Placer’s 94’s Paige Crouch, Lauren Gollnick and Madeline Schiffel were selected to participate in the Player Development Program (PDP) through NorCal Premier and US Club Soccer. The girls were picked out of a group of 50 players to train with US Women’s National Team Staff Coach Mike Dickey and the Market Training Center. The training session was held at Trione Fields in Santa Rosa. This program has been developed to identify possible players for the National Team Pool.

Here are a few quotes from the girls and their experience at the session:

Crouch: “The training session made me realize that there is so much more that I need to improve on for the next level. It has made me want to become a better player and reach my goal of playing for the US National Team.”

Gollnick: “I felt very priveleged to have the opportunity to play with the top players in Cal-North and be coached by a few top college coaches and the National Team Staff.”

Schiffel: “This was a very beneficial experience for me to play with the top players and in front of Coach Mike Dickey. He gave me very good advice on what I need to do for the next level.”

Congratulations to the girls for making it to the final training session. All of us at Placer United are happy that you were able to have this great soccer experience.

The U11-U13 Placer Girls Gold teams competed at Cal Cup this past weekend. All of the teams were placed in difficult brackets and played very well. Here are their results:

U11 Girls Gold – 0-2 to Ajax, 12-0 over Santa Rosa, 2-4 to Cal Northstars, 2-1 over Santa Clara Sporting

U12 Girls Gold – 1-2 to Santa Rosa, 2-1 over Walnut Creek, 0-2 to Elk Grove and 0-2 to Mustang

U13 Girls Gold – 5-0 over sac Utd, 4-1 over Heritage, 3-0 over SCA, 0-0 draw with Modesto Ajax in the semi-finals and were defeated in penalty kicks.

Congrats to all of the teams for a job well done!

The California Development Academy (CDA), a collaboration of Placer United Soccer Club (PUSC) and San Juan Soccer Club (SJSC), announced today that the U16 and U18 boys teams had advanced to the US Soccer Academy playoffs in Greensboro, North Carolina, to be held June 25-29th. The CDA teams are the official U.S. Soccer Federation Academy teams for Northern California and are intended to provide the highest level of soccer training, development, and competition to the very best U.S. youth soccer athletes in the region.

Each CDA team joins 31 teams from across the country in their age level, and the 32 teams in each age level are drawn into eight groups. Teams finishing in the top of their group advance to the finals in July at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles.

Supporters may watch CDA games streaming live online as the CDA U16 take on PDA; June 27 at 4:00pm ET; and June 29 as the CDA U18 play Vardar at 10:00am ET. The games may be viewed at www.ussoccer.org.

CDA co-coaching directors Paul O’Brien of PUSC and Billy Wiskel of SJSC praised the early success of the CDA teams, which have been in existence for only a year. They noted that the high level of soccer talent in the greater Sacramento region warranted the Academy designation, and this had been borne out by both CDA teams making the national playoffs in their first year eligible.

Placer United Soccer Club is pleased to announce we have created a full-time Technical Director position.

As part of Placer United’s ongoing commitment to providing the best youth soccer development program in Northern California, we are pleased to announce that with the support of the Board of Directors, current Placer United Pro Staff Coach Kelcey Chaidez has been promoted to the position of Director of Technical Development for the U9-13 boys and girls age groups. In this position, Kelcey will be responsible for developing and implementing a standardized, rigorous, and age-appropriate technical skills development curriculum for all players in the U9-13 age groups. He will also be responsible for developing an outreach program aimed at generating greater numbers of younger players to the club. This will be done through our Juniors program and other programs to ensure players benefit from this technical training at the earliest possible ages.

Kelcey is a highly accomplished coach who is well known to many of our families already. He joined Placer United in 2008 following a successful stint of coaching in the Santa Rosa area, including seven years as staff coach with the Santa Rosa United Soccer Club. He also served as Assistant Head Coach for the Santa Rosa Junior College when they won State and National Championships.

Kelcey’s teams are always very skilled and he holds his players to a high technical standard. He will be a very valuable resource for the players and the soccer club moving forward. He brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise into this position. His work rate and passion for developing players will be an asset to the entire Placer United community.

Kelcey holds an USSF National “B” license, a National Youth Diploma, and NCSAA Goalkeeping 1 & 2 diplomas. Beyond his credentials, Kelcey is a passionate advocate of the game in general and the Placer United Soccer Club in particular, having performed many outreach and development duties for the Club already on an informal basis. In additional to his current coaching duties, he participates in our Placer Juniors program and constantly strives to encourage more players to take advantage of the training Placer United has to offer.

Kelcey is very excited for this new position and opportunity with Placer United. He will work very hard to develop our younger players to their full potential and promote the soccer club.

Please join your Board of Directors, Co-Coaching Directors, and his fellow coaches in congratulating Kelcey on this new position and promotion.

Sincerely,

Ron Benjamin and Paul O’Brien

Co-Directors of Coaching

A number of Placer United Girls teams were in action this past weekend. These events, for most teams, were the kickoff events for the new season!!

Reno, Nevada

U12 Girls Black 99 – 1 win, 2 losses and 1 draw

U14 Girls Black 97 – 3 wins and 1 loss – Semi-Finals (lost in pk’s)

US Club Regionals in Modesto

U13 Girls Gold 98 – 1 win and 2 losses – Super Group

U14 Girls Gold 97 – 3 wins and 1 loss – Semi-Finals – Super Group

U15 Girls Gold 96 – 1 win and 2 losses – Super Group

U16 Girls Gold 95 – 1 win and 2 losses – Super Group

U16 Girls black 95 – 2 wins and 1 loss – Premier Group

U17 Girls Black 94 – 2 wins and 1 loss – Premier Group

Congrats to all players on a great start to the season!

Three female players from the Placer United Soccer Club were selected, after a tryout, to an exclusive training session with US National Youth Team Coach, Mike Dickey.

The players that were selected included Paige Crouch and Madalyn Schiffel from the 95 Gold team and Lauren Gollnick from the 94 Gold team.

The Player Development Program (PDP) held the workouts last Sunday in Oakland. The PDP program is a tool that Nor-Cal Premier Soccer (www.norcalpremier.com ) uses to identify the top players in Cal-North and other states. There were 3 different sessions for the following age groups (96, 95, 94)

The girls participated in an “Invite Only” training session/screening and then were informed that they will move on to the exclusive session for only 21 players in the 94 age group. That session will be held June 29th in Santa Rosa.

Congratulations to the girls as they experience training with the US National Team Staff!

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Soccer Enthusiasts:

I hope that you are well. I just wanted to bring you up to speed with some changes that have been going on in my life. Last week I was offered an opportunity to join the Twin City Youth Soccer Association in Winston Salem, North Carolina, as their new Director of Coaching. After much discussion with my wife, we feel that this will be a fantastic move for us as a family.

Those of you who know me well, also know I have two young children, my six-year-old son Knox, and my daughter, Haige, who is almost three. My daughter is a Special Needs child with global development delay. When she was six months old, we were told that she would never walk or talk. Two months ago, she was rushed to the hospital and kept in intensive care for three days after swallowing a hair barrette. The barrette was removed from her throat through the side of her esophagus. I was in Los Angeles at the time with the CDA U16 team. I quickly flew back to be with my family. As a parent, my life flashed before my eyes and the realization that life is so precocious and extremely short became more apparent. This move to North Carolina has come around very quickly and the changes it brings have become very overwhelming.

This opportunity will offer my wife, Megan, the chance to take some time off from working and continue to become an incredible Mum. She and I can spend more time with our children. Megan’s family lives in Michigan and mine still reside in the UK. This was another deciding factor in the move as it will bring us a lot closer to where our families are located and allow us to have our kids become a bigger part of their lives. My daughter has recovered well and has recently, after many hours of therapy, started to walk. We are hopeful her development continues. Winston Salem offers a couple of incredible Special Needs programs we hope Haige will qualify for.

As of July 3rd, I will be leaving Placer United to begin my new role in North Carolina. I am happy to say that the Placer United Board of Directors has made some excellent choices in my replacements. Ron Benjamin will take full control of the Girls Development Program and Paul O’Brien will take on the daily operations of the boys side, as well as, continuing to work with San Juan SC and the CDA program. Ron and Paul both have years of exemplary experience in the soccer industry. After spending the past eight years with Paul and three with Ron, I want you to be assured that they will continue to develop the players and the soccer club to the great standard that you have become accustomed to.

I’d also like to take this time to thank all of the wonderful coaching staff at Placer United, in particular those that have been with me for five or six years: Jason Gantt, James Kavanagh, Lee Callow, Gene DuChateau and Matt Scamacca. There have been many volunteers that came through the Club during my time ere and I would like to thank them also, including past Board Members Cindy Schnider and Chris Peters whose support in the early days of the job were very much needed. Thank you to the current Board of Directors and volunteers who work tirelessly in their support of me as the DOC, my incredible team managers, Linda Ito, Chris Peters, Michelle Schiffel, as well as, the mentors that I have gained along the way from various areas of the country: Fred Wilson at Mustang Soccer Club, Benjamin Ziemer at Nor Cal Premier Soccer League, Tara Erikson at University of Oregon, Cal South DOC Steve Hoffman, Chris Little at Greensboro Youth Soccer Club, Brad Wylde at the Charlotte Soccer Academy and Jill Ellis at UCLA. I can’t thank you enough for all the support. Lastly, I would like to add a huge thank you to Paul O’Brien, Ron Benjamin, Scott Juniper, Mark Carr, Fraser Morrison, Mike Smith, Justin Niefhoff, Joey Hoffman, Paul Furlong and Paul Thomas for always being there with advice and great times!

Thank you for allowing me to serve you as the Director of Coaching. It is a role that I have taken very seriously and have always been extremely passionate about. I also want to let you know what a great pleasure it has been getting to know you. I’m very proud to have been part of the Sacramento area soccer community for the past eight years and I hope I have been able to make a difference.

I look forward to finishing out the rest of my time with Placer United and seeing you all out on the field.

Nathan Williams

Executive Director of Coaching

Placer United Soccer Club

“Dedicated to Development”

Dear Placer United Soccer Club families:

On behalf of the entire PUSC Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce to you that we have promoted Girls Director of Coaching Ron Benjamin and Boys Director of Coaching Paul O’Brien to the positions of Co-Directors of Coaching. The Board made this decision, and Ron and Paul accepted the positions, last night.

This decision was made after Nathan Williams informed us Thursday that, due primarily to personal and family obligations, he would be moving to North Carolina and taking a position as Director of Coaching with the Twin City Youth Soccer Association.

Nathan has asked us to let you know that he will be personally emailing all of our families himself with more details about his move and the reasons behind them. You can expect that email shortly.

The Board and the entire PUSC community thank Nathan for all he has done for our Club in the past eight years, and wish him and his family the very best. Nathan did a tremendous job in helping us implement our vision to be one of the nation’s premier competitive youth soccer organizations, with a focus on player development and creating a club mentality. It is a testament to the growth and strength of our club that two top coaches and soccer professionals like Ron and Paul, each of whom could be candidates in their own right to direct any of the nation’s top clubs, will be working together to take Placer United to even higher levels.

Paul O’Brien has been the driving force in developing the NorCal Premier Soccer playing league into the league of choice for Division 1 competitive soccer programs. He holds a U.S. Soccer Federation National “B” soccer coaching license. Ron Benjamin, who joined PUSC in 2007 after serving as Director of Coaching at Marin Football Club, holds a National “A” license and is recognized among his peers as a top technical soccer development coach.

Both Ron and Paul have already begun peppering us with ideas, some new, and some they have been working on for some time with Nathan. This is an exciting time for our Soccer Club, because every change, even saying good-bye to a dear friend like Nathan, gives us a chance to evaluate ourselves. We already believe we have become the top club in Northern California, but we measure ourselves against the best in the nation, and we know we can always get better.

If you have any questions, you can always contact me, any Board member, Ron or Paul, or any of our coaches.

The one thing that will never be in doubt is the Club’s commitment to our soccer families. The strength of our soccer club is in every player, every coach, every parent, and every volunteer. We are “ClubStrong.” We will always remain committed to player development and to creating the very best competitive youth soccer experience for you and your children.

Please join us again in congratulating Ron and Paul in their new positions, and in thanking Nathan for all he has done for us. We wish him, his wife Megan, and their children our very best.

Sincerely,

Jodi Tarr

Club Administrator