These players will wear a special Activity monitor at least one hour per day for the next 30 days. They will upload this data via their computer to their website portal which will keep track of all the data. It will also allow each particpant to compare their progress with the other players in the program. Particpants can also initiate challenges with other players.

Cerner is headquartered in Kansas City and is one of the largest medial/healthcare software companies in the world. Their ownership are the main owners in OnGoal, the company that owns the Kansas City Wizards.

The boys also particpated in the 94.9 radio Stuff the Bus program on saturday night, donating school supplies to benefit the City Union Mission.

Chris and Jim M got the monster grill fired up and started on the brisket, hot dogs and burgers. HA got us going with ceviche appetizers and everyone was happy. Jim S got the 305 top and the flags up and we were looking good. Mark had brought a cooler full of dry ice and ice cream treats. The kids were loving it. I can’t believe how fast the time flew by between 2 and 4. We headed towards the “new Arrowhead” at 4:30 after packin up, the boys in their Wizards face paint and in good voice.

The crowd was over 50,000 (52,424 officially) and lots of red shirts. The boys were singing “Wizards til I die” to any red shirt that walked by. We had great seats in 110 with the cauldron crew behind the goal. The atmosphere was electric and stepped up a notch with the flyover (One england paper said the T-38 Jets came from “Orangeburg, Missouri”. http://tinyurl.com/26z3r6k .

The Wizards started strong and were playing with  the heart we had been looking for the last few home games. The Cauldron was in good voice and the sun came out and started baking the crowd. Davey Arnaud scored in the 11th minute from an excellent pass from Kai Kamara putting the Wizards up 1 to 0 on the ManU giants. Just being up 1 to 0 on ManU felt great. The half was excellent and in the 40th, Berbatov got through the Wizards defense and Jimmy Conrad had to make a from behind tackle to try to stop him. The ref pointed to the spot and sent Jimmy to the locker room early with a red (which most of the English press called ‘harsh”. The penalty by Berbatov drew ManU level. But the Wizards came right back and Kai Kamara (what a game from Kai) smashed a header from Ryan Smith’s corner. ManU argued it didn’t go over – but it was a goal and the Wizards went in at half leading 2 to 1.

The 2nd half was mostly ManU with KCW playing with only 10. Sunil Chhetri got in the game with about 20 minutes to go and the crowd really responded. The Wizards were able to hang on and win 2 – 1!!! The Cauldron and the Wizards fans were singing loud with the historic win. The boys were having a blast and celebrating the  victory.

Check out these links – Official Press Releas - http://tinyurl.com/2d9j97n
Quote Sheet – http://tinyurl.com/278orlp
The Sun – http://tinyurl.com/2eelp7v
Giggs interview on ManU site – http://tinyurl.com/2eord5t

Thanks everyone for putting together such a terrific road trip. It was one of the great experiences that I am sure the boys will never forget.

Everyone queued up and they worked us through the line. As we entered the room they were trying to speed things up and push us through. A hand touched my shoulder and a strong Scottish accent provided me with further instructions. It was Sir Alex Ferguson. I surprisingly acknowledged Sir Alex and welcomed him to Kansas City. At the same time, Berbatov was signing Maelin’s hat and Edwin Van der Sar was signing Riley’s goalie gloves. Our ManU kit moved through line picking up all their signatures. I was able to stop and greet Ryan Giggs and he signed his card for me. Pretty sweet.

We headed outside and the weather had cleared off. After the autograph session they would go ahead and do training, so we headed out to the training pitch to get a good spot. It was exciting to see all thes players in person, but personally greeting Sir Alex was the most exciting moment. Riley and I had attended a Chelsea practice session a few years ago in Bridgeview and had the good fortune to meet Jose Mourinho. Not bad, a soccer coach from Sedalia having the pleasure of meeting both Jose Mourinho AND Sir Alex Ferguson including watching both run their squads through training. Hopefully something will rub off.

Hannibal came out strong and were putting a lot of balls through for their forwards to run onto. The long field was really stretching us out and we were chasing them down. Ian made some great saves and everyone was giving it their all to track them down and regain possession. Hannibal scored about ten minutes into the half to go up 1 to 0. Alex scored in the 15th minute to tie it up on a nice across field pass from Tanner that Alex one touched around the defender and after another good first touch, smashed it into the back of the net to tie the game at 1 to 1.

Hannibal was able to get another breakaway through and their forward hit a rocket shot far post to give them the lead at halftime 2 to 1. The heat was tremendous and the moisture in the grass from the earlier rain truly created a sauna-like experience. The boys were working hard and their muscles were getting tired from playing their fifth game of the weekend in such hot conditions. We had a good halftime talk and while exhausted, the boys were ready to go out and try to get the equalizer.

We had some amazing chances – balls off the crossbar, ricocheting off the near post and bouncing out off the other post. Breakaways and one on one’s. But we just couldn’t seem to get one to drop. Hannibal scored their third about 10 minutes in and we did some shuffling to beef up the midfield and clsoe the back. Trey Beerman was sent in to put pressure on the ball all over the field and he did just that for nearly 15 minutes. What an effort. We shut down their scoring, but just didn’t have the legs or the numbers up front to get another goal. The boys worked so hard, but when the whistle blew, were down 3 to 1 to a good Hannibal side.

I am really proud of the boys going into this tournament as a new team of u9 and u10 players, playing 8 v 8 for the first time. 5 games in these conditions with just a few practices was brutal. But these boys worked hard, showed some class and got some attention. Bringing home the Silver medal the first time out is a fantastic result. I would have been happy with just getting to the Semi-Finals, but beating the #1 seed 6 to 0 and then giving Hannibal such a touch match exceeded all my expectations. Well done!

The boys were really excited to play and the delay probably helped us a bit. The field sloped downhill a bit east to west and we won the toss and elected to go down the first half. Green kicked off sending the ball back into their own half and found themselves quickly surrounded by several white shirts. It was game on and our more typical Pressure, Pace and Possession (also known around here as Wembley Mode).

The game was wide open from the first whistle and both teams had some good chances. Ian made some outstanding saves as did their goalie. We were having the run of possession as the half wore on. We finally scored on a terrific near post shot from Dylan and went up 1 to 0 with 10 minutes to go in the half. The Green Machine goalie hit his head on the post after his dive to save the ball and the game was stopped for a while. Thankfully he just got a knot on the back of his head but he had to leave the game.

Hunter then scored two minutes later to put us up 2 to 0. We were pushing hard and getting several good opportunities. With a few minutes left in the half, Dylan scored again to put us up 3 to 0 at halftime.

We knew they would come out hard and we needed to work hard to maintain our lead. The Green Machine had some good chances and Ian kept the ball out of the net. We went to two midfielders in the middle and in the 11th minute, Tanner found the net to put us up 4 to 0. Three minutes later Hunter banged home a break away to put us up 5 to 0. Before I could get our subs in, Hunter scored again to make it 6 to 0. We played with 4-5 u9 players all on the field the rest of the game and finished strong to record our first shutout of the tournament.

The boys really worked hard and it all came together against a very strong club. This was their game of the tournament and everyone had worked hard to get us into the final. We would face Hannibal again for the final.

It was a completely different team that took the field at 5:00. We jumped out to an early lead and by halftime were up 5 to 0. It could have easily been more including a couple of questionable offside calls that negated a couple of goals. At halftime we discussed how in the previous two games we had been miserable in the second half and that we needed to put together a good half AND get plenty of subs in and out. Our goal was 3 or 5 goals for the second half.

Moberly came out harder in the second half playing more physical and with more pressure. We started slow but built up possession, returned the pressure and the goals started falling. By the end of the half we had scored 5 more and Moberly had snuck in one for a final score of 10 to 1 and a trip to the semi-finals Sunday morning.

Terrill Construction beat the #7 seed 12 to 0. LK Brazil beat the #3 seed 9 to 1 and we beat the #4 seed 10 to 1. So the two teams we had played earlier both went through. We would be playing the #1 seed the Green Machine in the semi-final at 9:30 am on Sunday. And the boys soaked me with the water jug. Cold and very wet through and through. Totally worth it.

The game started out well with both teams getting stretched out on the long field. Hunter scored to put us up 1 to 0 and we were on a roll. Both teams had several chances and we had a couple one on one’s and wide open nets that we just couldn’t put a way.

In the second half, they came out strong and we came out flat. They tied the score 1 to 1. When Terrill scored again to go up 2 to 1, our heads really dropped. But we had plenty of time to get back into the game. Terrill scored again to make it 3 to 1. This seemed to get us back into the game and we had some really good chances. Unfortunately they got a really soft goal that somehow found the back of the net and we were down 4 to 1 with less than five minutes to play. For the last five minutes of the game, we really outplayed them with several opportunities. We got one more goal to make it 4 to 2 and right at the end almost got another with the shot just skimming the crossbar.

The games in the bracket were close with the Green Machine beating out Terrill Construction by 1 point to get the #1 seed and the Bye. 305 and two other teams all had 6 points and we were within a couple points of each other. After all the calculations (and about an hour) we end up with the #5 seed and would play the Moberly Storm the #4 seed.

Many of the players and parents viewed this game as the first loss for U10 in 2010. But this is not the u10 team that played this spring. This is a new team that was put together for the Show Me Games. We are no longer playing 6v6 on age specific fields. We have a roster now of 12, not 9 and we have one fewer U10 player and a total of 5 u9 players. We are now playing 8 v 8 on oversized fields. So this team has played 2 games and stands at 1 – 0 – 1 so far.

In any case, any reason is always a great reason for 305 Spin boys to take the field. Everyone was at field 14 in Cosmo park early and gathered under the shade tree. We took the field for pre-game at 4:00 and the boys were ready. The parents all pitched in and got our top in place and all our water, gatorade, oranges and spritz bottles and wet towels.

We started in our usual fashion and scored two goals in the first five minutes. Hunter taking it through the defense and beating the keeper on  both goals. We had plenty more opportunities and Ian didn’t have much to do in goal most of the half. Trenton Willis made one of his trademark runs from the back and put us up 3 to 0 for the halftime break.

In the second half the other team came out much stronger and it was a better half of soccer. The ridiculously long fields for this age group (at least 75 yards) really stretched out play and took away short passing. Brazil got a goal to make it 3 to 1. Riley scored to put us up 4 to 1 and pretty much put the game away. Brazil got one more to make the final score 4 to 2. A great start for the tournament and having 4 subs, we were able to keep everyone as healthy as could be expected in this crazy heat.

 Friday, July 16 – LK Brazil – High Ridge
Field 14 Cosmo Park – 4:30pm
At field– 3:30pm ready to start game warmup 3:50pm
NOTE: – You will need to give yourself plenty of time to get into Cosmo park, find the field and park.
There may be traffic all the way from Stadium drive to the Park itself.
We are the visiting team – WEAR WHITE – bring RED for backup (We are thinking to wear the white in the heat of the afternoon).

Saturday, July 17 – Terrill Construction – Hannibal
Field 15 Cosmo Park – 9:30am
At field– 8:30am ready to start game warmup 8:50am
We are the Home team – WEAR RED – bring white for backup

 Saturday, July 17 – Quarterfinals
#1 Seed gets a bye. Seeds are based on points. See Rules below for how the Points will be determined
if we play at 3:30 – #2 vs #7
Field 12 Cosmo Park – 3:30pm
At field– 2:30pm ready to start game warmup 2:50pm
WEAR WHITE – bring RED for backup

If we play at 5:00 – #3 vs #6
Field 13 Cosmo Park – 5:00pm
At field– 4:00pm – ready to start game warmup 4:20pm
WEAR WHITE – bring RED for backup

If we play at 5:00 – #4 vs #5
Field 14 Cosmo Park – 5:00pm
At field– 4:00pm – ready to start game warmup 4:20pm
WEAR WHITE – bring RED for backup

Sunday, July 18 – Semi finals
Both Semi-Final games are at 9;30am on Field 13 and 14
Field 13 or 14 Cosmo Park – 9:30am
At field– 8:30am – ready to start game warmup 8:50am
WEAR RED – bring white for backup

Sunday, July 18 – Final – 12:30pm
If we have survived this far:
Field 14 Cosmo Park – 12:30pm
At field– 11:30am – ready to start game warmup 11:50am
WEAR WHITE – bring RED for backup

Here are the rules:
http://smsg.org/brackets/soccer/SMSGSoccerRules.pdf