Team Chicago is pleased to announce 3 weeks of summer camps for travel players this summer. The dates for the camps are:

June 13-16

June 20-23

July 11-14

The camps are open to all travel soccer players born between 2001-2010.

Camps will take place at Gentile Field (2323 Liberty Street, Aurora, IL)

Each camp will run Monday-Thursday from 9am-noon. The camps will be run by Team Chicago Directors Dave Lovercheck and Herb Schuler and the Team Chicago coaching staff. Each camp is $125.

To register go to: www.teamchicagosoccer.org and click on ‘camps’.

For more information contact Dave Lovercheck at dave@teamchicagosoccer.org

Team Chicago Soccer Club is the elite club soccer program for the Wheatland Athletic Association with professionally licensed coaches and trainers. Team Chicago is composed of boys and girls elite travel teams from U7 (2010) through U19 (1998). Our teams play in the Young Sportsmen Soccer League (YSSL) and in the Illinois Women’s Soccer League (IWSL), the USYSA Midwest Regional League (MRL), and the USYSA National League. Team Chicago teams and players have had significant success at the state, regional, and national level.
Team Chicago’s philosophy is to help develop technically and tactically gifted players who play attractive possession-oriented soccer and who are prepared to succeed at the Regional and National team level, as well as the high school and college level. We are focusing on doing so by providing a “boutique” feel for a smaller number of more elite teams than our competitors in the area. This allows us to provide far greater attention to the players especially as it comes to feedback (on-line and in person)to aid their development, and extensive and personalized support during the college search-process.

Each year Team Chicago has players joining some of the most coveted collegiate soccer program across the United States. Since 2013 we have placed 89 players into college programs. 78 on scholarships in Division I, II, and NAIA and 11 into prestigious Division III programs.

We also have a long history of developing Youth National Team players. Over the past 15 years we have had 20 boys and girls called up for National Team duty.

The Team Chicago coaching staff is second-to-none in the Chicagoland area. It includes 4 A-Licensed coaches, 2 B-licensed coaches, 2 C-licensed coaches, and another 3 coaches who will complete their C-licenses this summer. Our staff also includes 4 current or former college coaches and 7 coaches with extensive experience as Director of Coaching at other elite youth soccer clubs around the country.

Team Chicago has its own practice and game complex as one of the only youth soccer clubs in the Western suburbs, including 5+ acres of outdoor lighted fields and a newly renovated 30,000 sf indoor facility with a state-of-the-art sand-only infill turf field as well as a Futsal court.

Below are some of Team Chicago’s most recent headlines capturing our successes:

“U17 Brasilia Clinches 2015-16 National League Title”
“U12 Vitoria Claims 2015 IYSA State Cup Title”
“U19 Botafogo Runners-Up at 2014 USYSA National Championships”
“U19 Botafogo Claims Third Straight USYSA Region II Title”
“U14 Cruzeiro Claims 2014 IYSA State Cup Title”
“U14 Cruzeiro Claims 2014 MRL Premier I Title”
“U18 Botafogo Crowned 2013 USYSA National Champions”

Team Chicago is now accepting registrations for the 2016-2017 season tryouts. The tryouts start on May 7th (U16-19 Girls) and run through early June.

Please visit www.teamchicagosoccer.org for the complete tryout schedule and tryout registration.

Tryout season is upon us and with the change to birth-year registration we would like for all tryout participants to follow this process:

1) Please, pre-register at http://www.waasports.org/Default.aspx?tabid=315222

On-line pre-registration is even more important this year as we will have a new “tryout number” procedure in place with clear pre-assigned numbers on all the players. Pre-registration is also the only way we can send out immediate roster spot offers at the conclusion of the tryout session.

2) Every player should try out in their actual birth-year tryout group.

This is the only way we will be able to get a full picture of the true breadth and depth of the talent pool in that birth-year group. However, this does not mean that a player cannot be asked to play up. These are decisions that head coaches and directors will make based on the individual needs and abilities of players and teams.

3) Please, check out the Academy Overviews for U13-U19 teams at https://www.teampages.com/clubs/256/documents and the Program Overview for U7-U12 teams at https://www.teampages.com/clubs/1122/documents

The Academy and Program Overviews contain all the programming information as well as the pricing structure.

By Chris Apple

He was this player of mine who wasn’t particularly talented. In fact, he barely made the team his freshman year. He played a total of 21 minutes that season. When most of the squad got varsity letters, he got a certificate of participation. In his sophomore year, he got playing time in nine of 20 games, usually when the result was already in hand. He did a little better the next year, getting in 11 games as a reserve, but logged even fewer minutes than he had the previous season.

But Lee was special, and he came to mind recently after I’d read a couple of articles that touched on the concept of sticking out tough times.

In one, Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo lamented that Division I basketball players were transferring schools at an alarming rate. He noted that over 700 players transferred last year compared to 200 a decade ago. Players dissatisfied with their lot at one school were increasingly picking up their basketballs and going elsewhere. Izzo attributed this phenomenon to a societal issue. “We’re creating a system that we’re never teaching a kid how to fight through (tough times),” he said.

The other article was written by a father who recalled the first time his son was eclipsed as the biggest and best player on his youth basketball team. He had worried about how his son would react. Every parent has been there. We cringe when our children don’t get the starting nod or the lead in the school play or the invitation to the party. In this instance, the father chronicled how his son had handled the moment so positively and how, as a father, he “couldn’t have been prouder.”

What makes a player push through adversity? I believe it comes down to this: Resiliency built during childhood and adolescence.

We all want our children to grow up to be resilient. Yet so many well-intentioned parents are failing to instill that attribute in their young. What to do? How do we alter the course that has gotten us to the point that Division I basketball players are ditching their programs at a rate so much higher than just 10 years ago? What did the father of that youth basketball player do in raising his son that we can emulate?

If we start with the end goal in mind – a strong, confident, capable, caring and resilient adult – then perhaps we can work through what it actually takes to get there.

I believe the first step is not just letting go of our children, but pushing them out. In the animal kingdom, offspring are quite literally pushed out of the nest or den at adolescence. They are forced to fend for themselves and find food and shelter in the wild.

Human history has worked much the same way, until recently in the western world. The rite of passage from child to adult has always been a process of challenges that lead to maturity and self-sufficiency. Nowadays, however, parents shelter their children, protect them, feed them, care for them and virtually bubble-wrap them from the world for far too long, sometimes well into adulthood. Children need to be pushed out. They need to fall. They need to be disappointed. They need to fail. Only then will they develop the ability to cope with and fight through adversity.

So, parents, make your children get a part-time job or mow grass or shovel snow or babysit and let them communicate with their boss on their own. Make them pack their own duffle and ride their bike to practice. Or drop them off at practice and go shopping rather than setting up a lawn chair to hover and watch.

If they’re uncertain about their role on a team, make them to talk to their coach (on their own). If they receive a poor grade on a test, tell them to study harder. If they have an authority figure in their lives with whom they don’t see eye to eye, whether it be a coach or a teacher or a scout leader, recognize the experience as invaluable preparation for the real world of dealing with sometimes intractable people.

When an adult in your child’s life holds her accountable for being on time or being prepared or giving her best effort, be grateful. Be grateful especially when these standards are uncomfortable for her. Be grateful even when the consequences of falling short of these expectations are hard for your child. Fight the urge to intervene, to call the coach or the teacher, to “fix” whatever ails your child. Support your children, console them, and remind them that they are strong and brave and capable of handling the adversity. Before you know it, they will be.

They’ll be like Lee.

Throughout what some might regard as a middling career at best, Lee never complained. He enjoyed the game and worked hard at improving. He never sulked, never blamed anyone for his shortcomings and through it all he supported the team.

Prior to the season in his senior year, his teammates voted him captain. A young man who had never once been in the starting lineup and only played sparingly was leading his squad. That season, Lee also started every single game.

Like the father of that youth basketball player, I couldn’t have been prouder.

(Chris Apple is the head coach of the University of Rochester men’s soccer team and the Director of Coaching of Empire United.)

Team Chicago Academy-Palmeiras traveled to the SLSG College Showcase in St. Louis over Spring break where they were seen by many college coaches of all levels. The final game of the weekend put Palmeiras against Lou Fusz SC. Lou Fusz is currently the #1 ranked team in the state of Missouri. Palmeiras controlled the game from start to finish with a great mix of possession and creativity. The first goal came from a great through ball into the box that ultimately Manuel Magana put in the back of the net. The score was 1-0 at half and the team knew the next goal was vital. In the second half Palmeiras created many chances and finally added a goal with a nice piece of individual skill in the box from Ryan Barry. Goalkeeper Brandon Fox recorded the shutout in the net. The game ended in a comfortable 2-0 result for Palmeiras. It was a fantastic result for the boys to end a great weekend. Palmeiras is coached by Boys Director of Coaching Herb Schuler.

Well done Palmeiras!!