Growing Up Soccer

[ January, 2009 ]

Free play; all you need is the ball

Consent for Taking, Publicing, or the Using of Video and Photographs

So you wanna be the next soccer superstar? You wanna be the next Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore, Kristine Lilly or Mia Hamm. Are those your goals or those of your mom and dad? Either way, to get to that superstar level or just to the next level, be prepared to spend allot of time with your soccer ball, either on your own or in informal small sided games.

During my time with the sport of soccer, I've crossed paths with a long list of top caliber soccer players. Do you know what they all had in common? They loved the soccer ball. They played soccer on their teams, in small sided pick-up games and in their dreams. They took their soccer ball with them wherever they went; always prepared to play. And that's what it going to take for you.

Sure, play for your team, play in your leagues, play in tournaments, attend soccer camps, but if you really want to get to that place you can now only dream-of, kick it around in the backyard or in the nearby park or playground or any safe open space.

Is there a rebound wall nearby? Perhaps the side of your garage; certainly a wall without windows. Do you have enough space in the yard to practice juggling the ball? You need to improve your touch on the ball and juggling can really help. Perhaps there's a tree in the yard that you can make believe is a defender that you can dribble around; you can even give the tree a famous name [Paulo? Marta?]. Make-up your own fun games!

I believe in this so much and have for so long, I wanted to do something to help encourage player self development. It's called GUS; Growing up Soccer! For now, GUS is an attitude that a few people share! I'd love to see it catch-on to become a powerful movement for soccer in America. The principals behind GUS are all about improving player quality and for growing overall passion for the sport.

I'm looking to create a player and parent friendly website, one that is highly interactive and one in which you're "the star." I'm planning it to become your most favorite soccer site that will feature personal soccer stories, accompanied by home video and still photos, of you doing what you do to fulfill the GUS challenges.

Right now there's a mini site at: www.growingupsoccer.org Check it out! If you become a believer, and that's really your call, then get mom and dad to video tape some of your free play experiences. Have them get a-hold of me and we'll see what we can do to get the footage streamed on the GUS site to show other GUS friends what some players are doing to become better soccer people. I want this to be "kids motivating other kids" to play and enjoy soccer.

Now go, go out in the rain, out in the snow, go outside with your soccer ball and have some fun!

Let me know what you think of GUS.

Albert L. Colone
Colone Associates
www.colassoc.com
607/432-4057