High School Rolls On

Bombers continue to make their mark on their High School teams and we have video proof!

First we have a video of Desert Hills with a great interview with Berkley and some good video of Berkley and Brittany scoring some sweet goals! (By the way, Erica got invloved in the act last week, by scoring the winning goal against Hurricane)



Next we have a video from the Pine View / Cedar Game where we see Kali deliver a great cross and McKenzie finish a penalty after being taken down in the box.




Over at Snow Canyon Cecillee recorded the shutout in goal against Hurricane on the 8th (with Tori watchin her back at Sweeper). We even understand that Tori and Cec got a little time at Striker that game.

Dixie also rolls on as they are getting ready to take on Snow Canyon and Canyon View later this week.

Beckham Dots the I in DC

This what happens when you practice. Upon being challenged by teammate forward Alan Gordon that he could not kick a soccer ball through into a specific window in the press box (the window above the "I" in the "TRAFFIC" sign), Galaxy midfielder David Beckham goes ahead and amazingly hits his spot.

The challenge took place on Friday, Aug. 21, 2009 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., at the conclusion of the LA Galaxy's training session.

The video was shot by Galaxy defender Leo Griffin.

Region Play Week 1

As region play commenced last week Bombers continue to play significant roles for their High School teams.

Desert Hills proved to be the most potent team of the week with 3 victories. Brittany has pushed her goal total to 10 and Berkley to 8 with many assists to boost. Additionaly Erica continues too contribute to a solid defense. Having witnessed their offense first hand last week, I can tell you they look poised for a good season.

At Pine View Kali scored what ended up being the game winner at Snow Canyon on Thursday as she continues to be a fixture in region for offense. Additionally Tahlia, Karli and McKenzie are helping to anchor what is turning into a formidible midfield and defense.

Snow Canyon is seeing Tori and Cec play crucial roles for their team. Cec is splitting time between keeper and forward / stopper and provided a crucial assist in their game against Pine View.

Dixie has seen 6 Bombers contribute in their season so far. Madi Jensen scored the game winner agianst Hurricane this week on a beautiful 30 yard shot that hit the upper corner. Nicole continues to lead the team in goals and Kenzie, Kiera and Lauren are making great contributions at forward and midfield. Dharrienne has also earned a solid starting spot on defense and has made great strides in coming back from knee surgery. Emma continues to heal her stress fracture and is hopeful to a return within 2 weeks.

All in all a great start for the Bombers on their high school teams. It is great to see what great players each of these young ladies have become!

High School Season Has Begun!

High School season is under way and Bombers are playing major roles for each of their High School teams. Emma was named a captain at Dixie, but is currently having to sit for the next few weeks due to a stress fracture. Nicole already has 5 goals, Kenzie 2 goals and Lauren 1 goal for Dixie in the pre season and Berkley has 5 goals and Brittany has 6 goals for Desert Hills. I don't have any stats from Snow Canyon or Pine View yet but will update the blog when I do. It's great to see each of the girls contributing and doing the Bombers proud. I would request that if any of you have info (stats, video, pictures, etc.) during the High School season to please share so that I can post it here.

Spain vs. New Zealand

Here are some highlights from the recent Spain vs. New Zealand game in the Confederations Cup. There are great examples of ball movement in these highlights.

Bombers Take Gold at Summer Games!

The Bombers took gold in the Summer Games over that last weekend and did it in dramatic fashion. The tournament started off with a victory over a U16 Division 1 team, USA, 4-2. Next came Brigham City which the girls tied 2-2. Then the Bombers got on a roll. The final pool game saw the Bombers take it to Rampage, a Division 1 U15 team 4-0. In the Semi Finals the Bombers played a familiar opponent - The Warriors from Weber County, another Division 1 team. After a slow start and giving up an early goal that saw the team down 1-0, the Bombers roared back to life with a 6goal output to win 6-2.

The gold medal game saw the stiffest challenge as the Bombers faced Razzia FC. Razzia recently finished in the top two in U16 Division 1 of the state league and will be promoted to the premier division next Spring. Playing the older team presented a challenge however both teams were up to the task keeping the game tied at 0-0 throughout regulation forcing an overtime. In a very physical overtime the Bombers ended up scoring the game winner on a header with one minute left in the first overtime. The team then held on for the last five minutes of the second overtime period to capture the gold! We could not be more proud of the effort and character that the girls showed.

Bomber Plays ODP

This past weekend Emma Pasley played for the state 94 ODP team in the Mountain States ODP Friendlies in Orem. She showed well tallying a goal in Utah's 4-2 victory over Idaho. She followed that up by having a goal and an assist in Utah's 2-1 victory over U14 state cup champion Utah Rush. Way to go Emma!

Practice for June 8th

We will be having practice at 7:00 p.m. on Monday June 8th at Hansen Stadium. It is very important that all the girls are there as this is our last practice before the Summer Games start on Wednesday. Thanks.

State Cup Pictures

Here are a few pictures from State Cup from one of our intrepid photographers - Tonya Horlacher. Enjoy!

Bomber Wins State Title!

Congratulations to the Bombers own Nicole Thomas who won a state title (and earned All State honors along the way) with the Dixie High School Girls Golf team. Dixe won in dramatic fashion beating Murray on the second hole of a playoff round. Links to stories about it can be found below. Way to go! We couldn't be more proud.

http://www.sltrib.com/sports/ci_12365683

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705303397/Dixie-makes-history-wins-4A-crown.html

http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20090514/SPORTS/905140316/1006/Two-for-two

Practice Time Change

Practice for Thursday May 14 has been moved back one and 1/2 hours to 7:00. Thanks girls!

Pushing Your Comfort Zone

Parents and Players:

Following is a great article by a coach named Lawrence Fine about pushing players and teams outside of their comfort zone. Jerry and I thought it was a great article to share. Please take the time to read it. Thanks.

Comfort Zone

Hesitating to push players beyond their comfort level can impede development

By Lawrence Fine

An issue I have noticed to be a huge problem in youth soccer these days is that coaches are hesitant to push their players outside their comfort zone. It's a concept that most coaches either don't understand or don't seem concerned about, since they fail to address it in a variety of ways.

Describing what a person's comfort zone is exactly isn't easy to do. The best way I can do it is to say that many players like to only compete with and against players who they believe they can be successful against. They are not willing to go out on a limb and take the chance of being embarrassed or experiencing failure. Unfortunately, this does not force the players to get better in order to remain competitive.

Some coaches are so obsessed with winning at the youth level that they will not play teams that will force them to get better. When I hear coaches talking about their won-loss record, I wonder what the level of competition they faced to achieve the numbers they're so proud of. Are they facing the best competition available, or just playing against teams they are confident they can beat?

One region championship team I worked with had a surprisingly poor won-loss record considering their level of play. (I actually don't know what their record was because I don't keep such records, but I do know they lost more than people would have expected.) Did they lose because of poor performance? They actually were a group of very consistent performers. The reason they had so many losses was that they played up in as many tournaments as possible. They also competed in as many major tournaments and high-level friendly get-togethers as they could find. Was there grumbling from the parents after losses against older teams? Of course there was, but I place little emphasis on the short-term goal of keeping parents happy. I'm
more concerned with doing what is best for the players and their development. There are other ways coaches can force players out of their comfort zone. The easiest way to force a player to improve without traveling all over the country for competition is to increase the pressure in training. Pressure is defined in soccer as the absence of space and time. Pressure can be increased by reducing the amount of space used for small-sided games or by increasing the number of players in the same small-sided games while demanding the quality of the play remains the same. It's easy to decrease the space or increase the numbers, but both are useless
without the demand to keep the quality of play high. It will take players some time to get used to the increased pressure, but they should be able to adjust and, in fact, improve with the proper encouragement.

One of the most annoying things I hear on soccer fields is players automatically saying "I'm sorry" or offering some type of apology when they make a mistake. While it's nice that they are willing to acknowledge their mistake, it's far more important to do something about the mistake to make sure it doesn't happen again. It's one thing to recognize that a mistake has been made, but it's another to turn that recognition into a learning experience to avoid having the same mistake being made over and over again. There is nothing wrong with a coach demanding that
things be done correctly every time. Until the coach does this, the players will never get better.

In short, by decreasing space, decreasing time and striving for perfection during training sessions, coaches can get players out of their comfort zone and force them to improve. If you are a coach who is not forcing your players out of their comfort zone, you will never help them achieve the highest level of play they are capable of competing at.

Game of the Week

The game of the week for this week is the Barcelona vs. Real Madrid game from Saturday. Enjoy!

Real Madrid 2-6 Barcelona - ‘El Clasico’ from GS on Vimeo.

Schedule for the Week of 5/4

Monday 5/4: Game vs. St. George United, 8:00 p.m. at Hansen Stadium. Warm up time 7:15.

Tuesday 5/5: Game vs. Dixie Fire, 6:15 p.m. at Hansen Stadium. Warm up time 5:30.

Thursday 5/7: Practice with Danny Ortiz, 5:30 - 7:15

Saturday 5/9: First Round State Cup, Lakeside Sports Park, Orem Utah.

Game #1 vs Rush Tiempo 8:00 a.m. Warm up time 7:15

Game #2 vs. Rush Nike 4:00 p.m. Warm up time 3:15

6 Goals!

Here are highlights from Saturdays 6-0 victory by Real Salt Lake ove the Revolution. There are some awsome goals here. Enjoy!

Game of the Week

Posted below are highlights from the Arsenal vs. Liverpool game from last night. The 4-4 game is full of great examples of spacing, crossing and finishing. Sure the commentary is in Russian but it is entertaining nonetheless. Enjoy!

Vegas Friendly April 30

We have scheduled a friendly against Las Vegas Premier (the number 1 U15 team in Nevada) for the night of April 30th. The game will be held in Vegas that evening at the Betty Wilson complex on one of the nicest grass fields in the region. It will also be officiated by a full ref crew from California and Nevada. This will be one of our big "dress rehearsals" for the State Cup so it is important that everyone make every effort to be there. We will arrange for car pools to help out.

Schedule for the week of 4/20

Monday April 20: Practice 5:30-7:15 at Hansen Stadium

Thursday April 23: Practice 5:30-7:15 at Hansen Stadium

Saturday April 25: Game vs. Lady Reds at Dixie High School 8:00p.m. Warm ups at 7:15 p.m.

Teamwork

Old Nike commercial about teamwork from the U.S. Womens' team in 1999.

The Office and Soccer?

For your enjoyment a little clip of the cast of the office playing a little soccer.

So You Wanna Play College Soccer?

I believe it is the goal for many of the Bombers to play college soccer. Over the coming weeks we are going to start getting you the information you need to try and make that happen. Today I want to discuss 3 important things to help prepare you to get recruited. I recently surveyed the websites of 5 of the college programs within the state of Utah looking for 3 things:

1. Players past participation in ODP
2. Players past participation in late rounds of State Cup competitions (quarter, semi or finals)
3. Academic honors in high school (academic all state, mention of high GPA etc.)

This is what I found.

Utah State University (USU)

26 players on the roster
4 of 26 participated in ODP
19 of 26 with State Cup experience
20 of 26 with past academic honors

Universtiy of Utah

25 players on the roster
20 of 25 participated in ODP
22 of 25 with State Cup experience
19 of 25 with past academic honors

Brigham Young University (BYU)

24 players on the roster
21 of 24 participated in ODP
21 of 24 with State Cup Experience
20 of 24 with past academic honors

Weber State University

29 players on the roster
12 of 29 participated in ODP
22 of 29 with State Cup experience
23 of 29 with past academic honors

Southern Utah University (SUU)

20 players on the roster
5 of 20 participated in ODP
14 of 20 with State Cup experience
18 of 20 with past academic honors

Overall of the 124 total players listed by the respective universities:

50% participated in ODP
79% have State Cup experience into the later rounds
80% have some mention of past academic honors.

I believe this is instructive as to the importance of these three items as a good foundation for your possible recruitment. We are already striving to go deep into the State Cup. I would also encourage any of you that want to go to play in college to take part in the local ODP program and as always keep your grades up! More info will follow in the coming weeks.

(Disclaimer: Dixie State and UVU did not have detailed enough player bios to get accurate information)

Schedule for the Week of 4/13

Monday: Practice 5:30 - 7:15 Hansen Stadium

Wednesday: Game vs. Dixie Heat. 7:30 p.m Hansen Stadium. Warm up 6:45

Thursday Practice 5:30 - 7:15 Hansen Stadium

The Beautiful Game

This morning a little Women's Professional Soccer, some skill compilations and Christiano Ronaldo. Enjoy!

Ode to My Soccer Ball

Ode To My Soccer Ball

I Love you soccer ball.
You are round and black and white.
I love you more than life itself because you are more exciting,
more than food because I am never full of the joy you bring me ,
and more than sleep because you’re better than a dream.
I will love you till the day I die,
or until I get arthritis.
You have given me the joy I need and I will be yours forever.

Love,

Emma Pasley

A Little Humor

Why don't we get refs like this?

Goals of the Week

Below are 5 of the best goals from international soccer games last week. Number 3 is especially entertaining. Enjoy!

Schedule for the Week of 4/6

The following is the schedule for Bombers U15 for the week of April 6:

Monday April 6: Practice 5:30-7:15 Hansen Stadium

Tuesday April 7: Game vs. Lady Reds. 6:30 Hansen Stadium. Warm ups at 5:45

Thursday April 9: Practice 5:30-7:15 Hansen Stadium

Saturday April 11: Game vs. Hurricane. 2:00 Hurricane Middle School. Warm ups at 1:15

Pictures

This slideshow consists of photos from the Southern Utah Winter Showcase and the Dixie Invitational. They come courtesy of Tonya Horlacher and her sweet photo skills.

Bombers Win Vs. Valley Treo!

The Bombers U15 squad pulled out of their scoring drought in a big way Saturday with a 8-0 victory over Valley Treo of Mesquite. Several Bombers tallied goals on the day in every way possible. There was at least one sick header, one sweet bending shot, cool crosses and simple tap ins. Congratulations girls it was well played.

Bomber Excels at Golf!

The Bombers own Nicole Thomas is excelling in girls golf for Dixie High School this fall. She is fast cementing herself as one of the premier girl's golfers in the region. Above is a picture of Nicole from a recent article in the Spectrum. The article can be found here: http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20090403/SPORTS/904030314/1006/sports. Kudos to Nicole!

U.S. Men's Soccer Highlights

Highlights of the U.S. Men's National Team's recent victory of Trinidad. There are some great examples of finishing in this video. Enjoy!

Bombers Welcome New Coach!

The Bombers are pleased to welcome a new coach to their staff this year. Kimmie Davis comes to the Bombers after a very successful youth and college career. She brings a wealth of expericence and knowledge and has already become a valuable addition to both the U11 and U15 teams. Below is a brief outline of Kimmie's career taken from her old bio at Texas Tech. Welcome to the Bombers family Kimmie!

2005 (Senior - Texas Tech): Led the Red Raiders as top scorer with 6 goals. Also added 3 assists to roundout a stellar collegiate career.

2002 (Sophomore - BYU): Played and started in all 18 games for the Cougars ... Scored her first goal of the season on Oct. 5 against Montana ... Tallied a crucial goal against Utah on Nov. 2 to help lift BYU to the Mountain West title.

2001 (Freshman - BYU): Played 18 games as a freshman ... Finished fourth on the team in scoring ... Score the first goal of her career on Sept. 1 against Minnesota ... finished the season with two goals and four assists for a total of eight points.

High School: Was named Los Angeles Player of the Year in 2001 as well as Bay League MVP in 2001 ... Also competed in track and field. Three time all-league selection and played on the California ODP team since 1999.

Personal: Born Jan. 24, 1983, to parents Doug and Miriam Davis ... Father has a degree from BYU and mother is an executive assistant to the Dean at El Camino CC ... Has many siblings, Lecia, 27, Amy, 26, Stephen, 24 and Eric Joel, 20

Bombers U15 Team Sets Mission and Goals

After a fun filled practice of team building activities the Bombers U15 team set to the task of forming a mission and goals for the team. The outcome is listed below.

Bombers Mission and Goals 2009

Mission:
· Show up with heart.
· Be positive (coaches and players)
· Pull together as a team on and off of the field

Motto:
“Players win games. Teams win championships”
Mia Hamm

Goals:

· Be competitive and win every 50 / 50 ball
· Make goals for each practice and game while stretching.
· Make the Semi Finals of State Cup.

Welcome!

Welcome to the official Blog of the Bombers Soccer Club. This will be your sight for news and information related to all things Bombers. Check back often for updates.