Today, we scrimmaged NJSA 04 from New Jersey and I must admit the experience was very positive. The Coaching Staff, Kids and Parents from NJSA 04 were great all around. The Parents and Coaching Staff allowed their kids to play the game and express themselves through soccer and their kids had the desire to play the game, they actually tried to play good soccer and not just "kick and run" like we see at most tournaments at the youth level.

In my opinion, our DUSC U9s faced some very good competition this early into our season (only 2 weeks in) and I think they held themselves up very well against such competition. When the games were played amongst our own kids (We had 5 teams and NJSA had 1 team), I saw our players competing against one another in a very friendly manner, which put a smile on my face. It felt like they, our U9 players, understand that they are a group, a large group of 30 something kids and that they have to lookout for each while being competitive to make each other better players. I got that feeling by watching them today. It was a great first scrimmage for our U9s, the most important thing is not how many games we won against NJSA but that our U9s enjoyed themselves playing soccer with their teammates and also against the NJSA kids.

Last, I would like to thank our U9 Parents, for not pressuring our kids on the sidelines and allowing them to play and to make their own decisions on the field.

Mike