The Athlete's Lounge

 The Reality of Late-Season Tournaments     "Chase the Cup", "Road to ____", "For It All", "Earn Your Place". For many teams, these phrases signal the best competition, a road to glory, and the culmination of everything that they have worked towards in the past year. However, many other teams will enter late-season tournaments such as The Ohio State Cup, USYS National Championships, The President's Cup, and more with what feels like a sword of Damocles over their necks.  The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly           Here we will look to outline some of the Pros and Cons of participating in these late-season championship tournaments.  Competition      As most seasoned coaches will tell you, the championship tournaments foster some of the highest levels of competition. As many participants here in Ohio can attest to, it's uncommon to find a game in the Ohio State Cup or The President's Cup with a score that doesn't tell a c...

 The Importance of Video in College Recruiting     Technology has become both a boon to and the bane of many aspiring athletes. Coaches will utilize video after games or sessions and some organizations will even require video footage before admitting a new athlete. On the college front, recruiting has always been a labyrinth of unspoken rules and hard deadlines. Without knowledgeable leadership within your youth organization, many kids will find themselves falling behind in the recruiting process. So how can video footage help your athlete get ahead? Image from the official Veo website. Image depicts an extended Veo Cam 3 recording a game.     When Does Video Matter?     Starting in an athlete's freshman year, your club coaches should begin to provide video footage of games for players to analyze and compile for recruiters to evaluate. Frequently, athletes are asked to submit optional footage to recruiters before college showcases, recruiting semi...

  Spring Tryouts and Club Soccer in Ohio     As youth soccer tryouts begin to wrap up in the Midwest, many parents begin to ask themselves "why is this process so convoluted?".  Our goal is to help disseminate three of the most common tryout myths and roadblocks that parents and players will encounter each year. Myth 1: You must attend every night of tryouts to secure a "good" offer at a new club.     The reality is much more convoluted. In light of the constant battle for supremacy between US Youth Soccer and US Club--resulting in the lack of guidelines for tryout dates--all tryouts have essentially become a veritable free-for-all. In an effort to not "fall behind", many clubs have heavily relied upon open training sessions to identify top contenders for spots on National, Regional, and Local teams. Often times, these open trainings can be where "good" offers emerge. Reach out to your target club to see if they offer open trainings in the Spring...