Thoughtful stories about youth soccer development — for parents, players, and coaches.
An Ordinary Discovery A few weeks ago, during one of my evening walks, I wandered through a pedestrian tunnel beneath a …
The Difference The midfielder received the ball just inside the center circle. Before I even noticed the winger beginnin…
Before the First Touch At a regional identification camp, nearly eighty girls gathered on the field. Before the first dr…
A Conversation in the Dark A couple of weeks ago, I went for a long walk. It was late. The road was quiet, and the walki…
Why do we spend so much time teaching children what to do when they have the ball, when most of soccer is played without…
The Tree Beneath the Player As a microbiome researcher, I spend much of my time trying to understand what shapes microbi…
The game was already out of reach. The afternoon heat had begun to wear on both teams. Parents shifted in their folding …
A Simple Question After a Tournament This past weekend, my younger daughter joined a boys team for a tournament. Many of…
After a full day of soccer at the National Sports Center in Blaine, I returned to my hotel near the University of Minnes…
A wild turkey hen leading ten poults near our department building on a summer evening. A few evenings ago, while walking…
A Walk Across Campus A few days ago, while walking across campus on a beautiful summer evening, my thoughts drifted betw…
A Dinner Table Conversation The state tournament was several hours away, so we stayed home. My daughter traveled with th…
The Park Earlier this evening, my daughter returned from the state high school soccer tournament. For the past three mon…
Around 6:15 in the evening, the first boys begin arriving at the park. There are no soccer nets there. No painted lines.…
*What Muhammad Ali and George Foreman Can Teach Rival Soccer Clubs About Professionalism, Respect, and Player Developmen…
*What a penalty kick taught me about raising a kind child in a competitive world* Earlier this week, during a high schoo…
*The Hidden Psychology Behind Nervous Soccer Players* Yesterday, I locked my keys inside the house. So I walked to the b…
*How AI and New Technologies Are Changing Grassroots Soccer* **A Cold Tuesday Night—And What It Doesn't See Yet** It's a…
*How digital navigation is quietly reshaping the soccer brain* Yesterday, while watching our toddler play in the drivewa…
*How constant messages shape attention, decisions, and the quality of coaching* There's a message I remember sending. It…
*What James Carse, a corner kick, and a quiet elementary school field taught me about youth soccer development.* There i…
*"A group of sheep led by a lion will always defeat a group of lions led by a sheep."* It's a simple idea. But if you sp…
There is a simple experiment. A monkey is given a small task—hand over a token—and receives a slice of cucumber. At firs…
## The Promise There is a phrase spoken often in youth soccer. You hear it at tryouts, at parent meetings, in welcome em…
Every Tuesday and Thursday evening, under the lights, the same group gathers. In the cold and wind, wrapped in blankets,…
There is a role in youth soccer that nobody prepares you for. Not the starter. Not the player who barely plays. But the …
We count the goals. We count the wins and losses. But we don't count the miles. In the Upper Midwest—Minnesota, North Da…
A respectful, forward-looking call for grassroots soccer coaches and club directors in the Midwest and beyond. There was…
We didn't expect this. Recently, a player we are close to did not make the varsity team. Instead, she was placed on a lo…
One day, my daughter came off the field in tears. She had been moved to the sideline. When I asked what happened, she sa…
Modern life is increasingly built around short bursts of information. A TikTok video may last 20 seconds. An Instagram r…
Across many youth soccer clubs in the Midwest United States, players are typically grouped strictly by birth year. This …
In May 1996, more than 30 climbers attempted to summit Mount Everest during a narrow weather window. Many reached the to…
Miyamoto Musashi fought more than 60 life-or-death duels and remained undefeated. He developed the revolutionary two-swo…
In 1645, the legendary Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi wrote The Book of Five Rings, a masterpiece on strategy, disc…
In language learning, we begin with the alphabet. Before writing essays, we learn A, B, C. Before debating ideas, we lea…
Title: Grandiosity on the Field: Confidence or Illusion? Inspired by concepts from 'The Laws of Human Nature' by Robert …
At a local indoor youth soccer tournament, a team lost 18–0. The result sparked strong reactions from parents, coaches, …