East-West All-Star Cup

Honors

Spring 2006 Newsletter

Great News!

As you can see, the website is back up and running through the efforts of Kepler Johnson and Marc Pedersen.  Check back often at "www.iahssca.org" in order to keep up with rankings, honors and awards, All-Star information, and all nominations.

Annual General Meeting and Clinic

The 2006 AGM and Clinic was held February 18th in West Des Moines, and was a two-day format.  The opening was another bitterly cold Friday night for the 30-plus attendees from Spencer to Fort Madison and several other parts of the state. 

The evening began with an interactive session for the coaches to actually participate in drills.  Jim Wright from Urbandale's Girls program conducted "Passing and Movement Off the Ball," which also incorporated several changes of partners to help coaches meet new colleagues.  As the coaches caught their breath, Rob Chapman and several girls from his West Des Moines Valley State Championship Team presented "Touches on the Ball."

Saturday morning kicked off with Sean Holmes and his Drake Bulldog squad for a session entitled "Keeping it Simple."  For a change of pace, Coach Holmes followed with a classroom session called "Coaching the Game" in which he reviewed the pre-game and tape of the game from their upset victory over Creighton.  As always, these sessions could have gone on forever with all of the great questions and dialogue! 

Dave Anderson from the IHSAA, and presenting for the IGHSAU, presented the changes to the rules for this year for the boys and girls.  The smaller setting permitted a wonderful opportunity for discussions with Mr. Anderson.  Attendance here also satisfied the annual rules meeting requirement, providing another bonus of attending the AGM and clinic.

There was a short break for lunch and the Business Meeting and Awards Presentations.  (Please go to these sections for pictures and recaps.)

The afternoon sessions were presented by Matt Kennedy from Des Moines Roosevelt and Frank Gurnick from the West Des Moines Soccer Club.  Matt delivered another quality goalkeeper training session using keepers from Perry High School and one audience volunteer coach.  His knowledge and expertise were on display, and were a pleasure to witness.  Frank closed out the clinic with a progression for field sessions using several of his players as well as more coaches from the audience. 

In the end, the feedback form this year's clinic was tremendously positive, and we hope to build on the success of the interactive sessions every year.  I would like to personally thank all of the presenters for a wonderful job.  Additionally, a special thank you goes to the following people who worked to make this meeting a success:

Their dedication to improving soccer in the schools is without question.