Eastside FC helping in Rwanda

Eastside FC coach Dan Redwine recently went to Rwanda to participate in the Play for Hope Rwanda program.

Play for Hope's mission is for long term, sustainable sports growth in Rwanda with two goals: to bring holistic ministry and rehabilitation to the 'street kids' of Rwanda,  and to provide these children with professional level coaching.

Dan's trip was made possible by donations from his G92 White and G94 White teams and Julie Chandler from Michelle French's Girls 94 Red team. Julie will be going to Rwanda with her daughter Katie in June as part of Play for Hope.

Here are a few highlights from Dan's trip in his words:

• Training the Rwandan coach’s who work with the street kids teams that Play for Hope has formed. We basically put the coach’s through a 6 day USSF D license course and added topics like Sports Psychology, Motivation, Drug Rehab, and Leadership Skills. We spent half the day in the classroom and half on the field.

• Traveling to the villages to work with the street kid teams.

• Distributing uniforms and soccer equipment to the street kids teams (it is a HUGE deal for the kids to play with “real” uniforms and a new soccer ball). A lot of the uniforms that Play for Hope has to distribute were donated by Sean Payton's Play it Forward Foundation, which I think some EFC girls are a big part of.

• Visiting the Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali (the capital city of Rwanda).

• Hosting and coordinating a 2 day tournament for all the street kid teams in Play for Hope (this is really hard to pull off in Rwanda because you have to pay for and organize every detail for the teams: transport to and from the fields, food, and we also refereed all the games).

• We were invited to train the top academy team in Rwanda (Club SEC) one afternoon…it awesome. One of their players was just signed by Barcelona and is leaving for their youth academy in Qatar on January 28th. (He is the one I am pictured with in yellow jersey)

• Living locally in Rwanda and seeing how blessed we are to live in America. 

And that last bullet sums it up pretty well. What a great way to give back and help those less fortunate.

Coach Redwine in Rwanda

The essentials:  kids+ball+goal+open space

The Play for Hope Rwanda Vision

One more word on concussions

We train our coaches to do their best in making sound decisions relative to the health and well-being of our players. Players and parents also play a role in prevention of serious concussion-related injury.  Statistics tell us that very severe, life-altering concussions are often sustained soon after an initial concussion.  This is the reason for focusing on keeping a player off the field until recovery is achieved.

It's very important for players and parents to share their concerns with their coach when a potential concussive injury has occurred and particularly if they suspect concussion-related symptoms.  Coaches make better decisions if they are provided with the good information.

Sometimes players and even their parents may feel as if they're 'letting the team down' if they don't play, and may minimize, or even keep important information from their coaches.

Please, if you suspect even the chance that your child has suffered a concussion, on or off the field, make certain that your coach knows the details surrounding the injury and any medical care the child may be under.

It seems like basic common sense, but in practice the pressures of competitive soccer can create an environment where it may seem more important to take the risk than to be 100% safe. Remember that it is just a game, and not worth anyone's long-term health or their life.

Concussion and Taylor Twellman

Here's an eye-opening interview with Taylor Twellman of the New England Revolution by The Shin Guardian yesterday.  He talks about the impact of concussions that led to his retirement.  It's a sobering read.

Thanks to Coach Ryan Dortch for sending it along....

It sparked the following message from Director of Coaching Chance Fry to all our coaches.  Coincidentally we had a training session on concussions last night.  Chance's email reflects the club's position on concussions and playing soccer.

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Dear Coaches,

It was great to see most of you last night. Ryan Dortch sent this story to me about Taylor Twellman, one of the best strikers the U.S. has ever produced, who had his career cut short with multiple head injuries. Yesterday's presentation was an excellent reminder about where the game stands in the order of importance.

It is one thing to have a player “loopy” and quite another to have them in a wheel chair or even dead…..and as Dr. Laker explained, the gap between those scenarios can be very small. I realize that most of us grew up playing when it showed toughness to get back out there after having your bell rung. Now there is so much more research and proof that we have to trump toughness with being smart and safe.

The slide last night that hit me the most was the one that asked…”What is this game worth?”  In comparison to the health and lives of all athletes, whether they play for us or not, all games (including state, regional, national or even higher) are really meaningless.  If you always keep that in mind, you can rest assured that you will make sound decisions for your players and you will always be supported by the club.

Have a great break in December!

Chance

Hey, let's not freeze out there

This time of year our kids should be carrying warm-ups, sweats, gloves, stocking cap, rain gear, and under-armor to practices and games in their backpack at all times.

Playing in the rain and cold is a fact of youth soccer life here in the Pacific Northwest. That doesn’t mean our kids have to freeze out there.

Here's what Dan Strom's U17 Girls had to contend with back in Raleigh, NC this past weekend at the Final Four Showcase Tournament.

Unbelievable

Here's a note I received from Brian Curl, VP of Competition at Eastside Youth Soccer Association, our parent organization.  In general, I think Eastside FC does a good job of policing itself with regard to sideline behavior on the part of parents and coaches.  The vast majority conducts themselves in a very positive and enthusiastic manner.  As good as we are, however, we can improve.

As Brian indicates, it's a learning opportunity for all of us.  We need to add our individual voices to those who've called for an END to verbal abuse of referees from the sidelines.  The coach/parent behavior and response described below is completely unacceptable and would be grounds for termination of the coach if it occurred at EFC.  Same goes for the parents involved.

I'd love to hear other comments on this from our parents.  And Brian - thanks for sending this along.

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As we’ve discussed in our club and EYSA board meetings, referee abuse seems to be increasing.

I wanted to share with all of you a bit about my experience last evening on the NPSL Disciplinary Committee

Key details are left out to preserve confidentiality, but I’m glad to say the situation didn’t involve an EYSA team.

I’ve also attached a copy of the Coaches’ Ethics from WYS – perhaps we can leverage this as a learning opportunity for our own coaches?

The quick background

• A game described by the center referee as “no worse than a typical BU14 game” got out of control with about 8 minutes left in the match when the AR signaled a goal disputed by one of the teams.
• Shortly afterwards a player from the team was shown a straight red for a violent tackle.
• The player’s (significant) misconduct continued after the sendoff

• Emotions continued to build with parents yelling at the referees and the coach ultimately pulled his team from the field with 2 minutes to play.

• After the match parents (and possibly the coach) from the visiting team crowded around the two AR’s (16-17 yr old girls) and verbally abused them (including profanity) as they collected their bags and headed to the parking lot. A person ID’d as the coach (may have been the manager) told one of the AR’s she was a “piece of crap referee”

• Parents from teams in the next match escorted the ARs to the safety of their car.

The player, team manager, coach, and a club representative were called to last night’s hearing.  The coach and team manager’s primary responses were….

• The referee blew the calls, of course my players and parents were angry.

• I understand my player was angry, the referee had blown the goal call, and it was probably a foul but not a red card.

• The players are the coach’s responsibility, but the parents are not.

• I’m only responsible for the players and the game.

In addition to the sanctions (multiple game suspensions) leveled by the league, the player and coach are being referred to WYS and their Association for additional action – that may include:

• 3 month or longer suspension for the player from WYS

• Current and subsequent season suspension from WYS for the coach

• Suspension or dismissal of the coach by the Association

When the coach appears before WYS he’ll likely be asked:

• What do you tell parents in your preseason meeting about acceptable behavior?

• What do you tell your players about acceptable behavior towards referees?

• Have you read, and do you understand the WYS Coaches Ethics?

• Do you believe you and your parents acted within the guideline of WYS’s Ethics?

Again – the center referee described the time leading up to the goal as being “no worse than a typical BU14 game”.  In less than five minutes the game devolved into referee abuse and possible assault by the player and referee abuse by the coach and parents.

It’s clear the coach had a gross misunderstanding of his responsibilities… and perhaps it’s in extreme examples we can offer a learning opportunity for our own coaches about their obligations and responsibilities.

Feel free to share the narrative and the copy of the Ethics if you so choose…

Brian Curl
VP Competition, Eastside Youth Soccer Association

Eastside FC G93 in Raleigh

Coach Dan Strom is in Raleigh, NC this weekend with his U17 girls playing in the Final Four Showcase Tournament. EFC will play 3 matches against teams from New Jersey, Ohio and Texas. Check out Eastside's schedule and follow along.

Tournament webstie

Go Eastside!