are to create an effective youth d
are to create an effective youth d
TORONTO - The Toronto Argonauts have named former CFL all-star Bryan Chiu as their offensive line coach. Chiu spent his entire 13-year CFL career as a centre with the Montreal Alouettes. He was named a CFL all-star seven times, the leagues outstanding lineman in 2002, and helped the Alouettes earn Grey Cup titles in 2002 and 2009. The Vancouver native retired as a Grey Cup champion before the 2010 season. "I am very excited that Bryan Chiu was available to join our staff," Argos head coach Scott Milanovich said in a statement. "Bryan is a competitor whose 13 years of playing experience and winning approach will prove invaluable to our offensive line." Chiu was most recently a member of the Concordia Stingers coaching staff, serving as offensive line coach and assistant offensive co-ordinator. "I am thrilled for the opportunity to come to Toronto and work with the entire coaching staff, especially Scott Milanovich and (GM) Jim Barker," Chiu said. "These two men were each, at different times, instrumental in the Grey Cup championship teams I was part of as a player. I want to thank the Argonauts organization for believing in me and I look forward to meeting the players and getting to work." David Ross Jersey . In their first meeting for six years, the Frenchmen dropped serve twice in the first set, but Giquel broke Simon two more times in the second. Gicquel moves on to face sixth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who advanced with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) win against wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert, despite the Frenchmans 23 aces. Carlos Zambrano Jersey .com) - John Wall supplied 24 points and 11 assists in leading the Washington Wizards to a 102-91 win over the New York Knicks on Christmas Day. http://www.thecubsteamshop.com/Cubs-Bil ... ersey/.com) - The NFL is investigating whether the New England Patriots intentionally deflated balls during Sundays AFC Championship Game against Indianapolis. Kerry Wood Jersey . He was signed to help with depth to the receiving corps because of the loss of Shamawd Chambers to the 6-game injured list. Custom Chicago Cubs Jerseys . The New York State Supreme Court only partially dismissed the lawsuit, meaning the case could be headed for trial. The tour announced a year ago that Singh would be suspended for saying in a Sports Illustrated story that he took deer antler spray, which was believed to contain the banned substance IGF-1.There are many pitfalls in youth soccer in our country. Over-invested parents; the pressure to win at too young an age; high-pressure coaches who focus on winning instead of on development; and increased dropout rates because of these and other factors are just some of story lines that we see repeated over and over. Much of this negativity comes because of our collective mindset that the only way for us to measure our childrens progress in soccer is through the scores of their games. How many points their team gets and how many goals our children score have, for too many years, been the metrics by which we gauge their progress. But what if there was a different way to develop soccer players in Canada? What if we could simply teach kids to play better? That is the goal of Willie Cromack, founder of Play Better, an innovative plan to improve sport culture in Canada. The program attempts to shift the mindset of players and parents alike, away from scoreboard success and towards empowering children to discover their potential - both as soccer players and as human beings. Play Better is a grassroots soccer program designed to provide clubs, coaches, parents and players with a clear and accountable pathway through soccer. This includes an LTPD-compliant curriculum, lesson plans complete with desired outcomes, video training sessions, as well as tools for gathering metrics beyond simply the number of goals scored. The reason behind the gathering of those metrics is where the genius lies. Play Better aims to marry a holistic charitable program with the training and development of young soccer players. The program does through by asking teams to do the following: • Choose a cause or charity. For example; the SPCA, the Canadian Cancer Society or your local childrens hospital. • Choose a baseline metric. For example; a recreational team can choose 100 completed passes per game. A more competitive team can choose a larger number, such as 200 completed passes. This is called the team goal or team win. • Have a pre-season meeting wiith parents to explain your objective; for every game in which your team achieves its team win, ask parents (or friends, family members or sponsors) to donate a pre-determined dollar amount to the team cause/charity.dddddddddddd The monetary amount is not important - it can be as little as a loonie per parent/family. • Create a team website, where the kids can tell their story. It gives them a chance to explain, in their own words, how achieving their objective every game will not only help them become better soccer players, but also make a difference in the world. It also allows them to track and promote how much money they have raised for their chosen cause/charity. Team Falcons is a U11 boys gold soccer team in North Vancouver. Click here to see how they have committed to Play Better. I am often asked how we can shift away from the win-at-all-costs mentality that has infected youth soccer in our country. As I have written many times before, it is one of the biggest hurdles we must overcome if we are to create an effective youth development system in Canada. It isnt the players that we need to convince; it is the parents. A program like Play Better might just be the bridge we need to achieve this. As the members of Team Falcons can attest, players participating in Play Better quickly realize that their sporting endeavours have a bigger meaning. It isnt just about winning and losing anymore - it is about helping others. This teaches players to work on their fundamental skills (to complete 100 or 200 passes per games, players have to focus on what they learn in training), but more importantly, it teaches them about helping others, about community investment and about personal growth. What parent doesnt want their child to learn those lessons? If these lessons can be tied into the technical development of young soccer players, then Canadian soccer could be onto something big. *If you or your team is interested in Play Better, you can read more about the program here, or contact Willie Cromack at willie@championsinsport.com ' ' '