| The World is Making Our Game Its Goal (March 2005) |
By Schellas Hyndman
The 2005 NSCAA Convention in Baltimore will always be very special to me. This year not only was special due to my presidential inauguration at the Awards Banquet, I just felt there was a great atmosphere that permeated the entire convention. My hat goes off to NSCAA Past President Joe Cummings and all of the countless volunteers who worked hundreds of hours to make this one of the best NSCAA Conventions I have ever been a part of.
I would also like to recognize a few other very important people who really went above and beyond in their support of this year’s convention. Jeff Tipping, NSCAA’s Director of Coaching Education, did a fantastic job in identifying and bringing in a remarkable group of clinicians. We will talk about this group in detail later, but I can honestly say this group of instructors was the best I have seen at the convention.
NSCAA Convention Manager Robby Robinson did a great job managing this huge event. NSCAA Marketing Director Chris Wyche does a great job of identifying and serving all of the NSCAA’s fantastic corporate sponsors, and the convention would not be the event it is without him. Rudy Zimmerman has the unenviable job of organizing all of the great presentations and field sessions into a workable schedule.
Last, but undeniably not least, I would like to personally thank Chris McGuire and adidas USA. The NSCAA is very fortunate to have a great partner in adidas. We can never thank Chris and everyone at adidas enough for everything they do for the association. This year Chris and adidas were able to bring Brazilian Men’s National Team Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to the convention. Thank you to Chris and adidas!
The theme for this year’s convention was “One World, One Game, One Goal”. Through the work of all those mentioned above and many others, we were able to achieve our goal of bringing the best soccer minds from around the world to come and speak with us. Looking at this year’s distinguished list of clinicians, it’s no surprise to me that we are the example of what a coaching organization can do for its members. The rest of the world is looking to follow. This year at the convention we had representatives from the German Soccer Federation, the English FA and the Scottish FA studying how we organize and implement our event because they are interested in having conventions similar to ours in their own countries.
I think it is great that we are the innovators in this area and we are able to share insight with our colleagues all over the world. When we look at the sheer numbers we are able to attract to our yearly convention, you can see why we are the benchmark for others to follow. This year we had our biggest convention ever, with 6,948 in total attendance, including 268 exhibitors occupying 522 booths. People come to the convention for many reasons: business, meetings, awards, the vendors, etc. To me the No. 1 factor that brings people back year after year are the lectures and field sessions that help us do our jobs at a higher level.
Where else can a coach find this many top instructors all under one roof? This year the coaches who gave their time to give lectures and field sessions at the convention have accomplished the following:
- Eight who have coached in a World Cup
- Four who have won a World Cup
- 16 representing their nation’s soccer federation, including Brazil, England, Holland, Finland and many others
- 14 currently working with professional teams
- 16 current men’s and women’s college coaches
- 18 current NSCAA Staff coaches
Individually as we look at some of the resumes of these instructors it becomes even more impressive.
- Carlos Alberto Perreira – Brazilian Men’s National Team coach, winner 1994 World Cup;
- Bill Beswick – World-renowned author, lecturer and sports psychologist for Middlesborough United of the English Premier League;
- Frans Hoek – Former assistant coach for Ajax, Barcelona and the Dutch National Team;
- April Heinrichs – U.S. Women’s National Team coach who led the squad to the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games
- Rene Simones – Coach of the Brazilian Women’s National Team that earned the silver medal in Athens
- Erich Rutemoeller – Assistant coach of the German Men’s National Team, German Soccer Federation Technical Director
- Bob Gansler – Coach of the 2004 U.S. Open Cup champion Kansas City Wizards, which also was runner-up for the 2004 MLS Cup, the 2000 MLS Cup champion, the 2000 MLS Coach of the Year and coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team at the 1990 World Cup;
- Anson Dorrance – Women’s coach at the University of North Carolina, 17-time NCAA national champions; coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team that won the 1991 Women’s World Cup.
- Tony DiCicco – Coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team that won the 1999 Women’s World Cup; an assisant for the 1991 Women’s World Cup champions; technical director of Soccer Plus Camps
These are just a few of the outstanding coaches who took time to come to Baltimore to present their sessions to us. In looking at this list, it’s easy to understand why federations from around the world want to emulate what we do. I think we can safely say that we are the only organization in the world that is bringing this many soccer minds together at the same time under one roof. Every time I attend our convention, I am reminded of how lucky we are to be able to take part in such a wonderful event.
In looking at our theme of “One World, One Game, One Goal,” there is one example of the power of soccer that outshines everything else we had at the convention this year. I was both humbled and in awe, as I imagine you were as well, to be in the presence of two fantastic ambassadors for our country and game.
The most powerful moment of the entire convention may have been the moments we were allowed to share with 1st Lt. Joshua S. Walters and Captain Alexander Fyfe of the U.S. Army. These two young men, along with their comrades, use soccer to build bridges in newly-liberated Afghanistan and Iraq. Even in a war-torn country, soccer was able to be a common point of interest that could bond the Afghan and Iraqi people with the strangers helping to implement a new peace in their country.
These young men show what our game can accomplish and provided a face for what a hero looks like. For all of you who were in attendance, it was a special moment to see an entire Awards Banquet ballroom rise to offer an extended and well-deserved standing ovation for these two men and what they represent. We always say soccer knows no borders, that the game can be played anywhere by anyone, that we just need a ball. In the Middle East, we truly saw what soccer can do. “One World, One Game, One Goal." |
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