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Spring 2010 Issue
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Welcome Subscriber Family!
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In This Spring 2010 Issue...
Message From the President
CVU Tournament Kickoff
New Teams at CVU
CVU White G93 - Strikers
Short Takes
Winning Versus Success
Photo of the Month
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Message from the President
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Conejo Valley United: Past, Present and Future
For this issue, I was asked to provide a bit of the history of Conejo Valley United Soccer Club, more familiarly known as CVU. Having been associated with the Club since 1997, I am one of the more senior members, and hope to be able to share some insight into the workings and the history of CVU before my youngest daughter ages out of the club.
CVU was formed in 1980 making it one of the, if not the, oldest soccer club in our neck of the woods. Over this period of time, many clubs have come and gone, yet CVU has survived and continued to prosper in what has been an economically difficult period. At this juncture, our finances are solid. We have entered into a long term agreement with Conejo Valley Recreation and Park District. We have budgeted and started to fund a field refurbishment reserve. In addition, we have attempted to attract the best coaching staff in our region believing education is the key to success on the soccer field as in life.
But it was not always this way. Back in the day, CVU was formed to provide a place for competitive soccer players to hone their skills in a positive environment. CVU has never waivered from that commitment; indeed, it is still the reason for our existence today. But most everything else in the soccer has undergone huge and tumultuous change.
When I came aboard, CVU teams played in the El Camino Real Soccer League (ECRSL). It spanned from Santa Barbara all the way into the San Fernando Valley and north into the Valencia area. It had no website. Scores were submitted by each team and the score keeper for each bracket faxed (that was relatively new and a huge improvement from the US Postal Service) the weekly summaries and standings (usually by Wednesday of the following week) to each team. Seldom was more than one tournament held on the same weekend. It was a big event when we rented cell phones (no one had their own) in order to send game scores to a central scorekeeper at our Tournament of Champions. Coaches were, by and large, volunteers who had cut their teeth in AYSO, or played competitively in Europe, Latin, or South America.
I believe much of this changed with the advent of Title IX and the prospect of college scholarships in soccer. Leagues got more organized and competitive. ECRSL was swallowed by Coast Soccer League which provided much better internet communication (although their website crashed on the first day of league games due to too many hits), more competitive leagues, Premier League, and balanced brackets.
Many clubs hired professional trainers, Directors of Coaching, and changed from non profit organizations into entities whose primary purpose was the support of its employees. Recruiting players from other teams became common place and the current club environment was born.
CVU adapted to these changes without losing sight of its original mission. It became clear to the Board that for our players and teams to compete with the other clubs, we needed to provide an infrastructure that included not just lights, fields, uniforms and the like, but trainers that could teach our children to play at a high level.
But rather than take a dictatorial approach, controlling the operations of each team, CVU has continued to allow each team to operate as a separate entity under the umbrella of the club. Accordingly, teams can operate with great flexibility, picking whom they wish to train their players (subject to some limitations), the level of play they wish to pursue and prohibiting any “poaching” within the CVU family.
So the upshot of this brief synopsis is that CVU has maintained its success during these tumultuous times because it offers a distinctly different alternative to the mainstream club soccer environment. While CVU has remained flexible in its approach, it has never varied from its mission. CVU’s primary purpose has always been , and should always be, the development of the athletes under our care.
This is where you, parents of CVU players, come in. Our current Board has a number of members who have served this club for many years. But like their predecessors, their time to move on has come. Their children are aging out of the club. It is time for the next generation to seize the reins and guide the club into the future. Unlike the “for profit” clubs, CVU depends on YOU, to ensure that CVU will continue in its important mission.
Accordingly, I urge you to come to a Board meeting NOW. It’s a good environment, friendly folks, all here with a common goal of helping our kids have a rewarding soccer experience. We look forward to your input, welcome new ideas, are always in need of some enthusiasm, and will gladly share our experience with you. We look forward to seeing you there.
Yours in soccer
Martin Belak-Berger
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CVU Tournament of Champions 2010
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Greetings CVU Families!
 I am excited to be serving as your tournament director for another year. Believe it or not, the CVU Tournament of Champions is not that far off. Mark your calendars for May 29-30 and get ready for a great weekend of soccer.
Thanks to all of you for your tremendous support last year. I hope to implement some new things to make volunteering easier this year. In the meantime, I need each team to designate a representative who can help disseminate information and gather volunteers when the time comes. Also, if anyone is interested in taking on a larger role, I am looking for someone to take the lead on putting together a tournament newspaper, and Steve Cameron would like someone to assist him as he works with the referee association. Finally, if you are a member of the medical profession, and would be willing to be on call as a part of our medical team for the weekend, please let me know.
Thank you again for your willingness to give of your time and expertise. CVU families are the best! If you need to reach me with questions, concerns, comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact me any time.
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In the 2009-10 season CVU had 19 teams competing in Coast Soccer League in ages 9 through 17. Our club focus on player development paid off with CVU teams turning in an overall winning record of 45%; the second highest of all clubs in a 15 mile radius and significantly above average.
Our goal for the 2010-11 season is to form new teams in the boys and girls U9, U10 and U11 divisions. In addition many existing teams are actively seeking players to add to their rosters.
We need your help! If you do one thing for CVU this year, we’d really like it to be this... Take just a few minutes and brainstorm about any kids you might know who you think would be a candidate to play soccer for CVU, please contact them and tell them about CVU and/or forward their contact information to us. Even if you’re not even sure of their age division, we’d appreciate a referral.
You can e-mail us at: info@cvusc.com or direct them the the CVU website at www.cvusc.com where they can fill in a player tryout form.
Please take a minute and help us out with as many referrals as you can.
Thanks,
Doug Easton, Tracy Pierson, Clay Cameron
The CVU Recruiting Committee
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This year’s team decided to not just play competitive soccer in Coast Soccer Silver Elite division but also have another goal, to give back. The team captains came up with the idea of raising money for something. From there a lot of different things came to mind but since the team is made up of 15 and 16 year old girls, breast cancer came up as a very good fit.
 Once that was decided one of the girls suggested pink warm up jerseys, so the team paid a donation to a cancer foundation and was able to use the believe ribbon concept. Then we worked with BK sports and acquired pink warm up jerseys and had the believe logo put on it with the names of the girls and player numbers on the back.
We then set a goal of raising $1,000 throughout the season in donations and fundraising to reach that goal. We set incentives for the girls and have a private party who is donating the cost of what is raised through the incentives. An example of the incentives were $10 per goal, $50 per shut out, $50 per player to attend every game, etc.
To date we have donated, raised or been pledged $600. We will be continuing this until the beginning of May.
Something also helped show the true human side to all this. One of the girls who joined our team when we first joined cvu as a club team, Susannah Beasley died of Rhabdomyosarcoma (Alveolar) cancer. Her memorial was held on Monday, January 4th in Westlake Village. Susannah (Suzy) played with the CVU Strikers the first two years we were a club team. She had a true love for soccer and a love for life and fun. She played hard and touched everyone in a very special way.
 Suzy went into Los Robles hospital for pneumonia the day after the girls got out for winter break. She had no signs of anything except a bad cold that would not go away. Over a two week period she went for Los Robles to Children Hospital in Los Angeles with Rhabdomyosarcoma cancer. This cancer normally attacks children and teens and attaches itself to the soft tissue in muscles. It is very aggressive cancer and metastasized in her chest and got into her bone marrow.
The girls that have known Suzy from the first time she hit the field with her, were profoundly affected by this. All the girls who played with her, even those who have left the team came to the memorial and had on the red cvu jerseys they wore that first year they played together. We will all miss Suzy, and once again we see that soccer is not just about soccer but about the family that is created and the special community we create to support each other.
The CVU Strikers have always been far more than just a soccer team. We compete hard, train hard, and care about each other even more. If anyone wishes to contribute to our fund raising efforts please contact Scott Engel, Jest4laff@aol.com.
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- CVU has another "A" licensed trainer: Ross Greaney spent a week in January at the Home Depot Center testing for his "A" License. The highest license a coach can receive. Way to go Ross!
- CVU Alumni in the news: The following players played for CVU and were the 2009 Western State Conference College Champions: Ashley Cheney, Kendall Dreyer, Olivia Geckle, Breanna Sowell, Kristen Cameron, and Coach Eric Privat. For the full story click here.
 CVU Facebook Page: Keep track of news and events by becoming a fan of CVU on Facebook.
- Mark your Calendar: The CVU Annual General Member meeting combined with the CVU Family BBQ will be held on Saturday May 22nd at 4:30pm (the Saturday before the CVU Tournament).
- Mark your Calendar: The meeting of the CVU Board is held monthly on the second Monday of the month, 7:00pm at the Conejo Recreation and Parks District offices (403 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360). The next meeting is Monday Feb 8th and the following one will be on Monday Mar 8th. All CVU members are welcome to attend. A representative from each CVU team is required to attend.
- Coming Soon: CVU will offer core strength and speed/agility training specifically targeted for the soccer player. Check the CVU website for updates.
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The opportunity for success is available to everyone if it is defined as performing to one’s capability, rather than focusing solely on the out-come of a given competition. Teaching athletes to focus on success, rather than winning, nurtures the factors that ultimately lead to winning.
Success = Ability + Preparation + Effort + Will
Ability. Everyone has ability, but it isn’t distributed equally or predictably. This applies to coaches as well as athletes. Often ability is a gift of birth, but that doesn’t guarantee any success. The challenge isn’t to have ability, but to develop and use the ability we are given.
Preparation. We gain greater use of our abilities by investing in preparation. Only through the persistent and consistent process of preparation can raw talent be transformed into greater capability. In Soccer, we call this preparation training. Through proper training, athletes become faster, stronger, more skilled, knowledgeable, confident and mentally tough. But although developing greater capability is important, it is still no guarantee of competitive success.
Effort. Developed ability realizes its value when expressed through the challenge of competition. That expression is accomplished when physical and mental effort summon every ounce of one’s capability. Still, athletes often find themselves nearing the finish of their race exhausted, having given all they think possible, but needing to find even more. In sport we call this...crunch time!
Will. Crunch time is real, both in sport and life. It is that moment when you think you have given all you have, only to find out even more is required. Many athletic contests are won or lost at this moment. Some athletes are able to draw on an inner strength to summon greater effort than they know themselves to have. This is the use of one’s will, the power to go back to one’s personal reservoir again and again as needed.
When athletes and teams train hard to develop their ability, give their best effort in competition, and show the will to push themselves beyond self-imposed limits, they are successful. Too often, coaches and athletes miss experiencing the pride and satisfaction of success because they are too focused on winning. More often, coaches and athletes fail to win because they first fail to become successes.
Building Success
Unlike winning, success can be experienced by every athlete every day. It doesn’t come easily or immediately, however. Success requires athletes be coached to develop some specific, personal attitudes. Six such attitudes have been identified by Robert Goodwin, Soccer Coach at St. Lawrence University.
- The desire to strive for excellence.
- The realization that nothing of value can be achieved without hard work and dedication.
- The desire to display self-confidence.
- The desire to show one’s ability in competition.
- The desire to cooperate as part of a team.
- The desire to have fun.
The Desire to Have Fun
The desire to have fun deserves special attention. Sports should be fun for both athletes and coaches. The opportunity to have fun is consistently identified by students as the number one incentive to participate in high school sports. But the fun we refer to is not the fool around fun we see in our locker rooms, on the bus, or at team parties. It is the pride, satisfaction and fulfillment a youngster experiences from improving his or her strength, speed and skill after hours of training and practice. It is the thrill and exhilaration of setting a new personal best in competition. This is the fun that all athletes and coaches seek. It is the fun of feeling good about oneself.
When athletes experience this kind of fun, they become consumed with the desire to feel more...preferably as soon as possible. Developing this desire to have fun may be the most important attitude coaches can teach. When athletes are filled with the desire to have fun, they are likely to:
- Strive with all their heart for excellence.
- Dedicate themselves to consistent hard training.
- Show the self-confidence to make the tough decisions and sacrifices it takes to train and compete at their best.
- Be anxious to show their ability in competition, free of fear or self-doubt.
- Gain personal strength from respecting, helping and caring about their teammates.
So, What About Winning?
Where, then, should winning fit into a coaching philosophy? Every coach would prefer to win every contest. Realistically, however, it is important for coaches to admit that it does not matter much whether or not our teams win all those games. What does matter is that we win the battle to enhance the lives of our athletes through the experience of participating in Soccer. For coaches, this is the most important win of all. This is the true measure of coaching success.
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CVU Slammers win the 2010 Diamnd Bar Winter Shootout!
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Please tell us what you'd like to see in upcoming editions of the CVU Newsletter. Send your ideas to publicity@cvusc.com. |
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Conejo Valley United Soccer Club
Serving the Youth of the Conejo Valley since 1980
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© Copyright 2010
Conejo Valley United Soccer Club. All rights reserved.
© Copyright 2010
Demosphere International, Inc. All rights reserved.
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