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Instead of going to a beach somewhere to hang out with friends on Spring Break, Jacob Weitz, a senior George Mason men's soccer player has attended the United Way's Alternative Spring Break (ASB) in Louisiana for the past two years. The ASB provides a way for college students to travel to the hurricane stricken areas of Louisiana to help rebuild communities. Weitz is a 2003 grad of Loudon Valley HS, played with the Winchester Fury club, and was selected to the Virginia State ODP team in 2001 and 2002. Learn more at

Another Soccer-themed movie has opened in the DC area. "Offside" is now playing at the Landmark E-Street Cinema in Washington. Inspired by the day when his own daughter was refused entry to a soccer stadium in Iran, Jafar Panahi's OFFSIDE follows a day in the life of a group of Iranian girls attempting to watch their team's World Cup qualifying match against Bahrain at the stadium in Tehran.

David Jacobson of Soccer America talks about filling a player's 'emotional tank', a coaching practice used by yours truly for my U12 girls WAGS team. The sports and educational psychology that underlies Positive Coaching indicates that a full tank generally results from a ratio of five specific, truthful praises to one constructive, specific criticism. That may seem like a lot of happy talk, especially for coaches who focus on correcting weaknesses and tearing down player egos in the name of "team-building." But Filling Emotional Tanks works. If your son or daughter is on a team where they're benched for making a mistake, and constantly being told what they're doing wrong as a coaching "technique", get them off that team TODAY. Winning youth club soccer games has almost nothing to do with whether or not a player will love and play the game for life, but draining their tank with a negative approach to coaching in an attempted to win will make it far more likely they won't love the game and not play past high school - if they make it that far.  

More PotomacSoccerWire.com features coming soon! We're adding tools to make it easy to link your soccer web site to PSW, and also launching a directory exclusively for MD, DC, and VA Leagues, Tournaments, Camps, Clubs, Teams, and Shops. Listing in the directory will be free, with the only requirement that you post and maintain a link to PSW on your web site. Get a head start and email  your organization's information and we'll work with you to post the appropriate link.