The United States Soccer Federation ran one of its Licensing Courses in Casa Grande, Arizona January 10-19. The course included candidates attending to see if they could qualify for one of the National Licenses (A, B, or C) during the time period. Coaches from all over the United States and the World are typically in attendance for these National Courses. The courses are evaluated by US Soccer National Staff Coaches during the week. Some of the areas evaluated include the ability to run field sessions, designing written lesson plans and written match evaluation.

Mike Dickey (KFJ Technical Director/Head Coach) was on staff during the course as an instructor for the 'B' course. Mike has been a USSF National Instructor since 2005.

As we strive to enhance the experience that our soccer program provides, I wanted to let you know of a fresh expansion that will only serve to increase the development of our players.

In an effort to ensure that Louisville's elite soccer players have the opportunity to train and play together we have formed a collaborative relationship with some other clubs in the Louisville area, which will provide extra training opportunities in an elite environment.

Throughout the winter months players will be selected from Oldham Soccer Club (OSC), Kentucky Fire Juniors (KFJ) and Louisville Soccer Alliance (LSA) to take part in a weekly training session, led by a select number of highly experienced coaches. The players selected may change from week to week. A highly detailed training plan has been put in place which will see our top players challenged even further. The training program will be for U11/U12 and U13/U14 Boys and Girls and will be completely free for the players.

It is our hope that this venture will not only serve to increase the level of soccer, but will create a platform that promotes clubs working together for the betterment of youth soccer in the Louisville area.

I want to stress that this is not a merger of clubs, but simply an opportunity for extra training. With so many clubs in the Louisville area we believe it is critical for Louisville soccer to begin working together so that we can begin to start competing on a regional and national level.

More information on the training dates, times and locations will be coming soon, along with details on how players will be selected.

All the Best,

Brett Gregory

Director of Operations

Kentucky Fire Juniors

Mary Kate Schmidt (MVSC 94's/junior at Illinois Wesleyan) picked up several E.O.Y. honors including being named NCAA DIII Third Team All-American. The Titans were also NCAA DIII National Semi-Finalists where MK was named to the all NCAA tournament team.

Here is a link to the Illinois Wesleyan page:http://www.iwusports.com/index.aspx?tab=_soccer&path=wsoc