2010 KC PACE FASTFORWARD PROGRAM

KC Pace FastForward Program kicks off on March 10th!

The KC Pace FastForward Program is an exciting and elite soccer experience designed to accelerate the youth soccer player’s (boys and girls ages 10-18) development. Directed by the Jefferson Roblee, Lincoln Roblee and Burke Slusher: coaches of the 2005&2006 Missouri state champion KC Pace and the Kansas City Brass (PDL). The FastForward Program will give field players and goalkeepers a fun, progressive environment loaded with proven advanced training techniques of soccer champions.

Wednesday Nights at William Jewell College: March 10-April 28
5:30pm-7:00pm: 3rd-12th grade boys & girls
8 Training Sessions and adidas training jersey
Cost: $150/player (ENROLLMENT LIMITED TO FIRST 20 PLAYERS)

***KC Pace FastForward Program staff have coached more than 70 players who have gone on to achieve All America honors or sign professional contracts.**

PLAYER REGISTRATION & MEDICAL RELEASE
(Registration deadline: March 3, 2010)

Player name____________________________Position_________

Boy______Girl_____
Player birthdate____________________ Current Age____________
Address__________________City______________State_____ZIP_________
Player T-Shirt Size (Circle one): Youth-L Adult-M Adult-L
Parents Names__________________________________________
Home Phone Number___________________________

Parent cell phone #___________________ Accept text messages?_____
Best e-mail address________________________________________
School____________________________________

Club Team________________________________
Club Team Coach___________________________

Club Team Coach Phone #__________________________________
Club Team Coach e-mail____________________________________

I do hereby grant the permission to the KC Pace FastForward Program staff and their respective agents to secure such medical aid and hospital services as they deem necessary for the child noted on this form in the event he/she should sustain and injury or illness while attending the KC Pace FastForward Program. I agree to assume the cost of transportation and medical treatment in such an emergency situation. I have also indicated below any medical information of which the camp should be aware in consideration of the child’s physical and mental well being.
Player Name__________________________________________
Parent Signature_______________________ Date_____________
Family Doctor__________________________________________

Doctor Telephone________________________________________
Special Notes (Allergies)___________________________________
Family Health Care Carrier_________________________________
Health Care GroupName___________________________________
Health Care Policy # ______________________________________

Preferred Hospital________________________________________

I agree that the KC Pace FastForward Program staff and coaches shall not be liable for any injury or loss which my children may sustain while participating in the KC Pace FastForward Program, and I agree to indemnify and to hold harmless the KC Pace FastForward Program from any claim whatsoever. The above applicant is in good health and has my permission to participate in this program. In case of emergency, I grant permission for my son/daughter to be given emergency treatment at a local hospital.
Parent Signature______________________________ Date________________

Please make check ($150) payable to KC Pace FastForward and mail to:
KC Pace FastForward
Attn: Jefferson Roblee
8614 N. Cleveland Lane
Kansas City, MO 64156

Contact Jefferson at FastForward@kcpace.com or (816) 213-1876 for more info.

July 9, 2009: KC Brass win 1-0 over Springfield Demize

Below is a short video of the July 9, 2009 PDL game of the KC Brass vs Springfield Demize at William Jewell College. KC Brass won the game 1-0 (Brass is wearing white).

July 4 Race

KC Wizards vs Houston Dynamo in MLS, USA vs Grenada in Gold Cup, Serena vs Venus at Wimbledon or Kobiashi vs hotdogs...All of these match-ups were great July 4 competitions. Another July 4 competition that may or may not make SportsCenter is the match up of Jefferson vs Katie. Who will win the race?

USA Should Begin Preparing for 2014 in 2010

You may have watched Wednesday night's World Cup qualifier: USA men lose 3-1 at Costa Rica. Landon Donovan's 90th minute penalty kick goal for the USA could give an impression that could confuse fans who didn't watch the game. The game wasn't as close as the score indicated. The USA was bad. Costa Rica was good. USA may have been more bad than Costa Rica was good. It looked like a 5-0 game (Costa Rica was playing "Ole Futbol" in the FIRST HALF). The USA has no excuses. On Wednesday night the USA was beaten by a better team. Costa Rica's players were better than USA's players. So which USA players should see significantly less or no playing time?: Altidore and Wynne are still works in progress. Both players need a lot more skill, savvy and experience to succeed at the international level. Torres looked good. Play Torres. Involve Robbie Rogers. If Rogers is not in the starting 11 have him available off the bench. Rogers is a talent and a risk taker. Of course Frankie Hejduk (injured, did not play) could have helped. Hejduk has developed into a very reliable right back. Wednesday night made me wonder if the soon to be 37 year old Brian McBride and the soon to be 46 year old Preki wanted to wear the USA jersey again....OK now I'm thinking that any team that could play as badly as the USA played Wednesday night couldn't possibly have any chance in 2010. It would be impossible for any truly good team to play so badly and then turn things around so quickly (a year with limited time together) and succeed later vs better competition. Once we qualify (USA should still qualify) for 2010, for the good of our national team, we should prepare for the 2010 World Cup and use players in the 2010 World Cup who could play in the 2014 World Cup (Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, Jonathan Bornstein, Michael Bradley, Kenny Cooper, Charlie Davies, Landon Donovan, Maurice Edu, Eddie Gaven, Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, Sacha Kljesten, Michael Parkhurst, Heath Pearce, Robbie Rogers, Jose Francisco Torres, etc.). The 5 year time span would provide a significant amount of time for the coaching staff to develop a very competitive and successful 2014 team with an advanced and understood style of play that is needed to have a chance to win a World Cup.

Josh Howard Scores for Soderhamns FF (Sweden)

Josh Howard (Lee's Summit North HS, KC Attack, William Jewell College, KC Brass) has earned Man of the Match for Soderhamns FF (Sweden) in his two most recent matches. Photo: Josh celebrating his first professional goal in Soderhamns FF 2-0 win over Rasunda.

R.I.P.: Andy Shields (Funeral Arrangements)

Funeral Arrangements for Andy Shields can be found at www.wjcsoccer.com .

R.I.P.: Andy Shields

Andy Shields saved 8 of the 11 penalty kicks he faced during the 2006 regular season, playoffs and national tournament shootouts while in goal for William Jewell College. Note: Andy actually made all 8 PK saves...none missed the goal. Pictured: WJC goalkeeper Andy Shields makes a game winning PK shootout save at the 2006 NAIA National Tournament.

Andy Shields, 23 yeards old, passed away today, May 28, after suffering a severe stroke on May 25th. Andy is best known in the Kansas City soccer community for his goalkeeping excellence at Olathe North High School, Arsenal youth and William Jewell College. Andy was a starter and standout performer on William Jewell College's 2006 HAAC Champions, NAIA Region V Champion, National Tournament Qualifying and NAIA National Final Four team. His goalkeeping was the talk of the 2006 NAIA National Tournament which included incredible saves during two WJC shootout victories at nationals. Andy was named NAIA National Tournament All Tournament team in 2006. Prayers go out to the Shields family. Andy was loved and will be greatly missed and always remembered.
Link related to Andy Shields soccer: http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/111806aah.html

Classic Matchup

I know a lot of readers of this blog can't wait for Wednesday's (May 27, 2009) Champions League Final of Manchester United vs Barcelona...Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi It's going to be a good one. In the meantime I provide you with another classic matchup...Katie vs Emily. My nieces may not have the skills of C. Ronaldo and Messi (yet) but the joy is fun to watch.

Vote for Your Favorite Brazilian

Check out the videos below and then vote for your favorite Brazilian soccer player in the left column of TRR.

May 3 in Iowa

Lincoln Roblee, Kathryn Roblee and Jefferson Roblee celebrated May 3, 1971 together on May 3, 2009.

After recruiting May 1-2 for our respective women's college teams at the Tournament of Champions in Burlington, Iowa; we spent Sunday with our mother and grandmother in Perry, Iowa. Church, family, yardwork and some cake made for a good Sunday.

KC Pace FastForward Program

Although it's been a few years since the 87/88 KC Pace graduated from youth soccer to elite college soccer programs and the PDL, the KC Pace still lives strong through the KC Pace FastForward Program (the annual 8 week program begins in March and ends in April). Below is a video of three 2009 KC Pace FastForward players going One v Camera.

Glimpse at KC Pace Video Diary

Below is a few minutes of the KC Pace Video Diary (2006). The video is a glimpse of the team's success. In this part of the video you see some goals by various KC Pace players at events such as Friendlies in Springfield, Missouri and Omaha, Nebraska as well as the Tulsa Soccer Club Friendship Cup in Oklahoma, Metro United Showcase in Illinois, Disney Soccer Showcase in Florida and USYSA Regional Championships in Wisconsin.

Driving the Ball

I know when you read "Driving the Ball" as the title of this article you probably thought the videos below would be more about passing the ball over distance, crossing the ball or shooting on goal...usually you would have been correct.

Rewind: 2006 U18 Missouri State Final: KC Pace win 3-1 over Scott Gallagher

The 2009 Missouri State Cup brackets were recently announced. Let's rewind to 2006 State Cup. Below is a video of the 2006 U18 Missouri State Cup Final. The KC Pace won 3-1 over Scott Gallagher to win their second straight State Cup championship. Goals in this game were scored by Brant Bishop, Matt Happy and J.D. Warman. Video shot by Steve Ole Olson of sgfsoccer.com .

Rewind: Maradona the Player

This past weekend included some interesting matches. The first match of the inaugural WPS season (LA Sol beats Washington Freedom 2-0 in front of 14,000+ at Home Depot Center), Week #2 of MLS and a 2010 World Cup qualifying weekend. USA's men had a dramatic 2 goal comeback to tie at El Salvador 2-2.

In other World Cup qualifying Argentina won 4-0 over Venezuela. Argentina's coach is the legendary former player Diego Maradona. Maradona, the player, had a mix of confidence, attitude, skill and soccer savvy. Some soccer enthusiasts wonder if a player like Maradona would be as successful on the field in the today's soccer world. For those of you who still wondering I can answer that for you. Maradona would be very successful in today's soccer. If you have any doubts just look at Argentina's newest #10, Lionel Messi. Messi could be considered a version of Maradona-light...and Messi is already the leading candidate for 2009 World Player of the Year. Wondering over. Maradona was unique and would be successful in any era.

Most of today's college and youth players never saw Maradona play. For those players I recommend this video. I approve and recommended the video for all audiences.

America's Team

The Kansas City Wizards begin their 2009 MLS regular season tonight vs Toronto FC. Now although Major League Soccer was created to help develop american soccer players for the U.S. National Team (no more than 5 foreigners were allowed on each roster in the innaugural 1996 season) the league rules have changed. MLS teams now average 9 foreign born players on each roster. FIFA's Sepp Blatter has recently suggested that leagues adopt a 6/5 rule...At least six players with citizenship of the league their club plays in playing on the field at one time, allowing no more than 5 foreign players playing at one time.

Former Dallas Tornado (NASL) and american Kyle Rote, Jr. stated that he would like to see a limit of 5 foreign starters per team. Of course he made that statement in a Sports Illustrated article in 1979 (when the 24 team North American Soccer League required only 2 North American starters per team per game). U.S. soccer players have accomplished and developed a lot in the 30 years since Kyle Rote, Jr. played however today's top american league, MLS, still isn't as domestic player friendly as some would think.

During Thursday's MLS kickoff Seattle Sounders FC played 13 players...6 of those players were foreign born (6 American/5 foreign in starting lineup). NY Red Bulls played 13 players...8 of those players were foreign born (4/7 in the starting lineup). Seattle was victorious 3-0.

Toronto FC curently lists 23 players on their 2009 roster. Only 5 of their 23 players were born in Canada and only 5 were born in the U.S.A. That leaves 13 players on Toronto FC's roster that were not born in Canada or the U.S.A.

MLS should be a global league and Sepp Blatter's 6/5 recommendation is a healthy way of encouraging leagues to develop national talent while allowing for international quality. The recommendation protects, defines and promotes the domestic and international game at the club and country levels. The Kansas City Wizards, Houston Dynamo and San Jose Earthquakes have the fewest amount of foreign born players (4) among the 2009 MLS rosters. The definition of America's Team is up for debate. If America's Team is defined as the most successful MLS team with American players contributing significantly...then let's hope the Wizards' are in the early process of making a case to be America's Team in MLS.

Tryouts

Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo will be looking for another Kevin Souter or Nelson Pizzaro at this Saturday's KC Wizards tryouts.

This Saturday (March 7) the Kansas City Wizards hold open tryouts. The following Saturday (March 14) the Kansas City Brass will hold open tryouts. Regardless of a player's age, skill level or ability, trying-out for an elite group/team/school is admirable. Realistically, the chance the best players at the Wizards tryout have at making the Wizards: slim chance. However the chance of these tryout participants playing for the Wizards without attending the tryout: no chance. Are there other ways of getting drafted/signed to an MLS team? Yes. But not every good player can get the exposure that a college and/or PDL team could provide. And even then some of those high profile amateur players need the open tryout to help their cause. Last year the Wizards signed two players from their open tryouts: Kevin Souter and Nelson Pizzaro. Both Souter and Pizzaro had solid college and PDL credentials but their performances at the Wizards open tryout is what sold the Wizards staff.

My brother and I participated as players in the MLS discovery tryouts in 1994 and 1995 (MLS orginally planned to kickoff in 1995 however delayed their inaugural season to 1996). Although our play at the tryouts didn't yield either of us a MLS contract, the experience and feedback from US Soccer and MLS coaches working those tryouts (Steve Sampson, David Dir, Ron Newman and Guy Newman) was memorable and valuable. Three players who participated in the same tryouts were drafted in the inaugural 1996 MLS Draft (Shane Battelle, Manuel Catano and Brian Kamler).

Good luck to all of the participants during the next two weekends of tryouts. Hopefully all of the participants will have positive experiences with a few participants getting chances later to train and possibly compete with the first teams.

WILL JOHN SIGNS WITH FIRST DIVISION SLOVOKIAN CLUB MSK ZILINA

WILL JOHN SIGNS WITH FIRST DIVISION SLOVOKIAN CLUB MSK ZILINA

Former KC Attack youth, Rockhurst High School, St. Louis University, USA U20 National Team and KC Brass player Will John signs with Slovakian First Division club MSK Zilina. Since turning pro at the age of 19 Will has played professionally with the Chicago Fire (MLS), Kansas City Wizards (MLS), Randers FC (Denmark)FK Cukaricki (Serbia) and now MSK Zilina (Slovak).

Josh Howard Signs With Soderhamns FF (Sweden)

February 18, 2009-Former William Jewell College All American and Kansas City Brass All-PDL player Josh Howard signed a professional contract with Swedish Second Division team Soderhamns FF. After graduating from WJC in 2008, Howard trained with and played with the Kansas City Wizards (MLS) in official reserve league games and exhibition games. Below is official press release from Soderhamns FF website (translation below in case you don't know Swedish).

http://www4.idrottonline.se/templates/NewsPage.aspx?id=260810

Amerikansk spelare klar för Söderhamns FF!
2009-02-18 21:20

Från högsta ligan i USA (MLS) till SFF...


Josh Howard från Kansas City i USA skrev under onsdagskvällen på övergångshandlingarna för Söderhamns FF. Den snart 23 årige amerikanen spelade under fjolårets säsong i USA:s högsta liga Major leuge soccer för Kansas City Wizards.

Josh, som varit uppvaktad av ett flertal klubbar i Sverige, har den senaste tiden besökt Söderhamn vid ett flertal tillfällen och tränat med laget inomhus på Flygstaden.

SFF:s tränarstab bedömer den unge och sympatiske amerikanen som en mycket kvalificerad spelare.

- En försvarsspelare med stor utvecklingspotensial och med spetsegenskaper i huvudspelet, anser flera bedömare.

Föreningen hälsar Josh varmt välkommen och ett stort lycka till Söderhamn och SFF!


Josh Howard from Kansas City in the United States signed Wednesday evening to release the documents for Söderhamns FF. The soon to be 23-year-old American played in last year's season in the U.S. Supreme accordance Major leuge soccer for the Kansas City Wizards.

Josh, who had been canvassed by several clubs in Sweden, has recently visited Söderhamn on several occasions and trained with the team indoors on Flight City.

SFF's training staff deems the young and sympathetic American as a very skilled player.

- A defense player with great utvecklingspotensial (development potential) and with the tip of properties in the main game, the more assessors.

The association welcomes Josh warm welcome and a great success Söderhamn and SFF!

Eric Nichols New Coach at BGSU

We grew up playing with Eric on the UHS Apollos (If you scroll down the left column to the 1986 section you will see Eric standing next to Mr. Derra). BGSU have a great coach. Congrats to Eric and Bowling Green State University.