Table of Contents

1. Recovery Drinks

2. Soccer Plate Debuts in 2012

3. Tips for the Soccer Parents

4. How To Determine A Player's "Soccer Age"

5. Six Guidelines for Soccer Parents

6. Soccer Golf

7. Indiana Soccer Olympic Development Program Training Beginning in September

Recovery Drinks You have probably heard that drinking water is beneficial for your health. Why is it so?

Our body is made up of 80 per cent fluid. And during intense exercises soccer players lose a lot of liquids that must be replaced. Otherwise blood will "thicken", because it is not able to take enough oxygen. The player might end up with muscle cramps and a

heatstroke, and surely it affects performance.

Only a 2% loss of body weight trough sweat can lead to a decline in performance.

With sweat soccer athletes lose important minerals such as sodium, potassium, chloride. That's why drinking sports drinks vs drinking water may be more beneficial for soccer kids. Drinking lots of pure water right after exercises without restoring a lack of

minerals can damage cells of the body.

Usually kids don't feel thirsty and don't drink too much liquid unless it is soft drinks. It is important to insist on water

breaks. One helpful trick for your child to have enough fluid: let him/her drink until he/she is not thirsty anymore and give

a half of a cup of water more to drink.

Fluid, your child take, can come from different sources like fruits - it may be a watermelon, orange, apple and some other healthy drinks.

Soccer players need to drink water within 30 minutes right after practice or games. Recovery drinks allow athletes to replenish body's fuel and fluid stores, heal muscle tears and maintain body's immune function. Today on the market there are some drinks that are good for a quick recovery.

Gatorade Energy, Endurox R4, Distance, G-Push (G4) and Pro Performance deliver carbohydrates in a good amount. Some of them (Gatorade Energy, Endurox R4, Accelerade, CeraSport) have protein that helps muscles to restock glycogen (stored energy) faster and rebuild muscles. They are not recommended to drink during exercises as they sit in the stomach.

CeraSport drink out stands from other recovery drinks, because it offers rice carbohydrates but not sugar and doesn't raise blood sugar.

Soccer Plate Debuts in 2012

Indiana soccer is proud to announce the Indiana BMV has issued a specialty plate, with ALL proceeds going towards Indiana Soccer outreach programs:

TOPSSoccer

Soccer Across America

Reserve yours today!!

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Fluid Intakes for Kids Daily: 2-3 cups for small kids, 5-8 cups for older children

Two hours before practice: 1-2 cups During practices: 0.5 cup every 15-20 minutes

After practice: Drink plenty

Tips for the Soccer Parents

Before you do anything else, make sure that you have the phone number and email address of your coach. It took me half a season to get this for one of my boy’s coaches and this made every practice and game an adventure.

As a parent, you are responsibility to re-emphasize your coach’s philosophy with your kids. Remember that at this age the most important thing is for your kids to increase in skill and the enjoyment of the game. Anything that you can do to make things easier on the coach will be greatly appreciated. Helping pass the word about schedule changes, coordinate the refreshments for games and support the goals of the team are all-important parts of being a good soccer mom or dad.

Make sure that you do your best to get your kids to practice and games on time. If you have something in your schedule that will prevent this, please let the coach know as well.

Most coaches at this level coach because they love the game and they love to teach kids soccer. They are not always compensated by the league/club financially, or are paid poorly at best. A small gift at the end of the season is very appropriate and makes a coach feel appreciated for his or her efforts.

Here are a couple of other key things to remember:

Kids want to play because soccer is fun! Buy a good lawn chair. You’ll be spending a lot of time hanging around the soccer field Be consistent with your encouragement of the players Let the coach do the coaching Let the ref referee the game

One of the best soccer coaching tips I can give both parents and coaches is to communicate!

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How To Determine A Player's "Soccer Age"

Children are usually placed in age groups based on their birth date. For most leagues, the way to

determine a child's "soccer age" is to ask "How old was the child on last July 31?" For example, if a child

was nine as of 7/31/10, they will stay in the "Under-10" (U-10) group until 7/31/11, when they move up to

U-11.

This is how it is done at all the soccer programs I know of, but you should check with your league if

you are unsure how they determine "soccer age". You should keep in mind that a child with a July birthday

is almost a year younger than a child with an August birthday (even though they may be the same "soccer

age") & that the younger children often have shorter attention spans and often won't learn as quickly as the

older children. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Six Guidelines for Soccer Parents 1. Cheer 2. Relax and Let Them Play 3. Yelling Directions = Distraction 4. Remember, They Are Your Genes 5. Have Reasonable Expectations 6. Meet with the Coaches

The greatest gift that you can give to your children throughout their sporting involvement is support. When

asked what it is that they would most like from their parents in terms of support, most children suggest encouragement and acceptance of their choices.

- Australian Sports Commission

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Soccer Golf A simple game that the family can play. Spread out, towels, t-shirts, etc. across a yard or area. Each object is a challenge. If using a towel or a t-shirt the ball must completely stop on top of it in order to count. Players try to pass the ball from a distance and have the ball completely stop on a towel or t-shirt. Like in golf, count how many times it takes for the ball to completely stop on an object. Try and improve each time out.

Variations: Play with a friend or two. As a group, name the target and take turns, just like golf. The player that wins names the next target and also what the par would be.

Indiana Soccer Olympic Development Program Training Beginning in September

Indiana Soccer Olympic Development Program would like to inform all of the soccer players in our state

that district training is about to begin. District Training is held in 8 different regions in the state and is

open to all soccer players in our state that plays for Indiana Soccer through one of their over 140 clubs.

Development is the act or process of developing; unfolding; a gradual growth or advancement through

progressive changes. The top players want to be challenged in competitive, positive, developmental

environments against players of equal or better ability. If we refer to the above definition of

“Development,” The Indiana Olympic Development Program goals are to provide for the unfolding of ideas about the game of

soccer, to provide the players confidence and ideas to solve problems the game presents them, and to provide opportunities

for the gradual growth and advancement through challenging, creative, and positive training and playing environments.

This process starts with District Training for providing an environment to challenge the players in their local areas who want

additional training. The district training program is first and foremost for the continuing development of all soccer players in

the state. Secondly, it is an opportunity for Indiana Soccer ODP staff to see players from various areas of the state and possibly

recommend them to the Olympic Development Program state pool for said players’ age group.

ODP welcomes players that are not in high school to this program. Players born in 2000, 1999, 1998, and 1997 (not in high

school) are welcome to attend any and/or all of the district training sessions that are scheduled. Each individual district has its

own coaching staff and most of them have an administrator that helps to oversee the program for that area.

The district training schedule for each district is set by each group of coaches and administrators that run their particular sites.

Dates, times, and locations will be put up as Indiana Soccer receives them. If you have questions about a particular district,

please contact the administrator for that district. If there is not an administrator listed, then please contact the coach.

To find out more about the district training program please go to the Indiana Soccer website, www.soccerindiana.org and click

on the word district under the ODP tab. You may choose to sign up for any session by clicking on the link for that session.

Please note that when the GotSoccer log-in form comes up, you must use your individual player’s information by entering it on

the right hand side of the form. PLEASE, DO NOT SET UP A NEW ACCOUNT FOR YOUR PLAYER. IF YOU PLAYER IS ON AN

INDIANA SOCCER AFFILIATED TEAM OR PLAYS IN AN AFFILIATED PROGRAM, THEY ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT. YOU WILL

NEED TO CONTACT YOUR LOCAL REGISTRAR FOR YOUR USERNAME AND PASSWORD TO LOGIN AND SIGN UP.

District training sessions run for 1.5 hours and the cost is $20 if you pre-register online and $25 if you walk-up at the site

without registering online. Online registration is vital to the program so that we will have enough coaches available for

training. Goalkeeper training is not guaranteed at these sessions, but, GK’s are welcome to attend.

If you have further questions, please contact Joy Carter, ODP administrator for Indiana Soccer. joy@soccerindiana.org or 800-

347-4972. You may also contact the Director of ODP, John Carter. john@soccerindiana.org