With no MLS games scheduled this past weekend due to the international break, I had a rare opportunity to go out and watch my 10-year old daughter play indoor soccer. It was her fourth game of the season, but the first game that I had been able to attend. Like many house league teams across the country, my daughters team plays a schedule of games over the course of the indoor season. With indoor facilities stretched to capacity, there is little - if any - time to schedule additional practices for the players. It is a less-than-ideal situation, because the vast majority of learning takes place in practice, rather than in games. While my intention was to simply play the role of supportive parent, I realized very quickly that the players on my daughters team were in desperate need of guidance. Not one to stand by and stay quiet, I offered some assistance to my daughters coach. She happily agreed – thus promoting me from being an interested parent to coaching the team. There was no time for anything but a quick warm-up with the ball; a hastily organized GK-3-3 formation (the only caveats being that when we had the ball, we were all attackers; when we didnt have the ball, we were all defenders) and then we were off. The girls performed admirably in the first half. They held a physically stronger team to a scoreless draw, and managed to create a few half chances of their own. But it was clear to me that the players were blindly finding their way around in the dark, for lack of a better term – they didnt really understand what it was they were supposed to do on the field. When I sat them down at the break, I told them that they had done a great job in the first half, and that in the second half I wanted them to focus on two things - controlling the ball and passing it to a teammate. The score was irrelevant to me; I wanted them to focus on doing the simple basics first, so that they could come away from the game having succeeded in executing one or both of those tasks, regardless of the final score. We ended up losing the game 3-1, but that is beside the point. The girls did a much better job of controlling the ball and passing it to a teammate, and for that they got plenty of congratulations and a high-five from their stand-in coach. Despite the score, I wanted them all to leave the field with a smile on their face, feeling a sense of achievement. For me, the problems we face in developing Canadian soccer were all encapsulated in that game. We werent 30 seconds in before I wanted to ask the referee to stop the game and give me 30 minutes to actually teach the kids something. At the age of 10, kids need to spend their time with a ball at their feet, learning to be comfortable in controlling it, manipulating it, passing it and receiving it. This is something that needs to be taught in a practice – where every kid has a ball – rather than in a game – where 14 kids are fighting for one ball. During the course of the game, I asked the parents from both teams this question: If I were to take away 30 of your childs 60 minutes of game time, and replaced that with 30 minutes of practice and instruction, followed by 30 minutes of scrimmaging, would you be ok with that? Every one of the parents nodded their heads. Which begs the question – why arent we doing this? For many clubs, it comes down to a lack of qualified coaches. If children are going to be taught how to play soccer, surely qualified coaches must teach them? Does it make sense to ask well-intentioned but untrained parents to take on that responsibility? How can they teach the kids if they dont understand the subject matter themselves? All of the girls on my daughters team take turns playing in goal. They rotate every half, so that they all get a chance to experience playing the position. In the second half of our game, our goalkeeper – who is knee high to a grasshopper – was having difficulty taking goal kicks. She simply hasnt mastered the technique of striking the ball yet – which is impossible for a coach to instruct during a game. Our opponents were lined up on the edge of the box just waiting for our goalkeeper to kick the ball, knowing full well that she couldnt kick it over their heads. Sure enough, when she kicked the ball, it went straight to an opponent, who first-timed it into an empty net. I suggested to my counterpart that perhaps we should implement a rule that on goal kicks, the opposing team retreats into their own half of the field, thus encouraging the goalkeeper to pass the ball to a defender. Once the defender touches the ball, the game is then live. He responded that his solution is to have his best kicker take the goal kicks, thereby relieving the goalkeeper of the responsibility. Excuse me? How on earth is that going to help the goalkeeper develop her ability to kick a ball properly? Imagine if a child were struggling to add numbers in school. Would the teacher ask the smartest kid in the class to do all of the math questions, thereby relieving the other students of the responsibility? Of course they wouldnt - because the teachers are trying to educate their students. If we changed the word coach to the term soccer teacher, perhaps it would be easier to convince coaches that their primary objective should be to educate their players. coach factory outlet . For the first two years after he joined the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007, he was more of a brand than a player, his impact at Americas cash registers far greater than any transformation on the field. coach handbags outlet . In a volatile end to the match at Citys Etihad Stadium in which Robin Van Persie clinched a 3-2 win for United, Ferdinand was left bleeding from a cut above his left eye after being struck by an object. "Whoever threw that coin, what a shot!" Ferdinand wrote on Twitter. http://www.coach-factoryoutl... . The 39-year-old announced Tuesday he will return to play out the final year of his four-year contract with the NHL club. [url=http://www.coach-factoryoutletstoreonline.com/]coach outlet . Vizquel was caught by Alex Avilas strong throw for the final out Wednesday night, and the Blue Jays lost 3-2 to the Detroit Tigers. Toronto has scored three or fewer runs in six straight games. cheap coach handbags .C. Place Stadium since joining the Whitecaps. The Scottish midfielder scored in his second straight home game with a penalty kick in the 63rd minute Sunday to give Vancouver a 2-1 win over the San Jose Earthquakes. PALERMO, Italy -- Anabel Medina Garrigues defeated Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-3, 6-2 Sunday to win the Palermo Open for the fifth time. It was the Spaniards 11th career title and her second of the season after winning in April at Estoril, Portugal. It was also her 10th title on clay. She now holds the record for most on the surface among active players, overtaking Venus Williams, who has nine. The fifth-seeded Medina Garrigues improved to 32-3 at the event after also winning in 2001 and from 2004-06. The loss ended a ninne-match winning streak for the seventh-seeded Hercog, who won her maiden title in Sweden last week.dddddddddddd Victoria Azarenka remains the only player this season to win back-to-back WTA titles, after triumphing in Miami and Marbella in March and April. Medina Garrigues broke Hercogs serve twice to lead 3-0 in the opening set, closing it out on another break. The Slovenian lost her serve again early in the second set. Media Garrigues closed out the win when Hercog sent a backhand volley into the net. ' ' '