Goalkeeper training: (March 14)  Daylight Saving Time is here, which means we can have daylight goalkeeper training sessions at both parks. We'll have optional 35-minute sessions after our Wednesday and Thursday practices. Click the link for complete details.

Home assignments: (April 1)  We'll give the girls a home assignment each week, where we ask them to practice 1-2 skills on their own for 5-10 minutes a few times during the week. Many of these activities only need a small amount of space, and can be done indoor if needed. These items come from our play at home catalog.

Week	Skills	Links
Week of April 4 (spring break)	the Slam! game	text descriptions and video demos
Week of March 28	V-pull moves: very effective when a opponent is blocking your path! A V-pull allow you to create space and change direction with two quick touches.	text descriptions and video demos
Week of March 21	Passing and receiving, emphasis on receiving the ball into new space	text description and video demos
Week of March 14	Dribbling: using your hips to fool a defender: 1. the cookie move 2. the hip shimmy move 3. the hip swivel move	- text description and video demos  - text description and video demos  - text description and video demos
Week of March 7	Dribbling: more fakes and feints, also called moves to beat (get behind) a defender	text description and video demos
Week of February 29	Dribbling: fakes and feints, also called moves to beat (get behind) a defender	text description and video demos
Week of February 22	Dribbling: 1. U-turns 2. The "cookie" stop and go move	text description and video demos  text description and video demos
Week of February 15	Dribbling: 1. pullback turns 2. pull-push stop and go moves	text description and video demos  text description and video demos

• On most Saturdays, we値l field two teams for morning 6-aside games in the NASA United Quest Park U10 rec league, and two teams for afternoon 6-aside games in the NASA Metro North Park U10 rec league.

• On some Saturdays, we値l also have one or more games against a neighboring club痴 U8 Academy program. (Most Atlanta area clubs schedule their U8 Academy groups primarily for in-house games, not games against other clubs.)

• On Saturdays when we don稚 play outside competition, we値l have an intra-Academy game instead.

Every available player will play each Saturday. On some Saturdays (March 26 and April 23, possibly others), we値l request some volunteers to play twice (what we call double-header play).

Intra-Academy game day Saturday, February 27: (February 22)  We'll have an intra-Academy game day on Saturday, February 27th at the Metro North Park turf field. We'll have two separate sessions, 12:00 and 1:30 PM. Link: game day details

We start regular practice sessions on Wednesday, February 10th: (February 4)  We have the same practice schedule as in the fall; details are posted below. Players are welcome to attend sessions at their home park or at the other NASA park. Link: practice session guidelines

NASA Junior Academy Girls: Spring 2016 training schedule

Day	Location	Time
Mondays (starting February 15)	UQP field 8	5:30 - 6:45 PM
Tuesdays (starting February 16)	MNP turf field	5:00 - 6:15 PM
Wednesdays (Starting February 10)	UQP field 8	5:30 - 6:45 PM optional goalkeeper training, 6:55 - 7:30 (GK training starts February 24)
Thursdays (Starting February 11)	MNP turf field	5:00 - 6:15 PM optional goalkeeper training, 6:25 - 7:00 (GK training starts March 17)

• Check warm-ups for ID:  Please check your daughter's warm-up gear and make sure her initials and uniform number are marked on internal tags / labels. Warm-up jackets and pants are easily misplaced, but if labeled, they usually find their way home quickly.

• Post-practice pickup:  We ask that parents come to the field at the end of practice to pickup their daughters. We don't want girls wandering in the dark looking for their ride.

• Weather is usually colder than expected at UQP:  When temperatures are on the cold side at home, it usually feels 10 degrees colder at UQP due to humidity from the creek and the wind tunnel effect of the landscape. We encourage girls to wear an extra layer or two on cold days. Link: cold weather attire

• School winter break:  We'll keep our usual practice schedule during the Cobb and Cherokee school winter break week (Feb. 15-19). If your daughter will be out of town and miss practice, just let us know.

• Bad weather procedures:  Rain (or snow) itself isn't a problem, but dangerous driving conditions, waterlogged fields or lightning can cause problems. For info about how we deal with bad weather, please check our weather link.

Welcome Addison, Annie, Erica and Madison! (February 24)  We welcome four new players to the NASA Junior Academy for the spring. Addison and Annie practiced with us late fall. Erica and Madison have practiced with us recently this spring. All four girls earned invitations to join us for the upcoming spring season. Welcome girls!

U. S. Soccer changes for 2016-2017: (January 29)  U. S. Soccer is the governing body that establishes the primary rules for youth soccer in the USA. They have announced changes to age group classifications, along with changes to playing formats for U12 and younger ages starting in the 2016-2017 soccer year. NASA will host a series of town hall meetings to review the changes and answer members' questions. Links: info from NASA  /  info from U. S. Soccer

• How the age group change affects our Junior Academy players:  U. S. Soccer is changing age group classifications for the 2016-2017 soccer year. The current system (2015-2016) uses an August through July range to classify players. The new system will be based on birth year, using a January through December range. Our Junior Academy group has a mix of under 8 and under 7 players. Here's what will happen for the fall 2016 season based on your daughter's birth date:

Birth date range	Current "U" age (2015-2016)	Birth year	New "U" age  (2016-2017)
Aug. 1 - Dec. 31, 2007	U8 (older U8)	2007	U10 (younger U10)
Jan. 1 - July 31, 2008	U8 (younger U8)	2008	U9 (older U9)
Aug. 1 - Dec. 31, 2008	U7 (older Y7)	2008	U9 (younger U9)
Jan. 1 - July 31, 2009	U7 (younger U7)	2009	U8 (older U8)

Juggling challenges: (November 26)  We've put together two juggling challenges: "foot surfaces" and "heights". Each challenge has several different levels of difficulty. Many of the girls have been through some of these levels during recent warm-ups. We congratulate Taylor for completing all 16 individual levels of the foot surfaces challenge (twice)! We'll post more juggling challenges down the road.

Metro North Park drive time alert for fall 2015 & spring 2016: (September 4)  The Cobb County - Marietta Water Authority starts a major East Cobb pipeline project September 12, 2015. This will likely cause traffic delays on Lower Roswell Road and nearby roads. Phase 1 will run about a month and will affect traffic on Lower Roswell Road and Terrell Mill Road between Old Canton Road and Powers Ferry Road. Phase 2 is expected to start in October and will affect traffic on Terrell Mill Road between Powers Ferry Road and Cobb Parkway. Phase 3 is expected to start spring 2016, and will affect traffic on Lower Roswell Road between Indian Hills Parkway and Old Canton Road. Link: CC-MWA pipeline project

Communication channels: (June 4)  Our Junior Academy web site is our main outbound communication channel. During the off-season, you can stay current by checking our web site once a week. When we get into season, we recommend you check our web site twice a week. We'll use our Twitter account and phone hot-line for late schedule changes (usually weather-related). We'll send occasional group e-mails, but typically only for polls or major news. The best way to stay current is to check our web site. Link: communication channels

General info:

How to navigate your daughter's soccer path (parent education article):  The Soccer America Youth Soccer Insider publication has a good article about evaluating youth soccer options. Link: article

Rainy day activities:  Weather will deal us an occasional practice or game day rain-out. If the girls don't like the idea of drinking root beer and watching wrestling, here are some soccer-related activities to keep them involved.

• Practice your skills at home:  Here's a link to lots of activities you can do on your own or with a partner in a small space. Link: play at home activities  /  spring 2016 home assignments

• Fall 2015 weekly quizzes:  We post weekly quizzes on our game day pages. Link: fall 2015 weekly quizzes

• Soccer sense quiz:  We put together a soccer-sense quiz for our U10 girls a few years back. It's probably over the head of most Junior Academy players early on, but they'll start to get things as the season progresses. This is a good parent-daughter activity. The quiz takes 30-60 minutes. You can use coasters or drinking glasses or board game pieces (checkers or backgammon pieces are perfect) to setup the situations in the quiz. Kids should do the thinking and provide the answers, but parents can help as guides.

• Other skills and soccer sense tests:  This is a "work in progress" document that combines a bunch of our weekly tests from past years for our U10 girls. There's duplication in some areas, missing content in others, but we think there's enough for a player to find something challenging. Link: skills and soccer sense tests

• Watch soccer on TV:  Check out a game on TV. Current pro and college game listings are posted at www.livesoccertv.com.

• For dedicated "ball artists" only:  If you enjoy learning new moves and want to take it to a new level, check out the moves from the YouTube channel of The Soccer Legion: www.youtube.com/user/TheSoccerLegion/videos. Most of these moves are challenging; they require multiple foot movements, good balance and excellent ball control. But they are fun! Watch some of the videos, see which move you like best, and start practicing!

Soccer rules primer:  We've put together a layman's guide to the rules of soccer. You can learn what is or isn't offside, and what is or isn't hand ball. And even learn what happens if a dog runs on the field and starts dribbling the ball. Link: soccer rules primer

SpeedTracs speed, agility and power training:  NASA coach David Bloom offers speed, agility and power training to NASA players. This is an extra (and optional) service that's not covered through your NASA Academy fees. Link: SpeedTracs info & schedule. If you'd like to pursue this training or have questions about it, you can contact David directly.

About the NASA Junior Academy: Formed in 2013, the NASA Junior Academy is designed to enhance the development of North Atlanta Soccer Association's 6-8 year old players through professional coaching in a fun, but structured training environment.  Our mission is to build a strong foundation for the soccer stars of tomorrow, while providing a fun and healthy soccer environment.

Highlights of the Junior Academy program:

• Training twice a week during fall (August - November) and spring (February - May) seasons.

• Weekly friendly matches: a mix of intra-Academy games, games against other NASA Junior Academy teams, games against other NASA teams, and games against neighboring clubs. This program is all about development, so we control the schedule. The girls will be challenged but will also be in environments where they can succeed.

• We have a pool of players instead of preset teams, so we can move players freely between teams to keep them challenged at the proper level.

• Academy Camp in July

The NASA Junior Academy program is growing for the fall, 2015 season! We're looking to grow the player pools to 30 girls per park. If your daughter loves to play, and wants a bigger challenge, we invite her to attend our upcoming Junior Academy tryout sessions. Players who are identified as strong candidates will be offered admission into the Junior Academy. There is no obligation to join, however. If the level of commitment isn't right for your daughter or family, the NASA recreational program is available as another option.

Junior Academy coaching staff (2015-16):

Paul Copeland: USSF B and National Youth licenses, NASA coach since 1995. Link: bio Ward Swain:  NSCAA Youth National Diploma; Coerver Youth Diploma; NSCAA National Diploma; 15th year with the NASA Academy. Link: bio Hailey Johnson (apprentice coach): NASA Academy alumnus; current NASA U15 Athena player; GSSA F license. We値l also have older Academy and Athena-level players occasionally join us as guest trainers.

R-L above: Stuart, Chelsea legend and Coerver Coaching co-founder Charlie Cooke, Ward

NASA Junior Academy Girls: coaches and players during the 2015 Friendship Cup tournament.

Links:

• Frequently asked questions
• Information for Academy prospects
• NASA Junior Academy Girls, Fall 2013 - Spring 2014:  web site  /  Twitter account

Academy Goals:

• Create a fun, high-energy atmosphere where we emphasize individual skill development.

• Create an environment where players compete with themselves, teammates and opponents, with our focus on quality soccer, not immediate results.

• Educate our players and parents in the player development process and club values.

• Create a flexible program where teaching takes priority over game administration.

• We'll measure learning and fun, not scores and standings.