RVSC Shines in Las Vegas

While many of the areas youth celebrated a long President's Day Weekend here locally, a group of top soccer players from the Rogue Valley Soccer Club spent their holiday battling on the fields at the Las Vegas Mayors Cup International College Showcase Tournament.

The Tournament, billed as the largest youth soccer tournament in the United States, hosted 330 teams from 26 states and 7 countries and represented an opportunity for players to be scouted by college soccer coaches from across the country.

Competing for the Rogue Valley Soccer Club were the Girls U15 Power Strikers, Girls U18 Fusion and Boys U18 Fuego. The teams represented the area with pride and dignity both on and off of the field and in doing such, brought back some hardware to the valley.

RVSC U18 Girls Fusion Wins Las Vegas Mayors Cup

The girls U18 Fusion coached by Phil Littleton and Jame Figeroua had the most successful tournament as they won the Girls U19 Division. The girls began their run by drawing 0-0 with Gillete Edge, the number 1 ranked team in Wyoming. In their second game, Fusion got on the scoreboard as they defeated Cal North's Atwater Elite 2-0 on goals by South Medford's Katie Littleton and Ashland's Annika Hearn. In game 3, Ashland's Riley Smith opened the scoring giving the Fusion a 1-0 lead only to see Canada's Tswwassen Blues tie the game up with a late penalty kick. In the end, the girls from RVSC advanced to the semifinals via a Penalty Kick Shoot Out.

The tight games continued for the the Fusion as they ended regulation of the semifinals against Washington's River City Premier deadlocked in a 1-1 with a goal by South Medford's Littelton tie. In the end the girls once again advanced via a Penalty Kick Shootout!

The final game against 49er United Auburn Academy from Cal North brought much of the same as the score was deadlocked 0-0 after regulation and overtime and would need to be resolved with kicks from the spot. Once again the girls from Rogue Valley dug deep. After going through the first 5 shooters, the score was again tied at 4-4. Saint Mary's Gina Barbieri made a diving save to the left on California's 6th attempt and in doing so, opened the door for the Rogue Valley Girls. With the game on the line, Ashland's Kysa McSky calmly approached the ball and slotted it home in the left corner of the goal giving Fusion the championship!

Rogue Valley Soccer Club Fusion Roster-
Gina Barbieri (St. Mary's), Michelle Benitiez (North Medford), Amber Black (North Medford), Kayla Burns (Crater), Malia Charter (Ashland), Jasmine Figeroa (St. Mary's), Mattie Gambee (St. Mary's), Danielle Greene (South Medford), Annika Hearn (Ashlnad), Nancy Ibarra (North Medford), Katie Littleton (South Medford), Kysa McSky (Ashland), Amber Parker (Crater), Ellen Radcliffe (Eagle Point), Riley Smith (Ashland), Brooke Stewart (Henley), Katelyn Walker (Ashland).

RVSC U15 Girls Power Strikers Reach Las Vegas Mayors Cup Final
The Rogue Valley Soccer Clubs U15 Girls Power Strikers brought home some hardware of their own this past weekend finishing as Tournament Runners Up.

In the Power Strikers first game, the girls fought off the long drive and Defeated Alsaka Rush 2-1 on Goals from North Medford's Amanda Hisey and Cascade Christian's McKensie Ragan. RVSC won game two in easy fashion defeating Las Vegas Surf 8-0 on goals from North's Hisey and Morgan Barry, South Medford's Cassidy Herrick, Mazama'a Kaitlyn Crowell and Ashland's Montanna Pindell.

After taking a quick 1-0 lead on a goal by Mazama's Kaitlyn Crowell in game 3 over Canada's Edmonton West Raiders, the Power Strikers found themselves behind for the first time all weekend 2-1. Late in the game, Crowell found the back of the net again to pull the game even at 2-2 and with 7 minutes left to go in the game, Hisey worked her magic again as she dribbled the ball across the box and rifled a 20 yard shot into the top corner of the net. The Defense held strong and Power Strikers escaped with a well earned 3-2 victory.

Game 4 saw a tough physical game against Joga FC from Utah. But once again, the girls were up to the challenge as they won 2-0 on goals from both Hisey and Crowell and a stout defense anchored by North Medoford's Anna Smith, Grace Bishop and Brittany Granstrom along with South Medford's Renae Rivero and Stephanie Grubb and Cascade Christians Ragan.

The magic ran out in the Championship Match as the Power Strikers fell to Canada's Thompson Okanagan FC 4-0. After a rocky start and going down 1-0 25 seconds into the match the girls picked themselves up off of the turf and battled hard in the second half. The effort earned them both pride and respect.

Girls U15 Power Strikers Roster
Morgan Barry (North Medford), Grace Bishop (North Medford), Jessica Bocchi (Klamath Union), Kaitlin Crowell (Mazama), Jamie Dirksen (Crater), Brittany Granstrom (North Medford), Stephanie Grubb (South Medford), Cassidy Herrick (South Medford), Amanda Hisey (North Medford), Araceli Jimenez (North Medford), Montana Pindell (Ashaland), McKensie Ragan (Cascade Christian), Rachel Raniele (St. Mary's), Renae Rivero (South Medford), Anna Smith (North Medford), Sydney Thomas (North Medford)

RVSC U18 Boys Fuego Have Solid Weekend at las Vegas Mayors Cup

The U18 Boys opened the Las Vegas Mayors Cup with a 1-0 Victory over host club Downtown Las Vegas SC on a first half goal by Ian Murray. A Stout Defense lead by Ashlands Mack Tulley, Zane Pindell and Zack Hartman, and North Medford's Connor Ginder, Jorge Jimenez, Brandon Schoemann and Arturo Torres stood firm keeping the host club off of the scoreboard.

Game 2 saw the Rogue Valley boys fall 2-0 against eventual Tournament Champions Dixon FC from Cal North. After dominating much of the first half, RVSC found themselves down 1-0 at half time as a Dixon Striker got behind the defense and rifled a 20 yard shot into the Rogue Valley goal. The second half started out in favor of RVSC as they continued to pressure the back line of the California Club. In the end, Dixon scored a second goal with about 3 minutes left to go and sealed the victory.

The Fuego found themselves in a must win situation in game 3 against Colorado's Pueblo Rangers. After Pressing for most of the game, the score remained tied 0-0 with 7 minutes to go in the match. The Fuego Coaching Staff decided to pull a defender an go with a third striker to push for the win. Unfortunately, a Pueblo player got onto the end of a break away and put the Colorado boys ahead 1-0. With 3 minutes remaining Phoenix High Schools Jose Mancias knotted to score at 1 as he delivered a 30 yard free kick into the top tight corner of the opponents goal. Unfortunately the tie was not enough to keep the boys in contention to advance to the finals.

With nothing left to play for but pride and experience, a banged up and exhausted RVSC Squad mustered the energy to soundly defeat Canada's South Burnaby Gunners 6-0. Goals by North Medford's Jesus Solorio and Brandon Schoemann, Hidden Valley's Jason Kellogg, Ashland's Dylan Molnar, St. Mary's Harrison Leep and Phoenix High's Jose Mancias led the way as the boys secured a second place finish in their bracket.

RVSC U18 Boys Fuego Roster
Kodie Artner (South Medford), Connor Ginder (North Medford), Zack Hartman (Ashland), Jorge Jimenez (North Medford), Jason Kellogg (Hidden Valley), Chris Landt (Ashland), Harrison Leep (St. Mary's), Jose Mancias (Phoenix), Dylan Molnar (Ashland), Ian Murray (Ashland), Zane Pindell (Ashland), Jorge Ruiz (South Medford), Brandon Schoenmann (North Medford), Jesus Solorio (North Medford), Arturo Torres (North Medford), Mack Tulley (Ashland), Tyler VanDyke (Eagle Point), Kevin Wilcox (Grants Pass), Dakota Wolff (Ashland).

Viva Las Vegas and More

This coming weekend, Rogue Valley Soccer Club will be represented at the Las Vegas Mayors Cup College Showcase. The U15G Power Strikers and the U18G Fusion along with the U18B Fuego, are finishing final preparations ahead of an early departure on Friday morning. I am truly excited for this event. First of all, I am pumped to watch our players compete with teams from all over the country. But I am even more excited for the future. It is very gratifying to see the effort that our volunteer coaches put in to expand the playing opportunities for the area. I truly believe that if we keep the same course, eventually we will develop players and teams that can compete on a national level. We are not there yet...not even close. But the train is moving in the right direction.

I have to give it up to Phil Littleton and James Figeroa as they set the culture over the last two years with the Fusion. They have been hauling girls all over the Pacific Northwest to a multitude of showcase tournaments. I believe their efforts are about to bear fruit as a good number of the Fusion Players will be continuing their soccer careers on a college level!

It is extremely exciting to see players from all over Southern Oregon come together. Next Month, the Fusion will continue their road trip as the join the U16B Barcelona, U16G Reign and U17G FC Rogue at a showcase in Northern California.

I will post updates as to results and also as to where our current crop of players end up deciding to go to college.

You can see the game schedules for the weekend at www.lvmayorscup.com

Winter League-
This Weekend also marks the beginning of our Winter League Season. We will have 8 teams from U14-U18 competing in the OYSA Winter League in preparation for this years State Cup.

This Weekends Schedules are as follows:

U14G Venom
Saturday 2/19 @ Cascade FC Rapid
Sunday 2/20 @ LCYSA Tsunami

U15 Boys Manchester United
Saturday 2/19 v OCSC Pioneers 3:00 PM US Cellular Field 12

U16 Boys Barcelona
Saturday 2/19 v NWSSA Brazil 1:00 PM US Cellular Field 12

U16 Girls Reign United
Saturday 2/19 v Emerald Kids Sports 12:00 PM Field Field 10

U17 Girls Rogue FC
Saturday 2/19 v Hood River United 2:00 PM US Cellular Field 10

RVSC Guiding Principles, Mission Statement and Code of Conduct

Last Friday, 17 of our competitive coaches participated in a collaborative discussion to determine the  guiding principles, mission and code of conduct for our club.  I believe the discussion that took place set forth a road map for the future of RVSC, and the destination is both exciting and energizing.

I want to thank Manuel Siordia, Arnie Klott, Nate Brooks, Scott Byrd, Tom Renau, Chris Wizner, Ted Darnall, Kristina Jensen, Scott Seney, Matt O'Connor (aka the secretary), Jason Jantzer, Randy Cahn, Scott Owings, Matt Bonsi, Jay Crowl, Jeff Morgan and Frank Medina for taking time out of their lives to express their ideas to move the club forward.

For those of you that were unable to attend, we look forward to your participation in future gatherings!

Below are the rough drafts of both the Mission Statement and Guiding Principles. I will post the Code of Conduct later in the week.

RVSC Mission Statement
The Rogue Valley Soccer Club's mission is to be visible and accountable leaders within the Southern Oregon Soccer Community. RVSC will strive to develop youth soccer players in ways that will make them successful both on and off of the field. We are committed to strengthening the players soccer skills, fitness and self confidence while introducing and reinforcing their understanding of qualities such as Integrity, Sportsmanship, Accountability, Perseverance and Internal Motivation.

RVSC Guiding Principles
-We will create and maintain an environment that will foster a players development as both soccer players and people so they may grow to effectively contribute to their team, club and community both now and in the future.

-Provide a safe and constructive environment to allow individuals to reach and exceed their potential both athletically and personally.

-To encourage and allow players to take ownership of their growth and development.

-To identify, educate and develop coaches.

-To make the game of soccer accessible to ALL kids.

What do you think of the direction the coaches defined. Do you believe that currently we follow the principles above? Where do we need to work harder? Feel free to comment below.

Player Development

One of the many catch phrases thrown around in youth soccer is "Player Development." I believe that this phrase is used way to loosely and doesn't do an adequate job of defining what it is that we are trying to accomplish in youth soccer.

So...what does player development mean? Does it mean that we have aspirations of developing the next Messi or Beckham or Hamm or Foudy? Maybe for some clubs...some systems the answer is yes. However, for the vast majority of us, the reality is that scenario is probably not going to happen...

I believe that our mission needs to be much more realistic and far reaching. Rather than think of developing the player, maybe it would be more appropriate to look at this in terms of developing the whole person...with the player component just being a small part of the whole.

It is quite easy to start firing off some categories that fall into player development...

-Technical Ability
-Tactical Awareness
-Fitness

But what about things like:
Responsibility
Ethical Decision Making
Problem Solving
Trust
Accountability

Personally, to me it is more important that the impact we make on our young athletes remains with them long after they are done playing soccer. As coaches, we can make a huge difference in the lives of our players. And having a lasting positive impact leads to much greater satisfaction than any State Cup Championship, trophy or medal. I also believe by focusing on developing the whole person, our performance on the pitch will improve!

So as we approach our seasons, let's think about what our goals are in  developing our athletes. And let's also remember that development is a marathon and not a sprint!

So...what does player development mean to you? Is it possible as soccer coaches to concentrate on developing the person or should we just be concerned with the X's and O's of the game? I am interested to know what you think. Feel free to leave your comments below!

Welcome to The Rogue Valley Soccer Club Blog!

I begin this blog stating that RVSC is trying to utilize modern technology to bridge the communication gap between the club and our members. I feel it is important that our members be engaged and informed as to the happenings of the club on both the recreational level as well as the competitive level. Hopefully this blog along with our new twitter feed is a step in the right direction!

For those of you that would like to follow us on Twitter we are listed as roguevalleysc. I will try to provide real time updates from various fields and competitions that I am at.

Winter Soccer

This is an exciting time for the Rogue Valley Soccer Club. Currently, we are just about to begin our Winter High School Season. This year, we are fortunate enough to have formed 7 Winter teams...4 Girls and 3 Boys. It is exciting to see players from high schools all over the valley come together. I believe that we have a good chance to win some State Cup titles. More importantly, I believe that we are in position to help some of our older players find there way to competing on the collegiate level.

Recently, Our boys U16 and Girls U18 teams competed at the FC Portland College Showcase. They both faced some stiff competition with the boys finishing 6th out of 20 teams. The girls had a bit of a tougher road losing a couple of really close games. However, Coach Phil Littleton reported back to me that he was approached by no less than 8 college coaches who expressed an interest in some of our players. Congratulations to both U16 Boys Barcelona and U18 girls Fusion for a successful start to the 2011 Winter Season.

The fun continues over President's Day Weekend as The U15 Girls Power Strikers, U18 Boys Fuego and U18 Girls Fusion travel to Las Vegas to compete in the Las Vegas Mayors Cup. The competition will be stiff, but the experience will be priceless. I will keep you updated through this blog and through Twitter as to how we fare!

Regional ODP
In December, we conducted our 2011 tryouts and RVSC had 42 boys and girls make the local pool. From here, they will fight it out for a spot on the 18 person roster that will travel to Eugene in March. In Eugene, we will compete against players from all over the state for selection in the 2011 state ODP pool.

U11-U14 Competitive Soccer
This past fall ended with some great accomplishments from some of our younger teams. The RVSC Girls U11 Academy placed 2 teams in the Presidents Cup Semi Finals and eventually claimed a Presidents Cup Championship with RVSC Static edging out Grants Pass 1-0 in the Final.

At the U13 age group, the After Shock secured a berth in the Semi Finals with a 2-0 win over Woodburn. The U13 Semi Finals and Finals will be held in April. The Champions will earn a berth in the US Youth Soccer Regional Presidents cup to be held in June.

Spring SOCL is just right around the corner as is the OYSA State Cup competition. I suspect that the fields at US Cellular will be buzzing in the coming weeks as our teams begin to prepare for the spring!

Recreational Soccer
Our Recreational Soccer Program will begin the weekend after Spring Break. We will begin sign ups in February. This past year, I was impressed with the devotion and dedication that our coaches have shown toward the overall development of our players. I believe that our recreational soccer program is really moving in a good direction and it is do in a large part by the participation of our volunteer coaches.

That's all for now. I hope you enjoy the blog. Please feel free to comment!

KP