Date: Fri 14-Jun-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Zimmerman-Oswald-Miles

Full Text:

Premier Youth Soccer - Feature

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

It has a lot to do with commitment and a lot to do with desire, but what

hundreds of youth soccer players across the state are looking for these days

is much more intensive coaching and a much better challenge.

It isn't enough anymore to play the in-town recreational leagues, where the

emphasis is - as it should be - more on fun than on skill development. And it

isn't even enough to play in the travel programs, where the better players

from the recreation leagues get slightly more exposure to somewhat better

competition.

Some players, though, seek even more than that.

Which is the reason for the emergence and popularity of the premier programs

across the state, which take some of the very best youth players to try and

harness and develop their skills and pit them against the best possible

competition in their age groups.

"It's necessary to expose players to tougher challenges," said Bob Zuccaro,

coach of the Yankee United RAGE, a 12-and-under premier soccer team based in

Ridgefield. "Kids are forced to develop quicker in that environment."

Youth soccer almost mirrors the same principals that work in Major League

baseball, where players filter through the less challenging levels - like

Class A and Class AA - with an eye on being prepared for that top level.

Jessica Oswald, a Newtown 12-year-old playing with the RAGE, said, "(Premier)

is a higher level of learning. In the beginning we concentrated on the

individual skill building and after we got to that level now we're trying to

work more as a team and trying to learn all the tactics that go along with

that."

Different levels, different challenges.

And almost a different game.

Playing Premier

Three Newtown girls know about the tougher challenges, the higher skill levels

of their teammates and opponents, and the commitment needed to develop their

own skills to meet the challenges.

Jessica is not the only Newtown player with the RAGE. Kendall Zimmerman and

Stephanie Miles are also with the RAGE. All three girls - seventh graders at

the Newtown Middle School - have played together in the in-town recreational

league (with the Strikers and Bluebirds) and won a Newtown Soccer Club

Memorial Day Tournament championship with the 10-and-under Hurricanes, and

have together moved on to the premier level.

"We were looking for (more intensive) coaching," said Stephanie. "The (RAGE)

had training sessions and we went there just to see what it was like and we

decided we liked it. We tried out for the team and made it."

The three girls, all 12, joined the team when it was formed in the spring of

1995. In the fall of 1995, the RAGE won the Connecticut Junior Soccer

Association title with a 22-4-2 record. The U12 RAGE has since moved itself

up, playing U13 competition - from Wilton and Weston to Berlin and South

Central - through the spring of 1996.

Even the challenge of playing the higher skill level in their own age bracket

wasn't enough.

The RAGE wanted more.

"We had to raise the challenge," said coach Zuccaro, who coached the Yankee

United Fury, a U17 girls' team, to the Miami Junior Orange Bowl championship

in 1994. "We're two games over .500, but we played much tougher competition

and a lot of the games were real close."

Jessica added, "You learn more when you get more of a challenge."

It was exactly what the girls were looking for, though, when they left the

Newtown Hurricanes for the tougher pastures of premier soccer. Yet, the

adjustment was tough.

"Some of the girls were farther ahead of us," said Stephanie, "but since we

had just come out, it took us a while to catch up."

Coach Zuccaro likes the addition of the three Newtown girls to his team. He

described Kendall as "a tenacious defender" and asserted that Jessica was

"strong on defense, a very good caliber of player." Stephanie was a sweeper

with the RAGE, but since has moved up and shifts her time between midfield and

forward, and coach Zuccaro described her as "a very skilled player."

The girls had been accustomed to the forward positions that they played in the

in-town league and the Hurricanes in the travel program, but have no qualms at

all about moving back on defense.

"I used to play forward for the Hurricanes," said Kendall, "but then (coach

Zuccaro) thought I'd do better at fullback. Coach believes in a strong

defense."

It's only been a year, but the girls, according to coach Zuccaro, "are

growing. A lot of what we do is education, but it also has a lot to do with

their physiological growth. The kids who go on, though, are the ones who are

most dedicated."

Kids like Jessica, Kendall and Stephanie, who try and meet the challenges of

upper level soccer, are using their premier experience to prepare themselves

for further challenges on the high school - and, later, collegiate - fields.

In many ways, it is what premier teams do best.

"That's what we're all waiting for," said Stephanie. "We want to show everyone

who might not have thought we belonged on a premier team that we have learned

something in premier."