#espzen

It has been a while since we updated so here's what everyone at ESPZEN Soccer School has been busy with...

On April 6th 2014, ESPZEN's 15th Youth Soccer Festival took place at the Centaurs Pitch in Turf City, and it was a scorcher!! The sun took no prisoners while ACS, Barker Boys, ESS Black, ESS U9, ESS Yellow, SMSA and Nasir Nazri Academy all took to the field for another wonderful afternoon of football.

As always, all the matches were played in good spirits and all players adhered to the sportsmanship handshake at the end of each match. With some excellent soccer on display, it was a closely fought contest. Congratulations to ESS in the end who secured the gold and silver medals.

ESPZEN Soccer School's U9 team came up against the well respected and able Read Madrid Foundation Academy Singapore in a recent league fixture.

Before the game, ESPZEN players were asked to focus on a) positional awareness b) movement into space to support team mate in possession c) dominate possession of the ball d) keep it simple and e) enjoy themselves. Five key objectives which underpin the essence of our training and club philosophy that allows the players to make maximum use of the ball. Teaching the players how to play before how to win is a fundamental belief ESPZEN Soccer School holds.

With the players achieving their key objectives by half time, they were rewarded with two goals. However, having attempted twenty one shots - hitting the bar or post four times - the players were given a new objective to raise their team conversion rate. Our opponents provided a stern test by defending admirably, forcing us often to take shots from further out rather than working the ball into the penalty area.

During the second half, the players managed to create many more opportunities and converted six while only conceding a long range free kick. The final score finished ESPZEN Soccer School 8 vs Real Madrid 1.

On January 25th 2014, ESPZEN Soccer School had the pleasure of hosting Boys United at Canadian International School, Lakeside, in the U8, U10, U12 age groups.

We have an exciting line up on International Tournaments to look forward to across 2014. Starting with the 4th Phuket International Tournament over Chinese New Year. The international tournament calendar is subject to change based on response and availability of players, however at this point in time ESPZEN Soccer School is considering entering the following tournaments.

  30th Jan – 1st Feb               Phuket                 Thailand                               4th Phuket International Tournament

22nd Mar – 23rd Mar         Hanoi                    Vietnam                               5th HYFL International Tournament

7th Jun – 8th Jun                Bangkok               Thailand                               Bangkok Super Cup

Nov                                        Kuala Lumpur    Malaysia                              10th Dato Chu – Royal Selangor Club

Dec                                        Bangkok               Thailand                               Bangkok International Festival

  The world renowned Gothia Cup takes place in July and subject to consideration ESPZEN may enter a team into this tournament if there is strong interest and demand from our players born between 2001 and 2004.

Happy New Year to all parents and our young footballers – from all the ESPZEN Coaches. We are sure 2014 will be a superb year of football development for one and all. We look forward to seeing all our Weekend Training footballers on Saturday 4th January / Sunday 5th January and all our Midweek players the following Tuesday and Thursday.

  ESPZEN is committed to developing both a Soccer School and Academy program for our young footballers. We are equally committed to both programs which are seen as complimentary, and both programs will be taught using the following core principles:

We believe that Football starts with the head and the not with the foot. Thus, Players must be able to think about the game. “An ounce of intelligence is worth more than a pound of muscle" - Horst Wein (2004)

We constantly aim to stimulate and not to instruct

We wish to develop both technically skilled players and intelligent football players who understand the game

We give huge emphasis on small-sided games as players will learn from ‘game like’ situations

We value winning but not more than character and performance

We teach good sportsmanship and support the RESPECT Campaign

    We provide a safe & educational experience that meets best practice criteria by:

Having a maximum Coach to Child ratio of 1:12

Trying to play attacking, creative football whenever possible

Using correct size ball for the age group which is conducive to building confidence and learning speed

We believe that all players should enjoy their football regardless of ability

We endeavour to produce players, and not coaches, who are problem solvers

  Soccer School

ESPZEN has both a Soccer School and an Academy program. The Soccer School program is generally for players who can train once a week or possibly more, and are still learning the game and developing as a player. Our objective with the soccer school program is to give the young footballers an unrivalled soccer education and to allow these players to continuously grow and develop at a pace which is determined by the number of hours of training the player receives. Exercises may be similar to those of the Academy, however games will be modified in terms of pace, speed, size, and objectives in order to be appropriate to the group. During the Soccer School training we want players to grow in confidence, interact with other players and learn the fundamental movements required to play football.

  Academy