Kim, Nik, and Whitney all began playing soccer with the Pleasant Hill-Martinez Soccer Association (PHMSA). Kim also played for the Girls' JV team at Ygnacio Valley High School. Nik was the varsity goalkeeper for three years at Ygnacio Valley. He also played for the DVSC Arsenal, a CYSA competitive traveling team. Whitney culminated her youth soccer career with the Under-17 Premier Girls team, the Pleasanton Rage.

AYSO is really the ideal program for kids to learn the game of soccer, so I devoted much of my time to PHMSA serving as a coach, referee, and board member. I also designed and started the PHMSA web page -- way back in 1996, when very few clubs were using the internet.

One of the five basic principles of AYSO is "balanced teams", so to that end PHMSA's policy is that no teams are carried over from one year to the next; each Fall season teams are formed anew. The coaches' children are placed on the team and the rest of the team is filled via a "blind draw" based on players' ages and skill levels, which should make for relatively balanced teams each Fall.

The Select season follows the Fall season and provides an opportunity for the better players to advance their skills by playing an extended season at a higher level of competition and coaching. Typically, one-fourth of the players from Fall will play Select.

As Spring tournaments became popular, some players from the Select Teams extend the season even further by playing on a special Tournament Team.

I am an AYSO Certified Advanced Coach, past PHMSA Coach of the Year, and have been privileged to coach several Select and Tournament teams in addition to the regular season teams. However, I measured success by how many of my players returned to play soccer next season.

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