ECFC M95 Team News

10/7/06: ECFC White v Spokane Shadow B, 6-0; ECFC Green v Spokane Shadow A, 2-1

The white team may have played their best game of the season with many great passes, beautiful crosses, and even some headers on goal.

9/9/06: At Hutchinson, ECFC Green v WPFC, 3-3

Bryce, (30) Christian; Max, (30) Barry; Thomas, (30) Darius; Peace, (30) Justen; Hunter (30) Seyi; Alex (30) Bryce; Christian, (30) Peace; Wyatt

2:00 Tucker assist Christian

15:00 WPFC

20:00 WPFC

39:00 Wyatt assist Bryce

44:00 Justen assist Seyi

56:00 WPFC

The green team advanced to the final by beating the Crossfire development team 8-1. There were many highlights including a header goal off of a corner. The only goal given up was a PK.

They faced a scrappy Thunderbirds team in the final with a chance to avenge an earlier loss by the white team. The Thunderbirds, winners of the Snohomish Bigfoot Tournament, played with a dedicated goalkeeper to shore up their defense and presented a capable attack. ECFC dominated the first half and the play was mostly in their opponent's half. They had many chances to blow the game open, but came away only up one goal-- credit their keeper.

In the second half, the attack was much less organized, many balls were cleared up the field without an intended target. The Thunderbirds got behind the defense several times and almost had the equalizer. The half saw many outstanding plays, but the most memorable may have been Seyi's scrappy play, jumping over the top of a much taller player to win a header at mid field.

BU11 white won all of three of their first round games and had the most points in their group. Game results: 8-3 vs Bainbridge FC White. 6-0 vs. Snohomish United. 2-1 vs. East Side Blue. They advanced to the semi-finals, but fell in a tough game to Crossfire Jinneman. Great job white!

The ECFC M95 Green team went undefeated at the Federal Way Blastoff.

The tournament was held August 11-13. Congrats to M95 Green!

by Liam van Leynseele (player)

The tournament got off to a slow start Friday afternoon—a really slow start—because of a car accident earlier in the day, and the traffic on I-5 barely creeped along, from Seattle to Federal Way. But things improved quickly, and by the end of the first game, we were up 5-1. Saturday morning started off, with a hard game against our nemesis from the Diadora Cup Eastside FC, but in the end, we won.

After we played the morning game, our entire team went to Applebee’s for lunch, (where Coach Jon made sure we all ordered healthy

food!) and then there were a couple hours of ‘down time’. My family went to the beach at Browns Point, near Tacoma.

Saturday afternoon’s game was really hard: in the first few minutes they scored, and then we came back. The game continued that way for a while; in the end we won that game too, putting us in the finals of the tournament. Sunday morning, was the championship game. This was a challenging game--they were a force to be reckoned with and scored in the first few minutes, but then we came back, scoring again and again unti l the final score gave us the win with a score of 6:3 and the overall championship win for the Blast Off Tournament!

We were full of joy as we stood up on the podium with each other. The BU11 Green team, the BU17 Green team, and the GU15 Green team were all ECFC Diadora Cup winners. We had won the tournament with 10 players and no subs under scorching heat. We played our hearts out and showed everyone what we were made of. But it wasn’t easy. This story begins in a state of panic.

It was a cold morning as we faced our first opponent, Evergreen Soccer Academy. We started out with 9 players. We heard the cheers from the parents as we stepped onto the field. We were motivating each other before the game, so our energy level was at its maximum. Barry was late because of a mishap, so he made it for the second half. We still only had 10 players.

During the game, Peace and Liam came over to me and we put our arms on each other’s shoulders. I could tell from the picture on my teammates’ faces that we gave it all we had. Bryce had sweat dribbling down his neck. By the end of the game, the sun had shown down on us. Our team had won, 7-4.

That same day we played another game against Norpoint FC Fire. 10 players showed up again. Before the game started, I looked at my team. We looked liked we were going to fall over. I had heard that the White team was going to play shortly after us. I predicted a 3-1 victory for the White team. It was getting cloudy as the second game got underway. The team went on the field with energy, and came off the field victorious. We won 4-1. I called my dad on the way back home. I heard, “Hello?” Then Darius and I screamed, “WE’RE #1!”

The next day, we had our third game as we faced FC Silverlake Athletic. 10 players again. My prediction for the White team game wasn’t correct, but they still won 3-2. It was a hot day and everyone was burning up under the team tent. Christian, Wyatt, and Liam had their dads pour water on their heads. We dominated the game since the opening kickoff. Once again, we were victorious as the final score was Emerald City 12-0 FC Silverlake.

Our final group game was against LVR Strikers. Tucker and Bryce played for the Strikers, so this was an important game to them. I felt like we were going to the finals. This game was going to decide who was going to the finals. We pumped each other up. We shoved each other around. We acted like this was the last soccer game ever played. We played like it was the last soccer game ever played. At the end of the first half, we were leading 2-0. I had to give the Strikers a round of applause because they kept trying to win. That’s what real soccer is all about. Even so, we held them back as we won, 3-1.

It came down to this: one game, two teams, one ball, one chance at glory. This was the first time any of us went to the finals of a tournament. The White team almost made it to the finals. They were off by one point from Eastside FC. ECFC White had to play tougher opponents than the Green team. So my hat was off to them. Now I had to think about this game. If we win this game, we win the Diadora Cup. If we lose, well, we tried our hardest. We all got drenched with water before the game. It felt like we were in the FIFA World Cup Finals. Finally, the game was underway. It was another blazing day. We played tough in the first half as the score was Emerald City 2-0 Eastside.

We all were very tired. Colum came to watch and support us, so he was pumping us up. He gave us updates on the World Cup Finals like when Zidane got red carded. Even though we were leading by 2, it seemed like we were losing by 10. Once again, we were drenched in ice cold water. As we put our hands in for the last cheer of the Diadora Cup, we looked at each other’s sweaty mugs. 1….2….3….Emerald City!

There were 10 minutes left in the game. The score was Emerald City 2-1 Eastside. Eastside brought their goalie up to give extra support. They tried and tried to score a goal, but our defense held them off. We had everyone back on defense. We blocked every shot. We did everything we could do that was legal to keep the other team from not getting a goal. Finally, the goalie got the ball and drop kicked the ball at the top of the 18. The ref blew the whistle. We had won.

Christian, Wyatt, Peace, Liam, Bryce, Tucker, Thomas, Barry, Alex, and I walked to the podium as a festive team. Before we even took a step, we heard cheers from ECFC parents we didn’t even know. The trophy presenter gave us the trophy and said, “You guys should be very proud of yourselves. You showed what true soccer is all about. So, ECFC congratulates you the most.” We each held up the trophy and kissed it; just like in the FIFA World Cup. We all went home as a happy team.

1) The deadline for nominations / self-nominations for ECFC board positions is tonight, Monday April 24th, midnight. We currently have 3 image of soccer player kicking a ball

candidates for 3 general board positions, 1 for 1 VP of Membership position, and 1 for 2 Player Rep positions. I strongly encourage you to seriously consider stepping up and helping to make a difference, and helping to give our membership a choice in the governance of their club with contested elections. Contact Joe Picciano, joep@speakeasy.net , (206) 713-9346) or myself, tor@ureach.com , (206)271-3180) for more information or to self-nominate.

2) The most urgent need is for a Female player rep candidate (or two). Please keep in mind that with one 2 hour meeting per month, plus about one hour a week of keeping up on board emails that would easily satisfy most high school's community service requirements AND would look great on a college resume!

3) Our annual "meet the candidates" meeting is tonight at 7:00pm at the St. Catherines Church/School Basement meeting room,

All members are encouraged to attend. Candidates will have the opportunity to (but not be required to) speak and answer questions from the membership. More info on ECFC elections (including candidate position statements): http://www.ecfc.ws/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=546

4) The ECFC annual general meeting will be held at the same location on Monday May 8th at 7:00pm. Election results will be announced at that meeting.

5) PLEASE VOTE when you get your electronic ballots next week. We get a lot of mileage out of the fact that we are the only "true" member elected and governed soccer club in the region in our interactions with the SYSA and WSYSA.

6) ECFC NIGHT AT THE SOUNDERS, save the date, Saturday May 20th. More info coming. Link

WELCOME to the 55 newest U-11 members of our club, selected during the new SYSA city wide tryout process which concluded this past Sunday. Overall the new format was a great success. This age group will be playing 9 a side "mod" this coming year, most likely in a new state league.

CONGRATULATIONS to our Boys U-16 and U-17 Green teams who both played great games at the state cup finals this past Saturday. The U-16s lost 0-1 despite having the advantage in shots, possession and play. The U-17s won in a shoot out and advance to the regionals in Idaho.

VOLUNTEER: At state cup (sign up at www.sysa.org). On the board (elections in April).

MOTORHOME (not a verb, I know) ECFC and the Diadora tournament would save well over $1,000 in rental fees, enough for a full scholarship for a deserving player, if someone from within our ranks would loan us one for the tournament. It will be well taken care of, with just one overnight occupant, and used as office during the day for a handful of staffers.
Contact jbakken@worldnet.att.net for details.

Your ECFC B.O.D.

FOUR EMERALD CITY TEAMS ADVANCE TO STATE CUP FINALS
We want to congratulate the players and coaches of our Girls U-12 White team,
Girls U-13 White, Boys U-16 Green and Boys U-17 Green for a weekend of superb soccer! These teams won their semi-final matches and will be representing Emerald City in the state cup finals. Three other teams -- Girls U-11 White, Boys U-15 Green, and Girls U-16 Green--also played extremely well in the semis but fell short in tough, competitive matches. More importantly, all seven teams showed heart, teamwork and quality play--values that we want to instill throughout our club. We are very proud of their accomplishments.

STATE CUP FINALS KICK OFF ON Mar 4/5 and Mar 11/12.
Don't miss out on the state cup finals! Please try to attend one of the final matches at Memorial Stadium and support one of our teams! Schedules will be posted on our website. If you would like to avoid paying admission, no problem, just sign up as a volunteer on the www.sysa.org website.

CLUB FEE INCREASE
We, as a board, have decided to boost the annual club fee for the coming season. That means U11 club fee will be $1,000; the U12 fee will be $1,100: and all other age groups will pay $1,200. There are several reasons for this modest bump in fees. First, we will be doubling our field rental budget from last year. Second, we are tripling our assistant coaches budget to ensure that each age group has a qualified reliable assistant. Finally, we are raising the head coaches budget by a modest sum to ensure that we not only retain but also improve our coaching staff. We are doing this through continuing education
and selective recruitment. Fee increases to assure that each of these services were improved were well supported in the recent parent survey, and these modest increases will still leave us with fees that are lower than our primary competitors in the area.

FUTURE PLANS
We will be following up with another edition of e-news that will highlight in more depth some of the exciting plans we have for the club. But we want you to know that as we, the board, gear up for the coming season, we have spent many hours discussing our priorities and ambitions for the future.
There is a lot we would like to do -- and many of our ideas are coming from what we have learned from the previous 12 months as board members, the parent survey and the team meetings. Stay tuned!

NEW COACHES
Bobby Howe, our Coaching Director, has done an superb job with coaching assignments
for the coming year and has recruited some excellent additions to our staff, including
3 new A licensed coaches. Having said that, we are well aware that there are still some
openings in the line up. Rest assured that the reason for the delay is that he didn't
want to rush such important decisions, and wanted to ensure that he finds just the right fit
for each position. The remaining appointment decisions will be made shortly.

U11 TRYOUTS UNDER WAY
Tryouts are already under way! This year the U-11s are being selected through a new
city wide tryout process, where all Seattle select teams must register their intent to
form teams and all players must come to the same location for a "joint tryout". So far
it appears to be working very well. We are encouraged by the turnout and the level
of talent, and we are confident that we will be able to attract the most motivated and capable
players to our club.

The rest of the age groups will have tryouts on the 2nd and 3rd weekends
in March, full schedules can be found at www.emeraldcityfc.com. Bobby is meeting with
the coaches next week to finalize consistent tryout procedures that will ensure that
our coaches will "see" everyone, have an opportunity to evaluate fairly and consistently,
and that will ensure a high professional standard.

Tor Jernudd
On behalf of the Emerald City FC Board of Directors

The ECFC Turkey Shoot 2005 was a rousing success, the best ever in the history of the event. Nineteen SYSA U10 teams turned out on a glorious and sunny (but chilly) November day for a day of soccer in the muddy Shoreline fields.

Thank you to all the U11 parents that helped to make this event a success: the coordinators from each team, the parents who transported and assembled the goals, marked the field lines, "swept" off the mud puddles, manned the booth, and provided coffee and donuts for attendees! A special thank you to Phoebe Russell and Joe Picciano that spent over two hours on Friday night marking the fields, just to arrive at the fields Saturday morning to see them all washed away!

A great time was had by all, as is evidenced by the sea of smiling player faces.

     Emerald City Football Club is pleased to announce that Bobby Howe, a former English Premier player with West Ham United and former coach of U.S. National youth teams and most recently the USL-League Portland Timbers has been named the club's coaching director. Emerald City FC, established in 1979, is the select club of the Seattle Youth Soccer Association for players between the ages of 10 and 18.

     As Emerald City's coaching director, Howe will be responsible for setting the club's competitive direction. He will lead and further develop the best team of coaches in the region. He is also a well respected authority and author on youth coaching and development at all levels. Howe will assume his new position on November 1.

     Emerald City FC President Tor Jernudd is happy to welcome Howe back to the Seattle soccer community. ``I'm absolutely thrilled that we have managed to convince Bobby Howe to join Emerald City FC as our new Coaching Director," Jernudd said. ``With his experience, good humor, skill and passion, I'm convinced he will be able to help take our club to the next level. He'll also be a terrific resource for our collaboration with our parent association, the SYSA, in promoting soccer in the area, and helping to raise the level of play and coaching, for the benefit of all players in the city of Seattle."

     Howe's skills and experience make him a perfect match for the Emerald City club. He has authored eight books and two videos that stress age-appropriate programs for youth players, including writing the official coaching manual for the United States Soccer Federation, ``How to Play the Game." His professional playing experience brings unrivaled insight into the game and will be particularly beneficial to the club's older players. His coaching career, which includes stints at the Washington State Youth Soccer Association and national team experience as head coach and assistant coach of the U-17 and U-20 teams as well as his more recent professional coaching success, ensures that ``he will have lots to offer for all of our players, coaches and teams," Jernudd said.

     Howe's coaching qualifications include a USSF ``A" License, the English FA ``Full Qualifying Award," and he's an experienced coaching instructor with the USSF. He is the author, or co-author, of ``Coaching 6, 7 & 8 year olds," ``Coaching 9, 10 & 11 year olds," and ``Coaching the Player." He also recently authored ``The Quick Series: Teaching and Tactics" and ``Principles of Play." He is the producer and presenter of two soccer coaching videos: ``Let the Game be the Teacher."

      In addition to his books and videos, Howe has created and contributed to the curricula used in the state and national coaching licensing programs. He has also written numerous coaching articles that have been published in national and state soccer or coaching journals.

     Howe has been involved in soccer as a professional player and coach for 40 years. During that time he has been highly influential in helping develop youth soccer in the state of Washington and at the national level. He is looking forward to returning to Seattle area to take Emerald City to the next level in its development as a Premier youth soccer club.

9/25/05: Emerald City Football Club E-News
September, 2005

President's Message:
Welcome to our first edition of the ECFC E-News! This informational bulletin is meant to keep parents, players and coaches updated on club wide soccer news as well as local and regional soccer-related issues.

As a board, it is our goal to create and maintain strong channels of communication within the broad ECFC membership and this E-Newsletter is a step in that process. In addition to this E-Newsletter, you can find lots of club news, pictures, articles, and official minutes of board meetings posted regularly on the ECFC website. If you prefer to get your information in person, please remember that ECFC regular monthly board meetings, are open to all ECFC members.   We'd love to have you join us!

Tor Jernudd, President
ECFC Board of Directors
tor@ureach.com

Director of Coaching (DOC)
One of the first acts of the newly elected board was to form a DOC search Committee and begin a nationwide search. By mid-June we were well on our way with ads placed and responses coming in.. Since then we have had countless meetings, conducted dozens of phone interviews, invited several candidates to Seattle, and even offered one extremely capable candidate the position. (Unfortunately he declined our offer for personal family reasons) And still, no ECFC Coaching Director.
Like all of you, we are eager to fill the vacancy, but have discovered that finding someone with just the right mix of work qualifications, leadership skills, and good humor is a difficult task, Not impossible by any stretch of the imagination, but not easy either. Two things have become clear to us during this process: 1) conducting a search over the summer when candidates (and board members!) have vacation and travel plans makes a difficult job even more difficult, and 2) Our DOC ambitions and our budget for the position didn't quite match. In light of this, we are now regrouping, reconsidering, and moving on.
We are now in "phase 2" of the search and are optimistic about finding a strong candidate to fill the position. We are in the process of finalizing the selection of new candidates to be brought to Seattle in the very near future. Stay tuned -We'll let you know how it all turns out!

Scholarships
We're very pleased to report that we were able to grant over 90% of scholarship requests made by ECFC applicants. To date, a total of $36,047 in scholarship funds have been distributed for the 2005/2006 season!   These scholarship funds are the result of the many hours parking lot and other volunteer work ECFC families like you put in at the 2004 Diadora Cup. The tournament income was combined with other generous donations received, and the significant contributions of Diadora of America. As individuals and as a club, we should all be very proud of this accomplishment, which to the best of our knowledge represents an unrivaled commitment to make our program accessible to all capable players in our service area. With your continued support we hope to do an even better job next year!

SYSA
Thanks to all of you who attended the SYSA select meetings in late July and early August.. This SYSA review process is now entering the next stage and a special SYSA meeting will be held next week to collate and review all the input from those meetings, and to make recommendations for what should come next.

Another major development at the association level is the plan for changes in the U-11 program next year. The plan calls for implementing a 9-a-side, "mod" format for this age group. In conjunction with that change their will be some organizational changes. Whatever the final plan entails, we're confident that there will be positive ways to both expand our "base" and to allow for continued opportunities for aspiring U-11 players to play at a high level where these players can continue to enjoy the great coaching that ECFC provides.

Jason Farell
In recognition of his career achievements and service to our club the ECFC board of directors has voted to provide a "scholarship" for Jason to attend the NSCAA Coaching Director course being offered for the first time this season.

www.emeraldcityfc.com
We have been working in fits and starts to update and maintain the website and wish to thank all volunteers that have assisted with that effort. Among other items you can now find all of this year's board minutes, recent club news, a complete fall schedule for the club, and more!   But we still have much to do. Susan Bjork has volunteered to coordinate the update of our "PlayerProfiles" section for college bound players. Please contact her at sbjork4@comcast.net with submissions and to assist.

In order to keep the site fresh and worthy of regular visits we must keep our news and photos up to date -- that can't happen without you. Please submit "stories" with photos immediately after each weekend game and we will get them posted within 24 hours. The site will only be as good as the material we receive and we NEED your help. Please send all submissions to sofien123@comcast.net (webmaster), copy bill@salmongraphix.com
(interim webmaster).

Tor Jernudd
On behalf of the Emerald City Board of Directors

News [World Soccer News, PDL1-A BU11, PDL1-B BU11]

News
[World Soccer News, PDL1-A BU11, PDL1-B BU11]