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Just For Kicks
THREE-a-day practice sessions the past week may or may not be enough preparation for the Brigham Young University-Hawaii men's soccer team. BYUH, HPU men’s
teams kick off their
seasons todayHead coach Bob Barry and the Seasiders find out today when they open the 2000 season against Sonoma State at 4 p.m. on the Laie campus.
"We're getting there, but in the future I might not schedule this early," Barry said.
"Yet, we're so starved for schools coming over, we can't tell someone not to come."
BYUH doesn't even start the fall semester until Aug. 30, so Barry will have about 16 of a potential 21 players suited up.
One area Barry knew needed improvement after a 3-7-1 record in 1999, was team speed.
He feels he addressed the problem with recruiting.
"At least we won't be constantly having to double up on people running by us," he said.
Barry is pleased with new goalkeepers Dan Umili, a junior transfer from Skyline College, and Billy Shields, a freshman from Salt Lake City.
Freshmen Beau Keenan, a midfielder from Reno, Nev., and Marcus Tani, a defender or defensive midfielder from Castle High School, have looked good in practice.
"I think Beau is going to be an impact player right away," Barry said. "Marcus has good speed, is calm and collected and has a good touch with the ball. I can't believe he didn't get any recognition from the OIA last year."
Barry, in his third season at BYUH, is hoping a member of the Fijian Olympic Team enrolls this semester. Unfortunately, the political mess in that country has made it difficult to obtain the necessary academic information.
"I think we'll be better than last year and make more of an impact,"he said. "If we come together and get one or two players, I think we'll be solid."
The Seasiders have four matches before meeting Hawaii Pacific for the first time. Then it's off to the Pacific Northwest for four conference matches.
"We've got to be ready by HPU," Barry said.
The Sea Warriors also open today at 4 p.m. against the College of Notre Dame on HPU's Windward campus.
The Argonauts' trip here was in doubt last week, but, they are here for two matches.
Jodie Nomi concluded her collegiate soccer career at the University of Northern Colorado last fall.
The Kapaa High School graduate maintained a 4.0 grade-point average in kinesiology and was named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas Scholar Athlete All-West team.
She now is pursuing a master's degree in kinesiology/outdoor physical education.
Following the controversial vote awarding Germany the 2006 World Cup, FIFA decided to rotate the tournament among the six continental confederations beginning with the 2010 World Cup.
A committee comprised of the heads of the confederations and senior FIFA officials will consider the best way of implementing the plan.
There have been 16 World Cups since the first one in 1930. Nine were held in Europe, six in Latin America and one in the United States. With the 2002 event to be staged in Japan and South Korea, Africa and Oceania remain the last soccer confederations to be awarded the tournament.
