We think you will enjoy DTL #6.

Apart from our regular quality contributors – the SoccerSolutions guys, James MacLeod and Brad Odsen – we have Bob Evans returning to the line-up.

Bob’s article condemning over-officious refereeing will not endear him to every referee in the world. Using common sense and not always working to the letter of the law are not always the norm in refereeing circles.

The ITSportsNet team gets a rest by bringing back John Byl to present an interesting article on Tournament Organization in our Club Management section.

Gwynne Williams, one of the USSF and NSCAA national goalkeeping staff, offers some excellent advice to young goalkeepers, which every coach should copy and pass on to their keepers.

In the Coaching Department we’ve done something different this issue. For starters, we’ve looked at the environment as it applies to coaching. Horst Wein, the internationally acclaimed coach, looks at why young players should stay with the size 4 ball longer. While Keith Hardisty in Australia, explains the advantages and disadvantages of the climatical conditions in Oz.

A totally different perspective of coaching comes from a series starting in this edition from John Wedge. His blow-by-blow diary of a high school soccer season will impact on any coach who has had to agonize with the decisions of selection, man management and the agony and ecstasy of coaching soccer. I think not only will you enjoy his series, but you will see yourself in there somewhere.

This year we are going to start making some additions to DTL website. Our first addition is a listing of soccer clubs and organization. By signing up for the Down-The-Line! Email notification service, you can now add your soccer organization to our site.

You can enter your club's information by clicking on "New Members Links" near the top of the left hand column or by clicking here. If you would like to add your soccer organization and you are already signed up for Down-The-Line! Simply enter your email in the subscription email box, hit the subscribe button and it will give you an opportunity to enter your organization information.

Next issue we will be adding a "Letters to the Editor" section. We've had some excellent letters and we would like to start including these.

As well, we would like to promote more input for our readers and some interactivity – possibly with a bulletin board. We’ll let you know.

In fact, we may Email you before the next Issue to let you know what is going on and maybe solicit some feedback that we could include in Issue #7.

So please let us know what you like and what you don’t like and what you would like to see more of.

Have a great 2002.

Tony

Feedback is welcome: email to tw.