Rotterdam---In this World Cup year, when soccer passions are running high, supporters might be forgiven for objecting to every decision to award a foul against their team, made by referees. But they might also have a point.
 
Researchers at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University have researched all recorded fouls in three major soccer competitions over seven years. They discovered an ambiguous foul is more likely to be attributed to the taller of two players, and have detailed their findings in the February issue of the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology.  
 

 Renowned coach Tom O'Connell provides practice tools in Play Ball

Most of us follow a model of practice that has produced great benefits for us over the years. The paradigm of the traditional method is tried and true. Practice starts with a little stretching and a little running. A throwing warm-up follows. Then we pick a skill that we need to work on. Maybe in the last game, the team didn't handle relays and cutoffs well, so in practice we start with a relay drill, focusing on hitting the cutoff, throwing with good technique, getting the feet in position to throw before receiving the ball, and so on. From there, perhaps we move into other drills that cover skills that need retooling-the double play, bunting, pickoffs at second, and so forth. We follow those up with batting practice. We keep everyone busy with stations leading up to hitting on the field. They take 10 cuts, or 15 cuts. During batting practice, we give our pitchers work by having them throw to hitters or letting them throw on the side. After batting practice, we have the daily scrimmage, or we finish up with infield and outfield practice. We might throw in some physical training at the end-running bases, doing sprints-and then everyone grabs a rake. We police the field and then send everyone off to the showers. Some days we eliminate the scrimmage and do more drill work, hoping to get the kinks out of the bad plays that occurred during our last game, but practice is largely the same every day.

With the cost of a college education approaching $40,000.00 a year a talented High School athlete could save a good chunk of that of that by obtaining a athletic scholarship. It could be as much as $160,000.00 over a four year college career.

Recruiting videos have been come part essential of any program designed to gain the attention of prospective college coaches. If you are thinking of sending your video to a coach it's best to talk to him first and ask what format he prefers. Either DVD or VHS. Most recruiting videos today are presented in the DVD format and are easier to handle both physically and technically because they can be accessed through menus thus saving time when the coach is reviewing your material. They're easier to carry home in a brief case or even a jacket pocket but in some rare cases the coach still may prefer VHS.

Juniors who are thinking about college and the admissions process are doing themselves a fabulous favor.

Here are a variety of items to put on the “To Do List” for junior year: