National Sports Center Blog

Walls are going up for the new Sport Expo Center

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

It's a big week for construction for our new Sport Expo Center at the NSC. After pouring footings last week, Kraus-Anderson, our contractor, and Fabcon, the manufacturer of the building walls, started tipping up the new walls yesterday. Suddenly, we have a building going up, and it's happening fast!

This new building, projected to open in early June, will host sports training (it'll have short turf on the floor), shows and expos, and during Schwan's USA CUP, it'll be the new home of the PUMA World Store.

Check out how much they've done in just two days!

Below: here's the view of the south wall, the side that faces the stadium field.

Another view of the south wall, this time shot from the top row of the stadium:

Photo shot from what will be the northwest corner of the building, taken from the NSC's mail parking lot:

This view, from the main parking lot, shows what will become the entry lobby to the left:

NSCtv producer Jake Frantzen tapes an interview with host Scott Clasen (left) interviewing project manager Kris Bjerkness, for a segment that will run on this week's NSCtv.

Minnesota's new concussion safety law requires training for coaches

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

In September 2011 a law went into effect in the State of Minnesota that requires all coaches and officials involved with all youth sports to be trained in concussion awareness, safety and protection. Minnesota is one of 33 states that have adopted laws relating to concussion safety in youth sports. Most of these laws are brand new -- 28 new states added concussion laws in 2010 or 2011. So even if you're unfamiliar with the specifics of Minnesota's law, you may be familiar with a similar law in your own state or province. And if not, you're likely to be affected soon.

If you're interested, the safekids.org website has great information on what's happening in each state across the U.S. Every law is a little different, but they all have a common goal of 1) education and prevention 2) assessment and 3) minimizing long-term risk. The big difference between the laws is what they require in compliance. Minnesota's law requires coaches to complete an online course developed by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The youth sports programs of the National Sports Center, including our youth hockey and soccer programs, fall under the new Minnesota law. If you'd like to read the text of the law you can click on the link for Minnesota Statue 121A.37.  

All coaches will need to complete an online training course. The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a free, online course entitled “Concussion Training for Coaches (and referees)”. Click on the link to go to the free course. It takes about 30 minutes, and it contains some great information. Once you complete the course, the certification applies for three years.

If you register for a youth program at the NSC, you'll see a box that you'll need to check verifying that the coaches for your team have completed the training. You'll need to check the box before you'll be allowed to proceed with your registration.

If you have completed a different training course in your state or country that is equivalent to the C.D.C course, you can go ahead and check the box.  

The NSC fully supports this new law as an important step to address a health issue in youth sports. Does this require a little extra effort for coaches to comply with the new law? Yes. Is the extra effort worth it? Yes again!

 

Sport Expo Center construction update

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

After a brief construction hiatus over the holidays, crews are back on the job building the NSC's new Sport Expo Center. This 21,000 square foot building will be big enough to accommodate sports programming like camps, instruction and small-sided games. With space for about 130 booths, it'll also become the NSC's prime venue for shows and expos, like our Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo and the Minnesota Bass Expo. Opening is tentatively set for early June. At Schwan's USA CUP in July, the Expo Center will be the new home for the PUMA World Store.

We went out today and checked on construction progress. The crew from Kraus-Anderson Construction was busy preparing for the pouring of footings. That'll take a week or so. Once that stage is completed, walls will start going up!

Here's a high view of the site from the top row of the stadium:

Below: the crew is preparing the footings along the north wall.

Intern time is here...

By Scott Clasen, Director of Marketing

"Intern time is here, happiness and cheer..." (I'm changing the lyrics of the Charlie Brown Christmas special song, but go with me here.)

Summer seems like a long ways away (although not so much this year with a high temperature of 52 degrees here yesterday in Minnesota). But at the NSC, we're thinking summer interns. We've had our various summer intern positions posted on our website since mid-December and are now culling through resumes and starting to set up interviews.

Thinking of interns reminded me of a blog post I did just about five years ago about the experience of being an intern at the National Sports Center. That entry is as relevant now as it was in 2007, so give it a read and find out why working here as an intern is unlike any other summer experience.

Heroic winters at the NSC? Not so much this year.

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

We know that many of you who visit the NSC in the summer, during Schwan's USA CUP for example, are curious about what the NSC campus looks like in the winter. From time to time on this blog, we've posted photos of recognizable landmarks around the campus buried in snow. It's fun for us, because Minnesotans are not, by nature, overly dramatic folks. So sharing a little bit of weather drama makes us feel a bit heroic!

And I'm here to tell you last winter was the real deal, a heroic winter. During the 2010-11 winter, the Twin Cities received nearly 90 inches of snow, making it the fourth snowiest winter on record.

But Minnesota winters aren't always like that. Just to prove it, I took a walk around the campus today. I went without a coat, because the temperature topped out at 46F! To date this winter we've received just 10 inches of snow (compared to 44 inches on this date last year), and most of that 10 inches has melted long ago. Take a look at some of the photos I shot on my walk, compared to the same scenes about one year ago.

First, here's the one plowed lane through our main parking lot in early January 2011:

And the same scene today:

And the C fields a year ago:

And today: (No, we're not scheduling games outdoors, but we probably could!)

And finally, the Super Rink parking lot last winter:
And today:

But don't dispair snow lovers. The odds are the NSC will get a snow dumping at some point this winter. And we'll be there to heroically bring you the photo evidence!

 

PUMA Bike Night at the Velodrome

 By Tiffany Willits

The Thursday Night Lights Race at USA CUP provided the usual thrills and fun fan contests. The races still had the regular raffle consisting of the Cold Stone Warm Up, Chili’s Hot Race, Bricks Breakaway and Buca Blaster. Fans entered the raffle on the four sponsored races and whoever chose the correct winner of the sponsored race, got a ten dollar gift card to the restaurant.  The four sponsored races are always the same for Thursday Night Lights.

However, the one exception was the addition of a PUMA bike giveaway. “We gave away two bikes for the PUMA race winners along with two bikes to two lucky fans,” said Stephonie Wentz, USA CUP activities director.

“PUMA is somewhat new to the bike world and this is our second year doing the bike giveaway at USA CUP. We partnered with Biomega to give away PUMA’s fairly new line of bikes to some lucky winners,” said Evan Olesh, PUMA Associate Sports Marketing Manager. “Last year went well and this year there may have even been more fans.”

As fans entered the stands they could get their pick of PUMA wristbands, headbands, water bottles and fans.

 While there was a fair share of regular fans, there were just as many first timers. “I grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin and we had a Velodrome there. It’s part of my childhood history,” said Sue Morton. “This is my first time to the Velodrome at the National Sports Center. I now live in New Brighton with my husband so we decided to come out after seeing the sign as we drove by on Highway 65.”   

 Even a giant group of 60 people came out from Lord of the Lakes Church as part of a servant event. “We have a group of people from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kansas, Illinois and Nebraska out on a youth event. I found out about the races on the web,” said Pastor Craig Bertram. “Our group works on low income, elderly and disadvantage people who want to stay in their homes as part of a construction crew.”

Mike Rose, NSC business technology support specialist made his first time appearance despite working as a full time staff member. “I liked the races. I liked all the different strategies because some would go up high and some would stay in the back. I currently do mountain biking, but the Velodrome racing would be cool to try.”

The spectator winners of the PUMA bikes were Chloe Westland from Cottage Grove and Emily Henderson from Coon Rapids as they won the PUMA Pico bikes. The racer winners were Chris Ferris from Wayzata, winning the PUMA Nevis bike for his track stand and Matt Mantasano from Minneapolis winning the PUMA Funk bike.

For more information about Thursday Night Lights racing, visit www.nscsports.org and click on “Facilities” and then “Velodrome.”

 
Above: Matt Montesano was bike winner number one. Here he takes his victory lap on his new PUMA Funk bike.

Photo Credit: Mike Rose

 
Above: The racers line up at the start line and observe the large lively crowd in the stands for PUMA Bike Night.

Photo Credit: Tiffany Willits

 
Above: The big bin of PUMA goods consisted of sweatbands, headbands, water bottles and soccer fans. For the fans that came out to the Velodrome, they could choose their prize.

Photo Credit: Tiffany Willits

 
Above: The PUMA PIco bikes were won by spectators Chloe Westland and Emily Henderson.

Photo Credit: Angie Bertrand

Turning a 'nothing burger' into something: Inside KickTV

  By Tiffany Willits, Media Intern

 
Above: Producer Jake Frantzen films Evan Olesh, PUMA’s Associate Sports Marketing Manager about Project Pink Day, while Matt Shoemaker interviews.

Inside the life of Kick TV producers, Jake Frantzen and Matt Shoemaker, a ‘nothing burger’ is when a planned story falls through. Filming a daily video show during USA CUP, this rarely happens, but on Thursday it did. Heading out to film an episode of beach soccer a few girls’ U19 teams that were scheduled to play did not show up. That is when the creativity for the producers starts to flow.

 In its fifth season, Kick TV rarely comes up with nothing burgers. According to Frantzen, usually there are one to two days during the tournament when a story comes up empty. “We like to have a backup story planned out in case. Since we shoot a lot of video during the week of USA CUP, we tend to have backup material,” said Frantzen.

Improvising is always another choice besides using backup film and that is what happened when the beach soccer story fell through. Acting took center stage at Thursday’s beach soccer outdoors. On the spur of the moment, Frantzen and Shoemaker had the brilliant idea to shoot a Kick TV staff game versus the Champlin Rebels U16 girls, after realizing their original plan had failed.

 “Are we going to be on TV? What station? Can we please do it? We’ll do it. Pick us. Pick us,” screamed the Champlin girls. With such enthusiasm, how could they resist? It was then that Frantzen took the camera lead and Shoemaker joined in the soccer tournament with three other staff members.

According to Frantzen, about 50 percent of filming is planned in advance while 50 percent is more spontaneous. A typical day involves a morning meeting in the media room where Frantzen and Shoemaker decide what they will film that day. Shoemaker jokes that he and Frantzen get inspiration from Seven Samurai, a Japanese adventure drama film as well as Hidden Fortress, a jidai-geki film.

“Producing a day-by-day web show versus a monthly college show like I did in college is more interesting because if a story falls through, you have to think of a story quick and its fun working 24-hours a day,” said Shoemaker. With a more ‘on the toes’ type of approach, Kick TV seems to be the best of both worlds.

Franzen is in his third year as the producer of Kick TV, while Shoemaker in his first year working as an intern. Frantzen has worked with one other intern in the past, but enjoys getting the chance to collaborate with different people. “Every person has their own style. Learning from other people and how to work with another style is a good thing,” said Frantzen.

This year Shoemaker has brought new ideas to Kick TV. “Putting different twists on an idea from the past that Jake has previously taped provides for a new angle,” said Shoemaker.

With the commotion that USA CUP provides, there are always constant activities taking place. “Sometimes when I ask the staff members if they’ve seen the newest episode of Kick TV, they say no—Even if they made a guest appearance on it. It’s gets hard to catch up with everything going on. It takes time to catch up and take it all in,” said Frantzen.

Adding imagination and creativity to Kick TV is what the show is all about. This year was the first year Kick TV decided to hand out free t-shirts during USA CUP. Emphasizing the importance of social media, Frantzen and Shoemaker together with host Scott Clasen, gave away shirts to loyal fans by picking a remote location and announcing minutes before they left of their ‘where abouts’ on Facebook.

Those that met Frantzen and Shoemaker in the correct location with the phrase of the day would receive a Kick TV t-shirt. “The t-shirt was my idea along with Scott and Angie Bertrand, NSC graphic designer. Angie designed the shirt along with the QR code,” said Frantzen.  The QR code allows for Kick TV fans to scan the barcode on the back of the shirts with their smart phones, where it takes the fans to Kick TV’s channel on YouTube.  

 “The first day we got mobbed by people and we only had a few shirts to give away, so it was a success. We then called PUMA and asked for more goods to give away to our loyal customers,” laughed Frantzen.

Although producing Kick TV may seem fun, it does have its challenges. “On a more challenging aspect, we have dealt with really hot weather this year,” said Frantzen. Frantzen and Shoemaker’s latest night was after opening ceremony where they worked on editing footage until 2:30 a.m. 

“That was the latest we stayed in the media room. Once the show is edited, we have to export it. Exporting takes a good hour plus a half hour to correctly upload it online. Being the last out of the building when it was all dark and no one was around was really late,” said Shoemaker. 

During the wee hours of the night it becomes harder and harder to manage simple tasks. “Thinking isn’t as clear. You really have to focus and you can’t spell peoples’ names wrong and it’s the little things that may become a problem,” said Frantzen.

Whenever athletes see Frantzen, Shoemaker and Clasen walking around campus with the camera and headphones, they flock towards them. “I want to be on TV” is a common phrase. “I always say we have the most fun because we interact with people all over. We rarely focus on soccer games, but focus more on human interest stories,” said Frantzen.

 “My favorite part this year at USA CUP has been interacting with the British referees and listening to their accents,” said Shoemaker.

Kick TV can be found by visiting www.usacup.org. The most recent episode is always featured on the homepage. For archived episodes, visit usacup.org and click on “Fun Stuff” and then “Kick TV.” 

There’s no denying energy with Kick TV. Just look for the bright green color shirts on Frantzen and Shoemaker along with the camera and you will see fans waving to the camera and asking the ever so famous phrase, “Can we be on TV?”

 
Above: Host Scott Clasen and Kick TV producers Jake Frantzen and Matt Shoemaker talk with a athlete after a game.

 
Above: Fans flock the Kick TV crew as soon as they heard the word that prizes were involved.  

 

Edgars Youth Programme from Uganda: Making their first trip to the United States

 By Tiffany Willits, Media Intern

 
Above: Edgars Youth Programme from Uganda, Coach Peter Makanga and four American guest players pose after their 5-1 win over Minnesota North Metro Fury on Wednesday.

Uganda entered the Schwan’s USA CUP with a U11 boys’ team for the first time ever. While the journey was long and some players didn’t receive their passports due to the state shutdown, for the Uganda Edgars Youth Programme (EYP) team that were able to make the trip, it was a time to remember.

EYP has participated in several World Youth tournaments including the Gothia World Youth tournament in Sweden in 2008 and 2009 and the UK Welsh Super Cup in 2009 and 2010. EYP has even traveled to Norway in 2010 to take part in the Norway Cup. Uganda’s EYP mission is to provide opportunity to youth using sports and believes every child should be given the opportunity to play soccer. They want to help give back to in appreciation to those who have helped them gain success.

Participating in two previous games at the USA CUP on Tuesday, the Uganda EYP dropped games one and two. Bouncing back from their two losses, EYP played the Minnesota North Metro Fury on Wednesday. EYP would go on to win with a score of

5-1. Uganda had many smiling faces on the players, families and home stay parents. Joining the Uganda team this year were three guest players from Forest Lake and one guest player from Minnesota Thunder Academy.

“This is my first time to America and Minnesota,” said player Lydia Alaba.  “I’ve been playing soccer since 1^st grade. My coach is nice and I like the way people study hard in Minnesota.  I liked the skydivers yesterday at opening ceremony,” Alaba smiled.

Nakkazi Prossie, a traveling parent with the team, works as a medical assistant and fan. “I help give medication to the kids and this is also my first time to America. America has been very good to us and helped our kids out a lot,” said Prossie.

The Uganda team split up and homestayed in three different houses. “This is my sixth year of being a host and it is absolutely wonderful,” said Julie Miller, homestay host. “I have hosted Japan, Equador, Denmark, Uganda and Northern Ireland before. My sons wanted to host another team this year and they really enjoyed meeting new the kids. The Uganda families have been nice and so great. The Edgars Youth Programme has been trying to build their club because they know sports will help get their kids to universities.”

Tamela Greene and her son Jason Greene are hosting four children from the team. This is their first year being involved with the process. “A typical day involves a lot of soccer. The opportunity has been good. It’s a great experience for their kids and our kids to learn about another culture,” said Tamela. “We have taught them about McDonald’s and ever since the kids have found out about the Chicken McNugget happy meal, they have fallen in love. We’ve been to McDonald’s three times already since they’ve arrived.”

 “When we get some extra time it’s fun to play the Wii and Playstation,” said Jason Greene.  Jason is on the Edina Soccer Club and is also participating in USA CUP. “Adding more kids to our week and having someone to play soccer with is an experience you don’t usually get. Not to mention cheering for two teams—you don’t normally get that experience. I would recommend homestay and we’d love to do it again. I would love to have the Uganda team participate again,” said Tamela.

Christy Wagner and her son Tommy are the third set of homestay families who have taken Uganda under their wing. “This is also our first year and it has been great. All three of the players staying with us have been very sweet. Adding in our two daughters and Tommy, it’s been a little crowded but such a wonderful experience. My husband and I are used to the commotion as we have been boarding school teachers and we used to teach on the east coast. This has a very similar feeling to it.”

Just like Jason, Christy’s son Tommy is also on the Edina Soccer Club. “We’ve done team picnics and have adopted together. At such a big event it’s neat to watch the kids be very welcoming towards each other. We had a great day last Monday the Edina team and Uganda met at the Mall of America. The kids shared their experiences which travel way beyond soccer. I hope Uganda gets the chance to come back to USA CUP in the future,” said Christy.

Coach Peter Makanga has brought positive affirmation to his team. During halftime he stated, “Just continue to play your game. No pressure.” Makenga has played from 2000-2008 on the Uganda International team as a defensive left side. He has played against World Cup finalists and is hoping to re-qualify for the Uganda Cranes team again.  

Speaking about the team’s travel journey he stated, “My team has made a very long journey and the players have become tired. The weather was so hot and playing three games in one day was hard. However, they pulled together and played. The overall first time experience has been so positive. This is a lively group of players and host families.”

“Everyone has been very good to us—words can’t explain it. We wish next year to be hosted again. While the weather was challenging, playing with a few American guest players has been a good experience to take on. The players have been getting used to the soccer so that maybe when the time comes to move onto a higher level, they will be ready,” smiled Makanga. Uganda will play their Thursday game against EPSC Explosion at 8:45 a.m. on field A5.

 

Above: Three families have been the host families for the Uganda team. Julie Miller, Tamela Greene and Christy Wagner have all become one giant family welcoming team members into their homes.

 

Above: Uganda players cheer their teammates to a victory Wednesday morning.

 

Above: Lyda Alaba was all smiles whether he was in the game or on the bench.

 
 

Above:The players huddle inside their tent at halftime on hot and sunny Wednesday morning as they faced Minnesota North Metro Fury.  Here they listened to their coach's words of wisdom.

 

Above: Even I caught up with a few of the EYP players in the parking lot before they left to head back to homestay with their new families. What a great group of kids!

From ground level to the cauldron, USA CUP prepares on their day off

 By Tiffany Willits, Media Intern/USA CUP Reporter

Monday, July 18 marks the one day that there are no games played at USA CUP. Following a crazy weekend tournament with rain and intense heat, Monday marked a day where the staff continued with final team check in and also started preparing for the weeklong games. Dealing with a 95 degree day was no easy task.

Take a inside look into what it takes to turn a field into a stage for opening ceremony. Opening ceremony will take place tomorrow (Tues.July, 19) at 7:00 p.m.  This will be the only time that every player is in the same place at once. This year is special because of live entertainment provided for players by the Minnesota Brass, Totino Grace High School Show Choir and Theatre Mu Daiko Drum Team. Come watch as 20 states and 17 countries are represented at the 27th annual opening ceremony!

 

Above: Ultimate Events in Bloomington, MN have been assisting with building the stage for opening ceremony for 8 years. Here is the initial ground level shot on Monday in the NSC stadium.

 
Above: The cauldron takes a rest near the shed before the operations team carried it to the NSC stadium.

  
Above: A high stage was added to the frame work on the NSC field by Ultimate Events. Manager Jamie West from Ultimate Events is originally from Phoenix, Arizona so he stated working in the hot weather wasn't that bad.

 
Above: The tall cauldron is mounted by the operations crew. Whew! What a heavy piece of equipment!
 

 
Above: The flame is lit! It works! But, whoa! Extra hot with the 95 degree heat wave.

Girls' vElite Championship Game: So Cal Blues force overtime, come up short

 By Tiffany Willits, Media Intern/USA CUP Reporter

 

 

 
Above: A few Lamorinda girls raise up their trophy with goalkeeper Sophie Leksan. Lamorinda would go on to win the championship game, despite So Cal Blues making a run to force overtime.

 

The girls’ vElite U17 championship game of the So Cal Blues versus Lamorinda took place at 12:50 p.m. in the NSC Stadium following the boy’s vElite championship game. Lamorinda’s Megan Turner scored the first goal during the 21^st minute of play. Lamorinda SC took the early lead 1-0 on an early mistake by So Cal Blues goalkeeper, Ashton McKeown. McKeown came up too far in her goal, which lead to the first goal of the game.  

Second half began at 1:45 p.m. with 40-minute halves. So Cal Blues made a change in the goalie net at the half and put Naomi Willett in for McKeown. With a chance to easily score and tie the game up for the So Cal Blues, Amber Munerlyn just missed her shot.

Lamorinda’s Katie Tao took a free kick, but the save was made by Willett. A corner kick was then awarded to Lamorinda and after a few bounces, forward Hilary Buchanan scored making it 2-0 Lamorinda in the 53^rd minute.

As plenty of time was left for the So Cal Blues to make up the deficit, play continued. The So Cal Blues had 17 shots on net, but nothing to show for it as they couldn’t seem to knock any in. Shots were taken by forward Sydney Zuccolotto and midfielder Jordan Magnin for So Cal Blues.

During the 69^th minute, Zuccolotto was able to knock in a goal to put the So Cal Blues on the board and cut the lead in half.

With a few minutes remaining in the game, Buchanan worked by herself towards the end to break by defenders working a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Trying to score her second goal of the game, she fell short.

With virtually no time left on the clock—Kelly Fitzgerald tied the So Cal Blues up to force the game into overtime at 2-2.

Overtime would be played with two 5-minute halves due to the heat. An early chance by So Cal Blues forward Taylor Alderete resulted on an injury for her shot on goal. The shot was no good.

 A few moments later Lamorinda’s forward Kaitlin McGee put Lamorinda up on top with a one-on-one breakaway goal. Lamorinda would go on to win the 2011 vElite girls’ championship game 3-2.

“We strongly believe the team worked through the heat. It’s awesome. This is our second tournament for the summer and our girls’ played through,” said Lamorinda’s coach Mohamed Mohamed.

“We are not used to the humidity, but this was a great game. I appreciate the USA CUP organization.” This is our first year to Minnesota and to have facilities like this, I am very pleased. I appreciate the organization for the tournament and it was a great first year with PUMA.

“We had a great time staying in the dorms; it was a nice team bonding experience. For our girls that will be going to college soon, this was an overall positive experience,” Mohamed smiled.

Goalkeeper Sophie Leksan had 17 total saves in the game. “I have no words to describe the feeling. We played our hearts out.  We came back when we had to,” Leksan said. 

The girls will travel to the WPS championship game in the location for the highest seeded team in the WPS.

 

 

Above: Raising their number one's to the sky, Lamorinda SC will travel to the WPS championship game as their prize for winning the vElite girls' championship game on Sunday, July 17 during USA CUP.

 
 

Above: Despite forcing overtime in the final minutes of the vElite girls' championship game on Sunday, the So Cal Blues pose with their second place medals falling short 2-3.