http://www.insidemnsoccer.com Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:15:48 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 2006-2007 insidemnsoccer@gmail.com insidemnsoccer@gmail.com 1440 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://www.insidemnsoccer.com 144 144 Just another WordPress weblog insidemnsoccer@gmail.com no no http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/11/16/usl-confirms-vsi-will-operate-usl-pro-team-in-tampa-in-2013/ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/11/16/usl-confirms-vsi-will-operate-usl-pro-team-in-tampa-in-2013/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:38:01 +0000 Brian Quarstad http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/?p=29526 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/11/16/usl-confirms-vsi-will-operate-usl-pro-team-in-tampa-in-2013/feed/ 147 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/11/14/visionpro-sports-institute-to-announce-usl-affiliation-in-tampa-with-usl-pro-team-for-2013/ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/11/14/visionpro-sports-institute-to-announce-usl-affiliation-in-tampa-with-usl-pro-team-for-2013/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:57:37 +0000 Brian Quarstad http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/?p=29442 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/11/14/visionpro-sports-institute-to-announce-usl-affiliation-in-tampa-with-usl-pro-team-for-2013/feed/ 98 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/09/26/the-austin-aztex-are-back/ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/09/26/the-austin-aztex-are-back/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:57:53 +0000 Brian Quarstad http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/?p=28087 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/09/26/the-austin-aztex-are-back/feed/ 18 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/08/07/kitsap-pumas-capture-pdl-crown/ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/08/07/kitsap-pumas-capture-pdl-crown/#comments Sun, 07 Aug 2011 16:32:35 +0000 Gerry Wittmann http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/?p=26869 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/08/07/kitsap-pumas-capture-pdl-crown/feed/ 0 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/07/04/the-st-louis-lions-path-to-success/ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/07/04/the-st-louis-lions-path-to-success/#comments Mon, 04 Jul 2011 21:57:04 +0000 Gerry Wittmann http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/?p=25865 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/07/04/the-st-louis-lions-path-to-success/feed/ 5 0:07:04 A young #22, Tony Glavin, dribbles the ball. A young man is picked up in a chauffeured Rolls-Royce to sign a new contract at the age of 19 and who shortly thereafter was keeping company with international football/soccer stars. Jumpcut thirty years [...] A young #22, Tony Glavin, dribbles the ball. A young man is picked up in a chauffeured Rolls-Royce to sign a new contract at the age of 19 and who shortly thereafter was keeping company with international football/soccer stars. Jumpcut thirty years later to see that same man driving a school bus that’s seen better days (better decades, actually) full of unheralded young soccer players. A common reaction to these two stories about the same individual could be this was another tale of the excesses of fame bestowed on someone too young to handle it. Instead it’s the story of Tony Glavin, his soccer organization and his PDL St. Louis Lions. Success is measured in different ways by different people, but no matter how you cut it this story is a tale of success. Last week IMSoccer News reported that the St. Louis Lions had announced an official partnership with fabled soccer club Glasgow Celtic F.C. The affiliation is the culmination of Tony Glavin’s dream, to partner with the iconic team of his Glasgow youth, a team his older brother played for and whose pride, tradition and sense of community he so thoroughly absorbed that he incorporated it into every fabric of his being. After a two-hour meeting with Lions’ fans and club members last Monday, Glavin, a former pro in the NASL 30 years ago, was asked about the significance of the new partnership. Glavin responded, “There are always milestones in your career, and this certainly tops it. It’s just not something that I ever imagined would happen. But to be associated with Celtic football club, and to be able to bring them to St. Louis, is a very special thing.” After Glavin was Rolls-Royced to his signing with the Philadelphia Fury in 1978, the teenager spent three years in the NASL playing against many of the true superstars of the game — players like George Best, Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer. Although he scored the first and final goals in the Fury’s three-year history, Glavin turned to the indoor game with the St. Louis Steamers to make a living and starred for the St. Louis Steamers until injury hobbled him at age 25. That injury forced him to retire two years later. During his playing years Glavin was always interested in player development and was constantly working to improve his own game by studying the latest techniques coming into the sport. He pestered Steamers coach Pat McBride to start a reserve side of young players to build up a talent base. So it was natural that Glavin eventually went into coaching after his playing days. Fortunate, too, because like so many young football talents of his day, Tony had quit school to commit himself to the game. He went to work in the Glasgow shipyards at 16 and tried his hand at becoming a professional player, which left him no education or degree to fall back on. By 1994, Glavin had started his Tony Glavin Soccer Club in the Cottleville suburbs of the St. Louis metro area. The club has since grown to 40 teams, which includes young boys and girls ages 4 and 5, learning the basics of kicking and trapping the ball, all the way to young adults refining their skills. In 1995 he obtained a USL franchise in the Premier Development League. The PDL began as the USISL Premier Development League in 1995 before adopting its current moniker in 1999. Over 64 amateur teams in the U.S, Canada and Bermuda currently compete in the fourth level summer league, populated mostly by college-aged players. It is the backbone of the American game, and one can judge its merit by simply noticing that six of the players on the USMNT Gold Cup roster this June played on PDL clubs earlier in their careers, as have many former U.S. internationals. (There are about five PDL clubs that have taken advantage of the new PDL PRO program, where players receive some financial compensation). The Unglamorous World of the PDL A St. Louis Lions game on May 28th of this year. Photo by Bill Barrett The[...] Interviews, PDL, Podcast, USL insidemnsoccer@gmail.com no no http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/06/24/st-louis-lions-announce-affiliation-with-scottish-club-celtic/ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/06/24/st-louis-lions-announce-affiliation-with-scottish-club-celtic/#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 22:33:46 +0000 Gerry Wittmann http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/?p=22428 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/06/24/st-louis-lions-announce-affiliation-with-scottish-club-celtic/feed/ 7 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/02/18/pdl-releases-2011-schedule/ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/02/18/pdl-releases-2011-schedule/#comments Fri, 18 Feb 2011 10:00:28 +0000 From the Wire http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/?p=22082 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/02/18/pdl-releases-2011-schedule/feed/ 3 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/01/15/usl-premier-development-league-pdl-making-its-mark-in-mls/ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/01/15/usl-premier-development-league-pdl-making-its-mark-in-mls/#comments Sun, 16 Jan 2011 03:50:16 +0000 Brian Quarstad http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/?p=21197 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/01/15/usl-premier-development-league-pdl-making-its-mark-in-mls/feed/ 3 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2010/11/16/canadian-soccer-associations-decision-could-effect-future-for-nasl-and-usl/ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2010/11/16/canadian-soccer-associations-decision-could-effect-future-for-nasl-and-usl/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:27:50 +0000 Brian Quarstad http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/?p=20369 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2010/11/16/canadian-soccer-associations-decision-could-effect-future-for-nasl-and-usl/feed/ 10 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2010/11/15/rochester-thunder-fold-pdl-team-after-two-short-but-good-years/ http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2010/11/15/rochester-thunder-fold-pdl-team-after-two-short-but-good-years/#comments Tue, 16 Nov 2010 04:16:42 +0000 Brian Quarstad http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/?p=20355 http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/2010/11/15/rochester-thunder-fold-pdl-team-after-two-short-but-good-years/feed/ 8