After travelling to the west coast on Monday, the BU14 Smithtown Arsenal will begin to get a taste of what it’s like to compete
at the national level when they attend today’s US Youth Soccer National Championships Player Luncheon. You can watch a live stream of the event by clicking here.
Before the trip, we had a chance to speak with trainer Tom Lips, who played professionally for the New England Revolution, the Long Island Rough Riders and FC St. Gallen of the Swiss First Division. He gave us an inside look at what makes his team successful, and what the boys will have to do to find continued success at Nationals.
“We work really hard,” Lips said in describing his team. “We’re a blue collar-white collar mix, but everyone is contributing from top to bottom, which is a good thing.
“The core group has been together since they were 9 years old,” he continued. “I took them over when they were 10 ½. They were a talented team that needed some work. They’ve gotten that work and put in the time, and the parents are committed both financially and time-wise, and everything is working out great for them.”
The team is hoping to continue their roll at the Reach 11 Sports Complex in Phoenix, where their bracket will include teams like the Chicago Magic, Dallas Texans 97, and the Fullerton Rangers 96 White from California. Lips says he and the boys know that the caliber of play will be high, but they can be successful if they do what they do best.
“Every team now seems to have a super-duper fast kid,” said Lips. “We have fast kids, we have athletic kids, we have a good system that works for us, and we work extremely hard. I’ve been around long enough to know how to play a cup game; how to play to get through, but every team seems to have a couple special players.
“The thing that works for us is that we are cohesive, we know our strengths and weaknesses, and we don’t try to play outside of those,” he added. “We stay within what we know. The work rate has been extremely high for the boys in these big games, so I expect that will continue. We get forward as a team, we get home as a team, and I can’t say enough about the boys and their ability to stay focused for 70 minutes.”
Lips sees three keys to a successful tournament for the boys:
1. Believe that they can play with anybody: “Not having played in this sort of national arena before, we need to come up with a plan to communicate to them that they belong on the field with any team in this age group and not let their nerves get the better of them. The first 10 minutes of the first two round robin games will be crucial. If they come out sluggish and tentative, we could be in for a long tournament. We have to come out aggressive.”
2. Stick to our game plan: Stay with our tactical approach. “We generally play a 4-5-1, so we have to stay in that and work the way we’ve been working.”
3. Enjoy and savor the moment: “They need to appreciate that they are there and put everything they have on the line. If you do that, anything can happen. We’ve had some good moments leading up to this point, and we’ve had some moments where the Old Man upstairs was looking out for us. But we got back to Regionals two years in a row and we advanced this time. So let’s make the most of it and come out and play like we belong there.”