Interesting article - Pre World Cup - Dallas Sting

http://interactives.dallasnews.com/2015/dallas-sting/

Interesting read. I always wondered what STING stood for. Turned out is was after a movie.

Awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing.

Great read!

Great piece - really shows the growth from then to today.

Great article and video. It's kinda funny. My sister played girls soccer in Jr. High and High School in Richardson for a club called Sparta in the early 70's before Sting formed. I never went to a single game of her's because back then who liked soccer. The only person I knew that liked soccer was my sister and Bobby Moffatt who lived down the street. I do recall going to one or two Dallas Tornado games so I could watch my neighbor play.

Funny how life works. Now I have a daughter that loves the beautiful game and now I do too.

I only wish my sister would forgive me for never paying attention way back then. The things we learn in life.

Never say never!

OP, thanks so much for posting. It was a great read for this former JJ Pearce graduate.

Great article. Thanks for posting!

"Practices were always very, very physically demanding. We knew we would never run up against a team that was fitter than us."

"Players ... describe rigorous, precisely structured practices that often began with a two-mile run"

"The level of fitness they achieved, that had never been done by females in history"

Setting a high bar!

Deuce wrote:Great piece - really shows the growth from then to today.

And the decline in quality apparently. No women from North Texas on a USA world cup team in over 16 years. No girls on the current USA U16 national team pool and just 1 on the U17 squad.

dallas 1968 wrote:

Deuce wrote:Great piece - really shows the growth from then to today.

And the decline in quality apparently. No women from North Texas on a USA world cup team in over 16 years. No girls on the current USA U16 national team pool and just 1 on the U17 squad.

On the U18 squad there are two though. Madison Haley and Jordie Harr. Harr bounces between the U18 team and the U20 team though. Both are impressive. I would not be surprised to see either of them on USWNT in the next 4 years or so.

I'd be curious what US Soccer, ECNL and ODP national coaches think about NTX soccer. Not sure I'll ever find out, but I'd be curious.

Reading between the lines of the pre women's world cup article in the DMN I think 'Not a Lot' would be the answer to your question. Randy Waldrum, formerly coach at Notre Dame and now coaching The Houston Dash, was quoted in the article as basically saying the style of play in North Texas did not transfer to 'the next level' as the ECNL coaches are under too much pressure to win now at the expense of player development. As a result they all play a variation of the same 'kick the crap out of it and run' type game.

BTW, Sting isn't just a movie, it is a Paul Newman and Robert Redford movie and a classic.

And Randy is right, there are too many kickball teams who, even if they have trained to actually dribble and pass, inevitably fall back on kickball under stress. And I am not particularly talking about booming the ball back down the field. I am talking about the constant act of kicking the ball out of play. That is the MOST irritating and tiresome play of all. I know some coaches actually teach that to slow the game down and throw off rhythm. But the games seem impossibly long and boring as all get out. It is also done by players who lack stamina, or who are scared and don't know how to take on an offense move. I can understand the accidental kicks. I just, for the life of me, don't understand a coach who tolerates kickball.

I went to see the USWNT play last year in Frisco vs. Canada. I saw lots of what I might call kickball. I did not have enough fingers to count the number of times I saw a defender kick the ball long (overflying the midfield entirely) because they were trying to pick out a run for Rapinoe. I think they may have connected with her on a few occasions but 70% of those instances wound up in a turnover of possession.

I'm not always opposed to the occasional direct play, heck, Carli Lloyd had a pretty nice goal from what 50 yards out in the world cup. But she had been practicing that with her coach and did notice the GK way off her line. I think that was more intelligence and less "taking a chance to boom the ball".

The great Hope Solo kicks it as hard as she can to no specific target 99% of the time.

I chuckled when I saw that Dallas news piece regarding NTX play as too direct for the next level. IMO, that was the USWNT MO for the first few games in the WC (and the game I saw in Frisco). Based on their style of play I was shocked the more NTX players weren't called up.

Sho'nuff wrote:The great Hope Solo kicks it as hard as she can to no specific target 99% of the time.  

There is definitely a bunch of that too!

There is a difference between a 'direct style' and a 'long ball style'. The USA teams sometimes play direct. Most N TX ECNL teams I've watched play long ball most of the time. That's why they are so poorly represented at all the different national team age groups, relative to the shear numbers playing the game.

Dallas, I'd be interested in how you distinguish between longball and direct. I know it's a total hijack of the OP's post so if you like open a new topic or point me to a site where the discussion has already taken place.

Or, PM me, that works too.

I believe a 'possession with a purpose' is the correct approach. By this I mean when the ball is won and it is 'on' to go forward immediately then a 'direct' ball to a teammate or at least in the direction of a forward placed teammate is the best option. Otherwise the ball must be kept, one central defender should drop deep, wide midfield players should immediately get wide, and I do mean WIDE, all the way to the sidelines. Thus creating 'depth' and 'width' for the team in possession. Thus creating space.

I watched a '99 ECNL game played in very late spring/early summer. The game had been rescheduled (due to the very wet regular fields) on field turf, lined for football, at a local high school. Almost the entire game was played within the football lines and there was no attempt, by either team, to create width and keep the ball. The broad football sidelines almost a mental barrier for the players. The entire game was very 'narrow' and became a game of attrition as each team just kept thumping the ball as far as they could in the direction of the opponents goal.

As an aside I thought the behavior of both coaches to be deplorable, and their loud sarcasm, negativity, constant yelling at the girls to be counter productive.
Just my observations.

I would hope by the time my 12 year old gets to 16/17 she will have understood getting wide and creating space. One can only hope.

She will but only if her club/school coach knows what he/she is doing. This includes: no lap running EVER. lots of possession based and short sided games in practice with the emphasis on keeping the ball on the ground, passing weight and accuracy, decision making and creativity. Mistakes are a part of the game and everyone makes them at every level. Get her with a coach who understands this. Many of the yellers/screamers sure don't.

dallas 1968 wrote:lots of possession based and short sided games in practice with the emphasis on keeping the ball on the ground, passing weight and accuracy, decision making and creativity.

In this regard, I believe we've found a coach that will continue her development in this manner, but her former coach RS at Texans did an outstanding job in this specific area. He's a master at ..."Stronger, harder, faster, quicker"...speaking about passing and pace of the ball on the ground. So shout out to RS for that!