Samba FC Super20 Team Posts Tryout Dates

Posted on by
Reply

1-Samba-Super20-facebookSan Antonio, TX — Samba F.C., will host the first of four scheduled tryouts for their 2014 USL Super-20 Men\’s team on Saturday November 30th at McAllister Park. Tryouts are scheduled to run from 10:30AM to 12:30PM on the Anderson Fields. Player registration and check-in will be from 9:30AM to 10:30AM. There is a $10.00 tryout fee and only cash payment will be accepted at the tryout site.

Players must bring a valid photo ID, a copy of birth certificate or passport, soccer ball, shinguards and water. Players under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian during the tryouts.

Our Samba FC Super-20 team will play in the Mid South South Division and will serve San Antonio’s North/East side. The team will hold a 22 man roster from high school, college-bound and also active college players who are interested and looking to compete at a high level during the off season.

The USL Super 20 League is a national league run by the United Soccer League and gives players another outlet to play soccer at the highest level over the summer. Players will train 2-3 times a week and play around 6 to 8 league games (not counting preseason games) on weekends and will travel on away games to the cities of Laredo, Brownsville, Eagle Pass and the Westside of San Antonio. Super-20 division champions will have the opportunity to play at Nationals in Bradenton Florida (Home of US U17 National Residency Program) in front of hundreds of college coaches.

Strength and conditioning sessions will start in April and will run for two weeks followed by preseason practices and scrimmages. Players who were personally contacted by a member of our coaching staff, are not required to attend the November 30th tryouts at McAllister Park. However, they will be required to attend the tryouts scheduled in December at Star Soccer Complex. The time and date will be announced soon.

If you have any questions about the Samba Super-20 team. Please email Samba FC Super-20 Director, Alejandro Escalante, sasuper20team@gmail.com

Aztex to Host Southern Conference Playoffs

Posted on by
Reply

Courtesy Austin Aztex Media Relations
AUSTIN, Texas (July 22, 2013)  — The Austin Aztex have announced the matchups and kickoff times for the USL PDL Southern Conference Championships to be held Friday, July 26 and Saturday, July 27 at House Park.

On Friday, the Ocala Stampede (11-3-0, 33 pts.) will play the Laredo Heat (8-2-4, 28 pts.) in the first semifinal game to be held at 5:00 p.m. The top-seeded Austin Aztex (11-1-2, 35 pts.) will host the Panama City Beach Pirates (10-3-1, 31 pts.) for the second semifinal game on Friday, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. The winners of the two matches Friday will square off for the PDL Southern Conference title on Saturday, July 27 at House Park, 7:30 p.m.

The USL PDL Southern Conference is comprised of two divisions, the Mid South Division and the Southeast Division. The top two teams at the end of the regular season qualify for the playoffs. The Austin Aztex, the 2013 Mid South Division Champions, were named the host of this year’s playoff on July 16. Representing the Mid South Division along with the Aztex are the Laredo Heat, who were the four-time defending division champions until the Aztex won the division title this season. Representing the Southeast are division champions the Ocala Stampede and the Panama City Beach Pirates.

The winner of the Southern Conference Playoffs will enter a final round of playoffs for the USL PDL League Championship, along with the winners of the Northern Conference, Eastern Conference, and Western Conference finals. The location of the final playoffs will be determined among the four representing teams.

In 2012, the Austin Aztex defeated the top-seeded Ocala Stampede in Ocala, Florida in the first round of the Southern Conference Playoffs.

What’s Better: Paid or Volunteer Coaches?

Posted on by
1

Courtesy Mike Slatton

Paid vs. Volunteer Coaches

From the street or parking lot, club soccer looks like a well structured, purposeful machine that is busy developing the future of American soccer. From the sidelines and the clubhouse though, it’s obvious that club soccer has no real direction at all.  Over the last couple of decades, clubs have started PAYING their volunteers and treating youth soccer like a franchise. Soccer clubs are acting like publicly traded companies, putting revenue ahead of everything else, most importantly: player development. The youth players of the 70′s, 80′s and 90′s are now all trying to make a living in the game that they love. The predominant reason for the MASSIVE increase in youth soccer club fees over the last few years is that soccer clubs all around the country have started paying their volunteers.  From the top to the bottom, EVERYONE is getting paid (see the article: Where does all the money go? (Youth Soccer Fees).   This means that most youth soccer clubs have moved past the role of community (oriented) service provider to just service provider.  The service, of course, is to provide a safe, controlled environment for children to play soccer.  The PURPOSE of youth soccer clubs has nothing to do with training or development.   There are however a few hold-outs; there is a minority percentage of clubs that are still community oriented and have volunteer coaches, administrators and facility maintenance, and charge fees that are a small fraction of clubs that are just in the business of service soccer clubs.   This therefore leads to the question, “Which is better: Paid or Volunteer coaches?“

Continue reading →

Aztex Vex Dutch Lions, 4-0

Posted on by
Reply

Courtesy Austin Aztex Media Relations
AUSTIN, Texas (Saturday, June 29, 2013) — The Austin Aztex (8-0-1) remained undefeated on the season and inched closer to a playoff spot when they defeated the Houston Dutch Lions (2-7-1) 4-0 Saturday night at House Park.

The win allowed for the Aztex to sweep the Dutch Lions after four matches and extend their defensive shutout streak to 409 minutes, not having allowed a goal since June 8. Continue reading →