You mentioned that you have only ever asked that there be no trophies for the U10's. I thought that I recall the basis for no tournaments to be equally a physiology issue of maturity. The players suffered from too much play in one weekend. Do I recall correctly?

Koach Karl: Yes, you recall correctly!!!

I worry when I see U10 jamborees that are 2 day events with 2 games per day at full length.

This year our League initiated an U10 All Star jamboree at the end of the Rec. season. We put together 4 Rec. All-star teams from our 32 U10 teams (each gender). We include the 2 Class 3 teams. We played 15 min halves, run by air horn not by ref's watches. The boys played while the girls rested and vice versa. The games started on 45 min intervals, so play 45, rest 45. Every team played 5 games. We had 3 fields at one park going full time from 8 to 5. Everybody got a t shirt. No scores, no trophies, no standings.

It was a huge success. There were about 150 players at the park basically all day. The energy was fantastic. It was just play for playing's sake. Granted it is only 150 players out of our 750 U10 players and perhaps 4 games would have been enough. Any thoughts?

Great job, keep it up.

Kevin McDonnell
Coaching Director
Petaluma Youth Soccer League

Koach Karl: Kevin I believe your own words tell the whole story, "It was a huge success!!!" That is all you can ask for and in time the word will spread and you will find the participation equaling your enthusiasm. Best of luck and congratulations on a 'job well done.'