March 25, 2020

Hello Carmel United Families,

I hope you are all staying safe and healthy.

I wish I was writing with better news but, since my last communication, the situation regarding COVID-19 has changed considerably. At this time, all Carmel United programs are suspended until further notice.  As I last communicated, East Hudson Youth Soccer League postponed all league activities two weeks ago and they plan to re-evaluate the situation on April 15th. We hope to know more at that time, though I’m not optimistic there will be a start date announced before May. I hope I’m wrong.

There’s no reason travel players should regress during this hiatus, though. Just because teams aren’t practicing right now doesn’t mean players can’t touch a soccer ball. In fact, all this free time actually provides an opportunity for players to improve their technical ability. With formal practices not taking place for a while, players should get outside and work on individual skills (juggling, dribbling, shooting, etc.), as well as strength and conditioning. They need something to keep them busy, plus it will give them an outlet and hopefully provide some sense of normalcy during a situation that is anything but.

I’m including some links to videos that players can work through. Some of these can even be done indoors! Ideally, players should aim at spending 30-60 minutes per day on a few of these activities (in any combination) and they should try to do this at least 3-4 times per week so when teams do finally reconvene, players will be ready to go!

SKILLS

Ballwork, Control & Passing                                  Drills You Can Do Inside                                      Ball Control Drills

​Juggling                                                                  Dribbling                                                              Ball Walking 

​STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

Lower body workout                                               Abs Workout                                                        Conditioning

​

In addition to the above options, NY Red Bulls Youth Programs is releasing a “Train at Home” plan for their training partners. The first email is coming out soon. You can register for this weekly content by going to www.redbullsacademy.com/newsletter/ and entering your name and email address.

We realize this is a stressful time for all of us. We also look forward to fully recovering as a community and putting this issue behind us. Hopefully, we will be able to resume “normal” activities in the not-too-distant future. We will let you know as soon as we have a more definitive plan of action.

Thank you. Stay well.

Joe Matera
President & Head of Travel
Carmel United Soccer Club

www.carmelsoccer.com

​