Players / Parents

At the April, 2002 NSA General Meeting, Jeffery J. Martin, Ph.D. from Wayne State University. Dr. Martin had an excellent talk about the 'Psychology of Youth Soccer'. He was also kind enough to make his slide presentation available to us on web the site (Power Point format).

Psychology_of_Youth_Soccer, Jeffery J. Martin, Ph.D. April 9, 2002 Click here…

Parent please read through this website, single best site I have found on understand youth sports and your child. Click here…

86 Ways to Say “Very Good!”

Medical concerns

Parents please notify your coaches in writing concerning any medical condition that may affect your child while playing soccer. Some of these possible conditions include:

Allergies
Asthma conditions
Previous injuries

Health and Injures

Sport injures website….

Codes of Conduct for Players and Parents

In order to create the best possible soccer experience for our children, please read the following Codes of Conduct.

All players are asked to read and sign the 'Player_Code_of_Conduct' and return to your coaches.

All parents are asked to read and sign the 'Parent_Code_of_Conduct' and return to your coaches.

Eating / drinking before games and practices


	Discuss with your coach

	In general, avoid large meals within 3 hours of game time. Protein heavy meals prior to a game can dehydrate a player. Complex carbohydrate like whole grains foods and vegetables are best. Food with in two hours after a game will lead to a faster recovery of the player. Stretching after a game or practice is great for getting blood back into the muscles to help remove the lactic acid that built up during the game.

	Drink three 8 oz. glasses of water 5 hours prior to game start and bring one quart of cool water to each practice and game.

Volunteering your Time

The NSA always welcomes your volunteer efforts. Please see the Contacting Us section for more information about how you can help.

Fall Photo Sessions

Each fall, the NSA arranges for photo sessions for each team. These sessions take place at Northville Community Park (Beck Road between 5 Mile and 6 Mile roads). Each time is given a 15-20 minute time slot. During this time group and individual photo sessions occur. About 1-2 weeks before this event the coaches will hand out packets describing the photo options available as well as the date, time, and location.

Uniforms

Uniforms are provided to each player in the Fall season. If a player is new to the league or the team in the Spring season, a new jersey will be provided for the player.

Being prepared for Practice

You should arrive at your practice field about 5 minutes. Just like for games, there are a number of things that you should do / bring for practice. These include

Remove all jewelry
Tie your shoe laces in two knots

· Large bottle of cold water

· Shin guards

· Soccer cleats

· Soccer ball (properly inflated)

Being prepared for Games

There are a number of things that each player should remember to do / bring for games. These include:

Make sure your last meal is at least two hours before game time
Remove all jewelry
Tie your shoe laces in two knots

· Large bottle of cold water

· Shin guards

· Soccer cleats

· Soccer ball (properly inflated)

· Arrive at the soccer field 30 to 45 minutes (ask your coach) before the game, so you can warm-up and get instructions for the game.

Practicing at home

Remember that while away from the soccer field, a good way to improve your soccer skills and fitness level is to practice. This can be done in your yard, in your basement, or at a nearby park.

Ask your coach about what might be the best thing for you to practice. Some suggestions are dribbling, one-touch and two-touch passes with a friend or a wall, passing, kicking, and juggling.

Below an over view of player development, soccer and Northville…

Top players in the world practice on average 5 hours a day since they turned 6 years old. Progress for a player is directly related to the number of touches they have with a ball. Ball mastery is earned not a gift. It is estimated to become a master of any coordinated physical activity like a sport or a musical instrument you would need to repeat this 1,600,000 times. For instants a player comes to practices twice a week has a productive practice where 75% of time he or she is working with a ball and add to this the time spent working with the ball during a game and two seasons of soccer, spring and summer, it would take a player 160 years to reach this number. World class players like Mia Hamm would spend another 5 hours a night improving their skills.

This leads us to the many levels of soccer. To accommodate the many levels of skills players have achieved we have different programs. First our Recreational programs it composed of mostly first time and multi sport players. With in Rec there are teams that have a better record than others, these teams are placed into more competitive divisions of play based on their past seasons performance. Some age groups can have as many as 5 divisions. Above this is our Select level, these teams are based on a full year commitment of the players and their families. Players tryout or qualify for these teams. We hold a tryout usually in mid June each year. Check our website for detail prior to the end of May. Our professional paid coaches pick players to form teams. We have an excellent staff of coaches that will shepard your player to their peak performance with a focus on development. From select we move to older players, the state of Michigan has two programs, Premier and Olympic Development Program or ODP. ODP players will usually play in both programs. At the Premier level we have again many level or divisions. Northville currently has many teams that have reached the top division of play. The best top ten teams in each age group are placed into Division one. More travel is associated with this level. You will find your games almost any where in the state of Michigan and Toledo. Next there is Michigan Nationals, Northville, Brighton, Canton and Ann Arbor clubs work together to take our top players to the bigger “showcase” tournaments. This exposes our players to scouts from the MLS and colleges. In general as players get older (Freddy Adu is an exception) there are even more levels:
Super-Y League
W-League
PDL
USL Pro Soccer League
A-League
MLS and MISL
US Soccer National teams Men and Women
Each Country will have their top levels of teams
World Cup and FIFA

We believe in a community base program where all levels of players are served, with less time needed for travel to find their correct level of competition. Our volunteers have been working with our Township Trustees and City officials to continue to improve our community’s resources and our level of commitment to our children for this great, all inclusive sport of Soccer.

Total Performance: Professional training on:

running techniques, safety and fitness.