I ask that question as a prelude to sharing Andy Wilkinson’s weekend with you from last week. As you can see in the photos, he covered a lot of bases. He started his road trip with a drive from Joplin up to Kansas City to enjoy the KC Wizards game against the LA Galaxy on Saturday. From there he headed to St Louis where he participated in the St Louis Athletica game against the FC Gold Pride. The Women’s Professional Soccer match was held at the A-B Soccer Complex, was broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel and included Andy as AR2.
Congrats to one of our region’s up-and-coming referee’s, as Andy is actively pursuing his National license. Thanks for the photos Andy. Oh, and to address any questions… That’s Jack Jewsbury in the first, Beckham in the second, Andy’s on the far left in the third (not the little girl, the ref!) and that’s Hope Solo bending over in front of Andy as he check’s the nets prior to the start of the game. Apparently his buddies were a bit enamored of Hope and so most of his photos are of the US goalkeeper!
Work, and The Magazine, are requiring plenty of my time these days folks so I apologize for the lack of diversity on the site the past week or so. I love the High School game but there’s more to be aware of and enjoy out there. I’ll be back to normal programming next week, including a number of College Player updates. I’ve got a backlog of reports to share with you but it takes time to put them together properly so they’ll have to wait. In the meantime, here are some items I found interesting.
On a more positive note, I didn’t get pictures or a game report on the KC Wizards win over David Beckham, Landon Donovan and the LA Galaxy last Saturday. Heck it was Monday before I even heard what the score was, which was a bit strange. I did see that Jack Jewsburyplayed in his 150th game for the KC Wizards that day, tying him for 10th all-time for the Wizards. It’s also great to see that Jack’s back in the middle. He expressed an interest in that position in my interview with him in the first Magazine, teaming with his best friend Davy Arnaud has to ensure great communication as well. Congrats Jack!
OK, now for the goalkeepers and coaches out there. Was chatting with a couple of high school coaches recently and goalkeeper training came up. Well, here’s one of two video examples I found recently that will probably offer some good ideas that are easily implemented for your team. Click on the video itself to be taken to a second example as well as others that YouTube will highlight for you.
And yes, that’s Chris “Tommy” Tombridge (Kickapoo/Springfield SC/Northwestern) doing plenty of hard work with Lance Parker (Chivas/MSU Bears) under the guidance of former MSU Coach Jesse Miech.
Have you been watching the US Men’s team qualifying games? Any thoughts on who deserves to play in South Africa in 2010? These guys have been!
Folks, a reminder that the 4th Annual Southwest All-Star game will be held on Thursday June 19th. We will feature a pair of games, with the ladies playing at 6:00 pm and the gentlemen at 8:00 pm. The games will be played at Cooper Soccer Complex, on field #1, site of last night’s Springfield Derby between Kickapoo and Glendale.
One reason for the reminder is to also introduce you to Zack Larsen. Zack has joined the All-Star team from the Missouri State University Entertainment Management program. He’s working with Jeremy and I as an Intern as part of his degree program and he’ll be reaching out to the Coaches this week and next to introduce himself. It’s time to reconnect with the boys who will be playing this summer, We are also beginning to compile the list of girl players that will be considered for this years game.
Zack is a soccer freak, a Chelsea fan and former college roommate of Andy Wilkinson, who many of you know as a regular commenter on this website as well as his work as a graduate of the MSU Athletic training program and his pursuit of a National Referee license. So he’s got cred and we’re very glad to have his assistance this year. If you’re an invited player, he’ll be reaching out to you to keep you up-to-date. If you’re a Coach, he’ll be looking to accomplish the same.
