SOCCER GOALS
TRAINING EQUIPMENT

LIST OF ARTICLES
>Sam Lopes Joins FSASoccerPlus Coaching Staff (6/12/2009)
>Update from Tony DiCicco (5/29/2009)
>Statement from Tony DiCicco Regarding FSA (5/24/2009)
>Q&A with Mick D'Arcy (5/18/2009)
>Mick D'Arcy Becomes Managing Partner of FSASoccerPlus (5/1/2009)
>U.S. U20 World Cup BLOG From Tony DiCicco (Click Here)
>Boston Breakers and FSASoccerPlus Announce Partnership (12/31/2007)
>DiCicco Plans to Keep SoccerPlus Relevant (9/24/07)
>Kostelis Inducted into Univ. of Hartford Hall of Fame
>Coach Louis Hernandez joins ownership group of Boston Breakers
>Kristine Lilly Comes to FSA for Free Soccer Clinic
>Ethan Zohn and FC Soccer come to SoccerPlus
>FSASoccerPlus FC Players and Coaches find Success in Fall Tournaments
>Courtney Leone selected to BIG 12 Anniversary Team
>Louis Hernandez Jr. named Business Person of the Year!
>The Biggest Game of My Life by Brandi Chastain
>The Coaching Philosophy, Part 1 by Tony DiCicco
>US Soccer, gold medal winners in Athens, owe debt of attitude to Tony DiCicco

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/// Click Here for more Pictures with Ethan /// Ethan's Interview w/Tony -For your iPod (mp4) /// Ethan's Interview w/Tony -For computer (mpg) Any players looking to get a project together to help Grassroot Soccer and the fight against aids should contact FSASoccerPlus Coach Mike Servedio

ETHAN ZOHN AT FSASOCCERPLUS > Ethan Zohn currently hosts "FC Fox", is a co-founder of Grassroot Soccer and in 2003, Ethan was the winner of CBS’s “Survivor- Africa”. Ethan, who was a camper at SoccerPlus as a goalkeeper from MA; brought FC Fox to FSASoccerPlus on 11/9 to highlight the club on the Show and then give a presentation from Grassroot Soccer in the SoccerPlus Education Center later that evening. - Click Here for pictures

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DiCicco plans to keep SoccerPlus relevant
By: Matt Straub , Assistant sports editor - New Britain Herald

“As President and GM of the Breakers, we are delighted to have Tony DiCicco as Head Coach.  We are also equally excited to create a special relationship between the Boston Breakers and FSASoccerPlus FC.  The Boston Breakers want to create an open door policy with our partner clubs such as FSASoccerPlus so that their players, families and coaches benefit from the Boston Breakers organization.”
- Joe Cummings


Tony DiCicco could never be called lazy. He gets involved in many things, and when he does, it's with a passion and full commitment. That's why he won't settle for anything less than a first-rate, well-run women's professional soccer league in the United States. That's why he was so eager to get involved when presented with an opportunity to be a part of something he thinks meets that criteria.

And that's why he won't let anything else he has going, especially his beloved SoccerPlus camps and all the other arms associated with the organization, suffer because of anything else he has in the fire. DiCicco's latest venture is a new women's league set to open in April 2009. The former U.S. national team coach, whose squad is as responsible for the growth of the sport to the point where a professional league can be reborn as anyone else, will head up the Boston Breakers in the new league. As usual, DiCicco is diving into his latest venture with both feet. Since the league is still more than a year away from getting going, DiCicco has time to not only work on getting his team going and helping the new league get publicity, but to sort everything out back in Farmington.
"I'm very excited about it. It's a great opportunity. It gives me some time," he said. "It's (a 2009) start, so we're going to try and do everything the right way. We want to do something with the team this spring or summer to let people know the league is back." Part of the reason DiCicco feels so strongly about this league is his team's owner, Joe Cummings. A two-time Executive of the Year in the WUSA, DiCicco knows his team is in good hands. With the new league having individual ownership groups instead of being run as a single entity, it was especially important for DiCicco to link up with the right group if he was going to put his precious and scarce time into the Breakers.

That's where everything begins to tie together. The Reds, this year's U23 Open Cup champions, will stay in place, possibly as a feeder system for bigger things.
"I'm certainly not going to abandon the Reds. I care very much about that team, and I want it to continue to succeed," DiCicco said. "These are all parts of it. Those things will be enhanced by me getting involved with the breakers. That was one of the key things I wanted to make sure of when I took this job. We're going to establish a partnership going forward, that was important to me that we started building that partnership."
DiCicco has built the SoccerPlus organization over the years. The SoccerPlus camps are nationally-renowned, the SoccerPlus youth club continues to grow, and the SoccerPlus Education Center has begun a series of lectures on leadership (the next being Wednesday in Farmington with Heather Mitts speaking about battling through injuries and mental toughness.)

"There's a lot of little tentacles to SoccerPlus," he said. "The foundation is the camp that's been around 20 years. Our youth club is in its fifth year. I'm very proud of all the things we've been doing with all the different aspects of SoccerPlus."
As for the Education Center, DiCicco made his feelings about that known at the first event in the lecture series, when former U.S. captain Julie Foudy came to Central Connecticut's Torpe Theater to talk to everyone from dozens of kids wearing the red and black FSA SoccerPlus coats to the Blue Devils themselves.
After Foudy's speech, DiCicco talked about the importance of keeping events like this going, because he wanted "to not only make (kids) better players, but to help them become better people."

One other thing DiCicco is passionate about is children and their development on and off the field. As much as DiCicco loves the idea of making women's professional soccer stick in the U.S., he's grown quite fond of what he's doing in Farmington by helping kids get involved in the sport.
"It's a much different form of satisfaction," he said. "One of the great things with working with the young players is you see them improve so much. Obviously working with the national team is different. They improve, but not in the same way that young players do. That's the best part, seeing them grow and improve."
The Wethersfield native has made a career of helping making soccer grow and improve. That's why you can expect that, as long as he stays associated with the organization, SoccerPlus will continue to prosper.

And if he has his way, the girls he helps as youngsters will have a league to play in someday. No matter what happens in the future, you can be sure that Tony DiCicco will be involved in many things in the soccer world, and that he'll be fully engaged in all of them.

>LIST OF ARTICLES

Kostelis Inducted Into Univ. Of Hartford Hall Of Fame
Was A Three-Time All-League Goalkeeper For Hawks

May 15, 2007

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - George Kostelis, who has been an assistant coach at Yale for the last six years, was inducted into the University of Hartford Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame over the weekend. Kostelis and the five other inductees are the 17th class to be inducted and join 88 student-athletes, coaches and administrators previously elected.

Kostelis, a 1994 Hartford graduate, was a three-time All-North Atlantic Conference goalkeeper for the Hawks. He earned All-New England honors in 1992 and is second in school history in career goals against average (1.05), fourth in shutouts (17.4) and fourth in minutes played (6,216).

He helped lead the Hawks to their first two Division I NCAA Tournament appearances in 1991 and 1992. Against Virginia in a four overtime loss in the second round of the 1991 NCAA Tournament, he made 13 saves.

Kostelis served as a co-captain of the 1992 team and was selected to play in the Collegiate Soccer Senior Bowl that year. He also was named the North Atlantic Conference Tournament MVP in 1992 and was an all-tournament selection three times. In addition, he was named to North Atlantic Conference Academic Honor Roll as a junior and senior.

At Yale, Kostelis works primarily with the goalkeepers. He has helped Head Coach Brian Tompkins establish the Bulldogs as one of the most respected programs in the Northeast. In 2005, Yale won its first Ivy League title since 1991. The Bulldogs finished with a 10-4-4 overall record, were 5-1-1 in Ivy play and advanced to the NCAA College Cup for the sixth time in school history.

Kostelis, a United States Soccer Federation "A" Licensed Coach and a National Soccer Coaches Association of America Premier Diploma recipient, has a wealth of coaching experience. He spent two years as an assistant women's coach at Connecticut, where he helped guide the Huskies to the NCAA quarterfinals. He also was the goalkeeper coach at Hartford in 1995.

In addition to his duties at Yale, Kostelis is the national director for the SoccerPlus Goalkeeper School. He also is the goalkeeper coach in the Connecticut Olympic Development program and the FSASoccerPlus Football Club.

Following graduation from Hartford, Kostelis went on to play professionally in Greece for Aiolikos FC from 1993-95.

>LIST OF ARTICLES

FSASOCCERPLUS Coach Louis Hernandez Jr. joins the ownership group of the new Boston Breakers
WSII
From Cindy Flack
April 18, 2007
Visit the Breakers Web Site...CLICK

Relaunch of Women’s Professional Soccer League Clears Key Milestone
New Jersey/New York, Boston groups commit to league, bringing total charter
markets to eight


April 18th, 2007 (SAN FRANCISCO, CA) – Owners from two East Coast markets, New York/New Jersey and Boston, have joined with six other groups to relaunch women’s professional soccer in the United States.

The relaunch effort is led by the Women’s Soccer Initiative, Inc. (WSII). With New Jersey/New York and Boston now confirmed, the WSII has met its initial goal to have eight teams signed before the league’s planned launch in Spring, 2008.

“The signing of these two new markets is an important milestone,” WSII CEO Tonya Antonucci said. “It’s a critical step in making our dream of relaunching the WUSA a reality. There’s a lot of hard work ahead, but we’re excited to move forward.”

US National Team member Abby Wambach said she is glad to see the new league moving forward. “The growth of women’s soccer across the country is such a huge plus for both players and fans,” she said. “People will get to experience first-hand what this sport is about, and what it can bring to their lives.”

Boston – Boston Women’s Soccer LLC – www.bostonbreakers.com
“Boston is one of the country’s best sports cities,” said Michael Stoller, Managing Partner of Boston ownership group Boston Women’s Soccer LLC. “And the Boston Breakers were the most successful franchise in the former WUSA, so the relaunch is a natural fit for us.”

Boston Women’s Soccer LLC includes:
• Gary Loveman, Chairman and CEO, Harrah’s Entertainment
• Michael Stoller, Managing Partner of the group and former owner of Senior Living LLC. Stoller is the VP of Newton Girls Soccer, one of the largest all-girls soccer clubs in the country
• Alex Zecca, a VP with Tudor Investments
• Louis Hernandez, Chairman and CEO of Open Solutions and an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year
• Lyman Bullard, a partner at Choate, Hall and Stewart LLP and owner of an AHL Franchise
• Bill Helman, a partner with Greylock, a venture capital firm with over $2 billion under management

Joe Cummings will serve as president of the new organization. Cummings was president and General Manager of the WUSA’s Boston Breakers from May 2000 until 2003, the final year of play in the league. The new organization will also use the Boston Breakers name.

“Each of our investors has a great love of soccer,” Cummings said. “Almost all have daughters who play or played at a high level, and they saw a void in sports without women’s pro soccer. They want to give everyone the opportunity to see the best players play this sport.”

“Moving forward”
“These markets are vibrant media and cultural centers, and it’s great to have them on board,” Antonucci said. “We now have a strong East Coast presence and an important base for fan development as we pursue sponsorship and partnership opportunities.”

Antonucci explained that these partnerships at the foundation of the league will separate it from the previous incarnation of the WUSA. In particular, the new league aims to have its teams play in venues designed for the sport, referred to as soccer-specific stadiums.

“We’re working hard to make this league an authentic soccer experience for our fans,” Antonucci explained. “Our objective is to showcase teams in small-to mid sized soccer specific stadiums. We’ll bring fans closer to the action, the field and the players,” she said.

Wambach said being “closer” to the fans means being good role models. “This is an opportunity for women to have a strong voice, a positive national presence,” she said. “We’re going to have a product anyone, especially young girls, can look up to. That’s a really rewarding aspect of this opportunity.”

The league plans a launch in April 2008. “The momentum is really starting to build throughout the country,” Antonucci said. “And this is just the beginning. We’ve reached our initial goal of eight markets, but we’d be thrilled to have up to two more franchise groups join the league at launch. We’re very open to the right opportunities.”

About the WSII
The WSII (www.wsii.org) is a non-profit organization backed by grants from the U.S. Soccer Federation and U.S. Soccer Foundation. The organization was founded to build a new business plan to relaunch women’s professional soccer in the United States. Eight ownership groups have signed letters of intent to launch teams in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Dallas, Chicago, New Jersey/New York, Boston and a market to be named later. Tonya Antonucci is the CEO of WSII. On the web at www.wsii.org.

Visit the Breakers Web Site...CLICK

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FSASoccerPlus FC Players and Coaches find Success in Fall Tournaments
November, 2005

Ryan Levesque (coach), Greg D'Aleo (U17 Boys), Suffield Boys New England Class B Champions —  "This feels great," Suffield coach Ryan Levesque said. "I am very, very proud of this group. They have a passion and love for the game and each other."

Second-seeded Suffield (13-2-3) won its first New England crown in boys soccer since 1989. "We went 10-0-1 since mid-October and we had allowed only four goals leading up to today," Levesque said.

Four different players scored for Suffield, which led 2-0 and 3-1 before icing it with a goal during the final minute.

"Our attacking style is to be very aggressive in the attacking third of the field, and we did that today," Levesque said. 

Claire Galiette (U17 Girls) and Cara Cavallari (U15 Girls), Loomis Chaffee Girls New England Class A Champions — Loomis Chaffee finished the season 20-0 winning the Class A Championship 3-0 over Brooks. Loomis Chaffee girls have won 4 of the last 6 New England Championships.

Pam Newell (U17 Girls), Kristin Piorun (U14 Girls), Simsbury Girls Connecticut Class LL Co-Champions; Sally Leahy (U15 Girls), Lisa Tartaglia (U16 Girls), Cheshire Girls Connecticut Class LL Co-Champions.

Chris (#2 in photo below) and Brian Guerrini (U17 Boys), Glastonbury Boys Connecticut Class LL Champions. The victory completed a tournament run by Glastonbury (17-3-1) that included beating five league champions, two that were unbeaten. "Most of the play was in our side," Brian Guerrini said. "But our defense played great and we held on. They did a great job clearing balls through the air."


Jules Robinson (U15 Girls), Ashley Cheesman (U15 Girls), Shannon Carli (U15 Girls), Farmington Girls Connecticut Class L Champions.

Additionally, Coaches Jen Tietjen-Prozzo and Shawn Kelly, assistants at Central Connecticut State University, celebrated their fourth consecutive NEC title this year.

SAUNDERS SELECTED TO BIG 12 SOCCER 10th ANNIVERSARY TEAM
BIG 12 Conference
10/2005

DALLAS, Texas — Courtney Saunders, a forward for Baylor’s soccer team from 1996-99, has been selected to the Big 12 Conference Soccer 10th-Anniversary Team the league office announced Wednesday. Saunders was one of three forwards selected to the squad voted on by the league’s current head coaches.

Saunders, who owns 14 single-game, season and career records while playing for Baylor, helped lead the Bears soccer team to the 1998 Big 12 Conference title and appearances in the 1998 and 1999 NCAA Soccer Championships. Saunders owns Baylor’s career records in points (172), goals (69) and assists (34) and was a three-time all-conference selection.

In order to be eligible for consideration, athletes must have been named first-team all-Big 12 Conference at least once in their careers.

Anniversary teams will be chosen for each conference sport during 2005-06 academic year in celebration of the Big 12 Conference's 10th anniversary season.

>LIST OF ARTICLES

Louis Hernandez Jr. named Business Person of the Year!
The Hartford Business Journal
By Laurie Ledgard
10/2005

Louis Hernandez Jr. has the kind of problems a lot of corporate leaders only wish they had.

His software company, Open Solutions Inc., where he is chairman and CEO, recently moved in to 90,000 square feet of new offices in Glastonbury, but already, it’s not enough space.

Despite having more than 1,100 employees, Open Solutions has a backlog of orders and needs to hire and train more workers to get orders fulfilled.

Hernandez’ research and development budget, which rose 40 percent in 2005, will likely double in the next year. The company has done so many acquisitions, he couldn’t recall them all.

“I think it was eight or nine,” he says, pausing to count. (Actually, it was 11 as of Oct.17.)

Even though Open Solutions has more then 3,500 clients nationwide, Hernandez eyes the remaining 20,000-plus financial institutions in the U.S. that are not using his software. He also wants a piece of China’s banking market — where some 35,000 institutions want to modernize their core systems — so he has already met with the head of China’s banking regulatory agency.

In the wake of the great technology bubble that burst roughly five years ago, Hernandez led Open Solutions through a successful initial public offering in November 2003 and has watched revenues double and triple over the past several years. He could have moved Open Solutions to any technology center in the country — and has had plenty of offers to do so — but chose to stay in central Connecticut because he benefits from both the quality of the work force and the quality of life the state offers.

Hernandez wants to see Connecticut’s business sector grow as much as Open Solutions has, and serves on a variety of state boards and commissions, where he has the ears of legislators, economic officials and the governor. His community work ranges from the boards of the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center to the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration, to local school boards and his daughters’ soccer teams.

For this stunning growth and his leadership, innovation, vision and commitment to his community and the state of Connecticut, Louis Hernandez Jr. is the Hartford Business Journal’s 2005 Business Person of the Year.

James Abromaitis, commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, calls Hernandez “a classic entrepreneurial manager” who gets other people to think in the same vein as he does.

“It’s very important for me to get people to believe in what is possible. The first barrier to success sometimes is, people aren’t willing to admit what they want,” Hernandez says. “And those who are willing to say what they want aren’t willing to work for it.”

“When Louis speaks, he’s speaking from experience and knowledge, and what he has to say is certainly worth listening to. He’s done a lot for this state,” Abromaitis says. “He’s incredibly energetic and he’s the kind of guy I’m sure a lot of people would like to work for.”

Hernandez recently sat down for an interview in his light-filled corner office. Groups of clear Lucite awards cover the shelves of a curio cabinet and shine like the facets of a diamond. There is sports memorabilia — signed University of Connecticut basketballs and footballs sit in clear boxes — and at least half a dozen family photographs: of wife Wendy, daughters Carly Jennifer (9), Katie Nicole (8) and Kelsy Lynn (5), and their latest arrival, baby Louis Alexander III.

Hernandez’ life seems like an extraordinary balancing act. At one point during the interview, Hernandez advises his assistant that he’ll be late for soccer that night. He coaches two soccer teams for his daughters and plays on a local Glastonbury adult team.

Some nights, he leaves the office to go home and spend time with his children (just a few miles away), then returns for several more hours of work. Every Friday is “date night” with Wendy, the girl who lived around the corner in Clairmont, Calif., and first caught his eye in the 7th grade. High school and college sweethearts, Hernandez calls his 18-year marriage “the best accomplishment that I have.”

And in his spare time, the guy who just turned 39 is learning Chinese.

“It’s a personality thing. I feel like it’s my responsibility in some ways to be active,” Hernandez says when asked to explain how he does it all. “And you meet a more diverse set of people... . The more you understand human nature and understand other people’s perspectives and what they want, the easier it is — for me, anyway — to lead and inspire people. That’s a huge benefit.”

Hernandez arrived in Connecticut in 1999, when everything was still “very Internet,” from RoweCom, a Boston technology company where he was executive vice president. He previously held senior management positions at U.S. Medical Instruments Inc. and Price Waterhouse LLP. He holds both an MBA and an undergraduate business degree from San Diego State University.

“Coming to an enterprises software company for banks was not seen as the smartest thing to do at the time,” he says, especially because the sector is highly regulated, considered “slow-growth,” and unrelated to the Internet.

Open Solutions doesn’t have the kind of applications that ordinary retail consumers would look at and say, “That’s really cool.”

“Most people wouldn’t understand what we do,” Hernandez says.

It’s easy to say that Open Solutions creates core software systems that help behind the scenes to make banks, thrifts and credit unions run. But there’s more to it than that. Hernandez will tell you that Open Solutions applications make the human interactions with banking “more meaningful” for each banking transaction.

A customer walks into his or her bank to make a deposit. Each of this bank’s customers has an identifying number which, when fed into an Open Solutions system, enables the program (or suite of programs) to see what services or products a customer qualifies for each time they interact with the bank, whether it’s online, on the phone or at the teller window. “This happens immediately, from the same system that processes your simple loans and deposits,” Hernandez explains.

Open Solutions’ competitors each do similar work with their software. But, according to Hernandez, his products fit into any system, can be used on any hardware or any operating system, and offer financial institutions a universality and tremendous levels of flexibility to hit all consumer touch points.

Look at it this way: Pretend that Open Solutions has invented the zipper. The zipper fits into your dress, your coat, your pants, the pants they make in China, the pants they make in India, the shoes they make in Italy, even the sofa cushions they make in North Carolina. If that was your company, wouldn’t that zipper make you a lot of money?

Of course, all of those manufacturers of the dresses, the coats, the pants, the shoes and the sofa cushions have to want to use your zipper, don’t they? This is one of the challenges Hernandez has with Open Solutions software, what he calls “the hardier problem.”

Banking is entrenched in doing what works. The industry has technology that’s 20, 30 or even 40 years old. If it works, bank presidents say, why should we go to all the trouble and expense of going through a full core installation of Open Solutions software?

“People haven’t wanted to take the risk on switching,” Hernandez says. “The competitive landscape has intensified to the point where bank CEOs are willing to think differently.”

The Graham-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 opened up banks’ abilities to offer customers a broader range of financial products and services — insurance, for example — while creating similar opportunities for other financial entities, like insurance companies, thrifts and credit unions.

Little banks had to diversify their own revenue streams while not spending too much money, and launch new products and provide more services profitably. This created opportunity for Open Solutions, Hernandez insists, because his software offers better tools, flexibility, and more powerful human interaction with customers.

One client, he says, eliminated 20 different databases when it converted to the Open Solutions system. Boeing Credit Union started using Open Solutions products and grew $1.8 billion in assets, added 30 branches and 29 new product categories, and eliminated 70 percent of its IT staff.

What Open Solutions will offer in the future is being worked on today in Glastonbury. “We’re always coming up with new ideas,” Hernandez says, while keeping those ideas close to the vest. “My R&D went up 40 percent this year; it will probably double next year.”

And his offices are considered the knowledge center. “This facility here in Connecticut is going to be the global knowledge center for the most advanced financial technology research in the world,” Hernandez declares with confidence and assurance.

It is an attitude he seems to bring to the more public side of his work with the state of Connecticut and other groups in the Greater Hartford area.

Hernandez was appointed by the governor to be vice chairman of the Governor’s Council on Economic Competitiveness and Technology. He chairs the Technology Transfer Advisory Board, he’s the past chairman of the Connecticut Technology Council, and he recently completed a three-year appointment to the Commission for Educational Technology.

He is a board member of the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, is a corporator of the Eastern Connecticut Health Network, and sits on the board of trustees of the Connecticut Center for Science & Exploration.

“He’s blazing pretty new trails,” says Theodore S. Sergi, the science center’s executive director, who broke ground for the new museum last week and calls Hernandez “thoughtful and helpful.”

“Louis’ experience here in Connecticut and his company is an example of the type of innovation we want young people in Connecticut to see and consider as they think about their future,” Sergi says.

“I think [the science center] will be the centerpiece for downtown revitalization, it will be the most dramatic piece on the river and it will compete with Boston’s science center,” says Hernandez, who likes “anything” that shows kids the connection between hard sciences and innovation careers.

DECD’s Commissioner Abromaitis says that as chairman of the Technology Transfer Advisory Board, which works to find ways to get research work from colleges and universities to the business world, Hernandez “keeps everyone focused on the issues.”

That means getting better coordination between all of the constituents involved in research and business. Hernandez says that for such a small state, Connecticut’s universities and business sectors could be communicating better. But he sees a lack of encouragement to create companies, especially in the area of government funding.
“We need to have a way to get funding sources in earlier, and get universities involved earlier,” he says.

What he’s really talking about is updating the old New England traditions, and bringing the icon of Ye Olde Yankee Tinkerer into the 21st century.

“We want to establish a culture of innovation and creativity,” he says.

>LIST OF ARTICLES

The Biggest Game of My Life 
By Brandi Chastain 

Although our team approached the gold medal game, on July 10, as we would any other, things started earlier than usual. Breakfast was at 8 a.m. Some of the girls weren't happy about getting up so early, but I was psyched. Sleeping is overrated, especially when I'd spent most of the previous nights tossing and turning, playing the game in my dreams. 

I was feeling calm and relaxed until I heard someone reading this: "Janet and I just want to drop a short note to tell you how great you have played and how much you have done to inspire young girls. It has been done with a great deal of class. Good luck in the final." It was signed "Wayne Gretzky." Suddenly I realized the magnitude of this event -- the Great One had sent us a fax! 

My excitement continued to build when our coach, Tony DiCicco, read the starting lineup. I knew I would start, but I'm always relieved to hear my name. I picked up my uniform from Dainis Kalninis, the best equipment guy ever, who gave each of us three roses -- red, white and blue. Then I showered, packed my bag and piled onto the bus. It wouldn't be a final if someone didn't forget something, and this time it was me -- I had to run back to my room to get the socks I wear under my game socks. 

Entering the Rose Bowl, we saw cars stretching in every direction. I knew more than 90,000 tickets had been sold, but I was blown away to see 90,000 fans in one place. Getting off the bus, we waved to them and took pictures of everyone decked out in red, white and blue. 
In the locker room, we went over our game plan, then listened to Tony's motivational speech. Because the third-place game was going on, we couldn't warm up on the field. That was a little frustrating, but we improvised, running and kicking balls in the tunnels under the stadium. 

After the national anthem -- "and the home of the brave" always gets to me -- my heart was racing, I wanted to get it on! The whistle blew, and 90 minutes later it blew again. The game was over in a flash, although I felt as if I had played two. My body ached, the sun was baking the field, and I felt like I was on fire. And the score was still 0-0: overtime. 

Before the overtime period began, I took off my drenched jersey to air it out. After a cool towel, a quick massage and gulps of water, we were ready to go again. After the first overtime, the score remained 0-0, so we repeated the relax-and-recharge drill. During the second overtime, I kept talking to myself -- out loud, so loud I thought the crowd could hear. I told myself not to let up, to stay focused, because one mistake could mean the game. I don't remember looking at the clock. I just knew that I had to last through the whistle. There were some amazing moments in those 30 minutes, including Kristine Lilly's header to clear an almost-goal by China, but finally the game came down to penalty kicks. Five per side, more if necessary to break a tie. The Chinese kicked first, then our captain, Carla Overbeck, tied the score 1-1. Joy Fawcett evened us 2-2. Then Briana Scurry, our goalie, came up huge by deflecting a Chinese kick. Tears came to my eyes; I knew we'd won even though it wasn't over. Kristine put us up 3-2; Mia Hamm, 4-3. Then it was my turn. 

I felt a great calm as I walked up to my kick. There was no crowd noise. I didn't look at Gao Hong, the goalie, who had psyched me out before in this very situation, in March at the Algarve Cup in Portugal. I wasn't going to let her do it again. I put the ball down, listened for the whistle and hit the shot heard round the world. The crowd erupted. So did I! In front of 90,185 people in the stadium and 40 million TV viewers, I ripped off my shirt. As I lifted it off, I lifted all the expectations and pressure of winning. My teammates hit me like a huge wave, crushing me in the greatest hug of my life. I could have stayed there forever. Who was exhausted? It didn't matter anymore. 
What matters is what we accomplished. Not only are we the world champions, but we also built and polished the game of women's soccer and presented an awesome final product. Our motto for the Women's World Cup was right on: THIS IS MY GAME. THIS IS MY FUTURE. WATCH ME PLAY. 

>LIST OF ARTICLES

The Coaching Philosophy, Part 1
by Tony DiCicco
FSASoccerPlus FC
SoccerPlus Camps

“Character Development in players, is the number one objective of youth sport and youth coaches…winning isn’t even a close second!”
Tony DiCicco
…Excerpts from Catch Them Being Good, a book written by Tony DiCicco and Dr. Colleen Hacker

Before even stepping out on the field for tryouts or the first day of the season, a coach has to know how he or she is going to approach the game. Think of it as a game plan on a larger scale, or a blueprint for the kind of coach you want to be, what you want to teach your players on the field and how you want to impact their lives off the field. Over the years, I’ve been asked many times what my coaching philosophy is and so I’ve tried to sum it up as succinctly as possible, breaking it down into simple principles. In Part 1 of this article, we will address some of those principles. Taken together, these principles show how I approach teaching and coaching.

Play Hard, Play Fair, Play To Win, HAVE FUN!
You must play hard, no matter who your opponent is, because you’re setting your own standards, playing toward a goal you want to achieve within yourself and within the team. The best respect you can give an opponent is to go out and play to win, show them your best, but never run-up the score. With the WNT, we never tried to embarrass our opponent even when we were playing weak team. I had a rule, we never scored more than 9 goals in any one game even when goal difference was a tie-breaking factor. This is also my coaches’ philosophy with our FSASoccerPlus teams. This same principle should apply to youth sports at all levels, running up a score against an opponent doesn’t serve either team well. As a coach you have the responsibility to set an example and show that kind of leadership to your players.

When I look back one of the things I’m proudest of is not the record of my national team—103 wins, 8 losses and 8 ties over a 5 year period—but rather how my team game together to achieve special goals. Or the culture we created within the team. This culture held all of us to high standards of self-discipline; self-responsibility and team objectives. Our culture included…no whining (don’t bring other players down) train with intensity; come to training camp fit; eat right; never show a lack of respect or underestimate an opponent; never take yourself to seriously, smile a lot and have fun. This was the culture for the team that won Olympic and World Cup Gold…sounds like pretty good advice for any youth team also. 

Playing to win doesn’t mean that winning is the end-all, but when you’re playing for a national team, when you’re playing professionally, or even if you’re playing on an amateur level, it’s an important component of success. And yet, the game is still just that, a game. It’s important to keep things in perspective. We’re not performing open-heart surgery or flying a plane with only one engine or performing heroic acts the way firefighters, policemen, and our military do every day. Yet, in the heat of the moment of the big game, winning is certainly one of the most important things in your lifetime. And, one can learn a lot about themselves on how they respond in a physical game, when the referee makes a bad call, when a teammate makes a key mistake or an infinite number of other possibilities. If you’re playing in an Olympic Gold Medal game, it’s one of the most important things that you’ll ever do, but it’s still a game, and no one’s going to live or die because of it. All too often I’ve seen the fun taken out of the game and the real important lessons of the game lost. When you take the fun out of game, you might as well have your team play with a weight on one foot, because you’re just making it that much harder to achieve success. 

Remember, most of the players you’re coaching are not going to go onto the highest level of competition. They may not even go on to the collegiate level. If you’re creating a fun environment where they appreciate physical activity, and learn from teamwork, imagine how much that’s going to help them in later life. They can understand discipline and team chemistry, personal hygiene, and building confidence. There are so many positives to team sports, competition and soccer, that it’s a remarkable opportunity for coaches and parents to build character in their players or children. How does a player respond when they win? When they lose? If they don’t start? If they have to play out of position? If they don’t make a team? Is it really political or does your child have to improve? Clearly the messages are very different. One message helps set goals for the young athlete, the other allows them to pass on responsibility. The lessons go on and on. As coaches, we have the responsibility to build character, to create a safe and fun environment void of intimidation, to build confidence and impact lives positively. Think of your own youth sports experience, probably, there is a coach that made a positive difference in your life. What goal or objective can be better or more important than that?

Tony DiCicco is also President of SoccerPlus Camps and Technical Director of FSASoccerPlus Football Club.
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U.S.A. Soccer women, gold medal winners in Athens, owe debt of attitude to Tony DiCicco
By:Don Rully , Assistant Sports Editor - 09/09/2004
TAKEN FROM www.ctvalleynews.com

DiCicco was the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team which defeated China 2-1 on penalty kicks in 1999 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.. His team won a bronze medal in the 1995 World Cup in Sweden after a dissapointing loss to Norway before they avenged that loss in the semi-finals with a gold medal performance in the 1996 Olympics at Atlanta. A mediocre performance followed during the 2000 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain after DiCicco resigned in 1999.

DiCicco said he stepped down "because I was away from my family so much it was difficult to be a husband and a father." DiCicco is married with four sons. "It was a difficult decision to make," he said. "Because I've missed coaching the team but I know it was the right decision."

Ten players from the '99 World Cup team and eight players dating back to the '96 gold medal team won at Athens including goalkeeper Briana Scurry, a recent visitor to Farmington, Brandi Chastain, her of the shirt-ripping incident, Julie Foudy, who reportedly is planning a career in politics, Joy Fawcett, Kristen Lilly of Wilton, Conn., and Mia Hamm, also sometimes known as the greatest American or women's soccer player ever to live (She is also known as Mrs. Nomar Garciaparra.).

"Now with four or five returning that'll change," DiCicco said about the experience level of future U.S. teams.

DiCicco said the integrity and strength of the Olympic soccer team, whose success is unprecedented, is based on dedication and self-discipline. The U.S. women's soccer team has participated in every World Cup (four) and Olympic (three) semi-final and won four Olympic gold medals while never being shut out of an Olympic medal. Their record goes well beyond an improving U.S. Men's team which lost in the quarterfinals of the last World Cup.

"They have an ability to evolve their games. They're never satisfied with their game, they evolve," DiCicco said about the five players.

"They were a great role model for a generation of girls and boys but also a great role model for their teammates on how to stay fit and how to keep improving as a player."

Now based in Farmington, DiCicco's SoccerPlus includes 10 premier teams and is starting its second year. "We've had tremendous success both on and off the field," he said. "All that (national team experience) kind of morphed into what I'm doing now."

SoccerPlus and its camps, which range from California, Texas, Illinois, and Maine help to develop soccer players with an understanding of their own abilities stressing that talent is not enough and that they have to make good decisions on and off the field.

The "state of the art" sports arena in Farmington which includes youth leagues and "great fields," as DiCicco put it, provide an excellent backdrop. "It's a great environment to develop as a player and it was a natural fit for us to move to Farmington to become a part of this facility," he said.

DiCicco began his national soccer coaching experience as an assistant/goalkeeper coach in 1991 before becoming goalkeeper coach for the U.S. U-20 Men's team in Australia in 1993.

He replaced Anson Dorrance, the legendary women's coach from the University of North Carolina, as U.S. Women's head coach.

DiCicco still lives in Wethersfield where he played high school soccer at Wethersfield High School.

He also taught school in Vermont for five years after graduating college.

"Physical fitness and other things are there but character development is probably the most important thing it offers," DiCicco said about soccer without relegating his opinion to gender.

"It's really the sport and the coach that can make a difference...the unique thing about the sport of soccer is it is a world game. There's no sport that brings all the cultures together like soccer."

As to opinions that soccer is un-American, DiCicco responded there are 4 million registered youth soccer players in the U.S. today. "So for all the kids it's not a foreign game," he said. DiCicco indicated some Americans find the sport hard to grasp because the scoreboard doesn't change on a regular basis. "It's like a game of Chess," DiCicco said about soccer. "The adage that soccer is not an American game is very outdated."

DiCicco has also been commissioner of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) for two years that is currently raising funds to re-establish as a league. WUSA suspended operations after the 2003 season after sponsors, most notably AOL Time Warner and Comcast, pulled out of the running. The league is looking for new sponsors and he said he is confident it will re-organize and play in the next one or two years. Updates on the league can be found at www.WUSA.com. Also, a "Keep the WUSA Dream Alive Ticket Fund" can be reached at: c/o Lauren Gregg, P.O. Box 8338, Charlottesville, Va., 22906.

The woman's soccer player who scored the game-winning goal in the 2004 Olympic gold medal game, Abby Wambach, is a product of WUSA, DiCicco said.

DiCicco said FSASoccerPlus wants local players to have aspirations. "We want to become the preferred Premier club for all the players in the Farmington Valley," he said, adding, "not just one flash in the pan, sustained excellence."

"The players that are self-motivated and with the ball," he said. "Are going to develop as players."

That means practicing in the backyard outside of practice time, he said.

"When they're here it means they're doing something positive," he said about activities at the sports arena.

"We want to win national championships but we also have to keep winning in perspective."

"When they're adults we want them to keep playing the game and loving the game of soccer."

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