I’ve been having some nice conversations with both college and high school coaches in the region the past week or two and one of the common themes is how much fun they all recently had at the National Soccer Coaches Athletic Association (NSCAA) Conference in Indianapolis. I asked Ryan Swan, Assistant Coach at Drury University, if he’d be kind enough to share his experiences.
For me the 2007 NSCAA convention in Indianapolis was a fantastic 3 days of soccer talk and networking. Additionally, there were a number of field demonstrations by some excellent coaches from throughout the USA and a couple of international guests.
One of the best of these sessions was; “Developing Youth Players: The Everton Way” by Tosh Farrell, Technical Coordinator, Everton FC Academy. Tosh demonstrated the training methods employed by English Premiership club Everton, which have contributed to the development of players such as Wayne Rooney. Furthermore, I was able to watch the future stars of the MLS commit to their first professional clubs as the MLS draft was hosted at the convention.
However, the highlight of the weekend was the Adidas 4v4 tournament. My team included former indoor professionals, John Klein, Curtis Stelzer, and Vince Darnell and our experience allowed us to cruise through the group stages of the competition. Unfortunately, our experience was not enough to counter our old legs and woeful penalty taking as we crashed out in the quarterfinals via a penalty shootout to a youthful University of Indiana team. This defeat denied us the opportunity to play against US legends, Eric Wynalda and Paul Caligiuri who also had a team in the tournament.
Overall this is a fantastic event that I recommend to every coach. I am already in training for next year’s 4v4 in Baltimore.
Thanks Coach!
Pictured above are (L to R): Scott, Asst Coach Jeff City HS; John Klein, Columbia College Coach & former Duke player; Eddie Horn, Jeff City Boys Coach; Ryan Swan, Asst Coach Drury University; ? Asst Coach, Rockhurst HS (KC); Scott Siegal, St. Teresa’s Head Coach (in Red); Mike Howard, Rolla Bulldogs Coach; Matt Stacy, Jeff City Jays Asst ; Chris Miller, Jeff City Jays Girls Coach; Curtis Stelzer, Central Methodist Coach (in orange); ? in back; Carlos McField (in blue) Sacred Heart Head Coach; JD Hunter, Girls Coach Camdenton HS; Kirby Keth, Coach Rock Bridge HS; Todd Krey Head Coach Lee’s Summit West in back; Ed Miller, Joplin Eagle Coach in maroon; Joe Toigo, Park Hill South Coach
