Spotlight January 2018 Courage Headlines PWSI Executive Director and Technical Director Named Chair of US Club Soccer Board
PWSI Alumni Drafted in the 3rd Round
LAST WEEK TO REGISTER FOR THE ICEBREAKER TOURNAMENT Courage Select Team News
Virginia State Cup Champions! Congratulations to the 2002 Girls and 2002 Boys on winning the VPL State Cup Championships! The 2002 Girls secured "the double" by winning the Virginia Premier League and then the Virginia State Cup Championships! After a hard fought overtime win against Vienna in the Semi- Final, the 02 girls bested VSA 2-1 in the Final. They opened the game with first goal within a few minutes by Jasmine Britford. As the game began to close in the 2nd half VSA scored an equalizer. Eventually some late game heroics from Skyler Daum put the girls ahead. Skyler finished a penalty with a few minutes remaining to take home the first-ever US Club Soccer Virginia State Cup Championship. After winning the Virginia State Cup Championship Coach Mike Cullina's team qualifies them for the 2018 National Cup XVII in Aurora Colorado July 20-24. They had already qualified for the NPL Finals July 12-16 as league champions The 2002 Boys secured their 2nd National Tournament birth as well. After finishing 2nd in the league qualified them for the first ever Elite National Premier League (ENPL) in Massachusetts June 29 through July 3 they also booked their spot in the 2018 National Cup XVII in Aurora Colorado July 20-24. The boys took on VSA in the Semifinal and won a hard fought match 1-0 with center defender and captain Maynor Menendez finishing off a rebound from a free kick, goalkeeper Anthony Salas came up big after a flurry of chances at the end of the game to secure the trip to the Final against Barca Futebol Clube. Coach Josh Christian's team took an early lead in the final and held a 3-0 lead at the half with goals from Jalen Higgins, Victor Romero, and Kevin Hercules. A late penalty conceded was the only blemish to the weekend as they finished with a 3-1 win to take home the Cup! PWSI Teams Participates in Virginia Futsal Championships!
2007 Boys - Runners Up 2004 Classic - Runners Up
2006 Girls - Runners Up
Visit www.pwsi.org/adultleague for more information Courage Recreational Spotlight Courage Spring registration is NOW OPEN! Standard Registration closes February 28. The Season begins on April 7 and ends June 2. Go to www.pwsi.org/recreational for more information.
Courage Cubs 4U-6U Programming We are proud to announce the creation of the new 4U-6U club wide programming, Courage Cubs. The Cubs will follow traditional recreational seasonal dates and will kick-off with the Spring 2018 season. The Courage Cubs replaces the PWSI MiniKicker Program. "We are excited for the change from MiniKickers to our Courage Cubs Program. Courage Cubs began this past Fall 2017 and with the success, we decided to combine the programs with modification to continue the development for our youngest players in the PWSI Courage community," said Gabriel Portillo. Cubs will incorporate age appropriate training developed by the CDP Staff along with weekly interprogram games. Players in the program will be placed on teams with volunteer coaches who will conduct weekly training sessions with the support of CDP Staff. Coaches will coach games against other Cubs teams on weekends while the CDP Staff Coaches oversee and support the team coaches. "Our staff has done a fantastic job or reviewing all our programming with a particular interest in zone 1 (4U-12U)," said Mike Cullina. "Blending the best parts of MiniKickers (recreational program) and Youth Academy (select program) will facilitate the growth of our players and coaches. Most importantly, it will provide a positive learning environment for the kids." Registration for the Spring 2018 Season is currently open. The on-time registration will run through February 28, 2018 & late registration will close a few weeks after. The program will continue for the Fall 2018 season and will kick-off a new winter season beginning the Winter of 2018. For more information and to register please visit www.pwsi.org
Join PWSI Technical Staff for Spring Break Camps! Go to www.pwsi.org/camps to register
Courage Coaches Spotlight Recreational and Classic Staff Learns from Technical Director Mike Cullina On Saturday, January 13, PWSI Technical Director Mike Cullina led a group of Recreational and Classic coaches in the first two sessions of the Courage Coaching Diploma. These first two sessions included "Coaching the Courage Way" and "Planning and Implementing a Practice Plan." These opportunities give coaches from within PWSI additional chances to receive coaching education from PWSI Technical Staff and Senior Staff Coaches. Targeted sessions are being developed to improve our staff of professional and volunteer coaches. Information about future sessions will be announced in February.
Technical Staff Attends United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadelphia PWSI Technical Director Mike Cullina was joined at the USC Convention in Philadelphia this year by Director of Coaching Quan Phan, Youth Director Gabriel Portillo, VDA Administrator Maddie Hartman, Director of Operations Rob Cheshire, and Director of Outreach & Marketing Jeff Broderson. The United Soccer Coaches Annual Conference is the worlds largest soccer coaches conference with more than 11,000 attendees. Staff was able to view training sessions as well as classroom presentations from professional coaches throughout the world. Members of the staff were also able to meet with vendors and partners to enhance PWSI and it's players. PWSI is an Elite Club Partner of the United Soccer Coaches. For more information about the organization please go to https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/
Select Coaches Winter Coaches Meeting PWSI Select Coaching Staff was joined by VYSA Director of Coaching Education Paul Shaw at the winter coaches meeting. Paul Shaw discussed deliberate coaching, self-reflection, and making sure to not use empty words when coaching players. Thank you to Paul as well as PWSI's devoted coaching staff.
VDA Open tryouts February 11 at Long Park Sign Up or See the Schedule Courage Alumni in the Pros CJ Sapong - Forward - Philadelphia Union Twitter - @BigAfrika88 2017 Season Stats - 33GP/30GS - 16G, 5A Top scoring US Born Striker in MLS & Philadelphia Union Record for goals in a season Called up for January Camp - started and played 45 Min vs Bosnia & Herzegovina
Ali Krieger - Def/Mid - Orlando City Pride Twitter - @alikrieger 2017 NWSL Best-11 2017 CONCACAF Women's Best 11 25GP/25GS - 0G, 2A Andrew Dykstra - Goalkeeper - Sporting KC 3GP/2GS - 1 Shutout
Sheldon Sullivan - Defender - Houston Dynamo Twitter - @bigmanshelly Eric Valentine Calvillo - Forward/Attacking Mid - Toluca FC (Mex) Training with Toluca Reserves (U-21 Team)
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