The Michigan Fire Juniors is committed to the technical development of every player, and is offering a very unique opportunity for our U10-U12 players of both genders with a new program for this spring. The new program is called the TOTAL (Technical Obsession To Advance Learning) Technical Hour and is offered at our 28^th Ave training fields four nights per week, Monday-Thursday from 4pm-5pm each day. This allows our U10-U12 players to get in some extra training specific to their technical development before their regular team training.

We expect most players will choose to come on one or both of their normal training nights, however players are allowed to come on off nights, also. Training will be lead by our Technical Director Dan McAllister and our new coach David Wood with the assistance of other MFJ’s coaching staff, and some of our older club players. Players will NOT need to register for any of these TOTAL Technical Hour sessions. Each player must bring their own soccer ball, water bottle, and an excellent work ethic.

Technical skills are the foundation of every player’s future, and players simply can NOT touch the ball too often. Most American players do not spend enough time on these necessary skills in team practice or individually on their own, and consequently are often unable to play at the speed the game demands as they advance. Ball Mastery, or Technical Precision is a life-long journey of making the ball do exactly what the player needs under increasing pressure and at every increasing speeds, yet it is the most fundamental and foundational part of every players “tools.”

TOTAL Technical Hour – 28^th Avenue Fields

Monday thru Thursday from 4pm-5pm beginning April 8!

Kristin Englehart, Girls DOC

The teams that I have coached know all about “training on your own.” This is one of the first lessons that I teach my teams.

I made my first premier team (Santa Rosa United) and fell in love with soccer when I was 12 years old, although the only reason that I made that team was because of my speed. I was way behind the curve compared to my teammates who had grown up as one-sport athletes, training year-round and preparing for premier soccer. I remember my first team practice like it was yesterday. We worked on passing patterns, and I was so focused on my first touch that I wasn’t able to remember the patterns. Since I had decided that I wanted to go as far as I possibly could in the sport, I had A LOT of catching up to do. So began the next ten years of training on my own. 

Our Technical Director, Dan McAllister, has already posted some amazing resources under “Technical Training” on our MFJ website that you can use to help plan your individual sessions. I highly encourage you to use these resources. I think it could be helpful for you to get a glimpse of what this may actually look/feel like on a daily basis.

Quite honestly, none of the games, tournaments, practices, lectures or team meetings taught me as much as I learned through training on my own. Based on my own experience, here are some tips for training on your own:

1) Know WHY you’re training. Your long-term goal will be the only thing that gets you out there some days.

2) Make a plan for your training and stick to it. 

3) Don’t make excuses. I trained before school. I trained in hotel parking lots when we were on vacation. I trained on Christmas day. Every day counts!

4) It’s not glamorous. I worked on dribbling cuts and turns in my dark and dreary garage on winter days. I would reach for that last touch when juggling, and the ball would knock my dad’s tools off the wall, crash into trashcans and land behind bikes and lawn mowers. I once did a 25 minute training in the corner of an airport terminal while waiting to board a plane! 

5) Push yourself. Set goals during the actual training session as well. For example, I wouldn’t allow myself to go back in the house before I broke my juggling record. I had to hit a certain amount of targets when working on shooting and finishing, or I would run sprints. 

6) Use a wall! This was the BEST thing that I did for my game when growing up. You can use a handball court, a racquetball court, a garage door or a brick wall. Work on 1 and 2-touch passing, receiving balls out of the air, turning with the ball and more!

7) Lastly, of course it’s hard.  It can be boring, repetitive, even painful. The trick is pushing past that. You’re working toward your goals and dreams!   

‘The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when no one else is watching.” - Anson Dorrance

F.C. Joga Bonito's very popular Christian Soccer Day Camp is now available on the Lake Michigan Shoreline AND Grand Rapids. This camp model is designed to provide serious Spiritual training as it pertains to athletics (and life), as well as exceptional soccer training from highly experienced and licensed coaches and staff. With Nationally licensed coaches, college coaches and experienced college players, we aim to provide some the finest coaching they will receive at any camp. Combined with a very strong emphasis on what God says about our performance, preparation, and respect for the game, we share with the campers much more than "being nice." 

F.C. Joga Bonito is dedicated to providing a complete camp experience with fun and learning from a staff that truly cares. Our training is modeled after successful national and international methods. With a goal of "Training the mind for soccer intelligence, the body for soccer implementation, and the Spirit for Eternity."

Camp Highlights:

Coach/Camper ratio of 1-10 or better!

Professional, Highly Accomplished, Christian Coaching Staff

Camp T-Shirt and Quality Soccer Ball.

Excellent Indoor & Outdoor Facilities & Auditorium.

Testimonies, Bible Study, Worship.

World Cup Games-World Class Training.

Player & Parent Closing ceremonies.

Lunch is Included - FREE

FREE CAMP DVD - It's AWESOME!

Camp Fee $275 Includes LUNCH at Both Locations

$50 DISCOUNT to Michigan Fire Juniors players for the Grand Rapids Camp location. This discount is available on the registration website.

LAKESHORE CAMP (click)              GRAND RAPIDS CAMP (click)

July 15-19, 2013 - 9am-5pm             July 29-Aug 2, 2013 - 9am-5pm

Western Michigan Christian HS         Cornerstone University

F.C. Joga Bonito's website can be found here.

* The club will be attending the April 20 & September 14 games together. Save the dates!

Why play futsal?

As we enter our first winter training sessions as the Michigan Fire Juniors, I wanted to take a minute to explain why the Soccer Leadership Team has chosen futsal as the vehicle for developing youth players in the winter.

The game finds its origin in Uruguay and the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil in the early 1930’s. The game was played on a small hard court, with a low bounce ball, with each team consisting of 4 field players and a goalkeeper. Futsal began as a version of soccer played in the YMCA’s of Uruguay, but it quickly became popular throughout South America. It is now considered one of the most effective tools for young soccer players to develop technical skills and futsal has become the standard for indoor soccer worldwide. 

The benefits of futsal as a developmental tool are widely known. The game has been credited with creating some of the greatest players of our time including Messi, Robinho, Neymar, Xavi, Iniesta, Ronaldinho just to name a few. Most would also concede that futsal has played a critical role in the flair and creativity that so many of the world’s best players display on the ball. 

There are many reasons futsal is such a great developmental tool. The first of which is the game is fun to play.  Another reason is that futsal is much safer to play than indoor (boarded) soccer, or the 11 aside game. The rules of the game prohibit physical play. It is really soccer in the purist form. In addition to these reasons, according to a recent FIFA study, in a 40 minute futsal match each player will have roughly 80-90 touches, and in a 90 minute 11 v11 match a player will have roughly 30-40 touches per game.

The additional touches play a critical role in the player’s ability to develop improved skills. Futsal also provides its players with numerous goal scoring chances which will allow all the players on the court to practice finishing versus a live goalkeeper in a game setting. Futsal is a game that has all of the elements of the 11 aside game, close control and good technique are required, and because the game is on a small court, players must play quickly to survive, and players are under pressure constantly so they must react and think the game at a much faster pace.

We are very excited to see this change in programming pay dividends for our club. The format for winter training will be a Coerver warm up and then as much futsal as we can squeeze into the time slot allotted. There will be little coaching and the coaches have been instructed to let “the game be the teacher.” If your team is interested in taking part in a league or being involved in any of the futsal activities that are available locally please have your team manager or coach contact me and I will be happy to provide that information for them.   

Jeff Merritt