Coaching Soccer
My son started playing soccer around age 8. My two oldest daughters followed within a year or two. My youngest daughter was still too young to join a youth soccer club and had to wait another couple of years. At first, I was merely proud parent and enthusiastic spectator. Eventually, I caught the "soccer bug" going around the U.S. during the 1970s and started coaching and referreing youth soccer. I coached my three oldest children while we lived in Orange County: my two oldest daughters in the Orange Junior Soccer Club during the winter and my two oldest daughters and son in the Lancer's Youth Soccer Club during the summer. I didn't get a chance to coach my youngest daughter until we moved to San Diego County where I coached teams in the Poway Youth Soccer League.
Pickup game, Shirts vs. Skins, Orange County, CA, 1970s
I usually played a left or right defensive position, but here it appears I've moved forward and am
When we moved to Poway in the early 1980s I found it hard to join a men's team. Poway did not have a men's recreational league and the teams in the San Diego County recreational department leagues were pretty much closed to new players. I did play on an indoor soccer leage team at the Poway Indoor Soccer Park for two years. Unfortunately, the constant pounding
about to lob one into the opposing goal area.
on the hard, indoor surface beat up my knees and ankles, putting an end to my soccer playing. I do miss it.
Copyright © 2005, by Rich McCormack
Send comments and questions to macknet@pacbell.net
