The A&M Student Are Back!

Texas A&M students return to classes this week following a 5-week long winter holiday.  I often laugh that this must be one of the longest Christmas breaks of any college in America! I know of several schools around the nation have been back in class for nearly 2 weeks!  But, I’m sure that Aggies don’t mind being away from classes a little longer…

So, with the start of classes, we’re also excited about the start of our non-traditional soccer season at A&M.  This is a fun time for our players and coaches, but it is busier than you may think.  It might surprise you to learn that we actually do more during an average week in the spring than we do during our “traditional” fall season.  That’s because Aggie soccer players and coaches understand that, although championship trophies are “lifted” in the fall, they are won due to what happens ALL year long.

Our spring season is when we concentrate heavily on player development and tweaking the parts of our individual player’s game that need the most improvement, while fine-tuning the characteristics and skills, that make each of our players special.

We believe that this is an incredibly important time of the year for us.  The spring is when we do all the foundation work that leads to winning championships in the fall/winter!

Newest Aggie to be Introduced Early This Week!

This week we’ll be introducing our newest Aggie Soccer Player to the public.  So, keep an eye on www.aggiesoccer.com for the press release to announce this exciting addition to our soccer family!

More Aggies IN with National Team!

I’m always excited to see our players earn the opportunity to chase their dreams!

One dream that many soccer players share all around the world is the chance to represent their country’s National Soccer Team in any age group.  It’s even better if that particular team is one of the very elite teams on Earth and has a chance to win a FIFA sponsored World Championship.  All USA Women’s National Teams are expected to compete for and win World Championships!

We are very proud of Texas A&M’s Alyssa Mautz who was a member of the USA U20’s team that won the World Cup in 2008. You can see her holding the World Chapionship Trophy in this photo.

Prior to transferring to A&M in January of ’08, Alyssa had never been given a serious look with the national Team, but she jumped on her opportunity and made the most of it, becoming one of the final players chosen for the U20 national Team, and earning an experience of a lifetime.

Alyssa now is with the U23 National Team, along with Kristin Arnold. Both are taking advantage of the experiences they’ve gained as Aggie soccer players to help the United Sates.

You can click HERE to read the full press release.

Later this semester, we expect to see Beth West return into the U20 National Team once she’s back to full fitness following her full rehab of her knee from micro-fracture surgery in October.  And, you could hear of other Aggies who get the call as opportunities open up.

New A&M Soccer Camp Website is Nearly Ready!

I am very excited about some of the new additions to our summer camp line-up in 2010.  We have added a few new camper options to our already great soccer camp this year.  We think the variety offered will suit the many different needs of our campers and their families.

So, keep an eye on www.CoachG.com and www.AggieSoccerCamp.com for the 2010 Soccer Camps in Aggieland!

Once we launch this new website, you’ll be able to immediately register your soccer player for a 2010 session.  Just so you know, we do overnight camps for 11-18 year old boys and girls in June and July, shorter overnight camps for 9 and 10 year olds, and we’ll offer day Camp sessions for younger players (boys and girls ages 5-10) in July.

National Signing Day getting closer

The first day for seniors in high school to sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI) is the first Wednesday in February.  This is the same signing day used for NCAA football, track, and field.

This is always a day filled with excitement around the nation, and it will be no different at Texas A&M this time around.  The only little change for us this time around is the simple fact that we’re not signing too many new players in 2010 since we’ll be returning 26 of 29 players from our 2009 team.

I’ve joked with our players that our biggest additions in 2010 may possibly be getting back the injured players who were key starters for us in 2008 – Beth West, Amber Gnatzig, and Raven Tatum.

As usual, you can expect Texas A&M to have the best NLI signing day coverage on the web.  No other athletic program seems to do as good a job as our webmaster and staff at A&M – something we’re all very proud of!

Competition will be Great!

Later this week, our players will begin nearly daily training with our speed and conditioning coach Paul Sealey.  Then, in a few weeks, we’ll start soccer specific practices again.

All of our players were given daily workout programs to perform at home over the holidays.  Additionally, our injured players were working under the supervision of their doctors and physical therapists to put themselves in position to join team training sessions as early as possible in 2010.

So, you can imagine how pumped up our coaches are at the idea of having all of our players back up to 100% fitness this spring.

You can be sure that the players worked hard on their fitness during the holiday.  These players know that we run a “fair” program.  Playing time in games is rewarded to the players who do the best in practice and who will give us the best opportunity to win against each particular opponent – not who might have a better career resume.  They know how hard their teammates have worked “when nobody was watching” and they understand how competitive training will be here in Aggieland now that everyone is back.

2010 Spring Soccer Dates

I am nearly finished putting together our game schedule for the 2010 Non-traditional Soccer Season – The Spring Season.  I don’t yet have kickoff times listed for these matches, but I am pretty confident of the dates being firm.  I’m still may slide one or two more opponents into these dates.

All of our Spring Games will be played at The Aggie Soccer Stadium.  And, admission to all the games this spring is FREE!  Here is the tentative 2010 spring game schedule:

Saturday February 20^th – 17^th Annual 7v7 Tournament at Texas A&M (9am-4pm)

Also on Saturday February 20^th – Texas A&M Soccer Awards Banquet (7pm in The Zone Club at Kyle Field); tickets to the banquet cost $35 - all people interested in attending can email request for tickets to Curt Magnuson cmagnuson@athletics.tamu.edu by February 12^th.

Saturday March 6^th – Home Games vs. Utah and North Texas

Saturday March 27 – Home vs. Baylor

Good Friday, April 2^nd – Home vs. BYU

Saturday April 10^th – Home Games vs. SMU and Houston

Thanks Again! – I want to thank all of our incredible fans again for your support in 2009.  

It seems like we be hosting a bazillion games for you to see at the Aggie Soccer Stadium in 2010, so I hope that you are as excited as we are for the new year to finally be here.

In my future blogs, I’ll talk a little more about our recruiting, future stadium projects, and how Aggie Soccer Players continue to make big, positive impacts on kids and families in our community.

Thanks and Gig ‘em – Coach G