The Thursday of the 2013 Convention is when the week starts revving up, with a variety of lecture and field session and other big events kicking off.

Sessions start at 9:30 a.m. and provide attendees a choice between two lectures or two field sessions. Some of the sessions to begin the day include Deb Raber, head women’s coach for Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, hosting a roundtable discussion, “A Year without Captains—A New Look at Team Leadership.” The other is an introduction to the NSCAA DOC course by Andrew Donnery, Executive Director-Mission Valley United.

The 9:30 a.m. field sessions include Tony DiCicco’s “Teaching Advanced Handling for Goalkeepers” or Roy Dunshee’s “Functional Training for the Modern Holding Midfielder.”

As you may know, most sessions are broken down into Education Experience Tracks, allowing attendees to customize their schedule; the full schedule can be found at NSCAA.com/convention/schedule. Here are a few sessions of interest to:

Youth Coaches

• 3:45-4:45: “Youth Soccer’s Crown Jewel” by Mike Strickler, Technical Director-Florida Youth Soccer and Jim Martella, Chair-US Youth Soccer National Championship Series
• 3:45-4:45: “League Development and its Impact on Player Development” by US Club Soccer

High School Coaches

• 9:30-10:30p: “Teaching Advanced Handling for Goalkeepers” by Tony DiCicco, Director-NSCAA Goalkeeping Academy
• 12:45-1:45: “The Secret to Scoring Goals on the Last Touch: A Psychological Perspective” by John DeBenedictis, Executive Director-NSCAC
• 3:45-4:45: “Team Building in Action: Facilitating Excellence and Fostering Growth” by Dr. Colleen Hacker, former sport psychology consultant for US Women’s Soccer

College Coaches

• 11-Noon: “Winning Words: Coaching Language to Promote Intelligent, Responsible and Competitive Play” by Rob Kehoe, NSCAA Director of College Services
• 12:45-1:45: “A Session from the Road to the U20 World Championship” by Janet Rayfield, head coach-University of Illinois
• 3:45-4:45: “Zonal Penetration Games for Advanced Players” by John Bluem, Head Men’s Coach-Ohio State University
• 5-6:30: NSCAA College Coaches Awards Reception (ticketed event attendees must register for)

Anyone

• 11a-noon: “Developing leaders through Sports” by Kendall Reyes, Executive Director-Socccer Vision Global
• 2:15-3:15: “Fictions, Misconceptions and Facts about Concussions” by Dr. Carl Abraham, Scientific Advisory Services, Ltd.
• 9:30-11p: The Social for Coaches of Female Athletes, presented by the NSCAA Women’s Committee

One of the major events in the professional soccer world also commences Thursday at 11 a.m. with the Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The two rounds and 38 picks will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com, and open to the public.

And let’s not forget the NSCAA Convention Exhibit Hall Grand Opening, kicking off at 7 p.m. Thousands of attendees gather to visit more than 280 vendor booths, learning about their product offerings, witness new product or services launches and socializing, making the NSCAA Convention Exhibit Hall the largest soccer-specific trade show in North America.

All of this and more awaits you at the NSCAA Convention in January, so be sure to register for both the event and housing soon.

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