Keeping track of all the news....the word is out that Charlie Naimo, past coach of Jersey Sky Blue, has been hired as the GM of the Los Angeles franchise of WPS. Naimo, whose Pali Blues won this year's W-League championships, looks to feel right at home in Southern Cal despite his New Jersey roots. In my opinion, Naimo's strength is that he is a "people person." This is a skill that will serve him well in his new job. I credit Charlie with getting me involved with Sky Blue, and work that is very inspiring and exciting. "Cleats (as opposed to hats) off" to Charlie on the new position!
Don't forget to get your tickets the the USA Women's Nat'l team vs. Ireland at Giants' Stadium on Sept. 17. Look for Sky Blue there, and come by and say hello.
Check out the article on www.womensprosoccer.com, (the WPS website) with comments on the WPSL combine by our own coach Denise Reddy.
In other news, Pat Santo Pietro drew my attention to the interesting articles below.
Olympics Draw High Percentage of Women Viewers, and Ads Intended for Them http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/sports/olympics/19adco.html?_r=3&ref=media&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin The
Soccer Mamas of Summer
New York Times - United States
“Now we are old ladies,” says one member of a popular women’s soccer league that plays on the Parade Ground in Brooklyn. “But we still try to keep fit. ...
See all stories on this topic
SBS Blogger
I had a chance to catch up with Coach Reddy last week. I wanted to get her thoughts on Jersey Sky Blue, especially during a challenging part of the season. In the struggle to qualify for the W-League playoffs, Coach Reddy and the team have gone through their understandable ups and downs. How does she view the experience? Check out below to hear it in her own words.
SBS Blogger
From the beginning we had a large group of players. Our goal as a team was first, to develop every player individually, so that whatever her level, she would gain from the experience; secondly, to build a successful team, and so for the players to accept that the team role comes before their personal goals; and thirdly, our aspirations were, and still are, a playoff berth.
We always started with our main goal being to have a good defensive base to fall back on. This helps not so much with success in scoring, but it has helped us to give up the fewest goals in the League thus far. And a strong defense has kept us in every match. We also have created so many more chances per game. We've been successful in this; we're just falling short of significant scoring.
Why is this? It's not one individual factor, but rather, a little bit of everything. There are so many variables in the game. At the end of the day, I believe effort beats skill-whether it's the effort to get at a ball coming into the offensive box, slide in front of it, or sacrifice your body if that's the difference between winning and losing.
The fact that I've had the opportunity to coach a very strong team in a competitive division has allowed me to grow as a coach. The group has worked extremely hard. They've been loyal and done a great job. I'm very proud of them.
At the end of the day, whether we play in the post season or not, I hope the girls have had a great experience in this environment. I hope they feel they've become better players, teammates, and individuals. If that's the case, then we were successful.
The Damallsvenskan Newsblog has a short editorial piece about the future of the WPS including comments about WPS coaches Ian Sawyers and Denise Reddy. The post also includes a brief financial comparison between the WPS and the Damallsvenskan and an analysis of the prospects of Swedish players migrating to the WPS.
CLICK HERE: http://dandal.webblogg.se/1205790026_scouting_at_algarve.html
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