FLYING KICK NEWS

Dear Parents and Players, Schedule at GVSA is Final!! http://www.gvsoccer.org/ U19 girls division 2/ U13 boys Div 3/ U12 boys Elite/ U11 Boys Div 3 (or 2 can’t remember) Training schedule ( times will change w/ sun light). Training will start on Tue August 23. FKU17 G Monday at City High from 6:10 to 7:40/ Thursday at Rockford freshman center from 6:10 to 7:40/ Friday at Manhattan from 3:15 to 5:15 FKU12 and FKU13 Monday at City High from 5pm to 6:05/ Tuesday at Rockford Freshman Center from 6:10 to 8 pm/ Thursday at Rockford Freshmen Center from 6:10 to 8 pm FK U11 Monday ay City High from 5pm to 6:05pm/ Tuesday at Rockford Freshmen Center from 6:10 to 8pm/ Friday at Manhattan park from 5pm to 6:05 pm/ Some Wednesdays It is okay for a player to come to additional training sessions for free, as long as they are in addition to his/her own training session, and not instead of them. 2nd Tuition payment is due on Sept 1st ($1000 for FKU11/ FKU12 and FKU13 and $500 for FKU17 (only half of the year)) Your first tuition payment for the fall 2011 was due July1st ! Next payments on Sept 1st, Nov 1st, and Jan 1st Tuition is $1000 for FK U11/ FKU12 and FKU13. FK U17 girls is only $500 ( fall season only). Please send your payments to PO Box 471 Rockford MI. ASAP.     Fabio Mendes President   Flying Kick PO Box 471 Rockford MI 49341 Phone/ Fax (616) 482-7333

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U12B Canton Cup 2010

Congratulations to our four teams that participated at the 2008 LABOR DAY WEEKEND
KINGDOM INVITATIONAL CHALLENGE
http://www.kalamazookingdom.com/tournaments/index_E.html
Our four teams accomplished our goal to making to the final FKU9/ FKU11/ FKU13G/ FKU19G
FKU9 boys are tournament Champions
FKU11 boys are tournament Champions
FKU19 girls are tournament Champions
FKU13 girls are tournament finalists
Our teams did so, by winning all their games with character, class and personality (16 wins/ 0 ties/ 1 loss).   Fantastic!
Congratulations to our champions FKU13G/ FKU9/ FKU11/ FKU19G:
 
 

FKU13G

      

 
      News Interview Piece about the tournament:
      Hi Fabio! Do you have stats over the week of play that I can use?
There were about 20 Under 17 boys teams divided into three divisions; we were placed on the top division (Cup Flight).  The teams are so good and the games are so hard, every day was like a new adventure.  It was wonderful. 
We played our first game versus  QiLin from Shanghai China: Flying Kick 5 Vs QiLin 1
 
Our second game, we played a team from South Bend, which was not in our group.  We tried to conserve as much energy as possible and ended up tying them:  Flying Kick 1 and NIFA 1.
 
Our 3rd game was important because the winner would go into playoffs with a much better game schedule: Flying kick 2 and Tonka Wahota 0.
 
Our first game of playoffs turned out to be versus NIFA again.  They are a great team, one of the best teams from Indiana, but to get to quarters they had to play an extra game, a very hard game, which made them very tired.  One of their best players also got a red card at the end of the previous game and therefore could not play versus us.  We, on the other hand, were having one of those nights when it didn’t matter whatever we tried, it was working.  Flying Kick 6 Vs NIFA 1.
 
At semi’s we played a local team from MN: the Champlin Rebels.  We had played them before at another semi, a year ago, the semi’s of the Best of the Midwest Tournament in Chicago (Last year we won The Best of The Midwest Tournament which is a tournament not as big as the USA Cup but a very prestigious tournament here in the US as well) so we knew we had a very hard game ahead of us.  This year with a new coach from Chile they were even better.  The Rebels are a very organized, fast and smart team to play against, but they had a very hard game/battle versus New York the night before and they were missing two of their players due to red cards and discipline issues.  They kept their defense very, very tight and had a lot of crowed support but we surprisingly had a huge amount people on our side too.  Players from other teams that were participating at the tournament and somehow decided to show up and cheer us on during that game, people and children we had never even met were cheering pretty hard for us, it was great.  We were able to score two goals on the Rebels.  Two goals from Kai Mendes, one assisted by Tanner Higgins and the other one was assisted by Boris Mendez.
 
Going into the finals we were scheduled to play the Spartans from Ontario Canada at 2pm but due to a storm our game did not start until 4:30Pm.  USA Cup was doing a really cool thing by transmitting many of the games live through the web, so that families could watch their children’s games from home.  In addition to our families here in Rockford and Grand Rapids, we had some families in Brazil and England staying up until late hours to watch our games; but with the storm we also had to change fields and the film crew were not able to follow us.  Our family and friends stared at a blank screen for hours, before they realized it was not going to happen; but they were always with us, in our hearts and in our minds.  
Ontario had a big and fast team, they enjoy ball possession and scoring a lot of goals.  During the tournament all their players and their coach bleached their hair blond, which showed they were having fun, they had a sense of humor, and a certain degree of unity as well.  They were well rested, they had won all their games and like us non of their players had gotten red cards during the competition.
“Boys 17 Final: Flying Kick, Michigan 5 Vs. Hamilton Sparta, Ontario 3.
After scoring first, the Kickers fell behind before rallying from behind to win 5-3. 
Sean Mancl scored the first goal, after a scramble in the front, caused by a great free kick from Carlos Esquivel.  The Sparta then scored three consecutive goals to go into halftime leading 3-1.  Kemal Elmenouar, a super talented player, put in the first two goals and Aldo Lombardi also added one of his own.  (We were a little too anxious and missed a few great scoring opportunities and we obviously made some mistakes in the back as well). 
So 3 to 1 for Canada at half time.
The Kickers then turned it around in the second half and never looked back. Caio Mendes scored two beautiful goals early (both assisted by Sean Mancl), one at the 52nd minute mark and then again at the 61st minute mark to tie the game at 3 to 3. Carlos Esquivel scored the game winning goal at the 81st minute mark, heading the ball perfectly past the goalkeeper off a cross from Kai Mendes.  Esquivel scored a second time at the 85th minute mark off of a penalty kick suffered by Kai Mendes, to make 5 to 3 for Flying Kick”
 
Carlos Esquivel had never played with us before this tournament, but we all knew he would fit in our team like a glove.  The kid was the perfect addition to our team.  Our Brazilian style of playing could not have been more perfect for Carlos, and for the spectators and college coaches watching, it looked like he had always played with us.
 
Goals and assists and saves for your goalie... Oh who is your goalie?
 It is a very united team.  This Flying Kick U17 team was our first team at Flying Kick and many of the players have been playing and training together since they were 9 years old.
Eleven out of the fifteen players in our team scored goals during the tournament.  Most of the games during the USA Cup are 1 to 0 or 2 to 1 or something like that, usually extremely physical and low scoring games.  I thing that the fact that we were able to score so many goals, with so many different players in our roster is a nice example of our union, faith and tremendous team rhythm. 
Our real goalie missed too many of our games/trainings during our season, so we decided to take Matt Jackson with us instead.  Matt is actually a year younger than our players and a defender, but he has subbed in goal for us many times and done pretty well; besides he is a super cool kid who is always thinking of other people first, before himself.  Matt lives in Portage but for the last five years he has driven to GR and Rockford to train and play with us two to four times a week! And because of his positive attitude he plays for three different age groups with us at Flying Kick (U16/ U17/ U18) we just call him and tell him where and when to show up; he has traveled with us to Brazil, Dallas, and many other places.  Indifferent to whichever position or age group that we ask him to play, he is always a big part of our successes.  With this age group for example, Matt has helped us win some huge tournaments: the National Indoor Tournament in Canton two years ago as a defender; he did a great job for us last year when this group won the Best of the Midwest Tournament in Chicago as a defender, and this year when our players heard I was going to take him as our goalie they loved it.  Matt responded by having only 3 goals scored on him until the finals; then the Spartans scored three more goals on him on the finals to make sure he stays humble and nice.     
Tanner Higgins is, to me, one of the best goalies in the state; he is one of those rare players that can adjust to any role; in this tournament he played as a defender, a midfielder and a little as a striker; but if Matt had gotten nerves, sick or hurt Tanner was ready to help him in goal, too.
 
Why did you do better this year than last year at this tournament.
 
I was very happy with semis last year.  It was a huge accomplishment for us; this is not a tournament that you get to playoffs all the time.
Last year was our first year, 9 out of the 13 players we brought last year were U16 playing up at U17, we were basically playing up an age group. We were also coming from a longer series of tournaments, tournaments are very hard on soccer players: emotionally, physically and mentally. This year we skipped some tournaments right before USA Cup. 
The fact that 8 or 9 of our players had played this same age group and division last year, doing so well when they were a year younger, turned us into a very strong and experienced team.
The fact that last year we only had a roster of 13 players instead of 15 this year.
The fact that Delp Company and ESI Communications helped us with sponsorships.  Twenty minutes after the Delp Company hooked us up with a check, we jumped from 11 players to 15 players going to the tournament.  The support from our families and our community is essential to our success.
The fact that in addition to luck, we won the games we had to, and end up with the points we needed for a much nicer playoff bracket than most teams.
We trained like crazy.
We were super disciplined and united.
We paid a great deal of attention to our nutrition.
And we rested like crazy.
 
Our motivation has always been to learn, to develop, to play and act with: peace, love, happiness, compassion, courage, intelligence, forgiveness, and bravery.  It feels great to win, a lot better than losing.  I love to win, but the win itself is in the bottom half of our to-do list.  Our players get into a lot of trouble with me, if they worry about winning before/instead of worrying about playing well.  To me, to worry about winning is one of the worse things they can do; their sole concentration has to be on playing well.  We are preparing them for life first, being champions first; winning tournaments is a very far fifth or sixth to that.  This wonderful specific group of players and their parents get that.  Once our parents understand and believe that, our jobs get a lot easier. 
Our best Flying Kick parents, as a club, are 1000% support to the team/club and 0.0% pressure to win.  This age group, Flying Kick U17, has a lot of these best parents.
 

Memorial Weekend Cherry Cup 2008 Champions!!!!
Marcos took two teams to Traverse City for their Weekend Memorial Tournament and came back with both teams as champions:
Congratulations FKU10 and FKU12G

In the Fall FK took 5 teams (FKU9/ FKU12/ FKU12G/ FKU14/ FKU18G) to Traverse City.
We had to overcome tons of adversities in order to stay focus and play well.  It took a great deal of hard work and discipline from our players; and our families, our managers and our supporters had to help us like crazy but we came back with all 5 of our teams as CHAMPIONS of TBAYS Autumn Classic Tournament!!!
FKU9 CHAMPIONS of TBAYS Autumn Classic Tournament!!!
FKU12 CHAMPIONS of TBAYS Autumn Classic Tournament!!!
FKU12G CHAMPIONS of TBAYS Autumn Classic Tournament!!!
FKU14 CHAMPIONS of TBAYS Autumn Classic Tournament!!!
FKU19G CHAMPIONS of TBAYS Autumn Classic Tournament!!!

OUR FKU16 is the 2007 Best of The Midwest Memorial Weekend Undefeated (only 3 goals against) Champions!!!!
May 2007 BOMW CHAMPIONS FKU16 (Semis’ FKU16 1 vs Champlin Rebels 0   and Finals FKU16 2 Vs Chicago Magic 1)
Amazing Accomplishment!!!

FKU16 Best of The Midwest Champions