originally announced FC New York as a USL-1 expansion team in April of 2009 but the organization ended up passing on the 2010 USSF Division II Pro League season. Tomorrow’s press conference will also serve as an opportunity for the expansion team to show their intention of joining USL’s bid for sanctioning in 2011.

Tim Holt took time from his very busy schedule to respond to questions from Inside Minnesota Soccer. The USL President addressed the changes that have taken place in USL this past year and the future of the organization including an expanded USL-2 for the West Coast.

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IMS: Tim, the USL seems to be making a lot of moves recently to be more visible in the media, adding a Facebook page, twittering more, and adding a new blog where you and others from USL headquarters are giving us some insights into the organization. You’ve recently hired a PR guy in Jay Preble to coordinate some of those efforts.  I’m also hearing there are internal changes within USL since NuRock Holdings have taken over.

From a business perspective can you tell us what is going on internally with USL and how those changes will affect the leagues you run and the fans of those leagues?

USL President Tim Holt

HOLT: It has indeed been an eventful six months since NuRock acquired USL from Nike.  Immediately, our new ownership group embarked on an evaluation of the overall state of the organization through in-depth meetings with team owners at all levels, leaders in American soccer, and our staff.  After taking stock of our strengths and weaknesses and weighing those against the marketplace opportunities and challenges, we spent considerable time discussing and reshaping the strategic vision for our entire organization and each component part.

Two areas identified for immediate attention are:

1)    The manner and frequency with which USL communicates (to teams, fans, media, etc.)

2)    The need to increase the level of services provided to our teams.

The recent changes from a communications and personnel standpoint are part of the execution of this reshaped strategic vision.  In social media, what was in the past merely passive presence on social networks like Facebook and Twitter has become a daily commitment to actively communicating through these media and creating a more “open” USL for all of our fans.  Another important feature of this initiative is the creation of the USL Free Kicks blog where everyone from our CEO to our interns regularly contributes on relevant issues.

From a personnel standpoint, it has been an especially active time over the past 45 days.  For starters, adding someone of Jay Preble’s caliber and the perspective he brings from over a decade in the NHL has been a major plus; yet of equal significance is the appointment of Seth Witkowicz as our Director, New Media, which underscores the fact that we intend to dedicate real resources and focus in this realm.  On the competition side, we have added Peter Mellor to serve as USL’s first National Technical Director.  Peter is a highly-respected coach both domestically and internationally, and has committed his career to developing elite players and coaches during his time with USSF, NSCAA, and MLS teams.   In addition to overseeing the curriculum and structure for all league player activities (showcases, combines, ODP, etc.), he will work closely with all teams as a resource at their disposal.  Further, we have added Casey Armstrong from the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a full-time Director, Creative Services to boost our in-house graphic productions and do the same for our teams.  Additional staff will also be added prior to the season in operations and league growth.

These are just the beginning of a series of exciting moves we will continue to make to enhance our overall communications and bolster service for all USL members.  It is a real credit to league ownership that they are willing to make the investment of resources necessary to support and benefit our teams through the improved year-round service they will receive.

IMS: Some people have been critical of the franchise system that USL has used in the past for USL-1 and the old A-League (1997-2004). Why do you think that system was effective and do you think the league would have survived for 12 seasons if not for the franchise system?

HOLT: USL has been continuously operating since 1986 at all its levels because it provides a reliable structure by which team owners can develop soccer players and offer exciting yet affordable family entertainment in their respective markets.  There hasn’t just been one single governance approach or model which has served USL-1 (or USL overall) during this period.  It is constantly evolving, and every season there are modifications to the structure of the league and the relationship between the league and its teams.

Despite what some may profess, there is also not a single “right model” for professional soccer in the United States.  MLS has a different model than USL, and both have different models than that employed by NASL.  Our franchise model allows team owners to have nearly full autonomy within their markets on and off the field, whilst allowing for centralized support in areas such as marketing services, TV/internet exposure, player registration, officiating, operations and club growth. Most importantly, our quarter-century of expertise and economies of scale allow us to provide a high level of service for tremendous value in terms of what teams annually contribute to support league office operations.  If this were not the case, we would not have over 120 senior franchises and 500 elite youth teams across 100 U.S., Canadian, and Caribbean markets actively participating in our system.

Whether the historic achievements in the A-League/USL-1 since 1997 were because of or in spite of our franchise model of our league is a matter for debate.  The more important issue is identifying an economically viable model in 2010 and beyond for domestic professional soccer below MLS.  We believe that the direction we are going as a result of some of our recent changes will ultimately be the most effective in serving the marketplace and attracting prospective new soccer team owners. Is there room to improve and make further changes?  Always, and this process never stops.

IMS: The USL was pretty quiet throughout this past summer and fall when there was an attempt by NASL to take over the sanctioning of second division soccer. In the end, there were only three out of the remaining eight teams from 2009 that ended up affiliating themselves with USL and one team that dropped to USL-2 (Charleston Battery). You lost the sanctioning of the league to US Soccer for 2010 and it appeared at that time that the USL took a public relations hit. In retrospect, do you feel it was a mistake not being more vocal?

HOLT: From a public perception standpoint, we clearly took a hit by not responding to the various public attacks and associated misinformation which was out there late last year.  (For example, it was alleged that USL-1 was not “in compliance with FIFA” because of its operating/ownership model.  This is simply false, which is the reason why no specific statute or bylaw was ever cited to support this.)  While we do not regret the decision to take the high road and work through the proper channels to combat the various propaganda so as not to further publicly escalate the dispute, we do recognize that this approach allowed for those who were shouting the loudest and most vociferously to control perception, at least in the blogosphere.

For the record, USL ownership (first Umbro, then Nike, and finally NuRock) were willing to collaborate with the disenchanted team owners on the adoption of a reformed USL-1 business model.  However despite the various proposals advanced by USL, it became clear that at least several of these team owners would not be satisfied or continue in USL-1 without ownership and absolute control of this property ceded to them.

Frankly, it doesn’t benefit anyone to delve into any further details or rehash the past.  We have moved on and look forward to applying for sanctioning and re-launching USL-1 in 2011.

IMS: I’ve heard that USL-1 did not bring in much money to the league although there were some profits, but overall it was a pretty expensive endeavor. If that is true, then tell me from USL’s perspective why you are even interested in 2nd division soccer? Is it the high visibility that the league has?

HOLT: Although I am not at liberty to get into specific financial details, it would be fair to state that since the merger in 1997 USL has invested substantially more into the A-League/USL-1 than it has generated in revenue from this property.  This includes taking responsibility for teams mid-season to ensure the continuity of the league and limit damage to the sport of pro soccer in those communities.  It also includes making the major investment in important USL-1 marketing/broadcast initiatives such as the Fox Soccer Channel package and our broadband network USL Live.

One of the primary business objectives for USL is developing the sport of soccer at all levels.  USL-1 is a very important property for our organization, but it is also one of six different important properties.  All of these properties play a key role in the overall success of USL in terms of its financial and other business objectives.  There is no question that the visibility of USL-1 has allowed us to educate others as to the important work being done within the PDL, Super Y-League, etc.  In return, our developmental leagues have served to develop hundreds of players for USL-1 and create a defined pathway for future pros through the USL system.  Again, our ownership and management of USL-1 has always been more than just a bottom-line exercise and viewed as a long-term investment for the organization.

IMS: If your goal is to be the sanctioned 2nd division soccer league in 2011, how do you plan on bringing teams back into the USL fold so you have the support you need to run a league?

HOLT: We are fully committed to apply for sanctioning as a USSF Division II Men’s Professional League for the 2011 season.  Currently, USSF is going through an internal process of reviewing their standards for leagues/teams at this level.  Once this is complete, the league application process will commence and we intend to be prepared to submit an application compliant with these revised standards.

Our well-received announcement in Orlando last week represents what we expect to be the first of several during the next couple of months regarding teams that are joining USL-1 in order to compete in 2011.  (We are in serious discussions with a half-dozen other groups on both coasts.)  The Orlando Titans have done an exemplary job connecting with not only the lacrosse community in Central Florida but the overall sports community.  The overwhelming turnout by local media and soccer leaders alike is a great sign that the time is right for professional soccer in Orlando.  (It should also be noted that the PDL / SYL club Central Florida Kraze has done yeoman’s work in building interest and awareness in USL over the past decade.)  All of the pieces are coming together at the right time in Orlando.

In the wake of the USSF decision not to sanction a Division II Men’s Professional League member organization for 2010, our new reality is that we are faced with a new series of questions about USL-1 and its future by prospective team owners.  We are answering these questions through the development of a very thoroughly analyzed business plan which demonstrates how USL-1 will be successful going forward for all of its stakeholders.  Not only does this include the aforementioned concerted emphasis on team services, but also the creation of a clearly defined economic model for team operations.  What we set out to achieve over the next several years is a disciplined, economically-viable model for professional soccer that avoids the reckless overspending of failed leagues in the past, whilst providing a highly competitive and entertaining on-field product.

IMS: The USL also lost some teams in USL-2 this past year. Charleston dropped from USL-1 to USL-2 but that still is only 6 teams active for this season. FIFA normally requires 8 teams to run a league. I am hearing that you are working hard on an expansion of USL-2 (D-3). Can you give us any insights into that and where will these teams be coming from?

HOLT: USL-2 is the only USSF-sanctioned DIII Men’s Professional League and the longest-standing active American professional soccer league.  No different than USL-1, the main characteristics for USL-2 include a high level of on-field competition, teams positioned to achieve profitability through the support of the USL office/structure, and a connection with our fans in all markets.  Although it typically doesn’t get the same spotlight as USL-1, USL-2 is a very important league within our structure and the one which has the most immediate growth opportunity.

We will be expanding USL-2 to form a Western Conference for 2011, which will be comprised of some current PDL teams and expansion teams. At this base level of professional soccer maintaining regional competition and controlling expenses is imperative so there will not be teams traveling coast-to-coast with any regularity except for the post-season.  Most USL-2 teams operate on a low to mid six-figure budget and are heavily reliant on local sponsorship, ticket sales, and camp revenue to cover expenses.  The current roster of teams for 2010 includes amongst the best operated organizations in the USL system including the likes of the Charleston Battery, Charlotte Eagles and Richmond Kickers and boasts an average of 12 years of USL pro league participation. We believe that this regional competition format model is ideal for lower division professional soccer and that the next 3-5 years will represent a renaissance period for USL-2.

IMS: What direction does the organization see itself going and why? Specifically, do you have a plan on focusing more on PDL, W-League, Super-20 and Super Y or on the leagues (2nd and 3rd division) you have just mentioned?

HOLT: We have always been focused on our “developmental leagues” (PDL, W-League, Super-20, and SYL), but have never focused on them at the expense of our professional leagues or vice-versa.  The same will be the case moving forward.  Again, we genuinely believe that the success and longevity of USL is a function of the fact we operate a system of leagues that interact symbiotically at both the macro (national) and micro (local) levels.  For instance, about a decade ago we repositioned the PDL as a predominantly under-23 league for collegiate and newly post-collegiate players.  This led to meteoric growth in the league which now is almost 70 teams strong.  Some of this came as a result of USL team owners relocating from USL-1 or USL-2, however a lot of this was also borne out of SYL and Super-20 members that expanded their clubs “up the ladder” – a positive development for the sport.

The W-League’s development mirrors that of the PDL in many ways and provides an excellent proving ground for top female players who aspire to compete professionally in WPS or abroad.  Our youngest league, Super-20, came as we recognized that there was a gap for an organized national competition for those players not quite yet ready for the PDL or W-League but too advanced for SYL.  Super-20 is now at nearly 100 teams and has development programs from within the USL, MLS, and WPS ranks.  While the youth landscape has changed with the advent of the USSF Development Academy league, the SYL continues to represent the elite clubs and players between the ages of 13-17 even as we look at ways to further refine this program in the coming years.      

Despite last year’s public dispute within USL-1, the USL system of leagues remain healthy and well-positioned for continued future success.  With the active support of our committed partners at Nike within the Umbro brand, we are intensely focused on a 2010 marked by aggressive league growth, exemplary service to our teams, and frequent communication with all those who follow our leagues.

The NSC Stars went live with their new website on Tuesday morning.

IMS spent some time exploring the site and found it to be not only attractive and clean, but intuitive, organized and filled with features that will allow content to be added in the future. The site already has fan links as well as a “Fanzone” category. They also have a soccer “Headlines” section on the front page much like the Vancouver Whitecaps site.

Scott Clasen of the National Sports Center is responsible for the site. Clasen is often seen as the on-air host of NSC TV, but his actual title is Business Tech Project Manager. Clasen seems to wear many hats with the NSC. The former school teacher has built and maintains both the NSC and USA CUP websites. He also oversees various tech projects including a “massive project” Clasen says that the NSC has entered into with HangAStar Inc. which will totally revamp the tournament scheduling process they currently use. He also works closely with the accounting department in utilizing their software as effectively as possible.

IMS talked with Clasen about building the new soccer team’s website.

IMS: Can you tell me how big of a role you played in designing this website?

Clasen: I did the whole thing from start to finish! I found the partner organization (Demosphere), designed all the graphics, navigation elements, pages and copy. Basically, this was my baby since the team was announced.

IMS: How do you start a project like that from scratch?

Clasen: I was excited to start the project and after having designed the NSC and USA CUP websites felt up to the challenge. Designing is the fun part of my job!

Like both of those sites, I started by looking at other sites that were similar. I viewed every MLS team site, a large number of USL team sites as well as other minor league team sites to get ideas. I also took the feedback from some core supporters about what team sites they liked and disliked.

The wrinkle with this site was knowing that we needed to partner with a company that could offer a robust content management system. Both the NSC and USA CUP sites are maintained in Dreamweaver and I make all the edits and additions. That has worked fine for the last 4 years because the number of updates each day is not overwhelming. We knew with the Stars site we’d be generating much more content and updates would be happening frequently so we needed a system that would allow people beyond me to make updates, which is where a CMS comes in. I didn’t want to be the one posting a press release or game notes or video at 11:30 pm after a game!

IMS: It sounds like a daunting task?

Clasen: It was daunting in the sense that I was already working full-time with other tech projects and maintaining the current sites under my responsibility. I also really felt the time crunch to get a site up and running very quickly.

IMS: What were your influences?

Clasen: The number one site I used as an influence was the Seattle Sounders website. It’s far and away the best MLS team site. They have so much robust power on that site with their social networking/blogging platform that I knew we couldn’t replicate because of costs, but I love every single thing about their design elements. To me, too many team sites, in soccer and other sports, have homepages that are too busy. Everyone wants a piece of real estate on the homepage and as a result, they end up cluttered and your eye struggles to find something to grab onto to. I wanted to avoid that with the Stars homepage.

IMS congratulates Clasen and the NSC team for creating an outstanding looking site and is looks forward to the future content that will fill it.

Minnesota, who returns all 11 starters from last season, earned a shutout against the defending Big XII Champion Tigers. Missouri had not been shutout since September 20^th of last fall. Additionally, Mizzou finished 2009 ranked 11^th in the nation in scoring offense.

The Tigers looked as if they were going to get on the scoreboard in the 21^st minute of play when sophomore Jessie Crabtree was in alone on a breakaway with Minnesota goalkeeper Cat Parkhill. Parkhill came out and stood her ground and Crabtree’s shot sailed high over the goal.

Minnesota earned several free kicks in the attacking end of the field throughout the game, but failed to produce a quality scoring chance. The Gophers’ best chance came in the 73^rd minute in the run of play when freshman Marissa Price served a ball into the box for classmate Stephanie Brandt. Brandt’s shot sailed just wide of the frame and the game remained scoreless.

Mizzou put pressure on the Gophers in the final 5 minutes of the match and earned a clear scoring chance for forward Kari Adam 12 yards from goal with under a minute to play. Parkhill came up with the diving save, parrying the ball wide to preserve the shutout.

The Gophers outshot the Tigers 8-3 on the day, but only managed two shots on goal while Mizzou managed just the one in the final minute. Missouri did however earn 8 corner kicks to Minnesota’s 4.  The Gopher attack was led by juniors Kylie Kallman, Molly Rouse, and Katie Bethke who each recorded two shots on the day.

There were over 200 Gopher fans in attendance among the crowd that assembled at the youth tournament to cheer on the two teams. Minnesota returns to action in Cary, NC the weekend of March 27-28 when they take on ACC powers Duke and Wake Forest at the WakeMed Soccer Park. The Gophers battle Duke at 12 noon on the 27^th and Wake Forest at 1:30pm on the 28^th.