Austin Texans Club Highlights and News September 2017

In this Issue: Message from the President Volunteer Spotlight Club Highlights & News More Highlights & News Dell Children s Highlights Marketing/Special Events Education Update September Birthdays : 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 September, 2017 Vice President Michael Connor fills in for Jeff this month! We ve waited all summer to meet the competition on the pitch and measure our skills. Did you get faster, stronger over the summer? Has your command of the ball improved? Now you get to test yourself. I hope you enjoy the challenge! I want to remind everyone that part of the reason we have our children play the game is to have the opportunity to learn good sportsmanship. I ve had several people stop me over the last couple of weeks and share examples of poor sportsmanship by both parents and players. Thankfully, most of these examples are from other teams and not Texan teams, but we are not perfect either. It s tough for a player sometimes. They are in the heat of competition and want to do their best. However, there is no excuse for a player/parent to act in any way that would reflect negatively on themselves, team or club. My challenge to you this fall is to encourage your child and teammates. Find an opposing player that played well and let them know. Everyone wants to be encouraged and that example starts with us as parents and adults. Support the 5K Fun Run on Sunday, October 6!! Details in the Special Events page of the newsletter. Juli is in her second year as Team Manager of the 06B Red team. After the inevitable learning curve of Year 1 as a TM, she now joins the ranks of the most organized and hard-working team managers I the club! Thank you for serving, Juli!

From our Girls Director | JD Cochran Over 125 Austin Texans got to see the #10 ranked Texas Longhorns play Friday Sept 22nd in support of the Austin Texans night at UT! Players were allowed in the locker room, on the field and at the end of the game took a picture and received autographs from the University of Texas players and coaches!!! The event was a huge success! League play has started and the Austin Texans have kicked off the season running! Congrats goes out to the 07G, 06G, 06G Red, 00G for all going through the first month UNDEFEATED! That s a huge accomplishment for any team! Austin Texans Fun 5K Run/Walk is coming up Oct 8th. Check the Austin Texans Website for details! The Austin Texans Winter Blast Camp registration is open! Camp will run Dec 20, 27, Jan 3,10,17 to give players U7,U8, U9, U10 an opportunity to train with the select staff over the Winter Break. All details are on the Austin Texans website. Looking forward to a great October! From our Youth Development Director | Tyson Wahl Our Recreational Program kicked off with much success. Our dedicated volunteer coaches and helpers are doing a fantastic job and our players are having a great time! We have conducted two coaching clinics for our Recreational coaches. You can see the pride our Recreational coaches take in leading their teams at our Riverwalk fields every Saturday! The Academy program began the season with the CAYSA Festival and we are now participating in our league play. Our Academy coaches are consistently applying our club philosophy and our club curriculum to our youngest players with the objective of maximizing player development. Our staff and players have been active in the community. Many of our Academy players attended the UT Women s soccer game together and were invited onto the field to play at half time and take pictures with the college players after the game. Our staff members are visiting local elementary schools to host soccer camps during PE class. Looking ahead, we will begin our Friday Night Footy in October, we are organizing our Halloween Day at Riverwalk for our youngest players, and we are planning Winter Futsal playing opportunities for our players. Please reach out to me with any inquiries relating to our Academy and Recreational Programs: twahl@austintexanssc.com Tyson Wahl Youth Development Director

From our Boys Director | Daryuosh Yazdani We have started our technical meeting last Tuesday talking about just technical/tactical aspects of soccer, helping our own development as coaches. We are also planning to video one training session per week for the staff to analyze. A few of players attended the UT Women s soccer game together. My focus is to create more leaders for Club s future, and all the coaches have been doing a good job on and off the field. 04 boys are in Super Y Final in Florida on December. We have begun to implement the Club Syllabus (training curriculum) and have been using the ASC session planning software. This is very helpful and will definitely benefit our coaches and program. Coaches are allowed to do other things with their teams as long as they teach and follow the curriculum focus over each 5-week mesocycle. We will have another camp from January 2 5, 2018 for U11 and older boys and girls. See website for details and registration information. From our General Manager & Goalkeeping Director | Ric Granryd THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF A YOUTH GOALKEEPER The goalkeeping position is difficult enough for older players and the youth GK s have a unique set of challenges. This article focuses on the psychological challenges. Subsequent articles will deal with technical, tactical, and physical challenges. How do young players cope with shouldering the blame for every goal scored against them? Whether or not they are responsible, they generally FEEL responsible. We try to teach the young GK s to own what they have control over, and then come up with big plays to deal with the things they do not (poor defending, poor passing, giving the ball away needlessly, etc.). It is vital for the GK s to learn to be level not too high when things go great, and not too low when things don t go well. Field players will make a hundred mistakes during a game, without any real notice being given. One mistake by the GK it is out there for all to see, and for all to talk about. We teach that mistakes will happen and to put that mistake in your back pocket for analysis at another time. Immediately following the mistake, we need to own that, keep our head up and focus on the next play. The GK cannot dwell on the miscue, it needs to be tucked away. Further, parents and coaches need to recognize, more than anyone on that field, the keeper KNOWS they made a mistake there is no need to exacerbate that fact. The goal of GK development is to hone your skills to the point that, when the inevitable error occurs, people instead say or think, wow that was unusual. There is a bit of a conundrum in youth soccer for GK s to get better, you need to play games. And teams try to have two GK s if possible - in case of injury, schedule conflict, poor form, etc. So, when a team has two, someone is not playing. And generally, someone s not happy about it. The various substitution and rotation strategies don t get at the core of the issue playing time in the goal. I don t believe there is great answer out there. I think the coaches and GK s need to find one of the approaches that works the best for the particular players involved. So, all this being said these issues ARE ALL PART OF THE JOB! A GK and family should understand this. Not everyone is suited for this role on a soccer field, largely due to the psychological challenges. The GK needs to grow to embrace and thrive on this type of pressure. It takes a unique mentality and self-confidence to be a good GK. Did someone say crazy?

The University of Texas Women's Soccer team hosted the Austin Texans Soccer Club in September to celebrate youth soccer month. Thank you to all the Austin Texans players, families and staff who came out to support this fun filled night. We are very appreciative to the families who took time out of their busy schedules to attend the game. We had 167 members of the club show up in their Texans gear to give great publicity in supporting the Austin Texans. Special thank you to Coaches Kai, Laura and Tyson, for not only coming out to support the club but also helping organize the players. Extra special thank you to the Longhorns and Coach Kelly for the invitation. Be on the look out for the next Austin Texans Night with UT, this will not be a night you want to miss. On Sunday October 8th, 2017 we will be hosting our first annual Austin Texans 5k Run/Walk fundraiser. We are expecting a great turnout for this family friendly event benefiting our club. Special thank you to our local companies, because without them this would not be possible. Frito Lay, Orange Theory Fitness, Fleet Feet, Pflugerville Fire Department (onsite for emergency availability), Oiselle Vol e Lonestar Birds, Shoal Creek Striders and all of our wonderful volunteers donating their time before and during this event. Please check the Texans social media and website for upcoming Friday Night Footy, Winter Blast Camp and Winter Skills Camps. Remember when posting your photos on social media, please use the following hashtags: #austintexansstrong #austintexans#austintexanssc

Austin Texans - Successful On And Off The Field This year, we would like to implement a new Tutorial Program for our players. The idea is provide academic support for our players who may be struggling or may just want to boost their GPA. Thanks to the generosity and support of Hill Country Bible Church, tutorials will be held inside the church building. Tutorials are scheduled to take place on Thursdays. The exact time is yet to be determined. We will need to look at our players and their schedules. To make this program successful, we need your help! We will be looking for volunteers throughout the year to help tutor. Volunteers can be adults or high school students. It is a great way for adults to earn club volunteer hours and for teens to earn volunteer credit for school or church. Again, the exact schedule has not been determined and may change week to week depending on the players and their needs. Players would like academic assistance please contact your coach or email education@austintexanssc.com. Potential tutors please email education@austintexanssc.com. We are looking forward to a great year and to making all Texans successful on and off the field! Parent Education Sessions Thanks to Dr. John Bartholomew, Professor and Department Chair Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin, for another successful parent session with our Academy parents earlier this month. Dr. Bartholomew presented information on Youth Sport and Development. If you haven't had a chance to listen to Dr. Bartholomew's presentations, go to the Austin Texans YouTube channel and check them out. We will have another Parent Education Session at the end of the fall season that will include players and parents from all age groups. Date to be announced. English for Spanish Speaking Adults Are you interested in improving your English? There are many free classes offered throughout the community. We would be happy to help you find a class. Email us at education@austintexanssc.com.

Texans September Birthdays HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL!! Cuitlahuac Garay- Morales Oscar Garcia Carlos Gonzalez Joel Gurrola Jr. Truett Hall Ethan Haracz Samuel Hasan Nadya Irias Jennifer jaimes Samantha Jarvis Luke Langston Adrian Lawrence Joshua Loe Kylee Lyons Liliana Madrigal Carlos Maldonado Flores Tucker Martinson Zyllah Mason Corbin May Alexus McCradic Victoria Medina Harlea Miller Audrey Moore Adan Munoz Maya Acosta Vincent Aguilar Hannah Alexander Abby AuBuchon Emma Bartholomew Riley Beard Shawn Beardslee Ben Brophy Phoebe Calderone Elizabeth Calton Kaylie Cano Gigi Cantu Allisyn Carter Briana Carter Hannah Carter Mariza Casarez Nolan Clay Ava Cole Zoe Cole Emma Cook Hannah Cook Bailey Culley Gianna Diaz Zada Dick Rachel Dieterich Sydni Fletcher-Davis Maddox Gage Lucas Munoz Jeron Musgrove Meredith Nelsen Ziva Payer Braxton Phelps Richard Price Juan Ramirez Natalee Ruscoe Sophia Sanchez Vibiamity Sanchez Amanda Santana Bryan Santander Ryan Santander Madlyn Serna Elizabeth Sheffy Rylee Shiells Allyson Soriano Santiago Soto Jordan Sprigg Jack Strickland Emily Sweeney Amanda Thai Melanie Vargas Nolan wahlberg Megan Whaley Anita You