Hi All

Been awhile since my last USA update and I know a few of you having been following my updates.

Well the daughters gone back for year 2 and taken over another local Newcastle Girl with her a year or so younger, always nice to have some Aussie company. She knew the girl somewhat but had no involement in her decision

Only 6 remain from last years 15, some moved on to life after college, some to 4 year college and some just gave up not liking the experience

Coach was sacked although I believe not overly fairly but thats the way to goes when coaching is a living. Have a squad of nearly 20 and from what I hear theres about 5 Aussie girls this year.

Hoping the girl replicates last years success that she had and will provide more updates on her and the team once the competition starts in approx 1 month.No doubt in the world she came back a better player and loved the experiecne just hated the crappy USA food.

I have become a resident expert of this field and have helped many people make educated decisions on if they should send their kid over or not, like before happy to guide people on all thats involved. Quiet a few people I have spoken to have decided not to go through with it but mainly due to the true cost.

Talk more in about a month

Silver....

Thanks, Silvergale.

Always enjoy the reads.

Life has begun under the new coach who brings in alot of discipline and structure

Daughter recieved the first evaluation after going over still recovering from a knee injury.
Every two weeks this is what they get, also not shown is the comments. I think this is a good thing alot of coaches in Australia could implement prompting two way discussion and also highlighting the areas the player needs to work on..

1) First touch 8
2) Crossing/clearing accuracy 9
3) Strength and power 7
4) Consistency!!! 7
5) Finishing No mark as no games played yet
6) Balls in the air No mark as no games played yet
7) Speed of play (possesion) 8
8) Vision on the field 8
9) 50-50 balls defending 7
10) Fitness 7
11) Speed 8
12) Coachability 9
13) Attitude 9

Given she hasnt played or trained for 9 months, fairly understanding and accept the lower marked areas.

First game this Tuesday (our Wednesday) feedback is a better squad, will advise game by game outcomes

Cheers - Silver

Game 1
Based on last years ranking for the State of California our team was ranked 51st out of 84 and today we played an away game against the team that ranked 25th last year.
The Daughter got into the starting 11 but only played the first half. Expected as much due to the long lay off she has had with the injury
End result was 1 all

Credible effort given higher opposition and playing away after a 4 hour road trip.

Next two games are Friday and Saturday, both away games and 6 hour trip

Good to see the updates.:)

Interesting to see the 1-13 criteria for assessing a player.

I was going to do this, this year, but felt I ran out of time. I now have a different job in football since the rep job this year, and probably should use an evaluation sheet for players i deal with over the next few years.

With the 1-13, there is no Game Sense or Insight, apart from vision.

There is also no criterion for communication qualities and ability to follow a game plan. There is coachability, but it is a bit nebulous.

There is nothing on 1v1 attacking skills.

There is nothing about defensive and attacking positioning in BPO and creating off the ball movement in BP.

There is nothing on short/long passing.

I'm not sure what speed of play (possession) means?

I'm also familiar with the US College system. I think coaches need a minimum of a US C Licence to coach at this level, which is close to professional level in the states.

It shows how far Australia is in advance of a US coaching system, if, this guy is the archetypal college coach. The US College coach my daughter had, appeared much better, if this evaluation sheet typifies his practice.

In Australia, we could provide a more succinct assessment sheet in TIC, with 6 distinct criteria.








Edited by Decentric: 28/8/2013 06:56:10 PM

Games 2 & 3
Not so good on the next two games results, played an unknown team in game two and lost 3 nil, wasnt that the other team was that good but the girls played bad by their own comments. The team that beat them then went on to win their second game against someone else 3 nil as well so they may be a darkhourse
Game 3 got smashed 5-1. Team was ranked well above them. Girls played well just made errors at the worng time and in the wrong place.

The scoring system in this competition doesnt work on points, its a power ranking, a complex system that takes into account rankings that if you lose agaisnt a team higher than you but only by a small margin you can actually get a better power rank than the team that beat you. Also works on goal margins and if you play home or away games.
So due to this, we have lost two games and drawn one but as all games have been away and 2 out of 3 over teams ranked well above us our power ranking is actually very good.

Next games Tuesday agaisnt a lower ranked team so looking or the first win. This will be the 4th game in 7 days!!!

Game 4
4th game in 8 days with game 5 tomorrow, gruelling schedule. Today they played the first team below them and came away with a comfortable 5-1 win. Bit like last year, fairly new team that will take some time to come together, confidence boosting win and hope it continues tomorrow into game 5
Daughter injury appears to be getting there, starting 11 every game but still to play a full game. Played 3/4 of the game today and expect she was rested after they had a lead to be ready for tomorrow.
Wins 1, Draws 1 , Loses 2
More tomorrow

Game 5
This was last week but the other team forfeited so we get a 1 nil win

Game 6
Today, played a team that finsihed only 7 positions above us last year but we played them away and came up with a nil all draw, again a decent result and we are only only team they havent beat this year as winning their first 3 games in a row. Now running 9th out of approx 40th, game 7 tomorrow against a lower ranked team

Game 7
Played last week on Friday and came away with a 4-1 win against a team they were expected to beat. Puts them now at 2-2-2 and the forfeit they got.
Game 8 this Friday sees them play the same team they lost to in game 2. Coach does this to see how his team is hopefully improving so expecting something better than the 3 nil lose we had last game. So games this Friday, Saturday and Tuesday then a weeks break before the first conference game

Game 8 was on Friday and was a rematch from game 3. This team was 5 from 5, 17 goals for and non against and our team showed their improvement by being the first to score against them and coming away with a 1 all draw after leading. Great result.
Conferecne games start this week and the daughter has just learned she has a Ghana world cup player to mark,great experience
Game 9 the next day was called off due to dangerous weather conditions.

What a great experience.

She must be playing in a decent league.

I know of a keeper who went from here, who had to competed with the Nigerian national keeper for a starting spot!

Game 10, 11 & 12
Been on holidays so delayed updated...
The Conference games havent got off to a great start. Game 10 they lost 1 nil to the team that has won the conference the last 6 years so disappointing but no disgrace. The daugther marked the Gauana world cup player and said she had great skills but under pressure she fell apart, didint get past her all game.
Games 11 & 12 were agaisnt the same team, last year this team finsihed just above them in the conference ranking with game 11, 1 all and game 12, 3 all. They led both games and let the lead slip.
Still ranked 8th in the Northern region out of 39 and 18th out of 88 for the State.
Game 13 this Friday

great thread!

Game 13 was on Friday against the team that finished directly below them last year. They were expected to win and came away with a nice 3-1 win playing away. This will give them some good confidence after alot of draws when they play the 6 times conference winners on Tuesday. Winning this or at least another draw will place them very well, fingers crossed, more on Wednesday

Game 14 was a rematch of game 10 against the 6 year champions, game 10 they lost 1 nil and this game they made a better run at them but still went down 3-2. The daughter is super frustrated as she is there to win and they are so close to doing the job but just falling short. With 2 competitions running is side the same comp, the hope of winning the conference is rapidly disappearing, still possible on paper. As far as the State rankings go, 17th our of 80 odd for the entire state and 8th out of 40 odd for the Northern region.Top 16 finished needed for the Northern to progress to the playoffs so looking good. One more game against the champs and alot of other games expecting wins. Next game Tuesday this week and then Friday, cheers till then

Game 15 today against the new team added to the conference this year.Before today this team had lost 8 nil 3 times and 9 nil once
Well today the Girls lifted the bar beating them 14 nil (that is not a typo)
Coach played my daughter at left wing for the first time this year, normally a full time left back. She was awarded the cross bar challenge after the game, hitting the woodwork 4 times without scoring. This should really add some team confidence going into the big game this Friday agaisnt the champs. Update on monday

Keep it coming.:)

Game 16 against the champs and after a much needed confidence boost in game 15 the girls came out and hammered them for their first win agaisnt them this year, 3 nil.
They also played them at their home ground so fantastic result. The daughter scored the first goal and got an assist off a corner. After seeing her play last game at left wing he kept her in that position going for more attack than defence and they got it right
Now 8th out of 39 for the Northern region and 15th out of 88 for the State rankings, 2 games this week and 2 more next week giving them their 20 minimum requirement.
Wish I was there to see all this, its the only negative!!

Game 17 was the first rematch against the new team in the conference which we beat 14 nil first time around. I didnt get much detail on the game but this time we beat them 15 nil and the daughter scored for the 2nd game in a row, some would say as expected against this level. Coach played her half a game on the left wing for the 3rd time in a row and then chucked her in centre mid field, her frist experience in that position. Said she felt a bit lost in the middle but was ok
I would imagine the new team now realises that you need to import internationals to be competitive and hopefully they will be better next year, must be hard geting smashed every game. 3 game winning streak, Game 18 this Friday

Game 18 was a replay of game 16, played away and came away with a nice 2 nil win. Girl played left wing and then centre mid again, coach seems to prefer her making the play now and left back seems like a thing of the past
Winning the conference is basically gone but second looks fialry secure, 3 games to go and expecting to win them all. Still nicely positioned for play offs. Next game Tuesday

Game 19 was the last match agaisnt the new team, previous wins 14 nil, 15 nil. No real difference this game and by my daughters comments the game was played fairly casual and they cam away with a 12 nil win away from home. The played on a grid iron field, great quality field by the look of the pictures.
She was put back into left back for the first time in 3 or 4 games, hardly saw the ball which isnt suprising agaisnt this team.
On the conferecne second posistion is in the bag and for the knock out state rankings slipped down to 14th due to the power ranking and playing teams ranked lower even after winning the last 5 in a row, crazy system but seems to work. 2 games to go, Friday playing a team above us so another win will lift us higher in the rankings maybe even if we lose then last game next Tuesday against a team roughly equal with us.

Game 20 was agaisnt last years second place conferecne team, this year we have had two stubborn drawa when we should have won and these two draws really ended up costing first place in the conference but thats they way it goes
This game finally showed the difference between taking oppurtunites and not with a nice 4 nil win, this is a nice 6 game winning streak and if you have been following, 6 games without conceding a goal.
One game left which should be another win but we are sitting 14th out of the 16 required to get into the playoffs,we were 8th and havent lost a game since, sounds strange but thats how the power points work as I have mentioned before. If we finish 8th we will have to play the 3rd place team so playoffs will be really tough and may be short lived, but anything can happen, last game Tuesday

Game 20 was today and it was the last conference game of the season, little bit too close for comfort after beating this team all year but came away with a nice 2-1 win, making it 7 wins in a row and only one goal conceded in 7 games.
Time to sit back now and let all of the other teams finalise their last games this week to see where it all falls out.
We appear to be safely in the top 16 knockout stage placed 14th but with a nice power ranking gap which seesm to far to bridge
Might be a week or so before the next update....Hope you are enjoying the story

Bad news today,due to a breach in rules our College has been excluded from the knockout stage. Before this season started both male and female teams played in a off season knockout. You can do this but must register the games you played and it apepars the college didnt submit the paperwork and the penalty is as above, pretty harsh and wrong, impacting the players who have done nothing wrong.
The Girls ended up finishing 11th out of 40 in the Northern and 26th out of 89 for the entire state, 11 wins, 5 draws and 4 loses.
As far as personal hounours go, the daughter played the entire year injured and pretty proud of how she toughed it out. In the first year she made all conferecne first team but this year only made the second team.
Although a disappointing end to the 2 years she will head home after the semester and have a well earned rest.
As far as local competition in Newcastle, she will not sign up and see what happens, you have until June at the latest to register so best to rest and heal and come back into it after that.
Thanks to all who enjoyed the read and as per previous offer, if anyone wants to know anything about college in the USA, male or female, just contact me as I am happy to help
Cheers - Silver....

Hi All
The college has gone into damage control, coach has been sacked which leaves the doubt of blame on him, not the college.
The soccer program has been cancelled for the final semester next year so alot of the players are finishing up at Xmas and going home
I intend to complain that the college failed to deliver a service I paid for but will wait till the girl is on her way home to avoid any dramas. Dont know if I will get anywhere with this but simply not good enough

That sucks mate. Unfortunately (and sometimes fortunately) the NCAA can crack down extremely hard on some of these breaches. It seems like football stars can get away with being paid under the table to play but uncharacteristic administrative error can rule legitimate teams out of top tier comps.

The other problem you will find is that there are numerous Texans on these NCAA committees, and they love to come down hard on Football/Soccer teams. Round ball is taking away from their much adored Gridiron so any indiscretion can cause suffering for all players involved.

Best of luck to her! Sounds like an awesome experience

Astonishing state of affairs.

Mind you I was unhappy with a number of aspects of a scholarship. I've expressed my concern to the local FFA president, but he is still keen to support the NSR program. I think FFA should withdraw their support for NSR.

The writing is on the wall. All US scholarship players I know, bar one, have returned well before the end of the contract.

Hi Decentric

Defintely alot of early failures but this is between the colleges and the students. Im no fan on NSR either but after the student starts they have nothing to do with it
Your warning is fare and one people should take note of, alot of kids dont survive the change from being at home and leaving the comfort zone
All in all and besides the drama at the end, she has had ball and the memories of this will last forever.
If I could redo it, I would, just a different end to the story would be good

Well the Girls had their presentation last night and my daughter was awarded the "Player of the Year" as voted by her playing peers.
Considering everything this was a nice way to finish.

The W League Lady jets could certainly do with a good back the way they are leaking goals

In typical USA college fashion, she also won the "Beer Pong" award after a 16 girl knock out competition, she got that ability from me for sure