soccerdude

I have seen many keepers from around the area, boys and girls, and i believe the two best guy keepers are Nathan Stockey and Caleb Schexnider. For girls I'd have to say HJ's keeper. She's very good.

Honestly...I get sick of hearing all the excuses everyone has to offer. Yes I myself have complained many a time about bad reffing, missing players, etc, but after I've gone back and looked at the game and thought about it...its no ones fault but my own or out team's. Now do not get me wrong...yes bad reffing and players missing does make an impact on the game, but it does not ultimately lose the game. And if your excuse is that you were missing players then you should know to step up your game even more to make up for that loss. Put your chances away your suppose to, play defense, and make the saves your suppose to and you won't have to worry about needing to make up an excuse. Just something every player of the game needs to think on.

There have been some great questions asked. Sounds like the big topic is where must you go to be recognized for college and what has happened to the area soccer wise. Well I'm going to tell you straight up...in order to be recognized YOU MUST GO TO HOUSTON AND PLAY! 1 - The teams around here are not going to get the attention from college coaches. We talk about all the time how this team wins this tournament, but it's not tournaments that will get you recognized as much as SHOWCASES. I have played in some of the biggest showcases in the nation and have gone to the website and checked out which coaches will or have been there. For example: My team played in the Score at the Shore Soccer Showcase. No trophies but many opportunities. 200+ college coaches from all types of schools...Div. 1, 2, 3, and NAIA. These showcases is where you are seen. Also being in big tournaments is where they will see you. For instance: Dallas Cup. Also, college coaches probably will not come out and watch Div. 2 or Super 2 soccer games. The high level of play just isn't there. There are looking for the high competition...Div. 1. For some who may not know...Div. 1 is split up into 3 levels...competitive (lowest), classic (middle), and premier (highest). These will be the teams that will be looked at. 2 - You can't just sit back and wait for a college coach to find you. Sure it might happen, but players can't just wait for a coach to call them up. You have to email coaches where and when you will be playing, and make sure you give them plenty of time to see if they can make it. As the time comes closer to the event you will be playing in just send them a reminder. 3 - You HAVE to find someone for the coach to see you. Along with showcases, region 3 premier league, and tournaments, my club brings in college coaches 2 to 3 times a year to do training sessions with us. This helps us to get to know the coaches as well as have them see us play. These are just some tips from me. Hope They help. And yes practice 2 to 3 times a week is hard but it is most certainly worth it. What you may pay for in gas may end up paying off later. I encourage anyone who has the want to to play in college needs to go to Houston. As far as soccer around the area...well part of the problem that has gone on for many years is not putting the kids in Spindletop,which was formed to try to get the best players from the area,and form them into one or two of the best teams they could possibly assemble in the age group. The problem has been that different areas (Beaumont, Hardin County, Gulf Coast, etc.) have been wanting to keep the "glory" in their clubs. This has been a major factor that (esp. for the boys) we have not produced any championships recently or at least in the higher competitive levels. We needed to be putting the best-of-the-best together in order to do some good, and this hasn't been done very well. I'm not sure about the younger ages from Spindletop because I have moved on from SSSC but I know of younger players that were on good teams that have already made their way over to Houston. And I don't have anything against the local areas because that is where I got started. Just saying if we want to have a chance in the area we have to put the best on one team. Just some things to dwell upon.