National Sports Center Blog

Spring is here, so field rebuilding underway

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

If you're reading this from warmer climes that Minnesota, this has been the winter that seemingly will never end. And if you live in Minnesota, you know what I'm talking about. Every time we think spring is here, the temperatures drop and the snow flies again. In fact, just a week ago, we were facing blizzard warnings. In the end, the storm tracked just to the north of the NSC, but we did get two days of slushy snow, wind and below-freezing temperatures.

But four days ago, suddenly, the temperatures climbed into the 50's, then 60's, and now we think that, finally, spring has sprung.

With the ground thawing, it means is that we now can begin to work on conditioning our outdoor turf fields in earnest. This year we will be rehabilitating four fields on the north side of our campus -- M1, M2, I1 and I3. Two days ago we started regrading the fields. Irrigation will be added, soil correction made to eliminate holes and crevices, and new seed planted and sod layed.

Photo: Graders are moving dirt as part of the rebuilding project on fields M1, M2, I1 and I3.

"This year we are trying to be more proactive about turf care, doing all the little things to make our fields as safe as possible," said the NSC's Director of Turf Maintenance Neil Ladd. "In addition to the four fields under major reconstruction, we're working hard on all our other fields, doing what we call 'cultural practices' -- fertilizing, top-dressing, airification, and overseeding."

Ladd expects the four rebuilt fields will be ready for play by Schwan's USA CUP, July 11.

New book profiles U.S. Women's National Soccer Team

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

Paul Phillips (photo right) is a Minneapolis-based freelance sports photographer who has covered many events at the NSC -- National Team soccer games, Minnesota Thunder games, velodrome races, among others. At our request once, Paul even donated his time to the NSC to shoot aerial photos of our campus from a helicopter. You can check out Paul's photo work at his website.

Yesterday we received an advance copy of a new book Paul has photographed, with author Gail Stewart. Portrait of Passion is narrowly a book about the U.S. Women's National Team, focusing on their journey through the 2007 World Cup in China. In a broader sense though, the book is about the love of soccer, growing up in the sport, the beauty of teamwork, and ultimately, about moving on to different things.

The book is strikingly photographed, beautifully designed, and would be a treasured read for any fans who've enjoyed one of the many games the Women's National Team has played at the NSC Stadium over the years.

There's one photo in the book that wasn't shot by Paul, however. We are honored that Paul picked a photo taken by one of our talented Schwan's USA CUP photo interns Dillon Berntson. Dillon's photo of Julie Foudy accompanies Foudy's forward to the book. The picture was taken in the NSC press box before Foudy went on the air as color commentator for ESPN's coverage of the USA vs. Sweden game at the '06 Schwan's USA CUP.

The book can be ordered through portraitofpassion.com. We are also talking to Paul about autographing books at Schwan's USA CUP this July, or at other NSC soccer events this year. So stayed tuned.

NGB Frustration

by Teri Vogt, Tournament Director

International events, like the soccer tournaments the NSC organizes, require sanctioning by many soccer governing bodies. For NSC soccer tournaments we sanction through Minnesota Youth Soccer, US Soccer and FIFA - Federation Internationale de Football.

Changes in leadership regularly result in changes of procedures and as a tournament director you often feel whipped around by these governing bodies changing interpretation of rules.

One that is affecting the NSC this year is a change at FIFA.  For 23 years Schwan's USA CUP has been sanctioned by FIFA and the timeline has been to submit our paperwork about one year in advance of the event. FIFA approves the rules, sends the "okey-dokey" back to US Soccer and US Soccer issues us a "Permission to Host" form. Each team needs to present this form to their state or international governing body in order to obtain permission to travel.

This year FIFA has changed and is apparently not willing to process paperwork more than 60 days in advance of an event. They have told US Soccer, according to a contact there, not to even send paperwork that is more than 60 days out from an event.  Maybe that timeline works for an international friendly between two national teams, but it's a pretty tight timeline for and event like USA CUP with 1009 teams from 20 different countries. At best, teams will just have a few weeks once USA CUP posts the US Soccer Permission to Host form to obtain permission to travel.

My experience tells me this procedure will be short lived, but my hope is that teams will be patient this year as NSC waits for the Permission to Host forms for its events.

Women's World Cup brings memories of past big games at NSC

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

No, I haven't been getting up at 3:00 am to watch the Women's World Cup live from China. But I have been setting my DVR to record all the games and my first stop, upon waking at the more civilized hour of 7:00 am, is to turn on my TV and check on the progress of whatever games are on.

It's been fun to see so many old friends on the screen. All right, in the interests of honest disclosure they probably wouldn't remember me and I've never gone beer drinking with them, so they're not really friends. We'll call them players I've interviewed, or stood nearby while other reporters interviewed them.

Just this morning I was watching Canadian stars Christine Sinclair and Erin McLeod, both of whom I interviewed when Canada played Sweden during Schwan's USA CUP in 2006. Yesterday I watched Sweden tying Nigeria, and there, bigger than life were Victoria Svensson and Sara Thunebro, who played for Sweden that year, when the Swedes lost two tough games at the NSC to the U.S. and Canada.

Left: Abby Wambach fights a Swedish player for possession during a Women's National Team game in the NSC Stadium in 2006. Right: Julie Foudy played for the U.S. team at the NSC three times (2001, 2002 and 2004) and in 2006 came as an ESPN color commentator. She's working in the same role on ESPN's World Cup coverage.

And of course the U.S. Women's National Team has a stellar history of games at the NSC. Mia Hamm scored her 150th international goal here in a 3-0 victory over Australia in 2004. Last year, Kristine Lilly scored with seconds left in the game as the U.S. dramatically beat Sweden 3-2. Julie Foudy, who last visited the NSC as an ESPN commentator, recalled the 2002 game when Norway "died in the heat" and the U.S. recorded a 3-0 win. In 2001, 15,615 fans, still an NSC stadium record, watched the U.S. beat Canada 1-0. That was also the first year that Women's National Team games at the NSC were broadcast live on ESPN. Now it's commonplace.

   

Above: The above photo shows Minnesota's own Brianna Scurry in goal against Canada in 2001 when 15,615 fans set an NSC stadium record. 

I looked through our records, and here is a list of Women's National Team game appearances at the NSC since we opened in 1990: USA: 1990, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006; Germany (then West Germany): 1990; England: 1990; Soviet Union: 1990; Canada: 2001, 2006; Norway: 2002; Australia: 2004; Sweden: 2006.

I have many more memories of Women's National Team games here, but I thought I'd ask you first. If you've attended any of the games over the years, what do you remember?

Comment back!

This soccer complex sits on a mountainside

By Barclay Kruse, NSC Chief Communications Officer

I just returned from four days in Colorado Springs where I worked on the venue evaluation team for the State Games of America. This is a national event, kind of a national championship, for participants in state games programs around the country. Overall, about 10,500 athletes competed in 30 different sports, and Minnesota had about 50 athletes competing, who qualified by medaling in our state games, the Star of the North Games. I haven't totaled up the medal haul, but I noticed a lot of Minnesota athletes taking home medals in figure skating and track and field.

One of the venues I visited was the athletic facilities at the Air Force Academy (AFA), which were the site for track and field, martial arts, gymnastics, road cycling, mountain biking, tennis and soccer.

It was interested to compare the AFA soccer venue with the National Sports Center. The AFA complex is relatively large, 22 fields, but that's still less than half the size of the NSC. With over 200 teams playing in State Games of America, it took four full days of play to complete the tournament.

As everyone who has played at the NSC know, our campus is flat as flat can be, as is the surrounding neighborhood. If you've been to the AFA, you know its neighborhood resembles Everest base camp more than Blaine, Minn. The entire campus is build on the slope of the Colorado Front Range. The soccer fields sit on three tiers carved out of the mountain slope. The vista is stunning, both up to the peaks and east toward the plains. But if your shot misses to the east, the ball could roll a long, long way. Like to Kansas.

Above: Here's a view of the Air Force Academy soccer fields, looking west toward the Rocky Mountains. What a scene, huh?

If you're not used to the altitude (over 7,000 feet) supplemental oxygen might be required to climb up from a lower tier of fields to a higher one.

And if you think the parking at the NSC is tight, you should see the parking at the AFA. First, there are no parking lots, at least none next to the soccer fields. So everyone parks helter-skelter alongside the access roads. It's tight, beyond tight really, and drivers stuff their cars into every available open space. It's a dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest kind of parking situation. I would guess the incidence of door dings and fender bumps is pretty high.

Finally there are the thunderstorms, which when I was there, arrived on schedule late every afternoon. They would roll over the mountains, with spectacular lightning strikes against the peaks. Yes, the NSC has its share of summer thunderstorms, but the spectacular setting of the AFA soccer complex gave these mountain storms jaw-dropping grandeur. But just like the NSC, when lightning comes, games are suspended. And that's when the mad dash to the cars begins, and the real door-dinging commences!

Looking forward to the PUMA Locker Room Lounge

By Barclay Kruse
NSC Media Director

I was chatting with Teri Vogt, Director of Schwan's USA CUP, in the hall the other day about our new Schwan's USA CUP presenting sponsor, PUMA. Teri is pumped about this new partnership, and while a lot of PUMA's ideas are still being firmed up, she said the affect on customers -- you -- will be real, and noticeable.

One of the neat things PUMA will bring to the tournament is the PUMA Locker Room Lounge, in their words, "A Place to See and Be Seen." PUMA's concept for the lounge is a large, PUMA-branded, soccer ball shaped tent, 44 feet across, that will be able to hold 180 people.

Inside will be visual displays of real soccer stars lockers, a video game zone, a sectioned-off cool zone with misters and music listening stations, an online chat room where players can check email and upload photos. Sure to be a hit will be the green screen photo booth, where players can have their photos taken "in action," and in locations like real World Cup Stadiums. The photo will then be emailed to the player in the form of a personal trading card.

Teri said the location of the PUMA Locker Room Lounge on the NSC campus has not been determined.

This is just one example of the energy PUMA is bringing to their Schwan's USA CUP sponsorship.

"They've got so many creative and energetic ideas," Teri said. "It's going to be really fun to follow what they develop over the coming months."

Wal-Mart Signs On for Soccer Tournament

By Scott Clasen
NSC Web Architect

One of the anchor soccer tournaments here at the NSC is undergoing a major change for 2007. The All American Girls' soccer tournament is now going to be incorporated into a new event, called the Wal-Mart All American Cup. The All American Girls' will now be one of four flights of this new tournament. There will also be a lower-level girls division, a boys division and a 4v4 flight. The Wal-Mart All American Cup website has all the details.

The All American Girls' Premier tournament started in 1995 as a companion to the All American Girls' and Women's Hockey Tournament. The NSC wanted to establish a premier girls-only event similar to the extremely popular WAGS tournament in the Washington D.C. area. The tournament originally was the weekend before USA CUP. By 2000 the tournament was able to stand on its own and was moved to its current date in June. We think the addition of Wal-Mart as the title sponsor and offering more divisions will create another great soccer experience for teams in Minnesota and around the country.