Hello Breakers Blackwatch ..

I trust everyone is back home safe & ready for a little rest .. or back to work as it is in my case.
I want to thank everyone for a wonderful weekend, the girls really enjoyed bonding & spending time with each other ..

Before I go on to summarize my point of view on this weekend I would like to share the following true story. Playing my last year of competitive soccer before leaving to college my team had qualified to the regional quarterfinals .. it was a big thing for us as we weren't expected to advance so far .. in this quarterfinal game we had a very good opponent, I had a few scoring chances, but my best scoring chance came with 1 minute left in the game as I beat the last defender, then I got fouled inside the 18 yard line. A penalty kick followed & my entire team wanted me to take the kick .. I put all my power behind this ball, struck it so perfectly & so powerfully .. but my shot hit the cross bar & bounced off about 30 yards into the field .. the other team took the ball on a counter attack & scored on us. I felt horrible .. lost & very frustrated. Had I hit the ball 1 inch lower .. the game would be over, I revisit this game in my mind every so often .. I revisited it this weekend on my way home & it reminds me on how cruel the game can be.

3-0 loss vs SD Surf White
Surf White is a very good team, we really came out flat & took us a few minutes to get into a rhythm. We allowed an early goal that bounced between our players & then we allowed a nice goal in which our defense was caught off position. The second half was another story .. we battled them very hard & we had the upper hand for periods of time, we really didn't have too many clear scoring opportunities, but we played with a lot more energy & desire. I felt Surf White was a deserving winner, however I think the score should have been 1-0 or maybe 2-0 based on my observations.

1-0 loss to OC Premier
This was an even match for the first 10 minutes .. we then turned it on & controlled most aspects of the game. We made 1 clear mistake where we allowed OC Premier to take a shot & this shot would bounce off the post into our goal. On the second half we threw everything we had onto their goal .. we had at least 4 clear scoring opportunites .. a few of them were no more than couple of feet from the goal line. I really enjoyed watching the girls put so much pressure & working relentlessly, but in State Cup we can't make mistakes & forgive our opponents mistakes .. this was our game to win & we'll learn from this loss.

2-0 loss to Real California FC
This was our second game against them in 2 weeks. We lost 3-0 to them on the first time around, this time around we should have won 2-0 .. our performance on the first half was tremendous .. we connected on our passes, found ways to penetrate their defense consistently, but we could not get any balls into the goal. Again .. we only made couple of mistakes on this game & on the way this weekend went, for every mistake we made a goal would be scored on us.

NO matter the outcome of these games, the girls were fantastic .. besides our inability to score, we had one of our best weekends of soccer. What we've worked on all year came to play & was very evident .. every team we played knows we deserved better, OC Premier's coach told me so & had very nice things to say about the girls. The game of soccer can be a very cruel game, our girls need to learn to be more decisive in front of the goal & they will go into next year's season knowing they must do so.

We finished with combined tournament & league record of: 29 wins, 13 losses & 9 ties. My goals for the year have been accomplished. the girls know how to play together, they have improved their individual & collective skills, they are competitive against any team out there & they play beautiful soccer. My goals for this coming year will focus on making the girls decisive players, on building captains in the team, on expanding their understanding of the game. We need leaders, our captains are in this team right now & we'll work on making them effective, inspiring & constructive.

THIS WEEK
Street Soccer Tuesday & Thursday at 6pm
* No practice until after tryouts .. I will everyone posted

TRYOUTS
Next week .. Tuesday & Thursday at 5:30pm, be at Mance Buchanon no later than 5pm.
We have many kids trying out, I may hold a third tryout session to finalize the team for 2010.
** All players must be present in order to be considered for the 2010 team ..

Thank you parents for a great year .. the girls are on their way to greatness & they owe it all to you.

Hello Breakers Blackwatch ..

This was an interesting week for sure .. we got tons of rain, we didn't train at all, Conan is off the air & Coach Lance is in Ireland.
It was nice to finish off an interesting week with couple of victories on our way to State Cup .. so here we go:

2-0 win over Lightning - Black
Great game, we really controlled this game & the girls were really hungry for some soccer. I liked how relentless we were on defense & how creative we were on offense. This was our 2nd victory on a row against Lightning Black which plays AA-A.

3-2 win over PQ Premier - White
This was an awesome game. We took an early lead & we played aggressive the entire game. PQ is a very good team & they gave
us a nice battle. We should feel really good coming off this win, we just defeated a team that plays AAA (highest level for our age group) and they finished 4th in their bracket.

MANCE BUCHANON IS CLOSED ON MONDAY
As I suspected .. the park is closed so we wont have practice on monday. We'll go tuesday, wednesday & thursday again at 6pm.
I'll keep everyone posted of any changes in the event we get more rain. Please make sure to re-arrange your schedules to be at practice this week .. it's our last week of training & could set the tone for this weekend.

STATE CUP
We are ready to go .. rain or shine, hail or meatballs. (btw, let the girls know I watched their highly recommended movie "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs", it was a classic).

- Saturday January 30 vs SD Surf White at 10:00am
- Sunday January 31 vs OC Premier at 9:00am
- Sunday January 31 vs Real California FC at 1pm (among top 10 in Coast League)
** top 2 teams in each bracket advance to 2nd round
** 6 additional wildcards will advance based on points
Venue:
Valley Lindo Park
777 Aileen St - Camarillo CA 93010
136 mi - about 2 hours 10 mins

For those of you driving up on Saturday morning. We will meet at Oceanside High School at 6:30am & we will leave together by 6:45am. Please be there on time so we can help each other carpool, etc.

See you all tuesday ..

Hello Breakers Blackwatch ..

We return from another great tournament, in my opinion this was the most competitive tournament we've ever played in ..
The girls did great .. they were a little taken back at the speed & skills of our opponents, but we held our grounds & we
gave them all a good fight.

3-0 loss to Real California Academy
This was our first game & we had several scoring chances that we couldn't finish .. following a few mistakes that rarely happen we allowed a few goals. We will be playing Real California again at State Cup & I like our chances against them, we were able to move the ball well & we attacked consistently. I think the girls will be looking forward to this game.

3-0 loss to SoCal Blues
This was a very good game, SoCal Blues is a very special team .. they were able to move the ball, controll the game & we did great at keeping their goal scorers checked for most of the game. I feel really good about this game, we happened to have given SoCal Blues one of the most competitive games they had all weekend, they won all their games on their way to winning the tournament by scores (6-0, 3-0 (against us), 4-1, 5-0 & 1-0 in finals). We wont see too many teams like them often, we played one of the top 3 teams in all of California here & we should feel proud of our girls.

0-0 tie vs Necaxa Team USA
This game we dominated from the begining, we really deserved to win it & we had lots of scoring chances. A lot of our energy was exerted in the previous games & the girls were not only tired, but they were also a bit bruised ..

You might recall that SoCal Blues had a girl in their team (Katie) that lost her hair due to the chemotherapy treatments. I talked to our team about her circumstances & I followed up with an email to the coach asking to send our team's well wishes to Katie's family. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the game of soccer, Katie is doing all of this while fighting for her life & her will to continue to climb that mountain is very inspiring. I know our girls thought of her as a very special player & she really apreciated the positive comments she got from our team.

NO PRACTICE TODAY ..

PRACTICES THIS WEEK
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday at 6pm ..
* rain might keep us out of the fields tomorrow & beyond, I'll keep you posted via emails & with Otessa's onecall.

TVSA HAWKS SHOOUT
Here are the schedules for this weekend (might be a really wet tourney)
- Saturday 9:30am vs United Football Club
- Saturday 3:00pm vs PQ Premier
- Sunday 2:30pm vs Carlsbad Lightning
- Sunday 5:00pm CHAMPIONSHIP Game for 1st place team only
Location
Great Oaks High School
32555 Deer Hollow Way, Temecula, CA
* expect 1 hour travel time to fields, pls plan accordingly.

STATE CUP
* Look out for messages from Otessa on this.

Hello Breakers Blackwatch ..

Great week of practice & lots coming up for our team ..

1. Scrimmage - tomorrow at 9:30am at Mance Buchanon vs La Costa Matrix, pls be there by 8:15am to help setup goals.

2. Awards Night - monday at 5:30pm at El Camino HS, we will be receiving our Presidio Awards & pls have girls wear Breakers Blue shirts & bring medals.
** No practice on monday, I have an inquiry to running practice on alternate day next week .. more on this later.

3. Street Soccer - pls sign up as we'll use these sessions as extra practice time for our teams before State Cup. I need you to sign up so the club can properly allocate coaching resources to this activity:
http://www.oceansidebreakers.org/breakers/index.cfm?do=page.home&pageId=6&subPageId=28

4. Tryouts - registrations are open, pls take the time to register:
http://www.oceansidebreakers.org/breakers/index.cfm?do=page.home&pageId=6&subPageId=26

5. Legends Cup - schedules have not changed, will send reminder next week.

6. State Cup - Otessa & I have worked on hotel rooms for the team. We have some good options which includes breakfast & we'll share this with you on saturday. Please be prepared to tell us how many rooms you will need.

See you all saturday ..

Hello Breakers Blackwatch ..

Hope everyone had a great time during the holidays, we are back to mandatory training at our regular time (monday & wednesday) at 6pm sharp.

HERE IS YOUR TOP 8 LIST

1. SCRIMMAGE
I am working on a scrimmage for this week, more info to come by monday.
It will either be on Thursday in Carlsbad or Saturday in Oceanside.

2. BREAKERS ANNUAL AWARD NIGHT
Takes place this year on monday January 11th at 6pm at El Camino HS. (no practice on this day).
This is mandatory for all players, we will receive our Presidio Awards & I would like all the girls to bring & wear the medals we earned this year. More info below:
http://www.oceansidebreakers.org/breakers/index.cfm?do=page.home&pageId=24

3. Legends Cup schedule is out:
- Saturday January 16 vs Real California FC at 11am (we will see them again at State Cup, they are among top 10 in Coast League)
- Saturday January 16 vs So Cal Blues Naimie at 2pm (they won Coast League Cup, among top 5 GU10 teams in SoCal)
- Sunday January 17 vs Team USA at 10am (we'll look to avange early loss at TOC)
** only 1st place teams advance to semi-finals
Venue:
Ayala Park
14225 Central Ave, Chino, CA 91710
72.1 mi – about 1 hour 13 mins
Google Map

4. STREET SOCCER
Our club has setup FREE street soccer sessions starting on January 19th, it'll be a 4 session series going on Tuesday & Thursday.
I encourage you all to sign up and participate, I will be part of the coaching staff for these sessions:
http://www.oceansidebreakers.org/breakers/index.cfm?do=page.home&pageId=6&subPageId=28

5. TVSA HAWKS SHOOTOUT TOURNAMENT (January 23-24)
* No information on schedules yet

6. STATE CUP:
Schedules are out (((subject to change)))
- Saturday January 30 vs SD Surf White at 10:30am (won Presidio AAA division, among top 5 GU10 teams in SoCal)
- Sunday January 31 vs OC Premier at 9:00am
- Sunday January 31 vs Real California FC at 1pm (among top 10 in Coast League)
** top 2 teams in each bracket advance to 2nd round
** 6 additional wildcards will advance based on points
Venue:
Valley Lindo Park
777 Aileen St - Camarillo CA 93010
136 mi - about 2 hours 10 mins
Google Map

7. 2010 BREAKERS TRYOUTS (february 9th & 11th)
Registrations are open for next year's tryouts, please take the time to pre-register:
http://www.oceansidebreakers.org/breakers/index.cfm?do=page.home&pageId=6&subPageId=26

8. OCEANSIDE BREAKERS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE
We have our own fan page on facebook, I encourage you to join & share anything you wish to share with our Breakers family:
http://www.facebook.com/OceansideBreakers


I know this is a long email .. lots of info here, I will send out reminders as we get closer to each activity/event.
Please let me know if you have any questions, we got lots of top level competition to go up against .. so let's continue to support the girls
as they take on the best teams in SoCal.

See you all monday ..