FC Samoa

ACADEMY BREAKS ATTENDANCE RECORD: 140 players served in a single week ! Fc Samoa has groups this Winter in Cutten, Eureka, and Crescent City...as well as 4 groups in Samoa! The club has experienced phenomenal growth in its 3rd season, and is expanding to fill its mission as a "regional" soccer resource. Youngest player on the week in question? Miles Schmidt age 5 (Pee Wee Pre-Academy). Oldest? Ethan Ricca age 39 (ok he's a Coach)
* FC Samoa ran no less than SIX (6) Futsal teams as a "companion" to our classes.

U-14 Samoa Player makes STATE PDP (North) Team!! Congratulations to Ashleigh Harrison (Mendo County and SFHS) who has made the 3rd and final cut to earn a spot on the PDP squad that is preparing players for (even higher levels of play) and a round of inter-State tourneys. This is a highly rigourous and prestigious  invitation-only program open to only the top 30 d1 players (born in 1998) in the entire Northern California playing district (thousands and thousands of female players). Ashleigh drives once or twice a month to the Bay Area to receive coaching/train with the team. One of the staff coaches is the u-17 NATIONAL team coach, who runs a few of the trainings.
  Ashleigh has also earned a TRYOUT at the professional Academy of PSG (yes the actual Paris Saint Germain pro club who are the "Arsenal" of Paris). Ash will travel in early June and spend a week at the Club, training with both the Boys and Girls' squads.
* Note the last (and we believe only??) Humboldt player to make the STATE team was the now-famous Piakai Henkel...who also went on to play U-17 pro with PSG !!! Coincidence? I think not.
Go Ashleigh Go PSG Go FC SAMOA

All classes except Goalkeeper School will end Feb 28th.
* We WILL hold classes - for those in town- over the "PREZ" week.
* Feb Dues are now due: please use the drop box in the Samoa Gym lobby; $45
* u-11 and u-14 d1 teams will (thus) begin MANDATORY Spring Training on March 1st. Fees (at that moment- March 1st) become a team-budget item and not an "Academy Dues" item. Your team Managers (Steve and Tim) will update you via email.
* Final exit skills testing (Yellow Shirt) see below. No fee. Testing is optional.

SKILLS TESTING/PHYSICAL FITNESS TESTING
Intent: to show players and parents tangible progress in all or most of the "baseline" Academy and (homework) skills. To establish and reward respect for lifelong Physical Fitness (we test all healthy athletes at the 75th percentile on State charts (5th grade/7th/9th)
Example: "A 12 year old girl runs a mile in 8m 23 secs or better" (75th pct)
PFT tests can be signed off by a parent, a PE teacher, a Coach (etc)
Mile Run/Curl Ups/Shuttle Run
Mon and Tues Testing Items:Juggling/Dribbling/

Two coaches recently spent 8 long days at DeAnza College to earn their ADVANCED NATIONAL from NCSA (equivalency A/B in USSF terms). Two other coaches attended a workshop in Davis from the (youth maestro) of Fiorentina (Florence) of the Italian Serie A.

Thanks to Kevin O'Neal of ERSC (u13G), eight of our u-14 players will travel (with 8 from ERSC) to a Tourney in Northern Sweden. Kevin is a veteran of 3 such soccer dream vacations, and we hope he will continue to offer these golden opportunities in future years. The "euro 16" is busy fundraising, so if you happen upon one of their events, please consider dropping something in the hat !

INTRODUCING: John Schmidt PT. John has over 20 years experience in the "sports injury-Physical Therapy" field. He has generously agreed to provide free game-time assessments on injuries, and present parents with options to pursue. The U-11 team is (thus) blessed with both an RN and a PT on the sidelines. We hope to bring you a fuller announcement soon re. John's role with the Club.

INTRODUCING : EMI MONAHAN: K-6 Instructor. Emi is one of several "Big Sisters" who have played for FC Samoa, mentored our youngers, and are(now) occupying coaching niches. Emi also played for Arcata HS and College of the Redwoods. She is doing fine work at the "grass roots" level at both Cutten 4-6 and Alice Birney Elementary.

Etta Grover-Silva (4 year letterman at Smith College) is now playing for LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY in England. What is amazing about that is that "LUFFBRA" is the Alma Mater of our Coaching Director. Small world. (Etta is a big big mover in environmental engineering now, and went to the UK for Post-Grad study).:

Photo by Tiffany Thomsen

The FC Samoa  U14 Girls continued their winning ways on Sunday, October 30^th, by securing the silver medal in the Shasta Halloween Shootout soccer tournament.  After standout performances playing their patented euro style passing game versus Chico Butte United (1-0), Oregon Basin United (3-0), and Reno Independent Pride (1-0), FC Samoa came up against perennial rival, the Redding Missfit Adrenaline.  The game was dead even until the final minutes, when the aggressive Redding squad scored the only goal of the game.  Although FC Samoa secured the silver, only one goal was scored against them during the entire tournament, a testament to a strong defense (run by Ivy Ricca), and solid goalie performance by returning goalie, Maddie Pomerantz.   Offensive highlights include goals by Zoe Elloway- Wonnenberg (one in Game #1), Olivia Ritter (two in Game#2), and Ashleigh Harrison (one each in Game #2 and #3).  The midfield was majestically managed by Terra Clarke and Hannah Pomerantz.  Humboldt County’s only D1 girls soccer team continues to prove that they can compete against the top regional teams in the west.  Final NorCal Premier Gold level league play wraps up this coming weekend with two highly competitive games in Petaluma and Winsor, CA.