There are many pitfalls in youth soccer in our country. Over-invested parents; the pressure to win at too young an age; high-pressure coaches who focus on winning instead of on development; and increased dropout rates because of these and other factors are just some of story lines that we see repeated over and over. Much of this negativity comes because of our collective mindset that the only way for us to measure our childrens progress in soccer is through the scores of their games. How many points their team gets and how many goals our children score have, for too many years, been the metrics by which we gauge their progress. But what if there was a different way to develop soccer players in Canada? What if we could simply teach kids to play better? That is the goal of Willie Cromack, founder of Play Better, an innovative plan to improve sport culture in Canada. The program attempts to shift the mindset of players and parents alike, away from scoreboard success and towards empowering children to discover their potential - both as soccer players and as human beings. Play Better is a grassroots soccer program designed to provide clubs, coaches, parents and players with a clear and accountable pathway through soccer. This includes an LTPD-compliant curriculum, lesson plans complete with desired outcomes, video training sessions, as well as tools for gathering metrics beyond simply the number of goals scored. The reason behind the gathering of those metrics is where the genius lies. Play Better aims to marry a holistic charitable program with the training and development of young soccer players. The program does through by asking teams to do the following: • Choose a cause or charity. For example; the SPCA, the Canadian Cancer Society or your local childrens hospital. • Choose a baseline metric. For example; a recreational team can choose 100 completed passes per game. A more competitive team can choose a larger number, such as 200 completed passes. This is called the team goal or team win. • Have a pre-season meeting with parents to explain your objective; for every game in which your team achieves its team win, ask parents (or friends, family members or sponsors) to donate a pre-determined dollar amount to the team cause/charity. The monetary amount is not important - it can be as little as a loonie per parent/family. • Create a team website, where the kids can tell their story. It gives them a chance to explain, in their own words, how achieving their objective every game will not only help them become better soccer players, but also make a difference in the world. It also allows them to track and promote how much money they have raised for their chosen cause/charity. Team Falcons is a U11 boys gold soccer team in North Vancouver. Click here to see how they have committed to Play Better. I am often asked how we can shift away from the win-at-all-costs mentality that has infected youth soccer in our country. As I have written many times before, it is one of the biggest hurdles we must overcome if we are to create an effective youth development system in Canada. It isnt the players that we need to convince; it is the parents. A program like Play Better might just be the bridge we need to achieve this. As the members of Team Falcons can attest, players participating in Play Better quickly realize that their sporting endeavours have a bigger meaning. It isnt just about winning and losing anymore - it is about helping others. This teaches players to work on their fundamental skills (to complete 100 or 200 passes per games, players have to focus on what they learn in training), but more importantly, it teaches them about helping others, about community investment and about personal growth. What parent doesnt want their child to learn those lessons? If these lessons can be tied into the technical development of young soccer players, then Canadian soccer could be onto something big. *If you or your team is interested in Play Better, you can read more about the program here, or contact Willie Cromack at willie@championsinsport.com cheap Ray ban . Michalek scored his second goal of the game and 10th of the season with 23 second left as Ottawa defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 on Thursday. "We believe theres still lots of goals left in Milan, but its taken a long time to get them out this year," Senators coach Paul MacLean said. Ray Ban Outlet . Lauzon rushed for 42 yards on 15 carries for the Vert et Or (2-3) while quarterback Jeremi Roch completed 19-of-32 passes for 251 yards and one interception. Alexandre Aube scored the other touchdown for Sherbrooke. http://www.raybanwayfarersun... .C. - Even as the lead quickly grew to four goals, Matt Martin and the New York Islanders never felt comfortable. [url=http://www.raybanwayfarersunglassesoutlet.com/]cheap ray ban sunglasses . Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored two goals, including the winner, and added an assist as the Oilers came from behind to stun the Eastern Conference-leading Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in overtime on Friday. WINNIPEG -- Rashad Evans got his hunt for a heavyweight title shot back on track Saturday with a split decision victory over veteran Dan Henderson at UFC 161. It was a matter of youth trumping experience, with Evans nine years younger than the 42-year-old Henderson, who fought at UFC 17. They approached each other cautiously in the first, but it was Henderson who connected with the first solid punches late in the round, attacking so eagerly he could hardly keep his feet. "I said, What hit me," said Evans, who approached Henderson with a lot more caution after that. "Only fools rush in with Dan Henderson." The second round opened with Evans trying to take Henderson down, but the veteran quickly got to his feet. Henderson was noticeably tired in the third. "I just left it up to the judges again and Ive got nobody to blame but myself for that. He kept the pressure on pretty well in that third round," Henderson said. "I kind wanted to take a little bit of a breather and go back after him and he kept the pressure on pretty well and didnt let me do that." Henderson was coming off a loss to Lyoto Machida, while Evans suffered defeats to Rogerio Nogueira and current light heavyweight champion Jon (Bones) Jones. "He takes a hell of a punch and he gives a hell of a punch," Evans said of Henderson. "Coming off of two losses it takes bit of a hit on your confidence. "This wasnt my best performance by far but its something to start from." Their fight was preceded by the co-main event, a heavyweight bout between fan favourite Roy (Big Country) Nelson and Steve Miocic that the latter took in a unanimous decision to boost his UFC record to 4-1 and his overall MMA record to 10-1 Nelson, coming off three straight wins, outweighs Miocic by more than 20 pounds but stands four inches shorter and has seven inches less reach. He got in trouble late in the first when Miocic landed a solid combination but hung on. The pair traded rights in the second, but Miocic seemed unfazed and staggered Nelson with another combination that drove him to the wire. Nelsons looping rights found their mark a few times in the third and Miocic backed off a little to avoid getting caught when he already appeared ahead on the judges scorecards. Asked by UFC president Dana White how he felt after the fight, his response was brief: "I won right? OK then, Im happy." The main card got underway with Shawn (The Savage) Jordan winning his third UFC fight after stunning Pat (HD) Barry with a flurry of punches to end their heavyweight bout after just 59 seconds. It started with an uppercut and the referee stopped it as Barry crouched, taking punch after punch, declaring it a technical knockout. "He bought the first one ... I saw him kind of dazed so I just kept going," said Jordan, with an MMA record of 15-4 and a UFC record of 3-1. In a UFC debut for both fighters, womens heavyweight Alexis Davis of Port Colborne, Ont., defeated Rosi Sexton of Manchester, England, in a unanimous decision in the first womens UFC fight in Canada. "Its a whole new ballgame," Davis said of the UFC, after a busy week of media attention. "I cant wait to fight again." Ryan (The Big Deal) Jimmo, a native of Saint John, N.B., who now fights out of Edmonton, met fellow light heavyweight Igor (The Duke) Pokrajac. Jimmo took it in a unanimous decision bbut apologized for not being more aggressive.dddddddddddd "I was coming off a loss," he said. "I was fighting really conservatively." The Evans-Henderson matchup only became the main event after injuries scrubbed two other fights. The card took its first hit several weeks ago when the original main event featuring interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland fell apart after Barao injured his foot. It took another blow when the co-main event featuring former light-heavyweight champion Mauricio (Shogun) Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira was called off after Nogueira pulled out due to injury. UFC also struggled with injuries that depleted a card in Calgary last year. Canadian fighters won four straight preliminary bouts before a bleeding Sam (Hands of Stone) Stout from London, Ont., tapped out in the third round of his lightweight bout with James Krause. Stone submitted to a guillotine choke, still bleeding profusely from a gash above his right eye off a kick delivered by Krause in the first. The MTS Centre was packed with a sellout crowd of around 15,000 fans who paid anywhere from $50 to $500 to watch the first UFC event to visit Winnipeg. White said the gate for the event was $3.15 million. They were loud from the get-go and the seats were filled for the early preliminary bouts, which started a little late. Fans still managed to boost the volume a little for the first of the televised prelims that featured local batamweight Roland Delorme, who fought Edwin (El Freoz) Figueroa. Figueroa threw sharper punches and Delorme went for takedowns to avoid them and try for a submission. He didnt get one and Figueroa almost turned the tables but Delorme still secured a unanimous decision that pleased the hometown crowd. "That was gruelling," said Delorme, who improved his MMA record to 9-1-0 and his UFC record to 3-0-0. "Im happy with the performance. Ive worked my on my submission defence and I needed that tonight." Sean (The Punisher) Pierson from Toronto looked in charge for two of his three rounds against fellow welterweight Kenny Robertson, but Robertson caught him with a flurry of punches that left him dazed in the third. Pierson held on and took the fight with a majority decision, raising his MMA record to 14-6 and his UFC record to 4-2. In early prelim action, it was batamweight Yves (Tiger) Jabouin from Montreal over Dustin (The Disciple) Pague in a split decision and Saskatoons Mitch Clarke over John Maguire in a lightweight contest that went to Clarke on all scorecards. "The difference was the damage I did when I was on top," said Jabouin after spending most of the three rounds grappling on the canvas with Pague. His MMA record is now 19-8 and his UFC record is 4-2. "I landed a ton of hard elbows and I thought I was a shot or two away from finishing it," said Jabouin. "It was a war, I cant wait to go back home and sleep after that." Clarkes family drove in from Saskatoon and friends from Edmonton, the city he fights out of, and he was happy he gave them a win, his first in three UFC fights, although his MMA record is 10-2. "My familys here and that makes it so much better." In the final prelim of the night, a powerful spinning back fist stunned Jake Shields in the third round of his welterweight bout with Tyron Woodley but Shields was still won a split decision. ' ' '