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Welcome to the Home of the
NASA Red Wings
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Congratulations to the U11 Red Wings on taking the Town & Country tournament championship this past weekend (10/25/09). Super job by the players and great progression as they matched up against some solid teams, especially in getting shutouts in 3 of the 4 games played. We are real proud of how well they played and the teamwork exhibited to take the championship. They are really doing a super job playing together. Great sportsmanship by the parents as well and thanks for all your support. We are down to 10 players so everyone needs to continue making the practices and working individually on their ball skills.
With the abundant rainouts and reschedules to complete, we appreciate everyones' patience in this interesting Fall season. Our next game for the U16 team is this Saturday 10/17 at 9am NEMP #4. This should get us home in time for the Texas/OU kickoff. The U11 Red Wings play this Sunday at 3pm, Quarry Field. Both games are rainout reschedules. We hope everyone is enjoying their Fall season despite the constant vigilance on the weather channel.
Super job by the U11 Red Wings in reaching the Labor Day Cup Championship game this weekend against the loaded Austin Caps team. Super effort by the players in keeping the Caps to two goals considering they had scored 24 goals in their prior 3 games. We had an opportunity to tie them up at 2 goals, but super job by their keeper in securing their victory. I was proud of our group considering these were our first games. We saw quite a bit to work on, but the effort and team play was outstanding. The championship game was tough considering all the injuries, but we held our own. I was pretty impressed by the play of our keepers, all 4 of them, they did a wonderful job. We still need them to be more vocal, but it will come with experience.
The season starts this next weekend for both teams. The U11 Red Wings start in Temple against the Storm, and U16 Red Wings against the Lonestars Blue on Sunday at NEMP.
Great job by the U16 Boys in the DI Pre-Labor Day Shootout in San Antonio. Allowing 1 goal in 4 games against DI competition is definitely something to build upon. The boys effort through all 4 games was real good. We came out with some bruises and hopefully, Will will be fine. Let's keep our fingers crossed for a minor ankle sprain. We saw quite a lot of progression by the players, especially in the final game. We still have quite a bit of work to do, but the effort and skill was evident. We appreciated everyone's assistance with the boys this weekend. We'll practice Tuesday and scrimmage on Wednesday, with possibly another scrimmage on Sunday depending on the numbers available, otherwise, we'll be resting up for the start of season in two weeks.
U11 Red Wings have their Labor Day tournament starting this Saturday at 7:30am in Old Settlers Park just behind the Dell Diamond. I'm exciting about seeing them on the field. They should be ready but we are still trying to find someone to scrimmage this week as most of the teams we are playing have been in a tournament or two by now.
We need to take player card pictures of all the players for both teams. This is pretty critical as the season is about to be upon us. I'll have the camera with me, please remind me during practice.
Good luck to all our players on the first day (and week) of school!!!
U11 Uniforms are in as well as the practice tees for both teams. We need to assure all money is paid up. Super job by Soccer Post on the uniforms and by Royal tees on the practice tees. I really like the U11 uniforms.
It was good to have two scrimmages by the U16 team against two older teams this weekend. Obviously, we have a ways to go before we are ready to begin the season, but a 3-2 loss to the adult team and a 3-0 loss to a U17 DI team is not bad. It did not appear we had much left for the U17 game on Sunday afternoon at 2:30p, but I believe the conditioning will pay off in the long run. Our players need to understand how to fight through the fatigue, soreness, and Texas heat, especially considering we only had 11 players available for the scrimmage on Saturday night. Both games had 40 minute halves, so the scrimmages reminded us how long these games can last. Thanks for bringing the players out.
Please refer to our calendar for practices the week of 8/17/09. Feel free to answer the Poll question on the right.
U16 Boys - Good first early season match yesterday. Thanks for bringing the players out for a hot 2:30pm Saturday afternoon game, you have to love the sport to be out there at that time. We saw quite a bit of good things from everyone, nice to come away with a 3-2 advantage. Our ball control to start was very well done, we just need to take advantage of our opportunities, be more aggressive in the final 3rd, especially once we are in the box. We allowed too many opportunities to get away from us because we allowed their defense to get back into the play. In the second half, Millennium started very aggressively and gave themselves great opportunities, luckily we settled down and played much better, and started creating opportunities for ourselves. We stressed maintaining control of the ball and not taking chances, especially in the 1st half. In the second half, we tried taking some chances with our passes, did not quite work with our tired legs, but really a good showing for both teams. We subbed mainly with our mid and strikers, leaving the defense to get some good work against some talented players. The main concern was when we stood around on their free kick and allowed an easy goal. Especially, considering we were working pretty hard the entire half. We talked to the players that those are the plays that are the difference between winning and losing. Considering their other goal was on a PK, defense played quite well against another DI team.
This week, plan on practices being Tuesday 7p RSP, Wed 8:30p RSP, and Thursday 7pm at UHO. Let me know if we want to do the San Antonio tournament on 8/29.
Practices are continuing week of August 3rd. U16 will practice Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm at Ranger Soccer Park and scrimmage with the Vipers on Thursday at UHO at 7p. U11 will practice at Hill at 5:30 on Monday and Wednesday. Good team meeting for the U16 boys as we have been slotted into Flight A of Division I, which means we have a great opportunity, but some tough challenges. Registration ends this week - no exceptions. Please do not forget that a copy of the birth certificate is required with the registration per State rules. Practice tees and uniforms will be ordered this week, hopefully, everyone has turned in their order.
Keep the ball moving!
Fall season is underway and practices have started. This year I will be coaching the U16 Red Wings and U11 Red Wings. We have started with quite a bit of running, especially the U16 boys. They are going through boot camp this week and next in order to speed up our conditioning and be competitive at DI. The U16 boys will practice Monday-Thursday at Hill to go through the running drills (7p Mon & Wed/6p Tues & Thurs). We have also agreed to have joint practices with the Vipers at UHO on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm. We can already see the benefits of these joint practices with the Vipers!!! The U11s are practicing Mon and Wed at 5:30 until further notice. Once we get into our season, I expect to have practices on Tuesday and Wednesday.
***Clima cool practice tees are beeing ordered. Please specify a size, these tees should run approximately $11 depending on our order numbers, with two teams, they should be pretty good. Additionally, parents/siblings can order the same tees as well for gamedays.***
For the U11 team, we should be hearing from Jim on some possible tournament dates.
Congratulations on a President's Cup 3rd Place finish! I know we were hoping for the top spot, but we had some growing lessons which should make us a much better team next season. Except for the first half against Classic Elite, we played some great soccer in the final two games. Our passing and shot opportunities were super. We definitely outplayed both teams. Our 2-1 victory against Classic Elite was super considering how poorly we played in the first half, but our players re-focused and played excellent soccer. I'm not sure how we did not take advantage of our shot opportunities against the Dallas Texans, but soccer is soccer, and a 0-0 tie against a team that had not been shut out all season is a good way to end the season. I'm real proud of this group. We loved the passion and effort that the players gave us.
We'll be getting together as much as possible during the summer, hopefully, keep the ball rolling.
For a complete calendar listing, click here!
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