Author: Alex Kos

  • I Pledge to “Stop Hitting Kids in the Head”

    Let me explain. I was born January 25, 1966. So was Jay Wilkerson, a former Fresno State Bulldog football player and member of the U.S. National Rugby \”Eagles\” team, who passed away in May 2022. He also happened to be the former husband of my fiancé, Carrie Beckstrom. Also born on this day was Bruce…

  • Eyes in the Back of your Head

    Karl Dewazien (www.fundamentalsoccer.com) recently asked his \”Kontributors and followers what are some of the best attributes for youth coaches. My response to his inquiry was, “Coaches must be goofy and memorable.” One of my favorites lessons that embodies these traits is teaching the importance of having eyes in the back of your head (this is…

  • January is National Mentor Month

    In honor of National Mentor Month, I’d like to introduce Instepper, an innovative and fun mentoring program that use teenage players to mentor younger players to develop and reinforce the most important fundamental skill in soccer—the first-touch (FT) using the inside-of-the-foot (IOTF). Why Mentoring? It works! Mentoring has been around since antiquity as is evidenced…

  • DIY Tether Soccer Ball

    The text accompanying my recent Facebook video post says it best. I hope this post finds everyone faring well during these unprecedented times. My heart goes out to all families, especially those with kids stuck at home. Hopefully this DIY video I made helps break up the monotony and boredom and gives parents a small…

  • World Cup History: Bora Bora Bora … What Could Have Been?

    The stage was set for one of the greatest World Cup upsets of all time. The U.S. was playing Brazil in the second round of the 1994 World Cup. The U.S. was playing at home on July 4 and then they were playing a man up. Still they lost thanks to ultra-conservative head coach Bora…

  • World Cup ‘Towers’ Worth Watching: Fernando and José Torres

    Spain\’s Torres and America\’s Torres. Both play for their respective national soccer teams. Spain\’s Fernando Torres is much better known. However, due to injuries, this year\’s World Cup may belong to America\’s José Francisco Torres.

  • U.S. Men’s International Soccer Has Come a Long Way

    The U.S. is relatively new to the World Cup scene, now having qualified for the last seven World Cups. Who knows how they will do in 2010. However, should they advance out of Group C, they have a good chance to go far. Good luck U-S-A!

  • World Cup Flags

    Country flags are great until you begin to realize how many of them look like each other. For the 32 countries in this year\’s World Cup, a number of them look alike. Check it out for yourself.

  • World Cup East Bay 2010

    This year, soccer fans of all ages living in the San Francisco\’s East Bay will have an opportunity to watch, play, experience, and enjoy the World Cup in their own backyard by attending World Cup East Bay 2010 (WCEB2010).

  • Follow-up to the Reporter Article

    The youth reporter program that I wrote about earlier and implemented with my son\’s U12 team has been a big success. I share with you some tips I learned along the way and proudly present the reports that have been written to date.