Congrats Ontario for winning all-stars championship ! BC and Alberta for improvement

[navycyr]

Ontario finished first with 2 gold and 2 silver medals 1 each girls categories as well as boys categories.

BC made a huge step tying Quebec for first place with 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze and a 4th place thanks to the guys altough with a similar performance for the ladies with a silver but down a rank in the U16s with a 4th place.

Alberta girls bounced back after being out of the first five places last year winning a bronze and finishing fourth in the U14 category.

2010 positions

.............................U14G..............U16G.................U14M...................U16M

Ontario....................1.....................1.......................2..........................2

BC...........................2.....................4.......................1..........................3

Quebec....................3.....................2.......................4..........................1

Alberta ...................4.....................3.......................3..........................5

Manitoba.............................................................................................4

2009 positions

.............................U14G..............U16G.................U14M...................U16M

Ontario....................1.....................2.......................1..........................1

BC...........................2.....................3.......................5..........................4

Quebec....................3.....................1.......................2..........................2

Alberta ...................................................................4..........................3

Manitoba. ................4.............................................3..........................5

Nova Scotia.....................................4....................................................

2010 rankings

.......................Gold...........Silver...........Bronze............4th.............5th

Ontario...............2................2..........................................................

BC......................1................1.....................1...............1..................

Quebec...............1................1.....................1...............1..................

Alberta........................................................2...............1................1.

Manitoba......................................................................1..................

2009 rankings

.......................Gold...........Silver...........Bronze..........4th............5th

Ontario...............3................1........................................................

Quebec...............1................2.....................1.................................

BC .......................................1.....................1...............1...............1.

Manitoba......................................................1...............1...............1.

Alberta........................................................1................1.................

BMO National all-stars results 2010.pdf

[StrandOne]

I'm not sure Alberta u14's consider their placing "an improvement". Scoring only 3 goals all tournament is not a good showing for a team Alberta figured had the most fire power they'd seen at that age group in years. Some feel that the AB coach won't be invited back. Welcome to square one.

[DJones]

BC's U14 (1996's) is a very thick and talented group! There were quite a few very, very talented (but considered too small) group of players that were left off the team. Robbie Csabai and Ray Pang are also very good coaches.

The '98's is even thicker and should be another talented groups. Since the '96's first registered for football, all the top clubs (and not so big) have invested in club academies.

[navycyr]

BC's U14 (1996's) is a very thick and talented group! There were quite a few very, very talented (but considered too small) group of players that were left off the team. Robbie Csabai and Ray Pang are also very good coaches.

The '98's is even thicker and should be another talented groups. Since the '96's first registered for football, all the top clubs (and not so big) have invested in club academies.

Club academies at young age are definitely the best way to develop very good players on the long run. I am glad it pays off for BC ! Those are very good news for canadian soccer that BC was able to tie Quebec for second place. Hope they can even beat us and Ontario. This would force those two provinces not to stand on their laurels and work harder and canadian soccer as a whole would benefit.

[Vic]

B.C. at National All-Stars:

GIRLS 2-4-2 (42%)

BOYS 4-0-4 (50%)

COMBINED 6-4-6 (46%)

B.C. is the third biggest province in Canada. With A and B seeding in a 10 team tournament, 50% would be the break even point for them. The boys were on par and the girls were a little below it.

p.s. every single club I know has an "academy". It's just a label. It's always about people.

[navycyr]

B

p.s. every single club I know has an "academy". It's just a label. It's always about people.

It started only six years ago in the club I belonged to, that is, formal technical courses given to young people outside their teams, attended on a voluntary basis, either summer week camps or weekly 60-90 minutes sessions off season. Altough most of the big clubs now have their own, it is not necessarily the case for smaller ones where technical skills are acquired trough team training which is, in my mind, less performant, either because it is given by coaches with lesser knowkledge or because some participants are less interested, disturbing the others who are willing to learn.

[DJones]

B.C. at National All-Stars:

GIRLS 2-4-2 (42%)

BOYS 4-0-4 (50%)

COMBINED 6-4-6 (46%)

B.C. is the third biggest province in Canada. With A and B seeding in a 10 team tournament, 50% would be the break even point for them. The boys were on par and the girls were a little below it.

p.s. every single club I know has an "academy". It's just a label. It's always about people.

That may be true for some but not all. Some club academies are quite good THAT attract good people. The club academy were I'm at is quite good producing a lot of talent for programs like the Whitecaps etc...

What I was pointing out was that here in BC, club academies have improved the talent in the younger age groups. The U14 boys won gold and the girls won silver is proof of that.

The U16's had fewer club academies when they were younger.

[Vic]

I think club training has improved considerably across the country in the past 5-10 years. There has been a major shift in the seriousness and professionalism of youth development.

The young boys win is great but the girls play was actually a step backwards. The B.C. U14 girls only beat NB and PEI this year. Last year the BC 14's won four games and a silver and in 2007 they won gold.

[StrandOne]

Club academies at young age are definitely the best way to develop very good players on the long run..

And the debate rages on-- specialize at a young or grow thru a multi-sport dedication to excellence in athleticism. Yes, Europeans focus at a young age-- skiing, fencing, gymnastics. I get it. But just because you can... doesn't mean you should. There are 1,001 ways to skin a cat so I don't think the answer is cut & dry. I'm probably leaning to multi-sport because I played everything growing up-- track, vball, bball, soccer, badminton, etc. But seriously, does a young girls have to be a STRIKER by age 12 because she wants to make the u14 Provincial Team?? sigh.

[navycyr]

And the debate rages on-- specialize at a young or grow thru a multi-sport dedication to excellence in athleticism. Yes, Europeans focus at a young age-- skiing, fencing, gymnastics. I get it. But just because you can... doesn't mean you should. There are 1,001 ways to skin a cat so I don't think the answer is cut & dry. I'm probably leaning to multi-sport because I played everything growing up-- track, vball, bball, soccer, badminton, etc. But seriously, does a young girls have to be a STRIKER by age 12 because she wants to make the u14 Provincial Team?? sigh.

Attending a club academy does'nt prevent you from practicing other sports. In fact, it is recomended by kinesiologists that you practice 3 sports up the age of 12 and 2 up to 14-15 years old.

My daughter was doing gymnastics 9 hours a week (14 in summer) plus playing soccer at a competitive level and attending soccer club academy up the age of 14 when we forced her to choose because it was taking too much of her time to the expense of her studies. So I completely agree with you when you say young people should practice more than a sport at young age. However, that does not enter in conflict with the fact that we have to teach them adequately the activities they invest time and energies in. Soccer academies are, in my mind, the best way for them to learn the basic skills of the game and eventually become great players. I think whatever technical abilities you have not learned by 14, you have little chance to learn afterwards or, if you do so, it will be at the expense of tremendously greater efforts.

[StrandOne]

HOLY DREADLOCKS, Batman! 9-14 hours per week? When do kids REST and CHILLAX these days? Are kids growing up with lives just as filled with stress and "productivity" as adults? Why is that good? NOW I feel "old". In my day, being involved in sports was limited to school teams with practices over at 6pm. Home for dinner. Study. Watch The Cosby Show. Chill. Bed. When do kids today chill out? When are they NOT plugged into some electronic device? When do they spend time to wonder about who they are and what they want out of life? Aye cucaracha!

[paul-collins]

Yeah, a family friend's 8 year old daughter had to sign a contract to join the gymnastics team that explicitly stated 10h a week plus competitions, and no missing them. (so no family vacations) 8!!!! Where's your time for anything else?

My instinct is 2 organizes sessions a week at that age is fine, so long as there's "play" (pond hockey, pickup soccer, whatever) that happens on its own. And a balance of activities seasonally is important. (Gretzky himself played baseball during summers.)